Views of American Slavery Taken a Century Ago

ader. As the founder of a great church polity, his authority is universally acknowledged within that religious community, and generally respected over the Christian world. More especially is this the case in some of the Southern States of our Union, where the Methodist societies embrace, perhaps, within their horders, the most numerous and influential congregations of any Church organization. Yet, while many of the religious opinions of John Wesley are still cherished there in all their vitality and authority, it is believed that his views on the great question of Slavery are not fully appreciated, if even they are generally known. The abridgment now presented of his essay on this important subject may therefore prove instructive andsuggestive to the candid inquirer, whatever his religious or political opinions may be. The portions of the treatise omitted, relate chiefly to the horrors of the African slave-trade; it seeming hardly necessary to repuhlish them at this day, when, by the universal consent of Christendom, that infamous pursuit is outlawed and punished as piracy on the high seas. Such parts, however, have been retained as appear equally to apply to that great system of internal traffic in human beings, still prevailing so extensively throughout the Southern States of our Union, and which may be regarded as the darkest feature of American Slavery. chapter{Section 5THOUGHTS UPON SLAVERY. 1. By Slavery I mean domestic slavery,...