Jasper Banner, Volume 4, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1857 — A DEMOCBAT EXPELLED HIS CHURCH FOR VOTING FOR BUCHANAN. [ARTICLE]

A DEMOCBAT EXPELLED HIS CHURCH FOR VOTING FOR BUCHANAN.

A brief statement of the foliowin* appeared in our paper sohae tirrfo ; detr.i: , wt think, will be fonr.,l n’- ■ ly interesting to justify the p'lblic ition •' the preceding* in full: I Th ft Grand Rapids (Mich.) Enquirer j • contains a full report of the trial, etmvie- ' | tion nnd expulsion from the riitirMi of! < Deacon G. P. Stebbins, of the town of | Alpine in that country. He was first • deaco n of the church to which he belonged 1 —the Freewill Baptist. Il appears that. , soon after the last BM&identMLriccdeoI two elders addressed Deacon Stebbins a letter, in which he was informed that he , was charged with crime ; and they ad- | monished him that he must clear himself of the accusation. They say : j first.— lt is an established fact tint ' there are two principles in active an 1 open 1 opposition, viz:—Slavery and Liberty. And it is deemed that you, in opposition to your covenant obligations and professed love of liberty, have, as far as action is concerned, supported tfle system, priuciple. and power of Slavery. Second.— It is an established fact that the office es Deacon is Second to but one in that Kingdom that Christset up in this world, and that Governors of States, Kings of nations, and I'residents of the United States, and the offices they fill, arc of less note than the Deacon in Christ’s Church and the office he fills. Soon after he was furnished with a list of the charges against him; and after a long and tedious investigation, the council reported as follows: Sparta, Feb. 4, 1857. The council appointed by the Grand Rapids Q. M. Conference to meet with AJpine and Sparta church, having examined the testimony presented relating to the case of Dea. G. P. Stebbins, present the following decision: Charge Ist. Deception. That in our opinion is not sustained. 2d. Unchristian conduct. Sustained, but removed by confession, except the last specification, viz: the accusation against the church at the public meeting, which demands a mure full retraction and confession. 3d. Publicly declaring that he would support slavery. Not sustained so far as lus_ statement is concerned, but so far as his act in voting for Buchanan, he has-thrown his influence in favor of slavery. E. G. GILLEY, Ch’n. •N. K. Evarts, Clerk. The Freewill Baptist Church of Alpine and’Sparta, after the council of Ministers from the Quarterly Meeting had examined the above charges preferred against Deacon G. P. Stebbins, and exonerated him from them all on his explanation and investigation, not satisfied, called Mr. Steb'bins before a single church meeting, voted him dear on-all against him, save voting for Mr. Buchanan for President es ike United States, excluded him for that one act by a majority of one. The facts-npon which the charges were founded are as follows : In the fall of 1856, previous to r the Presidential election, dissatisfaction took place in the church about Stebbins voting; he has for nine years been known as a Democrat in the town of Sparta, a man who decidedly supports the constitution of tlie United States. At this period Elder Erastus W, Norton asked him if he voted the Liberty ticket. He said he did. Simeon Rouse asked him if he was going to vote for President. Stebbins did not immediately answer. Rouse Bays, you are not going for slavery are you?” StebbiYis replied, ‘No!’ and traveled Oh, as he had met Rouse in the road. For these answers he wfts charged with deception. Stebbins admitted that he made the

answers, biUdcfended himself as follows: First, that the Democratic ticket,which lie did vote, supported the most liberty principles of any ticket now in vogue. That it gives to all new States, when annexed, or at the time of annexation, the liberty to frame their own Constitution as best suited them, only it should be in keeping with the Constitution of the United States; it might be in favor of slavery or not- He believed it to be the duty of i every American cifizen to support the 'constitution of the United States. lie | believed the Democratic principles and I influence to be anti-slavery. To prove this he says that all the States that ever abolished slavery had abolished it under a Democratic administration, which is undeniably so. lie also maintained that slavery covered less territory now in proportion to that embraced in the United

States, than itdifjl nt the time the colonies entered into a compact for the purposjr of protection against foreign toes; that at that time there was but one-thir-teenth part free— Masaohusetts being the only free State at that time. And now out of thirty-one there are sixteen frgp States. .... . . lie was also charged with saying pub-, licly tliat he would support slavery, which i they could not and did not prove. Election came on, and he feeling it his duty voted for Mr. Buchanan. Consequently, a-r-by-tlteclHvf priesf-nnd >.-ld’-rs, the Se-

viour wAs Pilate’S bar, w by the chief priests! tend Elder*, Wai be brought before the judgement seat of Spairtut and Alpine Freewill Baptist ; Cburcn. L' ' ' u 1 All this oecurr? 1 itf' the free RISK-x>f I NTv-hl - ev. r which* rules ns Governor 1 : K. S. Brngbcm, who upon every* public I <»er»sion thanks Heaven that the people i of Michigan are more free, motejcnlignt'enod and less priest-ridden than any . other people in the Union. — Ok'-.