The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-17

statute books in the revision of 1715,
but which was undoubtedly enacted as
early as the end of the preceding CEN
fury: BE it further enacted, That il
any master or owner Of negroes or
slaves, or any other person or persons
whatsoever in the government, shall per-
nit or suffer any negro or negroes TO
build ON their, or either of their lands,
or any part thereof, any house under
pretense of meeting house upon ae-
count of Worship or upon any pretense
whatever, and shall not suppress or him
der them, he, she, or they so offending
shall for every default forfeit or pay
500. one half towards defraying the con-
tingent charges of the government, the
other to him that shall sue for the
same Here it is worthy of note, in
passing that this law could be appned
to keep the blacks from lapsing into
paganism as well as to keep them from
having churches of their own. In either
case the law was fortunate.
From what ! have said it is evident
that the small beginning that had been
made in reference to the negro's com
version to Christianity. before the Rev
olution is too bare of facts to make
the study of it either interesting or prof
liable. 1t is, therefore, with great
deal of pleasure that we turn to the
study Of the subject in the period from
the Revolution till the fall of slavery
Ii | may believe the evidence that has
come down to me, it was about the
close of the eighteenth century that
Henry Evans arrived i'll Fayetteville.
He found that the negroes in that town,
says Bishop Capers, were wholly given
to profanity and lewdness, never hear
ing preaching Of any denomination, and
living emphatically without hope and
without God in the world" OF condi-
lions in Wilmington the Bishop himself
is witness. He says: "A numerous pop
ulation Of this class THE blacksl in
that town and vicinity were as destitute
of any public instruction Tor probably,
Instruction Of any kind as to spiritual
things), as if they had not been be-
lieved to be men at all; and their morals
We're as depraved as, with such a desti-
tuition of the gospel among them, might
have been expected and vet it seems
not TO have been considered that such
a state of things might furnish motives
sufficient to induce pure-minded men TO
engage, at great inconvenience and even
personal hazard. in the work of reform
ing them. Such work, on the other
hand, seems to have been regarded I'M
necessary, if not unreasonable. Con
science was not believed to be concerned
in it,"
Looked at from another standpoint it
is not hard TO divine why this indiffer-
ence existed. The QuakeTs were at that
time bending all their efforts toward
emancipation. They had no missionary
spirit for those slaves whom they did
not own, or with whom their own slaves
were not connected by family ties. The
Baptists of the day were of the old time
notions. 1t must be remembered that
was before they had split into two
bodies an the question of missions and
that they were consequently not, as a
body. so earnest in seeking out the neg
lected classes as they have become later
The Episcopalians had not recovered
themselves since they had lost the sup
port of the State The presbyterians
we're not, in the east, rural church
and so they did not come into close con-
tact with the slaves. More than ALL ii
was before the Methodist church had
come actively into the field. The black
race lay like an UNEMPLOYED forest await
ing the sturdy frontiersmen who in the
name of the reformer Of Oxford and of
Ipworth was to bring to it the message
Of hope and faith that could alone bring
It under the smiles of civilization.
In the meantime. | must call attention
to enc fact that was fundamental in the
relation Of slavery in general throughout
the South. 1t was the determination on
he part Of the slave-owners to preserve
slavery as an institution, whatever the
cost, and at the same time willingness
to make it as mild as possible within
the limits Of this restriction. This idea
went through the legal, the social, the
Industrial, and the religious phases of
the subject. Ut was the logic of slavery
in the South. There was no chance for
amelioration, if amelioration meant that
IN the process the slaves were likely TO
get eventually, their freedom. Now as
to the relation Of this idea to the reli-
gious life of the slave / shall speak
more at length.
Undoubtedly the master was willing
10 have his slave become a Christian.
He was even anxious for him to
do it. He spent money with
more or less bountifulness for this
men who were not Christians them
selves, but who wanted their slaves to
lie Christians for purposes of discipline
But oftener it was done out OF pure
beneyolence and with devout purpose
to accomplish the spiritual welfare OF
the negroes. Persons who have formed
their opinions Of Southern society before
the war from the popular works of GER
tain novelests are apt to think of the
slave-owner as a fne-bred gentleman, of
cavalier instincts and patriarchal feel
ings. Such an estimate is but a half
truth. There was in the South--in
North Carolina it was very strong-a
large class of slave-oWners which APP
preached more nearly 10 the English
farmer type, than to the English gentle
man type. They were usually self
made men, of fair intelligence, and OF
some education. They We're generally
thrifty and often wealthy The ma
jority Of them were Christians, mostly
Of the Methodist. Baptists and Presby-
terrain churches. This class of men has
received but little attention from those
who have written of Southern society,
and yet it was the backbone Of that
society. There was little that was ideal
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