POSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 '(y 
 
 SOUTHEKN CHURCH 
 
 ) 
 
 I.V RKLATION TO 
 
 SLAVERY, 
 
 AS ILLUSTRATED IV A 
 
 LETTER OP DR. F. A. l^S TO REV. ALBERT BARNES. 
 
 . I 
 
 WITH AX IXTUODUCTIOX, 
 
 CY 
 
 .\ CONSTITTTIOXAL PUK.'HVTEKI.V.V. 
 
 ; NFAV-YORK ; 
 
 I • .TOH.V A. GUAY, PRINTER, IG AND 18 .JACOB STREET, 
 
 FIRE-PROOF Dtni.DIVGS. 
 1857. 
 

P 0 S I T I 0 X 
 
 OF THK 
 
 SOUTHERN CHURCH 
 
 IN^ RELATIOM TO 
 
 S L A E R Y , 
 
 AS IIXUSTRATRI) IN A 
 
 LETTER OF DR. P. A. ROSS TO REV. ALBERT BARNES. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 
 
 BY 
 
 A CONSTITUTIONAL PRESBYTERIAN. 
 
 -- 'X' 
 
 >j Y I ' ' ‘ ^ ' ^ i 
 
 --V 
 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 16 AND 18 JACOB STREET, 
 
 FIRE-PROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 1857. 
 
■ Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://arChiVe.Org/detailS/pOSitiOnOfSOUtheOOrOSS_O 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The recent excellent work by the Rev. Albert Barnes, 
 entitled “The Church and Slavery,” has called forth a 
 series of letters from the Rev. F. A. Ross, D.D., of Ala- 
 bama. They were originally published in the Philadel- 
 phia Christian Observer. As the circulation of that paper 
 is not large in the North, it has been thought desirable 
 that public attention should be called to them through 
 some other channel. The author is one of the most emi- 
 nent of the Southern divines. He may be fitly styled a 
 “ representative man.” He is not only able, but frank, 
 fearless, and outspoken. Where others would be silent, 
 or discourse with reserve, as of things we are not yet 
 “able to bear,” he boldly utters in our ears, “tingle” 
 though they may, the whole matter. It is good to listen 
 to such a man. You learn where others are, and where 
 you yourself are, or at least, where you should be. It is 
 especially felicitous that Dr. Ross has spoken at the pre- 
 sent time. The true position of the South, as touching 
 the great, growing, overshadosving system of American 
 Slavery — the deadly nightshade on the fair soil of free- 
 dom — is, in some quarters, held in doubt. The South, 
 and especially the Southern Church, it has been said, are 
 misrepresented. They dislike slavery as truly as we. 
 They would gladly be rid of it. Their only difficulty re- 
 spects the means of such a consummation. How errone- 
 ous is this view, as matters now stand, various recent 
 events have been clearly showing. And nothing more 
 clearly than the letter of Dr. Ross. The tract of our 
 good “angel of the Church in Philadelphia,” has been 
 
4 
 
 f)s the spear of Ithuriel, to existing Southern opinion, 
 ft has started up in full, unmistakable proportions. Dr. 
 Ross’s Letters have been republished in the Presbyte- 
 rian Witness, at Knoxville, Tenn., and have received from 
 various parts of the South, high commendation. Dr. 
 Cleland of Kentucky, for example, writes thus to the 
 Christian Observer : 
 
 “ 1 have just read Dr. Ross’s third Letter, which, with what he 
 will say in his next, will be so full and complete, as respects the 
 scriptural view of slavery, as entirely to supersede my feeble arti- 
 cle I sent you some time ago, and which you wisely laid aside for 
 the present. Dr. R. covers the whole ground, scripturally, argu- 
 mentatively, luminously, and powerfully. I have scarcely ever 
 met with a writer, ancient or modern, who, in regard to style, 
 proof, and argument, excels, or even equals Dr. Ross. I would 
 have a curiosity to see from the other side, what can be said in 
 reply. "jVhen I wrote my paper, ‘ Let there be light,’ I did not 
 know it was coming so soon, or I would not have troubled you, 
 or myself, with my poor dim taper, except so far as it gives scrip- 
 tural light, which I thought had been wanting long ago. But 
 Ross’s Letters will answer every purpose, and I hope they will be 
 published in book form, for preservation and general use.” 
 
 The Observer has other letters “ of like character.” It 
 seems delighted itself with Dr. Ross’s views. His let- 
 ters, it says, “have been read with approval by thousands, 
 comprising ministers, statesmen, the President of the 
 United States, members of the bar, and elders of the 
 Church — men of the profoundest minds ; and his argu- 
 ment can not be set aside by the terrors of ‘ seven-fold 
 condemnation.’ ” No divine of eminence, it is believed, in 
 the Southern part of the Constitutional Presbyterian Church, 
 will pronoimce the views of Dr. Ross unsound. 
 
 Such being the state of things, it is desirable that the 
 whole Church should know it. To this end. Dr. Ross’s 
 fir.st Letter is here republished. That is given, because 
 
it clearly exhibits his position. It would have been grati- 
 fying to include the whole, but that would have unduly 
 enlarged the present pamphlet. The entire series will 
 probably be given to the public in some permanent form, 
 and it may be safely commended, beforehand, to all clear 
 thinkers. It will be found very readable, and not without 
 some notable curiosities. As, for example, a reproduction 
 of the old exploded theory, that there is “ no such thing” 
 as “an ultimate eternal distinction, in the nature of things, 
 between right and wrong” — that they are the result purely 
 of a divine arbitrament — “ that a thing is right, not be- 
 cause it is ever so per se, but because God makes it right." 
 For aught that appears, the Doctor would say with that 
 old English schoolman, William of Ockham: “If God 
 had commanded his creatures to hate himself, the hatred 
 of God would ever be the duty of man.” Some of the 
 Southern thinkers hesitate a little about this particular 
 view. Their organs of deglutition are not quite adequate 
 to it. They even venture, as appears from a late Presby- 
 terian Witness, to quote the great Edwards to the con- 
 trary. It is not improbable, however, that the arbitrament 
 theory will at length be swallowed. It is so convenient 
 a thing to the pro-slavery side, to get rid of “ eternal dis- 
 tinctions,” and make right aud wrong of as plastic a nature 
 as possible. 
 
 In looking over the following letter, several things will 
 strike every reader. First, its confirmation of all that 
 has been said representing a great Southern apostasy on the 
 subject of slavery. Let its views and reasonings be com- 
 pared with the noble testimony of 1818, illustrated and 
 confirmed by various subsequent action, down to that of 
 the last Assembly. Dr. Ross even glories in the progress 
 that has been n)ade, and treats with undisguised contempt 
 all the past utterances of the Church. “ It was a m,istaken 
 
6 
 
 public sentiment^'' he says — that of other days. “The 
 Southern slaveholder is now satisfied as never before.” 
 The principles of the Declaration of Independence he re- 
 gards not, with Mr. Choate, as “ glittering generalities,” 
 but as opaque absurdities. He repudiates them. He 
 declares them accursed of God. He puts “ the rela- 
 tion of master and slave in the same category as that 
 of husband and wife, parent and child.” It is as truly 
 sanctioned, he insists, by the Bible. He makes no apology 
 for slavery, but boldly defends it as “ordained of God.” 
 The abounding sophistries of the argument will, to a dis- 
 cerning eye, be quite apparent. As, for example, the 
 treatment of first truths, those great vitalities of all science, 
 human or divine — those fundamental elements, especially 
 of all reasoning about the internal evidence of Revelation. 
 So, also, the confounding of slavery, a institution, 
 an affair of “chattels,” with the governmental economy. 
 But we need not enlarge on this point. The present de- 
 sign is information rather than argument. 
 
 The important question will suggest itself, what is now 
 the duty of our Church ? What should be done by the 
 coming General Assembly ? A great effort is being made 
 to keep it quite silent. Nay, to bring about, indirectly, 
 what would be virtually a retrograde, pro-slavery course. 
 Witness the clamor, on the flimsiest of grounds, against 
 the recent mild, conservative, righteous action of the Home 
 Missionary Society — action perfectly harmonious in its 
 spirit with that of so many of our General Assemblies. 
 With all humility and deference — not in the way of dicta- 
 tion, but as embodying the known views of many in our 
 Church — the few following suggestions are offered : 
 
 1. Let no unconstitutional course be taken. The most 
 scrupulous care should be exercised in that regard. They 
 who plead for righteousness, must not invade rights. Let 
 UB stand in this respect just where we have always stood. 
 
2. As to discipline, there is, doubtless, a possibility of 
 it; as the “Majority Report” of last year showed. Whe- 
 ther in the way of reference, or appeal, or complaint, or 
 of general review and control, the way will be open for it, 
 the wisdom of the Assembly will determine. In this re- 
 lation, Chapter VII., Sec. I., of our Book of Discipline de- 
 serves to be carefully studied. 
 
 3. All surely will say, let there be no more “ Delphic 
 words.” Let there be no action that can be misconstrued. 
 The reader will see how Dr. Ross interprets the unpre- 
 cedented insertion of the rejected “ Minority Report” in 
 last year’s Minutes. An interpretation quite accordant, 
 it will be remembered, with the prediction then made. 
 Let no such mistake be repeated. 
 
 4. Does not the manifest change in Southern sentiment 
 — the great apostasy so plainly indicated — call, at least, 
 for some new and appropriate testimomj ? Something that 
 Dr. Ross can hardly term a “ stultified abstraction.” It 
 is not to be credited, indeed, that the apostasy is univer- 
 sal. We believe better things of the South. But it is so 
 general, so rampant, so overbearing, so boldly aggressive, 
 that it ought to be promptly met, not in wrath, but de- 
 cidedly, calmly, and firmly. The following action of the 
 Synod of Cincinnati, touching this point, is worthy of the 
 most serious consideration : 
 
 “Since erroneous impressions exi.stin some minds in respect 
 to the true position of the Presbyterian Church, whereby its 
 efficiency and usefulness threaten to be impaired, and since an 
 open apostasy from the common faith of the Christian Church 
 on the subject of -slavery, is now avowed by many at the South, 
 we feel that the Assembly is called to make a new, solemn, and 
 emphatic declaration and testimony adapted to this new state 
 of things. 
 
 “In particular, it is openly maintained by professed followers 
 
R 
 
 of Christ, that slavery as a system is right, and to be defended 
 ‘ as it is that it involves no necessary wrongs, and may be 
 properly supported, defended, and participated in, by Christ- 
 ian men ; and this too, at a time when the most determined 
 efforts are making to extend its blight over vast regions now 
 free ! We do, therefore, earnestly petition the Assembly to 
 adopt the following declaration and testimony, or one equiva- 
 lent to it, to wit : 
 
 “ Whereas, The system of Slavery existing in these United 
 States is essentially at variance with the principles and spirit 
 of the Gospel of Christ ; and 
 
 “Whereas, Strenuous efforts are now making to extend and 
 perpetuate it, notwithstanding the oppression, immorality, and 
 cruelty, and the numerous evils, spiritual and temporal, which 
 it involves, 
 
 ^'■Resolved, That this body feel constrained to renew their 
 SOLEMN testimony against this great iniquity, and do earnestly 
 exhort and entreat all Christian men with whom they can have 
 any influence, not only not to participate in it, but to labor to 
 array against it the conscience and the whole moral power of the 
 Christian Church." 
 
 In the present state of things, our Assembly can hardly 
 say less than this. Some of our Synods have expressed a 
 desire for still more emphatic and effective action. The 
 Synods of Indiana, Wabash, and Western Eeserve call 
 for discipline. May the Assembly receive from on high, 
 “ not the spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and 
 of a sound mind.” May it so treat this important sub- 
 ject, that it shall “have no fellowship with the unfruitful 
 works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” So shall 
 we have the smile of Him who hath guided and helped us 
 as a Church hitherto, and who, if we are but true to Him 
 and to righteousness, will never leave nor forsake us. 
 
 A Constitutional Presbyterian. 
 
LETTER OF DR. ROSS. 
 
 Rev. a. Barxes: 
 
 Dear Sir: You have recently published a tract — 
 “ The Church and Slavery.” 
 
 “The opinion of each individual,” you remark, 
 “ contributes to form public sentiment, as the labor 
 of the animalcule in the ocean, contributes to the 
 coral reefs that rise above the -waves.” 
 
 True, sir, and beautifully expressed. But while in 
 harmony with your intimation, I must regard you 
 one of the animalcules rearing the coral reef of public 
 opinion, I can not admit your disclaimer of “ special 
 influence” among them in their work. Doubtless, 
 sir, you have “special influence” — and deserve to 
 have. I make no apology for addressing you. I 
 am one of the animalcules. 
 
 I agree and I disagree with you. I harmonize in 
 your words — “ The present is, eminently, a time, 
 when the -views of every man on the subject of slave- 
 ry should be uttered in unambiguous tones.” I agree 
 with you in this affirmation ; because the subject has 
 yet to be fully understood : Because, when under- 
 
 stood, if THE Bible does v/A sanction the system, the 
 Master must cease to be the master. The Slave 
 must cease to be the slave. He must be free, axd 
 equal IX POLITICAL AXH SOCIAL LITE. That is 
 your “ unambiguous torieT Let it be heard, if that is 
 the word of God. 
 
 But if THE Bible does sanction the system, then 
 that “ unambiguous tone” will silence abolitionists, 
 1 * 
 
10 
 
 who admit the Scriptures — it will satisfy all good 
 men, and give peace to the country. That is the 
 “ tone' I want men to hear. Li.sten to it in the past 
 and present speech of providence. The time was 
 when you liad the very puhlic sentiment you are now 
 trying to form. From Maine to Louisiana, the 
 American mind was softly yielding to the impress of 
 emancipation, in some hope, however vague and 
 imaginary. Southern, as well as ISiorthern men, in 
 the Church and out of it, not having sufficiently 
 studied the word of God, and under our o-wn and 
 French revolutionary excitement, looking only at 
 the evils of slavery, wished it away from the land. 
 It was a mistaken pvblic sentiment. Yet, such as it 
 was, you had it, and it was doing your work. It 
 was Quaker-like, mild and affectionate. It did not, 
 however, work fast enough for you. You thought 
 that the negro, with his superior attributes of body 
 and mind, and higher advantages of the nineteenth 
 century, might reach, in a day, the liberty and 
 equality which the Anglo-American had attained 
 after the struggle of his ancestors during a thousand 
 years ! You got up the agitation. You got it up 
 in the Church and State. You got it up over the 
 length and breadth of this whole land. Let me show 
 you some things you have secured, as the results of 
 your work. 
 
 FIRST RESULT OF AGITATION. 
 
 1. The most consistent abolitionists, affirming the 
 sin of slavery, on the maxim of created equality and 
 unalienable right, after torturing the Bible, for a 
 while, to make it give the same testimony, felt they 
 could get nothing from the book. They felt that 
 the God of the Bible disregarded the thumb-screw, 
 the boot, and the wheel ; that He would not speak 
 
n 
 
 for them, but against them. These consistent men 
 have now turned away from the word, in despond- 
 ency ; and are seeking, somewhere, an abolition 
 Bible, an abolition Constitution for the United States, 
 and an abolition God. 
 
 This sir, is the first result of your agitation. The 
 very van of your attack repulsed, and driven into 
 infidelity. 
 
 A SECOND RESULT OF AGITATION. 
 
 2. Many othere, and you among them, are trying 
 in exactly the same way, just mentioned, to make the 
 Bible speak against slaveholding. You get nothing 
 by torturing the English version. People under- 
 stand English. Nay, you get little bj' applying the 
 rack to the Hebrew and Greek ; even before a tri- 
 bunal of men, like you, who proclaim beforehand, 
 that Moses, in Hebrew, and Paul, in Greek, must 
 condemn slavery, because — “ it is a violation of the 
 first sentiments of the Declaration of Independence.'" 
 You find it difficult to jiersuade men that Moses and 
 Paul were moved by the Holy Gliost, to sanction 
 the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson ! You find it 
 hard to make men believe that Moses saw in the 
 mount, and Paul had vision in heaven, that this 
 future apostle of Liberty was inspired by Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Y’ou torture very severely. But the muscles and 
 bones of those old men are tough, and strong. They 
 won’t yield under your terrible wrenchings. Y'ou 
 get only groans and mutterings. Y ou claim these 
 voices, I know, as testimony against slavery. But 
 you can not torture in secret, as in olden times. 
 When putting the question, you have to let men be 
 present — who tell us, that Moses and Paul won’t 
 speak for you — that they are silent, like Christ be- 
 
12 
 
 fore Pilate’s scourginj^ men ; or, in groans and mut- 
 terings — the voices of their sorrow, and the tones of 
 their indignation — they rebuke your pre-judgment 
 of the Almighty, when you say — if the Bible sanc- 
 tions slavery — “ it neither ought to be, nor could be 
 received by mankind as a divine revelation.” 
 
 This, sir, is the second result you have gained by 
 your agitation. You have brought a thousand 
 Northern ministers of the Gospel, with yoiirself, to 
 the verge of the same denial of the word of God, 
 which they have made who are only a little ahead 
 of you, in the road you are travelling. 
 
 A THIKl) KKSUI.T OF AGITATION. 
 
 3. Meanwhile, many of your most pious men, 
 soundest scholars, and sagacious observer of provi- 
 dence, have been led to study the Bible more faith- 
 fully in the light of the times. And they are read- 
 ing it, more and more, in harmony with the views 
 which have been reaclied by the highest Southern 
 minds, to wit: That the relation of master and slave 
 is sanctioned by the Bible ; that it is a relation be- 
 longing to the same category as those of husband 
 and wife, parent and child, master and apprentice, 
 master and hireling ; that the relations of husband 
 and wife, parent and child, were ordained in Eden^ 
 for man, as man, and modifed after the fall ; 
 while the relation of slavery, as a system of labor, is 
 only one form of the govermnent ordained of God, 
 over fallen and degraded man ; that the evils in the 
 system are the same evils of oppression we see in the 
 relation of husband and wife, and all other forms of 
 government ; that slavery, as a relation, suited to 
 the more degraded, or the more ignorant and help- 
 less types of a sunken humanity, is, like all govern- 
 ment, intended as the proof of the curse of such de- 
 
13 
 
 (jradatio7i, and at the same time to elevate and hless : 
 that the relation of husband and wife, being for man, 
 as man, will ever be over him • while slavery will re- 
 main so long as God sees it best, as a controlling 
 power over the ignorant, the more degraded and 
 helpless ; and that, when He sees it for the good of 
 the country, he will cause it to pass away, if the 
 slave can be elevated to liberty and equality, politi- 
 cal and social, with his master, in that country ; or 
 out of" that country, if such elevation cannot be given 
 therein, but may be realized in some other land ; all 
 which result, must be left to the unfoldings of the 
 Divine will, in harmony with the Bible, and not to 
 a newly-discovered dispensation. These facts are 
 vindicated in the Bible and Providence. In the 
 Old Testament they stare you in the face ; in the 
 family of Abraham ; in his slaves, bought with his 
 money, and born in his house ; in Hagar, running 
 away, under her mistress’s hard dealing with her, 
 and yet sent back, as a fugitive slave, by the angel ; 
 in the law, which authorized the Hebrews to hold 
 their brethren as slaves, for a time ; in which parents 
 might sell their children into bondage ; in which the 
 heathen were given to the Hebrews as their slaves 
 forever; in which slaves were considered so much 
 the money of their master, that the master who 
 killed one by an unguarded blow, was, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, sufficiently punished in his slave’s 
 death, because he thereby lost his money ; in which 
 the difference between man-stealing and slavehold- 
 ing is, by law, set forth ; in which the runaway from 
 heathen masters may not be restored, because God 
 gave him the benefits of an adopted Hebrew. In 
 the Hew Testament, wherein the slavery of Greece 
 and Borne was recognized ; in the obligations laid 
 on master and slave ; in the close connection of this 
 obligation with the duties of husband and wife, 
 parent and child ; in the obligation to retuni the 
 
14 
 
 fugitive slave to his master ; and in the condemna- 
 tion of every abolition principle^ ‘‘ as destitute of 
 THE TRUTH.” (1 Tim. 6 : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) 
 
 This view of slavery is becoming more and more, 
 not only the settled decision of the Southern, but of 
 the best Northern mind, with a movement so strong, 
 that you have been startled by it, to write the 
 pamphlet now lying before me. 
 
 This is the third result you have secured, to make 
 many of the best men in the North see the infidelity 
 of your philosophy, falsely so-called, on the subject 
 of slavery, in the clearer and clearer light of the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 ANOTHER RESULT OF AGITATION. 
 
 4. The Southern slaveholder is now satisfied, as 
 never before, that the relation of master and slave 
 is sanctioned by the Bible ; and he feels, as never 
 before, the obligations of the word of God. He, 
 no longer, in his ignorance of the Scripture, and 
 afraid of its teachings, will seek to defend his com- 
 mon-sense opinions of slavery by arguments drawn 
 from “Types of Mankind,” and other infidel theo- 
 ries ; but he will look, in the light of the Bible, on 
 all the good and evil in the system. And when the 
 North, as it will, shall regard him holding from God 
 this high power for great good — when the North 
 shall no more curse, but bid him God speed — then 
 he will bless himself and his slave, in nobler benevo- 
 lence. With no false ideas of created equality and 
 unalienable right, but with the Bible in his heart 
 and hand, he will do justice and love mercy, in higher 
 and higher rule. Eveiy evil will be removed, and 
 the negro will be elevated to the highest attainments 
 he can make, and be prepared for whatever destiny 
 God intends. This, sir, is the fourth result of your 
 agitation — to make the Sonthern master know^ from 
 
15 
 
 the Bible, his riglit to be a master, and his duty to 
 his slave. 
 
 Tliese,/hwr results are so fnlly before yon, that I 
 think yon must see and feel them. Yon have 
 brought out, besides, tremendous political conse- 
 quences, giving astonishing growth and spread to 
 the slave ])Ower — on these I can not dwell. Sir, are 
 yon satisfied with these consequences of the agita- 
 tion you hav'e gotten up ? I am. I thank God that 
 the great deep of the American mind has been blown 
 upon by the wind of abolitionism. I I’ejoice that 
 the stagnant water of that American mind has been 
 so greatly purified. I rejoice that the infidelity and 
 the semi-infidelity, so long latent, have been set free. 
 I rejoice that tlie sober sense, iS^orth and South, so 
 strangely asleep and silent, has risen up to hear the 
 word of God, and to speak it to tlie land. I rejoice 
 that all the South now know that God gives right 
 to hold slaves, and with that right, obligations tliey 
 must fulfill. I rejoice that the day has dawned, in 
 which the Yorth and South will think, and feel, and 
 act together on the subject of slavery. I thank God 
 for the agitation. May he forgive the folly and 
 wickedness of many who have gotten it up. May 
 he reveal more and more, that surely the wrath of 
 man shall praise him, while the remainder of wrath 
 he will restrain. 
 
 r>ECI.ARATION OF INDEPENDF.NCE. 
 
 I agree with you, sir, that the second paragraph ot 
 the Declaration of Independence contains^’i'g ajfirma- 
 tio7is, declared to be self-evident truths, which, if 
 truths, do sustain you, and all abolitionists, in every 
 thing you say, as to the right of the negro to liberty 
 — and not only to liberty — to equality, political and 
 social. But I disagree with you as to their truth. 
 
And I say that not one of said affirmations is a self- 
 evident truth, or a truth at all. On the contrary, 
 that each one is contrary to the Bible ; that each 
 one separately is denied ; and that all five, collect- 
 ively, are denied and upset by the Bible, by the 
 natural history of man, and by Providence, in every 
 age of the world. I say this now. In a subsequent 
 communication I will prove what I affirm. For the 
 present I merely add, that the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence stands in no need of these false affirma- 
 tions. It was, and is, a beautiful whole without 
 them. It was, and is, without these imaginary 
 maxims, the simple statement of the grievances the 
 colonies had borne from the mother country, and 
 their right, as colonies^ when thus oppressed, to de- 
 clare themselves independent. That is to say, the 
 right given of God to oppressed children to seek 
 protection in another family, or to set up for them- 
 selves, somewhat before twenty-one^ or natural ma- 
 turity ; right belonging to them in the £ritish 
 family right sanctioned of God ; right blessed of 
 God, in the resistance of the colonies, as colonies, 
 not as individual men, to the attempt of the mother 
 country to consummate her tyranny. But God 
 gives no sanction to the affirmation that he has 
 created all men equal — that this is self-evident — and 
 that he has given them unalienahle rights — that he 
 has made government to derive its power solely from 
 their consent — and that he has given them the right 
 to change that government, in their mere pleasure. 
 All this — every word of it — every jot and tittle, is 
 the liberty and equality claimed by infidelity. God 
 has cursed it seven times in France since 1793; and 
 he will curse it there seventy times seven, if French- 
 men prefer to be pestled so often in Solomon’s mor- 
 tar. He has cursed it in Prussia, Austria, Germany, 
 Italy, Spain. He will curse it as long as time, 
 whether it is affirmed by Jefferson. Paine, Robes- 
 
17 
 
 pierre, Ledru Rollin, Kossuth, Greeley, Garrison, 
 or Barnes. 
 
 Sir, that paragraph is an excrescence on the tree 
 of oiir liberty. I pi^y you take it away. "Worship 
 it if you will, and in manner imitate the Dj'uid. He 
 gave reverence to the mistletoe^ but first he removed 
 parasite from the noble tree. Do you the same. 
 Cut away this mistletoe^ with golden knife, as did 
 the Druid — enshrine its imaginary divinity in grove 
 or cave — then retire there, and leave our oak to 
 stand in its glory, in the light of heaven. Men have 
 been afraid to say all this for years, just as they 
 have been timid to assert that God has placed mas- 
 ter and slave in the same relation as husband and 
 wife. Public sentiment, which you once had and 
 have lost, suppressed this utterance, as the other. 
 But now, men speak out; and I, for one, will tell 
 you what the Bible reveals as to that part of the 
 Declaration of Independence, as fearlessly as I tell 
 you what it says of the system of slavery. 
 
 HOW MEN ARE MADE INFIDELS. 
 
 I agree with you that some men have been, are, 
 and will be made infidels by hearing that God has 
 ordained slavery as one form of his government over 
 depraved mankind. But how does this fact prove 
 that the Bible does not sanction slavery? Why, sir, 
 you have been all your life teaching that some men 
 are made infidels by hearing any truth of the Bible ! 
 — that some men are made infidels by hearing the 
 Trinity — Depravity — Atonement — Divinity of 
 Christ — Resurrection — Eternal punishment. True ; 
 and these men find great laws of their nature — in- 
 stinctive feelings'’’ — ^just such as you find against 
 slavery, and not more perverted in them than in 
 you, condemning all this Bible. And they hold 
 
18 
 
 now, with your sanction, that a book affirming such 
 facts can not he from God:’’ 
 
 Sir, some men are made infidels by hearing the 
 ten commandments, and they find “ great laws of 
 their naturef as strong in them as yours in you 
 against slaveiy, warring against every one of these 
 commandments. And they declare now, with your 
 authority, that a book imposing such restraints upon 
 human nature, “ can not he from God.” Sir, what 
 is it makes infidels? You have been wont to an- 
 swer — ■“ They will not have God to mle oner them. 
 They will not have the Bible to control the great laws 
 of their natureP Sir, that is the true answer. And 
 you know that the great instinct of liherty is only 
 one of three great laws., needing special teaching and 
 government — that is to say, the instinct to rule ; the 
 instinct to submit to he ruled / and the instinct for 
 liherty. You know, too, that the instinct to submit 
 is the strongest ; the instinct to mile is next, and that 
 the asjnration for liherty is the weakest. Hence you 
 know the overwhelming majority of men have ever 
 been willing to be slaves ; masters have been next 
 in number, while the few have struggled for free- 
 dom. 
 
 The Bible, then, in proclaiming God’s will as to 
 these three great impulses., will be rejected by men, 
 exactly as they have yielded forbidden control to 
 the one or the other of them. The Bihle will make 
 infidels of masters, when God calls to them to rule 
 right, or to give up rule, if they have allowed the 
 instinct of power to make them hate God’s authority. 
 Pharaoh spoke for ail infidel rulers when he said: 
 “ Who is the Lord that 1 shoidd obey his voice ?” 
 
 The Bible will make infidels of slaves, when God 
 calls to them to aspire to be fi’ee, if they have per- 
 mitted the instinct of submission to make them hate 
 his commands. The Israelites, in the wilderness, 
 revealed ten times, in their murmuring, in- 
 
19 
 
 stinct in all ages. “ Would to God we had died in 
 the wilderness." You know all this, and you con- 
 demn these infidels. Good. 
 
 But, sir, you know, equally well, that the Bible 
 will make infidels of men affirming the instinct of 
 liberty., when God calls them to learn of him, how 
 much liberty he gives, and how he gives it, and when 
 he gives it — if they have so yielded to this law of 
 their nature, as to make them despise the word of 
 the Lord. Sir, Korah, Dathan, and Ahiram, spoke 
 out jnst what the liberty and equality men have said 
 in all time. “ JY, Moses., and Aaron., tahe too much 
 upon you., seeing all the congregation are holy, every 
 one of them — wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves 
 above the congregation f" Yerily, sir, these men 
 were intensely e.xcited by “ the great law of our 
 nature — the great instinct of freedom^ Yea, that, 
 they told God, to his face, they had looked within, and 
 found the higher laxo of liberty, and eguality — the 
 eternal x'ight, in their intuitional consciousness. And 
 that they would not submit to his will, in the eleva- 
 tion of Moses, and Aaron, above them. 
 
 Yerily, sir, you, in the spirit of Korah, now pro- 
 claim, and say : “ Ye masters, and ye white men, 
 who are master, Korth and South, ye take too much 
 upon you, seeing the negro is created your equal, 
 and by unalienable right, is as free as you, and 
 entitled to all your political and social life. Ye take 
 then too much upon you in excluding him from 
 your positions, of wealth, and honor — from your 
 halls of legislation, and from your palace of the na- 
 tion — and from your splendid couch — and from your 
 fair woman with long hair, on that couch, and in 
 that gilded chariot — wherefore, then, lift ye up your- 
 selves above the negro ?” 
 
 Yerily, sir, Korah, Dathan, and Ahiram, said all 
 we have ever lieard from abolition platforms, or 
 
20 
 
 now listen to from you. But the Lord made the 
 earth swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ! 
 
 I agree with you, then, sir, fully, that some men 
 have been, are, and will be made infidels by hearing 
 that God, in the Bible, has ordained slavery. But I 
 hold this to be no argument against the fact, that 
 the Bible does so teach, because, men are made infi- 
 dels by any other doctrine or precept they hate to 
 believe. 
 
 Sir, no man has said all this better than you. And 
 I can not express my grief, that you, in the principle 
 now avowed, that every man must interpret the 
 Bible, as he chooses to reason and feel — you sanction 
 all the infidelity in the world, obliterate your 
 “ Noted' on the Bible, and deny the preaching of 
 your whole life — so far, as God may, in his wrath, 
 permit you, to expunge, or recall, the words of the 
 wisdom of your better day. 
 
 TESTIMONIES OF GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. 
 
 I agree with you, that the Presbyterian Church, 
 both before and since its division, has testified, after 
 a fashion, against slavery. But some of its action 
 has been very curious testimony. I know not how 
 the anti-slavery resolutions of 1818 were gotten up ; 
 nor how in some Assemblies since. I can guess, how- 
 ever, from what I do know, as to how such resolutions 
 passed in Butfalo in 1853, and in New- York in 1856. 
 I know that in Bufi’alo they were at first voted 
 down by a large majority. Then, they were recon- 
 sidered, in mere courtesy to men, who said they 
 wanted to speak. So the resolutions were passed, 
 after some days, in which the screws were applied, 
 and turned, in part, by female hands, to save the 
 chairman of the committee from the effects of the 
 resolutions being finally voted down ! 
 
 I know that in New-York, the decision of the 
 
‘>1 
 
 Assembly, to spread the minority report on the 
 Minutes, was considered, in the body and out of it, 
 as a Southern victory. For it revealed, however 
 glossed over, that many in the house who could not 
 vote, directly, for the minority report, did, in fact, 
 prefer it to the other. 
 
 I was not in Detroit in 18.50. But I think it was 
 established in !New-Tork, last May, that, that De- 
 troit testimony was so admirably worded, that both 
 Southern and Xorthern men might vote for it with 
 clear consciences ! 
 
 I need not pursue the investigation. I admit, 
 that after this sort, yorr have the stultified abstrac- 
 tions of the X. S. Presbyterian Church, while I have 
 its common-sense.. You have its Delphic words. I 
 have its actions. You have the traditions of the 
 elders, making void the word of God. I have the 
 providence of God restraining the Church from de- 
 stroying itself, and our social organization, under 
 folly, fanaticism, and infidelity. 
 
 You, sir, seem to acknowledge this. For, while 
 you appear pleased with the testimony of the X. S. 
 Presbyterian Church, such as it is, you lament, that 
 the Old School have not been true to the resolutions 
 of ’18 — that in that branch of the Church, it is ques- 
 tionable whether those resolutions could now be 
 adopted. You lament the silence of the Episcopal, 
 the Southern Methodist, and the Baptist denomina- 
 tions — you might add the Cumberland Presbyte- 
 rian Church. And you know that in New-England, 
 in Xew-York, and in the Xorth-West, many testify 
 against vs as a pro-slavery body. You lament, that 
 so many members of the Church, minister of the 
 Gospel, and editors of religious papers, defend the 
 system. You lament, that so large a part of the re- 
 ligious literature of the land, though having its 
 seat Xorth, and sustained chiefly by i^orthern funds, 
 shows a perpetual deference to the slaveholder. 
 
■22 
 
 Yon lament, that after fifty years nothing has been 
 done to arrest slavery. Ton lament, and ask — 
 “ Why should this be so ?” In saying this, you ac- 
 knowledge, that while you have been laboring to 
 get, and have reached the abstract testimony of the 
 Church, all diluted as it is, the common-sense fact 
 has been, and is, more and more, hronght out, in 
 the providence of God, that the slave povjer ho.s heen^ 
 and is gaining ground in the United States. In one 
 word, you have contrived to get, in confused utter- 
 ance, the voice of the Sanhedrim, while Christ, him- 
 self, has been preaching in the streets of onr Jerusa- 
 lem, the true meaning of slavery, as one form of his 
 government over fallen men. 
 
 These then are some of the things I promised to 
 show, as the results of your agitation. This is the 
 “ tone''' of the past and present speech of providence 
 on the subject of slavery. You seem disturbed. I 
 feel sure things are going on well, as to that subject. 
 Speak on, then, “ in unambiguous tones.” But, sir, 
 when you desire to go from words to actions, when 
 you intimate, that the Constitution of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church may be altered to permit such action 
 — or, that, without its alteration, the Church can de- 
 tach itself from slavery by its existing laws, or the 
 modification of them — then, I understand you to 
 mean, that you desire to deal, in fact, with slave- 
 holders as offenders. Then, sir, you mean to exscind 
 the South. For, it is absurd to imagine, that you 
 suppose the South will submit to such action. You 
 mean then to exscind the South — or to exscind your- 
 self., and others — or to compel the South to with- 
 draio. Your tract just published, is, I suppose, in- 
 tended by you, to prepare the next General Assem- 
 bly for such movement ? — What then ? Will you 
 make your “ American Presbyterian,” and your 
 Presbyterian House effect that great change in the 
 religious literature of the land, whereby the subject 
 
ot slaveholding shall be approached, precisely^ as 
 you deal with theft, highway robbers, or piracy ?” 
 Will you, then, by^ act of Assembly, Synod. Pres- 
 bytery, Session, deny your j^ulpits, and communion 
 bread and wine, to slaveholding ministers, elders, 
 and members ? Will you then tell ISTew-England, 
 and especially little Rhoda — we have purified our 
 skirts from the blood — forgive us, and take us again 
 to your love ? What then ? Will you then, ostra- 
 cise the South, and compel the abolition of slavery? 
 Sir, do you bid us fear these coming events, thus 
 casting their shadow before, from the leaves of your 
 book \ 
 
 Sir, you may destroy the integrity of the Jsew- 
 School Presbyterian Church. So much evil you 
 may do, that you will hereby only add immensely 
 to the great power and good of the Old School. 
 And you will make disclosures of providence, un- 
 ravelling a consummation of things very different 
 from the end you wish to accomplish for your coun- 
 try and the world. I write, as one of the animal- 
 cules contributing to the coral reef of public opin- 
 ion. F. A. Ross. 
 

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