New York Herald, “The Methodist Conference Frightened at the Slavery Question,” June 3, 1860

THE METHODIST CONFERENCE FRIGHTENED AT THE SLAVERY QUESTION. – We see by the proceedings of the Methodist Conference at Buffalo that, after all the fuss about slavery which has characterized the business of the session, that body has, almost at the last moment, shrunk from coming into too close contact with the inflammatory question. On Friday the new chapter on slavery “for the Discipline,” which had been previously adopted, was declared by a resolution, carried by an overwhelming majority, to be merely advisory in its nature, and not at all statutory; after which the exciting subject was pronounced settled, the chairman, Bishop Morris, piously ejaculating – “So let it remain, world without end, amen!” to which we emphatically add another amen.

This means, of course, that the immorality of slaveholding is an open question, and not one of faith in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Are the Methodists getting afraid of the nigger, or are they getting common sense?