Excerpt from Minutes of the Thirty-Ninth Session of the Holston Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South: Held in Athens, Tennessee; October 15-23, 1862 _'ijba Committee to whom was referred for suitable investigati plaints'aigainrst the following named'brethren: W. H. Rogers;'wa H; D1'1 11, Wm. C. Daily, Jesse A. Hyden, ' Patrick: H. Reed, J no.' Spears, J as? Gummi g; tess. H. Rhesell, iand Thos. P. Rutherford, beg leave-to 'present the follbwing'r art 1 S'ol'emnly impressed with, the duty and responsibility devolving on this C hfer ence touching the exceedingly'delricateand: momentous iss'ues involved in alriy ass tion which it may take in reference1 to its scriptural hind ecelesiastical relaftior'ls'to3 the great and terrible controversy now shaking the foundations of Church: an State, your Committee feel constrained to preface their specific report 011 the eases of the brethren above mentioned, with a declaration of'a fevsr general facts, essens tial, in their juti gement'; to the proper eihibition, before the public r'nind of the causes and reasons of such recommendatory action on the part of the? Conference as isfhereafter se't forth. F. The-jurisdiction of the generalconferenc'e of the Meth'od'ist Episcopal Chhreli having been entirely dissolved over'the Conferences of the slaveholding States, in May, L845, by 3. Convention of Delegatesformazlly appomt'ed in pursuance; of a Plan of Separation adopted by General Conferen'ce of the Methodist Episcopal: Church in 1844, the Church in'the sla'veholding States, in hef primary assemblies, the Quarterly'and Annual Conferences, with a unanimity unparalelled infecclesil astica'l'history, approved the 'cours'e of the delegates, and declared her conviction that a separate and independent jurisdiction was necessary to her existenee and' prosperity; In the judgement of the wisest and best men throughout the South and Sohth'west at that time, a conviction since attested by the most overwhelmu'. Ing'. Proofs, ) the continued agitation'of the subjectlof slavery, and its actual and2 practical'abolit'ion in some portions of the'south, not o'nly rendered necessary; but' absolutely demanded separation from the N orthern portion of the Church, in ms der tothe'suc'ce'ssful preaching of the Gospel in the South, and the establishment of Christ'er Kingdom in the hearts of both' master and slave. F s 3 W. The history of the Methodist Episcopal' Church South www tion in 1845 has furnished, and. Still furnishes, multiplied evidences of thelwisdorn maxing sagacity of the fathers and chief masters of So'uthern Methodis'm at, that time, in having divorced themselves and flocks from the ecclesiasticalj uris'i risdiction of those who came amongst them as wolves in'sheep's clothin-gxiopegn; ly and covertly underm1ni1'1g the foundations of our social system, stirring tip internal commotion, aiding and counselling the sedition anddnsurre'ction (sf our' slaves, by, alienating them from their masters and disafi'ecting themtowar'dsitheir pr'ovidential allotment. I It is with profound regret that it remains td be Written, as the sequel ofthis an: holy and anti-scriptural crusade of abolition fanaticism and higher-law infidelity} against the Southern Institutions generalllly, that it has eventually culminated in the permanent. And irrevocable dissolution bfrithe federal'government; and has {baited upon the sovereign people of the Snuthern States (as the case of the South l-fiff H m if. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com