For Frederick Douglass' Paper

LIBERTY AS THE PIONEER OF
CHRISTIANITY

WADING RIVER, L. I., July 1, '54.

BROTHER DOUGLASS:—There is a colored
gentleman in Massachusetts, who is an esteemed
correspondent of mine. In his letters,
I find many rich thoughts.

One of his epistles is now on my tables
dated "May 16, 1854." After referring to
the cheering opening of the spring, he says:
"Oh that we could see the sun of Christianity
as visibly spreading its cheerful rays
abroad all over the face of the earth, causing
the barren places to bloom with luxurient
vegetation, and the stagnant pool of sin to
disappear." There are many sterile place,
on earth that want the gospel husbandman to
make them fruitful. I sometimes think,
though, that we must have LIBERTY before
we can have true Christianity; as the
tribute of the true Christian is the offering
of a soul free to think and act.

When the despots of the old world shall
have been hurled from their places, and the
people permitted to arise, then may we expect
to see the crushed plant of Christianity
raise its head and spread broad branches far
out among every nation.

May we not regard this present European
war as a great evil permitted, that good may
result? Will Kossuth and his compatriots
remain inert in the coming struggle? I
think we may safely answer—No! and
when they shall have commenced their
march, it will be over the prostrate thrones to
light Liberty, Truth, CHRISTIANITY.

The end of this contest will be but the
beginning of the end which is to come; and
with that end we shall see Christ, for the
world will then be ripe.

Nations, like individuals, have their reasons [sic?]
of calm, and then of violent commotion;
and by the light of history, we see that
it is time for another war. "Time for another
war!" You may exclaim, "and this
from a lover of peace!"

Yes—time for another war! The great
human world is a volcano, and it is time for
another eruption. Every volcano must have
its last eruption; every volcano must have
its final calm. The final calm may succeed
this war; and when Liberty shall reign
supreme, Christianity shall sit beside her.—
Can the millenium come where DESPOTISM
is? I think that the friends of the Douglass'
Paper will appreciate this extract.

Yours,
J. R. J.