The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-06-05
METHODIST EPISCOPAL GENERAL CONFER
ENCE AND SLAVERY.
iEnIANAPOLIS.


The committee on revisal of discipline pre-
scented a report, recommending such changes
| II discipline, (sec. 3, chap. 2, part >, as to
| constitute baptized children members on pro-
baton of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Laid over under the rule.
The committee on the tract cause reported
| a revised constitution of "The Tract Society
of the M. f. Church." This was laid over.
The committee on the Book Concern recon-.
mended that the Sunday School Advocate be
reduced to half its present size, and furnished
| for rs cents per annun, 1.-THE price is now 30
| cents,) and made exclusively child's paper
| This was adopted.
| A long discussion was had on the report OF
| the committee to which was referred the estab
| lishmept OF q book concern in Bremen. II
| was resolved to establish it.
Mr.. Raymond, chairman of the committee
| on Slavery, then announced that he was ready
| to report. The hall was Immediately so still
that the least footstep on the carpet was au.
dibe
DIR. Durbin announced that the minority, he
believed, was not quite ready with their report
| He was ready, but some of the members had
| within an hour expressed desire to review il
| before it was offered.
| Mr.. Raymond then read the report. The
committee, after a suitable preamble, recon
mended the passage of the following resolu
| tons;
Resolved by the Delegates IN General Con-
|. ference assembled That we recommend to the
| Annual Conferences the alteration of the Dis
| cipline in regard to the general rules on Sla-
very, so as to read:
"The buying and selling or holding a hui
man being in bondage"
ResOlced, That we recommend as a substi-
tute for the seventh chapter Of the Book Of
Discipline the following:
| What shall be done for the extirpation OF
the evil of Slavery?
| Answer /. We DECLARE that we are as much
as ever convinced of the great sin of Slavery.
We believe that all men by nature have an
equal right to Freedom, and that no man has
| moral right to hold a fellow.being as proper
| ty. Therefore, no STAKEHOLDER shall be eligible
| to membership in our church hereafter, where
| emancipation can be effected without injury to
| the slave. Eut, inasmuch as persons may be
| brought into the legal relation of shareholders,
| involuntarily or voluntarily, by purchasing
slaves in order to free them, therefore the
| merely legal relation shall not be considered Of
itself suffi cient to exclude person who may
thus sustain it, from the fellowship of the
church.
Answer. Whenever a member of our church,
by any means, becomes the owner of a slave,
it shall be the duty of the preacher in charge
to call together committee of at least three
members, who shall investigate the case, and
determine the time in which said slave shall
be freed; and on his refusal or neglect to abide
by the decision of said committee, he shall be
dealt with as in case of immortality.
Answer 3. 1t shall be the duty of all our
members and probationers, who may sustain
the legal relation of STAKEHOLDER, to teach their
servants to read the word of God; to allow
them to attend the public worship of God on
our regular days of divine service to protect
them in the observance of the duties of the
conjugal and parental relations; to give them
such compensation for their services as may,
under the circumstances, be Just and equal to
make such provisions as may be legally prac-
| ticable to prevent them and their posteri.y from
passing into perpetual sleveryj and to treat
them in ell respects as required by the law of
love.
Answer 4. 1t shall be the duty Of our preach
ers prudently to enforce the above rules.
Immediately after the reading Of the report,
the Conference adjourned.
May pa report was adopted, approving
of the establishment, near Xenia, Ohio, of a
College for colored youth.
The committee on the Irish delegation re-
ported suitable resolutions commencing Messrs.
Scott and Gather to the members ESPECIALLY the
wealthy of the NJ. E. Church, authorizing col.
lections to be taken in the churches; also, an.
thorizing the sending of American Methodist
preachers to Ireland for two or three years,
should they volunteer to go, and the Annual
Conference approve of their going. The reso-
! lutions were adopted.
John A. Collins, of the Baltimore Confer.
| ence, announced that be was ready to present
the minority report on Slavery. On motion,
the regular order wss suspended to receive it.
As the report was signed only by Mr.. Col.
Inns, the question was asked, how large was the
minority The chairman Of the Slavery Com.
mittee, Mr.. Raymond, answered, that the FIRST
vote IN the committee was Is to IL but on the
final action the vote stood IL to l6. THE Com
mittee on Slavery numbered 33.l Mr.. Collins