UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

206 KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
Synod,and from
: and ended with deposing a
Synodto General Assembly
very respectable
minister for this crime.
they are
Rev. Robert P. Breckenridge, D.D., a
member of the Old School Assembly,has
'slave-man is the father of any childrenin
and no slave-childisthe childof
particular,
parent in particular."
any
Now, had thischurch consideredthe fact reason of this tolerance of an admitted sin,
that three million men and women were, by the anti-slavery testimony has every year
the laws of the land,obliged to livein this grown weaker and weaker. If we look over
manner, as of equallyserious consequence, the history denominations, we shall
it isevident, ingenuity, argument,
vehemence,Biblicalresearch, and untiring language with relationto slavery Ṭhis is
zeal,which theybestowed on Mr. McQueen's
the case with the Methodist and
particularly
trialțhat theycould have made a
very Presbyterian bodies,and for that reason we
strongcase with regardto thisalso. selectthesetwo as examplesṬhe Methodist
The history of the united action of denominations
Societyespecially, as organizedby John
which included churches both Wesley, was an anti-slavery society, and the
in the slaveand free states is a melancholy Book of Discipline contained the most positive
exemplification, to a reflecting mind,of that statutes againstslave-holding. The
gradualdeteriorationof the moral sense history of the successiveresolutionsof the
which resultsfrom admittingany compromise,
conferenceof this church is very striking.
however slight, with an acknowledged In 1780,before the church was regularly
sin. The best minds in the world cannot organized States, theyresolved
bear such a familiarity without injury to the as follows:
moral sense. The factsof the slavesystem
and of the slave laws,when presented The conference acknowledges that slaveryis
disinterestedjudges in contrary
Europe,have excited
God, man and nature,
and hurtful to society; contrary to the dictatesof
a universaloutburstof horror ; yet, in assemblies
conscience and true religion ; and doingwhat we
composedof the wisest and best clergymen
would not others should do unto us.
of America,these thingshave been
discussedfrom year to year, and yetbrought
In 1784,when the church was fullyorganized,
beingof sufficiently
authorize separation.
Nobodywilldoubt that, had the Southern
members taken such a stand agains the
divinity of our Lord,the divisionwould
have been immediate and unanimous;but
yet the Southern members do maintain the
righ to buy and sell,lease,hire and mortgage,
multitudesof men and women, whom,
with the same breath,theydeclared to be
members of theirchurches and true Christians.
The Bible declaresof all such that
temples of the Holy Ghost ; that
theyare members of Christ'sbody, of his
fleshand bones. Is not the doctrinethat
thus describedthe state of the slave population
men
may lawfullysell the members of
"
as to theirmarriage relations : The Christ,his body,his fleshand bones,for
system of slavery denies to a Avholeclassof purposes of gain,as really a heresyas the
human beingsthe sacredness of marriagedenial of the divinity of Christ ; and is it
and of home,compelling them to livein a not a dishonorto Him who is over all,God
state of concubinage ; for in the eye of the blessed forever, to tolerate this dreadful
law no colored slave-man isthe husband of opinion, with its more dreadful consequences,
any wife in particular, nor
any slave-woman while the smallest heresiesconcerning the
the wife of any husband in particular ; no imputation of Adam's sin are pursued with
eager vehemence? If the historyof the
action of all the bodies thus united can be
traced downwards,we shall find that,by
see that at firsttheyused very stringent
adoptedprescribing the
times at which members who were already
rules were
no resultsthathave,in the slightest degree,
lessened the evil. The reason is this. A
slave-holdershould emancipate
portionof the members of these bodies had
theirslaves.
These rules were
pledgedthemselves to sustain the system,
and peremptorily
refuseand put down all Every person concerned,who will not comply
with these rules,shall have
discussionof it ; and the other part of libertyquietlyto
the
withdraw from our societywithin the twelve
bodydid not consider this stand so taken as months following the notice beinggivenhim, as
vital consequence
to aforesaid ; otherwise the assistants shall exclude
him from the society.
succeededbythe following :
No person holdingslaves shall in future be
admitted into society, or to the Lord's Supper,
tillhe previously complywith these rules concerning
slavery.
Those who buy,sell,or give[slaves] away,
unless on
purpose to free them,shall be expelled
immediately.
In 1801 :
"We declare that we are more than ever con-