Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-10-17
ISAAC. TRESCOTT, | c,..z,
ESTHER HARRIS, o'e'"S'

From the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Pro.
gre.sive Friends, held at Longwood ChesterCouuty
the 18th, 18th. and 10Th of the 9Th month, 1857. to
the next Ohio Yearly Meeting of the Friends Of
Human Progress.
ESTEEMED CoADJUToRs: Amidst the many epis
ties and letters from individuals and collective bod.
les, We regretted.to receive none from you.
In the glad and beautiful spring-time, amidst
the rich g%arniture of the. blossoms, the flowing oil
sap to the remotost tendrils of the vine, the out
bursting of leaves from their places of concealment
where the conservatism of a long winter has bound
them, We have met in our annual council to com.
mune together on the momentous subjects which
are animating the hearts of the lovers of progress
in this age of Investigation.
Humanity (said Schiller) must increase ard
ripen, and from point to point lead all creative time
Thou direst not enclose thee within O limited cir
Gle of the truthful and the good, nor follow blindly
the transmitted customs of old" Dear friends
when we contemplate the spirit-cramping infuenc
es of sectarianism, the terrible power which super
%stition. ignorance, and bigotry have exerted in
keeping humanity frozen through a long winter
night, we cannot but be inspired with sentiment:
of thanksgiving, to see the beginnings OF
spring.time in the moral world. What O
contrast between man as he is even now, and as he
was in the darkness of distant centuries! Who
can limit the sublime heights of dignity and purify
to which lie may attain in the development of the
latent germs which lie hidden in his being! Jean
Paul demanded very justly, "Why create a being
of earth with wings of light, if destined to shrink
again in the shell which gave it birth, unable to
free itself by its ETHEREAL capacities ?" 1t has been
said, 'there is nothing safe but truth. Truth is
never dangerous to anything but error. In order
to know what is truth, the candle of investigation
must not only be lighted, but carried into the midst
of our superstitions. Then, in the light, we must
lCOrh, and dislodge them from the temple of the
soul. There is dignity in labor nothing valuable
is attained without. it, Blessed are they who do
lie commandments, that they may have right to
the tree of life.
When doubts are published respecting the
divinity of the Churh and the Bible, the timid and
the unstable fear that Christianity is in danger
Our word of cheer to all such is, Fear not for the
absolute Religion; it is based on immutable, indies
tructible laws ; it's commandments are golden /;
faith, reason, goodness, truth, must first perish be-
fore this can fail or be destroyed. AS the prime
val rock lies at the bottom Of the sea, and appears
at the top of the Hottest mountains, so in a finish
ed character, religion" of thisfre-proof quality,
''underlies and crowns alp. 1t comes with rich
blessings to the race. We hear its voice in the
midst of Heaven saying, Ye have denied the divine
right of kings to rule ye shall yet learn that the
divine right Of a Church to exercise dominion over
the soul, and the divine right Of man to exercise
az thority over woman, are equally nonstrous ana
absurd.
Dear friends, our position as the advocates OF
progress is one Of great responsibility. Let us not
be mere destructives. The true reformer mus car
nv both the torch and the hammer not only strike
as a true iconoclast, the brazen images OF sectarian