Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-03-01

1ti
1t is from sect that the objection comes, ahd i, as
rankly proslaycry as any Shareholders needs wish
to have it.
Slaves are such hy being denied the otportuni.
" OF seli-government. The masters will is made
tho slaves law. The slaves conscience and iudg.
meht are ignored. Whoever questions the right
OF conscience to be free; or its competency for the
government Of its owner, does 1t in the service u
slavery. Whoever offers Il substitute for conscience
does it in the service of slavery. Whoever claims
autho. ity over o~thers-essays to rule, though only
as John Wesley proposed to rule his wife, with
ever SO gentle II hand" does it in the service o,
slavery. Order" is the word that sectarianism i.
ever canting, in concert with the ,ilest and bloodi.
est despots. Its order" is the reputation OF
conscience, the denial Of Gods present and uni
ycrsal inspiration, the substitution of its hotch-
poseh legislation, for the living law which the Fa-
thcr of spirits writes on the hearts of the hamblest
OF his children. Antislavery is freedom to attend
to this inspiration. to follow this living law. Not
to talk 10 order, nor to abstain from talking, about
slavery south of Mason and Dixon's line, but the
practice of freedom on tie spot we occupy. There
is an Order" which sis heavens first law" Gods
children in communion with his infinite and eter-
nal spirit, and guided 10y its all-suficiency is that
"order.' This law of the holy spirit is high and
broad, and deep, and all .searching. No way of
i~niquity' but it will reach out, no "refuge of lies"
it IS not competent to dcmolish sects in all their
varieties are the devices to escape thercfrom adapt
ed precisely to the form and degree of unfaithful-
ness whigh calls them into existence. Anti-slavcry
is the acknowledges Of the absolute authority
of this "higher law" and the reputation Of all
other as spurious. People met together in a NOM
inal anti-slavery meeting, the work to be accom-
plished therein, if it is true to its name, is to d.
rect attention, AMI to promote obedience, to that
measure of light which is given to each to profit
withal. p No preaching, lecturing, writing, no agi-
taton is any further anti-slayery, than as it pro-
notes this end. To dwell on the atrocities of
Southern slavery before a Northern audience, may
be but to afford opportunity for pharisaic compare
son. and to minister to pharisaic pride. Or it may
be to bring home to each conscience, the sense of
each individuals guilt in tho perpctuation of sla.
very. The former is pIoslavery work, the latter
only is anti-slavery. On such an occasion, Ameri-
can chattel slavery either is the question that needs
to be pressed upon the peoples attention, or tits
not. If it is, if on that question the spirit of God
is striving with them, if in their souls culture, at
tention to that question is in SEASON." in order,
nothing nearer home, no whisper of conscience to
remind them of some still more cherished sin,
which more easily besetS them, then what guaran-
tee that this work shall lie prosecuted, like tie
guarantee of an utter absence of all outward au-
thority, giving conscience fair play, no law but the
law which God there writes in living characters of
light, no authority but His own. Is it not on be-
half Of truth and right that the boast is ever made,
that for its success it requires rothing but a clear
stage and no favor. But if this is not the question,
.ine-being guilt lies hid, the besetting sin, then
before all things else, Gods order requires that
this shall be attended to, and whatever interferes
with this work, be it in the name of anti slavery
or order it is evil and only evil.
On the peculiar path of each individual, God
sheds His light. All men, in their endlessly d.
versitied circumstances, each has his MEASURE
10 follow each his own degree is what God re-
quires, and all he requires. The institution of sla-
very has been built up, and is now sustained and
spreading itself, by u process no more formidable
or imposing, than that of the li'tle-by-little process
of individual untaithfulness to the timc-being
N'S VI I'6htI Az huiSlCIlIiR u COtSClCICc,
the still small voice Of Gods Holy Spirit, and as it
has been built, SO only can it be demolished, by no
summary methods but hy reversing the little-by-
little process Of individual unfaithfulness to the
time-being measure of light, obedience, a step at
once, following the light as il advances and bright
ems, keeping with it, neither slower nor quicker.
camping whore it rests, journoyins where it moves
W hoeyer does this, is doing his part in aUolishing
slavery, is taking the infalliable, and the only in.
falliable method. Whoever does it not, is doing
his part towards building up and porpetuating sla-
very. y Shareholder, in obedience to this light,
relaxing the severity of his rule, increasing the
material comforts Of his slave, foregoing a few
hundred dollars for tie sake of keeping a slave
family together, may be doing his part as truly,
as acceptabiy. in the sight of God, considering Ills
circumstances, as Northern abolitionist in fore
going the honor and emolunents of Yro-slayery
Office.
1t is the work of cctarian anti-slavery, to undu-
ly magnify the guilt of shareholders, compared
with the guilt of other sinners. Shareholders are
not necessarily sinners above all other men, and it
may yet remain true that slavery is the sum of
all villianies." Rising from the same base with
al mihOi uuHoStcSSiOIis OF lne law oil right, 1t
may stand the tallest of iniquities, but is it credi-
BILE that it should stand alone without abbutting
support? 1t forms but the climax of a mountain
OF wickedness, its sloping sides, every grade of
injustice, down to its skirts merging with the
plain, are parts Of the whole, and all ESSENTIAL to
%slavery's support, and there is lao rational way of
removing the central summit, but by laboring for
the removal Of the whole, each doing the work that
is nearest him,
"With the giant wrong shall fall,
Many others great and small"
Could slavery be dug out from its top to its bot
tom' America could not supply timber enough, to
prevent the circumincumbent mass from caving in
and supplying its place. Better engineering skill
would vastly facilitate the good work, and vastly
economise precious labor. Bringing men to this
obedience is the only available anti-slavery work,