The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-05-18

bptad the following preamble ana resolution VIZ
Whereas there is clause in the discipline OF
Ne church which states that we are as much as
er convinced the great evil Of SaUery--and
hereas the said clause has been perverted by
bme and used in such manner as to produce
e Impression that the Methodist Episcopal
hurh, believed slouery to be moral epi
Therefore ReSolged That it is the sense of the
Georgia Annual Conference, that slavery, as ii
Exists in the United States, is NOT MORAL EVIL.
The Synod of Virginia,
Resolved, unanimously, That we consider the
dqgra fercely promulgated by said associations
"A "a S.)-that slavery as it actually exists IN our
4 shve-hodine States, is necessarily sinful, and
osp1t to be iaanaediately a5oli1ed and the conclu
sins which naturally follow from that dogma, as
dteetly and palpably contrary to the pIoinest prn-
c6les of common sense and common humanity,
alto the czearest authority Of tie acord Of God
w-1'he Southern Delegation to the General As
nbIy of 1886, in private meeting passed the
having resolution, viz:
Resozred, That if the Assembly shall under
zeto exercise authority on the subject of slave
80 as to make it an immortality, or shall in any
yav declare that Christians are criminal IN hold
N i,ar Mares that declaration shall be presented by
) the Southern Delegation, declining their jursdic
ton In the case and our determination not to sub
iuit to such decision.
Al the Shiloh Baptist Association which met at
Gourdvne, Va, in September last, the following
I query, says the Religious Herald, was presented
from Hedgman River Church, viz
M " Is servant whose husband or wife has been
Sold by his or her master into a distant country,
ITO be permitted to marry again"
The query was referred to a Committee, who
made the following report; which after discussion
was adopted.
THAT in view of the circumstances in which
servants in this country are placed, the Committee
are unanimous in the opinion that it is better to
permit servants thus circumstanced to take anoth-
err husband or wife"
Here, in accordance with the general practice
at the South, are two direct violations of the com
mands of God, publicly sanctioned by protested
ministers and disciples of Christ.
1st The forcble separation of husband and
wife against the divine prohibition, what God
hath Joined, let not man put asunder.'
Cd. The commission Of adultery by the par
ties thus separated in the violation Of the precept
whatsoever putteth away his wife and narrleth
another, committeh adultery, and whosoever mar
rieth her that is put away committeth adultery.
A similar decision was made, upon the same
point, by the Savannah Baptist Association OIL
ministers and this horrid abomnation, this high
handed sin against God and man, this fatal stab
at the sanctity of the marriage institutions the
peace and purity of families, and the very exist
ence of the social state, was defended upon the
following inpious grounds LIST. That the sep
araton in such cases is c}rAy a separation by
death' The Association in their recorded opinion,
declaring that the slaves are not free agents 4
81. That to forbid marriage in such cases
would expose the slaves to strong temptations
and stronger hardships' as well as render them
ObpJJo ro
to their masters who, the better to keep up the
supply for the nefrious traffic in the bodies and
souls of men, or the stock on their plantations,
might require them to marry again-the prcceptS
of Christ, to the contrary Notwithstanding,
If salvation is TO flow out of Zion, if the church
is indeed the appointed medium through which
light and life are TO be universally disseminated,
if amidst Astounding nquity reform is to com
mence in the church, and through the penltence,
PRAYERS expostulations and efforts OF its members,
is to spread through the mass Of sociey,-And if
the Southern branch Of the church is not given
over to judicial blindness and hardness of heart, if
her candlesticl is not TO be removed out OF Its
place, and IcHABoD written upon her glory,-what
a work is to be performed within her. and how
should she be Strengthened until 1t be accomplish
ed
If the suffering bondman is to wait in his chains
unll the CnuTCn come W MS lClCl1 IL IA" 'E'''N
are to be unnoticed, his groanings unhcard his
woes unalleviated, his wrongs unredressed, until
the Church undertakes his causc-then how are
we bound, with all the pity of humanity in our
hearts, to spare no effort to arouse our sleeping,
shining fellow christians of the South, to sense
of their solemn responsibilities to the enslaved,
and to the immediate discharge ofimperative duty.
On the question of slavery we have at the
North source of influence, which we cannot fail
to employ without participating in the sin Of the
South, and if she perish without partaking in her
plaques The relation existing between North
ern and Southern christians as members OF the
body of Christ, renders the question ofduty plain:
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and
not suffer sin upon him, is the command of the
Great Jehovah,-and if the Northern churches
fail to discharge this duty to the churches of the
South they in fact connive at their iniquity and
consent unto their guilt This would be univer-
sally admitted, if the Southern churches were in
the commission of any ordinary iniquty. Let
Southern christians teach and practice in accord
ance with the doctrine that there is no moral evil
in robbery upon the highway but that in some cir
cumstances it is justfable and proper, and the
Northern churches would feel themselves bound to