Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-06-23
PREsBYTERIANtsM AND FREEDOM.


you say" DR.. l., was n man of talent, a thorough
scholar, An accomplished and successful instructor,
and g man of generous sympathies. But, %unfortu-
nateiy he was one of those whom Slavery and
Pfesbyterianism seducod from the cause of Lib
erty." Here you couple hesdyterianism with
Slayery, as the joint cause of DR.. Lindsley's &C.
duction from the cause of liberty.
If by Presbyterianism you mean simply the
mode Of ecclesiastical government included by that
term, and charge it as you do, while 1 should deny
it toto cplo, l would let it pass. But | apprehend,
my dear Sir, that in the luse of that term you do
not mean the systom of church polity called Pres
bytcrianism, but the system of theology, philosophy
and religion bearing that name.
The press in the interests of the American An
ti-Slavery Society is everywhere remarkable for its
candor and fair dealing toward opponents, and l am
therefore tempted to ask a column Of the Bugle
in reply to the charge you make.
Presbyterianism, you are aware, in the sense in
which l now use the term, is synonymous with
CaluiniSm, and embraces the three departments of
theology, philosophy and metaphysics. 1t is the
subordinating feature in the orthodox Congrega-
tionalism of New England and the West. 1t is
the chief characteristic in the Dutch Reformed
Church, the Presbyterian Church of the United
States, New School and Old, the Regular Baptist,
the Low Church Episcopalians, the Seceders,
the Coyenanters, Associate Reformed, and Free
Presbyterian. In the British Isles it is the lead
ing influence among all the Protestant sects, ex-
cept the Church of England, and lis articles Of
fdiM are strictly Calvinistic. / have studied this
system with deep interest for many years, and so
deeply an | convinced of its truth, that ! have no
hesitation in saying that if my frail bark is driven
away from its moorings in this safe harbor, there
is no landing place till its keel grinds upon the
sand banks of In6delity, or the rocks of Atheism.
This say with entire respect for many of my per-
sonal friends and others who differ in opinion with
me. 1t is because / respect my own convictions
that respect theirs l therefore, while I allow
them freely to attack my opinions, claim the right
to defend them.
As to the origin of the system you so grievously
charge with q tendency to seduce men frotn the
cause of human liberty, the Neologists of Ger
many, the great dissectors of the Scripture text in
the Universities of that country, say that it is
found in the Neto Testament. These critics have
no more faith in the system than Jefferson had,
but like that great statesman, admit that Paul was
evidently a believer in it. These historical facts,
to those who regard the Scriptures as authority,
are of great weight.
The Reformers of the sixteenth century, whether
in France, Switzerland or Germany, were all Cal
v%inists. The grnnd doctrine of the system, in its
bearings on the cause of personal liberty was, the
sacred and inalienable right of private Judgment,
thus Misunderstanding man as a human being, and
clothing him with all the personal rights which
appertain to him as q member of the brotherhood
This philosophy of the action of Christianity upon
a hation, in securing the rights of the indictduals
who compose it, was first discovered by the Calvin.
lists. The men of this day are just beginning to
see that its prevalence is the only ground of hope
for free government and personal rights. Ban
croft, in his late grafton before the Historical So.
ciety of New York, to tho CONSERVATION of the
whole Unitarian world, declared his conviction
that the basis of all reformatory movements in be-
half of the human race was the divinity of Jesus
Christ, that feature of the Calvinistic system which
establishes the brotherhood of Christ and the
Fatherhood of God.
Have you forgotten, my dear sir, that the Puri
tans of England were Calvinists, and that Hume
although an Infdel of the most relentless spirit
has admitted in his history that to these men the
world owes all the liberty it enjoys? Yes, Croml
well was a Calyinist; and although the tyrants o.
, the Restoration" unburied his bones, and hanged
them on the gallows at Tyburn, and then burned
them to ashes, so that he has now 10 grave-ant
3 although tory pens have villihed him for two hun
bred years, yet men of p~rslatical faith, true to thu
' facts of history, admit that English liberty founC
in him the sternest advocate and protector.
: know the scoffers of that licentious age sneered a
his army, whose Calvinisric psalm singing wa
heard in every tent. They laughed at the woman
E ish piety and devotion of sold Nolr" and his grea
= Councillors, but they laughed on the other side o
their mouth when they met these straight-haire,
round-heads with their nasal twang on the field O
' debate or the field of battle. And did the worl
. ever before or since see such an army as that G
| Cromwell? Fifty thousand of them were dis
) banded in one day, and without exception eac
man went back to the avocations of civil life, an
was as remarkable for good conduct as a citizen q
u he had been for heroism as a soldier. A lines
l descendant of the second Governor of the Ply
mouth Colony, l would like to dwell upon thi
theme, but close the allusion by saying that if 20
could take out of the Cromwellian period its Ga
d oinism, you would roll back the civilization of til
world two centuries.
Coming down to later times, who was Knibb, til
John Baptist who preached 10 the West Ind
Shareholders the Gospel of Repentance, and IL
. breaking of every yoke? He was a Calvinist
Baptist of the Roger Williams stamp, of who's
c religion the Shareholders said, that it must eitht
put down Slavery, or Slavery must put it dow
I" Who was Wilberforce, the Moses Of that grei
exodus from the land of bondage, the able an
successful champion of the cause of freedom
! the British Parliament? He was a rigid Calvin
! list of the Episcopal Church.
: Allow me to direct your attention to the Hug
nots of France, who were expelled by Thousand
from their native land by the Revocation of ii
? Edict of Nantz. They were Calvinists and lover
i of liberty. Louis " banished them because
n ,ba;, rolu;on H. Lnau, tbot tha Ioot.;no 90 Il,