Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-12-29

a most bcneiicent institution. upheld 10y natural
aud rcvcoled religion-in its feebleucss, able to
dictate terms in the formation Of the Constitution
in its strength, controlling parties and sects,
courts and legislative assemblies, the army and
navy, Congress, the national Executive, the Su.
preme Cortland having at its disposal all the
ofices, honors and revenues Of the government,
wherewith to defy MI opposition, and to extend its
dominion indefinitely. Gradually abolished in
six of the thirteen States which formed the Union,
it has concentrated itself in the southern and
southwestern portion of the Republic, covering
moro than ono half of the nationsl territory, and
aiming at universal empire.
Tho victims Of this terrible system being Of AC
rican extraction, 1t has engendered and establish
ed a complcxional caste, unknown to European
civilization; pcrvading all parts of the United
States like n malaria-tainted atmosphere; in its de-
volopmont more molignont at the North than ut
the South; poisoning the life-blood of tho most re-
fined and the most depraved alike; and making
the remotcs, connection with the cclored race n
leprous faint. Its spirit is as brutal as it is unnat-
ural; as mean as it is wicked; as relentless rs it is
monstrous.# 1t is capable Of committing any out
rage upon the person, mind or estate of the negro,
whether bond or free. 1t carries with it the ven
ON Of the rattlesnake, the rapacity Of the wolf,
the fury of tho tiger. 1t is set on fire of hell;
and the flame is never quenched. No religious
creed, no form of worship, no evangelical disci-
pline. no heretical liberality. either ~mitigatcs or
restraints it. Christian and In6del. Calvinist and
Universalist, Trinitarian and Unitarian, Episcopa-
Ian ana Methodist, Baptist and Swcdenborgian,
Old School and New School Presbyterian, Ortho-
dox and IIicksite Quaker, all are infected by it,
and equally ready to make an innocent natural
distinction the badge Of eternal iniamy, and a
warrant for the most cruel prescription. AS a ma
ton sows, so shall it also reap. The retributive
justice Of God was never more strikingly manifcs-
ted than in this all prevailing color-phobia, the
dreadful consequence Of chattlo slavery.
The vitality. the strength, the invulnerability Of
slavery, are found in the prevailing religious SEN
timent and teaching of the people. While it has
been pronounced an evil, q calamity, wrong in the
abstract, as a system to be deplored, and gradual
" to be exterminated,- the act of individual and
general Slaveholding, the right to have property in
man. has been universally recognised as comrati-
be with Christian faith and fellowship, and sane
Z tiOhSt " ~ AAOJ SNi'lNbiOS' W. 'hN'' ~" q"
million slaves at the South are owned by ministers
ofice-bearers and church members, who buy, sell,
+ %bequeath, inherit, mortgage, divide, and barter
slave property rs they do any other position of their
personal or real estate. Attic North, every sect,
DESTROYS Of national extension, can secure it only
by acknowledging sla, eholders as brethren in
Christ. All the great, controlling ecclesiastical
and religious denominations in the land,-consti-
tutlng the American Church, comprehcnsively
, tspeaking,-are one in sentiment on the subject
All the leading Bishops, Doctors Of Divinity, The
olngical Professors, ministers. and religious jour
nalists, find ample justification for slaveholding at
the South. Professor Stuart, of Andover, found
it in the Dccalogue-Bishop fielding, in the Col
den Rule! Rev. DR.. Lord, President of Dart
mouth College, finds it in natural and revealed re-
ligion-Rev. Nehemiah Adams, in the benefcent
workings of slavery, suppressing pauperism, pre-
venting mobocratic violence, unfolding law and
order, nourishing affection .cultivating the religious
3 sentiment, and extending the kingdom of God on
earth Rev. DR.. Spring avows that if, by offering
up a single prayer, he could emancipate every
:, slave in America, he would deem it a rash and cen
surablc actl
/, Such, then, was the system,-so buttrcssed and
:. defendcd,--to lie assaulted and conquered by the
! Abulitionists. And who were they ? In point OF
numbers. MS drops to the ocean; without station or
/, / influence; equally obscure and destitute of re-
sources. Originally, they were generally members
of the various religious bodies. tenacious of their
theological views, full of veneration for the orga-
nized church and ministry, but ignorant Of the po-
sition in which these stood to the sum of all vii.
lanies.' What would ultimately be required Of
them by n faithful adherence to the cause of the
slave, in their church relations, their political con.
nections, their social afinities, their worldly inter
est aid reputation, they knew not. Instead OF
seeking a controversy with the pulpit and the
church. they confidently looked to both for efficient
aid to their cause. Instead of suddenly withdraw.
ing from the rroslavery religious organizations
with which they were connected, they fingered
lorg and laborcd Iard to bring them TO repentance
They were earnest, but well-balanced; intrepid
but circumspect;i mportunatc, but longsufering
Their controversy was neither personal nor section
al; their Object, neither to arraign any sect nor tt
assail any party, primarily. They sought to liber
ate the shave by every righteous instrumentality-
nothing more.
But, to their grief and amazement, they wer
gradually led to perceive, by the terril lie revela
!. tons of the hour, that the religious forces OIL
y which they had relied were all arrayed ON tn
|. side Of the oppressor that the North was as hos
-. tile to emancipation as the South that the spiri
$ Of slavery was omnipre;ent, invading every sane
n tuary, injecting every pulpit, controlling ever.
e press, corrupling every household, and binding eve
ny vision; that no other alternative was presented t
r. them, except to wage war with 'principalities, an
powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places
Is and to separate themselves from every slavehold
ing alliance. or else to daub with ~untempere
mortar, substitute compromise for principle, an
n thus betray the rights and liberties of the mil
e IONS in thraldom, at q fearful cost of their ow
nj souls.
&c Religion is, in every land, precisely and onl