Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-05-08

God they respectively worship, and so may
the STAKEHOLDER, but his God is not the chris
tian's God. However sincere may be the
wo'shippers of a false God, their sincerity
does not entitle them to membership in the
church OF Christ. The STAKEHOLDER may be
sincere in his purpose, devout in his worship,
and in the relation he ~sustains to others than
his slaves, be all a christian could be, yet if
he offends in the single point Of slavehoiding,
he is guilty OF a breach of the whole law,
and does not therefore practically, and in a
true sense, fear tho christians God and work
righteousness.
If DR.. Brisbane was as certainly a chris
tian when he was a STAKEHOLDER and an adj
vocato Of slavery as he is now, we are una
BILE to comprehend by what process of rea-
soning he came to the conclusion that slave
ry was a sin. We always thought the more
nearly a man lived to the Divine law, the
more certainly was he a christian; but ac-
co!ding TO the DIS system of ethics a man
may be a christian, who intentionally commits
the greatest Of all crimes; and then, whom
the spirit Of God meets him in the highway,
show him the sinfulness of his course, and
converts him to that truth which alike makes
free the master and the slave, he is not more
certainly a christian than he was before. Ac-
colding to this doctrine, if Paul was a chris
tian when from Mars Hill he preached to the
people of Athens the Unknown God whom
they ignorantly worshipped, he was as GER
tlinly a christian when he prosecuted the fol-
lowers of Jesus unto death, verify believing
he was doing God service. The worshippers
OF Budha, the disciples Of Confucius, the de-
Tenders Of the Shaster, the believers in the
Koran, are, if the Df.'s position be true,
most excellent christians, if they arc but sim
cere and pious, which is undoubtedly the
case with many of them. That he will not
be satisfied with this conclusion which is le-
ultimately deduced from his premises, we
are well aware and his sense of moral right
is too strong to allow him to be satisfied with
the premises themselves, if we may judge
from his opinion in relation 10 fellowshipping
these christian shareholders, for he declares
it is wrong 10 hold church connection with
them and that he has no connection himself,
either directly or indirectly, with any slave
holding body. The DIS profession is, that
a man who is a Shareholder ia as certainly a
christian as though he were not a dealer in
human flesh and blood his belief, as mani
Tested by his actions, is, that 81 veholding is
such a heinous sin, that a man who is guilty
Of it, whether ignorantly or intelligently, is
SO anti-christian that he will not hold church
fellowship with him. If the STAKEHOLDER is a
christian, and if the DR.. believes it right to
hold church fellowship with christians, by
what authority, We inquire, does he refuse to
fellowship the STAKEHOLDER because he is one!
Here is a man Of the same faith and order
MS himself, with whom he has often held
church communion. The man becomes a
STAKEHOLDER, and the DR.. refuses longer to
give him the right hand of fellowship
What have | done that you should treat me
thus . asks the slaveholding brother. "You
have become a STAKEHOLDER" is the reply
But am | not as certainly a christian now
that | advocate and practice slavery, as | wa:
before 7" "Just as certainly" responds thu
Dr., :" and although | recognize you as
christian, as one within the pale of Christ
church and enjoying communion with God
yet l cannot hold church fellowship with you
as that would be sanctioning what | beliey
to be crime" This is the Dr.'s position
s1l We think an intelligent STAKEHOLDER woul
feel that his understanding had been insulte
by it. When we deny to the STAKEHOLDER III
charactSi of christian, he can readily comprC
bend why we refuse TO fellowship him a
such buff we maintain that he is as ccrtai'
ly 4 christian while holding slaves as b
would be if he freed them, and yet refuse hi
tho fellowship we would freely extend if Ii
were to emancipate them, Ire might well d,
clare us unreasonable and fanatic. If the ID
can reconcile this inconsistency, he can q
more than we have given him credit for.
There is another point in the extract whic
we wish briefly to notice-ihe perfect FIRE
dom which the editor thinks every man shou
enjoy in his ecclesiastical connections, di
claiming all wish to bind the conscience
This is right. Conscience should never
bound; but the idea conveyed by the Ia
guage is wrong if we understand what tn