Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-04-08
CHARACTER OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH

OUR readers may be incredulous but we assure
them upon our word Of honor that the solemn in
dictmcnt Of the American Church which we give
below is not from any Garrisonian Anti-Savery
paper, but that VIC cut it with our own scissors
from the Cincinnati Christian Press, a journal
which vaunts itself as the special champ pion OF
" Evangelical Orthodoxy" while it brands the
American Ant-Slavery Society as an iRtidel Asso-
citation which no Christian can touch without being
dciiled. Read!
FAcTs TO TniNK or.-The external forms Of re-
ligion, compliance with which costs no sacrifice.
receive from a large majority of its professors
much more attention than the practical godliress
which affords the only true evidence Of saving
union with Christ.
There is not one in ten Of the prolcsscd followers
of Christ who maintain consistent regard Of his
requirements, and are governed by the principles
Of his gospel.
Probably not ono in Gfty ofthose who profess to
love Christ, aud the souls of their fellow men, feel
any real practical interest in the salvation of sin
ncrs, OF. put forth any adequate efforts for their
conversion.
There is not one in twenty Of those who
pretend to preach the Gospel, who declare the
whole counsel of God, and who do not seek the
praise Of men more than the praise of God.
The amount Of money expended in building and
decorating houses Of worship, not for the purci
worship of God, but the qualification of pride, ex
cecds hundred fold the amount contributed tC
give the blessings Of an uneorruptcd Gospel t.
the destitute. and to those who arc perishing in
Ignorance and sin,
The amount of talent and money expended for
the propagation and support of denominational in
terests-.in other words, sectarianism-exceeds a
hundred fold the amount expended for the dis.
semination Of the essential saving doctines Of the
Gospel.
The Church, for many years, has put forth vast
y more effort for the unity of the Church in sin
than for its publication from sin. This is espcci
IOlly true in regard TO the enormous sin Of Slavery
lt is admitted and declared by some of the lead
ing teachers of religion, that If the Church would
purify itself from the sin Of Slavery, there is nc
other power that could sustain that sin, and il
would soon be removed from the land; yet many
Of the leading men in the Church, those who have
the prc-emincnce oppose tc the utmost all
efficient measures for the removal Of Slavery from
Fhe Church. Hence the sacerdotal robes of the
Church are stained with TIE blood Of millions in
bondage and under tho yoke ofoppression.
Now the American Anti-Slavery Society afGrms
that the Church and Ministry whose portraits are
thus sketched arc not the Church and Ministry OF
Him who came to preach deliyerance to the op
pressed, but an arrant imposture-a synagogue
of Satan. At this the Christian Press WAKES in
dignnnt, and nffrms that, Notwithstanding theii
manifold corruptions, they are the official represen
tdtires IF Christ, having in their hands HIS com
missionof which they cannot divest themselves w,
Nho nlNc 81 IlucH NcneftlOH lOr NhIlsl us 10 ueIl
that His Church and ministers ever countenancet
saveholding with its brood in iniquities, are dc
nounced as inidels while those who maintain
the impious doctrine that Shareholders, their abet
ors aud apologists, notwithstanding their crimes
yet hold Christs commission, whereby they arr
constituted His official representatives earth, arr
held, to bo Christians of typeso immaculate tina
they cannot properly consent to labor with us FOL
| the abolition of Slavery. Which of these parties
exhibits the spirit of the Nazarene and which thai
of the pharisees; which OF them by its doctrin,
and practice honors Christ, and which of then
stabs his religion to the heart let the reader dc
eide for himself.--A. Standard.