UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

KEY TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. 205
8. That slavery, as it exists in these on itspart,refusedto receivehim back,and
United States,isnot a moral evil. (Georgia he was receivedintothe Old School Church.
Conference, Methodist.)
The Presbyterian Church
9. That,without a new revelationfrom exceeded all other churches of the United
heaven,no man is entitledto pronounce States in
are principles of very extensiveapplication, trial in the General Assembly on these
underlying the whole foundationsof religion pointswas the all-engrossing topic in the
and moralityỊf not true,theywere certainly
Presbyterian Church for some time. The
heresiesof no ordinary magnitude,
involving no ordinary results. Let us now with referenceto similaropinions.During
return to our inquiryas to the course of all this time,no notice was taken of the
the Northern church in relationto them. heresy, if such it be,that the righto buy,
CHAPTER
II.
In the first place,have any of these
opinions ever been treatedin the church as
heresies, and the teachersof them been sub-
to the censures with which it is
thought proper to visitheresy1
After a somewhat extended examination
jected
If itbe accounted for by sayingthat the
question of slavery is a question of practical
morals, and not of dogmatictheology,
we are then reminded that questions
of
morals of far lessmagnitudehave been discussed
with absorbing interest.
upon the subject, the writer has been able The Old School Presbyterian Church,in
to discover but one instance of this sort. whose communion the greaterpart of the
It may be possible that such cases have slave-holding Presbyterians of the South are
existed in other denominations, which have found,has never
escapedinquiry.
itsmembers for upholdinga system which
A clergymanin the CincinnatiN. S. Presbyterydenieslegalmarriage
to allslaves. Yet this
maintained the doctrine that slave-
its very foundation
the Cincinnati Synod. The New School
this
General Assembly,however,reversed
decisionof the presbytery, and restoredthe
standing of theclergyman Ṭhe presbytery,
has probably
Rev. Dr. L. Beecher went througha trial
its zeal for doctrinalopinions.
slaverywrong.
This church has been shaken and agitated to
10. That the separation of slavesby sale its very foundation with questions of heresy;
should be regardedas separation by death, but,exceptin this individual case, itis not
and the partiesallowed to marry again. known that any of these principles which
(ShilohBaptistAss.,and Savannah River have been assertedby Southern Presbyterian
Ass.)
bodies and individualshave ever been discussed
11. That the testimony of colored members
in its General Assemblyas matters
of the churches shall not be taken of heresy.
against white a person. (Methodist Church.) About the time that Smylie'spamphlet
In addition,it has been plainly avowed, came out, the Presbyterian Church was,
by the expressedprinciples and practice of convulsedwith the trialof the Rev. Albert
Christiansof variousdenominations, thattheyBarnes for certain alleged heresies. These
regard it rightand proper to put down all heresiesrelated to the federalheadshipof
inquiry upon this subject by Lynchlaw. Adam, the propriety of imputinghis sin to
One would have imaginedthat theseprinciples
all his posterity, and the question whether
were sufficiently extraordinary, as men have any ability of any kind to obey
coming from the professors
the religion the commandments of God.
of Christțo have excited a gooddeal of For advancing certainsentiments on these
attention in their Northern brethren. It topics, Mr. Barnes was silencedby the vote
also must be seen that,as principles, theyof the synodto which he belonged, and his
sell, and hold men for purposes of gain,
was expressly givenby God ; althoughthat
heresywas publiclypromulgated in the
same Presbyterian Church,by Mr. Smylie,
and the presbyteries with which he was connected.
feltcalled upon to discipline
church was agitated to
holdingwas justified by the Bible,and for by the discussion of a question of morals
persistence in teachingthis sentiment was which an impartial observerwould probably
suspendedby that presbytery. He appealed consider of far less magnitude,namely,
to Synod,and the decision was confirmedby whether a man might lawfully his
marry
deceased wife's sister. For the time,all
the strengthand attention of the church
seemed concentrated upon this important
subjectṬhe trialwent
from Presbytery to