,4q. -^'' * ,^^ ^, ."^^ .-^''^ ^ ^"•^^. ^OV^ " - /-^ .^q. ^ ^^^ o .6* - = "•> V ,-^'^\-^'-- ^^ .0 < s \ .o^.^'.^'^ ^_ -r^^^^,.* t^.0^ ^5-^ :^ r^ ^^. ^^^.* ^^ -^. -, kV * ^ .e .w^^^ t :% .0^" ^'^o. .«' A . %> ^^0^ o .<&■" ,-lo. ► . V/ ,.^^^^- V,^^ .^^M^o "^^ ' J^" .0 <^ °-/ 4 q^ , ^■ r » * A ;* '^ V *»H0 ..^\: •-•' ^0' ' :'Ma'. v./ -'^^^ ^^..<^* y^A'. \ J' • < o o > li ^2-. Knoxtillk, Tens., August 11th, 1857. GtrMenxen: — In reply to your favors of the 10th and 11th inst., I have to say that I comply with your request, and have handed over my manuscript to the printers — and they authorize mo to say that they will have you 2000 copies, done up in workman-like style, during the Ses. sion of this Commercial Convektion. Should it be desired, I will engage to deliver throughout the South, the coming winter, not thai Lecture, but one more appropriate, and prepared with more care. Very truly, yours, Ac, WM. G. BROWNLOW. v'l SERMON. Text. — "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." — I Tim. vi : 1. Whoever reflects upon the nature af man, will find him to be almost entirely the creature of circumstances ; his habits and sentiments are, in a great measure, the growth of adventitious circumstances and causes — hence the endless variety and condition of our species. That race of men in our country known as Abolitionists, Free- Soilers, or as Black Repubhcans, look upon any deviation from the constant round in which tJiey have been spimiing out the thread of their existence, as a departure from. Nature's great system ; and from a known principle of our nature, the first impulse of these fanatics is to condemn. It is thus that a man born and reared in a Free State looks upon Slavery as unnatural and horrible, and in vi- olation of every law of justice and humanity ! And it is not unusual to hear bigots of this character, in their churches at the North, imploring the Divine wrath to let fall the consuming fires of heaven on that great Sodom and Gomorrah of the New World — all that vast extent of territory south of Mason & Dixon's Line, where this horrible practice prevails ! When an unprejudiced and candid mind examines into the past history of our race, and learns the fact which history develops, as the enquirer will, that a majority of mankind were slaves, he will be driven to the conclusion that the world, when first peopled by God himself, was not a world of freeman, but of slaves — the Declaration of American Independence to the contrary notwithstanding. Slavery was really established and sanctioned by Di- vine authority, among even God's chosen people — the fa- vored children of Israel. Abraham, the founder of this in- teresting nation, and the chosen servant of the Most High, was the owner of more slaves, at one time, than any cotton planter in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, or Mississip- pi; or ainy sugar planter in Louisiana. That magnificent shrine, the gorgeous Temple of Solomon, commenced and completed under the pious promptings of religion and an- cient free-masonry, was reared alone by the hands of slaves ! Egypt's venerable and enduring pyramids were reared by the hands of slaves ! Involuntary servitude, reduced to a science, existed in ancient Assyria and Babylon. The ten tribes of Israel were carried off to Ass^^ria by Shal- manezer, and the two strong tribes of Judah were subse- quently carried in triumph by Nebuchadnezzar to end their days in Babylon as slaves, and to labor to adorn the city. Ancient Phoenicia and Carthage were literally over- run with slavery, because the slave population outnum- bered the free and the owners of slaves. The Greeks and Trojans, at the siege of Troj'', were attended with large numbers of their slaves. Athens, and Sparta, and Thebes — indeed, the whole Grecian and Roman worlds — had more slaves than freemen. And in those ages which succeeded the extinction of the Roman empire in the West, slaves were the most numerous class. Even in the days of civilization and Christian light which rev- olutionized governments, laboring serfs and abject slaves were distributed throughout Eastern Europe, and a por- tion of Western Asia — conclusively showing that slavery existed over these boundless regions. In China, the worst forms of slavery have existed since its earliest history. And when we turn to Africa, we find slavery, in all its most horrid forms, existing throughout its whole extent, the slaves outnumbering the freemen at least three to one. Looking then, to the whole world, we may with confi- dence assert, that slavery in its worst forms subdues by far the largest portion of the human race ! Now, the inquiry is, how has slavery risen and spread over our whole earth? We answer, hij the laws of war, the state of property, the feebleness of govermnenis, the thirst for bargain and sale, the increase of crime^ and last, but not least, bij and ivith the consent and approbation of Deitij! These remarks may suffice by way of an introduction, and they will serve to indicate the course we intend to pursue, if the announcement of the text has not already done that. Let as many servants as are under the yoJce count their oivn masters worthy of all ho)ior, &c. The word here rendered servants means slaves converted to the Christian faith; and the word yolce signifies the state of slavery in which Christ and the Apostles found the world involved when the Christian Church was first or- ganized. By the word rendered masters we are to un- derstand the heathen masters of those christianized slaves. Even these, in such circumstances, and under such domi- nation, are commanded to treat their masters with all honor and respect, that the name of God, by which they were called, and the doctrine of God, to wit : Christianity, which they had professed, might not be blasphemed — might not be evil spoken of in consequence of their im- proper conduct. Civil rights are never abolished by any communication from God's Spirit; and those fiery bigots at the North who propose to abolish the institution of slavery in this country, are not following the dictates of God's Spirit or law. The civil state in which a man was before his conversion is not altered by that conversion ; nor does the grace of God absolve him from any claims which the State, his neighbor, or lawful owner may have had on him. All these outward things continue unaltered; hence, if a man be under the sentence of death for mur- der, and God see fit to convert him, he is not released from suffering the extreme penalty of the law ! The Church of Christ, when originally constituted, claimed no right, as an ecclesiastical organization, to in- terfere with the civil government. This was the princi- ple upon which the Church was founded, as announced by its immortal Head. When Christ was doomed by a cruel Roman law to its most iornominious condemnation he did not so much as resist it, because it loas laiv, nor did he complain of it as oppressive. " Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews ? . . . Jesus answered. My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; but now is my kingdom not from hence ... To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." — John xviii : 33-37. When Christ came into the world on the business of his mission, he found the Jewish people subject to the Roman kingdom ; and in no instance did he counsel the Jews to rebellion, or incite them to throw off the Roman yoke, as do the vagabond philanthropists of the North in reference to the existing laws of the United States upon the subject of slavery. Christ was, by lineal descent. " The King of the Jews," but he did not assert his tem- poral power, but actually refused to be crowned in that right. Under the Koman law, human liberty was held by no more certain tenure than the whim of the sovereign pow- er, protected by no definite constitution. Slavery con- stituted the most powerful and essential element of the government, and that slavery was of the most cruel char- acter, and gave the masters absolute discretion over the lives of the slaves. Notwithstanding all this, Christ did not make war upon the existing government, nor denounce the rulers for conferring such powers, although he looked upon cruel legislation in the light in which the character of his mission required. And although the Clmirch itself was not what it should have been, in no instance did Christ denounce that. The only denunciations the Sav- iour ever uttered were those against the doctors and law- yers, ministers and expounders of the Jewish code of ec- clesiastical law. For this he was crucified. And the Jewish gamblers who put him to death, divided out his garments, as you recollect, casting lots for them. And from that day to this, wherever you find a Jew, he is en- gaged in the clothing hisiness, either wholesaling or re- taihng " ready-made clothing !" But allow us to present the case of the Apostle Paul, as proof more palpable and overwhelming, on this very point. He had been falsely accused, cruelly imprisoned, and tyrannically arraigned; and that, too, before a hcen- tious governor, an unjust and dissipated ruler, and an un- principled infidel. The Roman law in force at the time arrested the freedom of speech, denied the rights of con- science, and even forbade the free expression of opinion in all matters conflicting with the provisions of the laws 8^ of the Roman government. In his defense before Felix, Paul never so much as speaks of Roman law, though well acquainted with it, but "he reasoned o? rig/iteousmss, and Umi^erance, and the judgment to come'' Here was a suitable occasion to condemn the regulations and to ques- tion the authority of the villainous statutes of Rome; but instead of this, Paul plead his rights imder the unjust regulations of the law. He charged Felix with official delinquency, with personal crime, and as a man, he held him up to public scorn, and threatened him with the ven- geance of God ! He appealed to the lata, and justified himself hy the law. He claimed the rights of a ^'Bo- man citizeif — demanded the protection due to a Roman citizen — and he scorned to find fault with the law, cruel and unjust as he knew it to be. And the consequence was, that the licentious infidel who ruled, " trembled^ The views we have here presented are not at all new, but have been uniformly acted upon by evangelical Christ- ians, in all ages of the world. Since the days of St. Paul and Simon Peter, no reformer has appeared who was more violent than that great and good man, Martin Lu- ther. John Calvin possessed a revolutionary spirit — he fought everything he believed to be wrong — he was un- mitigated in his severity. Yet neither of these great men ever made war upon the existing laws of their re- spective countries. John Wesley was the great reform- er of the past century — he reformed the whole ecclesias- tical machinery of the modern Church of Christ; and his doctrines, and manner of conducting revivals, are leading elements of American Christianity. But Mr. Wesley never made war upon the English government, under which he lived and died. On the other hand, it is a mat- ter of serious complaint among sectarians not friendly to the spread of Methodism, that Wesley wrote elaborately against the war of the Revolution. Mr. Wesley believed it to be religiously his duty to sustain the government under the reign of George III. ; and had we been placed in his circumstances, we should have imitated his exam- ple. He was devoted to law and order, and he deemed it a religious duty to oppose all resistance to existing laws. In his troubles at Savannah, Georgia — like Paul before the licentious governor — he appealed to the laiv, and sought by every means in his power to be tried under the law, asking only the privilege of being heard in his own defense ! And it was, in all the instances we have mentioned, " that the name of God and his doctrine he not hlasphemed^'' to quote the expressive language of the text, that existing laws have been adhered to by the propagators of gospel truth. One word more as to Mr. Wesley : He is quoted by Abolition Methodists against the Methodists South. It is a matter of record, that when Mr. Wesley returned from Savannah to England, after a residence of two years, in his Report to the Board of Missions who sent him out, he advised the purchase of more negroes for the use of the American Missions, saying that a small experiment in that way had worked well — that while their labor would prove valuable, the Missionaries would be servicable to them in a spiritual point of view ! The essential principles of the great moral law deHver- ed to Moses by God himself, are set forth in what is call- ed the tenth commandment, in the 20th chapter of Exo- dus : " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." Now, 'Cix^ only true inter- 10 pretation of this portion of the Word of God is, that the species of property mentioned are lawful, and that all men are forbid to disturb others in the lawful enjoyment of their property. " Man-servants and maid-servants" are distinctly consecrated as property^ and guaranteed to man for his exclusive benefit — proof irresistable that slavery was thus ordained by God himself. We have seen learned dissertations from the pens of Abolitionists, saying, that the term "servant," and not " slave," is used here. To this we reply, that both the Hebrew and Greek words translated "servant," mean also "slave," and are more frequently used in this sense than in the former. Besides, the Hebrew Scriptures teach us, that God especially authorized his peculiar people to purchase " BONDMEN FOR EVER ;" and if to be in bondage for ever does not constitute slavery^ we yield the point. The visionary notions of piety and philanthropy enter- tained by many men at the North, lead them to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of this government, and even to violate the tenth commandment, by stealing our " men- servants and maid-servants," and running them into what they call free territory. Nay, the villianous piety of some leads them to contribute Sharpens Rifles and Holy Bibles, to send the unciraumcised Philistines of New England into Kansas and Nebraska, to shoot down the Christian owners of slaves, and then to perform religious ceremonies over their dead bodies ! Clergymen lay aside their Bibles at the North, and females, as in the case of that model beauty, Harriet Beeelier Stowe, unsex them- selves to carry on this horrid and slanderous warfare against slaveholders of the South ! And English travel- ers, steeped to the nose and chin in prejudices against this government and our institutions, have written books 11 upon the subject. The Halls, Hamilton^, Trollopes, and Miss Martineaus, et ed omne genus, all have misrepre- sented us ! These English writers all denounce slavery and eulogize Benwcracy ; as if an Englishman could be a Democrat in the modern, vulgar sense of the term, and be a consistent man ! But we do not propose, in this brief discourse, to enter into any defense of the African slave trade. Although the evils of it are greatly exaggerated, its evils and cruel- ties, its barbarities, are not justified by the most ultra slaveholders of this age. The vile traffic was abohshed by the United States, even before the British Parliament pro- hibited it. All the powers in the world have subsequent- ly prohibited this trade — some of the more influential and powerful of them declaring it inracy, and covering the African seas with armed vessels to prevent it ! This trade, which seems so shocking to the feelings of mankind, dates its origin as far back as the year 1442. — Antony Gonzales, a Portuguese mariner, while exploring the coast of Africa, was the first to steal some Moors, and was subsequently forced by Prince Henry of Portugal to carry them back to Africa. In the year 1502, the Span- iards began to steal negroes, and employ them in the mines of Hispanoila, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1517, the Empe- ror Charles Y. granted a patent to certain privileged per- sons, to steal exclusively a supply of 4,000 negroes annu- ally for these islands ! African slaves were first imported into America in 1620, a century after their introduction into the West Indies. — The first cargo, of twenty Africans, by a Dutch vessel, was brought up the James River, into Virginia, and sold out as slaves. England then being the most commercial of European nations, engrossed the trade ; and from 1680 *2 to 1780, there were imported into the British Possessions alone, two millions of slaves — making an average annual importation of more than 20,000 ! And the annual im- portation into America has transcended 50,000 ! The States of this Union, north of Mason and Dixon's Line, commonly called the New England States, were never, to any great extent, daveholding ; their virtuous and pious minds were chiefly exercised in slave-stealing and slave- selUng ! To Old England our New England States owe their knowledge of the art of slave-stealing ; and to New England these Southern States are wholly indebted for their slaves. They stole the African from his native land, and sold him into bondage for the sake of gain. They kept but a few of their captives among themselves, be- cause it was not profitable to use negro labor in the cold and sterile regions of New England. And when they en- acted laws in the New England States abolishing slavery, they brought their negroes into the South and sold them before their laws could go into operation ! This is the true history of slavery in New England. They stole and sold property which it was not profitable to keep, and for which they now refuse all warranty. And what few American ships are in the trade now, at the peril of piracy, are New England ships. The pious and religious portion of New England Aboli- tionists, we take it, are the better portion, and in these we have no sort of confidence. Take, for example, the case of that great man, and powerful pulpit orator, Stephen Olin, who came into Georgia, and was introduced into the ministry by Bishop Andrew and his friends, and by this means married a lady owning a number of slaves. He sold them all for the money, pocketed the money, and re- turned to his congenial North ; and when Bishop Andrew 13 was arraigned before the General Conference of 1844, because he had married a widow lady owning a few slaves, this man Olin appeared on the floor, and spoke and voted against th^ Bishop ! Dr. Olin had washed his hands of the sin of slavery— had his money out at interest— and he was ready to plead for the rights of the poor African ! May we not exclaim, " Lord ! what is man ?" We are acquainted with many of the Abolitionists of the North connected with the Methodist Church ; and al- though we suppose that they are about as good as the Abolitionists of other denominations we have no confidence in them. The most of them would enter their fine churches on the Sabbath, preach for hours against the sin of slave- ry, shed their tears over the oppressions of the "servile progeny of Ham," in these Southern States ; and on the next day, in a purely business transaction, behind a coun- ter, or in the settlement of an account, cheat a Southern slave out of the 2^ewte?' that ornaments the head of his cane We have no confidence in either the Politician or the Dlvins at the North, engaged in the villainous agitation of the slavery question. There are good, reliable, and con- servative men at the North, and in the South, who came from the North, but they are not among these graceless agitators. And if we find any of them in Heaven, where we expect to go after death, we shall conclude they have got in by practicing a fraud upon the door-keeper ! There is much in the political papers of our country calculated, if not intended, to fan a flame of intense war- fare upon the subject of slavery, which can result in no possible good to any one. Those politicians who are ex- citing the whole country, and fanning society into a livid consuming flame, particularly at the North, have no sym- u pathies for the black man, and care nothing for his com- fort. They only seek their own glory. This political dis- quiet and commotion is giving birth to new and loftier schemes of agitation and disunion, among the vile Aboli- tionists of the country, and to bold and hazardous enter- prises in the States and Territories. And many of our Southern altars smoke with the vile incense of Abolition- ism. We have scores of Abolitionists in the South, in disguise — designing men — some filling our pulpits — some occupying high positions in our colleges— some editing pohtical and religious papers— s^me selling goods— and some following one calling aad some another, who, though among us, are not of us, Southern men may rest assured ! We endorse, without reserve, that much-abused senti- ment of a distinguished South Carolina statesmen, now no more, that "slavery is the cormer-stone of our republi- can edifice;" while we repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much lauded, but nowhere-accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson, that '' all men are born equal." God never in- tended to make the huicher a judge, nor the haJcer a presi- dent, but to protect thena aceording to their claims as butcher and baker. Pope has beautifully expressed this sentiment, where he has said : " Order is heaven's first law, and this eonfessed, Some are, and must be, greater tSvan the rest." We have gone among the free negroes at the North — we have visited their miserable dwellings in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and other points; and, in every in- stance, we have found them more miserable and destitute, as a whole, than the slave population of the South. In our Southern States, where negroes have been set at lib- erty, in nine cases out of ten their conditions have been made worse ; while the most wretched, indolent, immoral, 16 and dishonest class of persons to be found in the South- ern States, ?iVQ free persons of color. The freedom of negroes in even the Northern States, is, in all respects, only an empty name. The citizen negro does not vote, and takes good care not to do so. The law does not interdict him this privilege, but if he attempt to avail himelf of the privilege, he is apprehensive of '• apostolic blows and kicks," which the pious Abolitionists will ad- minister to him. All the social advantages, all the respect- able employments, all the honors, and even the pleasures of life, are denied the free negroes of the North, by citi- zens full of sympathy for the down-trodden African ! The negro cannot get into an omnibus, cannot enter a bar-room frequented by whites, nor a church, nor a theatre ; nor can he enter the cabin of a steamboat, in one of the North- ern rivers or lakes, or enter a first class passenger car on one of their railroads. They are not suffered to enter a stage-coach with whites, but are forced upon the deck, whether it shall rain or s-hine — whether it be hot or cold. Industry is closed to them, and they are forced to live as servants in hotels, or adopt the profession of barber, or boot-black, or open oysters in saloons, or sell villainous liquors to the lower classes of German and Irish emi- grants, who throng our large cities and towns. The ne- groes even have their own st/i^eets, and their own low-down kennels ; they have their hospitals, their churches, their cars, upon which are written in large letters, " FOR COL- ORED PEOPLE !" Finally, they are forced to have their own grave-yards— i\\.Q yellow remains of Northern Aboli- tionists, and pious white men, refusing to mingle with the bleeching bones of the dead negro ! While, in the South, they crowd the galleries and back seats in our churches, travel in our passenger cars, and even loan tJieir money 16 to our white men at interest ! Such is an outline of the contrast between free negroes at the North, and slaves at the South. Let us turn again to the Holy Scriptures, and see wheth- er or not they sustain or condemn the institution of slave- ry. The opposers of slavery profess to be governed alone by the teachings of the Bible, in their war upon this in- stitution. It IS vain to look to Christ or any of his Apos- tles to justify the blasphemous perversions of the word of God, continually paraded before the world by these graceless agitators. Although slavely in its most revolt- ing forms was everywhere visible around them, no vision- ary notions of piety or schemes of philanthropy ever tempt- ed either Christ or one of his Apostles to gainsay the law, even to mitigate the cruel severity of the slavery system then existing. On the contrary, finding slavery estaUisJv- ed hy law, as well as an inevikible and necessary conse- quence, growing out of the condition of human society, their efforts were to sustain the institution. Hence St. Paul actually apprehended a ''fugitive slaved' and sent him back to his lawful owner and earthly master ! Having already appealed to the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, we turn to that of the New, where we learn that slavery existed in the earliest days of the Christian Church, and that both masters and slaves were members of the same Christian congregations. Slavery was an institution of the State in the Roman empire, as it is in the Southern States of this confederacy, and the Apostles did not feel at liberty to denounce it, if, indeed, they felt the least opposition to it— a thing we deny. But, before we appeal to the irresistable authority of the New Testament, we will submit a few only of a great many passages from the Old Testament— not having quo- 17 ted as extensively as may hav€ been deemed necessary : "And he said, I am Abraham's servant." — Gen. xxiv: 34. " And there was of the house of Saul a servant, whose name was Ziba ; and when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba ? And he said, Tkt/ servant, is A«." — 2 Sam. ix: 2. •' Then the king called to Ziba, SnuV s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul, and to all his house." — Verse 9th. " Thou, therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shall bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat, &c. Now Ziba has fifteen sons aud twenty sekv.\nts^" — Verse 10th. " I got my servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house ; also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jerusa- lem before me." — Eccles. ii : 7. "And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence earnest thou? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. — Gen. rvi: 8. " And the Angel of the Lord said unto her. Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself to her hands."— Verse 9th. The only comments we have to offer upon these passa- ges are, first, one individual acknowledges himself the owner of twenty slaves ! Another was raising slaves, and having them born in his house! ! And last, but not least, the angel of God ordered the fugitive slave to return to her lawful owner ! ! High authority, this, for apprehend- ing runaway slaves. But if we were to tell a Northern Abolitionist, that the Angel of God was acting in the capacity of a United States Marshall, and aided in arresting '^fugitive slave, he would think us crazy ! In reference to bad servants, we read in Prov. xxix : 19— " A servant will not be corrected by words ; for though be understand, he will not answer." The Scriptures look to the correction of servants, and really enjoin it, as they do in the case of children. We esteem it the duty of Christian masters to feed and clothe well, and in case of disobedience to whip well. In the book of Joel iii: 8, the slave trade is recognized as of Divine authority : 18 "And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the land of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to the people far off; FOR THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT !" " Let every man abide in the same calling ■wherein he was called. Art thou called, being a servant? Care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freemen; likewise also that he is called, being free, is Christ's servant." — 1 Cor. vii: 20-22. " Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters accordivg to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good-will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men : knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven: neither is there respect of persons with him." — Eph. vi: 5-9. ^'Servants, obey in all things your masters according to thefte^h : not with eye- service, as men-pleasers ; but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And what- soever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men : knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.''— Col. iii: 22-25. " blasters, give unto i/our servants that which is just and equal : knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." — Col. iv: 1. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their ozvn masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrines be not blasphemed. And that they have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather to do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort." — 1 Tim. vi: 1, 2. *' Exhort servants to be obedient unto their ou-fi masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; nor purloining, but showing all good fidelity ; thet they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour and all things." —Titus ii : 9, 10. ^'Servants, be subject to your viasters vrith all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a mau for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." — 1 Peter ii: 18, 19. " We have but a single word of comment to offer upon these passages of Scripture. The original words used by the Greek writers, both sacred and profane, to express slave ; the most abject condition of slavery ; to express the absolute owner of a slave, and the absolute control of a slave, are the strongest that the language affords, and are used in the passage here quoted. If the apostles un- derstood the common use of words, and desire to convey these ideas, and to recognize the relations of master and servant, they would naturally enough, employ the very words used. To say that they did not know the primary 19 meaning and usus loquendi of the original words, is pay- ing tliem a compliment we wish not to participate in ! — And to show we are not singular in our views of the mean- ing expressed in the passages quoted, showing that they express in one case slaves, and in the other masters or owners, actually holding them as property, under the sanc- tion of the laws of the State, we quote from the follow- ing authorities : That great commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, on 1 Cor. vii: 21, says: " Art thou converted to Christ while thou art a slave — the property of an- other person, and bought with his money? Care not for it." The learned Dr. Neander, in his work entitled " Plant- ing and training the Church," in referring to Onesimiis, mentioned in the epistle to Philemon, says of him : " It does not appear to be at all surprising that a runaivay slave should be- take himself at once to Rome." To the foregoing might be added other authorities of equal weight and importance. It is a well-known historical fact, that slaveholders were admitted into the Apostolic Churches; nor Avould this as- sumed position of the advocates of slavery be at all de- nied by any intelligent and well-read man at the North, but for the fact that they think such an admission would decide the question against Abolitionists. We have given much attention to this subject within ten years past, and we feel no sort of delicacy in expressing our views and convictions, as revolting as they may be to Northern men and Free-soilers, even among us. We believe the primi- tive Christians held slaves in bondage, and that the Apos- tles favored slavery, by admitting slaveholders into the Church, and by promoting them to official stations in the 20 Church. And why do we believe this ? Because we are sustained in these positions by uninterrupted historical testimony ! Well, for the information of Abolitionists and other anti-slavery men dispersed throughout the South, we as- sume that the fact of the Apostles admitting into Church- fellow^ship slaveholders, and promoting them to positions ; of honor and trust, shows that the simple relation of mas- ter and slave was no bar to Church-membership. Mas- ters and slaves, in the days of the Apostles, were admitted into the Church as brethren; they partook in common of the benefits of the Church; they held to the same relig- j ious principles ; they squared their lives by the same rule of conduct; acknowledged the same obligations one to another^ and worshipped at the same altar. This was true of tJie first and succeeding centuries, when the rela- tions of master and slave, and the practice of the Church in reference thereto, were very much like they are in the Southern States of our Union at present. But to the proof that slaveholders were admitted into the Apostolic Churches : 1. Historians all agree that slavery existed, and was general throughout the Roman empire, at the time the Apostolic Churches were instituted. We have at our command the authorities to prove this, but to quote from them would swell this discourse beyond what we have intended. We will cite the authorities only ; and anti- slavery men who deny our position can examine our au- thorities. See Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Boman empire," vol. i. See " Inquiry into Roman Slavery, by Wm. Blair," Edinburgh edition of 1833. See vol. iv. of "Lardner's Works," page 213. See vol. i. of "Dr. Rob- ertson's Works," London edition. Other authorities 21 might be given, but these are sufficient, as they show that slavery was a civil institution of the State; that the Roman laws regarded slaves as 'property, at the disposal of their masters; that these slaves, whether white or col- ored, had no civil existence or rights, and contended for none; and that there were three slaves to one eiiizen — showing something of a similarity between the Roman em- pire and our Southern States ! Gibbon says that slavery existed in "every province and every family," and that they were bought and sold according to their capacities for usefulness, and the demand for labor — selling at hund- reds of dollars, and from that down to the price of a beast of burden ! Now, it is notorious that the gospel made considerable progress among the citizens of the Roman empire; and, as nearly every ftimily owned slaves, it is certain that slaveholders were converted and admitted into the Church. It will not do to say Irhat the poor, in_ eluding the slaves, were alone converted to God, because the Apostles make frequent allusions to the receiving into the Church of intelligent, learned, and opulent persons. The learned Dr. Mosheim, in his Church History, vol. i., relating to the Jirst three centuries, settles this question most effectually. He says : " The Apostles, in their writings, prescribe rules for the conduct of the rich as well as the poor, for masters as well as servants — a convincing proof that among the members of the Church planted by them were to be found persona of opulence and masters of families. St. Paul and St. Peter admonished Christian women not to study the adorning of themselves with pearls, with gold and silver, or costly array. 1 Tim. ii: 9, — 1 Peter iii: 3. It is, therefore, plain that there must have been women possessed of wealth adequate to the purchase of bodily ornaments of great price. From 1 Tim. vi : 20, and Col. ii: 8, it is manifest that among the first converts to Christianity there were men of learning and philosophers ; for, if the wise and the learned had unan- imously rejected the Christian religion, what occasion could there have been for this caution. 1 Cor. i: 26, unquestionably carries with it the plainest in- timation that persons of rank or power were not Avholly wanting in that assem- bly. Indeed, lists of the names of the various illustrious persons who embrac- ed Christianity, in its weak and infantile state, are given by Blondel, p. 235 de Episcopis et Presbyteris; also by Wetstein, in his Preface "to Origen'a Dia. Con. Mar., p. 18." 22 Having considered this text in the light of truth, and having demonstrated, most clearly, as we think, that God intended the relation of master and slave to exist, we will avail ourselves of the advantages of this occasion, to vindicate the Methodist Church, South, so far as her position upon the slavery question is concerned. We do not pretend to have given the precise views of the South- ern Methodist Church, touching the moral character of Slavery, in this discourse. By her separate organization in 1844, on account of the slavery agitation — by her teaching and discipline, she has expressed her approba- tion of the Institution, as it exists in the Southern States. Not only so, but in her separate Southern organization, she has enacted laws and adopted regulations, touching the duties of masters and slaves, and the rights of the South, in connection with slavery, so as to have been styled by the entif e North, an infamous p^o-slavery church I Slavery is intimatel}^ interwoven, with the organization of the Methodist Church, South — it has penetrated all departments of her organization, and in consequence there- of, has armed against herself the whole power of the North. Indeed, the Free-Soilers and Abolitionists of this country, in assailing the Southern Methodist Church, consider they are assailing the institution of slavery. The General Assembly of the New School Presbyterian Church, at its recent Session in Cleveland, Ohio, and in consequence of the anti-slavery sentiments of the North- ern portion of their body, and their continued agitation of the vexed question, resolved upon a separation— that is, the Southern representatives did — and they appointed the 27th of this month, as the time, and Washington city as the place for organizing a Southern General As- sembly. Their brethren at Washington, not being alto- 23 gether pleased with the idea of a pro-slavery convention there, have objected — and hence their meeting is to take place at Richmond, the capitol of the Old Dominion. In the Pre-^hyUrian Witness, for July 14, 1857, and from the pen of the Rev. F. A. Ross, one of the leading members from the South, who led off in this work of separation, appears, in glorification of this movement, greatly disparaging other sects, and actually misrepresen- ting the position of the Methodist Church, South, which led off in this work, thirteen years in advance of Mr. Ross's church. Speaking of the present position of the Southern wing of the New School Church, he says : "We, indeed, hold now the only defined ground, on the slavery question, in the United States or the world. " Ordained of God"— for its day of good, to master, and slave, and the State. There it is — clear, intelligible, common sense, Bible truth. No other body of men have given us any position at all. The Methodists split, and gave us nothing. The Baptists split, and gave us nothing. The Episcopalians hold together, and give us nothing. The Old School hold together, and give us nothing." Mr. Ross has been invited by his friends here, to de- liver his address on Slavery, during i\\Q Session of the '' Southern Comjiercial Convention" which convenes in this city to-morrow, and it is fair to presume, he will com- ply with this request. As he will in all probabihty, make this same statement, we have deemed it proper to set him right on this vital point of difference between us, and publicly to vindicate the truth of history. It is a very remarkable statement, that neither the Methodists, Baptists, Episcopahens, nor Old School Pres- byterians, " have any defined ground on the slavery question," or have given the South " any position at all," on this great issue ! True, these denominations have been in conflict with the North, for more than twenty years, on the moral character of slavery, and the fiercely 2^ contested question of Southern Rights, but none of them have been able to settle down upon any '^ defined ground," until the light of the brilliant action of twe)ity-nx men, representing about tv)o hundred Preachers, and ^tiW few- er congregations, dawned upon the world at Cleveland, in May last ! It will not be expected of us, that we will enter into a defense of others, but as he has singled out the Method- ists, we have a right to defend them against this wilful at- tempt at disparagment. " The Methodists split, and gave us nothing," — that is in the way of a " defined ground," or of a "position," on the great slavery issue of the nine- teenth century! We repeat, this is a singular statement- Without doing the least injustice to any other body of Southern Christians, we may say, the Methodists have not only given a " defined ground" upon which they proud- ly stand, upon the slavery question, but have entirely separated from the North. The Methodists of the South, have been in conflict with the North for at least a quarter of a centur}^, and are now denounced as a pro-slavery church, dealing in human flesh, for the sake of gain ! In 1844, at the General Conference held in New York, a " Plan of Separation" was agreed upon, and Commission- ers were subsequently appointed to adjust and settle all matters pertaining to the division of the Church property and funds. And having provided for the organization of a Southern General Conference in the slave-holding States, before leaving New York, a Convention was agreed upon, to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, to com- mence the 1st of May, 1845 — comj^osed of delegates from the several Annual Conferences, South. These Annual Conferences were instructed, or rather their dele- gates, as to the points on which they were to act — and 25 their contemplated action was to conform to the opinions and wishes of the mennher'sliifp within tlieir several Con- fereiwe hounds — all of which was rigidly carried out. The Louisville Convention met, ably and fully attended, and resolved itself into a "• separate and distinct ecclesiastical connection" — leaving our Ministers and Members, of every grade and office at liberty to adhere North or South. The question of a separation was now considered as finally settled. Not so, however, the leading Church papers of the North — Methodists, Baptists, and Presby- terians, set themselves diligently to work to prove to the world, that this Southern Methodist organization was an actual 'sec€Ssio)i^ and a seism of the worst sort. These Northern papers came down upon this Southern organiza- tion, as a pro-slavery Church, the sole object of which was, to strengthen slavery in the South, and to encourage and protect slaveholding in the Ministry. Even Dr. Ross, here in the South — not then surrounded by the slavery influences which now surround him in Alabama, came down upon our •' defined ground,'' in sledge-hammer style, in his *' Calvinistic Magazine" — he denied us the credit then, as he does now, of taking a " position" in favor of the South, and attributed our separation to the defects in a rickety system of Church Goveimmeni I Without pausing to speak of his consistency, we may be permitted to speak of his want of charity, for a sister Church, struggling against a God-forsaken combination of Free-soilers, Black Republicans, and Abolitionists. We resided in the same town of Kingsport, in East Tennessee, some twenty years ago, with Doct. Ross, and \iQ personcdly knew him to have been an Emancipation- ist at that time. He actually set fifteen or twenty slaves free — and was accustomed to preach against the institution 26 of slavery ! We will not now pause to enquire why this change has " come o'er the spirit of his dreams !" Suffice it to say, that he is the Pastor of a congregation of Ala- bama slave holders, and has no visible means of support, aside from his salary ! In those day, when Dr. Ross was notoriously an eman- cipationist, he wrete to Kentucky, from Kingsport, and from that letter we gather the following extract, copied into the Yelloio Springs {Ohio) Preshjterian, from the New Yorh Indejjendent — in both of which Journals we have seen it : " In Kentucky you are in advance of us in preparation for measures of eman- cipation. But if we were not joined politically to West Tennessee, we of East Tennessee wotild be moving even before you of Kentucky on this subject. Our soundest politicians would at once have their deliberations drawn to in- cipient measures, were they not restrained by our connection with the other part of (he State." But, with characteristic hypocrisy and dishonesty, the Northern Methodist Church, repudiated the " Plan of Separation," and the adjustment in reference to the church property and funds, and the Southern Commissionners instituted legal proceedings against them, in the United States courts, at Cincinnati, and New York, where the Church property was located. This suit cost the Church, South, over sixteen thousand dollars, but we recovered near a half million of dollars ! The Lawyers who con- ducted the suit on behalf of the South, were Lord, of New York, Webster, of Massachusetts, Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, Stansbury and Corwin, of Ohio, and Bryant, of Tennessee. With the property and funds recovered, our Church has established a Mammoth Book Concern, or Publishing House, at Nashville, which is now in successful operation. We have organized a " Missionary Society of the Metho- dist Church, South," which is now contributing as much 27 money for Missionary purposes, as the entire Church did before the separation. We have our " Tract Society of the Methodist Church, South," doing an extensive, and truly good work. We have our " Sunday School Union, of the Methodist Church, South," withits periodical, the '' Visitor," doing an extensive, and a glorious work. We have our seven " Ghristian Advocates-^'' weekly organs of the General Conference, with their one hundred tlwumnd sid)-scribers, doing battle for the interests of the South, and making their marks most eifectually. These large and telling sheets, are published in Richmond, Charleston, Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, and Texas ! And still, strange to relate, '' the Methodists split, and gave the South nothing," not even a '-'defined ground!" on the slavery question ! What next? We have twenty -three Anmial Confer- ttiees, in our division of the Church — 2200 Traveling Ministers, and six Bishops, who travel extensively, and superintend the entire work, from the Potomac to Cah- fornia. Beside these we have four thousand seven hun- dred Loccd Preachers, who, though not in the regular work, as Pastors, preach a great deal, and embody a great amount of talents. Within the bounds of these 23 Con- ferences, we have a membership of SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED ! Out of this number, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN- TY-THREE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE, are colored persons, and slaves at that, with but very few exceptions. We hazard nothing in saying that the Methodist Church, South, is doing more, and expending more money and labor to improve the spiritual condition of the slaves, than all other denomina- tions within the same bounds. And we are certain that 28 our church is doing more for the souls and bodies of the slaves, than all the Wendell Philipses, Joshua Giddingses, Beechers, Garrisons, Parkers, and other unprincipled freedom shriekers, and false-hearted Abolitionists, now out of Hell! And still. Dr. Ross says, the Southern Methodists have no " defined ground on the slavery ques- tion." It is hoped if he deliver an address here the in- coming week, he will explain to us what a " defined ground" is, for surely it needs explanation ! What next? Let us see what Dr. Ross's Church has done for the South, and what its capacUy is to do, as it evidently now has the will. The New School Presby- terian Church, in the IT^iited States, entire, has fifteen HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE MINISTERS, and ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE THOUSAND MEMBERS, morc than tlirce-fourtlis of xvhom are North, leaving the remainder almost powerless for good in the South. We are pleased to seethe Southern portion of the New School Presbyterian Church, take the stand they have upon this question— they occupy "defined ground" now, though they have been a long time finding it— they have been tliirteen years in the rear of our Church. They have a ri-ht to claim the promise of God, under that clause in the Divine Constitution which says, "the last shall be first'' Until the action of the Southern wing of this Church at Cleveland, her Ministers and members were looked upon as occupying equivocal gvom^d. on the slavery question. Within the past year, the Editor of the Pre^ hyterian Witness acknowledged that he had not been suffi- ciently Southern in his views and teachings, and announ- ced his determination to take more " defined ground" upon the great issue between the North and the South ! More recently, the " Witness' has urged as an objection to the 29 New School Theological Seminary at jMaryville, that too many of its graduates have gone forth with " a ivarm mde for Abolitionism' — charging in substance, that such senti- ment were there inculcated. When we came to this city to reside, eight years ago, we found a Northern Abolitionist Pastor of the New School Church here. His gold spectacles, his penetrating mink-eye, and a sharp face like an oak leaf coming at you edge-wise, and his singular carriage on our streets, are all plain before us yet ! In Rogersville, the New School Church has been served with an avowed Abolition Pastor, and a Northern man, for the last six or eight years — a man who had been marched out of North Carolina, to quick time, for his anti-slavery sentiments — for having his "ground" upon the slavery question too well defined as we have been told by a Presbyterian minister! He has recently had a prominent member of his Church before his congregation, for daring to chastise a villainous run- away negro, and it has resulted in his being removed from his Pastoral charge. But it has not stopped there. The retired Pastor is showing up the member and congregation, in Northern Abohtion papers, for inhuman treatment of a slave ! That Church has other men in East Tennessee, and in other Southern States, in pulpits, at the head of Schools and Academies, and in the practice of Medicine, in whose friendship to the " peculiar institution of the South," we have no more confidence than we have in the august assemblage that nominated Fremont for the Presi- dency ! Yes, there are scores of designing men in the South — some filling pulpits, some practicing Medicine, and others occupying high positions in Colleges, who secretly fight under the piratical fl:ig of Black Republican- ism, and whose infernal altars smoke with the incense of Northern fanaticism ! 1/ 30 This anti-slavery Preacher. Mr. Sawyer, has been the pastor of the New School Presbyterian Church, at Rogers- ville, only 75 miles east of here, for the last several years. A worthy gentleman in his church, daring to sell a villain- ous negro — that negro running away, has been apprehend- ed, and severely chastised, as he deserved to be, and the gentleman member of the Church, selling him, has been discussed before the Church "Session." Since then, the retired Pastor has issued a large hand-bill in which he assumes : " It is all a delusion and a lie, that a man has a right to do what he pleases ■with his property, regardless of the rights and feelings of others !" And again, speaking of the chastisement of this slave, this circular says : *' Many regarded it as an insult to the citizens of our town, to bring MUsi!:- sippi brutalities so close to our doors .'" The Yellow Springs (Ohio) Preshi/terian^ for July 2nd. alluding to this subject says : "But our story is not ended. Six weeks ago this same pastor wrote to -x friend in this city, " There is not one pro-slavery man in Holstou Presbytery. We arc all opposed to tint system of slavei-y. But still we do not like the in- terference of the Home Missionary Society with this matter." Now he writes. " I have seen the dark side of slaverj'. I must leave. Find me a parish in any free state from JIaine to Kansas." Here Mr. Sawyer even represents every Minister in the Holston Presbytery as " opposed to the system of slavery !" This startled us, but upon looking over the proceedings of the Presbytery, held only in last month, certified to by this retired Pastor, who acted as Secretary. we find, among other propositions adopted, these : " 1. Slavery is not necassarilj' sinful, or sin per se. 2. It is not a permanent or desirable Institution and is to be continued uo longer than the good of the master and slave requires it. .3. The gospel is the remedy for it, and christians should strive for its removal in the spirit of the gospel.'' 31 And yet, strange to say, this is the Church proposing a Southern organization ! Here is a " defined ground," with a vengeance ! In conclusion, the charge is that the Methodists have given the South no position at all, on the great slavery question. Great men will differ. A distinguished States- man, and patriot, now no more, dehvered a- speech in the United States Senate, on the 4th of March, 1850, and it was his dying speech. He was posted on the slavery question in all its bearings, and watched the movements of jxarties with sleepless vigilance. Speaking of the effect of the Abolition agitation upon the religious cords which assisted in holding the Union together, he said : " The first of these cords which snapped under its explosive force (Aboli- tionism) Tvas that of the powerful Methodist Episcopal Church. The numer- ous and strong ties which held it together are all broke, and its unity goue.'^ These are among the dying words of that great and towering intellect, and tried patriot, John C. Calhoun, who literally died in Southern hayiiess, battling for our rights. A man of unblemished private character, and a firm believer in the truths of the Bible, we hope he has found a calm and welcome retreat from the cares and anxieties of political warfare, in the paradise of God ! 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