Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-07-19

= purchased him of one of the most humane
ana gentlemanly men in Maryland, Meth
odIst preacher too, that is we'll known to
treat his slaves as we'll as any other man.
when bought Jack, his master said 10 me,
! Now, don't believe Jack will ever run
away, he is Christian, and has always
Oeen perfectly faithful; but on the whole,
SAID he, perhaps you had better put on the
chains, and then you know, you will feel
perfectly safe and easy"
Hear, 0 heaven! blush, O earth that in
the 18th century, here is Methodist minis
Ter selling his brother minister, In the same
church, and ordering him to be put in irons
tor security while he is driven a thousand
miles TO market. O, my soul, the very stones
must weep, and the devils in hell blush, that
Methodist minister in a church that pro-
1esses holiness, should sell his brother
merely because he was black Where was
MS religion then? Where was his love of
God! Where was the power of the Holy
Ghost while he was selling the blood and
bones OF his brother minister to 90 away
in irons to toll and die on the sugar planta-
lions OF Louisiana? call God to witness,
that do not tell this to throw a shade over
the Methodist church. | was thirty-four
years connected with that church, and love
it as love nv life, and would spend nv life
10 see it reformed. 1t is not because the
Methodist church is more guilty than others,
or that this Methodist minister is naturally
worse than others. No doubt, in other cir
cums;ances, he would appear as Christian
and gentleman, humane and pious, kind
and benevolent. If had gone to his neigh
borhood to preach, and he found was poor,
he would have been as ready to give me five
dollars, or garment that needed, as any
other man. But here, slavery had destroyed
all the sympathy OF his soul. Thus the
system harGens the heart, and destroys the
moral sense, till minister Of Christ can
sell his brother minister, and send him away
in irons, and then wipe his mouth, and
smooth his face, mount the pulpit, and
preach up holiness, and say he has done
nothing that is wrong.
Thus have shown that the system Of
American slavery is a system of contempt
robbery Of the slave, a system Of murder,
that it breaks up the social relations, and
DESTROYS all the finer feeling of the soul. 1t
makes the seller of men brute, and treats
creations lord as a thing.
~. | hasten TO consider how the church,
in its connection with this system, is guilty
Of sin.
l. This system is received into full con-
nection with the church.
Both ministers and members Of the church
are holders Of slaves, and remain under the
broad shield Of the church, do not mean
the Presbyterian church, but the whole pro-
Tossing church of Christ. All are guilty
The church stands precisely in the position
of the Israelitish church, in the case of
Achan The church is guilty of stealing,
and assembling, and hiding the stolen goods
in her tent. The whole church stands be-
fore God, guilty Of the sin of slavery.
2. The church is guilty, not only because
| it has in it shareholders, but because it pro-
tects them in buying and selling their fell
low men, and even their fellow members
will tell you a fact, with the gentleman's
name, for you to Judge. The Rev. Lowell
Pierce, Of South Carolina, said it was not
an uncommon thing to find members of the
church to which he belonged, coming to the
middle states, and buying and selling slaves
for gain. He is Methodist, and the per-
son to whom he spoke was Methodist
When Mr.. Pierce was asked why he did not
put the discipline of the church in force, his
reply was this: "Our disci pine authorizes
every man TO be tried by his peers, by the
Conference, and you cannot get three men
!
member for buying and selling slaves."-
Now. what do you think Of the church, in
its connection with slavery? In 1885, the
Rev. George Goodman preached sermon
for the Colonization Society, and in it de-
nounced slavery. The Rev. William Ca
pers, of South Carolina, wrote to the editors
of the Christian Advocate and Journal, eff
! | had preached such sermon here, as some
of nv brethren at the north, and had lost
nv life for it, | should not have considered
it persecution, but justice" If this is not
throwing the protection of the church over
slavery, what Is 1t
3. The church is guilty in suffering sin
on their brother, and not bringing him to the
test OF truth. Here the denomination of
Friends are guilty, as we'll as others. Tho
they have been an abolition church, since
the year 49, but they have been far too
Ienient in their treatment of American slave
rv and finally they fell in with the coloni-
zalion scheme, and their energies were de-
strovcd. The rule is, that so far as we suf-
fer things to exist, that are wrong, without
administering Christian rebuke and disci-
pline, the church is guilty. AS it was in
the case of Achan, Israel hath sinned, and
transgressed the commandment Of the Lord,
and hath dissembled, and put the stolen
goods among the stuff. There was only
one man had done it, but the whole church
were guilty, because they did not rise up
and search out the wrong, hut sat easy un-
> der the disgrace of turning their backs upon
their enemies. And God So held them until
they cleared themselves.
So, in like manner, while we have been
quietly asleep, slavery has got into the
church, and the church has spread her man
tie over it, and suffered the STAKEHOLDER to
minister at the altar, and to take the symbols
of the body and blood of Jesus Christ into
his hands, trickling down with bloody gore
Can | take the cup of the Lord from such
hands, when God says they must be clean
hands that bear the vessels Of the Lord
Never. Can hear the gospel from slave