advoc[ac]y of any cause is mainly, if not wholly, attributable to zeal, tempered with discretion. While listen[ing] to your remarks, and witnessing the glowing ardor which animated your features while describing the feelings of the injured, and the miseries of the oppressed, I felt a secret hope that those feelings of just indignation, and that spirit of honest denunciations against the foul wrongs of so many millions of the human race, might never slumber until the cruel fetters which bound the limbs of the last slave should be broken off, and the multitude of wretched victims rise in one body from their loathsome darkness and despair, to the glorious and refulgent light of freedom’s joyful day. But, my dear sir, while occupied with these hopeful feelings, I was much hurt to hear (upon a question from one of the audience, as to when and where the circumstances alluded to had taken place) a most violent and vituperative attack upon the main body of the Ministers of the Gospel, imputing to them motives most mean and dishonorable,³No text of Douglass’s Springfield lecture has been located. In an editorial in the North Star, Douglass attributed the recent decline in antislavery sentiment in Springfield to the establishment of a federal arsenal and the surge of evangelicalism in the city. “The one is ready to fight,” he wrote, “and the other ready to pray for slavery.” NS, 11 February 1848. and which, as a body, upon sober reflection, you will, I think, feel, if you do not admit it, they do not deserve; yet while there are many whose actions are ill in accordance with the doctrines of that blessed gospel which “proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that are bound,”⁴Isa. 61:1. and whose conduct is a reproach to the cause of their Master; yet I trust there are [nu]mbers to be found whose characters are unimpeachable, and whose whole lives have been devoted to the good of mankind, and who are ever found foremost in redressing the grievances of the wronged, and firmly and faithfully advocating the liberty of the captive and the cause of the oppressed.

It is then to the unconditional and sweeping censure, together with the contemptuous ridicule which you cast upon them, as a body that I advert, as likely to do the cause an irreparable injury; for you well know, sir, that in almost all public meetings, there are but too many who exult in a reproach brought upon the ministers of religion, and are thereby led to treat its sacred cause with scoffing and contempt; and who are they generally? Are they the individuals whom you expect to sympathize in the sufferings of the poor slave, or aid him in gaining his freedom? I think they do not. But let the answer as to who they are, who both feel and do most, be found in the donations and subscriptions usually made in aid of the cause of emancipation. Now, sir, permit me to say, that as the wisest policy, is ever based upon truth, so I can conceive no effort secure, even in the cause of truth, but that which is supported by discretion. Much, sir, as I admire the undaunted boldness of a Nathan,⁵Nathan, a Hebrew prophet and priest in the courts of King David and King Solomon, emphasized the need for spirituality and high morals and criticized David for an illicit affair with Bathsheba. 2 Sam. 12:7–10; Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 4:1029–30. or the unflinching courage of a Paul,⁶Paul the Apostle, known as Saul until his conversion, evangelized to the first-century Roman Empire, including Asia Minor and Europe. His interpretations of Christ’s teachings led to the establishment of Christianity as a religion separate from Judaism, of which it previously had been a sect. Most of the information about Paul is obtained through his Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles. Rom. 11:13; Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:186–99. yet incomparably above these is the example of Him who “spake as never man