- Title
- Slavery in the state of North Carolina
-
-
- Date
- 1899
-
-
- Creator
- ["Bassett, John Spencer, 1867-1928."]
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Slavery in the state of North Carolina
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389]
Religious Life.
73
it from the Church by legislation, we have no authority to
legislate on that subject.” The progress of the slaves could
not be obtained by ecclesiastical legislation or by “indis¬
criminate denunciations against slaveholders, without
regard to their character or circumstances.’’ The resolu¬
tion passed by j68 to 13 votes.1 By such action this con¬
servative Church put off its division till the war was actually
at hand. This relation of the general Church to slavery
must have influenced the attitude of the local Church, it
no doubt kept up a conservative and abiding interest in the
welfare of the slave on the part of the Church authorities.
What Henry Evans was in the Methodist Church and
Ralph Freeman in the Baptist, John Chavis was in the
Presbyterian Church. In native ability he was no doubt
equal to either of the other two, but in education he was
superior to them. He was, probably, born in Granville
County, near Oxford, about J763. He was a full-blooded
negro of dark brown color. He was born free. In
early life lie attracted the attention of the whites, and lie was
sent to Princeton College to see if a negro would take a
collegiate education. He was a private pupil under the
famous Dr. Witherspoon, and- his ready acquisition of
knowledge soon convinced his friends that the experiment
would issue favorably. After leaving Princeton he went to
Virginia, sent thither, no doubt, to preach to the negroes.
In i8or he was at the Hanover (Virginia) Presbytery, “rid¬
ing as a missionary under the direction of the General
Assembly.” In 1805, at the suggestion of Rev. Henry
Patillo, of North Carolina, he returned to his native State.
For some cause, I know not what, it was not till 1809 that
he was received as a licentiate by the Orange Presbytery.
Although he preached frequently to the regular congrega¬
tions at Nutbush, Shiloh, Island Creek, and other churches
in the neighborhood, I do not find that he was called to a
church as pastor. Mr. George Wortham, a lawyer of Gran-
1 See “American Slavery as Viewed and Acted on by the Presby¬
terian Church in America,” by Rev, A. T. McGill, 1865.
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