Faculty Report on Student Anti-Slavery Society 1835

on which the public mind is extensively & highly excited, & on which the members of this Seminary are already much divided. But this is not all. Should we consent to your organzing an anti-slavery Society, we have been distinctly informed, that others, considering the agreement of last February as broken, would petition for leave to form a colonization society, & others still, a society auxiliary to the American Union. These societies must of course be admitted, if we admit the one which you propose. You see then what our condition would be. In this Sacred Seminary, designed to promote the knowledge of divine truth & the peaceful spirit of the gospel, we should have the societies, two against one, & one against two, holding public meetings from time to time for the discussion of subjects, which, as experience abundantly shows, cannot be discussed in their present form, & by men of different opinions, without the hazard of producing unhallowed excitements. And under these excitements, what would become of the spirit of paternal love & union? Indeed what assurance could we have that this seat of sacred science, which should always be the abode of love & kindness & harmony, would not

short time, become a scene of envying & strife & every evening evil work.-- Far distant be the day, where such a calamity shall come upon the school of the prophets!-- It is our earnest desire that you & all your brethren would join with us in guarding this Seminary against any approaches to a condition so much to be deprecated.

Again. The formation of the proposed society ^would in our judgement, interfere with the spirit of piety among the students, & with their usefulness in the ministry.-- If you would be useful in the highest degree, which we trust is your aim, you must, as the apostle directs, "give yourselves wholly" to your appropriate work as ministers of Christ & must, in a great measure, withdraw yourselves from many other things, which may be ^{lawful &} proper for other men. But in the present case there is something still more to be feared than a diversion of your minds from your appropriate work.-- The business you have thought of is of such a kind, that you cannot enlist in it, without the danger of being so excited as to occasion a direct inquiry to your piety, to your ministerial usefulness, & to all the interests of the church. This convention is fored upon us by facts of a painful nature.

But we refer the matter to your own judgement. If you carefully observed those persons,-- ministers, Christians, or even pious youth in a course of education, whether in this place or elsewhere, who have suffered themselves to take an active part in discussions on this exciting subject,-- you will not need to be told, what a temper it begats,-- with what feelings it fills the mind; what effect it has upon the duties of devotion;-- & what an unwonted aspect it imparts to the character:-- you will not need to be told, how it grieves the Spirit of God, how it prevents a revival of religion, or puts a sudden stop to a revival already in a state of pleasing progress. As we love the souls of men & the welfare of the church, we cannot but be alarmed at any appearances of that which we see to be such a hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Finally. Organizing an anti-slavery society here would be taking sides in favor of a particular system of opinions & measures, which a great part of the community look upon with deep distrust & fear. Now we cannot think it a mark of sound discretion for young men, in either stage of education,

especially for those who are to be set apart to spiritual, holy work of the ministry, to be in haste to enlist in an enterprise, which, besides being foreign to their great work, most unhappily divides the public, & is strongly disapproved by so large a proportion of the wisest & best men in the land,-- & which may possibly lead to results that will be painful to every benevolent heart.

We presume it is altogether unnecessary for us to say that it is far from our intentions or wishes to hider you in the least from enjoying that perfect freedom of inquiry on this subject, which every member of the Seminary enjoys on all other subjects, or to abridge the liberty you have to discuss any question, & to form & express your own opinions as individuals What we now have in view if the formation of an anyti-slavery society in the Seminary. It is this, together with its natural and necessary consequences, that we contemplate with fear, & that we cannot but regard as incompatible with the improvement & future usefulness of the students, & with all the great interests of the Seminary.

The positon which you & your brethren took on

this subject last February, with such happy unanimity, we approve as heartily now as we did then. It was a very honorable compromise, a fair & deliberate agreement among Christians of different opinions, on the broad prinicple of public spirit, & of mutual candor & forbearance. We are particularly desirous that you should at this time carefully re-peruse the papers which were then published, as they very clearly exhibit the principles which we think important to to be adopted both by Professors & Students. We are unable to see any reason for departing from those principles. On the contrary, every passing month has presented new reasons for adhering to them.-- And we cannot tell you how much pleasure we shall enjoy, if we can again see you as fully satisfied with those principles as you all were at the time when they were adopted & if we can see you & your fellow students continue in that happy state of peace & order, which has been so gratifying to us & to the community at large & which would render this Seminary, in this respect at least, worthy of being regarded as a pattern to other literary & religious institutions.

Thus, gentlemen, we have disclosed to you the considerations on which our judgement rests in regard to the subject which you have submitted to our consideration.