The Tiffin tribune. [volume] (Tiffin, Ohio) 1848-1859, 1857-07-17
The Recent 0hureb aoll-5

I ~ANAHM ANN.NINn
The series Of events leading 20 the di.
vision Of tho New School Presbytefisu
Church mus. be Of interest, ius. a. shis
time. We end concise staiemsn. Of
them in the Cincinnati 6azsas, which va
subjoin;
From the 6rst, the Presbyterian Church
In this country, WAS decidedly Anti.Sh-
very In 1887, before the General A.
sembly was formed, the Svno6s IN Ne,v
York and Philadolphia passed strong ros-
olptions IN favor Of the abolition Of sh-
very. The Assembly. IN i19s, approved
the action Of tlio Synods. Resolations in
regard to the sysiem and its evils, were
adopted by The Assemblies in 1906, 1918.
and 1918. The action in 1918, nearly
forty years ago, is one of the strongest
Anu-Slavery documents ever written. ana
was passed almost unanimously.
In l837-lust twenty years aQoLtba
Presbyterian church was divided. This
subject Of Slavery was one Of the appl,
Of oiscord, tLoIgh il wa not The anparei
cause Of the division. Since 1851 ths
branch OF The church which Is populaIly
called Old School, has twice discussed
the subject in its General Assemblies.
and has acted upon il, re-ai6rmiug tho
action Of 1918. The branch called New
School, has discussed the subject more
or less every year. aud passed resolutions
in reference to it, as the fathers Of the
church die.
Until recently the ministers and mem-
bors Of the Presbyterian Church in the
South have acknowledged (taeitly AZ
least J, that slavery was a legitimate sub
leot for ecclesiastical discussion. They
have submitted that the system is wrong,
that its existence is 70 be deplored,
and that It's ultimate abolition should be-
an object of prayer and effort with overv
Christian. Within few years, however.
new doctrines have been published at the
South, aud extensively received there.
They are in substance that slavery is
right; is normal condition Of society: il
sanctioned by the Bible, is, like other
forms Of government, ordained Of God,
that il is not the duty Of Christians 10 do
anything with a view otis abolition, and
that it should not be discussed at all in
General Assemblies Snd other ecclesiastic-
al oonyocations. These views, first an
nounoed by DR.. Ross. Of Huntsville, Ala
bama, aud a few others, and regarded as
ultra by nearly everybody, both North
and Souths soon came to buthe accepted
views Of the New School Presbyterians
Of the South, aud they insisted that the
whole Church should endorse those viows.
or at least refrain from aondemninR them.
and evon from discussing them.
The Assembly at Cleveland, by a unan.
imous Northern vote, declared simply two
things: |. That it would abide by the senti-
ments Of the fathers Of the Church on the
subject of slavery, and re-afirm their uni
form, time-honored testimony against il.
2. That il tdisapproved ofahd condemned
the new doctrine Of tho South that ''Sla-
very is right according 70 the Bible"
To this action, the commissioners from
the South objected by a formal protest,
thus placing themselves in opposition to
The whole spirit teachings aud resolves OF
the church for the past seventy years. IL
is not 10 any thing new. TO any az ,ss' on Of
AboliLionism, to any effort 10 discipline
them for slaveholding, that they object,
but to re-afirmation of the testimony OF
the church, and condemnation Of the
doctrine that Slavery IS right according
TO the Scriptures.
On the original platform of the church,
the North stands undivided, and the CITY
Of St. Louis with it, The Southern
churches having only one-tenth OF fthesn.
tire membership Of the body, viii try 70
form a new organization on their new ba-
sis, that Slavery is right and must not Be
discussed.