The Ecclesiastical Disruption of 1861 [pp. 321-351]

~44 T~~ ECC~t~TASTICAL DISRUPTION OF iS6i. [April,
God. It imbeds it in the moral law: "God sanctions it in the
first table of the decalogue." It shelters it under the Mosaic
code: " Moses treats it as an institution to be reaulated, not
abolished; legitimated, and not condemned." It protects it
from the touch of censure, by the autl~ority of Christ and the
apostles: "NVe find it' again, in the churches founded by the
apostles, under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost."
This Address claims all this for slavery as a system, and that
system the negro slavery of the South. Moreover, it not only
defends but commends the system as worthily and, under the
circumstances, necessarily perpetual: "NVe can not forbear to
say that the general operation of the system is kindly and
benevolent; it is a real and effective discipline; and without
it, we a?e profoundly persuaded that the African race in the
midst of us can never be elevated in the scale of being. As
long as that race, in its comparative degradation, co-exists
side by side with the white, bondage is its normal condition."
It would seem at first sight to be a very plain proposition, to
the common mind, that whatever is clearly taught in the Word
of God is a subject for the pulpit to teach, and for church courts
to handle. But this profound Address involves itself in a triple
contradiction. First, it declares that there is one subject which
pervades the entire Scriptures, older than the giving of the law,
made a precept of the law, running all through the New Testament; and yet this one subject "lie~ beyond the province of
the church." Second, the wnter of this Address~ and all the
ministers of the General Assembly that unanimously adopted
it, in direct violation of its own declarations, preach upon this
prohibited subject as a part of God's revelation to mankind.
Third, the Address itself, in direct contradiction of its main
position, shows that it is the most determined "friend of slavery," and that the peculiar system of the South should be
made perpetual, as "bondage is the normal condition" of the
race involved in that system. In perfect accord with this last
sentiment, the Southern Assembly, of iS65, exhibits its strong
attachment to the then defunct institution, laments its overthrow, and the giving of freedom to millions, in this fervid tone:
Our church may hold lip its hands before heaven and earth,
washed of the tremendous responsibility involved in this change
in the condition of nearly four million bond servants, and for
which it has hitherto been conceded they were unprepared."