The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1871-02-23

The PREsnYTRRlAN oHURCH
AND sLAvBRY. -
ED1rol JouRNAL.-ln your last
issue is IN article from tho pen Of Rev.
E. v. Campbell, Of the Presbyterian
Church, objecting to statement made
in my lecture on the Positive and Neg
alive. The exact statement made. in.
the lecture is this-"Even so grave
aud reverend body as the Presbyte-
rian Church Of the United States, in
solemn conclave assembled not many
years since, passed a resolution sane
tioning slavery as a divine institution,
founded Of God himself, ana plainly
set forth in His revealed word" This,
Mr.. Campbell oharaoterizes As q 'seri-
GUS misstatement," and quotes from
tho records Of the church to show that
it has always been autislavery in septi-
ment and action.
My statement refers to the proceed
ings Of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian church in the year 1916,
being rs, or "not many" years since.
Slavery agitation was then running
high and increasing, and many Presby-
teries and synods had sent in petit
tious and memorials to the General AS
sembly upon the subject. The AS
sembly upon meeting, appointed COM
mittee to examine these papers, and
report upon them and the subject Of
which they treated. This committee
CONSISTED Of N. L. Rice, John G. Lord,
Alex. 7. McGill, Diary Lacy, and N:
81. Hall, ministers; and H. H. Leavitt
and James Dunlap, elders. The report
is too lengthy to print here in full, but
I will make such citations from it as
will show its tendency, and tho stand
taken by the committee:
X X "That slavery exist
ed in the days of Christ aud His apos-
ties is an admitted fact. That they did
not denounce the relation itself as sin
full, as inconsistent with Christianity,
that shareholders were admitted to men,
bership in the churches organized by the
apostles; that whilst they were required
to treat their slaves with kindness, and
Is rational, accountable, immortal be.
ings, and if christians, as brethren in
the Lord, they were not commanded to
emancipate them; that slaves were re-
quired to be obedient to their masters
according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, with singleness of heart as
unto Christ, are facts which meet tie
eye OF every reader Of tho New Tesla
meut. This assembly cannot therefore
denousce the holding OF slaves as neces-
sarily a heinous and scandalo,.s sin,
calculated to bring upon the Church
the curse Of God, without charging the
apostles Of Christ with conniving at
sin, Introducing into the Church such
sinners, and thus bringing upon them
the curse Of the Almighty" \
''Tbc apostles of Christ sought to
ameliorate the condition of slaves, not
by denouncing and accommodating
their masters, but by teaching both
masters and slaves the glorious doctrines
Of the gospel, and enjoining upon each
the discharge Of their relative duties
Thus only can the Church of Christ, as
such, now improve the condition of tho
slaves in our country"
The Assembly on receiving the re-
port of its committee passed the follow
ing resolutions "In view of the
above stated principles and facts, Re.
solved:
LIST. That the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church in the United
States was originally organized, aud
has since continued tho bond of union
in the Church, upon the conceded prin-
ciple that the existence of domestic
slavery, under the circumstances in
which it is found in the southern por-
ton of the country, is no bar to christ
ian comm union.
I'd. That the petitions that ask the
Assembly to make the holding of slaves
in itself = matter of discipline, do vir.
tually require this judicatory to dissolve
itself, and abandon tho organization
under which, by the divine blessing, it
has 80 long prospered. The tendency
is evidently to separate tho northern
from the southern portion Of the Church;
result which every good citizen must
deplore, as tending to he'dissolution Of
the Union Of our beloved country, and
which every enlightened Christian will
oppose as bringing about a ruinous and
unnecessary schism between brethren
who maintain common faith
"The yeas and nays being ordered,
were recorded. (Yeas 1853, Nays 1872
(See Minutes 1916, PIP. $3.50
These resolutions formed the basis Of
'ction on tho elavery question in the
church for tho nineteen following years.
Scarcely . year passed in which the
General Assembly was MT forced to
take some action upon the subject, and
it uniformly reafirmed the principles
hors laid down. It was not until the
year 1864, after the slaves had been
fully freed, that I find any decided an