Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-07-16
The CO~yenanterS.

LIZ wv CiuHtNlh
There is at least one denomination with
whose position in regard TO governmental rela-
ton and church fellowship, we, as abolition
lists, have no controversy. lis members were
practical Disunionists before the American
A. S. Society adopted the doctrine. Ever
since the organization Of the Covenanting
church in this country, its members have re-
fused to participate in the government, or
promise allegiance to the Constitution of the
U. S., because, among other reasons, Of its
pro-slavery character.
The July No. of the Covenantcr-the or
gan Of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the pro-
c~eedings of the last session of the church,
held at Allegheny, Pa, in May and June
From the letter sent by the Committee on
Foreign Correspondence to the Scottish Sy-
nod, we extract the following:
"Among the churches, no remarkable chan
ges have taken place. 1t is probable that
anti-slavery sentiments are on the increase
but as bodies, the churches are all, with some
exceptions among the smaller denominations,
adverse to any action directed polntedly
against the sin of slaveholding, or tending TO
the exclusion of Shareholders from church.
fellowship. We hesitate not to say, that
much Of the guilt of the continued existence
OF slavery, lies upon the churches. At the
same time, we are g%ratified in being able to
state, that thousands of Christian professors
in the United States refuse to swear the re-
quired oaths to the Constitution, or even to
yo,o hp11i,,r No ,ra do that ~ il n nrn-Slava-
nv instrument; and we are also assured, that
the number of these is on the increase"
In their letter to the Synod in Ireland, they
say.
'.In regard TO the state Of things around us,
we have not many changes to note since the
date of our last communication. All the evils
then referred to still prevail, and are, proba-
bly,, upon the increase. But while we find
much to deplore in our own lukewarmness
and worldliness, and in the Astounding lnlqul-
ties of our land, too much encouraged, as
they are, by the inldcl character Of the civil
institutions of the country, and by the exam
pie of many public men: and while we la
ment the general indifference, and even OPP
position of the great majority of the nation,
to the crown rights and prerogatives OF lm-
manuel, and while we mourn over the disre-
gard of the rights of man, by the larger de-
nominations in this country, none of which
maintains a truly scripturdl testimony against
the sin of slavehoIding, or puts any restraint
upon their members voting under a slavehOld-
inr Constitution, and most Of which admit,
without hesitation, Shareholders to the enjoy
ment of church priviieges-while we deClore,
and lament, and mourn over all these, We are
not discouraged. We are assured that our
cause will ultimately triumph. Nor are we
entirely destitute of encouragement in the
condition of things around us. The evils OF
the Constitution, particularly as a pro.slave-
~ instrument, are becoming more and more
manifest, and the number of those to whom
we alluded in our last communication as re-
fuSing, on that account, TO vote, or swear
oaths Of allegiance, is largely upon the in
crease. The people are much more ready
than formerly, to listen to scrlptural instTuc-
ton in reference to civil government, and.
particularly, in regard to the qualifications OF
civil magistrates. We would thank God
and take courage"
This Synod, in replying to a former letter
from the church in America, thus responds I:
1--WE accept from you with peculiar pleas
ure, the information, that thousands OF anti
slavery people, not Covenanters, have ceased
to swear oaths of allegiance TO the govern
ment Of the United States, and also to vote
in the election Of civil officers, regarding the
constitution as a pro-slavery nstrument:"-
and we cannot doubt that, as scrlpturdl
know ledge spreads, and love to Jesus Christ,
his word, his Institutions and laws, increa-
ses, many others will adopt the same line OF
procedure, taking the high and Legitimate
ground of protesting and eXemplifylng the
principle of ChTist's universal dominion, and
practically testifying against immoral and I'M
christian governments, in all lands to which
the light Of Divine Revelation has been
vouchsafed. To us the defects and positive
evils of the States government appear SO
g%laring, that we think it only necessary for
Christian men TO open their eyes that they
may see them, and that there are not a few
well aware of them, who will not practise
the self-denial, or make the sacrifices which
an assured belief of them demands; proml-
sing themselves various very questionable
advantages of a worldly nature, while they
follow in the wake of political parties in their
inconsiderate career, without adverting, as
they ought, to the responsibility they incur
before the Ruler Of the Universe, to their par
ticipation in the guilt Of the National Socie-
ty, and to the injury done to their spiritual
} interest.
, at was to US, a matter Of surprise, and |
, is still a source of grief, that numbers, onct
your brethren and ours in the highest eenst
, OF the expression, some Of whom directed
powerful minds 10 the work Of carrying on