THREE PERIODS OF OPINION HISTORICALLY. 363

CHAPTER X.

THE CHURCH AND SLAVERY.

THE relation of the Church of God in the United State to American slavery as an institution, and the sentiments of ecclesiastical bodies and leading divines upon its character, as entertained formerly and at the present time in different sections of the country, and the bearing of the whole upon the rebellion, are matters of vast moment. Some of these things have a connection as cause and effect, either directly and immediately or more or less remotely, which it may be interesting and instructive to

trace.

The subject naturally presents itself under three aspects: the sentiments which generally prevailed in the early period and during the greater portion of our history, both North and South; their subsequent modification at the North, and total revolution in almost the whole of the extreme South; and the general state of the public mind at present in both sections, consequent upon the rebellion. We do not propose in this chapter to go over the ground presented in each of these periods, but it is well to note the fact in this place which a full examination would verify, that a survey of the whole field properly presents the subject under this three-fold aspect.

THREE PERIODS OF OPINION HISTORICALLY.

The first of these periods, though not separated from the second so palpably that its termination can be fixed at a precise point of time, begins at a very early day or near the dawn of our history as a people, and comes down to

about the year 1835, during which the antislavery sentiment was generally prevalent. That the common opinion of the whole country in the early days of the Republic, both before and after the Revolution, and down to a comparatively recent day, was against the institution on grounds of policy and principle, is undeniable. Statesmen, divines, ecclesiastical bodies, the people at large, both North and South, with rare exceptions, regarded slavery as founded in wrong, condemned it as an institution, and desired and expected, and to some extent labored for, its removal. These are propositions so clear and certain, and so well known to all men, that it is superfluous to attempt to add any thing to make the case plainer.

It is equally true and well known, illustrating a second period of opinion, that a change occurred in the South, beginning indeed before, but becoming more marked at about the time indicated, and finally developing into the sentiment of sanctioning slavery in the highest and fullest sense, and on every ground, social, economical, political, moral and religious; and that, during this same period, while a small fraction of the Northern people, the "abolitionists proper," as they have been termed, took extreme, and, to the South, offensive ground and action, and while another portion maintained the original antislavery sentiments which prevailed from the first, stil! another and a very large portion of the Northern people, embracing many who were still not frien lly to slavery, practically abandoned the early prevalent sentiments, became intensely "conservative," and took such a course of action, illustrated by the writings and speeches of men both in Church and State, as gave the modern Southern views a direct and intended, or a quasi-practical sanction and encourage ment. These phases of sentiment, and their consequences, are susceptible of the clearest proof.

THREE PERIODS OF OPINION HISTORICALLY.

365

The third period dates from the beginning of the rebellion. In the South we see no special change among the rebels concerning slavery, except a reiteration of their former arguments in its favor more vehemently, and their determination, if possible, to make good by the sword what they have failed to do by rhetoric. But among loyal men at the South, as our arms advance, the most marked changes in sentiment appear. They denounce slavery as the cause of all their woes, and some of them outstrip Abolition itself in heaping upon it their anathemas as a wicked and monstrous institution, now that they see what use has been made of it by demagogues. This is a little remarkable for serious men, as in principle it has always been just what it now is. But men's views of moral questions are often affected by matters which really have nothing to do with their moral status and relations, or which concern them only incidentally. And this ethical feature of the case is illustrated quite as strikingly at the North. The views of the institution which many now entertain arise mainly or wholly from what the rebellion has developed, while its character as a system is unchanged. There have been substantially but two classes among the Northern people since the rebellion began. Those who in heart were antislavery, but in action conservative, are now united with all those who have opposed the system in any form, in two things: agreeing that slavery has caused the rebellion and the war; and that its just doom is to perish. They regard it an evil in a sense, and put themselves in opposition to it in a form, to which they have been brought, not by the character of the institution itself, but by what it has attempted; and looking at it now from a new stand-point, some of this class are frank to confess their former position wrong. The other phase of sentiment in the loyal States is substantially one with

that of the rebels. It is seen in Church and State. There is a class of men in the Church in the loyal States who take the same ground for slavery as do the rebels, defending it as divine, and desiring it to be perpetual. They of course, like a certain class of politicians, are arrayed against the Government. They are opposed to putting down the rebellion by force of arms, or in any other way. They are in sympathy with the rebels concerning the institution which caused the war, and they are therefore against the war and for the perpetuity of slavery. These phases of present Northern sentiment, or rather, sentiment in all the loyal States,-illustrate and confirm the declaration of the Hon. Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, in the resolutions offered by him and passed by the present House of Representatives, that "there are now but two classes in the country-patriots and traitors."

We have already said that we cannot go over the ground covered by these three periods, so as to exhibit in full the evidence of these several phases of opinion upon slavery. We shall, in this chapter, confine our examination to the first two periods, and of these we can take but a cursory view, reserving to a subsequent chapter, entirely, a notice of modern Southern opinion. Our design will lead to a summary sketch of the state of opinion from early times to the present day, simply to show, in the result, how it illustrates the working out of the rebellion. We shall look chiefly at the state of sentiment in the Church, though it will be found that this corresponds with that entertained by the people generally.

THE CHURCH LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OPINION.

It is undoubtedly true that the more intelligent classes in society-statesmen and others of the highest abilities, who are not connected formally with the Church, as well

THE CHURCH RESPONSIBLE FOR OPINION.

367

as the mass of her members,—have their opinions formed or modified, in a good degree, upon the moral and religious aspects of this and many other questions, by the views which the Church takes; by the formal action of its ecclesiastical assemblies; by the writings of its distinguished ministers, and by the discussions of the pulpit. This, to a great extent, is no doubt true of the general opposition felt toward slavery in the early period of our history; to that opposition as moderated or intensified at a later period; and to the total change in sentiment upon the character of slavery which occurred among the people of the extreme South. It will thus be seen, in so far as this agency in forming men's opinions is justly attributable to the Church, as illustrated in the views which the American people have entertained concerning slavery, that the responsibility of the Church in this regard is overwhelmingly great; and if it shall appear that the Church led the way, statesmen but following in her wake, in the change of Southern opinion upon the character of slavery (proof of which will be given in another chapter), and which culminated in the rebellion, it will furnish an additional item of the most momentous importance in fixing upon those who thus took the initiative, the tremendous burden of that tide of blood which is now rolling over the land.

We record the facts which bear upon such a result with no satisfaction; rather with mortification and sorrow. But if they are a part of the veritable history of these "perilous times," if they illustrate a most important phase in a great moral movement of the age, directed by the providence of God, though it be in violence and carnage, through the agency of his own Church, it may prove a valuable lesson to her and to all men, and stand as a beacon to warn and to guide in days yet to come.