Читать книгу The Colored Man in the Methodist Episcopal Church онлайн

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“2. When any traveling preacher becomes the owner of a slave, or slaves, by any means, he shall forfeit his ministerial character in our Church, unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipation of such slaves, conformably to the laws of the State in which he lives.

“3. No slaveholder shall be received in full membership in our society till the preacher who has the oversight of the circuit or station has spoken to him fully and faithfully on the subject of slavery.

“4. Every member of our society who sells a slave, except at the request of the slave, in cases of mercy or humanity, agreeably to the judgment of a committee of three male members of the society, appointed by the preacher who has the charge of the circuit or station, shall, immediately after full proof, be excluded the society; and if any members of our society purchase a slave, the ensuing quarterly-meeting conference shall determine on the number of years which the slave so purchased should serve to work out the price of his purchase; and the person so purchasing shall, immediately after such determination, execute a legal instrument for the manumission of such slave at the expiration of the time determined by the quarterly-meeting conference; and in default of his executing such instrument of manumission, or on his refusal to submit his case to the judgment of the quarterly-meeting conference, such member shall be excluded the society: Provided, that in the case of a female slave, it shall be inserted in the aforesaid instrument of manumission that all her children who shall be born during the years of her servitude shall be free at the following times, viz.; every female child at the age of twenty-one, and every male child at the age of twenty-five: Provided, also, that if a member of our society shall buy a slave with a certificate of future emancipation, the terms of emancipation shall, notwithstanding, be subject to the decision of the quarterly-meeting conference. Nevertheless, the members of our societies in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia shall be exempted from the operations of the above rules.