belonging to their communion, to give those persons who are at present held in servitude such good education as to prepare them for the better enjoyment of freedom. *** [They also "recommend that masters" would give their slaves] a peculium, or grant them sufficient time and sufficient means of procuring their own liberty at a moderate rate, that thereby they may be brought into society with those habits of industry that may render them useful citizens; and, finally, they recommend it to all their people to use the most prudent measures, consistent with the interest and the state of civil society, in the counties where they live, to procure eventually the final abolition of slavery in America.

In 1793, "this decision was republished" as the act and judgment of the General Assembly-that body having been formed in 1787..

POLITICS AND RELIGION.-A PROPHET.

The Constitution of the United States was submitted to the people of the several States for ratification in 1787. Its relations to slavery were canvassed by the people of all classes, as they had been in the National and were in the respective State conventions. We give a single testimony, among many, showing the views of prominent divines.

Rev. Dr. Hopkins, of Newport, Rhode Island, wrote to Rev. Dr. Hart, of Preston, Connecticut, on the subject, under date of January 29, 1788, as follows:

The new Constitution, you observe, guarantees this trade (the slavetrade) for twenty years. I fear, if it be adopted, this will prove an Achan in our camp. How does it appear in the sight of Heaven and of all good men, well informed, that these States, who have been fighting for liberty, and consider themselves as the highest and most noble example of zeal for it, cannot agree in any political Constitution, unless it indulge and authorize them to enslave their fellow-men! I think if this Constitution be not adopted as it is, without any alteration, we shall have none, and shall be in a state of anarchy, and probably of civil war. Therefore, I wish to have it adopted; but still, as I said, I fear. And perhaps civil war will not be avoided, if it be adopted.

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Verily, among the "giants in the earth in those days," there were some prophets. Dr. Hopkins, like a true seer, "smelleth the battle afar off.” But he prophesied further. The historian cannot more truly depict the scenes which these latter days have witnessed in Congress, than they are graphically drawn by that sagacious divine of nearly a hundred years ago:

Ah! these unclean spirits, like frogs,-they, like the Furies of the poets, are spreading discord, and exciting men to contention and war, wherever they go; and they can spoil the best Constitution that can be formed. When Congress shall be formed on the new plan, these frogs will be there; for they go forth to the kings of the earth, in the first place. They will turn the members of that august body into devils, so far as they are permitted to influence them.

He seems to have foreseen also, or at least feared, what would come upon the Church as well as upon the State; though here, the reality has far exceeded, in these "last times," the apprehensions expressed: "I suppose that even good Christians are not out of the reach of influence from these frogs. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments."

This is the same Dr. Hopkins, who, in conjunction with Rev. Dr. Stiles, made "a representation," in 1774, to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, which led to the "first notice of the subject, the slavery question," taken by the Presbyterian Church in the United States in her highest court. The Minutes say: "The representation and request relative to sending negro missionaries to Africa, was taken into consideration, in consequence of which the subject of negro slavery came to be considered."

ACTION UPON A CASE SUBMITTED.

In 1795, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church took further action upon an overture from the

Presbytery of Transylvania, in Kentucky. The case was that of "a serious and conscientious person," who viewed "the slavery of the negroes as a moral evil, highly offensive to God, and injurious to the interests of the Gospel," and who lived among those "who concurred with him in sentiment upon general principles, yet for particular reasons held slaves, and tolerated the practice in others;" and he wished to know whether he should "hold Christian communion with the latter."

The Assembly exhorted the man, and others similarly situated, to "live in charity and peace according to the doctrine and practice of the Apostles," and adds: “At the same time, the General Assembly assure all the Churches under their care, that they view with the deepest concern any vestiges of slavery which may exist in our country, and refer the Churches to the records of the General Assembly, published at different times," as given above.

The Assembly also address "a letter to the Presbytery on the subject of the above overture," in which they exhort to peace, and say that "the commissioners from the Presbytery of Transylvania are furnished with attested copies" of the Assembly's "decisions, to be read by the Presbytery when it shall appear to them proper ;" and also, that "the General Assembly have taken every step which they deemed expedient or wise, to encourage emancipation, and to render the state of those who are in slavery as mild and tolerable as possible."

ANOTHER CASE ACTED UPON.

In 1815, the Assembly adopted another paper, founded upon "the petition of some elders who entertained conscientious scruples on the subject of holding slaves," and upon another petition from "the Synod of Ohio concerning the

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buying and selling of slaves." The paper of the Assembly contains these sentences:

The General Assembly have repeatedly declared their cordial approbation of those principles of civil liberty which appear to be recognized by the Federal and State Governments in these United States. They have expressed their regret that the slavery of the Africans, and of their descendants, still continues in so many places, and even among those within the pale of the Church, and have urged the Presbyteries under their care to adopt such measures as will secure at least to the rising generation of slaves, within the bounds of the Church, a religious education, that they may be prepared for the exercise and enjoyment of kiberty, when God in His providence may open a door for their emancipation.

The Assembly then refer the petitioners to the previous action in 1787, 1793, and 1795.

THE MOST ELABORATE TESTIMONY.-1818.

The paper adopted by the General Assembly of 1818 is more frequently referred to and perhaps more generally known than any other, as containing a more full and pointed condemnation of the system than had been previously enacted. It was introduced by the presentation of the following resolution: "Resolved, That a person who shall sell as a slave, a member of the Church, who shall be at the time in good standing in the Church and unwilling to be sold, acts inconsistently with the spirit of Christianity, and ought to be debarred from the communion of the Church." The record then proceeds: "After considerable discussion, the subject was committed to Dr. Green, Dr. Baxter, and Mr. Burgess, to prepare a report to be adopted by the Assembly, embracing the object of the above resolution, and also expressing the opinion of the Assembly in general as to slavery." This committee made a report which the record says "was unanimously adopted." The report is a long document, and although

well known, we here give several paragraphs, to show the views of the Assembly upon the character of slavery as a system. The report begins as follows:

We consider the voluntary enslaving of one portion of the humar race by another as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred righ. of human nature; and as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the Gospel of Christ, which enjoin that "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the Gospel; whether they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. Such are some of the consequences of slavery-consequences not imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very exist

ence.

The evils to which the slave is always exposed, often take place in fact, and in their very worst degree and form; and where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say in many instances, through the influence of the principles of humanity and religion on the mind of masters, they do not,-still the slave is deprived of his natural right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships and injuries which inhumanity and avarice may suggest.

From this view of the consequences resulting from the practice into which Christian people have most inconsistently fallen, of enslaving a portion of their brethren of mankind,-for "God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth,"-it is manifestly the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the inconsistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity and religion, has been demonstrated, and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, and unwearied endeavors, to correct the errors of former times, and as speedily as possible to efface this blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christendom, and if possible throughout the world.