Antislavery Activism in Lowell
Document 27

The Clergy of Middlesex County.

The following synopsis of letters received from va-
rious towns in Middlesex County, (Mass.) defining
the position of the clergy of those towns, in relation
to the anti-slavery cause, was read at the meeting
of the Middlesex Co. A.S. Society, at Concord, and
voted to be published in the Liberator. …

Lowell. Nineteen churches and as many minis-
ters. But three or four manifest any interest in an-
ti-slavery. The influence of the clergy is against
anti-slavery. The 1st Congregational church recent-
ly passed a resolution, making it disorderly for any
member to introduce the subject of slavery in any
meeting without the invitation or consent of the
pastor! Some of the churches do, and others do
not, fellowship slaveholders. The pulpit of the 2d
Baptist church was recently occupied by a slave-
holder, sent there by Newton Theological Institu-
tion. The Methodists are more engaged in the
cause. On the whole, there is but little genuine
anti-slavery in Lowell.