The Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1847-1853, 1850-11-26

lpasSed by very decided majority.
| 1T am not asking too much space.
would ike to lay before your readers a
few extracts from the Report ofa Com
lmittee on Slavery, made to the General
| Assembly Qhe Body which represents
the aggregate Presbyterian Church in
the United StateS,) at its meeting at
lCincinnatfi in May, ls45.
That slavery" say the committee,
"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 Christi
Ian ty; that shareholders were admitted
Eto membership in the Churches organs
lied 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 iOere not com
maRded to emanciP pate 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 Testament. This Assembly can,
not, therefore, denounce the holding of
slaves as necessarily a heinous and
scandalous sin, calculated to bring up
on the church the curse of God, with
out charging the Apostles Of Christ
with conniving at such q sin, introdu-
cling into the Church such sinners, and
thus bringing upon them the curse OF
the Almighty
The Assembly intend simply to say,
that since Christ and his inspired Apos,
ties did not make the holding of slaves
a bar TO communion, we, as court of
Christ, have no authority to do so
since Jhcy did not attempt to remove it
from the Church by legislation, we
have no authority TO legislate on the
subject. We FEEL constained, further
TO say, that however desirable il may
be to ameliorate the condition of the
, slave in the Southern and Western
States, or TO remove slavery from our
country, these objects we are fully per-
suaded can never be secured by eccle-
siaSilcnl legislation. Much less can
they he attained by those indiscrimi.
= nate denunciations against slave-hold
erS, without regard 10 their character
or circumstances, which have, to sc
great an extent, characterized the
movements Of modern abolitionists
which. far from removing the evil,
complained Of, tend only to perpetuate
and aggravaie them"
The Report closes with the following
"ResoiUed, lst. That the General AS.
sembly OF The Presbyterian Church in
the United States was originally organ
ized. and has since continued the bond
of union in The Church, upon the con.
ceded principle that the existence oi
domestic slavery, under the circum-
stances in which it is found in the
Southern ortion Of the country, is no
bar to Christian communion.
"2nd. That The petitions that ask the
Assembly to make the holding Of slaves
in itself, "A matter of discipline, do vir-
tually require this Judiciatory to dis
solve itself, and abandon the organiza.
ton under which. by the Divine bIes-
sing, it 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
sbout a ruinous and unnecessary schism
between brethren who maintain com
mon faith"
The report and the resolutions ac>
companying it, were adopted by a vote
of 6S ayes to l3 nays, four members
declining to vote. They have, ever
since, been regarded and appealed to
as the formal authentic expression OF
the sentiment of the Presbyterian
Church on the subject of slavery.
, Believing that there are many persons
in all political parties who have mis-
understood the position which this ex,
tensive religious body holds in relation
to this matter-the publication ofthesc
extracts, ! conceive, would be render,
ing a seasonabIe service to snch per.
sons as well rs to the cause of truth
and justice. Respectfully. am yours
JOS. B. STRATTON.
We hardly feel interest enough in
mere party elections, to chronicle the
fact that the democrats have, recently
carried the day in Ohio and Pennsylva
; MIA. When both whig and democrat
at the North, are sworn enemies Of tht
f constitution and the South, why should