The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-10-28
THE CASE OF JANE AND JOHN WILL
LIAMS.
On Monday last, we used the following Ian

| LIAMSs
On Monday last, we used the following Ian
guage with regard to this matter:
There is a creed so prevalent among the
slave population, that it may almost be pro-
nounced universal, which teaches, that when
a person has been baptized. tnot merely i'm.
mersed, but baptized according to the form oil
the church he may happen TO fancy,l no mat
ter wha, crimes he may afterwards commit, he
cannot ultimately be lost. BY far the larger
part of them regard the ordinance Of baptism
as no more than a license to commit any act,
however heinous it may be. 1t is perfectly no.
torious that the very worst servants are those
who are commune ants, and that servants, orr
ginally good, become depraved as soon as they
become members of the church. 1t should not
be foi gotten that Jane Williams, the most exc
cradle wretch of whom we have ever read or
heard, was a communicate, and so was John.
These devils incarnate considered 1t perfectly
consistent with the creed, to murder the inno-
cent infant in its cradle-the sleeping and I'M
suspecting parents in their beds! Why, the
very persons among the crowd of negroes, In
this city, who went TO see Jane Williams hung,
pronounced her apotheOsis. 'She has gone
home," said one. "She is in glory" said an
other. "Her seat is far higher in Heaven than
that of Mrs. Winston" said third. lnnumer-
able expressions of that kind were heard on
the ground, and have since been repeated all
over this city! This certainly proves the as
sumption of Mr.. Moore, that there is need OF
better religious instruction.
We did not suppose that any christian church
could feel itself aggrieved by these words. We
did not say, nor did we believe, that any
church taught such a heresy as this. Indeed,
we knew that none did. The substance of
what we said amounted to no more, than that
certain ignorant and superstitious persons en-
tertaned that belief-in other words, misappre-
hended and perverted, the meaning and force
of an ordinance prescribed by Christ himself
| Ii is surely not the first instance in which the
scriptures have been wrested for purposes OF
evil. How, then, can any church take excep-
| tons to it The members of the Baptist
Church have done SO, as we learn from certain
friends of our own, who have waited on us, tor
the purpose of demonstrating with US. We told
them, as we now tell the public, that we had
no design whatever to reflect upon that church,
for we entertain for it the same respect that we
feel for all other christian denominations. .
As for the fact, itself, that large portion O
| the slave population entertain such belief, we
have no more doubt of it than we have of our
existence. We have known too many instan-
| ces of it ourselves not to believe it. We are,
| besides, supported in our belief, by the evil
| dence of nearly every man, With the exception
| of the gentlemen alluded to, with whom we
| have conversed, and since they were with us,
we have put the question to fifty eight persons.
| We can very readily understand why the men,
| bers of the church should not know the fact,
| for those most concerned know very well that
they would be turned out, if they were proved
| to entertain such doctrines. We were told by
| these friends, that the question is always pro-
pounded to them, when they apply, and that
scarcely any probably none al al) had ever
| been found to answer in the Affirmative
| Thence they concluded that it could not be so.
| Now, it strikes US, that if a man is supersti-
tious enough to believe, that after he be bap-
| tized, he must be saved, no matter what he may
| do, he will not sickle to tell falsehood, in
order to secure his baptism. This would per-
fectly account for the answers of very many.
As to the statement, that good servants often
become bad after baptism, it has grown into a
| proverb all over this State, from the very noto
riety of the fact.
| While we cannot, in spite of the well-meant
representations of our friends give up opin-
ions SO we'll supported, we cheerfully make
the amende honorable for the latter part of
our article Of Monday. Our friends have told
US, that not only MIR. Ryland, but numbers of
| others belonging to the Baptist Church. have
| been untiring in their endeavors to instruct the
| congregation of the African Church, and that
their success has been commensurate with
| their labors. We are bound to believe them,
for we know them to be men of strict veraciy.
But from their ignorance Of the opinion enter
tanned so generally by them, it cannot be pre-
sumed that they have thought it necessary to
unteach them this particular dogma. We
hope, in future, they will dwell upon it, and
eradicate it, not by merely asking them ques-
tions but by proving it at war with the precepts
of our Savior, and averse to the creeds of the
| Baptist Church.
We cannot omit this occasion to say few
words with regard TO the free men of COLOR
Many of them we know to be as true christians
| and as uprig hit men, as can be found. None of
them did we ever know to believe the foul here
| sy to which we have alluded above. That here
sy is confined, as far as we have been able to
learn, to the slave population. With regard to
the free men of color, we have always thought
them, in the aggregate, harmless, peaceable
race fpeople, and we have frequently, in an
other place, expressed our dissent from the
severe measures taken against them by our
Legislature. They have never occasoned, or
joined in any disturbance. Neither Gabriel,
nor Nat Turner, enlisted one of them, or, as
far as we can learn, attempted TO do so. We
know many of them, for whom, were our ma me
worth a cent in bank, we would endorse as soon
as we would for the wealthiest man in the city.
We have'among them, many warm, personal
| friends-friends whom we esteem, and a con-