Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-06-20
LETTER FROM JOSHUA R. GIDDINGs.
JEFFERSON, Ohio, April Is, 1857.
To the Editor of The Christian Observer.


To the Editor Of The Christian Observer.
SIR: l notice in your paper of the I'd instant a
letter from the Rev. DR.. Ross of Alabama, address
ed to the Rev. DR.. Barnes of Philadelphia, in
which the writer says: "Giddings has boasted in
that he had nine fugitive slaves to break
bread with him at one time. / choose to imagine
that the Angel who found Hagar at the fountain
stands suddcnly in the midst, and says to the ne
g gssis !. as q s : ssd , Sssns sn. ra%s W. w. s snd f raa'a sss
face of our master. y 4 y And the Angel Of
the Lord said to them 'Ye slaves, return to your
masters, and submit yourselves under their hands.
Then, turning to the tempter, he said Thou, a
statesman why hast thou not understood my
speech to IIager? | gave her a slave to Sarah
she fed from Eer mistress | sent her back. Why
hast thou not understood my words (%uttsred) four
thousand years ago, that the stare shall not flee
from his MASTER" In another part of his letter.
DIR. Ross represents Deity as saying 81 for a
time sanctioned Polygamy, and made IL riyht." !
design 70 interference in the correspondence be-
tween the gentlemen named but l desire that no
Infdel shall understand me as worshiping the
God described by DR.. Ross. / do homage to that
God of Christianity who is immutable, holy, just
and pure in His Whole character, in all His attrib-
utes, in all His laws, who had said to mankind, 81
CHANGE NOT" The God | worship never suspen-
ded his purity, that a Mormon, or Presbyterian, or
sensualist may pollVe the earth with polygamy. or
concubinage, or Slavery. DIR. Ross bows in adora-
ton to a God of ?o~lygamy, concubinage and
Slavery. We believe in opposing Diyinities.
The Gods we worship are as opposite as holiness
and purity are opposed to polygamy and concubi
nage-as civil, religious and spiritual freedom is
opposed to Slavery and degradation of the immor-
tai intellect.
BY universal law of the human mind, each will
assimilate his own character in that OF the Deity
he w%orships. Of necessity, each regards the OBJ
ject of his religious alteration as the highest con-
ooot, ~ ,,nro1 nvoa1Innna hDlinaq9 and insfIpn
and purity, which he is capable of entertaining.
and, il honest and sincere, will so represent him
to others. His God having authorized and institu-
ted Slavery, he will endeavor to carry out the de-
signs of his Deity by supporting that institution,
by praying for its prosperity and extension. /,
doing homage to a God of justice and holiness,
who has endowed all men with the equal and in,
alienable right to liberty, will, of course, seek the
extension of freedom and pray for its prosperity
He would bless the slave-dealer, who does the will
of his God by seizing the unoifending people Of
Africa, and bringing them to this country and sell
ling them into bondage l eoouid hang him, as un'
worthy of human association. He regards the
man who buys Gods image, who scourges and de
grades the Savior in the person of His followers
as carrying out the will of his deity. ! regard
such men- as h~eathens ~violators of Gods law
and enemies to mankind. lie would advise the
slave to remain in degrading servitude, and doom
his offspring, in coming generations, to chains
and signs, and tears, and sufferings. l would say
to the slave: You can commit no greater wrong t
the human race, than to remain in degrading ser
vitudo, when it is in your power to escape, ever
by Staying every slave,catcher who seeks to prevent
When those slave mothers, followers of the Saw
Tor, with their children, fleeing from degrading
bondage. from the pollutions of that vast South
0 ern brothel, asked me for bread, ! gave it wher
they desired clothing, | furnished it; when, in til,
name of our Redeemer, they desired assistance tt
hasten them on to n land Of freedom, where the,
could rear and educate their little ones in the doc
c trines of Christianity, | gave them money, ant
3 sent them on their way rejoicing. To me thei
3 deep and heartfelt gratitude, the consciousness o
doing to them as l would have had them do to me
was far more dear to my heart than "all tn
wealth that sinews bought and sold has ever earn
ed"
3 DR.. Ross represents his Deity as sending an an
gel to order those mothers and their little one
back to a land of chains, and pollution, and sui
ering. | was not aware that any heather god @
, the present day was held forth to monkind q
s clothed with such revolving attributes but
such a being exists, whether he be called a God,
g man, or a devil, | abhor and pity him and mos
Q deeply do | deplore the heathenism of those VIII
o worship him.
9 AS the Deity whom DR., Ross w~orships is entire
Q ~ opposed to the God of my adoration,it were in
possible for us to agree on any religious or poll
!. ical question. Holding, as l do, that all men az
% endowed by their Creator with certain right
among which are life, liberty and the pursuit
happiness" shall, Of couree, do what lies in IN