THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.--"Resolved, That it is the sense
of the Georgia Annual Conference, that slavery, as it exists in
the United States, _is not a moral evil_."
"The Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D.D., late President of the (Methodist)
Wesleyan University in Connecticut--'The New Testament enjoins
obedience upon the slave as an obligation _due_ to a present
_rightful_ authority.'"
"Rev. E.D. Simms, Professor in Randolph Macon College, a
Methodist Institution--'Thus we see, that the slavery which
exists in America, _was founded in right_.'"
"The Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, in the General
Conference, in 1836--'Yes, sir, Presbyterians, Baptists,
Methodists, should be slaveholders,--yes, he repeated it
boldly--there should be members, and _deacons_, and ELDERS and
BISHOPS, too, who were slave-holders.'"
"The Rev. J.H. Thornwell, at a public meeting, held in South
Carolina, supported the following resolution--'That slavery, as
it exists in the South, is no evil, and is consistent with the
principles of revealed religion; and that all opposition to it
arises from a misguided and fiendish fanaticism, which we are
bound to resist in the very threshold.'"
"Rev. Mr. Crowder, of Virginia, at the Annual Conference in
Baltimore, 1840--'In its _moral_ aspect, slavery was not only
countenanced, permitted, and regulated by the Bible, but it was
positively _instituted_ by GOD HIMSELF--he had, in so many
words, ENJOINED IT.'"
THE BAPTIST CHURCH--"Memorial of the Charleston Baptist Association, to
the Legislature of South Carolina:
"'_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_.'"