Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-09-20
THE LAST SIGNS.
A S E r M ON
PREACHED AT THE
UNITARIAN CHURCH IN JERSEY CITY
b ON SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE l, 1856.
BY o. B. FROTHLNGHAM.
PREACHED AT THE

b ON SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE l, 1856.
BY o. B. FROTHLNGHAM
The author of this timely and excellent discourse
will please accept our thanks Cor copy of it in
pamphlet FORM We copy the concluding par
Of the discourse.
Why should system
whose very existence is denial of the Fundamental
and inherent rights of man, hesitate to transgress
! the laws of decorum or the conventional rules OF
senatorial dignity9 Why should system whose
perpetual and necessary endeavor it is to keep Il
whole race down Mt the lowest level of humanity
depressing intellect and soul to the last point by
the action Of force hesitate to stop by force the
mouth Of single bold speaker2 Why should n
system that lives by insulting human nature, in
the persons of women and children, scruple to
insult it in the person of II member Of Congress
AS God levels all men upwards Satan levels all
men dcwnwards. There is no distinction of per-
sons with slavery. Dcspsing one race it despses
all races. Scorning the black man it scOrns all
mankind. 1t would reduce African and Caucasian
alike to bondage. 1t will bent an unruly Senator
as quick as it will beat an unruly slave. 1t will
DO it as soon in the Senate chamber as upon the
plantation. Its enemy ls the independent will,
the high souled resolve, the enterprising intellect.
These it will sujugate, if it can, wherever it finds
them in Georgia in Massachusetts, in the accom-
Of subjugation will always be the most brutal
one.
And why should it not? Must we not concede
the strength and certainty of this deadly reason
ing? Ii it is right to beat and brutalize the Lack
man, why is it not ri ght to beat and nrutalize the
white man If it is right to suppress free thought,
free speech, and free will in the African, why not
in the Saxon, too? By making this case Of Mr..
Sumner peculiar one, let US beware, lest we con-
TESS our own lurking inhumanity and conventional
respect for persons. Mr. Sumner was, first of all.
n man, a man before phteman, a man before a
Senator. lie would scorn ~ accept any privilege
or any sympathy on the ground of his or his
rank lie would claim every thing for himself as
for othe RS. ON the ground of his humanity. And
surely he is right. 1t is no worse to desecrate n
Sena.o-chamber than it is to desecrate home.
IL is no worse to heap blows upon defenscless
gentleman than an unprotected slave. Itis no
worse to strike freedom to the ground in the
Capitol than it is to do the same thing in the over
seers shed. 1t is no worse to hunt the treemen
out Of Kansas, than it is to hunt fngitives in a
swamp, or in Northern city. The deeds are the
same excctly. He that can do one can do the
nther. Let not our Indignation and grief, there
fore, expend themselves upon this especial in
stance let us not bewail the tragedies in Kansas,
or the assault at Washington peculiar and ex-
ceptional events let us go behind them let us
look at them as the invarablo and inevitable con.
sequcnts and accomplishments OF the institution OF
slavery, rs organic results OF the dOc:"Ine that
man may hold property in man. In that doctrine
however thoughtlessiy and mildly held, all mean
nessall brutality, all iniquity, are comprised
We have beheld-ihe good providence which
brings evil to light which makes it necessity for
evil to declare itself openly, has put directly be-
fore us-this last unequivocal sign Of the character
and the intents of the slave power. No one can
mistake it, II is plain as daylight can present it
tn every mind upon this continent. Are we to
complain because the sign has beea given to US?
Ar" we TO weep unavailing tears over this gloumy
phenomenon? Rather, it seems to me, We should
reioico with joy uns2eakabe. We should re-
juice the patient does when the disease which
has been lurking about his system corrupting the
blood and paralyzing the nerves. comes to the sur
face in great dstressfu sore, and offers itself to
the friendly edge of the surgeons knife. For my
part do sincerely thank God for what has trans.
pir I'd, dreadful as it is. And tho sufferers, they
too, will thank God for their atonins suferings
The shades of those martyrs of the West will look
down graciousy, and smile to what IL fire has
been kindled by their burning dwellings. The
noble Senator will bear patiently his pain and
more pain yet would he bear, if by his stripes we
might be healed nay. he would gladly spill his
dear life-blood, if the currents in his manly veins
might but be transfused into ours to impart to
new vigor Of heart.
Should wo not be grateful, my friends, for the
unmasking Of subtle and malignant foe Should
we not be grateful that eyes forced open
at length, and compelled to what this thing
slavery, actually Is: And uow we 10 see. The