Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-09-01
COMMUNICATIONS.
CoLumplANA. August 22d, 1913.

Tent, in this pretty village. A %loiner's work
bench is our platform, on which | am writing.
Before me is an assembly of warm-hearted
men and women assembled from the village
and country around to mingle their sympa-
thies in behalf OF the American slave, and TO
devise ways and means for his deliverance.
G.. C. Durleigh is addressing them on the
pro-slavery compromises Of the Constitution.
and on the present position Of the great po-
litical parties, and offered the following pre-
amble and resolution, which have been pass
ed by the convention without one dissenting
voice.
Whereas. the following are self-evident
truths: i. e. that Shareholders, as such, have
no claims to the affection, respect, or labor Of
their slaves; that slaves, as such, W no
respect or obedience to their masters that ii
is the right Of the slaves to run away from
those who claim them as property that it it
the duty of every man TO aid slaves to escape
from their oppressors; and, as they have OPP
portunily, TO teach them TO know and assert
their rights, to excite in them a spirit of dis
satisfaction with their imbruted condition,
! H00 u hllOlt ~ lItli q dhu q uCNCl-
mination to be free
And whereas, the American Church and
clergy have brought in the Bible, and the
American politicians have framed c%onstltu-
lions and laws to sanction and sustain slave
ry; therefore,
Resoired, That if the Bible sanctions the
relation Of master and slave If it asserts that
shareholders have any right to the obedience
- ~ 4 - - 49, l uoo AttTa
obedience or service TO their masters; If 1t
says that slaves have no right to run away
from slavery, or that 1t is wrong to eX-
cite them and 10 aid them TO run away /; It
the Bible teaches that a God Of justice and
goodness eye, authorized the existence oil
slavery in any age or nation of the world
then THE BIBLE is A sELF-EvipENT FALSE
HOOD. because it is opposed 10 the s%ell-eVl.
dent truth that "God made all men tree;
and it is not to be received as a revelation
from a Just and righteous God, but is to be
rejected as the ally Of theft, robbery, concu-
binage and murder, and the foe Of human
kind.
The question at issue is not, whether the
Bible does, or does not, sanction slavery
, The right or wrong Of slavery cannot be al
fected by any thing the Bible says. The
question at issue is, it the Bible sanctions
slavery, is the Bible lie, or is slavery right q!
1t matters not what the Bible says, so far as
the right or wrong of slavery is concerned.
This question is not left to the uncertainty
of the meaning Of a book; God has settled
3 it by an argument above and beyo1SHal
! books, all decisions of churches, priesthoods
governments, creeds or Bibles. He has Civ
; en- 10 man the same argument in favor Of hi
liberty, as in favor Of his existence, and ou
belief in our RICH. to freedom can no more b'
increased nor diminished by the Bible, thai
3 our belief in our own existence can be affect
ed by that book. That | exist, is no more
{ self.evident truth, than the fact that CO.
made me free. If the Bible teaches tina
}. slavery is right, the Bible, instead Of provin'
: slavery to be right, proves itself TO be wrong
, instead Of proving slavery to be from God,
4 proves itself to be of diabolical origin. Abe
l. l~itionists should fall back upon the testimon
h of God in their souls-upon self-evident trut
y for proof of the innate wrong and villain
: Of slavery, ard cease, as dbohtionists, to trou
D. BILE themselves about the meaning of the B
IL BILE; for the Bible can prove nothing for {
&c against slavery, for we have a higher an
more unmistakeable evidence of the right
every man to freedom. Slavery must
'e abolished by uttering sey-erident truths, ar
~ ~ not by an argument about the meaning
IL Bible texts. Whenever. therefore, p~ro-slav
IN nv clergy and churches quote the Bible
In favor of slavery, let abolitionists look them
the face and say, If your Bible sanctions star
a. ry, ii is a sey-erident lie, because it is oppo
$; ed to the sslf-evident truth that God mat
no !. all men free.
The following resolution has been warm
its debated, and passed with only four or fl
er; against it:
..e- Rrsolued, That duty to God and man d
OF mands that we spurn with adherence,
aS- laws and constitutions, all DEGREES of cour
oi and all governments, which sanction and 81
'a' tain slavery, by requiring us to return fuI
= tive slaves, to put down s%ervile insurrectio
IVY by force Of arms, or 10 tolerate slavery in a
ys part of the world.
10. The only objection to this was based
ck- the idea that if they voted for the r~esolutic
OF they could not vote for Van Buren,. "Dc
% the crisis demand that you should susti
de-. slavery or any thing that sanctions III"
"No," was the answer. "Does voting
NJ der the Constitution sustain slavery in
States where it now exists :" alt does
|, is answered the opponent. "Then the cri
tie. does not demand that you should vote
and Van Buren in any case" The question
~" issue is, A" Is it right to vote under the c
ave s%,itution at ala" or the political parti
rid the Free Soil party is far ahead of the OF