The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1895-09-05

Ance unad v,sedly. nor il - man
who is ever driven to the necessity
of saying . harsh thing simply be-
cause he has nothing else to say.
This 10 much more than can be said
,f the Democratic press Of the State.
Being somewhat acquainted with
his intellectual capacity, and know
ing his character as We do. We have
no hesitancy in saying that DR..
Thompson KNEW he was speaking
the truth when he gave expression
TO the paragraph above. We will
&c one step further right here, and
dare any paper in the State to . con
troversy on the matter, provided DR..
Thompson will enter one.
We are conscious Of having in
1ulged ia a positiveness here that
may Jar the sensibiIities Of a great
many people whose attachment to
the "church" is more result OF fine
than Of actual knowledge;
and 1t is probably incumbent upon
US to sustain our position at least to
some extent This We can easily do.
But we must be understood fully ard
clearly as not confoundipg real,
practical "Christianity" with the
church. In other words, we are
speaking of the "church"-not
"Christianity."
1t is not nece ssary for our purpose
here to refer to the days of the In
QUESTION, when the church attempted
to enslave both the body and mind.
We need not cite particulars Of the
conditions which led to the Refor-
nation some centuries later, nor go
into an elaboration of what existed
in the meantime. We may come
right down to the latest times-to
conditions which existed in the life
time of men who are living to-day.
We will give an illustration or two,
and then let the matter rest unless
more is called for.
Rev. Thornton StringfellOw, D. D.,
of Richmond, Va, was q represen-
tative minister Of the Gospel not a
great while ago. He argued and as
serted that "there was authority
d" from God himself to hold men and
" women and their increase in sla.
very, and to transmit them as
property forever; that God gave
plenary power to govern them,
whatever measure of severity II
may require" &C., SC.
THIS is one instance in many in
which eminent leaders in the
"church" were on the side of human
slavery.
Now, let's see where the church
stood. 1.-The Cyclopedia of Biblical
Theological and Ecclesiastical Lit
erature" is an authoritative publica
ton on all matters concerning churcl
status. 1t says:
THE relation Of the churches to the ques
| ton of slavery involved grave inconsisten
cies of practice among Evangelical churche
| at least. The Roman Catholic and Protes
tant Episcopal churches never expressed al
authoritative condemnation of slavery, an
in the war for the Union the influence Q
the Papal church was emphatically favor
able to the South; but other churches wer
OPPOSED IN PRINCIPLE to slavery while the
TOLERATED 1T IN PRACTICE. and trie
hard to persuade themselves that it wa
right. In each denomination of Prote:
tants, except the Protestant Episcopaliar
the remarkable fact came to pass this
churches in slave-holding communities be
came the defenders-of slavery"
If the Democratic papers ha
known enough of history to hav
been familiar with facts like these
they would probably not have bee
so hasty and rash. But it actual
seems that knowledge is an unkrow
quantity with them. and they az
parently do not regard it as a neces
sity in journalism.
We desire to say that We hav
given but few facts, because of lin
tied space. They could be multi
piled if it were necessary.
And now We must respectfully as
the esteemed Charlotte Observe
and Atlanta Constitution to publis
the above facts with comment. w
really expected those papers to kno
better than to burn their fingers, br
We did not expect the majority {
Democratic papers to know anythin
about it, and-they didn't.
\
AS to that part of the paragrap
which saws "the church today stanl
where it has always STOOD" &c., v
have to say that there is a slave,
which does not involve the bondas
: of the body per &c. 1t is mantle
on every hand at this hour. "
would be delighted to be informed
some authoritive church movemel
looking to the abolition of tn
e slavery.
n LIGHT ON THE CASE OF PROF. BENZ
q The press-even the plutocr
press-is disclosing some facts viii,
. clearly proves that Prof. Bemis "
> forced out of his position in the CT
Q cago University by corporate infl