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Michigan Annual Conference

Michigan Annual Conference image
Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
September
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We attended the sessions of tbis body (or a short time, and listcned to the remarks made on the question ofSlavery. We preserved a memorandum of iheir action which may be of some interest to our readers. The Conference hasabout one hundred travelling preachers,and 16,SC3 members. The net increase of mernbership i the Conference last year was 2,485. The rc6olutions of the New York and Genesee Conferences were refered to a committee. It will be recolleeted that the Genesee Conference recommend that the Discipline should be bo altered by the General Conference as not to admit a person to membership in the chu-ch, who holds slaves in any State, Territory, or District, wherc the 3avs admit of emancipalion. The committce, through their chairman, Rev. Mr. Sanrn, recommended the adoption ofcertainresolutions, the first of which expressed a non-concurrence with the Genesee Conference. The committee ossimied lvo reasons for this: The first was that the resolution of Uut Conference .vas couched in such phraseology, that if the General Conference should adopt it, there would be no rule whatever in the slaveholdiiu States that do not permit emancipation, but every metnber of the church could bold and traffic in fclaves as rmieh as he pleased. The second rcason was, that in view of the state of things in the East, this was no time to be driven into measures like this. Rev. Mr. Bauuhman wished the reasons to which they had listcned might be embodied in the report. The chairman of the committee had made a report of resolutions 'm writinff, while the reasons of the committee had been stated vefbally. He thought il desirable that the rcasons on whi ch the committee proposed to base this action should be spread before the people. Rev. Mr. Colclazrr said a vital change in the constilution of the church was proposed, and the object was lo go against such change, and the resolution ought not to be hampered by other things. MtBaughman persisted that the verbal reasons of the committee were properly a part of the report, and should be embodied as such. Rev. Mr. Pilcher called him to order. The Bishop 6aid it was important the question Bhould be taken on its merits, not hampered by any other considerations . Rev. Mr. Pilcher asked leave to say, that j there were but 60 members of the General I Conference who voted on this question, vvhüe ! there were 200 members in that Conference, i thus Jiowing that only a small portion ofthe conference were in favor of it. The rcsolu.ion, ïfadopted, would permit the buying ancl selling of sla ves by Methodists in all the States wliichdid not perrtiit èmancïpntion. The qucstion was taken on the non-concurrence with the Genesee Conference, ai:d was carried, syes 57 - nays 1. - Some one remarked that ns some of the brethren did not vote, the question was perhaps not iinderstood The Bishop said he trustcd there were not many brethren in that Conference who would riseto susluin the abohtion of the ruie prohibiting 6lavery and the slave trade. The second resolution of the committee proposed an assent to such on alteration of the discipline as would prohibí t the buying o?' selling men, woraen, and children wilh an intention of enslaving thfsm, whercas it now reads, the buying and selling, bo that it was contended a Methodist must both bny and sell to constitute nn oftènce. Thus by this struction, only the trajflic in slaves was prohi bited. At the requeot of Mr.CoixLAZRR, Ihe Bishop made some remarks on the proposed ulteration. He said this was nothirig more than a restoration of the original rule. He had several old disciplines in wliich the rule was j printed as now proposed, and how'the j tion carne, whether by a typographieal error i or otlierwise was unknown. Toe chango was j never authorized by the General Conference, j The intention of the rule was to prohibit both buying and selling. He expressed lus wish j that the testimony of this Conference against slavery end the slave trade might go down to the latest posterily. The resolution for concurring in the alteration was adopted - ayes 6J - noes none. The third resolution requesled the General i Conference to adopt Wesleys original rule, prohibiting drunkness, and the selling, buying, und drinking ardeut spirits except in cases of extreme necessity. This was adopled unanitnously. Rev. Mr. IIarrison of Detroit, introducecí i two resululions, signed by himself, J. A. Baughman, J. Scotford, and others, affectionately requesting the General Conference to rescind the resolution cjtting oiVthe estimony of co'.ored church members in ecclesiaslical trioljs in those States where the saine pereons ! were not allovved to tesiify h courts of justice; and also instructing the Michigan delegates to use endeavors to secure this acüon from the General Conference. He remarked that this action, jn his opinión, was not j mature. But in rcference to this matter he J rt-ished it to be understood there was nor. x drop of modern abolition blood in liim. He ivas born and educated where there was no ;uch milk to suck, and since he had become icquainted with ab'plitionists more intímate!}', e had failed to become a convert to their loctrines. He was in favor of the rc?cinding f lliat action of the General Conference. - Memorials to this rfiect h;id been ibrwardcd rom Detroit and Ypsilanti, but he had prefered to bring the subject before the Conference n the shape of these resolutions.Bishop Soole then nrose,and made remarks at considerable length. He eaid Ihis Conference hos a right to petilion the Genera] Conference on nny subject, if il be done ín respectful language. These resoluüons were in a proper form, and he had no disposition tu oppose tliem. But he had no doubt ihat many persons, bolh ministers and members, have misapprehended the action of the General Confeiencc. He had asked many who had conversed wilh him on the subject, if they dis- tinctly líiiew what the final action of the Conference was. They rcferrcd him to. the resolution introduced by J. A. Few, of Georgia, culting oflfcolored testimony. But this was not the final action of the General Conference. Brcthren ought to understand what the final action was before they could vote understandiugly,and it might be tliat members with a full knowledge of all the facts, wouid stand up on this Hoor and still persist in the propriety of petiiioning the General Conference,but he was understood to intímate prelty strongly that few or none such could he found. He duelt much uu this final action of the Asseinbly, repeating tlie words a very great number of times, l'erhaps if he were to read that final action, brethren would still remain of the same opinión. He held tljat final action in his hand, but hc had no thsposition to read it,. unless brethren wished to hear it. Several members expressed 6iich a wish . Bishop Soule said that before he road it he would say, fhhtthe resolutions lic was about to read were the last action of Conference upon the matter, and were introduced by himeelf. They were nearly unanimously adopted, and were sustained by almost all the Southern members. He had been represenied fur and wide as a pro-slavery man - a pro slavery man. Were it possible for those v!io circulaied those slanders to insult him, such an assertion wonld do it; but they could not insult him. His sentiments liad been long known. He had liever sought any concealment. He had long stood the nncquivocal enemy of human 'blavery, and it had caused him to tremble for his country; and he would long since have given every cent of his property, if he could thereby have freed his country from this appalling evil. It was true he could not possibly act wi'h many of those who called themselves abolitionists, but it was not because he was pro-slavery. Here in Michigan, where our eoil had never benn cursed by the footsteps of a elave, we' could not comprehend all the difficulties which eniron those with whom it lias existed for centuries, and become incorporated into all the trnnsactions of society. We may epeculateíibout it nt a distance, but to know t, vc musí sce it. He had been intímate witli slavery for twenty yeais,nnd he knew how to sympathize with the slave. He impressed on the brethren, with much earnestness, the fact tiiat legislutinginour churches cannot remove slavcry, fiom the country: and it oughl to be known what from long and extensivo observation he believed to be truc, that ecclesiasticnl legislation has ever tended to make the condition of the slave worse instead of better. Bishop Souiii then read three resolutions adoptad by the General Conference, 'the first of wiiuíh related to tlie appeal of Silas Comfort, but its precise import escaped us. Tlie second deolared substantially, that in adoptingj. A. Few's resolution, Conference did not inlend to exelude eolored tcstlmony in any place where it had been customary to reccive it, wlien the the nutliorities of the church should deern its admission expedient. The third resolulion exprossed much confidence in the pinty and virtue of the eolored memburs. Rcv. Mr. Harrisox said that in Dr. Bang's History, he had found the faets narrated as here stated by Bishop Soule. This final aclion was in fact a nullification of the preceding nctión of the Conference, which was considered objeetionable. But ns as this had not been so undetstood, he wished tiiat the whole proceedings might be formally rescinded at once, and the matter placed on its original basis. - Me was not, however, afraid of Abolitionism. These little storms were lo beexpected, but would not be attended with any senous damage. fie was hnppy that tlie retnarks of Bishop Soule had been made in elucidaiion of this subject; and especially that they had boen made in tliis community, where a knou-lcdfc of them would be generally circulated in a few hou is. The question was then taken upon the re5olutions,and they were carried bya small inajority ,many members not voting. Aft her the business of the Conference had been completed, ihe Bishop addressed the members at considerable lei:gth. He admonished them that in cvery association there was a lendency to decline, which could be countcrticted only by vigoróos exertion on the part 'of its members. He warncd them of ihe danger of innovations, and insisted on the neeessily of preserving the uncient landmarks. He feared a gradual deparüire from the discipline more than any thing cle. lie referred to innovations in public worship, by which the reading ot the Scriptnres and the Lovd's prayer were on mnny occasions excluded, and deprecated the modern plan of praising God only through a few selected, and sometimes hirtd singers. He spoke of the hardships and inennveniencies which a Methodist preacher must endure from the very nature of his business. But from long experiencc he could say that the adventitious distinctions of 2ife, which are usually prircd so hiphly, nw:lc but little, ven hltle diflerence in the sum of happiness. The principie scurce of happiness was in the mintl. During liis life, he had been expused to great ! and sometimes siidden changos in his e.xternal condition. He had sometimes camped all night alone in the snow, and sometimes slnred the bed and table, or rather the lodging place and food, of the Indian in his wigwam; ind then been translated to dwellings, wheie Ihe table was sumptuously spread, and lic lodged on beds of down, under dantask curtain?. Bat tiiese circumstances made little [liffercnce in his happiness; and so faras that object was concerned, he would scarely turn over his hand for the privilege of a choicu between these two situations. He thought that in our ccclesiastical as well as civil bodics, there was a strong lendency to excessive legislation. This tenc'ency was sustamed by tlie restless and unscttlcd state of society. About once in twenty years, it seemed as though men either forgot t!ie relation of cause and efibct, or fancicd that their wisdom was so much superior to that of iheir fathere, that they could safely steer through difficulties which resulted from the very nature of human affairs, and to which their ancestors had invariably been compellcd to vield.The Bishop presided through the deliberations of the Conlerencü with efficiency, although laboring under poorhealth. He is a good looking: man, about sixty four years of uge, am? has been in the service of the church forty-five years. His appearance indicates that tlie inririnities of age are stealing uoou him. fC I" a discussiun in the Brit:sh House of Commons on a bilí to curry into efièct the Ashburton trcaty, Lord Aberdeen said: "It was snpposed that ur.der the b:ll fngigilve slaves would be given up, b'it therc was no intention of introduciny any sucli provission. To escape fi om slavery was no crime; on hecontrary, the condition of' a sla ve endeavoring to encape was to be rogarded with m uc li sympailiy. He knew it had been said that the fugitive slave was guilty of robbery in carrying off the cloUies he had on, whicli were the property of one who claimed to be an owncr of the slave, but to take such clothos was Jio Iheft, neither was it a theft on the part of the fujritive slave to take away any that would aid him in his tíight, as for example, a horee or a boat." (np The Whigs have left off the names of Giddings nnd Slade for Congressiona! candidates,and others are nominated in their places. This showa how much "more favorable'1 tbey are! 05a Accounts from England represent that there will probably be a riso in the price of ! wheat, owing to the omount on hand being smali, the erop late, and somewhat deficiënt,

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News