Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-06-01

Of miracles and wonders, just in time 10 save
the distressed consciences, have discovered
this moral chloroforIn, and administered il in
such powerful doses, as that now | think the
Church and State can be cut in slices and
scarcely feel or know that an operation has
been performed. (Applause.) They have
made hard and long work for US who have
undertaken a reformation in the manners and
morals of the people. We have been charg-
ed with putting back the cause OF emancipa-
ton Tor half a century. stand on this plat
form THIS day, TO charge the American Board
with having impeded the cause of moral and
religious progress by more than double that
amount of time. How long will it take US
TO overthrow existing social national evils
like Slavery, like war and other national
crimes, when the most powerful ecclesiasti.
cal body in the land, if not in the wide
world, has declared ali national sin to be s'or-
game SIN" and therefore no sin al all.
But you still ask why we attack the churchl
In the name of heaven | demand what else
shall we attack What else is quoting the
conscience Of this nation like the church d
what other body or association has power 10
administer such powerful opistes 10 quiet the
nations conscience. The church is the light
OF the world, no matter where she may place
her light. She may plant it at the entrance
TO The portals Of glory, ard there let it stand
and conduct the moral world 10 present and
everlasting salvation; or she may do as she
has done, go and rear her lightaway on some
reef Of fatal rocks and whelm whoever is
guided by it in swift and certain destruction.
And such is, at the present moment, the po-
sitlon OF the church Of our lard.
Slavery 1t is an evil with which our land
has long and deeply cursed itself. 1t is an
evil so enormous that the Catholicism of
South America could no longer endure it. 1t
is an evil Of such magnitude that the mon
archs of the Old World made haste TO put it
away. But the religious bodies of our land
have ye! TO acknowledge that it is an evil e,
much less that ii is a sin against God and
humanity and there lives hardly a Doctor Of
Divinity on the American soil who does not
extend the right hand Of Christian fellowship
TO the bloodiest slal eholder who ever WELD
ed a cowskin, 10 the most cruel tyrant who
ever wrenched a babe from its mothers arms.
and wiped oil her tears with The caIt-whip.-
Such is the character of American religion.
The city of New York is black with a bap.
tlsm OF cIergymen this morning. | see them
scattered in this assembly. | am glad they
are here; | would to God there were more Of
them present, for ! fancy that before thi;
meeting closes, some wholesome truth ma,
be uttered which they very much need Il
know. i believe that mulritudes of the A
metsDan cleIgysa are Innocent men. hut in say
ing this, ] am aware that il is iustifying thei
hearts at a terrible cost TO their heads
~(Laughter.) find as l travel through III,
community that Of all The men who neet
teaching, the religious ieaCheyS are the mos
deplorably ignorant.
The other day ! encountered three Metho
dist clergymen, and had a conversation will
them. One Of them stands very conspicu
GUS In the State in which he lives, and WELD!
perhaps more influence than any other. They
| doubt not. with the utmost honesty and sin
cerity, assured me that the Methodist churcl
Of the Northern States was entirely separa
ted from all connection or contamination will
SlaveTy-that there were no slaves or slave
holders in the Northern division of thi
church.. ! know not when | have seen mel
so much sur prised as they were when | assn
red them that in the Methodist church Of tn
North there were tlccHly-Seren thousand slate
, and fur thousand siarehoderS, that in tn
! ~so-called Northern Conference were embra
, ced the whole of the State of Missouri AM
! Arkansas, a large portion of Kentucky an,
} Virginia, and almost The whole of Marylan,
and Delaware {; making eight Conferences
ana comprising, as | said, $4,000 slave
, and 1000 w ners OF slaves. Now ] shoul
] be very sorry to Judge these men with grea
severity. They honestly believed what the
said. But appeal TO this audience whethe
they were not emphatically Of that class {
D whom the Son Of God spoke when he eH
claimed, " we blind guides" A great pa
J. Of tie ministry are Of that unfortunate cha
I acter /; they cannot, however, be held respor
| glhlp tOr muabt EprtainlU No inst trihun.
will ever hold them responsible for much.-
: They know nothing of the character of III
9 Southern religion with which they are in tu
o fellowship and communion.
= am very unexpectedly standing on III
c platform, this morning; but ! know not bj
> there may have been some kind Of speel
u Providence in my favor, for ! came in posse
sion this very hour Of a southern newspape
D the Georgia Constituencies, which contain
a letter from a southern clergyman, a fe
II passages of which, ! think, will add We
much 10 my apology of an address at tn
o time. You are well aware that Henry Ga
. has recently written a letter in JauOr of Ema
> clpalion, as he calls it. | believe the edit
: OF the N, A.. S. Standard calls it Hen
: Ciay's second appearance in fifty yeaI
D speaking in dramatic parlance (; for Mr.. Oh
tells us that in 1899 he held the same sen
J menls which he now appears on the sta,
again 10 utter in 1919" That letter has ca
" ed forth a review from a jealous defender
9 Slavery, a clergymen at the South. He col
: mences in this way:
n I" Mr.. Editor Having seen, in a Norlhe
# print, 10 which it had been sent with Il
o speed Of the telegraph, Mr.. Clay's last cha
Y Ter on emancipation (; and thinking its pub
cation, at this special iuncture, likely to
productive Of some evil, | beg a place in
d columns TO expose its fallacious sophisms, |
applying 10 il the scriptural test"
Now the great mass of the Northern Gle
g gymen used TO defend Slavery by this "Scri
n fural test !" but they have been induced fro
policy or from some other reason, TO a gre
extent, to seem TO lay that argument aside.-