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The Effects Of A Divine Institution

The Effects Of A Divine Institution image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
June
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Rev. Alexander McCoine, a preacher of the Methodist Protestant church, and oneofthe rformers who took the ground of equal rights ágainet the ecclesiastical tyranny of the Methodist Episcopal church, made a speech at the late session of the General Conference of his . church inBaltimore, in support of the divinity of slnvery. Slavery he defired to be, holding men as property; and there were three ways in which man might become property - Con(ebst, cupiDiTT, crime. All tliese ways of reducing men to property God had sanctioned. In support of this, he cited the 2Oth and 2Ist chapters of Exodus - and declared that "the man servant and maid servant aro eqnally property with the ox and the ass." Aboiiiionute were breuking the ten commandments - '"they coveted our men-servants and maid-servants - they wunled to take from ua our property." And for the sake of rnaintaining christian fellnvvship with men thus guilty of libelling God, the corservative anti-slavery members of the General Conference, were willing to vote that slavery was not "in all caees a sin aainst God." Mr. McCaine, beit understod, is one of the first men in the church. Let i is see the operation of this divine system upon the rights of freemen. During ihe disenssions in the conference, this same man undertook to read one of the memorials from the North on the subject of slavery. Judge Hopper immediately "rose and eaid, he feit it his dnty to inf brm Bro. McCaine, thal the luws of Maryland would not permit thereading of that paper undrthe penalty _ of twelve years' vnprisonment in the penüentiary.Mr. McCaine then took the journals of the New York and New Jersey conferences, begging permission to read f'rom tliem cxtracts on the subject ofslavery. Jude Hopper whispered in his ear - &i Mr. McCaine reniarked, "I am advised by the brother noc to read it, if it is of the character of the memorial, for I shall certaiuly endanger iny person in so doing; and I love liberty too well to be put in the stone jup!" This divine system, then, Mr. McCaine, gags freemen, as well as wliips slaves - does it'i God is the author of gas, as well as thumb-screw6, is He? Such is the degrading vassalage to which Mr. McCaine's t ivineinstitution has reduced

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News