Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1845-06-26

Ial, and religious duty is deyolved upon
the ministry and membership ofthe M.
E. Church, in the South-devolved
upon us by the Great Head of the
Church, and the providential appoint
ments of our social condition, which
we cannot neglect without infdelity to
a high moral trust, but which we can
not fulfil in connexlonal union with the
Northern portion of the Church, under
the same General Conference iurisdic-
ton, owing to causes connected with
the civil institutions of the country, and
beyond the control of the Church, then
a strong moral necessity is laid upon
US, which assumes the commanding
character Of a positive duty, under
Divine right, to dissolve the ties and
bonds of a single General Conference
jurisdiction, and in lis place Substitute
one in the South, which will not OBJ
stiuct us in the performance Of duty, or
prevent us from accomplishing the great
! objects Of he Christian ministry and
church organization. From a careful
survey of the entire field of facts and
their relationship whole range of
cause and effect, as connected with the
subject-matter of this report, it is conf
I IDENTITY believed that the great warrant
of moral necessity, not less than I'M
questionable ecclesiastical right, fully
justifes this Convention in the posi-
ton they are about to take, as sepa-
rate organic division of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, by authority of its
chlefsynod, "the delegates ofthe seve-
raj annual conferences in General Con-
ference assembled" One of the two
main issues, which have decided the
action of the Southern Conferences, re-
lates, as all know, to the assumed
right Of the Church, to control the ques-
ton Of slavery, by means of the ordi-
nary and huctuating provisions of
church Legislation, without reference to
the superior control Of State policy and
civil law. From all the evidence &C j.
cesslble in the case, the great masses
of the ministry and membership of the
M. E. Church, North and South, pre-
sent an irreconcilable opposition of con-
viction and feeling on the subject of
slavery, so far as relates to the rights of
the Church 10 interfere with the ques-
tion--the one claiming unlimited right
of interference the full extent the church
may, at any time Or from any cause,
be concerned, and the other resisting
allk the assumption or exercise Of any
such right, because, in nearly all the
the slayeholding States, such course
of action must bring the Church in d.
rect conflict with the civil authority, to
which the Church has pledged subjec-
! ton and support in the most solemn
and explicit forms, and from the olga
, tlons of which she canno: retreat with
out dishonoring her own laws, and the
neglect and violation of some of the
plain and most imperative requirements
of Christianity. Under such cirsum
stances of disagreement-in such a
state of adverse conviction and feeling,
on the part ofthe North and the South
of the Church, it is believed that the
two great sections of the Church, thus
situated, in relation to each other by
causes beyond the control of either
party, cannot remain together and sue
cessfully prosecute the high and COM
mon aims ofthe Christian ministry and
Church organization, under the same
Gederal Conference jurisdiction. The
manifest want Of uniformity of opinion
and harmony of cooperation, must al
ways lead, as heretofore, to struggles
and results directly inconsistent with
the original intention of the Church, in
establishing a common jurisdiction, to
control all its general interests. And
should it appear that, by a division and
future duality of such jurisdiction as
authorised by the late General Confer
ence, the original purposes of the
Church can better be accomplished, or
rather, that they can be accomplished
in no other way, how can the true and
proper unity of the Church be main
tanned except by yielding to the neces-
sity, and having a separate General
Conference jurisdiction for each divis-
ion. By the Southern portion of the
Church generally, slavery is regarded
as strictly civil Institution exclusive
" in custody of the civil power, and as
a regulation of State beyond the reach
ofchurch interference Or control, ex-
cept as civil law and right may be in
tringed BY ecclesiastical assumption
BY the Northern portion of the Church,
individuals are held responsible for the
alleged syustsce and evil Of relations
and rights, created and protected BY