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NOVEMBER, 1861.      DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.      551

ever saw; but, surely few can equal those in Charlecote Park!

Time and space fail; I must tell you in my next letter of the "Warwickshire Agricultural and Horticultural Show," held here a few days ago.  We are to celebrate "Harvest Home" on Tuesday, and are hoping for as fine a day as we were favored with for the recent fete.

Do not think that my friends in the States are forgotten; we eagerly seize upon American news, and are always disappointed.  The only gleam of hope I see is in General FREMONT's Proclamation.  If these proclamations multiply, then we may hope.  Meantime I can but point my dear oppressed colored friends to God, and bid them look up, and have faith in Him.  "GOD REIGNS IN ETERNITY."

Ever your faithful friend,
JULIA G. CROFTS.


THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND AMERICAN SLAVERY.

We publish, with much satisfaction, the following correspondence—a testimony of British Christians against our great abomination which maketh desolate.  While slavery continues, whether its duration shall be long or short, or whether it shall have a peaceful or a bloody termination, the testimonies of our trans-Atlantic friends cannot be other than precious to the hearts of the afflicted bondmen and their American friends.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: DEAR SIR:—I beg to transmit to you the following Resolutions, and to state that the Synod by which they were unanimously adopted, consists of the Ministers and representative Elders of 540 Congregations, with a membership in full communion of 163,554.

"The different bodies of which it consisted," before their Union in 1847, were the United Secession and the Relief Churches—the former formed in 1733, by a Secession from the Established Church, on account of its defections in doctrine and in discipline, its enforcement of Patronage in the appointment of ministers in opposition to congregational election, and its repression of ministerial fidelity in testifying either in the pulpit or in church courts against the delinquences—the latter formed in 1753, by a second Secession from the Established Church, on account of its oppression of ministers, to the extent of deposition, who declined to be its instruments in ordaining the obnoxious presentees of patrons ever resisting congregations.

Cherishing from their own origin the principles of civil and religious liberty, the Synods of the two Churches were before their union, as since, unanimous in their opposition to Slavery.  With great interest and delight have the office-bearers and members of the United Body witnessed the astounding growth of Christian Churches in the United States of America, without state endowments and repudiating their principle; and their sympathies and satisfaction have especially rested on Presbyterian Churches holding the same Confession and Catechisms with themselves; while the valuable contributions which have emanated from the latter to sound theology, to practical religion, aud to Biblical literature generally, have justly received their warm admiration, respect and gratitude.

But the defection of some of these bodies on the subject of Slavery from the position they once held, and the equivocal and unfaithful conduct of the greater number in relation to that sin, have been to the overseers and members of this Church, as to myriads of fellow Christians in this country, an occasion of great and growing offence, grief, and perplexity, and the one obstacle to cordial sympathy and intercourse with many whom they should rejoice to honor and love as brethren.

What "the accursed thing" was in the camp of Israel, that Slavery appears to us to be in the United States.  "Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and they have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff."— Josh. vii. 11.  The remedy demanded appears to us to be one and the same, if peace and prosperity are to be restored, and the Divine favor enjoyed.  "Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, neither will I be with you any more, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you."  In the crisis which has arisen, a great opportunity is given to the American Churches in the Northern and Western States, to clear themselves in this matter, and the call is urgent—"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Unto these churches, and particular congregations, ministers, and individuals, who, amid painful, difficult, and it may be very dangerous circumstances, are maintaining a consistent and faithful testimony against Slavery as sin, we would humbly and affectionately say—"Faint not—Be strong, and of good courage—Wait upon the Lord—Consider him that endureth such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds‚In due season ye shall reap—Therefore, beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord."

I remain, Sir, respectfully yours,
HENRY RENTON, Convener.

AT EDINBURGH, and within the Synod Hall, Queen Street, on Wednesday, 22d May, 1861, 11 o'clock A.M. }

The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church met and was constituted by the Rev. John Robson, D.D., Moderator, when the Minutes of last Sederunt were read.

Transmitted and read overture by the Presbytery of Kelso in favor of the Synod's renewal of the condemnation of American slavery, the tenor whereof follows:

'That the Disruption of the United States of America by the element of Slavery—issuing, as it has done, in a new Confederation of Southern States, founded on the principle of Slavery, while the remaining Union of the Northern and Western States retains all that was defective in the original Constitution of the United States on that principle, and all the obnoxious laws which have been passed to uphold it—calls for much concern and vigilance on the part of all who are opposed to the monstrous iniquity of treating human beings as property, that in the close commercial relations subsisting between Great Britain and the American States, the public sentiment of this country may not be deteriorated, nor its hostility to Slavery abated—and calls no less for earnest sympathy and moral support on behalf of all those in the American States, who are withstanding that iniquity, and laboring for its overthrow; and therefore that the Synod should at this time renew its condemnation of Slavery and its repudiation of fellowship with slaveholders, and testify its respect for and sympathy with those Christian Churches and ministers in the United States, who are maintaining a faithful and intrepid testimony against Slavery as sin, and who are consistently carrying out that testimony by refusing all fellowship with slaveholders.'

The Presbytery of Kelso was heard in support of their overture, when the Synod, after reasoning, adopted the following resolutions:

1. That the Synod, in the different Bodies of which it consisted before the Union, as well as in its united state since, has ever regarded Slavery with unanimous and unqualified condemnation.

2. That the grounds on which this Synod condemns Slavery are not merely that it is impolitic, unjust, inhuman, and subversive of what are accounted the natural rights of man—personal liberty, the disposal of his own labor; and the enjoyment of its fruits—but that it is flagrantly opposed to the revealed will of God, and is, therefore, a heinous sin, when maintained by those who possess the Holy Scriptures, and profess submission to them as the supreme rule of faith and practice.

3. That of all systems of oppression and legalized iniquity at present known in the world, this Synod regards that of Slavery in the United States of North America to be the most inexcusable and guilty, as upheld by a nation which proclaims that all men have equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and which enjoys a widely-preached Gospel, a free circulation of the Scriptures, a free press, and public schools for the education of all its children.

4  That the same principles which led this Synod and the congregations under its care to seek the total and immediate abolition of Slavery throughout the British colonies a quarter of a century ago, prompt and require its earnest sympathy with those in other lands who are laboring for a similar end, and especially with Christian brethren in the United States of America, who, in the present crisis of that country, are, amid great opposition and obloquy, contending for the abolition of Slavery throughout its territories.

5. That copies of these resolutions be sent to the Synods of the United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian Churches in the U.S., and to the representatives and organs of the Christian Abolitionists of other Denominations in that country.

Appointed the Rev. Henry Renton and George C. Hutton, with Mr. James Henderson, Edinburgh, a Committee to transmit the resolutions to the parties named therein— Mr. Renton, Convener.

Extracted from the Records of Synod by
DAVID CRAWFORD, Synod Clerk.


A VISIT WITH GERRIT SMITH

FRIEND DOUGLASS:— In time of deep affliction, I am enjoying a visit with our mutual friend, GERRIT SMITH.  When we are troubled, it does us good to meet with a great sympathizing heart.

My dear son JOSEPH left our quiet home in Syracuse on Monday, July 8th.  He enlisted in the 27th Regiment N. Y. V., Col. Slocum, Co. K., Captain Martin.  He was in the battle of the 21st of July, was wounded, taken prisoner, carried by the enemy to Richmond, Va., and there died Aug. 22d.  His age was 20 on last January 25th.  The loss of my son, and the thought of his sufferings, deeply affect my mind; but most of all am I depressed that he has been given up thus to die, while the Government is making such strenuous efforts to save slavery, the cause and the soul of the war.

It is cheering to find the pen of Mr. SMITH fully engaged to enlist the people and the Government to strike at slavery itself, and thus subdue the rebellion.  May the Lord help him in this work!

This is Saturday, which day our friend regards as the Sabbath.  We had religious exercises in his parlor.  He read Psalm 46—'God is our refuge,' &c.  His comments on the expression, 'I will be exalted in the earth,' constituted a sermon which I wish all the world could hear.  He gives no place to the idea that we can exalt God by mere form worship.  That God will so overrule all events, including this terrible war, so as to make more clearly manifest his own perfections, is a consoling thought in this time of great tribulation.  It is in this way that he will be exalted in the earth.

Oct. 6th, A. M.—This morning, at family prayer, brother SMITH prayed, 'O Lord pity our guilty nation, and lead both North and South to repentance for their great sin of oppression.'

Monday A. M., Oct 7th—As I go to meet my sorrowing family, I take with me the sweet influence of the religious services of the 'Church of Peterboro,' in which I united yesterday, in the morning, and in the afternoon.

Yours truly,
J. R. JOHNSON.
PETERBORO, Oct. 5th, 1861.

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