New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-09-25

measures: but that, forsooth, was. "gradual,sm,'
hvnccriticsl pro-sayeryism. This last was, now
ever the method into winch they elauu
ally fell. They contributed iapgey Ine Ie
il was about 1886 that said 10 Charles a. l,ihi
then editor Of respectable paper, LIE lkibONf
1--WE Methodists are almost to man Repub ,icans
and he re- pnnded We very well know IL: Anu
vet seen through Mr.. Johnson's spectacles. was
lo.cly airi-slayery swallow IN MetnoulsIh. ,T ~
fact was that the Republican party spianS our vi
the conscience of the Nation mainly embodied IN
the Christian churches aud so far as Ncthodish Is
concerned. from IL Evolutionary cohscitlce mn
never COMPLETELY slumbcTed. mt held itself m hali
UNCONSCIOUS abcyanCe until practical meihous ana
measures could be ascertained aud brought INTO
shape aud action. -. -,
by the prccipitated issue with the angry slave
power. took the old tTaditionary form IL shaped
itself into the question: Shall we restore te un
prohibition of slaycholding In our Church TO our
Book of Disciplincf There arose livery DEBATE
Our old men generally went for THE discipline 'H
il is" and long retarded the change our wealth.
business IN the large Atlantic cities were o.'H
despotically CONSERVATIVES" Onr Bishops were IN
ednivocally reprcssive In our Newton confer
ence for a brief period. dis0Iaceiu pledge Was ~
0uired of tho Young ministry To abstain from mol
ern abolitionism" All these facts can be ilarlngB
but fallacousy quoted rs proving Me' W. nTr
record were never sustained by our Poist
secession church, and were rapidly swept away DS
the Ant-slavory tide. All New-EngIaH Mrt'' Nv,
was earnest Tor the change; so was tuIin .Nem
York and | believe the West, more iaIuny W
Iapidy. In 1870, when was banned LOT IIe ehhchh
ing against the fugitive slave law every ,
done with consistent iniamy. by the Dciho0i"''
outside
MR.. GARRIsON's NAME no wATcHwokp'
But in all this history Of our Methodist anti
sayeryism there is characteristic not perhaps
o,,rcoolle 70 nv friend. The name of Mr.. Garrison
was seldom or never mentioned. III was not "oiu
of tbrill,nc mower On the contrary it had terri
he deterrent thing
+hot could be said to reviving anti-slavery man,
t least in the estimation Of oppOsers was. You are
n rool Garrisonian Abolitonist." A great general
was he whose name was tower OF defeat Why
tins ignoring of the man honored by Wendell
Phillips and Oliver johnson First. because 1t was
felt that our ant-slaverylsm never came from him.
Ours was a traditional anti-slaverylsm. quckened
into new life. Had Garrison never existed, ana tho
slave power been equally aggressive, the battle
would have come. SecOnd-bir. Garrison, by MS
style of thought and language, had rendered ms
name repellent. His an eloquence that con-
WINGED but the few, and Disguised the many Third
1t was universally felt that Mr.. Garrison ana MS
followers had played into the hands of lnhdelitY
They had managed To make their aholitionlsln the
instrument of assault upon Christianity. hal
volumes Of invcciive have been poured forth from
their platforms upon evangelical churches, nc
cause we declined 10 dance TO their piping ,hVeh
my friend Mr. johnson has, honestly no Doubt
evolved some ncflOnS ol liilN Hblt MtiNh 'I"-
fessedy true ant-slayery man." hold To be, so lar
as my church is concerned lother chnrchcs can ali
swer for themsclycs false rs the Alrorln: Ana oi
The truly great Horace Greeley himself 1t Is sadly
true that through his whole anti-slaveTy career he
steadily kept two objects IN view namely TO
DESTROY slavery, and to roll the mpItalon OF pro-
slycryism upon the general Christianity OF our ma
tive land
Al the period in which Mr.. johnson declares that
no orthodox minister Iu Boston could hc induced 10
pray at an aut-siaVcry meeting think The records
will show that the majority Of the Methodist minis
tcrs OF the Ncw-fuGland Conference 900 which b"s-
ION WAS iuciuGeal were Aboii ionists of his own
tyur and tic remaining minority were antl-siaNciy
mon % my TIVE Certain - IS that the organ OF
New Eugland Methodism, Ihe/iOR's Ucrdid, then ~
now published M Boston, was edited nv an nvoWcd
nj. rH abohtionist; % was 1oeiy open 10 discussion
it~o.lice was familiar ifoquencd - George lhomp-
were open 10 ms writing OF that majority any one
would have been happy .as would not have BEEN
TO offer PRAYER at an ant-slaycrN meeting, au0 many
of them to deliver the lecture. OF those with whom
Isvmpathizea and acted. the history may bt briefly
summarized We opposed the ulird-aby .ltionl,ts 80
LONG %. there was hope If Southern cooperation M
emancipation; hut when We heard the slave power,
maddcued by Them pronounce the Waich-Woids
"perpetmty, extension" supremacy. We opened
war I'D the death AGAINST slavery. Anu just AZ last
"a, our MethOilsm could be made To understand that
Issue in became FROM the old traditional feeling, by
large minority, aggre~siveiy anti-savery such he"
ing ms view, withhold all sympathy WIN the
present Qualifications OF NJ. Garrison anu IN
peach. not tnc honesty, but the mpartaliiy OF Nj.
Johnson, history. Mr.. GarIlsOn's real merits are
too great to require a whole generation to be black
''''' '' d. d. WELDON.
Neu.York Sept 10, 1879.