Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-12-01
miscellaneous.
For the slavery Baglc.
The Conflict of Truth.

....... --- #| 100 |
Millions by millions multiplied have dwelt
upon the earth, and all, like an endless tide,
have moved onward 10 the dark and dreary
abyss of the grave, to populate the sleeping
nations of the long-forgotten dead. Count
less generations have arisen, each in their
turn, to witness for u while the strife of ele-
ments, both in the moral and physical world,
and then TO pass away aud be forgotten, as
the dew-drop which sparlles in the light of
the morning sun, or the cloud which for a
moment gently floats upon the evening breeze
then fades forever from the sight.
Two principles have ever been at war
within the moral universe. One pure and
holy as the fount of life, which flows out
from the throne of God--the talisman which
guides the human race TO glory, honor and
felicity. The other full Of darkness and Of
evil-the author of all wretchedness and
misery. The one is Truth the other En-
ror.
Their strife in every age has been one full
of bitterness their conflict wild and fearful
has shaken the moral universe from centre
to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the boistcrous
waves of human passion, and like a devosta-
ting tide swept Ger the empire of the mind.
People of every nation, kindred and cline,
have deemed some system true, and conten-
ded against everything opposing it with an
unyielding perseverance.
The Pagan in his blindness,-his mind
oYyoiApnI IN Tho 1roor1v ,rlnnp, HE coY1e
swift pinions iettered by the icy chains of
ignorance, bows down before his idol and
worships at its shrine with the warmcst de-
votion. For it, he sacrifices life and fortune ;
for it, he sunders every tie which binds con-
genial spirits, and in his zeal he offers on the
altars Of his god the offspring of his body
spares not his prattling boy-his smiling
daughter, but yields them up as victims to
the all-devouring elements, to appease the
dreaded anger of his deity. The Peisian,
schooled in customs handed down from etrly
ages, in manners, laws and institutions ven
Grated by his sires, with reverence reads the
Zendavesta; and falling down before the
sum-beiore the fires lit upon a thousand
hills, pours Out his heart in alteration. The
Chinese, separated from the rest of human
kind by most peculiar manners customs and
institutions, gives heed to laws long written
on the records of his country, and vcnerates
the memory of Confucius. And although
covered by the clouds of mental and moral
darkness, yet he contends as earnestly foi
what he deems the truth as does the mar
upon whose soul the Sun of Truth has shone
in all its splendor. The musSulmen, whore
ever found-lpon the fertile fields of Asia,
the birthplace of our race-upon the scorch-
ing sands of Africa, where the Simeon and
Sirocco scatter death and destruction abroad
or, amid the hills and vallies of Europe, the
land Of the noble, the brave,-he still CON
tends with fire and sword against his pro
phets enemies, and wages an eternal warfare
against the enemies of the Koran. .ra.
But turning from the darkness of Pagan
ism,-from the writings of Zoroaster,-from
the statutes of Coufucius,-and the Koran
of Mahomet,--we behold a brighter picture
q lamp whose heavenly lustre the long, darl
night of ages has not dimmcd-a meteor
grown brighter through the lapse of time
no tabled system TO allure and to deceive
p no system tainted by the breath of error am
corruption, but Truth itself in all its purit,
cent down to bless our fallen race-a recor,
undecayed amid the wreck of earthly glory
grandeur and magnifcence-the guiding sta
Of human ~dcstiny-THE HOLY BIBLE.
Truth hath arisen once in other DAYS
clothed in the garb of science, il shone witt
splendor Ger benighled minds, and shed it
hHllowcd radiance far and wide. Man il
his Makers image made already felt With
his soul, its holy influence, and was fas
rising in the scale of intellectual GREATNESS.
emerging from The deep gloom of montt
darkness, and beginning TO clothe himse
with the garments of immortality. TheI
TOO, a messenger came from on high, prc
claiming peace on earth and good will tc
a ward men. He was a meek, an humble on
come from his fathers throne to save a guilt
- fallen world. Then seeds of holiness an
purity were sown on earth; they germinatec
grew, and for a while with vigor bloomed
and heayen-born Truth shed far abroad
hallowed radiance. But, alas! the clouds {
error rose; and as the shades of night cam
stealing DER the earth, so clouds of menta
darkness and corruption oyerspread her fail
est fields, and plunged the human mind i
dark, %impenetrable gloom. Thus havin
shone in peerless sp!endor for a time, an
glittered like a star upon the brow of morn
night, the torch ofecience was extinguisheC
and darkness sat upon the elnpire of TN