3. No instance can be produced of an otherwise orderly Christian, being REPROVED, much less EXCOMMUNICATED from the church, for the single act of holding domestic slaves, from the days of Abraham down to the date of the modern abolitionist.

Synod of Virginia, Presbyterian.

The committee to whom were referred the resolutions, &c., have, according to order, had the same under consideration and respectfully report that in their judgment, the following resolutions are necessary and proper to be adopted by the Synod at the present time.

Whereas, the publications and proceedings of certain organised associations, commonly called anti-slavery, or abolition societies, which have arisen in some parts of our land, have greatly disturbed, and are still greatly disturbing the peace of the church, and of the country; and the Synod of Virginia deem it a solemn duty which they owe to themselves and to the community, to declare their sentiments upon the subject; therefore:

Resolved, unanimously, That we consider the dogma fiercely promulgated by said associations-that slavery as it exists in our slaveholding States is necessarily sinful, and ought to be immediately abolished, and the conclusions which naturally follow from that dogma, as directly and palpably contrary to the plainest principles of common sense and common humanity, and to the clearest authority of the word of God.

Testimony of the Rev. R. N. Anderson, Presbyterian.

To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations within the bounds of the West Hanover Presbytery: At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, I design to offer a preamble and string of resolutions on the subject of the use of wine in the Lord's Supper; and also a preamble and a string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and abominably wicked interference of the northern and eastern fanatics with our political and civil rights, our property and our domestic concerns. You are aware that our clergy, whether with or without reason, are more suspected by the public than

are the clergy of other denominations. 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 us, 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.

1835.

Your affectionate brother in the Lord.
ROBERT N. ANDERSON!!!

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The following statements were made in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, convened in Pittsburgh in May, 1836, and they have never been contradicted:

He (Mr. Dickey) believed there were many, and great evils in the Presbyterian church; but the doctrine of slaveholding, he was fully persuaded, was the worst heresy now found in the church.

Mr. Stewart-I hope this Assembly are prepared to come out fully, and declare their sentiments that slaveholding is a most flagrant and heinous SIN. Let us not pass it by in this indirect way, while so many thousands and thousands of our fellow creatures are writhing under the lash, often inflicted too by ministers and elders of the Presbyterian church.

In THIS CHURCH, a man may take a free-born child, force it away from its parents, to whom God gave it in charge, saying, 'Bring it up for me," and sell it as a beast, or hold it in perpetual bondage, and not only escape corporeal punishment, but really be esteemed an excellent christian. Nay, even ministers of the Gospel, and doctors of divinity, may engage in this unholy traffic, and yet sustain their high and holy calling.

Elders, ministers and doctors of divinity are with both hands engaged in the practice.

This same Assembly, in 1816, struck out of the Confession of the Church the following note, adopted in 1794, and which contained the doctrine of the church at that pe

riod, on the subject of slaveholding. The note was appended to the one hundred and forty-second question of the large catechism:

1 Tim. i. 10. The law is made for MAN STEALERS. This crime among the Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital punishment; Exodus xxi. 16; and the apostle here classes them with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original import, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of the human race into slavery, or in retaining them in it. Homnium furis, qui seives vel libros abducent, retinent vendunt, vel emunt.Stealers of men are all those who bring off slaves or freemen, and KEEP, SELL, OR BUY THEM. To steal a freeman, says Grotius, is the highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal human property, but when we steal or retain men in slavery, we seize those who, in common with ourselves, are constituted by the original grant, lords of the earth. Gen. i. 28. Vide Poli synopsin

in loc.

Methodist Church, in 1780.

In the year 1780, the sentiments of the Methodist societies in this country were thus expressed upon this subject, in the minutes of the Conference for that year:

The conference acknowledges that slavery is contrary TO THE LAWS OF GOD, MAN AND NATURE, and hurtful to society; CONTRARY TO THE DICTATES OF CONSCIENCE AND PURE RELIGION; and doing what we would not that others should do unto us; and they pass their DISAPPROBATION upon all our friends who keep slaves, and they advise their freedom.

And from Lee's History of the Methodists, page 101, we learn that the M. E. Church was organized, with a number of express rules upon this subject, which stipnlated that slavery should not be continued in this church. One of them was as follows:

Every member in our society shall legally execute and record an instrument [for the purpose of setting every slave in his possession free,] within the space of two years.

Another was as follows:

Every person concerned, who will not comply with these rules, shall have liberty quietly to withdraw from our society within the twelve months following,the notice being given him as aforesaid :-otherwise the assistant shall exclude him from the society.

And again, another rule declared that:

Those who bought or sold SLAVES, or gave them away, unless on purpose to free them, should be expelled immediately.

And forty years ago the discipline of this church contained the following directions upon the subject:

The preachers and other members of our society, are requested to consider the subject of negro slavery with deep attention; and that they impart to the General Conference through the medium of the Yearly Conferences, or otherwise, any important thoughts upon the subject, that the Conference may have full light, in order to take further steps towards eradicating this ENORMOUS EVIL from that part of the church of God with which they are connected. The Annual Conferences are directed to draw up addresses for the gradual emancipation of the slaves, to the legislatures of those states in which no general laws have been passed for that purpose. These addresses shall urge, in the most respectful, but pointed manner, the necessity of a law for the gradual emancipation of slaves. Proper committees shall be appointed by the Annual Conferences, out of the most respectable of our friends, for the conducting of the business; and the presiding elders, elders, deacons, and travelling preachers, shall procure as many proper signatures as possible to the addresses, and give all the assistance in their power, in EVERY RESPECT to aid the committees, and to further this blessed undertaking. Let this be continued from year to year, till the desired end be accomplished.

General Conference of the M. E. Church in 1836.

But the above was long ago left out of the Discipline of this church, and at the last session of its highest ecclesiastical body in Cincinnati, in May, 1836, the following resolution was adopted, yeas 120, noes 14.

Resolved, by the delegates of the Annual Conferences, in the General Conference assembled, That they are decidedly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave, as it exists in the slave-holding states of this Union.

A motion was made, to amend the above resolution by putting in the words, " Although we are as much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery," the language of the Discipline, but this motion was lost.

Testimony of Rev. W. Winans, Methodist.

At this same General Conference of the M. E. Church, the Rev. Mr. Winans, a prominent, popular preacher, and a southern delegate, confessed himself there a slaveholder; solemnly asserted that "it was important to the interests of the slaves, and in view of the question of slavery, that there be Christians who were slaveholders. Christian ministers should be slaveholders, and diffused throughout the South. Yes, he repeated, there should be "members, and DEACONS, and ELDERS, and BISHOPS, too, who were slaveholders."

Mr. Winans, in relating an anecdote in Conference, to show the inexpediency of abolition efforts, as regards their influence on the prosperity of the southern church, intimated that the article in the Methodist Discipline on the subject of slavery, was, in fact, a dead letter.