1841-11-13-New York Evangelist-New-England Correspondence
New-England Correspondence
New York Evangelist, v12 n46, 13 November 1841, pg. 182
- Boston, Nov. 5th, 1841.
This notorious Convention held its third session, the last week in this city, Edmund Quncy, Jr. in the chair. The attendance was smaller than any at previous session. The subject for discussion was the church. The Convention being opened, Wm. Chase, of Providence, offered a resolution, affirming the church, as at present existing, to be a divine institution, ordained of God, which all men are bound to sustain. A Mr. Gifford, proposed as a substitute, "That the true church of God consists of those only who have the spirit of Christ, and who exhibit this spirit in their labors to remove sin from the world." Mr. Gifford offered a few remarks in support of his resolution, and was followed by a Mormon preacher of the name of Nickerson, now resident in this city, and who goes for miraculous as well as other gifts. Mr. Garrison came next. It was gratifying he said, though their numbers were small, to look round upon the meeting. He was glad to see so many there, showing by their presence that they were not to be intimidated by the efforts that had been made by certain men, to fix the brand of infamy on all who should dare to meet for the discussion of the subjects that had called them together. He had looked around the room since he came in, for those men who were there at the former meeting, and charged them with being infidels, but he had looked in vain. They were not there; and he charged them with a want of fidelity to the public in not being there to expose and refute their error, and to apprise the public of its danger. He would submit the following resolutions, in place of those before the meeting:
- "Resolved, That the true church is independent of all human organizations, creeds, or compacts.
- Resolved, That it is not within the province of man, or any body of men, to admit to, or to exclude from that church, any one who is created in the divine image.
- Resolved, That it is nowhere enjoined as a religious duty by Christ or his apostles, upon any man to connect himself with any association, by whatever name called; but all are left free to act singly, or in conjunction with others, according to their free choice."
Mr. Garrison offered these, he said, as an expression of his own views, and as presenting in a distinct form, the subject for discussion. As soon as he was seated, Rev. Mr. Phelps rose and said, "Mr. Chairman, Mr. Garrison did not happen to look this way. Had he done so, he might have spared some of his cowardly and unmanly flings. He well knows, that at the former meeting, I and my associates gave distinct notice, that we should not participate in the discussions of the present, not because we were afraid to; but because the Convention had deliberately rejected the Bible as the final and authoritative standard of appeal in the case; and that that is the reason why, though we may be present as spectators, we shall not be here as participators in the discussion. It may be convenient under such circumstances to appear brave, and talk large; but it will doubtless be properly appreciated."
Subsequently, Mr. Garrison said the resolutions contained what he believed to be the truth, as revealed in the Scriptures. The Lord's freemen, he said, are independent of all organizations. They may act singly, or they may act together. Combination is purely a matter of affinities. All such organizations are human, and purely voluntary, and union with them or not, is no evidence, or test of Christian character. The idea that it is a religious duty to belong to some church, I believe to be a dangerous heresy—a heresy that enslaves millions, and ought to be exposed and exploded.
In the course of the discussions, the usual quantity of bald infidelity was developed. One wished the words "enjoined by Christ and his apostles" stricken out, because they seemed to imply that we took them as authority, and for one he did not do it. Another said he believed the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth; but if he understood divinity, it is something that flows, or may flow through all men; so far as he himself was a Christian—a true man, he was as divine as Jesus was. Another said, Christ was a good man, perhaps; but he did not think that he was the best man that ever lived; and as to the Bible, he was sure it was a book of bad moral tendency.
Mr. Garrison professed not to agree with these men. With him, the authority of Christ was final, and he had yet to learn that he and his apostles conflicted. Yet, he agreed with them, it will be seen, in the general result. They get at it in one way; he in another. Both agree in the result; and both have so many sympathies and affinities in common, that they are "hale fellows well met." Their difference, radical as it is, if real, makes no breach between them.
The Convention continued its sessions three days, and the discussions were generally tame. At is close, a committee was appointed to call another Convention, at such a time and place as they may think best, to consider the question of the authority of the Bible. That Convention will probably be held in the spring. The fact is significant. We shall now see who are for the Bible, and who are not; and in what sense too those are for it, whoso interpret it as to make Christianity deny itself.
- Yours, &c. X.
