Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-01-30


| have spent some three weeks Of labor in Portage
County, mostly in the towns of Rootstown, Edin-
burgh, Randolph, and Franklin; under the direc-
ton and with the aid of our excellent friend Joseph
leighton, ! made q very thorough exploration Of
these towns visiting the principal school districts.
and in some of them holding two or three and in
one instance four meetings, these meetings not
outstanding the inclemency of the weather were
well attended, most of them largely; the people
seemed anxious to hear, and the most ultra utter
ances, which | ever make, were received with APP.
parent satisfaction by a great majority of the
people.
There is now, in all the places which l visit a
demand for our doctrines Of "disunion with slave
holders" and our denunciations of the p~iratical
government of this land, and of its satanic
religion.
In two of our meetings an attempt was made to
defend the character OF the Methodist Episcopal
Church. At one moment denial is made of any
connection with slavery at all; and the next, being
driven from that position, they attempt a ~ustitica
ton of the church in its connection with slavery.
| believe the statement entirely true that some of
the methodist ministers lave lied, in regard to the
relations of their church to slavery, beyond all
power Of computation, either as regards the mum
Der of lies, or as regards the amount OF their guilt.
When in 1874 a portion of the southern members
withdrew, and formed q Southern Methodist Epis.
copal Church, it was proclaimed everywhere by the
Methodist Ministers, that now, We are free from
slavery. Now it is known to nearly all their
duped members that these were false utterances.
Yet these clerical ~falsifers have lost no credit with
| thair ieyntees thpv perhaps lka tho chDrch of tba
second and third centuries, deem il. fright to lie
for the glory Of God and the good of his church, y
there are, even now, u few ministers, who have the
audacity to repeat the lie in the face of their own
records and discipline. l do not know that the
methodists are greatly more involved in the guilt
of slavery, than are the other large denominations
The fact is now before all men, that with the full
lest scope for the exertion Of all its powers, and
surrounded by the circumstances of its own Great
ing, the church has failed to remove or hold in
check the most gigantic system Of wrong and out
rage upon the rights of man, and of impious rebel
lion against the authority of God, which the WORLD
has ever seen. Nay more, it has given to slavery
its largest support. A support SO essential that
without it slavery could not exist for a single year
One of two things is certain. Either christian
lty 10 pOWerie5S " relOTm mdDRlnu, or In thle
country We are in possession of littlo of the
article, | think, the latter is the fact.
In some of our meetings the democrats and re
publicans have been moved to great wrath, as w
have held up to their view the complicated mean
ness, cowardice, and unsurpassed guilt of thei,
parties, the more honest, however of both thes,
parties. acknowledge the wickedness of their par
ties, and only need a little more courage to assume
our position of 'No union with Shareholders"
My labors in Portage County, were made pleas
ant by the friendship and cooperation of some o.
the noblest and best spirits with which it has beer
my privilege to meet. In addition to Joseph anG
Olive leighton, Ariel and Hannah Case, deserve
especial mention; their services to the cause, ant
their kindness to me, have engraven their memo
ries in ineffacable lines upon my heart. A it'll,
incident as illustrative Of the life Of an anti SLAYER
lecturer in the West, may not be wholly withou
interest. So l will give it; in consequence Of tn,
wretched state Of the roads, l started with my
friends Joseph leighton and Ariel Case, to e
across the woods from Rootstown to Edinburgh
some three miles. We found the travelling pleas
ant, and as we had daylight, got through without
difficulty, the night however, was without the lighr
of moon or stars. My friends felt the creates
assurance that they could return home, dark as i
was, by the way we came. So we started. Blu
after walking long enough to have reached home
about twice, my friends came to the comfortable
conclusion that they did not know where they were
Well, my friends tried to revive their recollections
and started anew. But after travelling long,
came to the conclusion, that if we d'nt "crow til
We were out of the woods" that that excellen
effort, would probably be delayed somewhat beyond
the time selected, by the best performers in thu
noble art. Well, it was too cold to lie in tn,
woods, and yet it seemed impossible to lie any
where else. However, TO make sure OF travelling
in a straight line, We set our faces towards the
planet venus. which was barely visible, and by
the aid of this loving GODDESS, We got out of, the
woods and into comfortable beds some little time
before day.
Having received an earnest invitation from the
friends in this county to visit them; / came on
two weeks since. and have had full and apparently
successful meetings nearly every evening since.