Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-04-01
II FREE NJ N.

For the Green Mountain Freeman.
EAST BERKSHIRE. March. 1874

Carolina, reached me last evening. [ lose no time in
sending it to you, with the earnest request that it be
published entire in the Freeman. The letter sa bold.
the church, who has frequently p~rostitu,ed his sacred
office and influence to the vile purpose of sanctioning
human bondage. No other bishop of our church, ito
my knowledge, } has ever publicly defended the "pecu-
liar institution" No one has attempted to show that
American slavery is sanctioned by Holy Writ-that it
is q blessed condition for the slaves themselves, far
preferable to the system of free labor, excepting Bish-
op Ives. Most of our Bishops at the south were born
and educated there, and of course, must regard the in
~stitution differently from northern men; and still not
one of these men has publicly defended the accused
institution. But Bishop Ives is a northern man; he
was reared and educated in the Empire State, and of
course he cannot plead b~lrthright p~rejudices in favor of
slavery; and yet this man, who claims to be successor
of the holy Apostles, a prelate of the Episcopal church.
a preacher Of righteousness, and who has spent most
of his life in the free States, condcScends to be the nd-
yocate and a~pologist for the viIest system of slavery
that ever cursed the earth. The Episcopal church is
the only religious body which has stubbornly refused
to NEEDLE with the system of slavery. Every other
denomination in this country has legislated upon, or
been agitated by slavery, excepting the Episcopal
Church. Our church, from first to last, has refused to
notice slavery, except to speak in its favor, and to give
the institution the sanction of its authority and infu-
cnce. The Episcopal Church has never raised its
warning voice against elavery-never has she ruffled
the consciences of her slaveholding Bishops, priests or
members; never has she solemnly declared that slavery
was repugEant to the gospel of Christ, or refused to
employ slaveholding Bishops and ministers as mission
aries. MANY of our southern Bishops are extensive
shareholders, and we're so when they were consecrated
to the sacred office. Bishop Polk owns a large plan
%tation, we'll stocked with human cattle, and last year
he cleared $4,000 on the quantity of sugar made on
his plantation. Bishop Elliot, of Georgia, is also rich
in sinews and flesh, and has q theological seminary,
in which young men are trained for the ministry, and
all the expenses of the institution are betrayed by
slave labor,
By publishing this mastery rebuke of the unworthy
Bishop, who has djsgraced his sacred Office, and re-
duced the gospel of Christ to a level with heathenism
itself, you will greatly aid the cause of true religion
and humanity, and be the means, perhaps of rousing
the Episcopal church from her guilty elumbers, and
causing her to take a decided stand against the ac-
cursed system of slavery.
Yours Truly, E. H. sAYLEs,
Rector of the Ep. Oh. Berkshire & Montgomery.
A Letter TO Right Rev, /. Silliman Ives,
Bishop Of the Protestant Episcopal Church IN
the State Of North Carolina,
OCCAsIONED BY HIS LATE ADDRESS
TO THE CONVENTION OF HIS Do
CESE.
by A PROTESTANT EPIsCoPALIAN
RIGHT REVEREND SIR
History tells us of a certain Bishop who was
taken prisoner in battle, while fighting against
the King of France. The Pope, indignant that
a prelate of the church should be held as a capt
i've, demanded his instant liberation. To this
mandate the King replied by sending his Holi-
ness the Bishops blood-stained armor, with the
words of Scripture, " This have we found; know
whether it be thy sons coat or no."
And s%ureley the ambassador of HIM who came
to preach deliycrancc to the captive, and liberty
to them that are bruised, as effectually DISCUSSES
and denies his holy office, when he chants the
praises of Slavery, with all its inseparable and
unutterable denominations, as when he arrays
himself in the garment of the warrior, and par
~ticipates in the work of human b~utchery. Of
all the Bishops of the Church, you alone aspire
to the championship ofhuman bondage, Your
brother of Texas reposes on the laurels he has
won in the service of shareholders. Others of
your Reverend and Right Reverend brethren are
> content to enjoy the unrequited tolls of their
bondmen, without provoking the attention of the
public to the discrepancy between their religion
and their practice. You alone throw down the
gauntlet to the whole of Christendom beyond the
,1o.o o,o- II yor nat opo1nh chat Won bod
already endorsed with the whole weight of your
episcopal influence the frantic assertions, that
" no man or set of men in our day, unless they
can produce a new revelation from Heaven, are
entitled to pronounce slavery wrong" and that
q slavery, as it exists at the present day, is agree.
able to the order of Divine Providence y you
must introduce the subject into the council Of
your church, and entertain your convention with
a picture of the blessedness of North Caroline
slaves, and with sneers at the wailing of your
fellow Christians over their " imaginary" suffer
ing. Should we seek for the cause of your pc
cuIar ultraism in behalf of human chattelism, we
should probably find it in the tendency Of human
n nature, under a change of position, to vibratC
from one extreme to the other and which is ex
emplifed in the proverbial cruelty and arrogance
of the slave, when elevated to the post of DRIVER
Had you, when preparing for the ministry among
your native hills of New York, been told tina
the day would come when you would claim tt
hold your fellow men as bondmen by the grace
of God, and would scott at the sufferings of Sou
thern slaves, the answer Of Hazael to the prophe
would have trembled on your lips.
Your late address to the convention of you
diocese contained the following extraordinar.
passages
From this place | went, by the request c
4 my friend Josiah Collins, Esq, directly to tn
u estates of Lake Scuppernong, which had bee
without stated ministerial services for the great
*. err part of the year. Here, and in the neighbol
ing parish at Pettigrew's Chapel, | passed tn
remainder part of the season of Lent, holdin
- daily services, delivering lectures, and CONNER
cling a new course of oral catechetical instrut
ne tons to the servants. This course is to embrac
ok the prominent events and truths of the Old an
N, New Testaments, as connected with mans ia