]
His plan of enlightening the blacks did not include literary
instruction. His aim was to adapt the teaching of Christian truth to
the condition of persons having a "humble intellect and a limited
range of knowledge by means of constant and patient reiteration."[1]
The old Negroes were to look to preachers for the exposition of these
principles while the children were to be turned over to catechists
who would avail themselves of the opportunity of imparting these
fundamentals to the young at the time their minds were in the plastic
state. Yet all instructors and preachers to Negroes had to be careful
to inculcate the performance of the duty of obedience to their masters
as southerners found them stated in the Holy Scriptures. Any one who
would hesitate to teach these principles of southern religion should
not be employed to instruct slaves. The bishop was certain that such
a one could not then be found among the preachers of the Methodist
Episcopal Church of South Carolina.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Ibid._, p. 298.]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid._, p. 296.]
Bishop Capers was the leading spirit in the movement instituted in
that commonwealth about 1829 to establish missions to the slaves.
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