Dear Brother Scott,–I love your paper because it speaks, in language that can be understood, against the sins of the church. Notwithstanding the increase and prosperity of the church is considered by many as conclusive evidence of her purity, yet in order to be consistent and live with a conscience void of offence, myself and five or six others, on the last day of the past year, withdrew, and are now organized into a Wesleyan Church. Although we have had to make the sacrifice of our meeting-houses and old friends, yet we can say that none of these things move us. There are many here waiting for the General Conference, hoping that something capital will be on the subject of slavery by that body. But I think invention will be put to the rack to find a salvo for the troubled minds of abolitionists, and if possible, keep the North and South together. Many say, if they elect a slave-holding bishop, they will stay no longer; but I am at a loss to see the difference in moral right, in condemning slave-holding in a bishop, when presiding elders and preachers are allowed to indulge in this accursed and nameless abomination. To say the least of it, I think it looks like straining at a gnat and swallowing the camel. If one bishop owns slaves, they will leave the church straightway; and yet twelve hundred preachers and presiding elders may not only own slaves, but buy and sell them like beasts of burden, and they can still continue to countenance and acknowledge them as Christians, by remaining in fellowship with them. I do not envy these brethren their consistency. However, if they are really sincere in their professed abhorrence of slavery, they will come out right yet. Many of these Mayite brethren may soon find themselves at home among us.
