THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
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 FOR THE 
 
 SUPREMACY OF CHRIST 
 
 AS THE 
 
 KING AND HEAD OF HIS OWN CHURCH. 
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 PREACHED IN THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, (OLD SCHOOL,) 
 
 Madison, Wis., Maroh. 18, 1860. 
 
 BY W. L. GREEN. 
 
 MADISON, WIS.: 
 
 ATWOOD, BDBLEE A BEED, BOOK AND JOB FBINTEBS. 
 
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NOTICE. 
 
 The subjoined paper was read from the pulpit of the Presbyterian 
 church, Madison, Wis., by its pastor, on Sabbath, March 11th, 1860. 
 
 At a meeting which wore a Missionary aspect, I took occasion on 
 last Sabbath evening, briefly to express my matured opinion touching 
 the righteousness of the course pursued by the Old School Presbyterian 
 church in receiving slaveholders to the communion table. 
 
 It is my deliberate judgment that the courts of this church could 
 not deviate from this course, without incurring the guilt of infringing 
 Christ's prerogative as King over His own house, and themselves using 
 tyranny over the Lord's flock. 
 
 I should feel dishonored in conscience, were I from this pulpit to 
 attempt the discussion of slavery in its political aspects. But the 
 
 I munion table, is one which, as an ofiicer in God's house, it becomes 
 ^me to discuss. The question alluded to is, however, but one offshoot 
 
 "ffrom an inquiry of the deepest range and widest import. I mean that 
 Jwhich relates to the completeness of the doctrine and law of order 
 jauthoritative in God's house. Upon this topic, crude opinions, destruc* 
 j^tive to the very foundations of the church, hav„e in late days flooded 
 v*some sections of the land, 
 
 T I will therefore on next Sabbath, preach two sermons upon the fol- 
 j^owing propositions : 
 
 r- 1st. The doctrines and law of order authoritative in Chirst's house, 
 ^are complete, and may not be added unto, 
 
 j 2d. The life of Christ within the church, and its influence over 
 ^the nations, is progressive. 
 
 3d. The introduction of unscriptural tests at the communion table 
 
 is an invasion of Christ's prerogative — is full of danger to the peace - 
 of the church — is a bar to the progress of the gospel through the 
 earth — and as such, is to bd resisted.'^ 
 
CORRESPONDENCE- 
 
 Madison, Marcli 22d, 1860. 
 
 ffo THE Rev. W, L. Green : 
 
 Dear Sir — Having listened with much pleasure to the sermons delivered by 
 you on Sabbath, the 18th inst., and believing that their publication would sub- 
 serve the cause of truth and the interests of religion, we would respectfully 
 and earnestly request that you will consent to such publication, and that for 
 this purpose you will favor us with a copy of the same at your early conveni- 
 ^ce. 
 
 With sentiments of sincere affection. 
 
 We are yours truly, 
 
 J. T. CLARK, 
 
 J. W. STERLING, 
 J. R. MEARS, 
 ROB’T MENZIES, 
 
 D. H. TULLIS, 
 D. S. DURRIE, 
 P. H. TURNER, 
 J. D. NOBLE. 
 
 Messrs. J. T. Clark, D. H. Tullis, 
 
 J. W. Sterling, and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — Your note of the 22d is before me. I herewith put at your 
 disposal the sermons which you request for publication. Hoping that they 
 may in their measure, “ subserve the cause of truth, and the interests of reli- 
 ^on,’’ and reciprocating the kind sentiments you express. 
 
 I remain, yours sincerely, 
 
 W. L. GREEN. 
 
SEUMOIISr I. 
 
 “ And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimonjf 
 of those things which were to he spoken after. But Christ as a Son over Hia 
 own house. ’^~H eb. 3-5, 6. 
 
 “ But 1 certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me ii^ 
 not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but 
 by revelation of Jesus Christ.’^ — Gal. 1-11, 12. 
 
 “ Be not rifrhteous overmuch ; neither make thyself over-wise ; why shouldst 
 thou destroy thyself?’^ — Ecc. 7-16. - / 
 
 “ If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do — Ps. #-3.‘ 
 
 A 
 
 Along the slopes of the green hills, and amid the vallejs of Scot- 
 land, are scattered ^e graves of a number of men and women, who 
 died as martyrs for Christas crown and covenant. The record of their 
 protracted . struggJe^Tn defence of the doctrine of Christas exclusive 
 headship oyer the church, is onfe of the most animated and instructive 
 pages of history. Through scenes of the extremest suffering and 
 peril, they steadfastly witnessed that Christ is the King and sole Head 
 of His church, and that no mortal power may with impunity offer anj 
 interference with His prerogative. 
 
 The contest touching the exclusive authority of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in His own h ouse, which fills so large a space in Scottish story, 
 has been renewed in our day, under a new, more subile, but not less 
 dangerous form. 
 
 Stoding here this morning, not as a lecturer, but as a watchman, 
 solemnly ordained in the name of Almighty God, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, I feel it to be a duty to call your attention to this old contest, 
 now renewed under a new guise And in what I have to say, my ad- 
 dress is chiefly to the members of my own flock, in whose behalf the 
 Holy Ghost hath made me a steward, and an under shepherd. I wish 
 you then, during this hour, to isolate yourselves Trom the world. 
 Forget for the time being, your connection with that busy world where 
 ten thousand crude fancies are striving for the predominance, and 
 
6 
 
 reflect that you are in the house of God — the pillar and ground of the 
 faith. That you are members of the flock of Christ. That Jesus is 
 your King. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ was horn of a subjugated people. Standing 
 in the midst of the Roman Empire, in which numerous States had been 
 in a. greater or less degree deprived of their liberty, Chris^ waged no 
 war upon the auth(^ity of C^ar. When questioned of Caesar’s title 
 to govern, He called for a penny bearing the Emperor’s image, and 
 said — “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s ; and unto God 
 the things that are God’s.” When personal tribute was demanded of 
 Him, He paid it. When Pilate taunted Him with having been delivered 
 up by His own nation, He replied, “my kingdom is not of this world, if 
 my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight.” Thus by 
 His conduct and His express declaration, Christ discriminated His 
 kingdom from the kingdoms of earth. And when, after His death, His 
 apostles went forth to plan^hurches in an empire crowded with slaves, 
 
 / He gave them no commission to preach concerning political liberty. . 
 When He further charged them to go broadly over this sin ruined 
 world, in which various forms of despotism have ever existed. He said 
 f not a word to them about any assault they were to make upon any 
 form of authority exercised in any nation under the sun. He gave 
 them no charge to admit into His church the subject, but 
 reject the king, to receive the serf, but repulse the aristocratic lord 
 who should be found ruling over him — to accept the slave, but to deny 
 the communion to the master. 
 
 w Whatever purpose Christ had of amending the policies of the nations, 
 He reserved the execution of that purpose to Himself. He gave no 
 commission touching it, into the hands of the officers of His church. 
 Their simple commission was to go through the earth, to enter every 
 region, to penetrate despotisms, kingdoms and republics, to preach to 
 all the glad news of redemption through His cross ; to baptize .all, 
 
 /^ without exception, who should with sincerity profess penitence and 
 ^ faith ; and having gathered them into churches, to teach them the doc- 
 , trines of the bible and the law of love. 
 
 Now these definite instructions touching the nature of His kingdom, 
 have neither been withdrawn nor modified by the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 
 , and no one save Himself, is of competent authority to withdraw, or 
 modify them in the least degree. We therefore conclude that the 
 
7 
 
 kingdom of our Master is to day as truly and as completely distinct 
 from the political structures of the world, as it was in the hour when 
 He deelared it to be thus distinct. And that, since He never endowed 
 the church with a function for reconstructing national policies, the 
 church has not acquired that function by mere lapse of time. 
 
 It cannot be plead that the necessities of the world have engendered 
 that function, inasmuch as the political necessities of the earth were 
 apparently greater in Christ’s day than they are now. And further, 
 that no necesity can by any possibility engender such function, is 
 clear — for if necessity can give rise to it, then necessity can supercede 
 the exercise of Christ’s prerogative, whence alone are derived the 
 powers of the church ; and necessity can, on such supposition, mate- 
 rially alter the nature of Christ’s kingdom, which He has Himself 
 declared to be not of this world. 
 
 In whatever part of the world men are regenerated and brought 
 into the church of Christ, it is manifest that they will sustain two 
 relations that are fundamentally distinct. They will at the same time 
 be members of the church of Christ, and citizens of a State, units 
 in a nation. Whilst these two relations, that of the church member 
 toward the church, and that of the citizen toward the State,- are thor- 
 oughly distinct, yet they cannot fail to affect each other. The nour- 
 ishment to the soul derived through a living union with Christ, and 
 an acquaintance with His word, cannot fail to awaken many aspiration 
 for a completer adjustment of forces within Society. “’Tis the lot of 
 genius,” says Gruizot, to strive perpetually with the disorder which 
 it perceives.” This too is the lot of the citizen, when renovated by 
 Christianity. The life, the aspiration, which he borrows from religion, 
 passes over and expends itself within the State, upon laws and insti- 
 tutions. The forces of religion from within the Church, are thus 
 ever, and inevitably acting upon the organizations of society, disinte- 
 grating and reconstructing them. The religion of Christ with its 
 medicinal power, is thus penetrating the world’s defective systems 
 everywhere, purifying and rendering them more equitable and benign. 
 
 But is it not plain that all this may be done, and, if Christ’s method 
 is followed, it must be done, without involving the church as an 
 organization in attacks upon any form of authority existing in the 
 earth ! Revolutions the most stupendous and beneficent may thus be 
 accomplished ; the force which works them out may be nourished by 
 
8 
 
 the gospel ; and yet that gospel through its living ministry, never 
 breathe one word of assault against any of the world^s manifold forms 
 of authority. Despotism may thus melt under its solvent power, yet 
 , the gospel, as uttered by Christ and His apostles, passes the despot 
 (^ without assailing him. Monarchies may thus disappear and Republics 
 spring up, yet neither Paul, Peter, or John, ever preached a Republic. 
 And thus, slavery may"under the power of Christ’s cross^'sitehtly yield 
 place to a better social order, though slaveholders are as welcome to 
 shelter behind that cross, as any other class of men. 
 
 If it is possible for us, from plain words and a positive example, to 
 form any distinct notion of Christ’s plan for the a melio ration of politi- 
 cal evils, then it must be clear, that He did not intend to eff^t “'such 
 amelioration by the direct action of His chur^ through Tts courts, upon 
 any form of earthly authority, but only to effect it through the forces 
 of the gospel, passing beyond the church, and acting in the citizen. 
 
 But that we may gather in hand the main threads of this question, 
 it will be necessary to look at an inquiry which underlies this whole 
 subject, and which indeed gives it, in my judgment, its chief import- 
 ance — connecting it with issues which involve the very foundation of 
 our faith and therewith the whole network of human interests throughout 
 the world. Much has been said in late years, of the progressive nature 
 of religion. Ic has been reiterated in lectures, newspaper articles, maga- 
 zines, semi-theological books, and from the pulpit, that Christianity is 
 progressive. Men have repeated it to each other in private confer- 
 ences, in the study, in the parlor, and upon the street. It has become 
 worked into the substrata of a large part of the floating philosophy of 
 the times. It has become a sort of Shiboleth, a test sentence, of ad- 
 mittance or rejection from atndry circles. 
 
 Now what is meant by this expression ? It is vague, and it covers 
 in its embrace one of the most glorious truths that can kindle hope 
 in the breast of man, and one of most insidious falsehoods that has 
 ever assailed the foundations of the church. If it be meant that the 
 life of Christ in the bosom of the church, and its influence over the 
 ; nations, is progressive, then it is delightfully, gloriously true. If it be 
 meant that the doctrines and law of order authoritative in the church, 
 are progressive — then it is DEEPLY7i)ANGEROUrSLY false. In this 
 false and pernicious sense, it has gained more or less acceptance 
 amongst different classes of superficial thinkers, throughout the coun- 
 
 4 
 
 r 
 
9 
 
 try. And in this sense, inimical to our peace, it has been used by 
 sundry persons tojress n^ew doctrines for our acceptance 4n theolo^y^ 
 and new tests for our use at the communion board of Christ. \ 
 
 The doctrines and law of order, authoritative in Christ’s house, are 
 derived through inspr ired m ^, directly from god. Neither a doc- j 
 trine or a -law can in the church of God, claim absolute authority over | 
 my conscience, unless it is thus derived. This is the sole and exclu- 
 sive origin of doctrines and laws competent to exert this supreme influ- 
 ence “I certify you brethren,’^ says Paul, ^‘that the gospel which 
 was preached of me is not after man, neither was I taught it, but by 
 the revelation of Jesus Christ.’’ This was the sole foundation of 
 Paul’s claim to be heard as a teacher, and to be obeyed as an officer, 
 in the house of God. And no man can add doctrines or law, in the\ 
 church, unless he shall first by miracle give proof that he is a messen- j 
 ger from God, sent to enjoin upon us a new commandment. Since the / 
 words authoritative over our faith, wereHnot derived through a process 
 of culture, but by direct divine teaching, no educational process can 
 endow a man, or a set of men, to enjoin any item upon our faith* 
 Therefore the church cannot by culture acquire the right to recon- 
 struct its authoritative law of order, or doctrine. 
 
 Set aside th‘s principle, and whither do you drift ? You drift into 
 that wild sea where Pharisees and Priests have made shipwreck gf the^ 
 faith, whilst they hav e taught for doctrine the commandments of men. 
 
 — ~*i— inirr'— **•" i * 
 
 I have now one simple affirmation to make, which I wish you to pon- 
 der well. It is this : The Lord Jesus ChrJ^s^j.s JSead over 
 
 His Church, is the only LawmakerJ^ that Church. /^STeither the 
 General Assembly, nor the Synod, nor the Presbytery, ntwEjhe Ses- 
 sion, have any right to make a new law, touching any fundamental 
 matter, pertaining to the order of Christ’s house. They have no 
 more right to make a new law, than they have to originate a new doc- 
 trine. Theyare s ^ply oversee rs, whose duty it is to see that the order 
 of Christ’s house is maintained as He established it : and to see that the 
 doctrines of Christ’s spiritual kingdom taught, as He announced 
 them. Now here is a matter injssdrfch ther^^^__^6jao_ To 
 
 make a new law of a vit^.klnd, or to institute a, new doctrine in the 
 house of God, would be' to commit rebelIiojCL.and to fall into heresy. 
 And to ask a General Assembly, a Synod, or a Session, to do this, 
 
 ‘v 
 
 were to ask them to abandon thgjT^haracter as, Servants, and arrogate 
 
 V 
 
10 
 
 a right belonging exclusively to the King — even the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. It were to ask them to enter a path involving themselves in- 
 evitably in guilt, and ivolving the church in a labyrinth of perils. 
 One of the most despotic tyrannies ever exercised on this earth, has 
 been that of church officers, when they LMe’l^ongfully widened the 
 exercise of their authority, and entered a domain s.acred to the sceptre 
 of Christ. Therefore every humble sheep of the flock is directly 
 interested in guarding against the introduction of new and unscript- 
 ural enactments, touching any vital interests. 
 
 But if the officers of the church are utterly unwarranted in thrust- 
 ing any new law of vital influence, of their own devising, upon the 
 ^^CQ ^ciences of Chris^£ people, then it is evident that an outside pop- 
 ular sentiment, whencesoever arising, is not competent to demand the 
 enforcement of any such new law. The house of Christ as to its 
 method and order, is no more answerable at the bar of human philos- 
 ophy and schemes of reform, than it was answerable at the bar of the 
 Eoyal Stuarts of England. And if the tyranny of James and of 
 Charles was to be re“sisted, when they claimed the right to interfere 
 with the order of Christ’s house, then the tyranny of popular senti- 
 ^men t is to be resisted, whenever it shall attempTtlie sa^ thing, under 
 ; new pretences. 
 
 To illustrate what has been said, let me remark that a fundamental 
 and unwarranted law of \orderTs intrude^ apon Christ’s house, when 
 men introduce there on any pre^nc^ a test of fitness for the com- 
 munion, riot set forth in the scri^ptura. Whenever such new test is 
 presented and enforced, a yoke is l^d upon Christ’s people, their lib- 
 erty is infringed, a snare’ is set for the entanglement of their con- 
 sciences, and the fruitful source is thereby provided, of bitterness and 
 divisions. So that it becomes the plain and binding duty of the 
 church, through its officers, and teachers, and members, to resist such 
 test, and to set it aside. And even though such test should wear the 
 appearance of enforcing greater purity, we are still to resist it, remem- 
 bering that Satan hath often appeare d in the garb of an angel of light. 
 Some of the most dangerous enactments of the Eomish church, were 
 pressed forward under the plea of securing greater purity. We are to 
 resist it, remembering that it is written in the bible for our warning, “be 
 not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself overwise, why wouldst 
 thou destroy thyself Tf there were no other roa^n for resisting a 
 
11 
 
 new test of communion, I would resist it, simply because not being or- 
 dain^ of Christ, it would of necessity be an invasion of His prerog- 
 ative. 
 
 I do not mean to affirm that the human mind can attain to no other 
 truths besides those set forCbTInlhe bible. Such an affirmation would 
 belibsurd. Every department of science furnishes a legitimate field 
 for investigation, and new truths ’m"'eacli such field, are coming con- 
 stantly to light. But no man has a right to incorporate any of these 
 truths into a^ church creed^ and enforce them upon my acceptance. — 
 The onl y doctrines which are tabi6' urged in the church as authorita- 
 tive over the conscience and faith of man, are those derived to us 
 FROM God by inspiration 
 
 Again, men may form themselves into societies if they wish. They 
 may adopt this rule or that rule, to regulate their actions. They may 
 take this or that vow upon themselves, so long as they abstain from 
 pledging themselves to things concerning which they have no right to 
 vow. And thus they may multiply regulations for themselves, if they 
 wish to do so. But the house of God is not a voluntary society. It is 
 in an important particular widely difierent from ^a voluntary society. 
 The principles and laws of a voluntary society may be modified or 
 changed by a vote of the members, but the doctrines and laws of order 
 in Christ’s house cannot be thus changed. He has laid them down 
 Himself. He is the exclusive King and Head of the church. Those who 
 come into His house to be sfieltered there, and saved, have no right 
 to tamper with the foundations of doctrine and order that He has laid 
 down. Therefore I am opposed even to calling the church of Christ 
 a society, because it tends to confound it with voluntary societies, 
 whose rules may be changed, whereas those of Christ’s house may not 
 be changed. 
 
 I regard the question of the completeness and permanence of the 
 doctrines and law of order in Christ’s house, as of unspeakably more 
 importance than that of total abstinence from wine, or slavery, or 
 both these and all kindred questions put together, For if the found- 
 ations be destroyed, what can the righteous do ?” And the attempt 
 to enlarge the Foundations, is equivalent to unsettlino; them. If hu- 
 
 'mhn convictions are to furnish the rule of faith, and prescribe with 
 authority the line of our action in using ^i^cipline in God’s house, 
 who can tell how many and conflicting dogmas in theology, this fast 
 
12 
 
 age may pour in upon us. To what could we then in any case make 
 appeal ? One man thinks it sinful to use wine, however temperately, 
 and criminal to hold a slave. A second thinks there is no wrong in 
 either thing, in itself considered. If, however, our convictions are com- 
 petent to decide such questions, then both these men are right, though 
 holding opinions directly contrary the one to the other. That which 
 I feel to be true,^i§irue/^ That which I fe el to be right , is Hght.’^ 
 Now in the hot bed of the human brain, how many wild notions, 
 fraught with catastrophe, would be germinated in a single century 
 from this one root ? 
 
 I claim that in the church, the word of God is the only authorita- 
 tive rule of Mth and practice. Even in matters of small import, the 
 requirements of church courts are to be resisted, if they tend to the 
 introduction of tyranny. If it were solemnly ordained by the pres- 
 bytery that I should not enter the pulpit, save by the right hand aisle, 
 I would invariably come up the left, by way of protest against an 
 ordinance infringing Christas prerogative, and tending to establish 
 tyranny over His flock. And so, if the General Assembly should 
 change its position, and declare that no man using wine, however tem- 
 perately, and no man holding slaves, though treating them kindly, 
 should come to the Lord’s table, such injunction would merit resist- 
 ance from every session in the land. The introduction of tyranny 
 into Christ’s house is no cure for intemperance, slavery, or any other 
 evil, Tjie remedy ia worse Jban the disease, inasmuch as you thereby 
 intoxicate church rulers with_ the love of power, and invade liberty in 
 its last and most sacred refuge, even behind the alt^. "of God, and at 
 the communion board of jChrist. yj 
 
 This dangerous invasion is perpetrated, whoever an unscriptural 
 test is instituted at the doors of the church. / 
 
 Lest I be misunderstood, let me here that the suggestions of 
 church courts not tending unto tyranny^"are for the sake of peace and 
 unity of action, to be acquiesced in, though they be no other than 
 suggestions. 
 
 When any question arises, which in one of its relations is the sub- 
 ject of action within church courts, and which, in another of its re- 
 lations, is the subject of discussion by politcal parties, it is requisite 
 that an officer in God’s house, should discriminate these two relations, 
 and jdiscuss in his official capacity, only that one which as a steward 
 
for Christ, it is his duty to discuss. With the political controversies 
 touching slavery, I have no commissioned say one word to you, or any- 
 body else. Whether this or that measure alFecting it shall be adopted 
 by Congress, or the Legislatures, I do not feel called upon to utter one 
 sentence. But whether a slaveholder who professes faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, is or is not to be rejected from the communion tablcj on 
 the ground that he is a slaveholder, this is a question which affects the 
 honor of Christ's house, and the rule of order which is to regulate the 
 admission of men into it. This question affects in a fundamental and 
 momentous way, our ideas of Christ's plan for spreading His gospel, 
 and planting churches throughout the earth. Since a large section of 
 these United States is a slaveholding region, it is manifest that if 
 slaveholders have no title to admission to the church as communicants, 
 then churches can be planted amongst them, only so fast as they shall 
 manumit their slaves, and by thus doing, complete their eligibility for 
 church membership. So that, if this view be true, the growth of the 
 church must wait upon the advance of emancipation. If emancipa- 
 tion stands still, the growth of the chu rch amongst slave holding fami- 
 '^Iies^ must stand stil l. But the emancipation of slaves is not at this 
 liime going on rapidly. It is therefore a matter of deep practical in- 
 terest to ascertain whether the view above mentioned, is a scriptural 
 one. To American Christians, as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 it is of great moment to know distinctly, whether they are to hold the 
 church in waiting upon the growth of emancipation, or whether they 
 will best imitate their Master and His apostles, by going far in ad- 
 vance of emancipation, and organizing churches of all such, masters 
 and slaves, as shall profess their hope in Christ, through regeneration 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This is a question which has nothing to do with politics, but relates 
 
 ~ * ' " ' — I , I .L ..... ■ 
 
 strictly to the action of church courts; and this question it is suitable 
 that I should here discuss. 
 
 I have said on former occasions that sl^ery is not a sin and 
 further, that in my deliberate judgment the courts of the Presbyte- 
 rian church could not deviate from the course they have adopted in 
 admitting believing slaveholders to the communion, without involving 
 themselves in the guilt of infringing Christ's prerogative as head of 
 His house, and using tyranny over Chr ist's flocL" I will now pro- 
 ceed to vindicate these opinions. 
 
14 
 
 Let the question be distinctly understood : 
 
 1. It IS NOT whether there are evils growing out of slavery, and 
 crimes practiced in connection with it. It would be idle to discuss 
 this question. Who doubts that there are great evils and deplorable 
 crimes occasioned by slavery in every region where it exists ? 
 
 2. The question is not whether we shall indorse the details of the 
 slave codes of the several States. There are respects in which I think 
 those codes iniquitous, and they ought to be thoroughly amended. 
 
 3. The question is not whether it is right to catch free men and 
 
 enslave them. Who imagines that I designed to teach such a doc- 
 trine? The General Assembly of our church has distinctly con- 
 demned the slave trade as a crime, and I fully indorse that deliver- 
 ance. , 
 
 In 1818 the Assembly declared, “ we consider the voluntary enslav- 
 ing of one portion of the human race by another, as a gross violation 
 of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature ; as utterly 
 inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neigh- 
 bor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and piinci- 
 ples of the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that all things whatsoever 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”* 
 
 4. The question is not whether we are to seek to perpetuate slav- 
 ery. Our church, through its Assembly and various Synods both 
 North and South, has distinctly and emphatically borne witness, 
 that we should as Christians and philanthropists, seek the eman- 
 cipation of the slaves as soon as it may be practicable, and for the 
 good of the enslaved ; and with this sentiment I have from childhood 
 agreed. 
 
 In 1835, a committee appointed by the Synod of Kentucky, pub- 
 lished the following articles, recommending a plan of emancipation : 
 
 1. We would recommend that slaves now under twenty years of 
 age, and all those yet to be born in our possession, be emancipated as 
 they severally reach their twenty-fifth year. 
 
 2. We recommend that deeds of emancipation be now drawn up, 
 and recorded in our respective county courts, specifying the slaves we 
 are about to emancipate, and the age at which each is to become 
 free. 
 
 * Those who wish to see the whole action of 1818 on this subject, are referred to 
 ^^Baird^s Digest,” page 820. 
 
15 
 
 3. We recommend that our slaves be instructed in the common 
 elementary branches of education. 
 
 4. We recommend that strenuous and persevering efforts be made 
 to induce them to attend regularly upon the ordinary services of re- 
 ligion, both domestic and public. 
 
 5. We recommend that great pains be taken to teach them the 
 holy scriptures ; and that to effect this, the instrumentality of Sabbath 
 schools, wherever they can be enjoyed, be united with that of domes- 
 tic instruction.^^ 
 
 If I may here be allowed an allusion to an item of family history, I 
 will remark that my father — during a number of years an Elder in 
 the Presbyterian church, and frequently a member of the Synod in 
 question — acted in accordance with these recommendations. By deeds 
 of emancipation, recorded in the clerk's office, he freed those of his 
 negroes under twenty-five years of age. The balance of them he 
 committed, as being unfitted for freedom, to the charge of his children. 
 
 In only one particular have I ever doubted the wisdom of his 
 course. Those that were freed now live in Kentucky. It would have 
 been my choice to have sent them to the shores of Africa, where a 
 young republic is rapidly rising to diffuse civilization and religious 
 knowledge through the continent. 
 
 5. The question is not whether the slavedrover, who Speculates in 
 human bodies as iff they“w^^^ — -whether this man is innocent, 
 
 rhever met a professoFof "religion. North or South, who did not hold ) 
 ^uch a man in abhorrence. 
 
 The question to be considered, is simply whether slaveholding in it- 
 self is sinful ? Is t he relation subsisting between nmster and servant, 
 apart from its abuse, a sinful one ? And is the master on that account 
 
 to be debarred the commuSion 
 
 Let me first remark that a relation which it were sinful to establish 
 by force, ^ ay,^when e^ablished, be innocently maintained. Thus 
 most of the monarchies df^iurope had tffeir birth in violence and 
 blood But who ^doubts thaVa Christian king could sit with a good 
 conscience upon any of the hei*editary thrones of the old country, 
 using his authority for the good of his subjects? Where is the 
 church that would expel such king Upon the plea that his throne 
 arose, and was built, by craft and wickedness ? ^ 
 
 Again, no man living in any relation, is bound to use all the power 
 
with which the laws endow him. For instance, the law of this State 
 touching divo rce, is unscrij)tural, and tends in a measure unto li- 
 cense. But is the existence of such a law a proof that we or our 
 wives, design to commit the iniquity of getting divorced ? You may 
 live in the utmost harmony, obeying the scriptures, notwithstanding 
 the liberty granted by our statute book. And thus a Christian mas- 
 ter may studiously avoid any abuse of his authority; he may, indeed, 
 live as a servant of servants — ministering daily to his household in 
 those things which tend to their growth in grace, and in the knowl- 
 edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And it is in this precise 
 way that our Assembly and our Synods hold it to be the duty of 
 masters to live, teaching their servants, and striving to elevate them 
 against that day when their national freedom shall dawn. 
 
 Let us, however, proceed in the direction of the bible evidence on 
 this subject. When Paul went through the Boman empire, planting 
 churches, that empir^wns crowded with slaves. Gibbon states, that 
 /during the period intervening from the year 98 before Christ to the 
 ^ year IBO afte r Christ, the slaves were equal in number to the free 
 ^inhabitants of the Boman world.^’ (Gib. Bome, vol. i., p. 52.) The 
 historian, Robertson, states that there were twice as many slaves as free 
 citizens; whilst Blair estimates the number of slaves as three times that 
 of freemen. Let me here read you an extract from Gibbon, illustrative 
 of this point. He says the ministers of pomp and sensuality were 
 increased beyond the conception of modern luxury. It was more for 
 the interest of the merchant or manufacturer to purchase than to hire 
 his workmen ; in the country, slaves were employed as the cheapest 
 and most laborious instruments of agriculture. To confirm the gen- 
 eral observation, and to display the multitudes of slaves, we might al- 
 lege a variety of particular instances. It was discovered, on a very 
 Z' melancholy occasion^ that four hundred slaves were maintained in a 
 single palace in Bome/^ (These four hundred slaves were all executed, 
 because they did not prevent the murder of their master.) ‘^The 
 same number of four hundred belonged to an estate which an African 
 widow, of a very private condition, resigned to her son, whilst she re- 
 served for herself a much larger share of her property. A freed man, 
 under the name of Augustus, though his fortune had suffered great 
 losses in the civil wars, left behind him three thousand six hundred 
 yoke of oxen, two hundred and fifty thousand head of smaller cattle, 
 
17 
 
 1ST' 
 
 and what was almost included in the description of cattle, four thous- 
 and one bundled and sixteen slaves/^ — (Gib. Rome. vol. i., p. 52.) 
 Now Paul, in planting churches through this slave empire, never 
 uttered an injunction to masters to free their slaves, not one. 
 
 But some may-say that Roman^ slavery "wa s not like Am erican slav- 
 ery. Well, in what respects, affecting this question, was it different ? 
 Had the master less power over his slave ? Until the time of Hadri^ 
 and the Antonines, the master had absolute power over him, extend- * ' 
 ing to the taking of life without the intervention of the magistrate^ 
 Gibbon commends the benign policy of Hadrian and the Ante nines 
 in placing the magistrate between the master and the slave. Hear 
 his language : The progress of manners was accelerated by the vir- 
 
 tue 01 policy of the emperors ; and by the edicts of Hadrian and the 
 Antonines, the protection of the laws was extended to the most abject 
 of mankind. The jurisdiction of life and death over the slaves, a 
 power long exercised and often abused, was taken out of private hands 
 and reserved to the magistrates alone. The subterraneous prisons 
 were abolished ; and, upon a just complaint of intolerable treatment, 
 the injured slave obtained either his deliverance or a less cruel mas- . 
 ter.^^ — Gib. Rom., vol. 1, p. 52. 
 
 Now when did these emperors live ? There reign occurred more 
 than a hundred years after ffieT^h of Christ. During the time then 
 of Paul, the'suBtm’ranean prisons were in existence, and no Utagistrate 
 was empowered to rescue the slave from the intolerable abuses of the 
 vindictive master. Both Robertson and Guizot, speak of the intoler- 
 able evils of Rom an slavery. And though the edicts of Hadrian and 
 the Antonines cannot be ascribed to a regard for the Christian religion, 
 yet Guizot strenuously affirms that it was the gradual spread of that 
 religion, which, above every other cause, tended to mitigate servile 
 rigors. This is true, yet standing in the heart of that empire, where 
 slavery was to be met and its abuses removed, Paul never enjoined 
 emancipation. Thus far the conduct of Paul au(Phis^ associates, fur- 
 nishes presumptive evidence that they did not consider it part of their 
 business to call in question the authority of the master. But at this 
 point the argument becomes positive, and sweeps on to the conclusion, 
 with a chain of evidence, simple, unbroken, and incontrovertable. 
 
 Timothy, a minister of the gospel, and associated with Paul, was 
 left by the apostle for a season, at Ephesus, to preach to the church, 
 
 2 
 
to instruct it in doctrine and to establiah its order, Paul wrote him 
 two letters, giving him directions as to sound doctrine, and as to his 
 use of his authority, in the house of God. In the 6th chap^r of the 
 first ot th ese epistles, occurs the following language : 
 
 Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own mas- 
 , ters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be 
 
 
 not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not 
 despise^them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, 
 because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These 
 'things teach and exhort.^ If'any man teach" otherwis^l ^d consen t 
 not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christy 
 and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness, he is proud, 
 knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words 
 whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disput- 
 ings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing 
 that gain is godliness ; from such withdraw thyself.^^ 
 
 The term, under the yoke, is, I believe, universally admitted, by 
 intelligent men, to signify the condition of the slave. Even those 
 who will not consent that servant is equivalent to slave, yet admit 
 that servants under the yoke, were slaves. If this is denied, I have 
 never heard such a denial fro m a ny scholarly man in the country. 
 
 Now follow the apostle’s language through, and note its points. 
 
 First then, he exhorts those “ under the yoke to count their own 
 masters worthy of all honor” — and why ? That the name of God and 
 His doctrine be not blasphemed.” The reason given by the apostle, is a 
 strong and noteworthy one. Ghrist had declared His kingdom to be not 
 /of this world. But if Paul ha d taught insubordination to the slav^, he 
 ' would ^ve assailed, as a preacher, the form of authority under which 
 the slave members of the church lived. He would have brought upon 
 ChTist’s spiritual kingdom a similar reproach to that which the Jews 
 east upon it, when they sought to convict Christ of meditating con- 
 yspiracy against Caesar. 
 
 But let us pass on. Some have said that those under the yoke, 
 here mentioned, were the slaves of heathen masters. It is probable 
 that some of them were bondmen in heathen families. But that all such 
 in the church were not the slaves of heathen masters, is evident from 
 the next verse. And they that have believing masters, let them 
 .not despise them because they are brethren ; but rather do them ser- 
 
 
19 
 
 vice, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. 
 These things teach and exhort.^' Note PauFs words. He speaks to 
 servants under the yoke, that is to slaves. He speaks of their be- 
 lieving masters,*^ and calls them brethren^ faithful^ beloved^ partakers 
 of the^ bj^Jit!^ Now who is the man that is alirother of apostles, 
 faithful, beloved, partaker of the benefit Why he is a child of 
 God, he is an heir with Christ ; and yet such in PauFs time, were 
 master’s of those under the yoke. They were the masters of slaves, 
 and that under a system which legalized a control more unlimited than 
 is sanctioned by the statutes of any State in this Union. And who 
 that knows the southern church in detail, who that has mingled 
 with its families, but recognizes that this description of Paul, 
 and also the description by Peter of believing masters in 
 their day, is applicable without abatement to numerous Chris- 
 tian slaveholders in our time ? ’ Tis my honest conviction 
 
 that some amongst the noblest specimens of Christian man- 
 hood to be found on this earth, may in thirty hours travel be found 
 amongst converted masters, and some of them masters in union with 
 our own church. Some^irits amongst the ripest for heaven, that it 
 ^ has been my privilege to meet in this ruined world, were women 
 charged with the control and care of slaves. Verily they were good 
 and gentle,” ‘^faithful and beloved and partakers of the benefit.” 
 
 But to return. Paul solemnly enjoins it upon Timothy, “ these 
 things teach and exhort.” What things was he to teach ? Why 
 that servants under^the yoke were to count their own masters wor thy 
 of all honor, lest by their fa ilur e in th^^ respect, they should give rise 
 to blasphemy against the name of God, and the doctrine of Christ. 
 2nd. He was to teach those who hadjbelieving masters , to se rve them 
 more willmgly^ because of the , char acter of their masters. ^ Because 
 of their being ‘^brethren, faithful, beloved, partakers of the benefit.” 
 Now let me ask, what other qualifications can any man need for ad- 
 mission to the church ? If he is a brother of Paul and Christ, if he 
 is become a partaker of the benefit of Christ’s death, and thus a mem- 
 ber in fact of God’s family, why should he not come to Christ’s board ? 
 It is most clear that the simple fact of their being masters, raised no 
 scruple in Paul’s mind as to his receiving them as brethren and 
 beloved.” 
 
 But if the being masters involves men necessarily in crime, how 
 
20 
 
 
 I 
 
 could PaulVhen speaking of those thus involved, call them ‘^faithful, 
 beloved, partners of the benefit How strange to hear an inspired 
 man speaking, for^ insta nce, of a thief as a thief, and ealling him 
 ^ ^ faithful, a nd beloved, and a.^partaker of the heirship of God But 
 he here speaks of believing masters as masters, and masters of those 
 under the yoke, and yet uses toward them the strongest terms of con- 
 fidence and endearment. When then we remember that the Boman 
 masters exercised a more unlimited control than masters in our day 
 are allowed by law, the conclusien is irresistabte^ that the simple 
 relation which a Christian slaveholder sustains to his servant^ is not 
 in itself sinful. 
 
 Paul said toJT^othy, “J^ese things teach and exhort?^;^ But sup- 
 pose Timothy had refused to teach with the rest, that believing mas- 
 ters are “ faithful and beloved and partakers of the benefit what 
 would this refusal have been but a departure from ^^the form of 
 sound words, and an infringement of Christ’s prerogative ; for as we 
 shall immediately notice, these words of Paul were the words of Christ 
 himself. 
 
 ^ In the very next verse Paul says to Timothy, ^Tf any man teach 
 otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness, he 
 is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of 
 words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse 
 ^ disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, 
 ^^upposing gain to be godliness; from such withdraw thyself.’’ Bo 
 you not perceive how difiicuU it is to comment with any honesty upon 
 these verses, without saying things which may to some ears sound 
 harsh. But in truth I mean not to be harsh, but only sincere, in 
 handling the word, of God. Let me then say that, if there were no 
 ultra abolitionists in the day of Paul, then these verses contain one 
 of the most remarkable portraits which forecasting inspiration ever 
 enabled a prophet to draw. If the intractable agitators that in some 
 regions have rent the church, had sat before the apostle, he could not 
 with more accuracy have described the outline of that character, 
 which their unbridled enthusiasm tends to engender. I especially 
 / wish those of you who belong to my own flock, to study these^erses 
 well in your own homes, and I will therefore only pause to make a 
 Vbrief comment upon them. 
 
21 
 
 Paul says then, if any man teach otherwise — otherwise than 
 what ? Why things other than, different from, those enjoined in the 
 first and second verses. And if any man consent not to wholesome 
 words.^' Then Paul thought those words wholesome,^ ^ which ex- 
 pressly declared the believing masters of those under the yoke to be 
 
 brethren — faithful — beloved — partakers of the benefit.^^ But mark, 
 ^^even the words of our Lord Jesus .Christ — the apostle drives his 
 nail, and clinches it — none can say that he spoke these things on his 
 own responsibility. In Christ’s name, he lays down a law of order in 
 the church, And to the doctrine which is according to godliness.” 
 
 Paul then thought this whole doctrine, including his brotherly esti- 
 mate of believing masters of those under the yoke, to be a good one 
 and according to godliness. He is proud, knowing nothing, but 
 doting about questions,” &c. Upon this portrait drawn by in- 
 spiration, I will not comment further, but will leave it for your medi- 
 tation. 
 
 I will not go into the exegesis of any other passage of scripture, 
 for this is conclusive. 
 
 If a law is distinctly laid down, if a principle is clearly announced 
 upon one page of your statute book — and nowhere recalled — it is ac- 
 knowledged by your courts and guides their action. 
 
 When Paul speaks of masters or of servants, it is to enjoin their 
 relative duties. But never once does he enjoin emancipation as amongst 
 those duties. And if we deny that Paul is to be obeyed when he 
 says, these things te ach and exh ort,” do you not see that we thereby 
 open a gap througK the foundations — and a gap for the flooding waters 
 of infidelit y. If even the words of our Lor d Jesus Christy” in the 
 mouth of Paul, are not to be minded, where shall we get our counsel v 
 on any great question of duty ? 
 
 There are recognized in our church four courts, three of which are 
 appellate. A case originating before the Session of a single church, \ 
 may be carried by appeal to the Presbytery, and from the Presbytery | 
 to the Synod, and from the Synod to the General Assembly. The \ 
 Session then is the primary court. Amongst other powers lodged in 
 it, is that of receiving or rejecting those who apply for admission to 
 the church. At this point they have an actual authority, but it is an 
 authority limited by the apostolic injunction, and the apostolic ex- 
 ample. 
 
22 
 
 The apostolic injunction and the apostolic example furnish that 
 fundamental law of order for Christ’s house, which is complete and 
 may not be added unto. Now in all practical question touching the 
 admission of persons to the church, it is manifest that the apostolic 
 example is to be construed as embodying the apostolic injunction. 
 Paul’s instructions to officers, are illustrated by his own acts as an 
 officer. If as an officer, called to the apostleship, inspired, and set 
 apart to organize the church, if in this capacity he recognized men of 
 a certain class as suitable persons to be in the church, then elders and 
 pastors are bound now, and until the day of a new revelation, to re- 
 cognize that same class as suitable persons to be admitted to the 
 communion table. 
 
 \ It is sometimes said that the church has made great progress since 
 -the days of Paul, and this is seriously urged as an argument for an 
 improvement upon Paul’s instructions to Timothy when he said, 
 the^e things teach and exhort.” If the persons who advocate this 
 novel idea, mean that the teachers of religion in this day, have clearer 
 ■ views of doctrine than had the apostles, it is manifestly untrue. 
 ^ Those men were inspired expressly to restate and expand the teachings 
 of Jesus, and all our knowledge of authoritative doctrine, is derived 
 / through them from God. If it be meant that we have attained to 
 clearer views of the law of order suitable for Christ’s house, than 
 Paul had, the same reply is applicable. Paul and Peter were inspired 
 that they might organize the church ; and we have not, nor can we 
 by any possiblity get (without a new revelation) a single fundamental 
 law of order for the churchy save those which they have given us by 
 - precept and example. 
 
 There is another class of persons who quote the scripture precept, 
 do unto others as you would that they should do unto you,” and 
 apply it as a ground of discipline against slaveholders. But that 
 ^.Christ did not intend this precept to be applied for the assailment of 
 the simple authority of masters, is evident from the fact that His in- 
 spired servants, surrounded on all hands by slaveholders, and busy 
 organizing churches in their midst, never applied it in this way. 
 
 Now our church holds to the obligation of masters to obey this pre- 
 cept, as well as other men, and to obey it in regard to their slaves. 
 But who is to be the judge of what this precept will lead a master to 
 do for his slaves ? One man says it will lead him to set them free at 
 
once. But I can take you to slaveholders, who give every evidence 
 of being regenerated men and students of the bible, who do not thus 
 construe it. They would conceive it to be an irreparable calamity 
 to their slaves, if thrown into the world, upon their own resources, 
 without being in the first place further imbued with civilization. It 
 must be borne in mind that we as a race ha /e been near eight centu- 
 ries attaining our present fitness for free dom,^ If I had five hundred 
 negroes under my control, I would at once free those whom I believed 
 would be benefitted thereby. , But the rest I would not fiee, but at 
 death would leave the charge of their further culture to my children^ 
 with the advice to free them when they should, deem them prepared 
 for liberty. / 
 
 The mistake wifh a numerous class of persons, has been, to take 
 this precept, ahd constitute themselves the judges of what it should 
 prompt n^^n to do. But if the attempt were made by every man to 
 enforce his individual inferences from this precept, upon the con- 
 science of his neighbor, what an intolerable set of tyrants we would 
 all become ? A 'manT would scarce be able to employ an hour's 
 time, or to expend ten dollars of money, without being censured by 
 some intrusive neighbor for a failure to obey the precept. 
 
 I have said that our church recognizes the appplication of this pre- 
 cept to slavery. It does so first, for the removal of its numerous 
 abuses ; second, for the moral and intellectual elevation of the slave 
 race ; and third, for their eventual and entire freedom from bondage. 
 From its highest judicatories it has sent forth exhortations to masters 
 to be diligent as s te wa rds^, for God, in improving their servants; to 
 which exhortations, I rejoice to know that many give a warm re- 
 sponse. 
 
 Let me here read an addi tonal extract from the Assembly's minutes 
 of 1818 : 
 
 (/) We recommend to all the members of our religious denomi- 
 nation not only to permit, but to facilitate and encourge the instruc- 
 tion of their slaves in the principles and duties of the Christian re- 
 ligion; by granting them liberty to attend on the preaching of the 
 gospel, when they have opportunity ; by favoring the instruction of 
 them in the Sabbath school, wherever those schools can be found ; and 
 by giving them all other proper advantages for acquiring a knowledge 
 of their duty both to God and man. We are perfectly satisfied, that 
 
24 
 
 it is incumbent on all Christians to communicate religious instruction 
 to those who are under their authority, so that the doing of this in 
 the case before us, so far from operating as some have apprehended, as 
 an incitement to insubordination and insurrection, would, on the con- 
 trary, operate as the most powerful means for the prevention of those 
 evils/' 
 
 I will now proceed to read the action of our Assembly in 1845. 
 The instrument adopted by that Assembly, as embodying its views, is 
 one of extraordinary clearness. It is a distinct, unambiguous announce- 
 ment of doctrine on this subject, and contains, as I trust, the deliver- 
 ance to which our church will in future refer as containing a final ex- 
 pression of its convictions. I will therefore read the paper in full.* 
 
 AcrioN or 1845. 
 
 The committee to whom were referred the memorials on the sub- 
 ject of slavery, beg leave to submit the following report : 
 
 (а) The memorialists may be divided into three classes : 1. Those 
 who represent the system of slavery, as it exists in these United 
 States, as a great evil, and pray this Assembly to adopt measures for 
 the amelioration of the condition of the slaves, 2. Those who ask 
 the Assembly to receive memorials on the subject of slavery, to allow 
 a full discussion of it, and to enjoin upon the members of our church, 
 residing in States whose laws forbid the slaves being taught to read, 
 to seek by all lawful means for the repeal of those laws. 3. Those who 
 represent slavery^ as a moral evil, a heinous sin in the sight of God, 
 calculated to bring upon the church the curse of God, and calling for 
 the exercise of discipline in the case of those who persist in main- 
 taining or justifying the relation of master to slaves. 
 
 (б) ^‘The question which is now unhappily agitating and dividing 
 
 Note. — The question discussed in this discourse, whether the relation subsisting 
 between the master and slave is in iteelf sinful, and therefore to be construed as de- 
 barring the master from the communion, seems not to have been brought before the 
 Assembly of 1818 in that distinct form in which it was presented for final discussion 
 in 1845. The Assembly of 1818 had its eye rather upon the general evils which 
 subsist in connection with the system. 
 
 But that this Assembly did not intend, by any part of its utterance, to condemn 
 slaveholding as a sin per set and a bar to communion, is evident, first, from 
 the fact that it neither enjoined nor recommended to any Session, to use the 
 simple ground ef slaveholding as a basis of discipline against any man ; and in the 
 second place, its deliverance (articles c, d,) contains the distinct intimation that 
 too hasty an emancipation would be an injury to the negroes, possibly involving 
 themselves and others in ruin. Whatever, then, is taught in the action of 1818, it 
 is not there taught that slaveholding is in itself a sin, and a proper ground of dis- 
 cipline. W. L. Gr. 
 
25 
 
 other branches of the church, and which is pressed upon the atten- 
 tion of the Assembly, by one of the three classes of memorialists just 
 named, is, whether the holding of slaves is, under all circumstances, 
 a heinous sin, calling for the discipline of the church, 
 
 ( c ) The church is a spiritual body, whose jurisdiction extends to 
 the religious fait h and moral conduct of her members. She cannot 
 legislate, where Christ has not legislated, nor make terms of member* i 
 ship which He has not made. The question, therefore, which the As- V 
 sembly is called upon to decide, is this. Do the scriptures teach that x 
 the holding of* slaves, without regard to circumstances, is a sin, the 
 renunciation of which should be made a condition of membership in 
 the church of Christ ? 
 
 ( c? ) It is impossible to answer this question in the affirmative, 
 without contradicting some of the plainest declarations of the word of 
 God. That slavery existed in the days of Christ and His Apostles is 
 an admitted fact. That they did not denounce the relation itself as 
 sinful, as inconsistent with Christianity ; that slaveholders were ad- 
 mitted to membership in churches organized by the apostles ; that, 
 whilst they were required to treat their slaves with kindness, and as 
 rational, accountable, immortal beings, and, if Christians, as brethren 
 in the Lord, they were not commanded to emancipate them ; that 
 slaves were required to be obedient to their masters according to the 
 flesh, with fear and trembling, with singleness of heart as unto 
 Christ,^^ are facts which meet the eye of every reader of the New Tes- 
 tament. This Assembly cannot, therefore, denounce the holding of 
 slaves as necessarily a heinous and scandalous sin, calculated to bring 
 upon the church the curse of God, whithout charging the apostles of 
 Christ with conniving at sin, introducing into the church such sin- 
 ners, and thus bringing upon them the curse of the Almighty. 
 
 ( 6 ) In so saying, however, the Assembly is not to be understood ^ 
 as denying that there is evil connected with slavery. Much less do they 
 approve those d efective^^nd Toppressive laws by which, in some of the ^ 
 States, it is regulated. Nor would they by any means countenance 
 the traffic in slaves for the sake of_^m ; the separation ot husbands 
 and wives, parents and children, for the sake of fil thy lucr e,^^ or for 
 the convenience of the master ; or cruel treatment of slaves in any 
 respect. Every Christian and philanthropist should seek, by all 
 peaceable and lawful means, the repeal of unjust and oppressive laws, 
 
26 
 
 
 and the amendment of such as are defective, so as to protect the slaves 
 from cruel treatment by wicked men, and secure to them the right to 
 receive religious instruction. 
 
 (/) ‘^Nor is the Assembly to be understood as countenancing the 
 idea that masters may regard their servants as mere property, and not 
 as human beings, rational, accountable, immortal. The scriptures 
 prescribe not only the duties of servants, but of masters also, warning 
 the latter to discharge those duties, knowing that their Master is 
 in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with Him. 
 
 (^) The Assembly intend simply to say, that since Christ and His 
 inspired apostles did not make the holding of slaves a bar to commun- 
 ion, we, as a court of Christ, have no authority to do so ; since they 
 did not attempt to remove it from the church by legislation, we have 
 no authority to legislate on the subject. We feel further constrained 
 / to say, that however desirable it may be to ameliorate the condition of 
 the slaves in the Southern and Western States, or to remove slavery 
 from our country, these objects, we are fully persuaded, can never be 
 ecured by ecclesiastical legislation. Much less can they be attained 
 by those indiscriminate denunciations against slaveholders, without re- 
 gard to their character or circumstances, which have to so great an 
 extent characterized the movements of modern abolitionists, which so 
 far from removing the evils complained of, tend only to perpetuate 
 and aggravate them. The apostles of Christ sought to ameliorate the 
 ^condition of slaves, not by denouncing and excommunicating their 
 i masters, but by teaching both masters and slaves the glorious doc- 
 \ trines of the gospel, and enjoining upon each the discharge of their 
 relative duties. Thus only can the church of Christ, as such, now 
 improve the condition of the slaves in our country. 
 
 (A) ‘‘As to the extent of the evils involvedjn slavery, and the 
 best methods of removing them, various opinions prevail, and neither 
 the scriptures nor our constitution authorize this body to prescribe 
 any particular course to be pursued by the churches under our care. 
 The Assembly cannot but rejoice, however, to learn that the ministers 
 and churches in the slaveholding States, are awaking to a deeper sense 
 of their obligations to extend to the slave population generally the 
 means of grace, and many slaveholders not professedly religious, favor 
 this object. We earnestly exhort them to abound more and more in 
 this good work. We would exhort every believing master to remem- 
 
ber that his Master is in heaven, and in view of all the circumstances 
 in which be is placed, to act in the spirit of the golden rule, ‘ What- 
 soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto 
 them/ 
 
 In view of the above stated principles and facts — 
 
 ‘‘ Resolved, 1. That the General Ass embly of t^ Presbyterian church in 
 the United States was originally organized, and has since continued the bond 
 of union in the church, upon the conceded principle that the existence of do- 
 mestic slavery, under the circumstances in which it is found in the southern 
 portion of the country, is no bar to Christian communion. j 
 
 ‘‘ 2. That the petitions that ask the Assembly to make the holding of slaves 
 in itself a matter of discipline, do virtually require this judicatory to dissolve i 
 itself, and abandon the organization, under which, by the Divine blessing, it j 
 has so long prospered. The tendency is evidently to separate the northern 
 from the southern portion of the church ; a result which every good citizen 
 must deplore, as tending to the dissolution of the union of our beloved country, 
 and which every enlightened Christian will oppose, as bringing about a ruinous 
 and unnecessary schism between brethren who maintain a common faith.’’ — 
 (Baird’s Digest, p. 822 .) 
 
 Some individuals are ready to affirm that tbis judgment of the Old 
 School Presbyterian Church was dictated by policy. If so, it is a pol- 
 icy originated by the example of the Apostles. It is a policy dictated 
 by that law of order engrafted in the church by apostolic authority, 
 and which cannot be cast out but at the risk of wrenching the found- 
 ations of our faith, and marring Christ’s scheme for the evangelization 
 of the world. If we are at liberty to improve upon Paul’s method in 
 this particular, where shall the spirit of innovation cease ? ^ Si^ in- 
 novation, I maintain, is incipient tyranny, rearing its odious ^ 
 HEAD BESIDE THE VERY ColdMUNioN^ « / 
 
 To say that policy, in the" evil sense of that term^ has dictated the 
 conduct of the Presbyterian church touching slavery, is simply ab- 
 surd. Principle has dictated it. A calm determination to abide by 
 the law of order derived from the apostolic teachings, has dictated it. 
 
 Do you know aught of these men as a body ? Have you an acquaint- 
 ance with the general character of the eldership and ministry of the Old 
 School Presbyterian Church in these United States? Amongst them 
 are numbered men of the highest repute as civilians, as jurists, as . 
 legislators, as patriots, as scholars, and as theologians. Amongst 
 them are men of every shade of opinion touching the policy best for 
 the nation. Amongst them are men eminent in their communities as 
 
28 
 
 members of the great political parties — as Kepublicans, Democrats, 
 ^ and Old Whigs. And, as a body, I will say that for dignity of char- 
 acte., for width of information, for severity of thought, for discrimi- 
 nating power of intellect, for genuine integrity, and for a true hearted 
 devotion to the great interests of mankind — for these qualities, the 
 officers of this church, as a body, are unsurpassed by any class of men 
 in the country. No graver, more studious, more conscientious, or 
 more patriotic body of men is wont to assemble in the land, than the 
 General Assembly, composed of elders and ministers of this church. 
 And yet it is the deliberate judgment of this Assembly, composed of 
 men who as to politics are distributed through the ranks of the sev- 
 eral parties of the country, that slaveholding is not per se a sin against 
 God, and is not in itself a scriptural bar from the communion. To 
 ascribe this decision to policy, were idle. ^Tis a policy engendered 
 by that steadfast devotion to the crown of Christ which will allow no 
 social exigency, and no outside pressure, to urge them as stewards, 
 into the guilt of infringing the great King^s prerogative as Lawmaker 
 for His own house. This church has refused to commit this trespass, 
 though vehemently urged to it by innumerable influences, expending 
 themselves through the medium of lectures, newspapers, periodicals, 
 and sermons. With calm serenity her grave Assembly has stood like 
 some rooted rock, amid the flowing and foaming waters of public 
 opinion. Long may it thus stand, a mighty pillar of religious free- 
 dom in this land and throughout the world ! Long may it thus 
 stand, reaching out through its large company of converted masters, 
 the hand of succor, the torch of knowledge, the pledge of future na- 
 tional freedom, to the race now in bondage. 
 
 There are great principles pertaining both to doctrine and to the 
 law of order in Christ’s house, which may lie in the word compara- 
 tively unnoticed, until an exigency arises. They are like the anchors 
 and coils of cable which ships carry against times of storm. During 
 sunny days, when the sea is unruffled and dangers distant, the sailor 
 passes his anchor with carelessness. But let the winds rise, let 
 the sea roll up its billows, let the rocks show themselves through the 
 fretting surge, and straightway he flings his grappling hook into the 
 depths of the sea ; it taketh hold upon the roots of the ocean ; the 
 stout cable is strained like a muscle of steel ; the ship rides at an- 
 chor, and the sailor lies down in his cot and sleeps, w^Ist the storm 
 
29 
 
 blusters its strength away, and sinks, too, to rest. Into such peril the 
 good ship of our church hath often come, and her wont hath been to 
 pluck her anchors from the word, to cast them with calm faith out amid 
 the storm, and then with David to lift up a song and say, return 
 unto thy rest 0 my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
 thee/^ 
 
 And now brethren, touching this whole matter, let me say, that I 
 am full willing you should sometimes feel a stout breeze from without. 
 Were it all smooth sailing, I should grow jealous of you and of 
 self, I would see you tried and proved, that I may know unto what 
 degree of knowledge of the scriptures you have attained. That it may 
 be ascertained with what degree of clearness you perceive and under- 
 stand the spirituality of Christ’s kingdom ; and with what tenacity 
 you hold to the doctrine of Christ’s supremacy, and the permanency 
 of his law of order in his own house. 
 
 In my earlier years I had a constitutional proclivity towards fanati- 
 cism, of one kind or another. God only knows the griefs that this 
 vitiated tendency hath wrought me, in days gone by. And now that 
 I am, through the doctrines and gentleness of Christ, happily purged 
 of this evil leaven, I will not shun to warn you of its power to blind 
 the judgment, to warp the temper, and to embitter the life. 
 
 Let me bring this discourse to an end, by reiterating two of the pro- 
 positions announced from this pulpit on last Sabbath : 1st. The doc- 
 tiines and law of order authoritative in Christ’s house, are complete, 
 and may not be added unto. 2d. The introduction of unscriptural 
 tests at the communion table, is an invasion of Christ’s prerogative, is 
 full of danger to the peace of the church, is a bar to the progress of 
 the gospel through the earth, and as such, is to be resisted. 
 
SE3ElMO]Sr II 
 
 
 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto 
 the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ the power of Ood^ and the wisdom of God . — 1 Cor. 1-23, 24. 
 
 And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, 
 which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to other 
 people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, audit shall 
 stand forever. — Dan. 2-44. 
 
 The kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is steadily rooting itself 
 amid the nations. Its influence is pervading their literature, their 
 commerce, and their policies. All the civilized families of mankind 
 have felt, and are destined to feel in a still greater degree, the power 
 of that life which, planting itself in the hearts of individuals, spreads 
 its purifying influence outward, through the State, through the nation, 
 through the world. Thus like leaven, the religion of Jesus is still 
 working, and must work, till every social system, with all its included 
 activities, shall have felt its remedial power, and shall have grown 
 nobler and more benign thereby. And in that day of glorious con- 
 summation, when the wilderness will begin to bloom like the 
 rose, the Lord alone shall be glorified. In that day when the nations 
 with all their harness on, with all their enginery of various forces in 
 full play, shall stand subjugated unto Christ, and ready to do His bid- 
 ding, it shall every where be inscribed, ‘‘ the cross hath wrought this 
 victory. Then, in clearer light, than during thesedim days, is given 
 unto any of us, shall all men see that the cross of Christ is ^^the wis- 
 dom and the power of God.^^ When Kings and Queens are become 
 nursing fathers and nursing mothers unto the church, the strange and 
 glorious achievement will have been wrought through the story of the 
 cross. The story of J he cross, told and retold round the world, shall, 
 with its melting power, effect what no other agency in the universe is 
 commissioned to effect. It shall through love, subjugate men to 
 
32 
 
 Christ's scepter, and win them to the glory of imitating his ex- 
 ample. 
 
 Th e leaven n ow works. But it is a ruined world that is to be per- 
 vaded thereby. Gross darkness is to be dissipated. Barbarism which 
 centuries have entrenched, is to be broken up. Propensities that 
 have in them the germs of hell and eternal death, are to be rooted 
 out A race apostate from God, dead in sin, subject to the devil, and 
 languishing under the curse of the law, such a race is to be renovated 
 and brought into the glory of serving God. And for this race, there 
 is no gospel but one. There is no evangel that can measure its want, 
 sound its woe, and speak to it a single glad word, touching a perfect 
 cure, save the evangel of the cross. And the utterance of this gos- 
 pel must be backed, steadily and persistently backed, by the energies 
 of Almighty God, or it could not push on through the huge and vari- 
 ous difficulties that obstruct its path. 
 
 It is nojy-Qnder, considering our infirmities, that earnest souls in 
 different ages, have grown weary in waiting for the gospel to complete 
 Tts triumphs in a world where evils are so thrifty. It was not a 
 strange presumption that caused Uzzah to lay hands on the ark of 
 God, to steady it, as the jolting cart drew it over the uneven ground — 
 yet that presumption cost him his life. Nor should we be surprised 
 that an urgent and unwise zeal should prompt individuals in every 
 age, to lay hands on Christ's method for the world's cure, and try to 
 improve it. But this endeavor, though it reveal itself in the church 
 and amongst the brethren, is to be resisted, inasmuch as, if we tam- 
 per with Christ's method, we thereby involve ourselves in guilt ; and 
 our effort to amend it is sure to corrupt it, thereby abating its fitness 
 to pervade the world, and hindering the achievement of that very end 
 which we desire to see effected. 
 
 It was shown this morning, that the kingdom of Christ is spiritual ; 
 that it institutes through the church, no assault upon the form of any 
 authority in the earth ; that ministers and elders have no commission 
 by virtue of which they can bring the church courts into organic con- 
 flict with the authority of the master over the slave. ^Tis not the 
 possession of power in any man's hands that the gospel assails ; 'tis 
 the temper he cherishes and the spirit in which he uses his power, 
 that the gospel seeks to rectify and conform to the spirit of Christ, who 
 died out of love for his guilty people. The gospel seeks first to 
 
33 
 
 make the king, the despot and the master, stewards and spiritual ser- 
 vants of those under them. This effected, it leaves civil policy to 
 take that form into which the renovated spirit of society may mould 
 it. It leaves the citizen free, and untrammeled by church courts, to 
 go his way and cast his vote for such laws as he shall deem expedient, 
 and wise, and just. And thus, exempt from the unhallowed passions 
 which prompt to proscription and intolerance, the gospel of Christ 
 seeks to make its way into the heart of hoary despotisms, of mon- 
 archies, of aristocracies, and of slave empires, there, within the secret 
 souls of men, to stir up those heavenly aspirations, which are every- 
 where, the bright harbingers of liberty and higher civil order. But 
 in doing this, Christ d_ecisively, bj solemn declarations, by example, 
 by the precepts and conduct of inspired men, sets forth that His king- 
 dom is spiritual, and is not to be brought into organic conflict with 
 the kingdoms of this world. To institute this conflict, were to remove 
 the issue from the interior to the outer life. It were to degrade the 
 glory of the cross, which by the power of love, is to subdue men, and 
 cause them from highest to lowest, to love and serve each other 
 heartily. 
 
 Now it is in view of this expansiveness of the life of Christ within 
 the church, and this progressiveness of its influence over the nations, 
 that I am to night, to vindicafe the course of the Old School Presby- 
 terian Church touching slaveiy, as a course eminently wise, righteous, 
 and accordant with the example of Christ and his apostles. I main- 
 tain that this church has showU a simple faith touching the expan- 
 siveness of the DIVINE LIFE IN MAN, and its power ultimately to 
 REMOULD SOCIETY, which I regret to say, has not been shared in an 
 equal degree by Several bodies of Christians in our land. It may be 
 truthfully said that the Presbyterian Church has planted itself firmly 
 upon the position, that it is its great duty to preach the gospel to all 
 classes of men ; and that the doctrine of a crucified King, is to prove 
 ‘‘ the power of God'^ for effecting whatsoever He hath intended to 
 effect through the church. And thus, resisting the infirmities of the 
 flesh, and striving to still all impatience, it has waited upon that God 
 whose plans sweep through eternity, and with whom centuries areas days. 
 In exact accordance with the example of Paul, it has carried the gos- 
 gel, without invidious distinction, to all ranks of men. It has found 
 
 free and welcome entrance to the homes of masters, and enjoined 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Paul's commandments to masters upon them. It has found entrance 
 amongst the negroes, and declared unto them that kingdom of God 
 which taketh no account of bond or free, but where all are new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus." Whilst it has not undertaken to legislate 
 upon the authority of the master as though it were in itself iniquitous, 
 it has in the distinctest terms spoken from its highest courts, warned 
 masters of the evils and crimes which ordinarily spring up out of 
 slavery ; it has warned them of the solemn obligation they are under 
 to treat their slaves with kindness, and to pay due attention to their 
 moral and religious cultivation ; and it has borne an earnest witness, 
 through its courts held both in slave States and free States that the spirit 
 of religion as it rises up within nations, tends directly to remove, first, 
 the grosser evils of slavery, and finally, to remove slavery itself. Thus 
 clinging to the gospel, avoiding fanaticism, avoiding the use of an un- 
 scriptural effort to tyranize over masters in respect to their authority, 
 this church has found everywhere entrance, and sent out everywhere 
 its testimonies to its slaveholding membership. 
 
 Now a different course from this, an attempt to increase either the 
 doctrines or the laws of order in Christ's house, would speedily and inev- 
 itably interfere with the development of Christ’s life in the church, and 
 its influence over the nations. This is abundantly shown in the late his- 
 tory of some American churches. Those churches that have under- 
 taken to improve on the doctrines of the bible, have undermined their 
 faith and declined in grace. Those churches that have undertaken 
 to improve the law of order in Christ's house, have been rent in 
 sunder, and their fields of usefulness curtailed. ThuSj by striving, 
 contrary to the law of order used by Paul, to cut off slaveholders 
 from the church, simply on^ the ground of their slaveholding, some 
 denominations have cut themsdves off from a vast field, covering near 
 half the States of the Union. So that this singular spectacle is come 
 to be presented — of large bodies of intelligent christains busying 
 themselves intensely with the interests of some millions of men, slaves 
 and masters, and yet all the time adopting not one single practicable 
 plan for giving these people the ordinances of the church, and the 
 benefits of a living ministry. And thus too, whilst some northern 
 ministers have been striving to cast Southern Christians out of the 
 church. Southern mobs have been busy casting northern preachers 
 out of the State, — making together two grievous evils, both of which, 
 
35 
 
 as the friend of religious and of civil freedom, I deplore and con- 
 demn. 
 
 Let it be said that prejudice and passion have shut out from the 
 Southern States, churches of the class of which I speak, and then the 
 grave question immediately arises, have churches, as such, any right 
 by deviation from the apostolic example, to enkindla- pa^i on ^a gainst 
 themselves, thereby barring the way of *the gospel. W ^s ever 
 
 thankTuFToF an o^en door for the gospel, and whilst very bold in 
 preaching Christ crucified, he was careful not to raisenoutside issues. 
 It is, for us who live in this day, an instructive fact, that whilst Paul 
 journeyed continually through an empire filled with slaves, and whilst 
 his life was frequently endangered by those who assailed him for his 
 doctrine, yet he never had any trouble on the score of assaulting the 
 authority of masters, as a thing iniquitous in itself. He spoke to 
 masters plainly, and told them their duty; but in doing this, he never 
 enjoined them to set their slaves free. But as he says himself, lest 
 the name of God and His doctrine should be blasphemed,^^ he en- 
 joined those under the yoke to count their own masters worthy of 
 all honor and those that had believing masters, he enjoined “ not to 
 despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service 
 because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. 
 
 If it is concerning civil liberty that we are to preachy then is the 
 offence of the cross ceased ^ 
 
 And let me here pause to say, that I think it impossible for me to 
 utter a stronger remonstrance, than I am now uttering, against the un- 
 fortunate practice into which ministers ha ye fallen, of going aside 
 
 from their commission, to discuss political topics the pulpit. 
 One of the main pomS, "Indeed, of these two discourses, has been to dis- 
 criminate the kingdom of Christ as spiritual, and to point out those 
 limits which bound the authority of church courts. 
 
 If we were to plant churches in R ussia, and the Czar should become a 
 communicant, we could enjoin h m in the name of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to use his authority in the spirit of love toward his subjects ; and 
 if he were guilty of cruelty towards them, we could excommunicate him. 
 But we would have no scriptural warrant whatever, for requiring him 
 to relinquish one particle of the authority he now wields. If his ear 
 were open to us, we could advise him to reconstruct his system, but 
 we could not enjoin him to do it, without oursel ves ar roga ting an au- 
 
36 
 
 thority as cliurcli oflScers, to which we cannot show the shadow of a 
 claim. 
 
 To this it may be replied, that slavery is a domestic institution, and 
 not a governmental systems. That is granted ; yet it inheres in a 
 governmental system, as an integral part of it. It is grafted into the 
 Constitutions and the statute books of the States where it exists. It 
 derives its existence, and its energy, from those instruments. And as 
 a practical fact, we have as little warrant from the example and teach- 
 ings of the apostles to legislate in church courts against the simple 
 authority of the master, apart from its abuse, as we have to legislate 
 against the simple authority of a despot, apart from its abuse. The 
 most absolute sovereign that can be imagined as having rule over 
 men ; one exerting an unlimited control over the bodies of his sub- 
 jects, would, if a member of this church, be amenable to its Session, 
 for the use made of his power. But the power itself, we would have 
 no right to require him to relinquish. And though it is conceded 
 that slavery is not in itself a governmental system, yet it so far par- 
 takes of a governmental nature, that it is manifest from the example 
 and teachings of Paul, that the authority of masters like that of absolute 
 despots, is not in itself to be questioned by church courts, but only 
 the use which masters may make of this authority. But whether this 
 example of Paul arose from the fact that slavery partakes in some lim- 
 ited degree of a governmental nature or not, yet the example and as- 
 sociated teachings remain the same ; and the limits of our duty and 
 OUT right, as officers of the church, none the less explicitly defined. 
 
 Now, whilst the Presbyterian church, after repeated, and careful, 
 and I may say intense examination of the whole question, has re- 
 frained from asserting any right to demand of masters in Christ’s 
 name, to set their servants free, yet it has never dreamed of reliquishing 
 its full right to oversee its membership in the matter of their conduct 
 towards their domestics. Por church courts, within their scriptural 
 bounds, we claim a full authority. And it is their duty to urge mas- 
 ters as the heads of families, to use their best talents and their most 
 prayerful endeavors for the advancement of their children and ser- 
 vants in knowledge, religion, and happiness, thus becoming the imita- 
 tors of Christ, who though in the form of God,^’ made Himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and in that 
 form, died for His household, 
 
37 
 
 Now tins I say, brethren, the gospel of Christ is the great power of 
 God. It is destined to sweep through this sin-ruined world, resusci- 
 tating it, modifying its evils, and gradually removing them. But do 
 you not see, that if it win its way through the world, it must move on 
 after the manner of Christ's own wisdom ? If we would carry it 
 through the world, we must follow the example of Christ and His 
 apostles. We must speak as they spake. We must lay upon men no 
 heavier burdens than they* laid upon them. We must not^make 
 stricter exactions than the Son of God, and Paul His servant, made. 
 
 If we do, men will not hear us. They will turn from us. Paul went 
 into slave regions and founded churches. Now if we go into such e- 
 gions, and raise a test of church membership which the apostle never 
 raised, do you not see that we lay a bar — a strong, heavy bar — right 
 across the way of the gospel ? 
 
 These reflections have an immediate and most interesting connec- 
 tion with the practical work of spreading the gospel through the 
 Slave States of our land. It must now, on all hands, be conceded 
 by intelligent Christians, that if the slaves attain to ultimate free- 
 dom, it must be through their gradual elevation in mind and char- 
 acter. And for this end the gospel is indisputably both the wisdom 
 and the power of God. And this gospel, manifestly, can be carried to 
 them only through their masters. So that aQief all that has been said, 
 the true hope of the negro now lies in the Christianization both of 
 the master and ofTEe sFa^^ UponTfEis point let ine read you some 
 extracts from Henry Ward Beecher, I may say of Mr. Beecher , that 
 when I receive his views on an any subject, I do it with circumspection. 
 But in PARTS of this sermon from which I am about to quote, he has 
 spoken with much common sense — I may say with much wisdom. He 
 has been an experimenter too, as he himself intimates, in the use of 
 various endeavors for benefitting the negr«es. Listen now to his ma- 
 tured judgment touching the matter, when looking at it simply from 
 
 a PRACTICAL STAND POI^T: _ - 
 
 ^In the sermon published in the issue of the Inde;pendent^ Nov^ 3, 
 185 9, Mr. Beecher says ; The breeding of .discontent amongst the ^ 
 bondmen of our land is not the way to help them. Whatsoever 
 gloomy thoughts the slave’s own mind may brood, we are not to carry 
 disquiet to him, from without. If I could have my way, every man 
 on the globe should be a free man and at once. But since they cannot 
 
38 
 
 / be, will not be for ages, is it best that bitter discontent should be in^ 
 
 < spired in them, or Christian quietness and patient waiting ? . . 1 . 
 
 ^ . .... .... .... And my experience — and I 
 
 have had some experience in this matter — is, that men who tamper 
 with slaves and incite them, are not themselves to be trusted. They 
 are not honest men, unless they are fanatical. If they have their 
 reason , they usually have lost their consc ience. I never will trust 
 such men with money, nor place any confidence in them whatsoever. 
 I do not know why it is so, but my experience has taught me that 
 men who do such things are crafty, and come forth from such tam- 
 pering, unreliable men. Conspirators the world over, are bad men. 
 And if I were in the South — and I think I have the reputation there of 
 being a tolerably stout abolitionist — I should, not from fear of the 
 master, but from the most deliberate sense of the injurious effects of 
 it to the slaves, never by word, nor sign, nor act, do anything to ex- 
 cite discontent among those in slavery. .... .... .... 
 
 If you wish to work for the enfranchisement of the African, seek to 
 make him a better man. Teach him to be an obedient servant, and 
 an honest, true, Christian man. That man whom Christ first makes 
 free, has a better chance to be civilly free than any other. To make a 
 slave morose, fractious, disobedient and unwilling to work, is the way 
 to defer his emancipation. .... .... .... .... 
 
 .... The P auline treatment is the most direct road to 
 
 /^liberty. No part of the wisdom of the New Testament seems to me 
 more divinely wise than PauVs directions to those in slavery. They 
 are the food that servants need now at the South, everywhere the 
 world over. If I lived in the South, I should preach these things to 
 ^ slaves, while preaching on masters' duties to those who hold them. I 
 y should do it with a firm conviction that so I should advance the day 
 \ of their liberty.'^ 
 
 Now it is this Pauline doctrine which Mr. Beecher so highly com- 
 mends, and which to his mind bears pre-eminently the stamp of di- 
 vine wisdom — 'tis this exact doctrine that has_ regulated th^^^^ of 
 action of Ae Presbyterian church, with regard to slaves and their 
 masters, for more than fifty years. 
 
 It is in the spirit of this Pauline doctrine that the testimony of her 
 courts has been rendered, as any man may see, who will take the trouble 
 to examine the digest of acts of the Assembly. Numbers of her minis- 
 
 
f 
 
 39 
 
 ters, now laboring in slave States, are avowed emancipationists. The 
 difference is, they do not regard the master as committing sin simply 
 in holding slaves, but believe that ho may, as a steward for God, do 
 much good in that relation. They do not regard themselves as church 
 officers, as possessed of a function for legislating against the authority of 
 masters, whilst they do held that, as overseers, they are in duty bound 
 to exhort masters, with parents, to labor for the good of their house- j 
 
 holds. Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge. a man known here by reputation, 
 is at this hour laboring as teacher of theology in the heart of Ken- 
 tucky ; yet he has been a gradual emancipationist from earliest man- 
 hood. He was associated with the first friends of colonization who 
 stood up twenty five or thirty years ago with Henry Clay at their j 
 head. When a convention was called some years since to amend the 
 Constitution of Kentucky, acting as a citizen, he ofifered for the Con- 
 ( vention upon the question of engrafting upon the amended instru- 
 ment a clause securing the gradual emancipation of the negroes A 
 near kinsman of my family, himself a large slaveholder, offered at the 
 same time, and upon the same issue. I voted for him, and would do 
 so again as often as the circumstances should be reproduced. And 
 thus, scattered here and there through the South, we have converted 
 men and women, who sincerely wish, first, the elevation, and then, the 
 emancipation of the slave race; whilst at the same time they decis- 
 ively DENY that church courts have any scriptural authority to effect 
 this emancipation by use of authority, even in a single case. 
 
 In the development of Christ’s life within the church, and in se- 
 curing its further penetration into all departments of the world's ex- 
 istence, there is a most solemn and weighty responsibility devolved 
 upon church officers^ They hold the keys of the visible kigndom. Dis- 
 cipline is, therefore, to be administered bj them most carefully. It is 
 not to be administered by immature and rash persons. Not by nov- 
 ices, but by elders, selected for their gravity, their prudence, their 
 knowledge of the scriptures. And these elders may not presume to 
 administer discipline under the dictates of their own impulses simply, 
 but as stewards, must bound their action strictly by the apostolic in- 
 junction and example. In all things we are, in God's house, to 
 CLING TO THE SCRIPTURES. I believe in using discipline under some ' 
 
 circumstances. But how easy were it by an unwise and unscriptural 
 discipline to alienate one-half of the families of any church in this j 
 
 i 
 
40 
 
 town ? And on a larger scale, how easy by such course were it to 
 alienate the affections of multitudes of families in a whole region ? 
 Discipline must be strictly conformed to the apostolic injunction and 
 example, or else it becomes Tear to_thE-JF.uuteleii PEyELOPMENT of 
 Christ’s life, and the further subjugation of the nations by grace. 
 
 ^ Now as we have said, Christ has adopted his own method for the 
 cure of the evils of this world. He has lodged certain functions in 
 governments, and certain functions in the church. And it is the duty 
 of the church to confine itself to the exercise of its legitimate func- 
 tions. As an individual and a citizen, I may have many thoughts and 
 desires touching the future civil destiny of the negroes. I trust I am 
 not indifferent to their national freedom. But as an officer in Christ’s 
 house, I can exert no authority for the termination of slavery. And 
 the attempt to exert this illegitimate authority, would inevitably, to 
 that extent, bar the progress of the gospel, and cause the name of 
 God and His doctrine to be blasphemed” — the very evil which Paul 
 deprecated. Christ has not warranted me, as a church officer, to re- 
 quire any communicant to set his slaves free to-day, next year, or the 
 next century. I may advise him to do it, if I think it best, but I may 
 not without contracting guilt, enjoin him to do it. In my official ca- 
 pacity, I may go the full length of my commission ; but if I go be- 
 yond it, I am myself become a tyrant over the conscience of Clirist’s 
 household. There is a broad margin for advice^ rebuke, exhortation, 
 and discipline. 1 know not whether slavery is going to last fifty years, 
 or five hundred years ; but as long as it does last, I am to exhort masters 
 to render to their servants that which is just and equal and to 
 exhort servants under the yoke, that they “ count their own masters 
 worthy of all honor.” And if these injunctions are seriously violated 
 by either party, we may use discipline for such violation. But if we 
 go beyond this, we at once leave the region where we are at liberty 
 under ordination vows, to speak with all authority, and enter a region 
 where we are at liberty only to advise and persuade. The man must, 
 to day, or fifty years hence, judge for himself, before God, whether he 
 shall set his slaves free at all or not ; and if so, under what circum- 
 stances he is to set them free. The rule of order in God’s house does 
 not vary with the varying phases of national exigency. If so, it 
 were a sandbank, in which no enduring pillar of the faith could be 
 planted. 
 
41 
 
 Were I a farmer in the South, with any number of servants under 
 my control, I should deem it a duty to labor for their improvement, 
 with an eye to the eventual freedom of the race. Were my pastor to 
 aid and stimulate my zeal in this matter, by advice and exhortation ; 
 were he to enkindle my flagging energies by timely rebuke, I would 
 accept it all, and thank him for his faithfulness. But should he go 
 beyond this, and undertake to enjoin it with authority upon my con- 
 science to free my slaves to-day, next year, or at any specified time, not 
 approved by my own judgment, I should reply, that the matter was 
 foreign from his office as a steward in the church. And if he should 
 persist in this ill-advised abuse of his pastoral function, I should be 
 forced to construe his conduct as intrusive and tyrannical, and to 
 treat it as such. 
 
 There are two points that occur here, which I have not time to 
 discuss in full, but which must not be passed in silence. It is some- 
 times said that the gospel is not preached in its purity in the South. 
 
 It may be true that in the present state of the public mind, the minis- 
 ters of our church have need of an increased and discriminating 
 wisdom, in order rightly and successfully to enforce upon masters the 
 special duties devolving upon them in that relation. And some it 
 may be, for aught I know, shirk their duty in this regard. But as 
 to the gospel as Christ spoke it, as Paul uttered it, in all the broad 
 range of its grand doctrines, its sublime hopes, and its heavenly pre- 
 cepts, that man is ignorant of the southern branch of the church, 
 who affirms that it is not preached there. Some of the brightest 
 lights of the age are now shining there ; and some of the most faith- 
 ful of Christas witnesses are now preaching Sabbath after Sabbath to 
 masters and servants. It is not suitable for brethren and countrymen 
 to indulge in invidious distinctions. My address is specially to the 
 members of my own flock. I have hesitated before speaking of any 
 other denomination ; and in what I have concluded to say, I wish to 
 avoid the spirit of censoriousness. I have personal friends here, who 
 hail from New England. There is much in the character of that 
 people of which, as an American, I am proud, and as a Christian, 
 grateful to God. But let me say, there are porte nts he re and there \ 
 along the theological horizon of New England, w hich no lo ver of / 
 sound doctrine can contemplate without pain. In my humble judg-' 
 ment, an influential class of the descendants of the Puritans, have in 
 
42 
 
 1 
 
 late years occupied tliemselves in the study and the pulpit, too little 
 with the central doctrines of the cross, and too much with themes of 
 secondary importance. It is my conviction that the great doctrines 
 of the cross are at this hour in far less danger of subversion in the 
 southern churches, than in New England.* Negative theology — that 
 hydra-headed monster — would to God it were slain ! Negative theol- 
 ogy, which has in late days vigorously assailed parts of New England, 
 has made little progress at the South. The great doctrines which 
 
 r pertain to the atonement and covenant in Christ, are there, at hast in 
 our church, steadfastly held. 
 
 Again, it is sometimes said that all Christian slaveholders do not 
 discharge their duty towards their servants, in respect to their 
 instruction. This is unhappily true, notwithstanding the warm exhor- 
 tations of Synods and Assemblies on the subject. But t hen, who is 
 there tha^ do^aJiia.w]ia^ in any relation ? Have you not called 
 melEoTive here for the express purpose, in part, of exhorting you 
 each week to break off your sins and do your duty ? And yet are , 
 not some of you up to this hour, making very slow work with the gieat 
 business of self-reformation, and thorough devotion to Christ ? We 
 cannot draw a line through the land, and say all on one side shall be 
 perfect masters and mistresses, under pain of excision, whilst those 
 on the other side may be imperfect as husbands and wives, and parents 
 and neighbors, and yet suffer no excision. 
 
 But that our church through the South is not unmindful of its 
 duty to the slaves, in the degree that some would imply, is well known 
 to all who have been there ; and may be well known to all who will 
 examine our church records. 
 
 But some will ask, what shall we do then touching this whole mat- 
 ter. To politicians I have not one word to say in the premises. I 
 leave them to do their own thinking. But as to Christians, in their 
 relation to Christas church, I would warn them to hear the ark without 
 touching it He that carrieth coals, let him carry them m^a^conse- 
 crateTshovel, lest his unhallowed shovel be burned, and the coals fall 
 
 Note. — Many of the churches of New England have beeen disposed to insist with 
 peculiar earnestness, that the Prasbytc rian Church punfy its action touching slavery. 
 \ /The question has thus been naturally suggested, have those churches throughout, 
 » ‘ shown a corresponding zeal in behalf of those grand fundamental doctrines upon 
 'which the hopes ani peace of the church are dependant. Upon this point it must be 
 conceded that every man is entitled to his opinion. Above, I have given mine. 
 
/ 
 
 43 
 
 abroad, and fill God’s house with the smoke and flames of fanaticism. 
 Reflect thoroughly upon Christ’s plan for healing the maladies of this 
 world, of which slavery in its worst form, is but one. Examine well 
 the law of order for Christ’s house. Remember distinctly that the 
 gospel was first preached in a slaveholding empire ; meditate upon 
 Paul’s position, reflect upon his conduct, ponder his words where 
 he comes in contact with slavery ; penetrate the spirit of his inspired 
 example, and try to compass his sublime faith in the cross of Christ 
 as ‘^the wisdom of God and the power of God.” Let us sweep back 
 the curtaining film, and discern anew the glory, and the immense 
 moral energy there is in such a fact as God manifest in the flesh, 
 and dying in agony for Ms rehellious servants. Do you speak to me of 
 the progressiveness of religion ? Then try to-night to comprehend 
 anew, that this doctrine of the cross has been cast like leaven into the 
 world’s great, wicked, turbulent heart, there to strive and there to 
 (conquer, until that heart is subjugated through the force of this un- 
 utterable love of Christ, 0 ! if a wild anarchy should sweep over 
 this fair region, blighting every fair hope that now gladdens the pat- 
 riot; if our institutions were all buried in one common ruin, and 
 our civilization rubbed like the pattern of a flower from existence, and 
 if my frail life were spared to behold the wreck, I would go forth 
 amid the wide desolation, b inding this gospel to my blee ding heart, 
 and breathing its life giving truths from my lips. It ^as ere now 
 called nation s f roy^out their graves, and its glorious triumphs are not 
 half ended. 
 
 Yet to Christians, let me say that it is better and more glorious 
 every, #ay, to bring one man int o the lib ert y of the sons of God, than 7 
 t^ri^ring twenty" men into the transient possession of civil liberty. 7 
 Citizens dielinT'pensFI^ the children of God never die. 
 
 Free citizens are many of them slav es of the dev il, but numerous 
 bondmen aJelEFiEFee heirs of God. Many in this land, amid their liber- 
 ty, are sowing to the flesh, that they may reap corruption, whilst many 
 amid their bonds are sowing to the spirit, that they may reap life ever- 
 lasting. The primary aim of Christ’s religion, is to free souls. The 
 freeing of bodies is only incidental' and subordinate. See then the 
 point upon which as Christians, we are to expend our chief energies, 
 if we would imitate the apostles. It is to preach Christ. Seek to 
 penetote the souls of masters and of servants with the love of Christ, 
 
44 
 
 and the love of each other. You have already destroyed the rigors of 
 slavery where this is done. Introduce the love of Christ, and you 
 have initiated emancipation. O ! could we as instruments penetrate 
 the souls of men with this expansive power, then I would say, come 
 let us go to the grave and sleep in peace, for liberty will follow. As 
 the birdling issues from the egg, and presently mounts toward heaven 
 with a song, 50 surely, inevitably, liberty rises to life within a nation 
 impregnated throughout with the love of Christ To plant the germs 
 of this love is the ^^reat work about which our church is busying 
 itself. And if any man s^ll^ call me from this high vocation, to 
 preach abolition, I will reply like'^Nehemiah from the wall, “ I am 
 doing a ^at work, so that I cannot come down.^' 
 
 ^hen the pear is ripe it will fall, but green pears, what are they 
 worth, though shaken with violence from the*"tree nation of Chris- 
 tian masters and Christian slaves would soon come to a g^od under- 
 standing, without the interference of political preachers. 
 
 Under the sternest sense of duty our Assembly has refrained from 
 the invasion of Christas prerogative, lest thereby they should hinder 
 the expansion of Christ’s life within His church, and check the pro- 
 gress of its influence over the nations. 
 
 I have now briefly to vindicate as scriptural, one sentiment which I 
 have uttered, and I have done. I said on a recent occasion, when 
 I look through the events of history, when I open the bible and read 
 there the heart of Christ, and then turn to the survey of African 
 slavery in this country, my heart rejoices at the good which God has 
 already worked out through its agency, and the far greater good which 
 I believe He is still to work out, for the negro race.” 
 
 I firmly believe in Gods sovereignty over nations, and his particular 
 providence in their afiairs. Whom he will he casteth down, and whom 
 he will h e exalteth . There is no truth in scripture that can be more 
 clearly established than that God is ever subordinating the agencies 
 of man, both good and evil, to the achievement of his own ends, and 
 the advancement of his own glory. And is there a man who really 
 thinks that African slavery is so wholly a damnable thing, that even 
 the Lord of glory cannot subjugate it; and harness it, and make it, 
 with despotisms and monarchies and republics, a means of grace to the 
 world ? If there is such a man, I do not wish to think with him. I 
 wish none of his gloomy readings of the world’s current history, which 
 
to my eye is tinged everywher^jwrfth the tokens of a brighter day. 
 
 What think you of the planting o f the c ros s on jCalva ry ? You 
 count it a crime. Yet ^x^at hope have you for eternity that is worth 
 a straw^ that is not^^prung frorn that cross ? The greatest crime ever 
 committed on>his earth, hath flooded it with glory and with hope. 
 Now this hath been the wondrous method of our King throughout 
 history. The wicked acts of Satan and his-servants, have again and 
 again given rise to wonderful developments of Gods’s good pleasure 
 for the redemption of nations from barbarism. And who shall hinder 
 him from the further pursuit of his own plan ? 
 
 Wicked men j^restedjhe negroes from their homes, and sold them 
 into^sTavery. But amid their bonds, God hath raised up many of his 
 own children to rule them with kindness, and to teach them civiliza- 
 tion and Christianity. I doubt whether any nation, as a nation, ever 
 made faster progress, when just emerging from barbarism, than have 
 the negroes in this country. But yesterday, counting by the days of a 
 nation’s life, they were heathen, without God and without hope in the 
 world. To-day they are under bonds and at school. In many cases it 
 proves a rough school and a hard school. But yet they are steadily 
 learning agriculture, the mechanic arts, and in a degree, laws and civil 
 polity. Above all they are hearing the gospel of Christ, numbers of 
 them hear it — and I speak of what I know to be true — numbers of them 
 hear it in greater purity and embrace it with a more genuine faith, than 
 do sundry congregations of white people, in the most cultivated sections 
 of the land. Numbers of them have died, in the triumphs of the Chris- 
 tian’s hope, and other numbers are being prepared by the grace of 
 God for the same happy issue. Numbers are already freed, and have 
 gone back to Africa enriched with the best gifts granted. by God to 
 man on this earth. They have gone back with the torch of heavenly 
 knowledge, to kindle, as we hope, throughout that continent, a light 
 at which kings shall arise and rejoice. 
 
 Many families of these people, are in the hands of masters who are 
 oppressive — who fear not God. But the gospel — Christ’s great reme- 
 dy, is steadily pushing its way through the South ; and for^ my part, I 
 will trust in that gospel as the power of God for the amelioration of 
 their lot Can you not recall the eloquent words which fell some 
 months since from the lips of an elderly minister, standing in this 
 place. They were to this effect : The love of Christ is more pow- 
 
erful than any passion. Name the passion which the glory of the 
 cross cannot subdue and cast out ? In naming it, you utter a slan- 
 der upon that glorious thing which is ^ the power of Grod/ The love 
 of money — the love of power — the love of ease and luxury have times 
 without number gone down before its influence; its efficacy to day is 
 not one whit diminished/^ 
 
 Send me as missionary amid the homes of the most reckless and av- 
 aricious planters in the country. I will say no word to them about 
 relinquishing ^their authority, for I have no su3h commission. But 
 I will reiterate the story of the cross. I will strive to illustrate to 
 them that love displayed by a King dying on the cross for his guilty 
 servants. I will point my moral with that wondrous story, and 
 thereby strive to win them to the glory of laboring for the good of 
 their servants. Nor would I labor without hope. I would look con- 
 fidently for crowns of rejoicing, from amongst these men, and their 
 wives, and their children, and their servants. And with the entrance 
 of the gospel, there would inevitably come the softening of the rigors 
 of bondage. Bo you in the open day profess your faith in the melt- 
 ing power of the cross, and yet disbelieve this? 
 
 For my part, though the world be turned upside down, I will not 
 slander the providences of my God. I have not spoken from the steps 
 of the Capitol, but from the pulpit Then Mount Zion is the stand 
 point. Eternity furnishes the horizon. The spiritual and eternal king- 
 dom of Christ is the subject matter of meditation and review. When 
 
 I 
 
 then I see a providence through which kings and priests are born in 
 companies into the kingdom ; when I see a providence through 
 which the sheep are called, and the heirs of glory brought in, what 
 shall I do ? If I keep silence, the very stones will cry out. Then let 
 the blind grope, and the despondent sigh, but let the inhabitants of 
 the rock sing ; yea, let them sing.^^ 
 
 In all this, I do not lose sight of the wickedness which men com- 
 mit. I do not palliate it. The Lord shall be glorified in His ways, 
 and every man judged according to his work. 
 
 I do not ask what some other imaginable providence might have ef- 
 fected. I have nothing to do with imaginary providences, but with 
 actual providences. Here amid the real events of this real world, and 
 under the sovereignty of that sceptre whose sway extends through the 
 universe, I find a race enslaved. They have been enslaved, in the 
 
47 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 first instance, by criminal acts. But amid their bondage, God has so 
 wrought, that many heirs of glory have been born. When I re- 
 joice in the cross of Christ, do I commend the Jews that slew him ? 
 Then let me sing in ^uiet tlie songs which I Tove, and praise God for 
 ^ His footsteps in history, and for the golden light with which His pres- 
 ence and His grace are able to relieve the darkest shadows that have 
 fallen on our earth. 
 
 The second proposition which I read on last Sabbath was in these 
 words : The life of Christ within the church, and its influence over 
 
 the nations, is PROGaESSlVE.^^ 
 
 Error. — The fourth verse of the text of Sermon 1, is from Ps. 11-3. 
 

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