Channels, Fall 2019

Channels • 2019 • Volume 4 • Number 1 Page 45 Congress via the three-fifths clause but found few allies to form an antislavery coalition on moral grounds. Haynes congregation at Rutland eventually sided with Jeffersonian democracy following the War of 1812 and terminated Haynes as their Pastor. The Rutland Weekly Herald reported the decision by the church to end his ministry. On Tuesday, April 30, A.D. 1818, the ecclesiastical council convened at west Rutland, and, by letter missive, proceeded to dissolve the pastoral and ministerial relation between Rev. Lemuel Haynes, and the church and people in that place. They also recommended him in the following words: “we do also cheerfully recommend the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, as a tried and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, to all or any of the churches, where God in his providence shall call him to preach the word, and administer the seals of the covenant of grace. 51 VERMONT: LAND OF LEGACY Despite his termination, Haynes grew popular in Rutland, Vermont, as a preacher with quick wit and sincerity. After Haynes left behind the Rutland Congregation he continued in ministry for several years in Burlington, Vermont. In the time since Haynes left Torrington in 1788, he and Elizabeth Babbit successfully raised ten biracial children. All three of his sons would profess faith in God. The oldest Louis became a farmer and sadly died at the young age of thirty-nine in 1828. Babbit gave birth to several girls in the 1790’s, named Electra, Sally, Olive, and Pamela, and then delivered twin boys in 1803. Samuel Haynes became a physician in New York, and William Haynes would go on to practice law in Boston. As an eloquent preacher, a man of integrity, and a change- agent, Lemuel Haynes always insisted Federalism and virtue were necessary ingredients to expand the New England antislavery conversation. When young Haynes served his country during the Revolution he walked with eyes wide open, witnessed blood and death on battlefields, and counted the cost of liberty. In those moments, Haynes determined if he were to die, his dying would be for the freedom of all men, especially his brothers who could not yet taste the joys of family or freedom as he did. Haynes chose to attack the institution of slavery through the wisdom of Scripture and the vehicle of politics with a call to virtuous action for anyone who would listen. In later years, Haynes frustrations with slavery did manifest themselves. Haynes openly criticized President Madison at a meeting with the Washington Benevolent Society. We feel a pity and compassion for our brethren in slavery, and pray for their deliverance and emancipation; but we further inquire, will going to war obtain the object? Or is it a crime sufficient to shed blood? Our president can talk feelingly on the subject of impressment of our seamen. I am glad to have him feel for them. Yet in his own state, Virginia, there were in the year 1800, no less than three hundred forty-three thousand, seven hundred ninety-six human beings holden in bondage for life! 52 As a New England Calvinist, Haynes never lost sight of sin, although many Congregationalists struggled to see the institution of slavery as a sin for which Christ died. Haynes chose to argue against the institution within the theological tradition known as Calvinism, claiming slavery was indeed sin and humans proceeded away from God when they enslaved others. One man Haynes 51 “Extracts from the Rutland Weekly Herald,” (1816-1820) 25. https://archive.org/details/18161820r/page/n27 (March 6, 2019) 52 Haynes and Newman, Black Preacher to White America, 157.