The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1860-10-06

vention OF the Episcopal Church IN Ne'
York, John Jay presented for it's action
series Of resolutions against the slave trade
The resolutions were laid upon the table b
a vote of los to IL, 10 order to maintain tn
peace Of the Church, without, of course, risk
ing it's purity.
In answer to the idea that the Church ha
never intermeddled with this subject, MIR
Jay gave the following facts to show tina
| the influence and the action of the Churcl
bad tended to strengthen pro-slavery senti
ment, and that it had been so regarded a.
home and abroad. lie said:
In 1886 the Rev. George w. Freeman, O.
Christ Church, Raleigh, ia North Carolina
preached from that pulpit in the presence OIL
his Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Ives, two ser
mons on the subject of slavery, in which, il
the name of the Church, he declared tina,
"slavery, as it existed at the present day
was agreeable to the order of Divine Pro vi.
dence."
SO far as an individual clergyman could
do, he placed upon the system OF slavery
not upon some ideal, imaginary system OF
compulsory labor--a patriarchal system, sucb
as obtained with Abraham, or, as some sup.
pose, with Paul and bis brother beloved One
simus-but upon "savery as it now exists''
he placed the Seal of the Church, and blessed
it In the name of the Head Of the Church.
and declared that "no man, without new
revelation from Heaven, was entitled to pro-
Dounce ii wrong.o
But it may be said, why hold the Church
responsible for the rash utterances of a sin.
gle member? Listen further.
Had Mr.. Freeman been brought to trial
before his Bishop on the charge of promul.
eating heresy and blasphemy, and prostitu-
ting the pulpit so the service of slave traders,
and bringing dishonor upon the Church and
upon Christianity, the Diocese Of North Oar.
DINA would have purged itself Of his crime.
But what did the Bishop? He recommended
the publication Of the sermons, ''as urgently
called for at the present time !" and they
were published with bis unqualified indorse.
ment that he "had listened to them with the
most unfeigned pleasure" The Diocese of
South Carolina hastened to appropriate this
new development of Church doctrines, which
DR.. Dalcho bad previously less fully An
nounced, and the sermons were printed, i'm
primatur and all, as a religious tract, for
gratuitons distribution. by "the Society for
the advancement Of Christianity" ll with
the Bishop of South Carolina at it's head !:
and submit that, By these proceedings the
Protestant Episcopal Church in North Caro-
lima and in South Carolina became the
avowed champion of "slavery as it now ex.
istso
1t NAV be again urged these are but two
Dioceses out OF twenty-five or thirty, and th Q
Church at large has never Endorsed Mr.. Free
man, or even indirectly approved his tea oh :
ings.
Until 1914 this may have been true. Du-
ring those eight years the name Of Mr.. Free
man obtained an almost world wide reputa-
ton a. the boldest champion among all the
sects OF the South OF American slavery. His
sermons were quoted and commented on in
newspapers, in pamphlets, in books, and at
public conventions, both in America and in
England.
The Bishop of Oxford, in his history Of the
American Church, quotes the sermons as ev.
idence Of "the fearful features of the life of
ohurchmen at the South" and based upon
this, and other evidences Of the seryility Of
the American Church to the base spirit of
slavery, that famous chapter, which has been
since so widely known from its re. print 10
separate form, as "Tle Reproof of the Amer.
lean Church, reproof which, from it's
dignity, its candor, and its power, was worthy
alike Of the Bishop OF Oxford and of the son
of Wilborforce.
The amazement of other English Bishops
and clergymen ut the utterance Of such SEN
timents as those of Freeman was expressed
with the utmost frankness. 81 have ALWAYS
considered" said lin l850) the Bishop Of
Norwich, referring TO papers that contained
extracts from MIR. Freeman's sermon, with
Bishop Ives endorsement--"I have ALWAYS
considered it an anomaly that any State pro
tossing Christianity could for a moment toll
crate tyranny so utterly at variance with
every feeling OF justice and humanity but |
never could have believed that any indiyid.
uals existed, calling themselves ministers of
the Gospel, whose minds were so darkened
by prejudice and self interest, as to avoy
an approval of slavery and its evil conse
quences, had | not found them so uneouivo
cally confirmed in the documents above men
toned"
The Archbishop of Canterbury, referring
to slavery in America aud its clerical sun.
porters, remarked: christianity and slave
~ areenot to be mentioned in the same day y
Eight years had elapsed since Mr.. Frse-
mans sermons, with Bishop Ives indorse-
ment, ADD the sanction Of two dioceses, ha d
been sent forth to startle Christendom with
the boliness of his assumptions. Politicians
who had long professed to lamont slavery al
moral evil--an unfortunate necessitv-
were prompt TO accept the new gospel thus
dispensed to them; and there arose party
who swore, almost in the words of Freem an
that slavery was divine 10 its character, ane
that IL hence bocamo religious duty IL
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend it.
One feature of Freeman's defense of slave
ry is worth remembering, although it ha,
been only partially adopted as yet by an,
political party. lie did not rest his vindica
ton Of the system Oh the color Of the slave
but maintained the historic approval BY tn
Church of the slavery equally Of blacks AM
whites.
The other sects OF the South had exhibite,
great alacrity in com 9lying with the dema nd