The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-02-06

' ~ Ds SAa AHL D0hSA VI HW III
( superstition from the heatben, Wit
c ence 10 hold in bondage the slaves &
J home. DR. Adams, who occupie,
E leading positions on the America
Board Of Foreign Missions and in TIA
! American Tract Society, said: an
: stead Of regarding the South ~ Hold
Z ing heir feIiowman In cruel bondage
let Us consider whether We may no
: think CT them - the guardians, ednca
tors aud sayiors OF the African race bi
this country" Abiding to the case O
| Philemon and Onesimus, be contempt
uously remarked True, the disciple
had not enjoyed the light which sh'
, Declaration Of American Indepen
desce shed on the subject OF huma.
. rights"
When Lewis Tappan proposed I,
make q donation to the American
Bible Society for the circulation OF th,
Scriptures among the slaves, its direc
tors treated him with the utmos
rudeness and discourtesy.~ In the de-
bates in the American Board Of For
eign Missions upon the question o.
freeing that body from further compIi
city with slavery, DIR. Tyler, the emf
nent President Of Connecticut Theo
logical Seminary, said: 1.-The apostle.
admitted shareholders to the church
and for this Board to decide against il
would be to impeach the apostles >
and DIR. Edward Beecher said Mas.
tiers and slaves existed i'm the print
tive churches, and it was allowed BY
Christ and His apostles. Slavery i,
an organic sin, made by law, and there.
fore not dealt with as other sins"
Further than this, the religious pub.
LEGATION societies carefully eliminated
from their books all cOndematory allu.
sions to the sin Of slavery. These
bodies were all too eager to receive
benefits from shareholders to take a
bold stand for human freedom.
Such was the prevailing thought and
conduct OF our Northern brethren, who
extended to us OF the South the hand
Of ecclesiastical fellowship at a time
when Presbyterian clergyman could
say: "If slavery be a sin, if the buy
ing, selling, and holding the slave for
the sake of gain is heinous sin and
scandal, direct violation of the Di-
vine law, then verify three-fOurths of
all the EpiscOpalians, Baptists, Metho.
dists and Presbyterians in eleven
| States of the Union are of the devil"
And when at length the sentiment of
abolition, the sense of humanity, 1.-THE
grossly offensive error of Mr.. Jeffer-
son." despite the pious and persistent
opposition of their leading clergy, grew
to make our further utilization with
the churches of the nOn-slave- holding
States uncomfortable for US, we with
drew from them the hand of fellowship
and became Southern Methodists,
Southern Baptists, and Southern Pres.
6yterians, either directly or Indirectly,
In order that the church in the South
might live tremendously upon the
side of human slavery.
Born to the system and having prOp.
erty in slaves, it was all too easy for
Southern men cOnscientiously to be-
lleve that slavery met with Divine ap-
prOval; and if some qualm of CON
science now. and then arose in pious
minds through the long-drawn mid
night hours" it was charmed to rest
by the devOut sentinels '.set for the de-
fence of the gospel" to whom they
looked for right Interpretation of the
Divine law. The continuance of the
evil, therefore, and the dire calamities
consequent upon it, may be justly as
crlbed to the leading spirits of the
church: If they had stood with pro-
pnetlc bOldness upon the side of human
freedom, the people would have gath
ered about them for the peaceable and
complete emancipation of human ma
ture." What power could withstand
q united church, full of the spirit Of
Christ, which is the spirit of freedom
But the church chose rather to "confer
with flesh and blood" 1t was conser-
vative. 1t accepted and defended
what was.
In the South, slavery had no
stauncher advocate and the basic prin-
clple OF the Declaration of Independ-
ence, no holder opponent than the Rev.
Dr. William A. Smith, President of the |
randolph Macon College in Virginia.
IN MS Ph!Osophy and Practice of |
Slavery, designed as q textbook and |
1 6 the general reader, edited by
Thomas o. Summers, D. d.. and mt
forth as Southern Methodist publica-
ton in 1856, he denies the Jeffersonian |
"that all men are created |
equal" declares that "ineuualitv. and
not equality, of right is "the law of |
Heaven, and adds that "philosopby.
no less than religion and true patriot,
ism, cannot fail to regret that dog.
ma, setting each of their claims aside
should have found its way into that
instrument, the Declaration
OF American Independence. 1--WE can
not otherwise account for it," saws he.
than by the fact that one of the pre,
siding minds of that great paper had
become strongly tinctured with the
Infdel philosophy of France" Main
tanning with marvellous skill "that the
great abstract principle of slavery is
rlght, because it is a fundamental
principle of the social state, and that
domestic slavery, as an institution. is
July justified by the condition and
Essential and relativel
u the African race in this country. and
therefore equally rights" he declares
hat the philosophy of Jefferson is
alse;" that "Our schools must he sun-
oi!ed with correct textbooks on this
ubJect;;" and that "the church should
lot only right herself, as she has done
n the South, but her voice should he
heard in the pulpit enforcing rioht
'r.nc,ptes as well as right duties on this
inject" I
Az great prO-slavery meeting in
;harleston in 1886, "the clergy of all a,
examinations attended in a bodv." said
ne Courier, tending their sanction to :
he proceedings and adding by their
presence to the impressive character
i the scene" This was the occasion !
4 Whittier's famous poem on Clerical j.
,ppressors, wherein he says:
Plate and Herod, friends!
'hlef priests and rulers, as of old, COM s
bine!
ust God and holy! is that church c
which lends c
trength to the spoiler thine? t
aid hypocrites, who turn
Judgment aside, and rob the Holy '
Book +
# those high words of truth which
search and burn v
II warning and rebuke; Z
eed fat. ye locusts, feed. t
md in your tasselled pulpits thank l.
the Lord a
hat, from the toiling bondman's utter
need, G.
l.