Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-09-18
TIL L B U GLE.
ADDRESS no THE PUBLIC.


Assembled in obedience to our convictions
Of duiy,to take into serious consideration the
moral, social and religious condition of the
human family aud the obligations resulting
,herefrom, and having felt it to be right to
form an association for the purpose of pro-
noting pure aud undeGled religion through
out the world and aiding each other in the
search for truth, we are constrained to lay
before the public an exposition of our views
IN relation TO some Of the topics that have
claimed our attention.
And, first of all, we desire to acknowledge
our dependence upon the God who hath Gre
nted us aud all men in bis own image and
likeness, who has endowed us with reason
md conscience, who has allied us to himself
through the sense of individual responsibility
md the hopes of an immortal life, and who
has written in The very elements ofour being
the laws upon obedience to which depends
our present and future welfare. We rely
upon his Spirit to guide, upon his arm to
strengthen, and his infinite love to watch
over us in every yssissiudc of life. We
confess before the world the sacred obliga-
ton that rests upon US to love him with all
our hearts, and to evince that love in works
ofcharity and bcnifcence toward each other
and all men, and especially toward the poor,
the unfortunate and the oppressed of what
ever cnste or cline. We recognize in the
precepts aud examples of Jesus Christ, the
highest aud purest emenoiion fthc Divinity
that the world has ever seen, and we helicve
that noihing.more is necessary TO redeem
mankind from error and sin and ensure their
happiness, than that those precepts should
he universally obeyed, and that example of
purity, patience, long suffering, magnnnimity
and forgiveness Of injuries universally fol-
lowed.
We recognize ms the most precious of all
tho gifts conferred upon us by our bencG-
cent Father, the Religious Element which
he has so deeply implanted in our nature,
which nwnkens in us tho desire for periec-
tion md leads us to aspire after all that is
noble, generous and good, and which, opcr-
ating through our social nature, prompts us
to assemble together,ns we have opportunity,
10 ediiy one another in love, to labor for each
others purity and pence, and TO combine
our efforts for the promotion of practical
Christianity and the realization of the Uni
yersal Brotherhood of the human race
That this element of mans nature hns often
been and is still grossly perverted-,ha,
priestcralt ip oil ages has cnYeloped it in
clouds of superstition and obstrucicd its
healthGnl manifestations by absurd and sla-
wish customs, creeds and forms, is n fac; too
pnpable TO he denied. We could not shut
our eyes to il five would, and wo would not
II We could. But we derive comfort aud en-
courasemenl from the belief that the errors
of the past aTo being disspaied by the rays
OF truth, end that mankind are beginning to
see the benuty and to feel the power of
principles long buried under the rubbish of
sectarianism and cnshrouded in the thick
darkness Of a ihl:e theology. May the light
which is thus beginning to dawn upon the
pathway of humanity grow brighter and
brighter ur'o the perfect day!
IN forming a new Religious Association,
we have felt I'm anxious solicitude to avoid
the errors which have TO q great extent
proved fatal TO the usefulness of similar or
gnnizaiions in times past, and oilen mnde
them fearful engines of despolsm and mis-
chief We have sought to lay its founda-
iions in immuiabe truth, nnd to adapt it to
the highest principles and wants of human
nature. We have endeayorcd to make our
platform as wide as humanity and broad as
our social relations aud our individual re-
sponsibililies. IL has been the cherished pur-
pose of our hearts, not to forge shackIes for
the human mind, nor to impose the slightest
restraint upon men in their efforts TO discover
truth and dissipnte error, hut TO aid in break
ing every ietter OF superstition, every yoke of
bigotry and every chuin of poiticd and
ecclesiastical domination. That our associa-
ton, in its principles and structure, is free
from error, is moro than we dare even to
hope. We set up no claim of infilIbiIily.-
We have simply followed tho highest light
vouehsnled TO us at the present time, and we
avow to the world our deliberate purpose, as
individuals and as an association, to search
for truth as treasure more precious than
rubies, TO embrace il as fast rs we can dis
cover il, and to do all in our power 10 diflilse
It among our fellow-men, regardless of opin-
ions previously held and of prejudices pre-
Viously entertained. IT, in process of time,
II sl'all appear that the terms of membership
upon which we are now agreed, broad as
they are, are yet too narrow to meet the
wants of mankind; or, if it shall be found
that they operate rs restriction nnnn human