the other, as to all the privileges and benefits of the union, nor even to refrain from impeachment and annoyance, united efforts between such parties, even in the sacred cause of Christian benevolence, cease to be agreeable, useful, or proper.' In these sentiments we entirely coincide. As a Board, we have the highest consciousness, that it has always been our aim to act in accordance therewith. We have never called in question your social equality as to all the privileges and benefits of the Foreign Missionary Union. Nor have we ever employed our official influence in impeaching or annoying you. Should we ever do this, 'our united efforts,' as you justly say, would 'cease to be agreeable, useful, or proper.' In your second Resolution, you 'demand the distinct and explicit avowal, that slaveholders are eligible and entitled to all the privileges and immunities of their several unions, and especially to receive any agency, mission, or other appointment, which may fall within the scope of their operations and duties.' "We need not say, that slaveholders, as well as non-slaveholders, are unquestionably entitled to all the privileges and immunities which the Constitution of the Baptist General Convention permits, and grants to its members. We would not deprive either of any of the immunities of the mutual contract. In regard, however, to any agency, mission, or other appointment, no slaveholder or non-slaveholder, however large his subscriptions to foreign missions, or those of the church with which he is connected, is on that account entitled to be appointed to an agency or a mission. The appointing power, for wise and good reasons, has been confided to the 'Acting Board,' they holding themselves accountable to the Convention for the discreet and faithful discharge of this trust. Should you say, 'the above remarks are not sufficiently explicit; we wish distinctly to know, whether the Board would or would not appoint a slaveholder as a missionary;'-before directly replying, we would say, that in the thirty years in which the Board has existed, no slaveholder, to our knowledge, has applied to be a missionary. And, as we send out no domestics or servants, such an event as a missionary taking slaves with him, were it morally right, could not, in accordance with all our past arrangements or present plans, possibly occur. If, however, any one should offer himself as a missionary, having slaves, and should insist on retaining them as his property, we could not appoint him. One thing is certain, we can never be a party to any arrangement which would imply approbation of slavery. In your third Resolution you say, that, 'whenever the competency or fitness of an individual to receive an appointment is under discussion, if any question arises affecting his morals, or his standing in fellowship as a Christian, such question should not be disposed of to the grief of the party without ultimate appeal to the particular church of which such an individual is a member as being the only body on earth authorized by the scriptures, or competent, to consider and decide this class of cases.' In regard to our Board, there is no point on which we are more unanimously agreed, than that of the independence of churches. We disclaim all and every pretention to interfere with the discipline of any church. We disfellowhip no one. Nevtheless, were a person to offer himself as a candidate for missionary service, although commended by his church as in good standing, we should feel it our duty to open our eyes on any facts to the disadvantage of his moral and religious character, which might come under our observation. And while we should not feel that it was our province to excommunicate, or discipline a candidate of doubtful character, yet we should be unworthy of our trust, if we did not, although he were a member of a church, reject his application. It is for the Board to determine on the prudential, moral, religious, and theological fitness of each one who offers himself as a missionary; it is for the church of which such an one is a member, to decide whether he be a fit person to belong to their body. The other Resolutions which were passed in your recent Convention, regard more your own action than ours. They, therefore, call for no remarks from us. We should have been gratified, in the present impoverished and embarrassed state of our treasury, if the brethren in Alabama, confiding in the integrity and discretion of the Acting Board, could unhesitatingly have transmitted to us their funds. We have sent out missionaries, and enlarged our operations, in the expectation that, so long as we acted in conformity with the rules and spirit under which we were appointed, we should be sustained both by the East and the West, the North and the South. If in this just expectation we are to be disappointed, we shall experience unutterable regret. We have, with all frankness, but with entire kindness and respect, defined our position. If our brethren in Alabama, with this exposition of our principles and feelings, can cooperate with us, we shall be happy to receive their aid. If they cannot, painful to us as will be their withdrawal, yet we shall submit to it, as neither sought nor caused by us. There are sentiments avowed in this communication, which, although held temperately and kindly, and with all due esteem and Christian regard for the brethren addressed, are, nevertheless, dearer to us than any pecuniary aid whatever. We remain yours truly, Baron Stow, Rec. Sec. In behalf of the Board, DANIEL SHARP, President. Rev. Jesse Hartwell, President of Alabama Baptist State Convention." V. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH: ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION PREAMBLE WHEREAS, the friends of a fair and equal representation in the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church, when they have insisted on the necessity of a modification in the polity of the Church, which should recognize the fundamental principle, the only safeguard to the liberties of the people, and when they have submitted respectful petitions and memorials to the General Conference, praying for the admission of the principle, have been met in a manner which has encouraged and prepared the friends of absolute power, to request and urge them to withdraw from the fellowship of the Church, and to threaten them with excommunication if they should refuse to comply:— And WHEREAS, many of our highly esteemed and useful members in the Church, by an unjustifiable violence, have been excluded from the fellowship of their brethren, and have been thereby compelled for the time being, to form themselves into religious fraternities, for the purposes of christian fellowship. . . . And WHEREAS, the late decisions of the Baltimore and the Ohio Annual Conferences, as also the ultimate proceedings and report of the General Conference, in relation to this subject, have placed every friend of representation in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in such a situation that their opponents have it completely in their power to compel them to renounce their principles, or be excluded from the fellowship of their brethren: And WHEREAS, the ministers favourable to the principles of representation, in sundry places, are no longer admitted to ordination, or to occupy the pulpits in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the great greivance of many:- . . . Therefore, we, the delegates of the friends of a REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT in the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected and appointed by them to meet in convention in the city of Baltimore, in November 1828, . . . do therefore adopt the following Articles of Association for the government of such Societies as shall agree thereto, under the appellation of ASSOCIATED METHODISt Churches. ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION To be observed until the next Convention Article I. The articles of religion, general rules, means of grace, moral discipline, rites and ceremonies of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are hereby declared to be the rules of faith and practice for those societies which may unite in this Association; and the mode of administering the same is hereby adopted, except when contravened by some other article. Article II. Each society, or Church, shall have the sole power to admit serious persons into full membership, and to regulate its own temporal concerns, in accordance with these articles. The stewards to be elected by the male members, over the age of twenty-one years, and the leaders by the respective classes. Article III. The right of property is declared to be vested in the respective societies, or Churches, who shall elect trustees for the purpose of holding the same for their benefit. Article IV. The trial of members shall be conducted according to the 7th section, 2d chapter of the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Provided, however, that nothing therein contained shall be so construed as to deprive an accused member of the right to challenge; and provided further, that the accused shall have a right to appeal from the decision of the committee, to the next Quarterly Conference; and no member of that conference who shall have set on any case as a committee man, shall be permitted to vote on the appeal. Article V. There shall be a Quarterly Conference in each station and circuit, composed of all the ordained and licensed preachers and exhorters, belonging thereto, and of all the stewards and leaders. The preacher in charge shall be the president of the conference. The conference shall elect its own secretary. The business of the Quarterly Conference shall be, first, to inquire into the official and religious character of all its members; Secondly, to license exhorters and suitable persons to preach the Gospel, and to recommend to the Annual Conference, preachers for ordination, or to travel. They shall also hear and decide upon appeals from committees. Article VI. There shall be in each State, as soon as may be, one, or not exceeding two, Annual Conferences, to be composed of all the ordained ministers, and an equal number of lay delegates; but until such time, conferences may be formed when it shall be most convenient. The lay delegates to the Annual Conferences shall be chosen by the licensed preachers, and lay male members over the age of twenty-one years, at the quarterly meetings next preceding the sitting of the Annual Conferences. Article VII. Each Annual Conference shall elect a president and secretary. Article VIII. Each Annual Conference shall provide the mode of stationing its own preachers. Article IX. It shall be the duty of the presidents of the Annual Conferences, to travel through their respective bounds, to fill vacancies, and to make such changes in the circuits, or stations, as may be deemed absolutely necessary. The president shall have the right of the pulpit in whatever place he may be, but shall not supercede the prerogatives of the minister in charge. Article X. Each Annual Conference shall have power to make such rules and regulations for its own government, and the government of the stations and circuits within its bounds, as may be necessary for the promotion of the spiritual interests of the community; Provided, nevertheless, that no rule shall be binding on the preachers or people, which shall contravene the provisions of these articles. Article XI. Each Annual Conference shall have power to receive into the itinerancy, and to ordain, such preachers as may be recommended to that body by the Quarterly Conference. The president, assisted by two or more elders, shall perform the ordination. . . Text-Williams: History of the Methodist Protestant Church, pp. 282-285. VI. METHODIST BISHOPS AND ABOLITION AGITATION Address of Bishops Hedding and Emory To the Ministers and Preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, within the Ner England and New Hampshire Annual Conferences, September 10, 1835 DEAR BRETHREN:-Grace to you, and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have marked with deep solicitude the painful excitement which, in some parts of your section of our charge, has been producing disturbance on the subject of the immediate abolishment of slavery in the slaveholding states. We are happy, at the same time, to be able to say, that having now, between us, attended the northern and eastern conferences, as far as the Troy, inclusive, we have found no such excitement, of any moment, within any of them except yours; and even within yours we know that a large and highly-respectable portion of yourselves, with, we are inclined to think, a majority of our members and friends, greatly disapprove and deplore the existing agitations on this question. That a large majority of our preachers and people within those of the non-slaveholding States generally, to which our recent visitations, have extended, are decidedly opposed to the modern measures of immediate abolitionists we are well assured; and believing, as we do, that these measures have already been productive of pernicious results, and tend to the production of others yet more disastrous, both in the Church and in the social and political relations of the country, we deem it our duty to address to you a pastoral letter on the subject. Enjoying as we do, in common with all our fellow-citizens, the protection of the Constitution of the United States, and the inestimable blessings resulting from the general union of the states under its happy auspices, are we not bound, in conscience and honor, while we accept the benefit on one hand, to maintain on the other, in good faith, that fundamental principle of the original compact of union by which each state reserves to itself, and has guaranteed to it by all the rest, the exclusive control of its internal and domestic affairs; and for which, consequently, the citizens of other states are no more responsible than for the domestic regulations under any foreign government? Can we, indeed, taking human nature and the established laws of intercourse between states and nations as they are, reasonably suppose that the peace of the country, or even of the world, can be preserved on any other principle? That a deep political game is involved in the present agitation of this question, there are evidences too strong to be resisted. Will you take it amiss, then, if we warn you against being drawn into that vortex, or suffering yourselves to be made the instruments of drawing others in? The question of slavery, itself, it is not our purpose here to discuss; nor is there any occasion for it. The sentiment of our Church on this subject is well known. Our object is rather to confine ourselves to the practical considerations which press upon us in the present crisis, and which, we presume, can not fail to arrest the attention of the humane, the pious, and the reflecting of all parties. . . . There is one other important practical bearing of the question which greatly affects us, and on which humanity itself demands of you the most serious reflection. We allude to the interests of the colored population themselves, both bond and free. That many well-meaning persons are totally misled on this point, we are entirely confident. One of us has traveled through every slaveholding state in the Union, except one; and the other through nearly all. We have conversed freely and extensively with intelligent men of all parties; and have narrowly observed the progress and bearings of the modern agitations on this subject; and on a review of the whole, we are compelled to express our deliberate conviction that nothing has ever occurred so seriously tending to obstruct and retard, if not absolutely to defeat the cause of emancipation itself; to bring upon the slaves increased rigor of treatment and privation of privileges; to overwhelm the multitudes of free colored people in the slaveholding states with persecution, and banishment; to involve the friends of gradual emancipation within those states in injurious and dangerous suspicions; and, above all, to embarrass all our efforts, as well as by the regular ministry as by missionary means, to gain access to and to promote the salvation of both the slaveholders and their slaves. That the New Testament Scriptures, or the preaching or practice of our Lord or his apostles, were ever intended to justify the condition of slavery, we do not believe. Yet are we as well satisfied that the present course of immediate abolitionists is equally foreign from the practical examples furnished us by those high and sacred authorities, and in circumstances less difficult than ours. We entreat, therefore, that none of you will take part in such measures, or in any others calculated to inflame the public mind with angry passion, and to stir up civil or ecclesiastical strife and disunion, in violation of our solemn vows. And if any will persist in so doing, whether from the pulpit or otherwise, we earnestly recommend to our members and friends every-where, by all lawful and Christian means, to discountenance them in such a course. The presiding elders, especially, we earnestly exhort to discountenance such practices, both by their counsel and example. And if any, of whatever class, go beyond their own bounds, or leave their proper appointments, whether under the pretext of agencies or otherwise, to agitate other societies or communities on this subject, we advise the preachers, the trustees, and the official and other members to manifest their disapprobation, and to refuse the use of their pulpits and houses for such purposes. Let us leave off contention before it be meddled with, |