Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-06-08

nuns VI oOClelJ, anu We0N 10 lHdhtup III u
tional cha -acter it>elf-wheu we found, for
instance, that one root was coiled rdnkly be-
meath the altar, and The other was the chord
that bound this nation together, do not blame
Us it, with a iearlessness that e~vinces a SIN
ceIe spirit, W. proclaimed that Slavery is still
a sin and no matter how many shall run to
do evil, no matter how broad and deeply
rooted be the stakes and cords Of this tent
which you call a Church, it Il be limited with
Tie leprosy OF this lnlquity, ii is ichabOd, and
we write upon it "thy glory is departed. -
\ GU cannot cover it with the garb of religion,
for through all, like the ~leprosy breaking
through the surface, come up the spots of
this contamination Now do not blame us
II IN each succeeding year, tue to our con-
~viction, true to the message which God has
given TO us, we have gone about like the man
In the classic fable with The lantern of this
truth and made its light to glimmer into the
darkest corners OF society, and have proclaim
ed with grief, but in tones that are natural tc
The most distinct conviction, that this, that,
and the other institution OF society are false.
Do not blame us that we attack, for instance,
the Church of the United States. 1t is at
any rate a parJonable error if we overraie its
influence.
There is a dispute between the Abolition
~ ehN hiO CihlNh III as w " wv
Church be pro-slavery OF moi. My friend
who preceded int laid before you d portion Of
the evidence which goes to prove that the
Church of America in one section at least, if
not in several, is tainted with the corruption
Of supporting Slavery. There is a reader
way 20 deal with the argument than that
The Au efican Church is no puny dwarf that
can creep belween the mighty legs Of the po-
llticdl Colossus and not be seen ia lis path
way. 1t is not a dilapidated institution like
The kernel Of the last years nut, too little for
the uagn fcent department in which it
dAe.ls. The American Church is not a
shrunken and shrivelled creature; she is
mighty in the hold which she still has upon
the national heart. She is mighty in the ge-
MUS with which she presides at the fountain
head of nitioLal education. She is mighty
in the impression which she stamps upon the
national literature. She is mighty in the d.
recIion which she gives to American politics.
a politician cannot soar high enough to get
beyond the atmosphere Of the religious sem
timents Of the country to which he belongs;
like an eagle with clipped wings, he %lutters
wild, trying to be the statesman Of eternal
truth, but sinks 10 the earth of American re-
ligion, robbed of all his innate power, and
his perception Of ascribed right by the faint
ed atmosphere of that earth which from
childhood he has been compelled TO breathe.
(Applausc.)
Now we recognize this influence of The
American Church, and we reason thus -
When she moves it will not be for US to place
an ear-lrumpet and hearken TO her steps it
will not be necessary for US to whisper soft
ly, let her accents be lost upon our ears. You
will pardon me for giving an illustration bor-
rowed from a poet Of our own city, Wendell
Holmes. lie says there was a lime when
the whole earth agreed 10 make the greatest
noise possible. Chronometers were spread
over The surface of the globe, and every man
was at the appointed moment 10 cry boz =
Wei, the time came The moment struck on
the clock Of every country, when 10 every
body was SO absorbed In listening TO hear the
noise that should be made. that nobody cried
boo, but one deaf man. Now when the A
merican Church speaks, ii will not be an lso-
lated, peeping and mutterinG cry. The mo-
ment any man tells you that it is a matter of
dispute what the American Church is doing,
conclude beyond all hazard of mistake that
she is doing nothing for she never does any
thing ia Il corner. When she moves, her
stride shakes the solid earth Of these United
States. When she speaks, her voice harmo-
nizes every conflicting element IN the public
mind. When she utters her tones 1t is the
key-Hoto to the music Of every national voice;
and whenever she shall rise 10 do her duty
toward the slave, this little, however power
full National Anti-Slavery organization, will
be whirled into nothingness by the magnif-
cent sweep of her very garment. (Applause.)
When a man tells me, therefore, that it is IA
matter of discussion betwiXt the Abolitionist
and the church member, what this wide
spread organization, extending from Maine
to Georgia, and from the Chesapeake 10 the
frontier Of the West, is doing, | tell you it is
evidence TO me that she is doing nothing I;
for the Church is so dominantand so %uniyer.
sal, tina, what she does efficiently, and with
her heart, can never be a matter OF debate. |
know, therefore, that The church is doing
nothing, because she has left us room 10 act.
II it Were not so she would have filled up
this platform with her influential men, so that
there would have been no room for people
like us to be heard. lntdellty could not
peep, nor mutter, for these pOrches would be
filled with the voice of American religion
Now, therefore, when we come out from our
hiding holes with liule men and women full
Of Anti-Sldvery IDEAS, and find the pathway
of this great moral reform, like the narrow
way that leads up 10 the abodes Of ~everlast-
ing blesSedness, with here and there a trav-
eller only, we conclude that the Church has
taken some other path, no matter what it is.
(ApplausP.) Now it is for this reason that
we attack The American Church.
My friend read to you from a Southern
newspaper d passage in which the writer un-
dertook to try Mr.. Clay and the Domestic
Institution by the Scriptures. He said it took
a clergyman to write that Article. Perhaps
it did but 1 know a civilian that went be-
You'd thal-(ar beyond it. An innocent, sim
ple.minded colporteur OF the American Bible
Society, in New Orleans, forgetting the sub
lime compromises of American morality, for.
getting that there were certain points 10 which,
according to DR.. Nehemiah Adams Of Bos-
ton, the golden rule itself must be subservi.