Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-02-18
WHOLE NO. 749.

was impossible for to be either unwi!tingly
a Shareholder, or innocenHy STAKEHOLDER.
Mr. Beecher had repeatedly advocated the ep-
pca,ion Of religion to politics 10 the pulpit Why
did be now uphold the missionaries and the Pru-
lent:al Committee in refusing to make SUCH an
application In the Indian churches? Mr.. Beech
cr'u father and brother (standing in the minority
in an Annual Meeting Of the Board) had opposed
the withdrawal of DR.. Banchard's resolution con-
demning slavery Would Mr.. Boechsr nov gus
tain the Board in voting down that rosolu,ioni
Did he not know that tho South side View OF
Slavery was every year re elected a member Of
the Prudential Committee? Mr.. Beeeher cl, 'med
that tho Board spread the Gospel What kind Of
Gospel was itt lie claimed too, that the Board
was gradually improsngl If tho improvement 10
very gradual not to encourage US to expect
the needed amount Of change in our lifetime. why
should we wait for it 1t was said, too, that the
Board had no control over the missionaries
Could they not cut of their supplies, and end their
connection with them But instead Of ctttihg
of the Choctaw missionaries, and sending better
ones They had cut of the mission; and they stll re-
tanned the slaveholding Cherokee mission.
Mr.. Tilton ventured to apply the argumeatum ad
aoninen to his pastor once to his language. an!
once to bis action, and in each case with such
pungent appropriateness to call forth hearty ap-
2lauses from the church, in spite of the pastoral
prohibition. In regard to Mr. Beecher's state
ment that in the Providence Of God he was al
sent from the earlier debates upon this subject
Mr. Tlton said he had supposed this absence to
be under the extraordinary dspensation Of $l00
per night aid that the ways of providence were
indeed mysterious Finally Mr.. TiltOn exhibited
a Sharpe's rihe-one of twenty-five which had
been subscribed for and sen. to kansas by this
very churchi under the fefvent appeals Of tie pas.
tor, and which had been used effectively against
the border rufians this particular weapon having
been three months in the hands of John Brown-
and made an Impressive appeal to Mr.. Beecher.
urging that. the defence Of freedom in Kansas
needed the application of such m cans of resistance,
he should at least send to the American Board.
and to their Cherokee missionaries some effective
verbal protest, some energetic testimony against
their continued com plicity with the sin of slavery.
and against the disgrace and corruption thence re-
sulting to the Church.
II Mr.. Beecher aad kept within the bounds q
truth in bis reply to this speech, the impressio
of it could not have been eHaced. its argument
would have remained unanswered, and
the vote of the church must have gone against the
Board. If the report Of his reply in the Eagle be
correct, he uttered repeated and hagran. viola,
tions Of the truth, namely:
l. The only fault he found with Mr.. TiIton's
speech was, that lit had nothing to do with the
subject under discussion CU
2. The American Board had kept pace with the
times, 'and now stands upon a Christian ka-
sis u y This is just what Dr. Pomeroy said ID
Epgand,1
8. When The Choctaw missionaries refused to
teach an Anti.Slavery Gospel, the Board cut them
off, Here three deceptive ideas are condensed in.
to one short sentence.
! T. Now the Cherokee missionaries had promia.
ed to fulfil the instructions of the Board'-[ Here
two deceptive ideas are condensed into one sem
tence. sa.
s. For the last fifteen years the American
Board had been progressing CHAD been drawing
its bands tighter and tighter against the expedicn-
cies of slaveholding.' The only progress the
Board has made in regard to slaveholdipg has
been in increasing the number of it's hypocritical
expedents to to be moving while it stood STILL
1t has never prohibited saveholding either in its
Choctaw or Cherokee churches.
This long debate ended by the vote Of a very
large maj 3rity Of the church to sustain the Amer
lean Board All the accounts agree in ascriting
this vote to the personal influence of the pastor.
If Mr.. Beecher had supported Mi Tilton, tho
vote would have been unanimous against tbs
Board. AS it was the refprma'ory party gained
everything but the vote. They dihused import
ant intelligence upon the subject, of which the
church, through the fault Of its pastor, had till
then remained ignorant. They made a strong
moral impression, bringing ont the facts which
MIR. Beecher had smotbered in silence and show!
Ing the direct manner in which the Church, tho
ministry and the Board fortified the position Of
the mass of vulgar and cruel shareholders. This
Impression was so strong and so pervadng, that
nothing lees than the sophstical eloquence Of the
pastor, backed by the prestige of his station an
the magnetism of his personal influence, could
have given the vote it's final direction. .aa o
Mr.. Beecher has had the opportunity. in this
transaction, to do a work of immense importance
towards the reformation Of the Church and the
overthrow of slavery. He has chosen not only
to throw away this opportunity but to turn his
influence actively in opposite direction. 1t is
well at least, that he has eFectnslly dispelled
the delusion of those who counted him an abo-
litionist.
Mr.. Ti!ton and his friends have now their choice
to make, between two modes of energetic protest
and persistent labor against this unchristian at.
tude Of the Plymouth church. Will they pfdlsss
by withdrawal from the church. or BY increased
and concentrated effort within Isl Surely they
will not now shrink from r,e further duty that
lies before them
G. XIV.
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