Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-12-01
From Burritt's Christian Citizen !
Brotherhood, -.

"Coming events cast their shadows before
them," said one, with such truthfulness and
felicity as to raise the observation to. the first
rank of established axioms. According to
this order of things, VIC have the shadow
first, then the reality. But there are some
events, which have and ara TO come, which
deserve a better figure TO illustrate their adj
vent, than shqdoms. There are obscurity n
eclipse, and other sombre and uncertain con-
ditions involved in that term. True, there
cannot be a shadow without a substance; and
although the first may be elongated far be-
You'd the sight of the latter, still we may rest
assured that they are as iDeeparable as sun
beams and their source. But q sunbeam - !
not u ShddoiU of the sun and in that we have
a vital difference between the two things
Even if the shadow were a daguerreotype |
likeness of the reality behind it, the relation
and the simile would lack some important
attributes of life and illustration. There is
an essential difference between the warm,
%throbbing pulse. and the painted portrait,
however like life be the latter. There is q
difference, as great as this, between the FAINT
est morning ray of the rising sun, and the
shadow of a " coming event y for that ray
is not the suns likeness, but It's liie-its very
breath and pulsation. That ray has to do, as
we'll rs TO seem to warm, as well as to light
the earth. So in the moral world-great
thoughts are not the shadows of great acts,
but the very life-spirit of those acts; they
are not presentiments or p~remonhions, but
the real vitalities of that which is TO come.
Every grand enterprise Of philanthropy
which has blessed the world, lived and moved
and had its being, perhaps for years, in a
thought, in "thc one idea" of one man.-
There were light and heat in that thought;
for it was the morning ray of the sun OF truth.
rising slowly TO the horizon of humanity
and, like light, that thought permeated the
minds of men, until it became an act, then
an enterprise, then a " great fact" in the par
lance of the world. How precious, then to
mankind, are those thoughts of divine inspi-
ration and power, through which God works,
in his own good will and pleasure, the saliva
ton of man and the well being of human
society! And a child, under that inspiration,
may bring into the world one of these ideas,
which shall stir whole nations, and change
the condition of millions.
The idea, that man cannot o,on property an
man, or make him a chattcl, has not fifty years
of age and expansion. If VIC may say it
reverently, the Virgin Mary of that idea was
an obscure English woman, who was startled
from her slumber, night after night, by rs,
vivid revelations. il wrought in her mind Tor
months, absorbing all her thoughts, and all
the glow of her sympathies, and the vigoro OF
her convictions. And its hour came, and
she proclaimed it to the world with a heart
power that reached the consciences of states
men, and stirred the nation to emotion. Look
at that idea now! See how the principnli-
ties and powers of the earth arc bowling be-
fore it. See it sweeping over continents, and
moving governments, and peoples, and the
worlds Indignation, against slavery. Who
100, lN4Ir - -, ,-a. $3.50. pV1 .Nrrn
and doubt the advent of the day when sla-
very shall be banished from the earth, as an
~abomination, a curse, and a sin! The mind
and will of God are in that idea, and it must
prevail.
But there is another idea, which includes
this, and all others which work for the well
being OF manlSind-an idea which has reached
the first stage of its progress and power, and
is now beginning TO permeate the minds of
millions, of every cline and color. That
idea is, the Fdtherhood of God and the brother
hood of men. 1t is u simple idea; but the
mind and will of God are working manifest
ly and nightly in it. For years. and years
of benevolent thoughts and activities, it
worked without a name, in every enterprise
of philanthropy. 1t glowed in the heart Of
the first missionary of the Gospel to heather
lands. 1t touched the lips of Howard, Fry,
ullu LAilCt, 10 uCttuUS VI hlilttutSS, WHICH it1l
upon the prisoners ear like words of grace
from heaven. 1t inspired the thought and
, toned the voice that won the inebriate back
from ruin, and soitened to meekness the ma
MACS maddened will. 1t has lived, breathed
-, and wrought in all the sweet and heavenly
charities that have Ininistered TO human sui.
q tering and sorrow. And now that idea has
taken a name and form, and is dwelling
among men, as q new divine manifestation
Brotherhood! That is IFS Anglo-Saxon name
and it is becoming a household word among
> all the habitations of the Anglo-SaXan race
/ brotherhood! Ten years ago the term ha6
\ hardly Use or meaning but now it is becom
4 ing the capital word OF the age. II is finding
n its way into the vocabularies of all comm
mites, orders, and professions. You cal
4 hardly walk an hour in the street withou
/. oyerhearing it repeated. You will find j
o frequently in the loaded columns of the Lon
don Times, and in the editorials of the mos
conservative journals of England and Amer
lea. The Pulpit has cEnistened it to hallow
Il cd meaning, and you will hear it often il
4 prayer and sermon. Statesmen and politi
5 clans, who shun " utOpiGs," utter it with con
n fidence III high places; and it sometimes find
a placc in the cold, stiff language of diplo
macy. brotherhood ! in all the phases of it
o new meaning, it never refers TO the relation
of man to man as children Of the same In
man father, but as children of the SAME God
r. That is the idea involved in this new epoch
N word, though it may be seen only as through
n a glass, darkly.
Talk of the recognition Of the indepen
donce of this or that nation, struggling L
= hew its way 10 freedom with weapons fitte,
lie only to the iron hand OF despotism VIVA
y, is il, to freedom, justice and humanity, com
is pared with the recognition OF u brother i
tie every human being, of whatever country
of color or condition? Universal Brotherhood
he a brother in every man! Recognize that re
t%lation, and how, like the morning mist be