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JOSEPH S. BAKER— Editor.
VOL. XII.
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For the Christian Index.
Slavery.—No. H.
!l. Docs slavery oppose the leign ol law
and order !
1 should like much to enter a! large into
this part of the subject, if 1 could command
the leisure, and did I not suppose that the
reader is tired ol the subject by this time.
It would be no difficult mailer, by a com
parison of our condition with that ol the
iioil-s'lavcholding fctales ui lilis coaled, tacy,
as well as by argument, to show, that no
.stale of society is so well adapted to the
preservation of public order, as thatol which
■slavery is a component part. Under pres
ent circumstances, 1 shall not be übie to in
siitute an extende l inquiry into the pecuhai
iniluenees that operate to the subversion ol
law and order in the non-slaveholdiugStates
l can do but little more than to suggest a
few considerations, that show die tendency
of slavery to prevent a spirit ot lawlessness,
leaving my readers, i! any have bail die pa
tience to follow me thus tar, to continue the
enquiry, and carry out too comparison lot
themselves.
Slavery then, tends to promote public or
der because:
1. It prevents the immigration <fi large
bo lies (J ignorant anil lawless foreigners
into our territory. There is no class in
jour country, whose inllueucc we hove more
reason to dread, than llialol the I'elusc pop
ulation of Europe, ITirgo crowds of wlium
are annually landed upon our shores. Heat
#ul up in ignorance and vice, ground down
tinder oppression, and kept in subjection,
at home, only bv the bayonets ol a stand
ing army, it is not wonderful that they
should exhibit, on landing in this free coun
try, the most unbounded licentiousness, and
insubordination to the laws. All the non
tdaveholding Slates have tell, in a greater or
less degree, their power lor evil. New
Vork and inanv of the other noithem cities
are, even now, slumbering Ol) a mine, which
a spark can explode ; and who can forget
the terrific riots in Philadelphia, caused by
the lawlessness of the Irish Catholics con
gregated theie l Vv hat has taken place in
Philadelphia, will be repealed, in other
places, whenever a favorable oppoilunily
shall present itself. ’ Thanks to our sys
tem of domestic servitude, we shall ever be
exempt from sueli outbreaks. All, or near
ly all of our menial offices are filled by our
negroes, and there is. consequently, very
little inducement offered for large numbers
of this class of foreigners to collect in our
territory.
2, It identifies the people with the soil,
and makes them interested in the preserva
tion of order. All slaveholding countries
are necessarily agricultural, and the inhub
■* The following are the views <*f the phi
losophic M. l)e Tocqueville in his work on
the United States and its Institutions :
” The United Stales h ive no metropolis;
but lliev already contain several very large
cities. Philadelphia reckoned 101,000 in
habitants, and New York 202,000 in the
year 1830. The lower orders which in
habit these cities constitute a rabble even
-Ut' Ell-.
ropeau towns, i hey consist ot treed blacks
in the lirst place, who are condemned by
the laws, and by public opinion, to an her
editary state of misery and degradation.—
lygT They also contain a multitude of Eu
ropeans, who have been driven to theshores
ol the New World by their misfortunes or
their misconduct, and these men inoculate
the United States with all our vices, with
out bringing with them any of those inter
ests which counteract their baneful influence.
As inhabitants ofaooimtiy where they have
no civil rights, they are ready to turn all the
passions which agitate the community to
tlieit own advantage ; thus, within the last
few months (this was written, l believe, in
1837) serious riots have broken out in Phil
adelphia and New York. Disturbances of
this kind are unknown in the rest of the
country, which is no wise alarmed by them,
because the population of the cities have
hitherto exercised neither power nor influ
ence over the rural districts.
••Nevertheless, I look upon the size of
the American cities, and especially on the
naluie of their population, as a real danger,
which threatens the-future security of the
democratic republics of the New World;
and I venture to predict they will perish
from these circumstances, unless the gov
ernment succeeds in creating an armed
force, which, whilst it remains under the
control of the majority of the nation, will be
independent of the town population, and be
able to repress its excesses.”
itants aie the owners of the soil. The cul
tivators of the earth have nothing to gain,
but every tiling to lose by weakening the
arm ot the law. Oilier piofessions may
escape from die consequences of disorder,
or may even find their gieatest pecuniary
advantage in it; but agriculture can thrive
and flourish only under the steady reign of
law and ordei. The pecuniary interest
therefore o! the slaveholder secures his in
fluence on the side of law. Thus, it has
grown into a proverb, and been recognized
by die legislatures of all our States, that
freeholders, alt other things being equal,
are more likely to be patriotic than others.
Dependent too upon their own industry,
and the smilings of a kind Providence, they
are likely to be more moral, and this is a
strong argument, which might have been
urged to show that slavery has not an im
moral tendency.
3. It mulccs the poor more independent
of the rich than in countries where the peo
ple are divided into employers and employ
ed ; and thus ulso diminishes the number
i‘j transient persons. Iu all slaveholding
countries there are to be found many who
do not own that species of property, and
who are dependent solely upon their own
labor for a support. As but vciy few, com
paratively, can obtain employment as over
seers, and lich men prefer die labor of ne
groes, the large majority are naturally in
duced to soldo small larins of their own.—
Titis not only produces a slate of general
independence and prevents die collection of
large bodies of transient persons, but it
holds out inducements to young men to esi-
Ur into the marriage relation, than which
there are tew stonger guaranties for ilieir
morality and good behavior.
In the nou-slaveholdiltg Slates, on die
contrary, society is divided into employers
and employed. Thu fanner must have his
laborers, the manufaetuiei ids operatives,
Ftom this spring three serious evils
in this republican country.
Ist. It draws abroad line of distinction be
tween the riels and die poor, makes them
mutually and absolutely dependent upon
each otuer, and a thirds them an opportuni
ty. each in turn, to play the tyrant to the
other. In times of depression in the mon
ey market, when the supply of laborers ex
ceeds the demand for them, employcis en
rich themselves at their expense ; and, on
the other hand, when the demand exceeds
the supply, they, in ihuir turn. t.y —’*
and other combinations, turn the tables up
on their employers, and bring them to their
terms. Thus jealousies are excited, and
distinct and well recognized classes formed.
These views are sustained by the fact that
one of the largest political parties in INyw
England is known by the name of “The
Working Men’s Party,” and that so many
appeals are made, by politicians, to the pre
judices of the poor against the rich.
2d. A second evil is that it concentrates in
the hands of the rich a political inllueucc to
which they aie not entitled. In a land
whete paity spirit rages with so much vio
lence, hie temptation is not a trivial one,
which would urge employers to make or
thodox political opinions essential qualifica
tions in their laborers. Thus, 1 heard a
gentleman, who owned extensive factories
m Connecticut, declare, while he was smart
ing under mortification from the defeat of
nis party, that he had always engaged his
hands without reference to their political
opinions, but that he had determined, from
that time forth, to pursue a different course,
as ho could not reconcile it to his sense ol
duly to Inmsell and his country to give em
ployment to uieo whose votes would be
cast iu opposition to his own interest and,
what he constdeied, the true policy of the
country. This hindrance to the indepen
dent exercise ol'lhe rights ofstiffrage is not
found at all, or to a very limited extent, in
our -.daveholdmg States.
3d. The third evil is that it nurtures a
large class, who possess, individually, no
local habitation, who give no pledges for
their good behavior, and who are conse
quently ripe for riot and revolt. And, un
happily, we at e not destitute of facts to sus
tain our theory. Look at the lawless con
tlij! * i O! ;T ; v - ti tin: V;ui iwMvt
estates in New York, who have, thus far,
set at deliauce the civil authorities, one ol
whom, at the last accounts, lias had to sum
mon to his aid a posse of a thousand men.
Look at the “charter rebellion in Rhode Is
land”—the murders committed upon the
persons of the Mormons by an infuriated
and lawless mob in Illinois, and last, though
not least, the awful riots ill Philadelphia,
tile most ominous thing in connection with
which is, that the rioters and their abettors
still claim, that the will of the majority of
the people of Kensington was, and oFright
ought to be, paramount to the law.
Abolition Congressmen and others, when
they wish to be specially insolent, taunt us
wall the charge, that we monopolize the
services of the army and navy to keep our
slaves in subjection ! History will have to
record two applications to the Federal Ex
ecutive for military aid, made within a few
months of each other—one, by the Govern
or ol K. Island, and the other, by the May
or of Philadelphia—to repress the riotous
spirit of their orderly and happy people!
while its pages, from the organization of
the government unto this time, will he
searched in vain for a similar application,
to quell a servile insurrection! From the
‘•Whiskey Rebellion” in Pennsylvania,
and Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts to
the riots in Philadelphia, (the refuge of run
away slaves) the military power of the gov
ernment has been called into requisition to
FOR THE BAPTIST CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
PEN FI ELD, GA., OCTOBER 11, 1844.
quell disorders only in the non-slavehold
ing States ! 1 could f.iin wish, that the ev
idence were afforded me, that our Northern
friends have any way to avoid the anarchy
towards which they are fast tending.
Another fact will show more clearly, if
possible, the nature of the danger to which the
people of the non-slaveholdmg States are
subjected. There is, at the present time,
in die Slates north of Maryland a well or
ganized party, numbering, in a single city,
some thousands of voters, who are in favor
of an cijuul division of property, and most
clamorously demand it. Thayks to our
system of domestic servitude, such influ
ences cannot exist in our midst.
A Baptist Minister.
For the Christian Index,
Rock Mountain Association.
Is located in the counties of DcKalb,
Gwinetl, Newton, and Henry, near the
central parts of the State of Georgia. The
name is a derivation from a noble Grannite
Ruck iu DcKalb co.; near the centre of the
association. This wonderful natural curi
osity stands in an open level country gently
undulating with pleasant hills, and beuuli
lul vallies ; highly cultivated.
The Rock is about one mile in its great
est diameter at its base, and rises up naked;
in solemn grandeur, against the clear blue
sky ; or pierces the stormy cloud at an ele
vation ol 900 loot above common level;
and 2,230, above the level of the sea ; for
ming an area of 100 feet square at the top
which commands a view of a large portion
ol Middle Georgia. This is a fashionable
place ol summer resort for the gay and gid
dy, the wise and the grave of every sex,
age, and denomination; more especially
from the sea board.
On the top ol the rock a tower* was built
a lew years since, 180 feet high, lor the ac
commodation ol those who might desire to
see “all the glory of the World.” And tru
ly the view from the top of the Towe or
rock is magnificently sublime. Far a way
to the South stretches a rich and level coun
try, with an unbroken field of view: varie
gated with the ascending smoke of ten
thousand joy fill houses. The eye wanders
on in search of something to lest on; or
break the monotony ; until Heaven and
Earth seem to unite in the misty distance.
A f clings of religious awe and loneliness
steals over the beholder, under a sense of his
own nothingness compared with the un
bounded works of the Great Creator.—
To tile norlli-cast the mountains of (did
Pendleton hang on the distant horizon in
clouded groups. Our thoughts linger here
with food delight over the memory of our
glorious old Palmetto State. To the North,
high looms the dark and frowning moun
tains of Habersham and Tennessee, in
terrible grandeur, dropping away to the
west in smoking spots, until lost on Ala
bama's wide extended plains. Approxi
mating the base of the Hock, fields and or
chards, like gardens,divbrsify the landscape
chequered with roads and streams of liv
ing water. Now seen, now hid, ami seen
again ; the Georgia Rail Road winds round
the rock,"for many miles in view, The
Iron horsed that walks this.course, with
blood of boiling steam impatient, snorts
out his breath of burning gas ; and glides
along the graded track. Nature and art
combined, in one grand chorus, sings an
eternal hymn of joy and praise.
Such is the Hock around whose base our
association delights to dwell, and worship
God. I often visit this place, but not with
gay and thoughtless company. 1 love to
linger on its lofty top alone, isolated from
the world beneath. “From the]top of the
rock f behold” the power and gondii -ss a£
Guts. I reel iu his presence ; 1 converse j
with him alone; niy soul drinks deep at
the fount of awe and veneration; and I go
down filled with love and gratitude. This
Hock ! this noble Rock ! ! is a standing
memorial in our association that God our
Heavenly Father is the Great Hock of our
salvation.
Ilail! mighty Rock ! for in our midst
Thy dwelling place shall he,
To point to joyful Woilds on high
In vast Eternity.
Hail! mighty Rock !! thy maker God
Our shield and strength shall be,
When earth thy throne shall crumble down
In dark Eternity.
The Rock .Mountain Association origi
nated m a division of the old Yellow Rivei
Association, the latter being anti-missiona
ry in sentiment and practice, and passed
the following-resolution at her regular ses
sion in 1838; viz. “Resolved, That the
institutions of the day called “benevolent,”
to wit: The Convention, Bible Society,
Tract Society, Ternperance 4 Society. Jibo
lition Society, Sunday School Union, The
ological Seminary, and all other institutions
tributary to the Missionary plan now exist
ing in the United States are unscriplural;
and that we as an association will not cor-
respond with any association that is united
with them, nor will we hold in our union
or lpllowship any church that is connected
with them.” “Abolition Society” was
artfully incorporated with the benevolent
andjreligions institutions specified in this
restjhition ; for the purpose of entailing the
odium and disgrace of abolitionism on the
fronds of humanity and religious effort.—
This is clear from the fact, that it was known
totthum, and all others who would inform
themselves on this subject, that there was
not q single abolition Society in Georgia ;
and ii there were individuals who- were fa
vorable to the Northern fanatics iu this
matter, Vhev dare not let it be known pub
licly. It was known also that die North
ern abolit.iViist had nothing to do with the
CouveniionWr its auxiliaries, neither pri
marily not secondarily. Therefore this in
sidious attempt to blacken the benevolent
and Christian iWitulions of the South with
abolitionism w\s unjust, uncalled for, and
insulting to the Ugh-toncd feelings of all
Southern eluistiaiis. The hold and daring
attempt (as manifested in the above result!,
lion) to “Lord it over God’s heritage” and
bind mens’ consciences to the stake, by
compelling them to act in opposition to the
spicad of the glorious Gospel of our bless
ed Saviour, was met by a respectable mi
nority with a ehiisttan firmness and lesolti
tion that said at once, we know our rights
and will maintain them. A substitute!
changing the liou-fellowshippitig features
of tiidir resolution was ottered by Elder
Luke Robinson, an able active minister,
whoso voice, ere this, had been heard in
the halls ol our Stale Legislature, in defence
of the rights of man. But oil this occasion,
as he reasoned of the necessity of educa
tion, Temperance, Missionary elfort, etc.
etc, taking a hold stand iu defence of civil
and religious liberty, guaranteed to us by
the gieat Magna Charlu handed down to
us through the blood and treasuie of the
bold, daring spirits of ’7O, his eyes lighted
up with more than earthly fire; the gfay
hairs shook about his burning temples ;
whilst the deep inspiration of his soul pout
ed ont a Hood of eloquence, that made ig
norance, superstition and tyranny tremble
on theii tottering throne. Several others
also took part in defence of Christian liber
ty and gospel effort: but when the leader
of the anti-missionary party, a venerable
old man with a white head, raised the ral
lying cry of down with education, down
with Theology, down with Temperance
Societies, down with the Convention, etc.
etc. they took the vote. The minority,
with manly .mil Christian indignation re
fused to vote and left the house. The be
nevolent or Missionary brethren, who were
cut oil’and nou-lellowshipped by the pas
sage of the above resolution, were men of
high-toned, manly generosity ; with an un
bounded flow ol Christian charity; irre
proachable in all their intercourse with
men: the tongue of the malignant viper it
self was hushed in silence against their
moral course. This respectable body of
Christians, finding themselves thus uncere
moniously cut olf from the mother associa
tion, without a single charge of immorali
ty, oi witness to condemn them ; without
a trial or an opportunity of making their
defence; thus tried, condemned and excom
municated, withoutjudge, jury, law, Gos
pel, ar precedent, felt a deep wound run
throughout the entire body ; such only as
brother can a brother give. We will now
touch lightly on the state of the two great
parties in Georgia, Those friendly to the
spread of the gospel had been organized
about 20 years in a great State Association
■ Willi tho view or sustaining missionary
effort, and other benevolent enterprises,
which is now called the HaptistGonvenlion
of the Slate of Georgia; the friends of
Christianity and education had liberally en
dowed this institution with the means of
educating poor, pious young men, who
were called to the ministry ; these means
Itad been concentrated at Penfield in the
Mercer University, and a flood of light and
joy bad began to cheer our own sunny
land; but ignorance and bigotry, twin
brothers, saw limit throne in danger, if our
own dear South should come under the in
fluence of an educated ininistiy. Their
subjects might escape from under the yoke
of priest-craft, and make good their retreat
from the smoke and dust of Babylon. In
this event they must sutler loss, anil all
their glory, founded on ignorance, would
pass away like a morning cloud ; and the
people would no longer believe in their Joe
Smith doctrine of a direct revelation from
Heaven, In this exigency, something
must be done to save their sinking cause.
“These learned preachers,” said they,
“will gel all the pay and wo will be left to
starve or work,” and so taking Doctor
Quack’s theory, “that desperate cases re
quire desperate remedies” they passed the
above recited resolution, which resulted in
the schism of their association.
The churches which withdrew, or were
rather cut oil by the above operation, were
Rock Bridge, Rav Greek, Long Shoals,
Cool Springs, Macedonia and New Hope.
These agreed to meet lor the purpose of
forming anew association of as many of
the churches as would send delegates, at
Mount Zion, Newton Go., on the 19th of
July 1839. At which time, representatives
from the following churches presented their
credentials and look seats, viz: Union
Giove, Bethlehem, Salem, Zion, Macedo
nia. Rock Bridge, Union and Mount Zion,
10 churches and 528 communicants. The
most active ministers on this occasion,
were those who had borne the heat and
burden of the persecution. Viz. Elders
Luke Robinson, George Daniel, A. R. Al
mond, Lewis Towers, and J. R. George.
These were representatives of the church
es now in convocation, and were assisted
by J. S. Callaway, C. 1). Mallary, and ’J’.
Phillips, men of eminent talents and piety.
Elder G. Daniel was chosen Moderator,
and E. Henderson Clerk ; a constitution
and rule of government was then unani
mously adopted, and the association fully
organized, entered on her station as an in
dependent body of Christians. This asso
ciation entered into correspondence at a ve
’ry early period, with several large and rc
! -p f able Missionary Associations, which
lias been actively kept up and reciprocated
to the present time. At her session in 1818
she agreed to correspond with the Baptist
Slate Convention, and it is the desire of a
large portion of her most talented ministry
and laity, that she may shortly become a
constituent member of the same. At her
last session she appointed an executive
committee to receive and disburse funds,
for the employing of a Missionary in and
near her own hounds ; and also warmly re
commended Iter churches to establish Sun
day Schools in their bounds. Some of her
churches sent up funds as usual, for the
sustenance of Foreign Missions.
This session, 1844 being the end of her
filth associations! year, she finds,.peace and
harmony iu herself and all her churches,
with a growing interest in the Great Re
deemer’s cause. Her churches have in
creased from 10 to 17, and her communi
cants from 528 to something near fourteen
hundred, chiefly fiom new converts and re
vivals within hei own bounds. May the
blessing and tender care of the Great Head
of the Church still protect her in the exer
cise of her civil and religious duties.
PENDLETON,
Flat Rock Ga. Sept. 18 1844.
•Blown down.
tNot running yet but will in ashorttim .
For the Christian Index.
Idolatry of Intellect.
Among the causes, enumerated by Ba
con, in his Novum Organmn, as having re
tarded the advance of science, undue rev
erence for distinguished men stands con
spicuous. He can find no words sufficient
ly strong to express his regret at the long
and ruinous despotism of Aristotle, over
the empire of thought. But the ease of
Aristotle does not stand alone. Others
have wielded as potent a sceptre, over more
valuable and extensive realms. These er
rors which effect man’s temporal welfare,
or physical comfort, however deplorable,
are not remediless. They may be atten
ded with alleviating circumstances. They
may, further, conduce to a higher good,
by showing the vanity of worldly hopes,
and the emptiness of sublunary bliss.—
Tlte hcresiarch of science may, in the end,
prove a spiritual benefactor. A T o t.'.o
Deresiarel) in morals and religion. Me
does only evil.
“One sinner destroyed! much good ;”
and in proportion to his ascendency over
the minds of men, is his capacity for doing
harm. Hence, the aberrations of great
met) should not he legnided of trill in <v
moment. An obscure individual may fos
ter a heresy, and perish in his sin. But he
sinks alone. No others are engulphed in
the diminutive vortex, in which his own
adventurous boat went down. When a
great mind errs, it leads off others in its
train. The magic of genius draws thou
sands, as captives at its car.
Good Richard Baxter once charged our
denomination, with “a systematic befriend
ing of ignorance.” This reproach, if it
ever really existed, lias, we trust, been
wiped away. But dangers are to he ap
prehended from knowledge, as well as ig
noi.nice. Intellectual idolatry may prove
not less unfriendly to piety than mental im
becility, The respect which is justly due
to great abilities and profound learning, if
not controlled by a paramount regard for
truth and holiness, degenerates into one of
the worst forms of superstition.
These reflections are suggested by “the
signs of the times,” at Ihe present day.—
Our denomination has shaken off the shac
kles which so long crippled its intellectual
energies, and has sprung forward, with
groatspirit, in the career of knowledge and
science. Institutions of learning are thrown
ruiiLisiiEß—BENJ. BRANTLY
open to our young men. They have “line
upon line and precept upon precept,” upon
the importance of education. This is all
well, and we are thankful to God for it.—
But it must not be forgotten, that knowl
edge is a means, not an end ; and is valua
ble to the minister of Christ, only so far as
it contributes to his usefulness in his Mas
ter's cause.
No otic, who has directed his attention
to the present aspect of affairs, in this coun
try, has failed to observe the incieasing re
gard which is paid to the literature of Ger
many. The names of her great scholars
are becoming household words among us.
Otlr vwiii-riicii nre mlvisoti lo stiuly lire
German language ; and are incited to tint
pursuit, by the promise of rich anil varied
harvests. Doubtless, great benefit may be
derived from an acquaintance with the liter
ature of the Germans. They are the most
literary people in the woild. But we ques
tion the policy of familiarizing young and
undisciplined minds with (ho errors and ab
surdities even of master minds. For
ministers whose theological sentiment are
already formed, the perusal of German
writers may he profitable. It would bo
dangerous, however, for a young man to
begin w ith them. The prolusion of learn
ing and confident tone, which distinguish
them, ate calculated to intimidate the unex
perienced scholar, lie yields his assent
to eiror; and bows down iti homage to ail
intellectual idol. Betides, to a pious and
zealous minister, one engaged iu the active
pursuits of the pastoral office, the study of
the English and American divines is far
more serviceable. Where can he find, in
German literature, such bocks as Edwards
on the Affections, Jaine’s Anxious Inquir
er, Baxter’s S:\iul’s Rest, &c.
If it were necessary, I might give a de
tailed account of what the student is likely
to find in German woiks. A few samples
will suffice. Knobel has writen a learned
woikof Prophecy, in which he ma mains,
among other absurdities, that Elijah was
enabled to cross the Jordan, because he
was an excellent topographer, and knew
where the river was fordable. His igno
rant countrymen, meanwhile, thought he
performed a miracle. The Biblical Theo
logy of Baunigarten-Ciusius might have
been composed by an English deist.—
Tholuck and Nitzch deny that the account
ol the Fall is the history of a real transac
iion i tintl Tircstcn, Onr of the best o/~them,
denies the plenary inspiration of the scrip
tures. Markeineckc defines the soul “a
thought ofGod,” and asseits that the world
is alike eternal with God.- Very lew Ger
man divines can be deemed, even in the
judgment of chairty, converted men.—
lienee, although they make excellent
grammars and Lexicons, they are very un
safe guides, as theologians. May the
Great Head ol the Eltureh guard us against
the evils oi unsanctificd learning, and dis
pose us all to “receive the truth in the love
of it.” Thus will our institutions of learn
ing be thrones of spiritual power; and
“God, even our God, will bless” them.
J. L. R.
For the Christian Index.
Brother Baker — l have recently com
menced taking the Chiistian Index, and as
yet I am well pleased with it, as it appears
that its principle object is to circulate reli
gious knowledge. As I am one amongst
the few that reside in this county, who be
lieve in the instrumentality of man iu cir
culating tint gospel ofChrist.andasitseems
to be the design of your paper, 1 believe and
hope it will prosper yet iuthecouuly where
1 reside. There are a number who differ
with me in sentiment, and do believe that
allt>enevolcnl Institutions, and all exertions
madetoeirculate the gospel, are not from a
good spit it. 1 will assign you my reasons
for such a belief. The 19ili At tide of the
decorum of the Ocklotkttee Association is
in the following words ; “ It is the duty of
this association to provide for tho general
union of the chinches, and will not fellow
ship any church or churches, nor hold them
ill union, that support any modern Mission
ary, Bible, Tract or Sunday School Union
Societies, or Theological School, either in
themselves or in any other person or per
sons, or any other Societies that now are
or may hereafter be constituted undera pie
tence of circulating the gospel, nor willshe
correspond with any association that sup
port or fellowship any of the above named
Societies.” As there were members at
tached to that body of people, who did be
lieve that said article did infringe on the lib-
erty of conscience, they applied for letters
of dismission and joined churches that were
attached to the Florida Association, which
aid not lav such restrictions on its members,
I’lien those members that joined the Flor
ida Association they excommunicated as
hen-ticks, and cast out their names as evil,
for no other cause than believing that it is
our privilege to circulate the gospel of
Christ. Now, as it is our desire that eve
ry creature should hear the gospel, and we
wish to make our poor, weak and feeble ex
ertions, feeling the love of God in ourfcouls,
and desiring that all might feel ilia same,
and vve do endeavor to suppress vice and
circulate religious knowledge, if there is
any evil in it [ would be thankful to any of .
NO. 41.