It is clear that slavery receives no sanction from the curse pronounced upon Canaan, from patriarchal servitude, from the law of Moses, nor from the law of Christ. In the light of the divine word it appears a gigantic barbarism, full of hate to the human brotherhood. It annuls the law of God respecting the family and society. It obstructs the progress of education and religion. It is condemned by the whole spirit of revealed religion. Only a devil could pray for its perpetuation and extension. It is not only a sin, but a combination of stupendous sins—“the sum of all villainies,” in the language of Wesley, “an enormity and a crime, for which perdition has scarcely an adequate punishment,” in the language of Clarke. “Slavery,” said the celebrated Jabez Bunting, “is always wrong, essentially, eternally, incurably wrong.”
[CHAPTER XI.]
American Churches and Slavery.
THE POSITION THEY OCCUPY.
The christian church ought to be a faithful exponent of the benevolent spirit and doctrines of Jesus Christ. Liberty, truth and humanity, though insulted, betrayed and proscribed every where else, should find within its sacred enclosures a welcome, a refuge and a stronghold. Its watchmen ought to be faithful men, uninfluenced by flattery, uncorrupted by gold, unawed by the popular will. The church ought to be the most independent body on earth. Standing as it does upon the Eternal Rock, holding the promise of successful resistance against the “gates of hell,” and of certain triumph over all the powers of darkness, the oppressor ought to know that he could not intimidate it by menace, silence its witnesses, win its smiles, or by any means be permitted to set his unhallowed feet within its pale. The church ought to be a terror to slaveholders; and although usage, prejudice, pride, passion, wealth, literature, and the selfish interests of men should all be combined against the oppressed, they should be certain of an unswerving and powerful friend and advocate in the church.
We say such should be the acknowledged and indisputable character and conduct of that body popularly known as the church, because then it would be a faithful exponent of the divine philanthropy of Jesus, of his “good will to men,”—then it would be precisely what the church was when it acknowledged no law superior to the will of God.
We propose now to ascertain the position of the American churches in relation to the slavery question. The most of them have been compelled to take some action on this exciting subject. We shall notice, more especially, the late action of various denominations, both for and against slavery, that the reader may know precisely where each branch of the Protestant churches of this country, may be found. We do not deem it necessary to exhibit the relation of the Catholic church to slavery. We may remark here, however, by the way, that this church, if it be proper to call it a church, is soundly pro-slavery, and is, in America, as it is everywhere else, a staunch advocate of oppression. Few Protestant churches excel the Catholic in slaveholding.
Presbyterian (Old School.)
The Presbyterian church (O.S.) stands fully and unequivocally on the side of the oppressor. It is true that a few earnest anti-slavery men may be found in this denomination, but their influence upon it is scarcely felt. They are not able in the least to modify the decided, unfaltering pro-slavery position maintained by the General Assembly. So far as I know, the most ultra friends of slavery are perfectly satisfied with the late ecclesiastical action and influence of this church. It makes no pretensions to anti-slavery. The slaveholder is welcomed to its communion, is authorized to preach and is elevated to the highest posts of honor. At the last General Assembly fifty slaveholding presbyteries were represented. The place of meeting was Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Lord, author of a celebrated sermon in support of the fugitive slave law, was elected moderator. The General Assembly of 1845, by a vote of 168 to 13, “Resolved, That the existence of domestic slavery, under the circumstances in which it is found in the southern portion of this country, is no bar to Christian communion.”
This church has been progressing in the wrong direction. In 1818, before the excision of the Presbyteries which formed the New School body, the General Assembly declared that “the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another was a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature,” “utterly inconsistent with the law of God,” and “totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel.” This was a noble declaration, but slaveholders were not excluded from the church as they should have been, but continued to flock in, until in 1836, a slaveholder presided over the General Assembly who openly said—“I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to hold my slaves in bondage.”—Since 1836 the General Assembly has been wholly under the control of the pro-slavery interest. Her doctors of divinity have written learned treaties in defense of slavery, and slaveholders are at ease, yea, sleep undisturbed in her communion, and for all that that church is likely to say or do, will sleep on until they find themselves in company with Dives.