1869 JOHN JOHNSON. Recollections of a Slave-State Methodists. Catechism for Slave-Owners, &c.

A very rare Southern Methodist imprint recounting the life of Methodist, Rev. John Johnson. His ministry spanned Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, and a significant amount of his life in Tennessee. No copies on the market.  His voice was a fascinating one in the impending division between the Methodist Church and the "Southern Methodist" church. He is avowedly anti-slavery, and yet feels that the demand for all Methodist churches to be abolitionist is a piece too far and, from a missional perspective, robs abolitionists of both the ability to help the slaves and to correct the slave-owners.  Instead, he urges unity and the adoption of a catechism for slave-owners that will at least ensure, during a gradual march toward abolition, that slaves are cared for physically and religiously, and that the slave-owner becomes more and more pious. The "catechism" is published in the present text in the appendix.  A family association copy, apparently owned by one of Johnson's daughters.  Johnson, Susan