Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-09-18


not our intention to impose yoke upon pos
ieriiy. We aim to do our own work in our
own day and generation, and to do it by
such ins,rllmeutnities as seem TO us adapted
to the end we have in view, leaving those
who shall come after ns, ond who we hope
will be wiser and better than we are,to amend
or discard our plans, as TO them may seem
good. Painful experience has taught us that
the church organizations of our inthers,
though framed, we doubt not, according to
their best wisdom, are not suited to the wants
Of the present age aud as we do not admit
that they had any right TO prescribe terms
and principles ofassociation TO bind our con-
sciences or control our Judgments, so do we
disclnim any right or desire TO bind the con-
sciences or control the judgments of those
to whom our work may be transmitted
Truth aud Right arc immutablc and un-
chaugeabe, for they are of God, but human
organizations, however important or sacred
may bo their objects, must he changed, in
conformity with the law Of human progress,
to suit the varying wants and circumstances
of the race.
We arc nstonishcd at the tenncity with
which so many among us cling to the creeds,
the organizations and disciplines Of the past,
as if they were almost too sacred for exam
ina,ion, and ms If TO repudiatc them were
sacrilegc too appalling to he contemplated
without shudder. We would not reck lcssly
destroy the work of the fathers, nor arc we
ofthougt and speech, aud much of the light
that illumines our pathway is the fruit Of their
earnest tolls and sacrifices for the promotion
Of truth aud goodness. We gratefully uc-
knowledge them as our helpers, but we can
not accept them as our masters aud we are
persuaded that we shall best honor their
memories, not by bindly following in their
footsteps, but by 'minding the light which
God has kindled in our hearts no less than in
theirs. The reverence due TO truth cannot
be bestowed upon any work Of man without
producing serious mischief Church organ
zations are only n means, of which truth and
righteousness nro the end Let not the
greater he sacrificed to the less, the Divine
be subordinated TO the human.
The master error, ms it seems to lis, of
nearly all the church organization Of the past
and present time is, that they have attempted
to find bond Of union, not in the afliniiics of
mans nature and the love enjoined by the
gospel of Christ, but in uniformity of thcolog-
ical opinions. All history teaches us that
such uniformity is impossible, and that the
attempt TO realize it is fatal to all spiritual
life. The church which is united by this
bond is only frozen together, and its ele-
ments must be dissolved by the rays of truth
or broken in pieces by external force. If
l,he ofihe labor which has been expended
in the vain md preposterous efforts to adjust
human opinions TO the arbitrary lines and
grotesque angles of human creeds, had been
devoted to works of practical goodness and
the fnlflment ofthe law of charity, the world
might ere this have been relieved of an in
calculable amount of ignorance, wrctched
ness and sin. Christ has enioined us TO
"seck FIRST the kingdom Of God and its right
eoasnsss," but the popular church requires us
to seek first after theology. 1t presents its
hard skeletons of doctrine, in which there is
no breath of spiritual life. and requires us to
embrace them rs the condition of religious
fellowship. 1t eXpends almost It's whole en-
ergies in the defence of abstract doctrines,
| tho hpliaf nj lairI, -
life nor promotes the happiness of man, while
il leaves the best affections of human nature
TO he choked by the weeds of sin, or tramplcd
upon by the heel Of arbitrary power.
The religion of Christ is not system of
fne-spun theological distractions, but re-
| ligion LOVE. II presents us not doctrines
TO be believed, but duties to he done. 1t
deals primarily with the heart rather than
with the head, with the life and conduct
rather thnn with the convictions of the in
intellect Ii does not indeed teach us that
theological opinions are of no consequence,
but il makes them subordinate TO the duties
growing out of human relations and enforced
by human necessities aud wants. In the
teachings of Christ how little do we find of
prescribed iormuarics of faith and doctrine
how much, on the other hand, to remind
,s of our obligations to labor for the good of
humanity, and to rebuke lis for our GOODNESS
and want ofzeal in this important work.
Plainly as the path Of duty is marked in the
precepts of Jesus, a still more resplendent
light beams upon it from his example, How
striking, how comprehensive is the testimony
of one of the apostles of his religion: liz
WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD Under whatever
circumstances he was placed, his mind and
heart were absorbed in the grand idea of the