Testimony from Lancasterville, S. C.

The following documents are taken from the Southern Christian Herald:

At a public meeting, held in Lancasterville, for the purpose of taking into consideration the proceedings of the Abolitionists of the North, several resolutions were passed, and by request the meeting was addressed by the Rev. J. H. Thornwell, and the Rev. William Carlisle. The Rev. Mr. Postell's sentiments, contained in a letter, were read at the meeting. The purport of the resolution was as follows:

That Slavery, as it exists in the South, is no evil, and is consistent with the principles of revealed religion; that all opposition to it arises from a misguided and fiendish fanaticism, which we are bound to resist in the very threshhold.

Rev, J. H. Thornwell's testimony, Methodist,

I cannot regard slavery as a moral evil for the following reasons:

1. It was distinctly recognized by Moses.

2. It is not inconsistent with the precepts of Christianity. 1 Cor. vii. 20, 21. The word translated servant means a slave. 1 Tim. vi. 1.

[This is a great mistake. See page 35 and 36.]

As I cannot believe that slavery is wrong in itself, I am decidedly opposed to the measures of the abolitionists.

Testimony of the Charleston Courier.

We protest against the assumption-the unwarrantable assumption-that slavery is ultimately to be extirpated from the southern states. Ultimate abolitionists are enemies of the South, the same in kind, and only less in degree, than immediate abolitionists.

Testimony of the Columbia, S. C., Telescope.

Let us declare, through the public journals of our country, that the question of Slavery is not, and shall not be open to discussion—that the system is deep rooted

among us, and must REMAIN FOREVER: that the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon a dunghill.

Testimony of the Washington Telegraph.

As a man, a Christian, and a citizen, we believe that slavery is right; that the condition of the slave, as it now exists in slaveholding states, is the best existing organization of civil society.

Testimony of the Charleston Courier.

We beg him, however, [Mr. Fletcher, one of the speakers at Faneuil Hall] and all who like him, acknowledge their affectionate interest in their political obligations to the South, to disabuse themselves of the notion that the South regards slavery as an evil, or even dreams of its removal. Our institutions are likely to endure for ages, if not to be perpetual; and while they do endure, and are endured by us, we cannot recognize the moral or social, to say nothing of the political propriety, of denouncing them as evil. Our right in the subject-matter is perfect and exclusive, and not a tongue should wag, or breath be stirred, against its exercise.

Testimony of the Augusta, Geo. Chronicle.

He [Amos Dresser] should have been hung up as high as Haman to rot upon the gibbet, until the wind whistled through his bones. The cry of the whole South should be, DEATH, INSTANT DEATH to the abolitionist, wherever he is caught. Northern Abolitionists are a class of desperate fanatics, who, to accomplish their unhallowed ends, are ready to sacrifice our lives, and those of our wives and children. Keep their publications from among us, and HANG every emissary that dare step a lawless foot upon our soil-cut off all trade with every northern house connected with them, &c.

Testimony of the Rev. J. C. Postell, Methodist.

The following is from an Address of the Rev. J. C. Postell, delivered at a public meeting, held at Orangeburgh Court-house, S. C., on the 21st of July, 1836.

I have not time, at present, nor do I wish to trespass upon your patience, in a lengthy address on this subject; but to comply with your request, involves my duty as your minister, and the servant of the Church, and from what has been promised, the following conclusions result: 1st. That slavery is a judicial visitation.

2d. That it is not a moral evil.

3d. That it is supported by the Bible.
4th. It existed in all ages.

The reverend orator then takes up the above points, and argues them at some length, but we have not room to follow him. On the second proposition, he says:

It is not a moral evil. The fact that slavery is of Divine appointment, would be proof enough with the Christian, that it could not be a moral evil. But when we view the hordes of savages, marauders and human cannibals enslaved to lust and passion, and abandoned to. idolatry and ignorance, to revolutionize them from such a state, and enslave them where they may have the Gospel, and the privileges of Christians, so far from being a moral evil, it is a MERCIFUL VISITATION. If slavery was either the invention of man or a moral evil, it is logical to conclude, the power to create has the power to destroy. Why then, has it existed? And why does it now exist? amidst all the power of legislation in state and church, and the clamor of abolitionists. 'IT IS THE LORD'S DOINGS, AND MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES.' And had it not been done for the best, God alone who is able, long since would have overruled it. IT IS BY DIVINE APPOINTMENT.

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Testimony of the Rev. James Smylie, Presbyterian.

The Reverend James Smylie, A. M., a Presbyterian minister in Mississippi, says in a pamphlet, he has recently published in favor of American slavery:

If slavery be a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation of the divine law, and if the buying, selling, or holding a slave FOR THE SAKE OF GAIN, is a heinous sin and scandal, then verily, THREE-FOURTHS OF ALL THE EPISCOPALIANS, METHODISTS, BAPTISTS AND PRESBYTERIANS, IN ELEVEN STATES OF THE UNION, are of the Devil.-They 'hold,' if they do not buy and sell slaves, and, with few exceptions, they hesitate not to apprehend and restore' runaway slaves, when in their power.

Charleston Union Presbytery.

Extract from the minutes of the Charleston Union Presbytery, at their meeting on the 7th April, 1836.

It is a principle which meets the views of this body, that slavery, as it exists among us, is a political institution, with which ecclesiastical judicatories have not the smallest right to interfere; and in relation to which, any such interference, especially at the present momentous crisis, would be morally wrong, and fraught with the most dangerous and pernicious consequences. The sentiments which we maintain, in common with Christians at the South, of every denomination, are sentiments which so fully approve themselves to our consciences, are so identified with our solemn convictions of duty, that we should maintain them under any circumstances. E. T. BUST, Moderator.

B. GILDERSLEEVE, Temporary Clerk.

Synod of South Carolina and Georgia.

Resolution of the Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, Dec. 1834.

Resolved, unanimously, That in the opinion of this Synod, Abolition Societies, and the principles on which they are founded, in the United States, are inconsistent with the interests of the slaves, the rights of the holders, and the great principles of our political institution.

Testimony of the Missionary Society of the
South Carolina Conference.

The following declaration of sentiments has been published in Charleston, South Carolina, by the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church:

We denounce the principles and opinions of the abolitionists in toto; and solemnly do declare our conviction and belief that, whether they were originated, as some business men have thought, as a money speculation, or, as some politicians think, for party electioneering purposes, or, as we are inclined to believe, in a false philosophy, over-reaching or setting aside the scriptures through a vain conceit of higher moral refinement, they are utterly erroneous, and altogether hurtful. We consider and believe that the Holy Scriptures, so far from giving any countenance to this delusion, do equivocally authorise the relation of MASTER and SLAVE.

Hopewell Presbytery, South Carolina.

On the subject of domestic slavery, this Presby. tery believe the following facts have been most incontrovertibly established, viz:

1. Slavery has existed in the church of God from the time of Abraham to this day. Members of the Church of God, have held slaves bought with their money, and born in their houses; and this relation is not only recognized, but its duties are defined clearly, both in the Old and New Testaments.

2. Emancipation is not mentioned among the duties of the master to his slave. While obedience' even to the forward master is enjoined upon the slave.