The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-11-12
NO. 67.
For the National Fra
JUDGE AVS LETTER ON 1.-THE NORTHERN
CONVENTION"

III appearance IN me Era OF Judge jays let
ter 10 Messrs Higginson, Phillips, Mann, and
t,rrison, the subject of the Northern Conven.
TN"
That Slavery has had sad influence upon
The Sou bern churches, and has debased many
Of tie Northern clergy and laity, we have by far
too painful evidence. But that it holds any
such sway over the Northern church as the
learned Judge alleges, is as far from the truth
as ANYTHING he could have said "The North
ern church, Nth rare exceptions, pursues in
regard to Slavery a time-serving, man-pleas-
ing policy, probably still more offsnsive to God
than that Of our Pro-Slavery politicians. The
larger portion Of our clergy, like the Priest and
Lsve, pass BY on the other side, evincing ne-
Their sympathy fer their wounded brother. nor
Indignation agsins: his assailants," &c. The
itsl:c.z.ng is my own SO far is this from the
truth, tina. an overwhelming majority of pro-
fes.ing Christians throughout the entire North,
and the clergy of most Of the religious Protest
an denominations, Nth only here and there an
er.eption, aud these exceptions chiefly in our
large stern ciies, are openly, fearlessly, aud
uaccmpr, misiagly, opposed TO Slavery. They
talk, preach, and cote, against the accursed
system. So generally is this the case, that it
h. become Que OF the comnonest things for
Pso-5lagery papers and orators to speak of the
sarekers aud the preachers" to denounce
"politicS ia he pa pit" and religion in poll
tc3" WHAT q ass Of men so aroused the wrath
O the Illinois Senator, TO whom the Kansas
Nebraska fraud owes ats paternity, as the three
thousand New England clergy, who remonstra-
ted against THAI most iniJuitous act? The
Democratic papers have teemed with anathe.
mas against political preachers" whose inAu-
ence they seem TO dread above all things else.
Indeed, 90 vide Of the truth is Judge Jay's
-
y Jrth are the preachers who aPolog re for Sla-
very and am uwi!ling that the South should
b. deceived by supposing it Otherwise Let
tlrn rot lat;ef themselves that they have the
support aud couEtenaace Of the Northern clergy,
o. Of a ve,y considerable portion of the Northern
la.y Ii Is net so. The NoIthern church is
opuo-eA to Slavery, and is bringing its power
fu influence I, bar against the nefarious sys.
ten. If Judge jag thinks otherwise, it is be-
cause he nos restricted his observations to very
limited localities, or to rery limited class of
clergyBsen. Let MIN come cut of his sphere Of
Observation, AID look abroad over New Eng
land, and over the vast West, and inquire into
the position ard character OF the clergy that
sway the masses, and he will 6ud abundant
reason 10 charge his opinion. Let "a poor fugi-
tive from opprt ssion, if he wants assistance on
his way towards the North Star, apply to North
ern clergyman, of whatever denomination, and
he can hardly apply amiss. And yet these are
the men whom Judge Jay characterizes as des7
ttu'e of sympathy for their wounded brother"
VINO, like the Priest and Levite, will pass him
BY on the other side"
But the grossest and most unaccouSable de-
parture from truth in this strange letter is in
what is said Of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Tie Judge says, "Of all our Northern church
es, the Ne hodist has afforded the most striking
aud painful illustration of the corrupting inhu-
ence of political and ecclesiastical union With
slaveholders" The Judge seems to have very
little knowledge of what he is writing about.
H. seems to be almost wholly ignorant of the
history of the Methodist church On the Sla-
very Question. To prove that this " North
ern church" is /" hypocritical" to q most " mel
ancholy and astounding" degree, and has be-
come tie most unscrupulous tool of the slave
holder" he gees back to 1886, (nearly twenty
t.J years ago. before it was Northern
church al all, when the question OF Slavery
first began 10 agtstc the church, under the
modern excitement which called general atten-
ton to its enormities and its aggressions, and
when few comparatively knew the extent of its
wrongs, or the rapaciousness Of its demands,
he is complaining OF the Northern church."
and yet he does no: refer to a single act done
by the church since its division he seems to
trsnspred in the church since 1910, several
years before the division which severed most
OF the South from any connection with the
Methods Episcopal Church. Among other
pro is of the Hypocrisy" and Pro Slavery pro-
clivi;es Of this IN rihern church," he addu
ces the resolution Of the Georgia Conference,
that Slavery is not a moral evil" His readers
will be not little surprised to learn that Geor
ga has changed its position in the Union, and
has taken its place among the Northern
States, or that the Georgia Conference has been
transferred to the n 1rthern church And did
the Judge not know that the " Northern" por
ton of the church, to q man, rejected this
doctrine of the Georgia Conference, and that
quite number OF the Conferences called up
the Georgia resolution and condemned it in the
strongest terms?
| shall not attempt to Justify all that was
done twenty years ago, even in the Northern
portions OF the Methodist Episcopal Church on
the Slavery question. My opinion then was
as now, that the action had in several of the
Conference. against modern Abolitionism,"
was all wrong. The very men who instigated
those measures, now see their error and the
warmest advocates, at present of what was
then called :" nodern A boiitonism," are found
among the very men VINO were go Mortified at
the gbo5ly thing taen. The sentiments of the
Methodist Episcopal Church have become so
radically An! Slavery, that the Judge is obliged
to 90 back n score Of years, and then pick up
the action Of the Southern wing of the church
and ascr!5e 1t to the North" to make out
case.
Now, venture To- say, without speaking dis
parsgiDgiy Of other churches which are doing
much against Slavery, that there is not another
denomination in the land which has received
SO mary and so bitter curses, 30 much opposi-
ton, aud violent abuse, from the South, for its
Anti Slavery sentiments and movements, IS
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
There IS not q church whose papers ard Pc
nJd!cals have taken & more elevated stand on
the Slavery issae. Her Weeklies, her Month
hes. her able Quarterly, are manned by the
starchest and most unhiuching opponents OF
Slavery. The Quarterly RepieU has been
placed il tie hands Of one of the most able and
energetic writers il the county, who had TO
leave his place in The Faculty of Michigan
University On accoGAt of his thorough Anti.
Slaveryism. Most Of the General Conference
Offices were vacated at the last General Con-
ference, for the very sake of placing men in
them who were souLd on this question, and
who would satisfy the demands of the church,
and of the age, for an Ant-Siavery literature.
am personally acquainted with a number of
these men, and know them to be as thoroughly
and consistently Anii-Slsvery as Judge Jay
himself.
Some of the Methodist Church papers have
been declared 10 be "nuisances by Southern
grand Juries, and their circulation has been
prohibited. Efforts have been made, and are
now made, to drive the Methodist Church out
OF Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri,
Tor her Abohiionism." The Missouri Confer.
ence was.not allowed TO hold its session in In