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Manstealing

Manstealing image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
June
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Some very gnod pcople dislike to licar the slavchtiltling Ministers and rnemberd of the Prcsbyterian Cluircli denominated Alanstealers" They think it harsh and uncharitablo to cnll a Christian brother by snch a name. Dut, t can eosüy be thown tliat every elnveholdcr lias been defuted to bc a Muustealcr by the collccted wisdom of thnt very chtirch. The fbllowing extract Oom tho Cincinnati Herald explains the f acts; "We hnvc now before ue, 'the consti-ution of the Preabjtfitah clnirch in tr.e United States of America, eontnininr tho Confession of Faitli, the Cotchisn, tlie Government and Discipline and the Direcloiy for tiie worehip of God." On i's tille jui ge is the following - 'Rutified nnil ndopted by the Synod of New York ond l'hilndelnhin, Mny 16, 1783, nnd contined by adjouinment lili the L3th of the .snine ninnlh.' ín 1704, the General Apscmb'y nppointed a cotnmittee to prepare notes lo this constiuilion and catecl.'ism, nnd from tliat time till l.'ilG, a pcriod of 22 yen rs, this bonk with these noies, was nmlorscd by tlio Presby.ciiai) chiirch of the United States of America, as oontaining jts Doctrines, Government and Discipline. On page 243 of this worlc, we Rud the folIrtwing: auHwcr to the question, lWhat are the siii3 forbidJen in the eighlh commandmnü T 'The eins forbidden in the eight cnmmandmen, bceide the nc lect of the dutjes requirod, are, theft, (3) robbery (a) manstenling (b) Stc. Uc. The letlcr (b) refers to a note, which runs as Follow: Yb) l Tim. i. 10. (The law ia made) for whoremongers, for thosö thnt deflle ihemselves with mankind, for mensteajers. This crime nmong the Jews exposed the perpetratora ofit to capital punishment; Exod. 21: 16, and the opostle here classes ihem with einners of the firsl rank. The tcordhe vses, in i Is original impoi t, comprehends all uho are concErnkd ín biinginf any of the human race into slavenj, or IN DETAINING TUEM IN IT." Yet the Genefnl Assembly of 1845 dircctly reversed the former doctrine of their Chnrch. V cite a email port ion of the report adoptcd by them. Bearing in mind that the General Assembly for 22 years had held all slavcholders to be manstealers, rcad their new doctrine ns almost unanimously agrecd upon in"Tl:at Slavery exisied in tho days of ChMst and his Apostlcs, is nn admiltcd tact. Tliat tlrey did not dcnouncc the relat ion itself as einful, as inconsistent with Christianitv: that Slaveholders (Manstcalcrs.1) wereadmilted to memberuhip in the churches organized by the Apostles: that whilst lliey werc required to treat their elaves witb kindness, and as rational, accountable and immortal beinge, and ir Christians, as brethren in the Lord, they were not commandtd to emancípate tkem: that slaves were required to be "obedient to their masters according the fieeh, with f car and trcmbling', with singleness of heart as tinto C!hrist,"are facts which meet the eyeof every reader of the New Testament. This A?scmbly camiof, ifiereforc, denounco the holding of elaves (manstealing) as necessanly a heinous and scandalous sin, calcula ted to bring upon the Church the curse of God, without charging the Apostles of Christ with conn iv in p at guch sin, introducing into the church such sinnerp, and thus bringing upon them tho curse of the Arnighly." "The Assembly intend simply to say, that since Christ and his inspircd Apostles did not mnkc the holding of slaves (manstraling) a bar to communion, we, as a court of Chrift have no authority to do bo; eince they did not attempt to remove it fiom the Christian Church by legielation, we have no authority to legtslate on the subject."Thos in 1815, the young Presbjterian student of Divinity learned from the text book of his Church, that a man who held any of the human race in slavery was ua sinner oj thejirst rank," was so regarded by the Pounder of Christianity, and so trcatcd by the inspired A post les: the young student of 1345 (only thirty years after) learns from the united wisdom of hia Church thot "Christ and his Apostles did not denounce the relation itself as Hinfiil," but 46Joveholdere" (sinners of the fïrsl rank!) were admití cd to membcrship in the Churches organized by the A post W; and thcrefore, according to their reasoning, must be admitted to membcrship in every Presbyterian Church fortver ! Did ever a more flat contradiction offaith take place in eny church in a 6hortcr period of timo? Alas for the searcher after truth who blindly. followa ao eccleeiastical creed! Is it any wonder that infidelity abounde when manstcaling is taught as a part of Christianity? There is not an Infidel in the TT. S. who does not know that Slaveholding is wrong: and yet therc nrc hundredsor rather thousands of religioua teachers, who are zealous for converting him to a manstealing re ligion, and, in that respect, mnking him a convert to a fajth more horrid and revolling than even hiu own dreary and comfortlesa belief. But thi3 abominable doctrino of the divine right of mansteoling, thus promtilgated by the "venerable fathers" of thia Church, must be rcpudiiated by Chrislians, as well as Infidels. or they cannot be believers :n the principies of our Frce Iiistitutjons. Tbfy must do this, says the Herald, "or deny Ihe doctrine upon which thcy vindicated their resistance to Brilish Despotism, and on which their Institutions are grounded. Tbe Cougress of 177 i, and theXïeneral Aesembly of 1815, are direct antngonists. The General Asscmbly aver thatthe slaveholding relation is not wrong - that it is not wrong lo hold slaves. white or black - that in the eycof Christianity, it is right for one man to hold auother man as pfoperty--for the propertyclairu is the e.-ecntial element of l slaveholders. h follows, from tliis, that all mpn are nol "created cqual" - nre not "endowed by their Creator': with an inalienable right "to life, liberty, and the pur6uit of happineES." This is the nakrtl doctrine of the Report, stripped of its glosset?, of that slight admixture of truth,necessary to give currency to a "dam nable heresy." It followF, then, that the Declaration of Independcnco is a Lie; that the Revolu'ion of 1770, wns simple, unjuBtifinble rebi'llion against rightful authority; that De mocracy is a wretchcd cheat, all our Repuhlican Inetitutions are built upon the sand; and that the only instilution of our country which 3 built upon n rock, and sanctioncd by Heaven, is Human Slavcry. This, we repeaf, is the poeition of the General Assembly. Benedict Arnold for the sake of gold was williog to sell o stronghold of his country to the euemy. Aaron Burr for the salce of power, conspired to dÍ6merober hiscountry. The General Assembly of the the l'resbyierian church, with aj} the influciice with wlticii it is invested by "representa live diameter mul clerical office, has declared open war against tho Fathersof tliis country, the Declaration of Independcnce, and the foun dation of" our n.siitiitions! Which is the worst traitor of the three? '

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News