Maryland free press., 1863-02-06

coun res having been sent from Southern Di-
ocesses. The sister of the Bishop Of Georgia
himself, is the wife of Bishop Boone, and now
in China; and the knowledge of this adds a
singular Tenderness to the few words in which
the allusion is made:
Voices of supplieation come to us also from the
distant shores otAica and the East but only their
/ echo reaches us from the throne of grace. The
policy ct man has shut ont those uttGrances from
US. How 1t can help their cause to separate the
children OF God from one another He only knows
but we can hear them when we kneel in PRAYER
and commune with their spirits through the Spir-
it OF Christ. Bat God is perchance Intending
through hcse nscrutible measures, to shut us up
to that great work which He has placed at our
very doors and which is next to his own expan-
- sl0n, ~ Churchs greatest work in these Conied
crate states. The reg gous instruction of the ne
groes has been thrust upon us in such wonderful
manner that we must be blind not to perceive that
r,rma nog Sn U"h sbtuai 6nt our national life is
or fall and God will not permit us to be separated
IN interest or in fortune.
Tic time has come when the Church should
press more urgently than she has hitherto done
upon her laity, the solemn fact, that the slaves of
the South are not merely much property, but
are sacred trust committed to us, as people, to
DC prepared for the work which God may have
Tor them TO do, in the future. While under this
tutelagc lie freely gives to their labor but cx
poets u" to give back to them that religious and
moral instruction which is to elevate them in the
scale of ing. And while incuicating this truth
the Church must offer more freely her ministra-
tlons ior their benefit and Improvement. Her la
ny must set the example ofrcndiness to fulfil their
duty towards these people. and her clergy must
strip themselves of pride aud tastidiousness dnd
ndolencc, and rush, with the zeal of martyrs, to
TINS labor OF love. The teachings of the church
are those winch best suit people passing from ig
norance to civilization, because while it represses
all tanaticism, it iastens upon the memory the
great iaets OF our religion, and through its ohjcc-
tive Worship attracts and cnchans them, So far
Church, good will be permanently done to them
just in proportion we teach them through their
.els,s and their affections. Ii subjected to the
teachings oi bald spTitualism, they will find food
l'r their senses and their chid-lke iancics in SUI
Fcrstitidus obseryancos of their own, leading too
often to crime and licentouSness.
1t is likewise the duty OF the Church to press
upon the masters the country their obligation,
as Christian men. 20 as to arrange this institution,
as not to neccssitate the violation OF those sacred
relations which God has created and which man
cannot consistently with Christian duty, annul.
| The systems OF labor which prevail in Europe and
WIich are, IN many respects, more severe than
ours; are so arranged as to prevent all necessity
Tor the separation OF parents and children and OF
husbands ana wives. and very little care upon
onr part, wohld rid the system upon which we are
about to plant our national life, of these unchris
nan features 1t belongs, especially, to the EDis-
| copal Church to urge proper teaching upon this
subject, Tor in her fold and in her congregations
are ionnd very large proportion OF the great
shareholders of the country. We erGilicc to be en-
ablcd to say that the public sentinentis is rapidly
becoming sound upon this subject and that the
Legislatures of several OF the Confederate States
have already taken steps towards the consumma-
tion. Hitherto have we been hindcrcd by the
lAeSsuIg OF abolitRpiipi now thatW WG haze tAEH~p
ehOUl prove to the world that are iaHnIul to
onr trust and the Church should lead the hosts of
the Lord in this work of Justice and ofmercy.
It ha: hcreto!5fIc caused no small wonder
that the exciting subject of slavery should
have been so completely kept out of our Ec-
clcsiastcal Conventions, when every other
prominent body of Christians in the land hav-
ing an Ecclesiastical legislature with any
thing Of the popular element in it, has been,
by that one question, broken IN pieces. In me
of them it has been troublesome and thoEny
subject from the beginning: in others it has
furnished the standing topic of fierce sectional
strife for thirty, forty, or fifty years 1t has
triumphcd over them all: and this swapping
the religious ties of the people IN adcGPce upon
sectional Tines, was one ofthe chief preparations
for that gigantic attempt to make the seve-
rance Polfica''g complete, which is now delu
ging the land with blood. During all these
years, and evea during the existence Of this
| Civil War, no resolution on Southern slavery
has ever been entertained or passed in any
Church Convention in Free State, .nor in
any General Conventions: and there has hard
ly been even passing allusion to the subject
in debate. Mr. Jays resolutions, defeated in
the New York Convention, were no exception,
for they related to the foreign slave-trade as
prosecuted from the city and port of New
York The exclusion ofHis subject fde been to-
ta. The sreers and tarnts and gibes of the
denominations around us, who were going
mad, and wrecking their own frail craft ON the
rocks, and mocliing at us for towards and hyp-
ocrites because we would not do the same,
have all been powerless against the matchless
and immovable conservatism of the Church.
1t was enough that it was none Of our busi-
aese, in our Diocesan Conventions, to dictate
or mcddle in what concerned only the Church
in other Diocescs 1t was enough that it was
none Of our business in General Convention, to
debate and decide, by a sectional majority,
upon subject which concerned only a Sec
, tional minority. We knew they were-in
J, their fewncss and fcebleness-doing the best
they could on The spot; that they were fully
| alive to their response 5ilities; and that they
, would, as soon as they were able, bring theii
influence to bear in the best way they knew
how, for the best result that might be in theil
power. We knew that Southern Bishops
: Clergymen, and Layhien, were nobly devo
| ting themselves to the religious and moral in
struction of the slaves, and that ofiicious holI
, rendered them from the outside would do more
harm than good. We knew that in Soutl
Carolina-whcrc the proportion of Churcl
l people was larger than in any other South
7 ern State (though still, of course, small mi
nority of the whole population tho sabiec
: osMarriage had been discussed in the Diocesan
c Convention, and the scriptural principle had
: been announced that by Gods Word marriage
c is equally sacred for the bond and for the free
! And we ln2w that, as the Church grew strong
, enough in other Southern States, similar res
olutions would be adopted in their Diocesan
Conventions also. We knew that the exam
). pie and practice of earnest Churchmen arnont
: the Shareholders was steadily tending toward
these wholesome and needed changes, an