Essay on slavery; as connected with the moral and providential government of God; and as an element of church organization. With miscellaneous reflections on the subject of slavery

Front matter

ESSAY ON SLAVERY;

AS CONNECTED WITH THE MORAL AND PROVIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD ; jg*

AND AS AN ELEMENT OF

Introduction

In this age of improvement, and in a world abounding with great, greater, and greatest men, we feel no small degree of embarrassment at the thought of passing the ordeal of public scrutiny in the character of an author. Such an idea, in the commencement of those sections which form the first part of this work, was not entertained, no, not even dreamed of, either in our sleeping or waking hours. Circumstances, however, have somewhat strangely conspired to lead matters on to this end, and which are as follows : — / Since the days of our youth we have been an unworthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the recent agitation of the abolition question, (which is one with which we sympathize, when restricted to proper limits,) the leaders of that movement, in its ultra form, together with those who follow in the wake, have seemed to feel and act as if they thought they had a special mission from God to denounce — not only as thieves and robbers, but as the synagogue of Satan, and many other like grave charges — those churches, and the members of those churches which, as an evil, tolerate the relation as in agreement with the Scriptures. Having been thus personally, repeatedly assailed, both from the pulpit and the press, as also the Church with which we stand connected, in the acceptance of challenges loudly and frequently given, we volunteered the defence of our Church against the charge of pro-slaveryism. Our first number was published, and the second forwarded for publication, and as it was retained on hand some four weeks before the editor leaked out his purpose to rule me out, by this time we had written the greater part of what is embraced in the first part of this work.

Having thus made some progress in the investigation, we desired, for our own satisfaction, as we should have opportunity from other cares, to push our inquiries through the subject, and ascertain, so far as our capacity would bear us out in its examination, whether or not we were in error, in the views entertained relative to the strictly Scriptural position of the Church.

It thus being known to some, who desired the further publication of my manuscript ; and to others, on whom the author obtruded some of his numbers for critical remarks as to doctrine, &c, and who thought it deserved a more permanent existence than an ephemeral appearance through the newspaper press, led to their preservation and arrangement in regular and consecutive order, till I had passed through what I regarded the Bible view of the subject, and had made an application of its general teachings, principles, and spirit, on the subject of slavery, to the principles and spirit of the Methodist polity. This being done, other questions, naturally arising out of the subject, pressed themselves on my attention, and which have also been written out, under a conviction that they would be of some importance to the world.

In this way it has swelled up into the shape of a little volume, and, as such, is likely to come into public notice. How extensively, and whether for good or for ill, time must determine. Of one thing, however, we (to change our phraseology before we use up all the capital I's the printer may have) are deeply conscious, — that we have sought only the truth, from the first to the last, and through every intervening step in this investigation ; in which we have condensed our thoughts in as small a compass as was practicable, in the examination of this subject in its connexion with God's moral and providential government of the world.

Had we looked merely at the surface of things, we possibly should have been conducted to the same, or like conclusions with the ultra abolitionists of the day ; namely, that slavery is too outstandingly and palpably wrong for a revelation from God, under any circumstances, to make any tolerant allusion to it- Some way then would have been sought to explain away those passages which seem to recognize, and which appear to have been designed for, the government of the relation ; and failing in this, as we think every rational mind must do? the next step would have been, as we fear many of them have done, to reject the Scriptures, on account of such monstrous doctrines — so repugnant to our natural rights, and contrary to the voice of reason — as a revelation from God.

But when we endeavour to penetrate and look beneath the surface, and regard it as a part of an administration that takes hold of this world in its connexion with an eternal state; that has more reference to the general than the individual good, — the good of eternity, than the good of time ; or, in other words, the greatest good, or greatest amount of good, upon the whole, of all concerned, for both time and eternity ; it appears to us not only to be free from the objections alleged against it, but as commending itself to us as an exhibition of the united wisdom and goodness of the moral Governor of the universe, in making the best of circumstances in this as in all other matters connected with the defection of this revolting province of his dominions ; and of the truth of which we think the reader will be fully satisfied, by the time he shall have patiently and carefully passed through this little work.

And we would here admonish him, that we think the various parts are so dependent on, and so calculated to illustrate and strengthen each other, that lie cannot well understand the subject in its complex character, without an attentive and careful perusal of the whole. We make this remark for the benefit of those who examine a book as many do a newspaper — pick it up, cast a cursory and careless glance over its columns, and if the eye should catch nothing that suits their fastidious taste, throw it aside as a failure. Thoughtful minds — especially at this juncture, when the whole country, from the centre to the circumference, feels its importance ; and our national councils, as well as our Church organizations, are trembling to their foundations under its fearful power — will need no such admonition. And if, as we think it does, it shall be found to present the subject in a Scriptural and rational light, and perchance in a somewhat different, if not in an entirely new light, to what it has ever been presented to the world, it will be read with anxiety ; and that too without much solicitude as to whence it is, or the peculiarities of its literary dress. This leads us to make a remark in reference to style.

It being the first-born of our pen for public scrutiny, we think we may, with some confidence, claim the indulgence of the sober-minded. And as for the fastidiousness of that taste that will bow down and worship a jackdaw, because dressed in a peacock's feathers, we do not feel a very ponderous solicitude about gratifying it.

That some portions of the work, in point of style, may pass for all our expectations or pretensions, we have no doubt ; but that other portions of it, in which we have had to do with men and things that seemed to call for some severity or humour, may be regarded as coarse and common-place, and thus deficient in correct taste, we are fully aware. After all, in this disordered world there are some coarse and vulgar ideas ; and as words are the signs of ideas, in writing about them, plain, unpretending men may very naturally fall into this error.

We have felt some anxiety lest, in some of our points of conflict with those avowing slaveholding under all circumstances to be a bar to Church fellowship, we have sometimes expressed ourselves in a way that may be regarded as too severe, and as favouring the principle and practice of slavery. This, however, we hope the intelligent reader, on looking carefully over the whole ground, will be fully satisfied is not our position ; and as to what may be the seeming point, it is to be set down either to the weakness of our common nature, or as an honest trial to throw off the weight of an untiring effort, for opinion's sake, to crush and take from us what little reputation we had, because we had, on this subject, the astounding impudence to think and speak for ourselves.

Had we been base enough to suppress our convictions of truth, and surrender the dominion of our conscience to the ignorance, zeal, and bigotry of the Western leaders of the new organization, possibly we might now enjoy a reputable standing among those mistaken brethren. But, in that case, we should have had so great a sense of personal meanness as to be without a conscious sense of personal rectitude in our own bosoms ; a sacrifice, with us, entirely too great at which to purchase the favourable regards of any body of men, let alone, so far as we know them, the master spirits and composing elements of that faction.

A thought or two more to the ultra brethren or extreme men — men occupying extreme ground, both in the North and South. Without suffering your feelings to be too much implicated in what you may deem the strong ground taken against your respective positions, examine these pages in the light of a prayerful desire to learn and know, that you may practise the truth ; it can do you no harm, but the contrary ; to hold and practise the truth will always, on all questions, do us good. If a first reading is not satisfactory, read it over again. And should you find that we are in error, point it out, so as to satisfy us of that error, and we trust we shall have candour enough to renounce and retract it. If, on the other hand, as we think will be the result, you shall be conducted to the conclusion that our position is Scriptural, reasonable, and therefore true, let not the pride of position or opinion deter you from embracing and avowing that truth. Be honest, be independent ; and the means which shall have been thus instrumental in leading you to the knowledge of the truth on this subject, recommend to the notice of others ; give your aid in promoting its most extensive circulation, that thereby the largest measure of truth may be circulated throughout our whole country. Do not yourselves, nor yet in others, countenance any open or under-handed measures, to prevent either its examination or circulation, — help to let it have free course, run and be glorified ; for it is entirely too late in the day to appeal to authority, civil, social, and religious, for the suppression of truth, particularly where that truth is soberly, dispassionately, and respectfully presented. We send it forth to its destiny. May Heaven make its way prosperous and glorious.

The Author.

March, 1849.

CONTENTS,

Section I

POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY, AS CONTAINED IN HER ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, STATED PAGE 1 1

SECTION" II.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED: — THAT THE CHURCH IS TOO OBSEQUIOUS TO THE STATE— THE SPIRITUAL TO THE CIVIL POWER IS

Section I

POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY, AS CONTAINED IN HER ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, STATED.

The Scriptures not only require us to be " ready always to give to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear," which is a rational injunction, and worthy of a religion emanating from God ; but they also require or enjoin it upon us, " earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." In a world like ours, abounding in free-thinkers, half-thinkers, and no-thinkers, the exhortation cannot but commend itself to our understanding as an important one, and is clearly in evidence that its author regarded the "faith," or religion, taught in the Holy Scriptures, as capable of a triumphant vindication against the objections of all cavillers, of whatever school. The history of the world, thus far, is in proof, that in this confidence he was not mistaken. For notwithstanding the various assaults which in various forms have been made upon it, it still exists ; and instead of suffering harm by passing the ordeal of rigid, scrutinizing investigation, has gathered strength in every struggle, and brightened in every conflict; so that each succeeding contest in the march of mind serves only to confirm its claims to a heavenly origin, and show its complete adaptation to the weakness, wants, and wisdom of man, in all the variety of his condition. The progress of society, in every stage of mental and moral improvement, proportionately develops its superlative excellency ; and warrants the conclusion, that its principles will not only be found suited to the highest possible culture of mind and morals, but also the most, if not the only effectual system, by which the character of man, in these lofty and distinguishing attributes of his nature, can be fully developed.

The fact that its ranks have furnished, and still continue to furnish, the most elevated and finished specimens of human greatness that the history of the world presents, is indubitable evidence of the truth of the above proposition. And with this commanding proof before us of its inherent practical utility, that it should have, ever and anon, to be contending with the embattled hosts of determined opposition, would be a problem of difficult solution, but for the light reflected on this and similar questions by the language of the prophet, when he tells us that " the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint ;" and that men " do not know," because they do not consider ; — the want of reflection being the cause of their ignorance ; and that ignorance the cause of their opposition. In this, and similar language found in the Bible, is disclosed the true secret of all opposition to the principles and measures of the divine administration. The mind being enfeebled, and the heart corrupted by sin, in our stupid infatuation and heedlessness, though frequently called upon to " hear " and " consider," we will not give ourselves the trouble to think ; choosing rather to walk in the sight of our own eyes, and after the desire of our own hearts, than to hear and receive the word of heavenly instruction, which would redeem us from error, and guide us into all truth.

A recent attack, insidiously made upon Christianity, is in the denunciation of the Church and Ministry, — the divinely instituted and appointed instrumentalities by which to convert the world, and build it up in the faith of the Gospel : and the reasons assigned are, first, the connexion of the Church with Slavery, in receiving, and retaining in her communion, persons in that relation ; and, secondly, that the Ministry, as the prominent actors and messengers of the churches, instead of rebuking and wholly excluding it from the Church of God, connive at and lend their sanction to this state of things. Other matters enter into, or are embraced in, the general complaint ; some of which in an unqualified, and others in a qualified, sense, have our cordial approval ; such as intemperance, war, &c. These, we repeat, mainly constitute the reasons for the onset; and form the basis of urgent, inflammatory, derisive, and denunciatory appeals, loud and long, in the public ear, against the Church, and against the Ministry and the Christianity of the present age. Especially in the slavery aspect of the question, does the trump of opposition wax louder and louder ; with the cry of " Down with the Church !" and "Down with the Ministry!" as the chief machinations and instruments of his Satanic majesty (if their creed allows his existence) for carrying on, in this sin-disordered world, his work of ruin and death.

And in this particular view of the question, professed Christians, in their individual and organized capacities, join hand in hand with infidelity ; at least so far as to proscribe, and hand over to the fatherly care of old Apollyon, all those churches, as well as individuals, who, under any circumstances, tolerate the relation as being compatible with a creditable profession of religion. Hence the recent organization of religious bodies, making it under all circumstances a bar to church fellowship ; and the untiring effort of those organizations, for opinion's sake, to bring into contempt and infamy all those, whether individuals or churches, who differ from them in the general scriptural view of this vexed question.

We hear it from the pulpit and the platform, we read it from the press, that society would be vastly benefited if the convicts of our penitentiaries were turned loose upon the world, and the ministry, with a few honourable exceptions, (that is, those who embrace their peculiar views,) were shut up in their stead; and if any mean or wicked thing has been done in a distant neighbourhood, branded with peculiar marks of atrocity, enormity, and depravity, it is at once attributed to some pro-slavery class-leader, deacon, elder, or preacher. And the churches also come in for a full share of the same exaggerated and denunciatory detraction. They are declared to be the " synagogue of Satan," — the " mother of harlots," &c, &c. ; and are represented by the most coarse and vulgar anecdotes ; such as give evidence of a determination the most heated, as well as the most untiring, to heap all the odium that language and circumstances can bring upon her, and thereby bring her into such disrepute as to become, instead of " the praise and glory of the earth," " a byword and hissing" to all intelligence, — hoping thereby, as they claim, to effect her reform ; but, as we fear, and we think not without evidence, her final overthrow.

The same principle of proscription is carried out in a variety of resolutions, at their various meetings ; one of which was the remote cause of this essay, and which in substance, if not verbatim, was as follows : —

"Resolved, That the churches that retain slaveholding are the greatest barriers to freedom, or bulwarks of the system ; and that, in so doing, they yield the supremacy of the law of God, and substitute measures of human policy and interest."

Now to the principle involved in this resolution, namely, that the reception and retention of persons in the relation into the Church, all things else being right, is a measure of human policy, in contravention of the Divine law, and brands the church so practising as pro-slavery, we enter our solemn protest, and shall proceed to give the reasons that govern our faith in this matter, particularly in reference to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which we have had the honour to be an unworthy member since the days of our boyhood.

The reader will first indulge us in the statement of a principle, or discrimination, that appears to us to lie deep at the foundation of this momentous question ; one that, so far as our reading is concerned, has been entirely overlooked, and is of superlative importance to its correct understanding ; namely, that slavery in its incipiency, and slavery as an element of organized society, are different things ; or, in other words, the relation of the parties thereto, in its different stages, involves widely different degrees of moral turpitude. The man who kidnaps or steals a man, and the man who buys him when thus stolen, and thus robs him of all his rights, justly deserve the execration of all upright society ; human language hardly furnishes adequate terms with which to express the deep enormity attaching to such conduct. And we think it was principally to this stage of the business that Wesley, Clarke, and others referred, when they denounced it in such unmeasured terms. Such a construction is due them, as it harmonizes that which would otherwise appear inconsistent in the views of these great and good men : of which in the sequel. But in a state of organized society, as in the United States, — where the parties who are now connected with slavery had no more to do with the original act of kidnapping, or man-stealing, by which it was first introduced, nor in the enactment of those statutes which authorize, guard, and begird it with all the solemn forms, intricacies, and sanctions of law, than the man in the moon, — their relation thereto, as it appears to us, and must, as we think, so appear to all reasonable men, is widely different. In vain will it here be urged, that the retainer of the stolen goods is equally guilty with the original thief: the circumstances are so widely different, that no sane mind capable of comprehending the question, and appreciating an argument, but will see and feel its fallacy.

Now it is important to keep this discrimination in view, in order to understand properly the Scriptural and anti-slavery bearings of our ecclesiastical law.

The subject of slavery comes up first in what are called our General Rules, where the positive and negative qualifications of persons applying for membership among us are set forth in detail. Among them is the following : — " The buying and (or) selling men, women, and children, with an intention to enslave them," — which prohibits the person or persons so practising from a place in our communion. This is slavery in its incipiency, — the commencement of this diabolical business, — where we think the greatest guilt attaches. And how a law which lays the axe at the root of this tree of iniquity ■ — which strikes at the very foundation of the whole matter, and cuts off all persons so offending from a place among us — can be regarded as a pro-slavery measure, we cannot understand.

In the second place, the Discipline pronounces upon the general character of slavery, whether in its incipiency, or as an element of organized society, as a " great evil." And by what process of reasoning we can arrive at the conclusion, that a statute thus fixing its veto upon slavery, as a " great evil," is pro-slavery, we cannot perceive.

Next comes that part of the law which treats especially of slavery as an element of organized society ; and which bars any slaveholder from official station in the Church, where the laws of the State in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom ; and works the forfeiture of the ministerial character of any travelling preacher who in any way becomes the owner of a slave or slaves, unless he execute, if practicable, a legal emancipation, conformably to the laws of the State in which he may reside ; and, further, makes it the duty of the preachers to enforce on our members the necessity of teaching their slaves to read the word of God, and allowing them time to attend to the public worship of God.

These regulations, like the preceding ones, surely breathe an anti-slavery spirit, and cannot, by any fair construction, be tortured into any other meaning. It may be objected, first, that these laws have not been faithfully administered ; and that the action of certain annual conferences, and some acts and doings of the General Conference, have not harmonized with them. To these objections we, for the present, make no reply, not being sufficiently posted on these points to give a matured opinion; and having never claimed anything further, than that the Church, in her organic law, is opposed to slavery. It is objected, in the second place, that the Church is too obsequious to the State — the spiritual to the civil power — in regard to slavery. This objection will furnish matter for our next section.

Section II

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED: — THAT THE CHURCH IS TOO OBSEQUIOUS TO THE STATE— THE SPIRITUAL TO THE CIVIL POWER.

Pursuant to promise, we will now examine the second objection : — " That the Church is too obsequious to the State — the spiritual to the civil power," in conforming her practice to the laws of the State, in receiving and retaining in her communion persons connected with slavery, on account of the difficulties interposed by the civil power in the way of emancipation. This, in a country like the United States, where the constitution of the general government protects the several slaveholding States in their right to hold slaves ; and where the laws of such slaveholding States, to guard and protect this interest, have thrown impediments around it, rendering it almost, if not, in many instances, entirely impracticable for the citizens of those States to liberate them, by requiring the master, who may not have the means, when he would emancipate, to remove them to a free State ; and rendering the slave thus emancipated, for want of such removal, liable to be taken up the next week, month, or year, and sold into perpetual bondage to a worse and more cruel master, is a grave subject, and requires our most serious attention. In examining it, we feel our want of more general reading ; nevertheless, we will venture a few thoughts, showing our opinion.

From the constitution of human nature, it is manifest that man was intended for society. His weakness when born into the world, and for several years thereafter, amounting to entire helplessness ; his wants, which that helplessness can in no measure, not even the least, supply, clearly indicate a social existence to have been the design of the Creator in his formation.

His love of society, seen from an early period of infancy, and which continues unabated throughout the entire period of his earthly existence, is also in proof of the above proposition.

The constitution and attachment of the sexes, one of the strongest impulsions of our nature, and which in itself leads to society, is declarative of its truth.

His capacity for mental and moral improvement, which can only be brought to any tolerable perfection in a social state, and which would be greatly retarded, if not totally defeated, on the anti-social principle, is in evidence that society is a prominent and essential principle of our nature.

Thus his incapacity to provide for, protect, and defend himself; to indulge and gratify the social tendencies of his being ; to develop his physical, mental, moral, and social powers, according to their capacity, demonstrate his formation a folly, his existence a failure, on any other principle than that of a social state. Now if the principles and reasonings contained in the preceding remarks establish, as we think they do, the social character of human nature, government, being essential to such a state, is therefore necessary to the continued existence of the race. Ethical writers, or writers on natural law, take this view of the question, and attach such importance to the doctrine, as to tell us that man cannot exist without it ; and that therefore any form of government is preferable to anarchy. The Holy Scriptures recognize this principle, not only by implication, from the historical account they give of the social state in which the race has been preserved, and the relative duties enjoined, growing out of such a state ; but by positive precept, as contained in the following passages : — " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God." Rom. xiii, 1. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme ; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." 1 Pet. ii, 13, 14. Now an institution lying thus deep at the foundation of human nature, and so clearly ascertained, certified, and authenticated, as being essential to our continued existence, cannot, when once established, be lightly regarded with impunity. And the inquiry here forces itself upon us : What is its relative position in the

Divine administration over the world ? Is it subordinate to the spiritual power, or the Church, as has been claimed and practised by Popery ? Or is it the supreme rule of duty, under the limitations and restrictions of the Divine law, and, as such, binding upon the conscience, regardless of the moral character of the executive, or subordinate officers of the law ? This latter view seems to us to be the true state of the question ; and, as will be immediately shown, is capable of the most clear and irrefragable demonstration. As just seen, man cannot exist without society ; and society cannot exist without government : government, therefore, is essential to the existence of the race. The Church is only needed in the continued existence of the race : therefore, as the inevitable consequence, her subordinate position. And such seems to be the light in which it is presented in the New Testament. " Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man ; for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? Show me the tribute-money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription ? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Ccesar the things whicli are Ccesars ; and unto God the things that are God's." Matt, xxii, 15-21. "Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me ?