Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-03-06
THE ROBBERS OF ADULLAM.

The following extract is from a New Elr.
lanf Thanksgiving sermon. Its author is ].
G. Lovejoy, brother Of the murdered Lore
joy of Alton.
Have you no bowels Of compassion, no
tender spot in your soul on which the burn
ing tear of the slave may fall and excite your
compassion! Is the nation drunk with the
passion of supreme selfshness, clsed in tri-
pie mail of hardness OF heart! | know ma
ny s~pecious reasons may be given for neg
lecting the wounded AMI bleeding slave. |
suppose the Priest and the Levite both had
very plausible protexts for their barbarity.-
They probably met soon after they had rush
el by the ponr wounded Jew, aud had a dia-
logue something like the following Broth
OF Aaron says the Levita, that was a shock
ing ~sight-that poor wounded fellow pierced
in so mlny places, bruised on the head, and
left there to di9-l am not certain but we
ought to have stopped and rem Tered some as
sistance.' No one,' says Aaron, : has a
deeper adherence Of the system of robbery
,han | have; it is a wicked system, COM
Prises every sin, is the sum Of ali v~illanies ;
but mankind are divided into classes, YOU
must remember and that was a Gadite that
lay there in the road - did you not observe
abe mark of his tribe upon him-a descend
ant of the old slave Bilhah in Jacobs flmily,
and children follow the condition of their
mother you know If that had been one of
the children of Judah or Benjamin, 10 be suro
we ought to have delivered him. But again
says Levi, have some reproaches Of con-
science, for | fear that the robbers will be
out again, when they see that WI take no no.
tice Of their poor victim, and kill him out
right Il toll you, Lcvi,' replies Aaron,
'we nave a specific oJec! in going down to
Jericho; we are going to gather a flock OF
lambs for the annual festival, and We mast
keep that end steadily in view, AMI turn
aside for nothing. Ii we should get back
too late for the Passover, the price of our
limbs would fall materially on our hlnds-
besides, would the Lord ever forgive us if
we were not at the feast Of preparation! ,
Doth not our King J hovah,' saith Levi,
affirm in a case like this, that he will have
mercy and not sacrifice" We'll | know
replies Aaron, this is u strong case, and il
seems to be reasonable, so far as that poor
fellow is concerned, but you may as well at
isfy the demands of all who would have us
turn aside on our journey. | noticed as |
came along, that the vineyard OF Amos want
ed pruning sadly. and that the stone wall of
Nehemiah WAS all falling down; now, ii we
stop to prune vineyards and mend walls, we
shall never get to Jericho sStll, brother
Aaron, | cannot get those groans out of my
ears, and that imploring look from the blood
shot eye; / almost wish we had helped him
up--lambs or no lambs, Passover or no Pas
sover.' 'Well, | know it is a terrible sys-
ten which produces such results, ana | think
the whole community ought TO strive to put
it down as quickly as possible Il agree
with you, brother Aaron, upon that point,
and now there is another upon which | have
thought a great deal and should like SOM
further light. There is a whole community
of these robbers, around here upon these
mountains, and their head quarters is in the
old cave of Adullam, where David hid from
Saul. They have lived there for centuries
they are descended from old Simeon, whom
mis- own father cursed for his cruelty on his
diving bed. Now they are g. numerous that
Ahey make bold to 'mingle in good society,
and claim to be respectable, and some Of
Tthem,even pious. Now my query is, if they
come up next week to the Passover and bring
their lamb for sacrifice, whether shall Kill
it for them, and whether you will sprinkle
the blood upon the altar, and bless them II
the namo of the Lord and pronounce then
clean?' 'Now, brother, you have hit upoI
one Of the most difficult Of all subjec,s-yol
have struck the hardest stratum of which hu
man society is composed these robbers ar,
completely organized they live under a sys
tenn Of stringent and severe laws and al
their wicked deeds are organic s'n', the indI
viduals composing the band OF Adullamite
are not accountable as they are for their ow0
personal uansgressions.' The Levite wa
perPlsxed at this remark, and looked up a