Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-11-03
Address to Young AbOlitiOnists.
DRERE1ELp. Oct %. Is.

$50
couth language and abrupt manner may have
made an unfavorable impression on your minds.
1t was the consciousness of this that caused me
to hesitate and faultcr when 1 attempted to adj
dress you at Berlin. An uncducated, unpublished
woman, cannot present to your notice any Of
the gems Of literature nor any of the flowers of
rhetoric and while so many powerful and Gull
tivatcd minds are pouring out their treasures
before you, it may seem ~prcsumptious in me to
obtrude myself upon your notice; but l feel an
almost unconqucrable desire to address to you
a few plain words.
And now, as l am in some sort volunteering
as a preacher, perhaps it will be most in accor-
dance with orthodoxy, (pernicious word,) to
take a text. But then the ancient textbook
has been so commented upon by the 'divincly
called ones, and so often referred to as a war
rant of injustice, that although have no doubt
l might find there something to answer my pur-
purpose, yet 1 will not at this time alludc to it.
l will leave the churches to decide for them
selves, whether THEIR God sanctions injustice
by the book, and go back to that gospel that
was gospel long before the book was written,
that has been written on every human heart
from mans first existence until now, that gospel
which this nation-this hypocritical nation
pretended to adopt as her rule of faith and
practice, namely, the inalienable rights of man.
Well may l say this hypocritical nation,
for is it not SO, both in regard to civil govern
mcnts and religious profession? Do the people
generally seem to believe, that peace and good
will TO men, should put an end to war and OPP
pressioni or do they really think that life, lib
erty, and happiness are the birthright Of all
monl They will tell you that they thus be-
Ieve, then qualify it with a 6nt-and this is
their faith their practice is oppression. Am l
severe? Look around you, and well consider
the state of thing, then ask yourselves if l am
unjust.
OF the right to life 1 reed not speak. The
fact of existence is the proof Of the right to
exist.
The right to liberty might require to be en-
larged on, were 1 talking to Shareholders, or
their nainions but 1 am speaking to abolition
lists, so shall only say, that you are all conscious
that your birthrisht is liberty; and you cannot
have an Inherent right that pertains not equally
to au mankind. Ii Life and Liberty are God
given, tho right to happiness follows, of course /;
or, rather the right to seek happiness.
God does not, cannot delight in seeing his
creatures miserable. He has formed them for
happiness-has given them this fair world for a
possession, and with it every blessing their pre-
sent nature requires. May 1 not say that the
,y1,1J ,ho,ndu p-;th tbo naitvs lie NOT nature
God? Is not God goodness And ought not
this universal presence of a God to produce
happinesss 1 think it ought KNOW that it
will, to all who aim after the blessing; but
those who are unjust can never be happy, for
God and Injustice cannot be enjoyed together.
Observe 1 am not abiding to a fictitious happi-
ness. Some think the blessing is only acquired
by amassing vast heaps Of wealth; Others think
it is comprised in worldly honors; some seek it
in trihing amusements; others think that splcn-
dor and magniiicence are the thing itself; liter
airy men say it must be sought by cultivating
the intellectual faculties while the sensualist
seeks it in beastly qualification. Have they not
all been mistaken: None of these can be pro-
ductive of pure and unalloyed happiness, unless
they are conjoined with a conscience void OF
offence toward God or man; and when a human
heart is thoroughly imbued with this divine
love all things become pure to it, for every en-
joymcnt is placed under its wholesome disci-
pine, and no law of God will be violated in the
enjoyment of this worlds pleasures. Oh! the
divine reality of pure love! itcomprises all that
is Godlikc therefore all that is happy. But
how have mankind neglected and cast it aside
and what evil passions now govern the world
Perhaps you here ask, Why has God permitted
so much misery in the world? Beware, my
Young friend father not mans iniquity upon
the Almighty. God never gave a permit to
man to destroy his reason by Intoxicating drinks,
for he created him an intelligent creature; He
never could have licensed RIGHTEOUSNESS, (even
in the Patriarehs and Kings of Israeli for He
created man higher than the brute He never
commanded men to slaughter each other, for all
are his children, and all equali in his sight; He
never established slavery, for He created man
free.
1 have taken too wide a range, but l now APP
proach nearer home. Yea! home to American
Slavery. American Slavery that monster
more baneful than the tabled dragon slain by
st. George; more horrible than any Daniel OIL
John saw in their - rhapsohes that dead!
Upas that has blighted and mildewed all that ii
most lovely in creation, even the image of Goo
himself; that vile harlot, whom the churcl
has caressed and fondled in her bosom so Ions
that she has grown shameless, and unblushingl!
lifts up her head and claims for the strumpet
Divine origin, to justify herself for the unhol!
connection; that bulwark, that protects anC
~sustains human oppression the world over-o
that gigantic, that frightful evil, do l speak un
to you.