Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-02-20
SELLING GOD.

The following is an extract from a speech
made at the late annual meeting Of the Mass
achusctls Anti-Slavery Society, by Parker
Pillsbury of New Hampshire. The meet
ing WAS held in Faneuil Hall, and a writer
from Boston speaks of the effort as "one of
the most admirable addresses to a popular au-
dirnce that was ever heard, even in that Hall
of cloqrcncc. The skill and tact with which
he managed the audience, the felicity Of his
illustrations, the kecnness of his sarcasm,
the pathetic beauty Of his grief over the de-
parted spirit of liberty from the people, were
Of the highest and most perfect description.
The great audience listened to him like one
man, and their silence and their acclamations
of applause, alternately bore witness to the
power of the speaker"
81 remember Mr.. President, when | was n
little boy, 10 have heard an address from a
missionary who lived among the heathen.-
He had brought with him from his benighi-
ed home a number of the national idols. EX-
hibiting these before his audience, he said to
thcm;-'thcse are the idols, (these images Of
wood and stone) which the people in the place
W ! Ihb az uIthoLpiilth ~ nOIoIIlp IH-
stead of the one God our Father He then
expatiatcd upon the awful wickedness of
such worship, and added, to lake it seem
still more horrible, that the people not only
worshipped these gods, but they actually had
a class Of people whose regular business it
was to manufacture them, and sho ps where
they were bought and sold the same as any
other merchandise. The preacher dwclt up
on this last idea, that the people were so sunk
in d 'gra lation that they actually made merch-
andiz. of their gods; until our imaginations
were so excited and our sympathics so stir
red up, that tears of pity rolled down tho
checks of nearly every person present.
remember myself very distinctly - have
been deeply affected by these circumstances,
and have had frequent ~occlsio to r'call thcm
to my mind. | heard with childish aStonlsh-
ment that there was any where upon the Garth
so degraded a people, and it seemed to Inc
an almost Incredible thing that they should
continue in such gross d irGneSs. But it has
since occurred TO me, in this latter and more
MIXTURE age, that there may be a heathenlsm
even greater than that which SO affected my
young mind, and that, alas, it is to be found
in our very midst. Let me explain. You
will all remember that beautiful prayer ofour
Slviour's on the eve of his cruciiixion, when
he prayed for his disciples that they mightall
be one,-to quote his own words, "as thou
father art in me, and | in thee that they also
may be one in u.s. Now | ask, with this
prayer in my mind, when the Southern auc-
lioneer puts a disciple of Jesus Christ upon
the block TO be knocked of to the highest
bidder, who does he offer for sllel Not in
deed An idol Of wood and stone, but the Al
mighty God himself; for inasmuch,' says
Christ, in another place, 'inlsmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren We have done it unto me- ! assert
then, taking this view of the case, that The
people Of This country are in the daiiy custom
Of dra sging their God from his hrone, and
Q5sring him for sale al public a%uc'iDn! And
now ] ask which is the more heather nltion
of the two, the nation that does this, or that
which tra(Iicks only in gods mlde of wood
and stonel Let our common sense answer!
| wish now turning from this appalling idea
of a nation daring to offer up the infinite God
at public sale,-to say a word to the mothers
who may be present. You have two beauli-
ful daughters just b~lushing into womlnhood,
round whom cluster the deepest affections OF
your heart. You go homo tonight, and find
that ono Of them has been stolen by a band Of
robbers and carried off and sold to some poll
luted harem OF the Fast, while tho other has
been murdered in cold blood. IS the awful
thought comes over You that one of those
pure and lovely beings has become the victim
Of brutal lust, how will you fall upon your