Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-05-14
To the Anti-Slayery PrCSbytcrians of
the United States,
CONNECTED WITH THE OLD
SCHOOL GENERAL
ASSEMBLY.
BELOVED Brethren :

ASSEMBLY.
BrLovrn Bprruptx-
~. ..1
ne eNS'doIu.nd'y proceedings OF lne AS
oetoiy .. loio, oh 'ne momen'ouS suoclec
" II",oly u rieniun h'ghtS, 'he leI"sd
VI ne assembly Oh lo4O 10 revoke those pro
eungo' NV ~ eN'itn9 P.oOdo'it.y MA
~ 't.oi ~ ~ aPp'oIc"ing AsSeHhocy WI
49, 1919 ~, "e 'ps', "noNe tne Wow.
80 49, 49,, "hAl
pnrsnnnm I"HND VI NS'tohAVNN
Lor 49, r"anaa,c,ii. =. ~ nuH
case the noYt Hssa4bIy reigsa ana'I 49, i.
doiprs Of 1915 and 10 hor;n j., - cH't
the ,9o,L, If -rafarn, n,,rv Ts e. So iaal
,ro y.v will rot -, ~ yo'
C.o,, ~ oomn.. III ~ ~ " T q
ond st ,n p.a,lyy ,.'Oy' '. C"u,'H
f,,,o 40 III a.J ""''" "f" Oe
Us s;nG,j a,J Jaas.I"J u"c - oSe"Iy
N - U"' FO'"''" y " "u""mata
Tbo
,be noinT,I oon"in WHY" n"te lt1 III" 10
will M, onIr ho ,iaL, I Ina Suon N""uIaWal
C,iIouinr. go u "a'S' ~ 'ie
l. ne G'ctTthe q IreSbJ'ertai unity charg-
Is Us WHh me &n q Siaoery, as lang as zoe
rtRtaiA IN munfo auth those UhO practice
H.
Dub UtIOIG proceeding fdrtnGr, let MS IN
quire, what is slavery! The celebrated Gro
thus saws, that the HIGHEST crime one man
can commit upon another. is TO make or hold
him as a slave. In this sentiment the As
sembly Of 1918 concurred, when it pronoun-
ced the same thing to be "a gross violation
of the most precious and sacred rights of hui
man nature; as utterly inconsistent nj with the
law of God and totally irreconcilable with
the spirit ard principle of the gospel of
ChrlSt.' Bat there is another Ingredient in
American Slavery, which is commonly lost
sight OF, but which gives The system its tow
erlng pre-eminence in iniquily. 1t is that
which illegally" denies 10 Almighty God
His right to the service and homage Of three
millions of His accountable creatures. No
man as a slave can possibly be a Christian.
unless you can divorce effects from causes,
and say that a man living in adultery or no.
iygamy can adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior. God has ordained marriage as the
right and duty of the sexes. Slavery probI-
bits it by separating those whom God in this
ordinance has Joined together, and pronoun-
ced the parties to be things and not pe,-
sons. God the slave TO search
the scriptures: slavery forbids it. God COM
inands parents 10 protect and educate their
chiluren; wives to reverence and obey their
husbands; all men to obey God rather than
man. Every one of these duties, the obser-
vance OF "n'eh constitutes a man so far a
On'iS'tdh; giving 10 Uod HIS right OF pro-
prey IA MS rational creature, Is absolutely
i"foluden by The slave system. Hence the
avowed sentiment of our leading Statesmen
In the south, that religious duties and %instruc-
ton are incompatible with the condition of IA
slave, as they go upon the dangerous and il
legal presumption that he is ii human being,
the same as his master. If IA man, then, can
commit, either against God or Man, an act
more essentially crime, | know not what ii
u.s. tor our fathers correctly defined slave
holding, when they said that it included the
preach OF eUerY precept Of the d~ecalogue =
Now, this crime is perpetrated every day by
mnitltudes of the ministers, elders and MEM
Oers oil our church. This is a conceded fact.
And the question is, what relation do zee sus-
tain to this practice, in point Of guilt, or liza.
olllty to punishment
The Presbyterian Church of the U. States
is not a confederation of individual church.
es' each having a sovereignty and indepen-
dence OF Its own, like the States Of the Union.
Inc whole of our congregations taken to-
gether' constitute one church, represented in
me GENERAL Assembly as the whole of the
FAMILIES within a given territory constitute
one Congregation. In this we differ vastly
from the Congregationalism of New England,
which makes each Congregation an indie
pendent body, not contaminated by. nor re-
sponsible for, the sins of any other Congre-
CATION If, then, there be any where in our
church. a man Practicing the crime of slave
holding, we bear to him and his sin, the
same relation that we would, if he were a
member OF the particular church to which
we oeiong' Would we gain permission of
our conscIenceS' to sit dow at the Lords
1SpIo WIN such a man in our own churches?
men we should ieel the same unwiIlingness
were lne man a thousand miles off. Ii we