Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-09-24
What AbOlitiOnlStS Believe.

We believe slavery to be a sin-always,
everywhere, and only, sin-sin, in itself,
apart from the occasional rigors incidental to
its administration, and from all those perils,
liabilities, and positive infections to which
its victims are continually eXposed-sin, in
the nature of the act which creates it, and in
the elements which constitute it-sin, be-
cause it converts persons into things, makes
men property, Gods Image merchandise
because it forbids mcn to use themselves for
the advancement of their own well-being,
and turns them into mere instruments, to be
used by others, solely for the benefit of the
usurs because it constitutes one man the
owner of the body, soul and spirit Of other
men-gives him power and permission to
make his W pecuniary profit the great end
of their being; thus striking them out of eX-
istence as beings possessing rights and sus-
capabilities of happiness, and forcing them
to exist merely as appendages to his exist
ence. In other words, because slavery holds
and uses men,, as mere means for the accom-
plishment of ends, of which ends their own
interests are not d part-thus annihilating the
sacred and eternal distinction between a per-
son and a thing-a distinction proclaimed an
axiom by all human consciousness dis
~tinction created by God, crowned with glory
dUu OllO III llC uLllibhlCo VI llIltlliHtIC0s
morality, accountability and immortal exist
ence, and commended to the homage of uni
versal mind by the concurrent testimony of
nature, conscience, providence and revela-
ton, by the blood of atonement and the sane
tions of eternity. This distinction, authenti-
Gated by the seal of Deity, and its own ma
ture effaceless and immutable, slavery con-
tennis, disannnls, and tramples under foot.
This is its fundamental element-its vital,
constituent principle-that which makes it a
sin in itself, under whatever modification eX-
isting. All the incid entail effects of the sys-
TEN flow spontaneously from this fountain
head. The constant exposure of slaves to
outrage, and the actual infllc lions which they
experience in innumerable forms, all result
legitimately from this principle assumed in
the theory, and embodied in the practice Of
slaveholding. What is that but a sin, which
sinks to the level of b%rutes, beings regis.
tered by God a little lower than the angels
wrests from their rightful owners the lega
cies bequeathed them-inalienable birthrighI
endowments, exchanged for no equivalent
unsurrendered by v~olition and uEforfeited by
crime-breaks open the sanctuary Of human
rights, and makes its sacred things common
plunder-driving to the shambles Jehovah:
image, herded with four-footed beasts and
creeping things, and bartering for vile dus
the purchase of a Redeemer's blood, and the
living members of his body! What is tina
but a sin, which derides the s%anctity with
which God has invested domestic relation:
-annlhilates marriage-makes void parenta.
Undergraduates flial Obligation-invitei
the violation of chastity, by denying it lega.
projections thus bidding God-speed to lust al
It riots at MONDAY, g~lorying in the immuni
ties OF law What is that but a sin, which
stamps as crime obedience to the command
"Search the Scriptures "-repeals the law
! OF ioVe-abrogates the golden rule-exact: