"'The right of masters to dispose of the time of their slaves has been distinctly recognized by the Creator of all things, who is surely at liberty to vest the right of property over any object in whomsoever he pleases.'"
"Rev. R. Furman, D.D., of South Carolina—'The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.'"
"The late Rev. Lucius Bolles, D.D., of Massachusetts, Cor. Sec. Am. Bap. Board for Foreign Missions, (1834.)—'There is a pleasing degree of union among the multiplying thousands of Baptists throughout the land.... Our Southern brethren are generally, both ministers and people, slave-holders.'"
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—"Resolution of Charleston Union Presbytery—'That, in the opinion of this Presbytery, the holding of slaves, so far from being a SIN in the sight of God, is no where condemned in his holy word.'"
"Rev. Thomas S. Witherspoon, of Alabama, writing to the Editor of the Emancipator, says—'I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, to hold the slave in bondage. The principle of holding the heathen in bondage is recognized by God.... When the tardy process of the law is too long in redressing our grievances, we of the South have adopted the summary remedy of Judge Lynch—and really, I think it one of the most wholesome and salutary remedies for the malady of Northern fanaticism, that can be applied.'"
"Rev. Robert N. Anderson, of Virginia—'Now dear Christian brethren, I humbly express it as my earnest wish, that you quit yourselves like men. If there be any stray goat of a minister among you, tainted with the bloodhound principles of abolitionism, let him be ferreted out, silenced, excommunicated, and left to the public to dispose of him in other respects.'"
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.—"John Jay, himself an Episcopalian—'She has not merely remained a mute and careless spectator of this great conflict of truth and justice with hypocrisy and cruelty, but her very priests and deacons may be seen ministering at the altar of slavery, offering their talents and influence at its unholy shrine, and openly repeating the awful blasphemy, that the precepts of our Savior sanction the system of American slavery.'"
In page 25 is the following:—
"The Rev. James Smylie, A.M., of the Amite Presbytery, Mississippi, in a pamphlet, published by him a short time ago, in favor of American slavery, says:—'If slavery be a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves, with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation of the Divine law; and if the buying, selling, or holding a slave, for the sake of gain, is a heinous sin and scandal; then, verily, three-fourths of all the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, in eleven States of the Union, are of the devil. They 'hold,' if they do not buy and sell slaves, and, with few exceptions, they hesitate not to 'apprehend and restore' runaway slaves, when in their power.'"
Yet, in the face of evidence so overwhelming as this, showing how the whole moral atmosphere of the Northern States is tainted with pro-slavery corruption, the abolitionists are frequently taunted with the question, what has the North to do with slavery? It is, however, a part of their vocation to bear contempt and reproach. They know they are at the right end of the lever, though at some apparent distance from the object to be moved. Their mission is to correct public opinion in the free States. Let us suppose, for a moment, this object attained—the whole slave-holding portion of the churches cut off, as a diseased and corrupt excrescence; the national literature purified, and the entire community pervaded by sound Christian feeling—a feeling which should abhor all participation, in word or deed, with the guilt of slavery; and how could the South maintain, for a single day, the perpetual warfare, which would be thus waged against her from without, and seconded by alarmed consciences in her own citadel?
The rise of the present abolition movement dates from the year 1832, when a few persons met at Philadelphia, and adopted and signed a declaration of their sentiments. He, however, who would trace anti-slavery sentiments to their source, must go back to the first era of Christianity, and to the authoritative promulgation of the Divine law of love by the lips of the Savior of mankind himself. In the darkest times, since that period, the true doctrine of the unlawfulness of slavery has never been wholly lost, being in fact a part of the imperishable substance of vital Christianity.
From 1832 until the division referred to in an early portion of this work, the anti-slavery societies multiplied with extraordinary rapidity. The following account of the present state of the cause is furnished by my friend, John G. Whittier.