E 449 .W572 Copy 2 T HE METHODIST OllUnCII SLAVERY BY CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. NEW YORK : AMEEICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 5 BEEKMAN" ST. BOSTON : 21 CORNHILL. 1859. THE METHODIST CHUnCH AlsD SLAVERY. What is the relation of the Methodist Churcli to Slavery ? We shall look, for information upon this point, first to its * Discipline ' and other official doc- uments, and next to the statements of its Bishops, ministers, elders and lay members. The constitution and rules, the articles and can- ons of the Methodist Church, are contained in a lit- tle volume of 240 pages, known as 'The Discipline,' and entitled — *The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church.' The latest edition, (of 1856,) from which we quote, is certified as correct, and recommended to all Methodists as needful, ' next to the word "of God,' for their instruction and gui- dance, by the signatures of the Bishops, as follows: Beverly Waugh, Matthew Simpson, Thomas A. Morris, Osmon C. Baker, Edmund S. Janes, Levi Scott. Edward R. Ames, This volume, after the « xVrticles of Heligion,' gives the « General Rules ' of the Methodist Church. In this chapter, following the statement that a religion really fixed in the soul will be shown by its fruits, and that tliosc fruits must be shown — ' By doing no );nrm, by avoiding evil of c\Qry V\x\(\, especially that \-hich is most ffeticralhj practised,' comes the fol- lowing ppccifuntion, distinguished by italics among iho lliingH to be avoided : — • The buying and selling of men, tconien and chil- dren, with the intention to enslave them,' Chnpter iii., of Part I. of the Discipline, treats — • Of the lliRht? and Privilcf^es of our Colored Mem- bers,' and ita first specification is as follows : — ♦ I. Our colored prcncliers and official meml)ors b)ki11 h;ivc all the jrivilc^oH wiiich are usual to oth- ers in Quarterly Conferences, aviiere the usages of THE COINTKV Do NOT lOKlIlD IT.' p. 8G. This concession to the usages of a slavcholding country, in a book of religious i)rincii)les and rules, nddre»."ed to men presumed already to be Christians, ifc Bomewhat remarkable ; but the closing cl^apter of I'art III., expressly divoted to the subject of Slavery, xnnkefi still gi cater concessions. "SVc quote it entire, as follows : — •CIIAPTKR VII. OK SLAVERY. i^^w u. — What shall be done for the extirpation of the evil of shivery ? -'lfi.«. — 1 . We declare that we are as niueli as ever convineeil of the p;rent evil of slavery : therefore, no Bluvelioldrr shall hr dif/ihle to any ojficial station in our church hcreoflcr, where the laws oi" the State IX Wnit II UK LIVE.S WILL ADMIT OF EMANCirATIOX, and pTinit the libimted slave to enjt)y freedom. 2. Wlu-n any trardlint/ prrarhtr beeoines an own- er ol u ^slavc or blaves, by any uieans, ho tfliall forfeit his ministerial character in onr Church, unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal cniancijation of such slaves, conforraably to the law of the State in which he lives. 3. All our preachers shall /)rw^e72//?/ enforce upon our members the necessity of teaching THEIR SLAVES to read the word of God ; and to allow them time to attend upon the public worship of God on our regular days of divine service.' pp. 212, John Wesley declared slavery to be — * the mm of all villanies.' When the Bishops, his successors, in answer to their own question, above, declare themselves « as much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery,' and commence their rule upon this subject with the words — 'therefore, no slaveholder '—should we not naturally look for an absolute prohibition of the re- ceiving, or retaining, slaveholders in church-mem- bership ? We find it, however, assumed in the above rules, as a matter of course, that some of the members, and some of the local preachers, will be slaveholders, and remain such, without rebuke ; and also, that where- ever iniquity shall be framed into a law so atrocious as to forbid emancipation, there those who practise it shall be eligible to any official station in the Metho- dist Church, even though this law may have been made by their own votes as citizens ! It is well known that there was niade, in 1845, a division of the Methodist Episcopal Church^ into two parts, Northern and Southern. The volume we are oxnmining (^bouglit at the Methodist book-store in Uoslou) snys notlnng whatever about this separation, and (1«)C8 not proclaim itself to be the Discipline of the Mctluulist Ch\irch Xorth. Its provisions in favor cf ifhwcholdira (in spite of the rule first quoted, ■Hainut the buyiny and selling of slaves) look as if dc>iRncd for the Southern C'iiurch. How is this doubtful jxiint to be settled ? The answer to'lhis question is found only by exam- ining the ' IJoundaries of tl'.e Annual Conferences,' pp. 158—173. from wliich it appears that aU the free States and Territories arc embraced under its jurisdic- t'um, and aUo the fullotriiiy slave States, either entire or in purl : — Delaware, Maryland, Virj{inia, Kentucky, Miwouii, Arkansas, Texas. The following questions tlien arise for our consid- •niiion : — I. Arc thc*c rulctt, nowexihting in the • Discipline' of Ihc Northern Mtthodi»t Church, and tolerating nolonlr unjuitt diftinciions between wlnte and color- • J preachers and white and colored church-mcm- bM>r« of the Nurihcrn Cliurth actually u>e the •hamfful liciMiKc ihuD given r -'. lit the divUioii of lbi.},did iKcNoithcrn portion of the Cliurcl\ ^vitlulraw on account of the slavchold- jng practised by the Sonthcvn portion ? 3. After the division Mas made, did the Northern Churcli, and docs it now, receive and retain slave- holders as church-members in its Conferences in the border slave States, or only such persons in those States as refuse to hold slaves ? We shall present evidence upon these points from the testimony of well-known, trustworthy and respon- sible Methodist ministers and church-members ; and we shall first answer the second question. The division of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845, though made upon a jjoint connected with slavery, was neither a protest against slaveholding by the Northern Church, nor a separation made by that Church at all ; it was a secession by the Southern Cliurch, because the Northern brethren, who had per- mitted the enlargement and the strengthening of sla- very at several successive periods, and in various ways, would not go the further length of consenting that the BlsJwps should be slaveholders ! • The latest of the triumphs of slavery, in the Metho- dist Church, referred to, had been carried at the Gen- eral Conference of 1840 ; among these were the adop- tion of the two resolutions following : — 1. A resolution offered by llev. Dr. Ignatius A. Few, seconded by Dr. George Peck, and adopted by the Conference, 74 to 46, as follows : — ' Resolved, That it is inexpedient and unjustifial ble for any preacher among us to permit colored per- sons to give testimony against wliite persons in any Stat^^ whore tlicy arc denied that privilege in tri- uIm at hiw.' hurnal, vol. II, p. 00. II. A resolution (the conclusion of a report made by u Conmiittce of nine, upon a memorial, presented fruni lifttcn official members of "Westmoreland Cir- cuit, Baltimore Conference, complaining that ordina- tion had been -withheld from some of their local prcudicrs, nurcly because they were slaveholders,) adopted by the Conference, as follows : — ' Resolved, by the delegates of tlie several Annu- al Conferences asseml)led, Tliat, under tl«e provi- hiunal exception of the general rule of the Church tin the sunject of slavery, the simple holding of chives, or mere ownership of slave property, in States or Territories where the laws do not admit of < uuincijiation, and permit the liberated slave to en- j'ly (reednnj, Constitutes no legal barrier to the elec- titin »»r ordination of niinisters to the various grades ol cfTu'e known in tlie ministry of the Metiiodist Kpiseopal Church ; and cannot, therefore, be con- sidered u» oiicrating any forfeiture of right in view of such election and ordination.* — JournaL vol. II., p. 171. Since the General Conference of 1840 had so far endorsed tho doctrine that slavcholding sliould be no bar to the ministry, it is not strange that at their next Ms*ic.n, 181 J, one of the Bishops of the Metho- diAl Kpiciopnl Chuicli, Kcv. James O. Andrew, Mas found to bo • HJavcholdcr. The Committee on Episcopacy were directed to in- cjuiru into ilie facth in the cahc of Bishop Andrew, and rijiuri them to the (Jencral Conference the next day. 1 hey did to, aud pre»cntcd a report, containing a 9 statement drawn up by Bishop Andrew himself, ad- mitting tliat he held the legal relation of slaveholder and claiming the right to hold it. The Bishops united in an Address to the Conference, speaking of this admitted and defended f-laveholding as ' the embarrassment of Bishop Andrew,' and ear- nestly recommending the postponement of further ac- tion in his case until the ensuing General Conference, foup years after. The Conference, however, were not willing to let the matter rest thus, and finally adopted the following, by a vote of 110 to 68 : ' Whereas, the Discipline of our Church forbids the doin g of any thing calculated to destroy out itinerant general superintendency ; and whereas, Bishop Andrew has become connected with slavery by marriii^ge and otherwise, and this act having drawn alter it circumstances which, in the estima- tion of the General Conference, will greatly embar- rass the exercise of his office as an itinerant general superintendent, if not in some places entirely pre- vent it ; therefore, Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Conference that he desist from the exercise of his office as long as this impediment remains.' — Jour- nal for 1844, pp. 65, 66. A full account of the proceedings of the General Conference in this case, with the most important offi- cial papers connected with it, and specimens of speeches made on both sides, may be found in Rev^ Dr. James Dixon's * Methodism in America,' pp. 424- 462. A brief statement is made of it, too, in a recent pamphlet, by Rev. H. Mattison, of the Black River (N. Y.) Conference, entitled • The Impending Crisi; 10 of 18G0 : or, the Present Connection of the Methodist Kpiscopnl Church vith Slavery, and her duty in re- gard to it.' Of the action of the General Conference in regard to Bishop Andrew, (expressed in the forego- ing preamble and resolution,) Mr. Mattison justly says — p. So — ♦ No complaint ia here made on moral grounds against episeopal slavolndding. It is solelj on the ground that a slaveholding Bishop yrould nut he y\v\\ received in New England and other Northern States. Besides, the Bishop was left a Bishop still — aye, and a slavcholdlng Bishop, with his name in the [)iKciplino and Ilymn-book, and drawing his salary the same as otliLT Bisliops.' And he adds, briefly sketching the secession, and tlie grounds on which, and the party by which, it was made — ' The Soutlirrn delegates, finding that a slight i'hcck was altout to bo put upon slavery, so far as tlif rpisropacy was i-oncerncd, iirst jirtitcsted, then got ;i plan of j<(']iaration adojited, and iiiially went home and seceded, taking with them most of the niembership in the slaveholding States. In due time they sued the Book Agents, and fro-slavcnj /uif(/tx gave them a large share of the Church pro- iHTty ; und they now constitute the ' Methc>dist KiiimHijuil Church South,' and are])reeding, buying, m'lling, owning, and whipping negroes to their hearts' content, having stripped every thing out of tlie I>is<-ipline that ^\ould even forbid their bishops Ironi going into theAfrinm Klave-tradc' — jip. 35, 30. The •ttion rrftrrrd to in the last dause of this cxtrncl Wii.s taVm May lOtli, 18'j8, by the fourth 11 • (ieiieral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,' held at Nashville, Tennessee, and is as follows : — Whereas, The rule in the General Rules of tho Methodist Episcopal Chflrch, South, forbidding ' the buying and selling of men, women and children, Avith an intention to enslave them,' is ambiguous in its phraseology, and liable to be construed as an- tagonistic to the institution of slavery, in regard ^o which the church has no right to meddle, except in enforcing the duties of masters and servants, as set forth in the Holy Scriptures ; and whereas, a strong desire for the expunction of said rule has been ex- pressed in nearly all parts of our ecclesiastical con- nection ; therefore. Resolved, 1. By the delegates of the Annual Con- ferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in General Conference assembled, that the rule for- bidding ' the buying and selling of men, women and children, with an intention to enslave them,' be ex- punged from the General Rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Resolved, 2. That in adopting the foregoing res- olution, this Conference expresses no opinion in re- gard to the African slave-trade, to Avhich the rule in question has been ' understood' to refer. The vote on these resolutions stood — Ayes, UO ; nays, 8 ; absentees, 3. The debates and proceedings of the Conference are reported in full in the Nashville Christian Advocate. Before leaving the proceedings of a Committee which expunged this General Rule, because it was ' liable to be construed as antagonistic to the institution V of Blavcry,' with nliich they anirm tlmt * the church hM no right to meddle ' (except in the way of pro- tecting it) — we will give two specimens of their action iu regard to practices wliich they really wished to OpIXMO. In regard to dress, the following was adopted : {^Chriitian Advocate, Juno 1st.) * Quesiion — Shall wc iiU'i.st uu the rule cuucerniDg dre«»? ' Ansit'ir — [iy all means. This is no time to f:;ive encouragement to superfluity of apparel. Thcreloro let each preacher in charge direct the attention of thi»»e commit ti'd to his care to the general rule on tliirt sul)ject, and to the Holy Scriptures on which it is luiscil ; mildly yet earnestly urging them to keep the Nime. ' And, in regard to sundry other evils, the following : * Ques. 2. How shall we guard against bribery, dancing, atti-nding circuses and theatres, ISabbath- breai king, and the other evils forbidden iu the general rubs ? ' .-l;i5. 1. Preach expressly on them, and circulate tractii ib'nouncing them, whenever necessary. * '2. Ix't the Ir.iders closely examine and exhort cverpr pTKon to j tut away the accursed things. * u. Ia'I the {M-oplo 1m3 admonished that none who practise any of thesi! evils can remain in our Church. * 4. In denouncing bribery, strongly advise our pwiple to ilisoountmance all treats given by candi- dalt* k«for»' or at i-lecii(»ns, and not to be partakers, in any rc»«|K'ct, of h.ieh iniquitous practices.' Such arc the provihions inserted in that ♦ Discipline' of the Metliodiht KpihCopnl Church, South, from which the general rule on blnvtry ib expunged. 13 Having seen tluit the division in the Methodist Church was made by the act of its Southern, not of its Northern portion — and that the Nortliern church includes under its jurisdiction seven slaveholding States [wholly or in part] — and that the • Discipline ' of the Northern Church still retains the allowance of slaveholding, and of unjust distinctions between its white and colored members — we have now to inquire, Are slaveholders still tolerated as members, in good standing, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North ? In evidence upon this point, we first present a letter published in Zion's Herald, [Boston] in October, 1857, from a minister of the Providence Conference : — Mr. Editor : Will you ^llow a vrord of correction in respect to one or two sentences of an editorial headed ' Our South-western Border,' in the Herald of Sept. IGtb? I feel assured you wish to state the truth, and would not Jiave made those statements if you had been personally acquainted with the facts in the case. Speaking of the objections many have to the appropriation of missionary money to build up pro-slavery churches in the Border Conferences, you say : 'Our Church is there decidedly an anti- slavery Church.' Again, ' Our Church is the great anti-slavery vanguard in those States.' T wish it were even so ; then would there be hope for our Church and our country. But nothing is further from the truth. Some months since, I resolved to ascertain person- ally the facts in the case. 1 travelled extensively in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Virginia, and the result of that thorough examination was, that I found no Methodists more intensely pro-slavery in All') ama, Louisiana, or in any of tlje ' fire-eating ' 11 jxvrU of the South, than 1 iound the mombors of our iiiifi'^ioii (.'liurchi'.s to l)o in the JJorder Cunforcncofl ; th«'y uttf those mission Churches. It is true, as V u !<'t forth in that article, that the Church South .:,' • the iiiemb.r^ of our Church in the Mif^souri, \rKaiisii« ami Ivciitucky Confm-enccs with belonging to an anti-slaY;'ry body. And now, if our monf!)er- --liip lh might hold slavrH or not. Tlu-y remind them of the thousands • d fcliivfs ht-dd without u word of rebuke by the mem- U-rshin, in sis of the Conferences of the Northern rhurrli ; that travtdling preachers even, in those ' ' rrnct'S, ran have thrir houses lilhd up with . hiive all the avails <;f slave labor, if the wil(>*8 . • convrnii-nt frimd holds the title 'to to their southern calumniators, ..-^ ,. 1 .. . i . Aiiiiguishurs, the hair-spun and sophisti- cal argumuntw of those who are wearing out life in 15 tlic honorable work (?) of showing that slaVel-y i3 « constitutionally ' in the Church, and on com pa sped and defended with brazen armor. And I am onlj sorry to say, that the pro-slavery course of the Church North furnishes them with abundance of material to silence those who accuse them of belong- ing: to an anti-slatery Church. The position of the Northern and Southern M. E. Churches in the disputed territory may be somewhat illustrated by reference to the Old and New School f*resbyterian Churches in the South ; they arc crowding and jostling) each trying to obtain the ad- vantage of the other, filling 'the community with bitterness and sectarianism, while both are there heartily pro-slavery. The points upon Which they differ are so trivial, that they ought never to be mentioned arnong Christian brethren. H. C. Atwater, Tlie editor of Zion-s Herald, liev. l)r. Haven, com-' Tnenting upon this letter of Mr. Atwater, says : — Now we place implicit confidence in his testimon;^^ based on actual observation. Thel'c never was a grosser mistake'— to call it by no graver name- — than that insisted upon at the last General Conference^ and repeated earnestly since, that mercenary slave- holding does not exist undisturbed in some of the societies connected with the M. E. Church. This fact is asserted by Rev. J. B. Long, and others who must know. It is asserted by our correspondent from actual observation. It is asserted, too, by a whole class of witnesses, consisting of ministers tf the M. E. Church, South, whom, of course, our friends on the Border will and must allow to be good witnesses, since they interchange pulpits with thrm, and invite them to preach at our camp-meetings. IG iintiinony, vc give the fol- Tiwinj; from the liicliinund Christian Advocate^ ilalii*}< uiid all : • Sir, is it not known to ynu and to inc, and to mani/, vtanf/ others, that in the Churcli in whicli Bishop Simj»M)n and Dr. McClintock are ministers, and from \^)»iih they were delegates to the "Wesleyan Methodist Church, there are tliousands and thousands of slaves, ond lljat these nlavert are owned and worked from sun \n (.uii. hy t)»e mcnthcrn i\\\<\ ministers (»f said C'liurch ? Will iJishop Simpson, or Dr. McClintock, or the New York Ilxprrss, or any one else, undertake to deny that there arc many slaveliolders and slave-workers among the />rirfi/r memhers, and r;/y'V/o/ members, and ???//< /*• trrg of the Northern division of the M. E. Church } They will not try it. It cannot be denied.' And again : « If you never knew it before, learn it now from mo, the preachers and people in the Xorthern division of the Methodist Episcopal ^("hurch hold slaves as triily as those in the Southern division. Now, try and re- member this in future.' Now thirt i-^ only a Bpceimen. Otliors assert tliat they are lirjd for life, and hoxifjht and sold at pleasure. It in liti-rally true that we could cover this page with «'Xtract« from Southern papers reiterating this fjiet, and any of the writers, if he happens to be a talented preacher, would be invited to aid in the d«tlinilion }*od to. stealing;. Tho fact of u i.ruhihiiiun n^trictcd to the clorgy woiihl show that, in our intimation, there was no moral obliquity in theft, and timt exjKMlieiicy alone determined us to riwlriel the practice to laymen or mere local prcach- eru. iSuch tv jtrohihilion would he ridiculous, nay, njonj»trou«, hut not one whit more so than is our rule ft)rhiddinp • travellinc; |>reacherp,' and them only, to ludd wluvcs. This act of ]»rohil)ition showe what efltiniate we place ujton the practice ; we treat it OS inexpedient, not as immoral. SLAVERY IN TUK HORDER COXFKRKNTES. Wc were convcrsinf;, the other day, with an in* telligent and influential memljcr or one of the • IJordt-r C'onferencrs,' who had no sympathy with our virW8 on the puhjict of slavery, hut who was a Irauk, op<'n, truth-telling man ; and desirous ol knowing the facts in the case, we asked him if slave- holding, hn-inling, buying and selling, existed amunj^ our rnemlx'rwhifi in the liorder Conferences ; he said it y meuilM-rs of the Baltimore Conference ! lie did not know how it was in all the l>order Con-' fen-nw'H ; he only spoke of those with which he was acf|uaint«xi. He stated he heli.ved the Philadrlphia ConfiT'-nce was now Iree fr(«m slavery. One of its nuMuU'rH did hold slaves, hut, ujion* being waited upiin hy a oommitteo appointed by the Conference, iind in rofon-ncc to the matter, '/ic franr^frrral (he incnrrshi}t of thrm to his xrifc ! This satisfied the eouiuallw and the Cunfercnee, and he went on hie 19 •way rejoicing ! Wc told liim those things -were denied on the floor of the last General Conference, by the representatives of the Border Conferences ; he said he was aware of the fact, but they \ver6 nevertheless true. For ourselves, from all we can learn, we have no doubt of the correctness of Dr. McFerrin's ' statements' in regard to the complicity of our Church in the great sin of slavery. Our official editors ought to be careful how they throw stones at their Southern brethren. Their glass houses are in imminent peril. The question of principle does not divide the Church North from the Church South, so far as its practice is concerned. It is a question of quantity more than of quality — a question of retail versus wholesale. The Church South does a wholesale business in human slavery; the North, a retail business in this abomination. On the score of con- sistency, the South has decidedly the advantage. It says slavery is a divine institution, and consequently takes it to its bosom The Church North says, ' it is the vilest thing that ever saw the sun,' and yet refuses to thrust it out of its communion ! We hope the facts will be dragged out into the light, that we may know the extent of our guilt as a Church in this matter. The statements of Dr. McFerrin, alluded to and vouched for in the last of the above extracts, are quoted by Rev. H. Mattison, of the Black River (N. Y.) Conference, with remarks, as follows, p. 70 of his « Impendin<5 Crisis of 1860 ' : In December, 185G, Dr. McFerrin, editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, addressed several let- ters to Bishop Morris [of the Northern Church] through the columns of his paper. In the first of these letters he makes the following declarations : • You hnvo thin doy many Urpc ^Iftvchoklcrs in your dirUion of the Churih. You know iliat in Mnrvland aiui Vjrtiinia, you linve ImndredH, yea, thousands of nicnjU-r* \*ho liold uluvwj; ihat you have ordaimd dracons and cUUr* in ihc ministry of your Cliurch trho arc nlavtholdt r*. You youisilf have ordained to the ofBcc and work of the ministry many a slave- holder. ^Vhy, tlu-n, in llie name of our common Chrioliunity, nlmuld the Southern Church be perse- culid and dtiiouncod, because she does wliat your o«n branch of the Churcli constantly practises r Let Ui ate. The Melhodibt Kpiscopul Church South has in her corMmuni«in ulaveholuers. So has tl>c Methodist Kpi»cc>pal Church North. The Methodist Episcopal Church .South has in the ministry ordained deacons and elderi. who are slaveholders. So has the Metho- di«.l MpiKr<'iml Church North. 'J'hcse plavelioldc rs in the South were elected to the work and ofHce of the mint»try by the Annual Conferences of the South. So %irerc lhoM> elected by the Conferences belonp;ing to the Northern division. They were ordained by tlio layin'.; on of the hands of the bishoj). llishoj) Waugh, '■ ' ^I•>rri», and IJishop Janes, to my certain I , have each ordained slaveholders to tlic ; liacon and elder. Where, then, is the differ- ence r rerhnpti the principal difference, and the only one worth mentionin}?, is tliat the South, occupying a much larger »lavo territory than the North, has a greater number of ministers and members connected with hlnvt-ry than arc found in the North ! Y'et the principle '\h the Mime. And your late Liencral Confcr- cmc refused to make non-sluveholdinj{ a test of mcm- bentliip. True, a majority was in favor c)f insertinc; a rule to that cifi-ct, but not a constitutional majority ; •o that your Discipline tolerates slaveholders in the intni«try and membernhip. Where, then, in view of thfue fn«.tj», in theie cause for a war upon the Southern Churih, ei.pecially ns wn^cd by those who call tlicm- »clvo« couAcrvativc men r' 21 If the facts here alleged arc true (and we have every reason to believe they are), there is iiuich co- gency in Dr. McFerrin'a reasoning. ' Thou that sayest, A man should not steal, dost thou steal?' We are hardly prepared to cast the mote out of the eye of the JNIethodist Episcopal Church South, blind as she is, till we get the beam out of the eye of the Methodist Episcopal Church North. For slavery to cast out Slavery, is too much like casting out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Indeed, in one respect the Southern Church have the advantage of us — they profess nothing ^e/Zcr than pro-slavery, and justify themselves by the Bible ; while we con- demn slaveholding ; profess ' anti-slavery ;' and yet have thousands of slaveholders in the Church. In other words, we are an ' anti-slavery ' slaveholding Church ! p. 70. We will now give some extracts in which the rela- tion borne by individuals of the Northern Methodist church to slavery is stated by themselves, under their own nam^s. The following advertisement is taken from the Cam- bridge (Maryland) Democrat, where it is made con- spicuous by the prefixed figures of a black male and a black female runaway : $300 REAYARD.— Ran away from the sub- scriber, from the neighborhood of Town Point, on Saturday night, 24th inst., my negro man, Aaron Cornish, about 35 years old. He is about 5 ieet 10 inches high, black, good looking, rather pleasant countenance, and carries himself with a confident manner. He went off with his wife Daffney, a ne- gro woman belonging to Reuben E. Philips. 1 will give the above reward if taken out of the county, and ;2!*2t»0 if taken in tlip county ; in oitlior case to be I«hJj»«iI in Cambridge (Md.) Jail. Oct. LN, 1S'j7. Lkvi I). Travkrs. It i» Icsijflcd Ijy Ucv. J. I). Long, Rev. J. Mayland McCartcr, and Kev. J. S. Lame, tlmt Mr. Travers is a weallhy Icxal j)rcnc-hcr in tlie Xortlicrn Methodist Church, on Tnyh»r'u laland, Dorchester County, Mary- land. \«ii))in the bounds of the l*lnlndclpliia Confcr- pnrr. Mr. Travers himself admits tliis, in a letter ►^ I with hijj own name, dated Taylor's Island, i\.>. 12, IS.J8, luid published in the Cambridge (Mary- land) l-MijU, in whicli, after athrming his love for the Mclhudiitt Church ns hi»8i)iritual mother, he declares — * I am n Khiveholder. I lioM twenty slaves (right or vrn»n;») und«'r the Kinotion of the Contstitution of the I'nit*-*! St;itosand tlie laws of Maryland. I hold thrrn nt-sirly all by inheritance ; one half as the in- lifrilan*!.* «»f my wife ; of the otlit-r half, a portion I inhi-riti-^I fruni my fathrr and Hon, a part were born of my f«lav»*, and a part purchased. ♦ • These hlav.-M I Imve in njy own family, and upon my lan KKW.VIll).— Ran away from the suh- i»cril>.T. on S.iturdavni;;ht,l!Uh iuKt., fourteen head of negruoH, vit. : 4 men, 2 women, one boy, and 23 seven children. Kit is about 35 years old, 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high. Joe is about 30 years ohl, very black, his teeth are very white, and is about 5 I'eet 8 inches high. Henry is about .22 years old, of dark chest- nut color, and largo front teeth. Joe is about 20 years old, heavy built and black. Tom is about IG years old, light chestnut color. Susan is about 35 years old^ dark chestnut color, and rather stout built speaks rather slow, and has with her 4 children varying from 1 to 7 years old. Leah is about 28 years old, about 5 feet high, dark chestnut color, with three children, 2 boys and 1 girl, from 1 to & years old. I will give $1,000 if taken in the coun- ty, $1500 if taken out of the county and in the State^ and $2000 if taken out of the State ; in either case to be lodged in Cambridge jail, so that I can get them again ; or I will give a fair proportion of the above reward if any part are secured. Samuel Pattison, Oct. 26th, 1857. Near Cambridge, Md. p, s. — Since writing the above, I have discovered that my negro woman Sarah Jane, 25 years oldy stout built, and chestnut color, has also run off. S. P. Of this person (whose residence is within the bounds of the Philadelphia Conferenco) and of his advertise- ment, Rev. J. D. Long says, in Zion's Herald — If the church regarded slaveholding as sinful in the same sense that she regards drunkenness as sin- ful, hundreds of our members w^ould immediately let the oppressed go free. But alas ! for us, the church for thirty years in Maryland has lost her conscience and testimony against slavery. I have listened time and again to instructions to young preachers, given at or before ordination by our venerable, bishops, bui 24 i..%.r ui>r of hijjh standing in the M. K. Church in Dorchestrr County, Md. I know Mr. I'allison jxrsonaliy, and 1 have no doubt thai h«' Uh'Ah und clothes his slaves as well as any oilier slaveholder \n or out of the church. ^Vc l»aYc now a yet more disgraceful demonstration to pfMcnt ; where the minii«tcrs of n Northern Confer- ence declare thcmpclvcs • ns much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery,' and yet, in the same document, show themselves favoiable to slavery and •dverM> to a>M>lition, and seek to have this made the permanent policy of tlio Methodist Church. "We quote from llev. II. Mattison's « Impending Crisis of 1800,' pp. 36-7 : On the 7th of April, 1S47. the Philadelphia Con- en-net', then in K-tvion at Wilmington, bolaware, ftddr«T.H«d a special Paxtoral Address to theslavehold- rrnof Nurthamjit^m and Accomac counties, Virginia, di»tl«iiuing all anti-slavery t<'ndeneies ; proltssing to !»•• Ji> pM-sl.tviry as thf S)ulh«rn Churrh ; point- ing to tli.-ir jint.T.d»M»ts in j.ruofor tlair con.serva- tinm ; and ontnniting them to remain i|uietlv with the Northern p»rtion of the Church. 'J'liis address ii» i-ntilhd ♦ Pastoral AdV IhRt our notion in the pavt mny l)o tnkon as nn in- dex to our fiction in llu* fulur*' ; ihtKlorc, •• 1. Utnolvcil, That we will abide by the Discipline of the Mcihrxliht Kiiihcopal C'hurjh as it is ; flfntl will rt*iH( «'v< r^ attempt to alter it iii reference to blavcry, •o •» to chanpo the ttrms of njccnbersliip. ••2. Itoeolved, That we bincerely deprecate all ngi- Utini) of iho exeitinK subjects which have unhapj ily divided the Church; and, in>prcst.ed with the vital i - . , especially for these times, of the apostolic , ' lie at peace nmon«j yourselves,' we will, ■ •< in our power, • folJow j)eace with all men, •nd holincM, without which lui man shall sec the Lord.; •• l'|)on prcHCiitinp this |M\jK'r to you, in which we say, • We 8tand, in relation to slavery and abolition, where ^^c have alwavH HttKxl,' it is proper that we should n mind you of the fact, that the jjrovisions in the Dis- cipline of the Mi'thodiHt Kpixopal Church Nurtli, and of the MethodiKt Kpiscopul Churcli South, with re- •jKsct in slavery, are juccisely the same, even to the ¥ery words. We cannot, therefore, see how we can be regarded om nl)olitioniHls, without the miniKters of the MtihiKlist KpiHcopal Church South being consid- ered in theitamc lij;ht,' Ike. *• Winhing you all heavenly benediction, we are, dear brethren, yours in Christ, J. P. Diunix, Committee."* i. Klxxadv, j IciNATU « T. COOPKU, S- \Vm. II. (ji:iLi)i:u, j JosKi'U Casili:, j Wii.MixoTo.v, Del., April 7, 18i7. Thin Address, written but a few years after the Soutlicm »ece«iiion, shows how far slavery had gone in corrupting even thojio who liad no pecuniary in- ti X' : ill it. ' ''r^^at Sccciialyn. Uy l>r. illlioL, p. 1083, Docu* 27 When the fact of slavehokling allowed in the Metliodist cliurch can no longer be denied, its apolo- gists resort to the hypothesis of * good treatment.' AVhcn the particulars of this claim of good treatment are inquired into, it will be found even to pretend to include very little more than good treatment for horses ; namely, sufficient food, clothing and shelter, and not to be whipped ' unless they deserve it.' Let us look away, for a moment, from the monsti'ousness of the pretence that a man can be well treated while he is compelled to remain under the supreme control of another man, and let us read the testimony of a Methodist minister as to the sort of food, clothing and shelter ordinarily provided by Methodist slaveholders for Methodist slaves : — December 23, 1857. _ Mr. Editor : My last communication closed with the announcement of my arrival on my southern circuit. Having heard much discussion on the sub- ject of slavery, ;ind having heard the conservatives magnify the Christian conduct of the master, and the generally happy condition of the slaves, I am frank to confess that my mind was favorably im- pressed with regard to the institution, and I de- signed to apologize for, if not to defend, the sys- tem. My host being leader of the colored class, T took pleasure in occasionally accompanying him and lead- ing the class, and we frequently had uproarious times. In addressing these sable sons and daughters of the Most High,! termed them brothers and sisters ; but the good brother told me he did not apply these filial and fraternal terms to the members of his col' ored class; he did not think it proper! Said I' ' AVhat do you call them, brother ? ' * Well, I ca7i 2*^ th^m tiUTtU, iinclM, Tom, Pick, or Harry !'— re- iiiiixlincr n'" "f the words o( ClcnRiit the I\'tli, who Imvii I tlif j^i]>ttl cliair, returned the 1»oav of t( itin;;aiiiha««ndorsandotl)or8. AVlxn -I o reiiMjnies uAd his Holiness tliat he have nturried th.eir Palute, ' Oh ! 1 heg \ .. J i. .11.' «;iid he, * I liave not been Pope lung iti'f.u'h t't f-rijft p(jod manners.' llui. Mr. Kdil<»r, it eamc to pass, in the travel of timr, that your humble corretijiondent and his fam- ily nujvi-d to the tairw)nape, provided by the munifi- - r . • of the circuit. It was a large country house, .i;..iiy a steward of the circuit. The colored ] ■ ! • iK'ciij.JMi that nondescript apartment, the r, or kitchen, attached to the house; they v.. j. alhiwancetl, a." it is teehtiically termed here, that i-, liv«tl by the sti-dyards ; with the abuse of abund- .iiico they could not be charged. Their inaf;nilicent, n)ay I not say princely en ter- tJiiiunent, for a fortnight, consisted of one peck un- sili*-*! corn mejil, ten pounds of pork, or rather ran- i -M. ang a little salt. Tiieir bed- < liiiiiiH-r wax a strange scene of dirt, confu.vion and ^.4ltudc ; black with the smoke of burnt pine knots, »lri»wn with rags and the ].lurked feathers of stolen chickenn. 'I'hu Ic-.! consisted of a few rotten rags Hpn-ad on n Bolt plank, and a few more tatters for ciivi-ring; but, iu» tlu^so people s.ldom remove their clothing when th.«y n-tire, they have not so great a dcuiaiid fur counter] mnud. 29 I drew some comfort from the thonglit that those cases were extreme, and seldom paralleled ; but a pious and very wealthy member ofone of the churches on the circuit gave me a special invitation to return from church with him, as he wished to converse with me. As we entered his house, he informed me that one of his colored girls had gone to church, got ' shouting happy,' and had returned in a trance ; or at least, her powers of locomotion seemed de- stroj^ed, and she had not done any work for two days. He wished me to sec her, and pass an opinion on her case. I accompanied him to the kitchen loft, and there my unsophisticated eye saw the same kind of entertainment that I had witnessed before. Since then, I have learned to wonder at nothing of this sort. This is a portion of one of a series of letters signed * Junius,' published in Zion's Herald, and written by Rev. J. S. Lame, of the Philadelphia Annual Confer- ence, who was afterwards driven, by a variety of per- secutions, from the Southern circuit to which he had been appointed, on account of the exposures made in these letters of the customary treatment of slaves among Methodists. These * Junius letters,' with an account of the circumstances preceding and following their publication, have besn reprinted, by the author, in a pamphlet entitled ' Maryland Slavery and Mary- land Chivalry.' We have taken no account, in this article, of the small bodies of Methodists who have, at various times, seceded from the Methodist Episcopal Church in this country, but have designed to speak only of the two great Northern and Southern bodies which form the bulk of American Methodism, and mainly of the ao lorrocr. The lntcj.t c»tiinftto of the mcmbersliip of coch (curcfuUy coinpiUd by the editor of The Wvsley an, who »t«tci» his own connection of AVksi.kyan MtTnoi.i«n>*, n body entirely free from complicity with ►Uvcry. a* omountins to 2 1,505.) is ns follow?, including (ravelling and local preachers :— McthodJHt Kpiscopnl Church, North, 970,587. M •• •« South, 707,555. What »» to be sni'1, by way of summary, of the re- lation of these two immense bodies to tlic sin of slave- holding } The • Difcipline * of the Southern Churcli docs not forbid it; the prenchors and members of that body arc united in defending, perpetuating and extending it. Tho •DiBciplino' of the Northern Church forbids it only to travelling prenchers, and to them only un- der certain circumstances ; it allows its members to hold hlnvc*, wherever the laws and cuptoms of nn un- regcnerate community are corrupt enough to allow it ; and a large number, both of members and local prcathen*. uho the permission thus given, njid live and die ulaveholdcra withotU obstruction from American Mfihodinm. There are men in the Northern Methodist Episco- pal C'huich who utter a strong and constant testimony ■gainnt alavcry ; whi) really and heartily labor to op- poac and destroy it, thougli their testimony is cum- teroU, and, to a groat extent, counteracted and nuUi- fii-d, by the blunder of practically recognizing the de- fender* of klnvcry ns Christians, liven these men, 31 however, we suppose to be far outnumborod by the actual slaveholders connected with the Northern Methodist Church. This is our opinion, which may or may not be correct. Wliat is certain is, that while the Northern Church admits slaveholders to its mem- bership, its difference from the Southern Church will be one of degree only, and not of kind ; only the dif- ference between retail and wholesale. And this also is certain, that however the number of slaveholders in the Northern Methodist Church may hereafter be diminished, and however her number of abolitionists may be increased, while her discipline retains the hameful allowance of slaveholding, ;in chapter vii. of part III,) and while it contains the no less shame- ful concession that the ' colored preachers and offi- cial members ' may be stigmatized as an inferior caste in those Quarterly Conferences where ' the usages of the country ' so stigmatize them in social life, (in chapter viii. of part I,) she may and must be ranked as A rilO -SLAVERY CIIUKCH.— c. k. w. Note. The timely and valuable pamphlets above referred to are published as follows : — Rev. Mr. Mattison's— 'The Impending Crisis of I860,'— by Mason Brothers, 46 Walker street, New . York. Price 2a cents. Rev. Mr. McCarter's — * Border Methodism and Border Slavery.' Price 20 cents— and Rev. Mr. Lame's — ' Maryland Slavery and Mary- land Chivalry,'— Price 20 cents— by Collins, Printer, 705 Lodge AUey, Philadelphia. Some of these may also be obtained at some Meth- odist Bookstores, and all of them from the publisher of The Wesley an-y Syracuse, N. Y.— c. k. w. LIEiRftRY OF CONGRESS 012 028 357 1 I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 028 357 1 # ^ Hollinger pH8.5 Mill Run F3-1955