UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

215
"
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
*
Minutes of the New School Assembly, p.
submitted to the Christiansof this nation, no stringent laws againstemancipation, and
and to Christians of all nations, for such an that,either in Kentucky or Virginia, the
hour and such a crisiswas this action sufficient
slave can be set free by simplygiving him a
] Did it do anything 1 Has it had pass to go across the line into the next
the leasteffectin stopping the evil? And, in state.
such a horrible time,ought not something In 1850 a proposition was presented in
to be done which willhave that effect? the Assembly,bythe Rev. H. Curtiss, of Indiana,
Let us continue the history Ịt will be
to the following effect :
"
That the enslaving
observedthat the resolution concludes by referring
of men. or holding them as property.
thesubject j udicatories. is an offence, as definedin our Book of Discipline,
The New School Presbytery Cincinnati,
ch. 1,sec. 3; and as such it callsfor
which were the professors
Lane Seminary, inquiry, correction and removal,in the manner
suspended Mr. Graham from the ministry prescribed by our rules, and should be
teaching that the Bible justified slaverytreated with :
a due regard to allthe aggravating
therebyestablishing
principle that this
or mitigating circumstances in each
was a
heresyinconsistent with Christian case." Another proposition was from an
fellowship Ṭhe Cincinnati Synod confirmed
"
elderin Pennsylvania, affirmingthat slaveholdingwas,
this decision. The General Assembly
prima facie,an offence within
reversed this decision, and restored Mr. the meaning of our Book of Discipline, and
Graham. The delegate from that presbytery
throwingupon the slave-holder the burden
told them that theywould never retrace
of showingsuch circumstances as will take
their steps, and so it proved. The away from him the guilt of the offence.'"*
CincinnatiPresbytery refused to receive him Both these propositions were rejected.
back. All honor be to them for it! Here, The following was adopted: "That slavery
at least,was a principle established, as far is fraught with many and great evils:
as the New School CincinnatiPresbytery is that theydeplore workingsof the whole
concerned, and a principle as far as the system of slavery ; that the holdingof our
General Assemblyis concerned. By this fellow-men in the conditionof slavery, except
act the General Assemblyestablishedthe in those cases where it is unavoidable from
fact that the New School Presbyterian the laws of the state țhe obligations of
Church had not decidedthe Biblicaldefence guardianship, or the demands ofhumanity,
of slavery to be a heresy.
is an offence,in the proper import of
For a man to teach that there are not that term, as used in the Book of Discipline,
three persons in the Trinity is heresy.
and should be regardedand treated in the
For a man to teach that allthese three same manner as other offences : also referring
Persons authorize a system which even Mahometan
thissubjectto sessions and presbyteries."
princes have abolished from mere
The vote stood eighty-four to sixteen,
natural shame and conscience, is no heresy! under a written protestof the minority,
The General Assemblyproceeded further who were for no action in the present
to show that it considered this doctrine no state of the country. Let the reader again
heresy, in the year 1846,by inviting the compare this action with that of 1818,and
Old School General Assemblyto the celebration
he will see that the boat is "
stilldrifting,
of the Lord's supper with them. especially as even this moderate testimony
Connected with thisAssemblywere, not onlywas not unanimous. Again,in this year of
Dr. Smylie ạnd allthose bodies who, among 1850,they avow themselves ready to meet,
them, had justified not onlyslavery in the in a spirit of fraternal kindness and Christian
abstract,but some of its worst abuses,by love,any overtures for reunion which
the word of God ; yet the New School body may be made to them by the Old School
thought these opinions no heresywhich body.
should be a bar to Christiancommunion ! In 1850 was passedthe cruel fugitive
In 1849 the General Assemblydeclared* slave law. What deeds were done then !
that there had been no information beforethe Then to our free states were transported
Assemblyto prove that the members in those scenes of fear and agony before acted
slavestates were not doingallthattheycould, only on slave soil. Churches were broken
in the providence God,to bringabout the up. TremblingChristiansfled. Husbands
possession enjoyment of liberty by the and wives were separated Ṭhen to the
enslaved. This is a remarkable declaration, poor African was fulfilledthe dread doom
if we consider that in Kentuckythere are
*
These two resolutions are given on the authorityof
Goodel's History. I do not find them in the Minutes.