Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-04-30
Ibe Auti- 5laperp Bu9le.
NO CHURCH FELLOWSHIP WITH
SLAVERY.

g: In "a Tract for the Times" by the Rev. Henry
T. Chesver, the writer says
Christians at the South that have fallen into the
great Southern apostasy on the subject OF slavery,
do not believe that Christians at the North really
hold them to bo cherishing great sin and wrong
both in principle and practice. They know that
an agitatng and active ministry whom they call
ultra and fanatical, think So But they are salts
fed as vet that large preponderance the staid,
conservative Christianity of the North is on their
side Their deceiving oracles teach them so-the
Journal of Commerce their Law-the Nec York
Observer their Gospel. And they naturally refer
TO the late action of the Tract Society and to the
very general silence of the churches as churches
rupon the question of slavery in proof of their po'
s;.ion. They nationally argue that there cannot
he any deep seated and general adherence OF sla'
very upon principle, as sin, where the churches
not only refrain from rehukng it, but still protier
their fellowship to those who sustain it, by main'
taining correspondence with their ecclesiastical
bodies, and by inviting slaveholding ministers in
to our pulpits. and slavohodefs to our communion
tables.
But now let these sigus of fellowship be gener-
ally withheld and the reason Tor it be given with
plainness and idelity-let the ministry take and
make all suitable occasions to express the cOnvic'
tions of Northern Christians in reference to sla'
very--let them pour upon it the revealing light OF
Gods word--and let them evnce hearty remcm
brancc and p1rpe;ua! sympathy with them that
are in bonds as bound with them, so that al! shall
know it who hear them preach or pray and how
long could this Inhumau and anti Christian lnsu
. tuition stand such an assault? How long would it
be before that instruction Of Southern conscien-
ces would take place. which General Duff Green
. deprecated twenty.f five years ago? In this view
it is no slander to say that the Church in this
country is the great bulwaIk Of AmericanSlavery.#
And when the support which the Church now
gives to this relic obarbarism shall be withdrawn
by Withholding fellowship from Shareholders, the
iniauity will fall by its weight of evil, or it
4, will expire by suicide under the opprobTium of
mankind
But it is objected by some ono to this reason
ing and to these results You argue as if the
truth all lay on side, when as good or better
men and Christians than you, are practising sla-
very and clearer and stronger heads than yours
defend it out of the Scriptures an institution Of
God To this l answer Are we so miserable de-
fcent in steadfast principles and as it is SO hard
to be certain wo are righ: simple question Of
morals, that we are to bo staggered in our convc'
tions or to bo made timid and hesitating in the
expression of them, by the array Of names. and
virtues and pety on the side of wrong? IL the
sophistry or speculation Of all evangelical Chris
tendon upon what is calculated to receive its ap'
probation to keep me from arriving at certainty
upon a simple question of human rights and the
Areauistion of Gods law Am to be befogged
and doubtful and non committal upon the subject
Of slavery, and the duty of having no fellowship
Herewith but to reprove it, because greater minds
than mine entanged in the web of their own
sophisms, and blinded with the very ink which
they have she'd like the cutie fish, to keep off
their pursucrs No, the truth is not always on
the side of the heaviest artillery the hugest
cotton bale, or tho blackes ink or the most pious
Jesuitsm and you and may be right, and we
may know it, though Socrates and Plato, and the
b Man of Ross be on the other side. And we can
Is say with Frances Quares:
'J.Lord, mail my heart with faith and be my shield,
! And though world confront me, I'll not yield"
But is objected again that to withhold fellow.
ship from those whom we believe to be Christians,
IS uncharitable, and is calculated to rend the
10 Church of Christ. TO this / answer that SO far
from being uncharitable to rebuke sin in this way
ii is the very requisitiOn of Christian charity it,
self which reads Thou shalt not hate thy brother
y ---- % t.a
% *"Tbere is no power out of the Church that
could sustain slavery hour, if it were not sus'
h tanned in it. Let every religious denomination
" detach itself from all connection icih sldrerH and
utter a cain, and deliberate roice 10 the ,cord, and
,etherork ,ciH Dc dOne,"--REv ALBERT BARSEs.