Page:A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America.djvu/71

 brethren, and they were encouraged to hope that their request would be granted, but they found their hope to be of short duration when they heard from the New-York Annual Conference, for that body, in their report, gave them to understand that they could do nothing for them, except they renounce the form of discipline which they had selected and adopted, and be willing to be governed by the old Discipline. We will also give a copy of their report, which reads as follows: viz. The committee, to whom was referred the Memorial of the Africans in the city of New-York and other places, together with the accompanying documents, after due consideration, report as follows: 1. The committee conceive that humanity and religion combine to influence us to do all in our power for the instruction and salvation of coloured people. To have the pure word of life preached among them, and the discipline and ordinances of the Gospel faithfully administered, is of indispensable necessity, and requisite to their happiness and prosperity. It is believed that in these respects we have cause to charge ourselves with too little attention to their spiritual interest, and as though they were an inferior class of beings, they have too often been treated with unwarrantable neglect. It is to be feared that their loss of confidence in us, and the consequent measures which many of them have pursued, may, in a considerable degree, be traced to our neglect as the cause. But painful as this consideration is, we cannot approve of the course which our coloured brethren have taken in separating