R. S. to Frederick Douglass, November 13, 1851
"Doctors of Divinity."
Friend Douglass:—Lest I be supposed to sustain a hostile or disrespectful a[illegible] to the clergy, from the preceding [letter, I] think I am not wanting in a respectful [def]erence to the clerical profession, and [illegible] degree of reverence to all true and faithful preachers of righteousness, irrespective [of] denominational lines. We certainly have [in] these degenerate times a great number [of] living, speaking, acting men in the ministry who have not bowed compliance to the mandates of the Moloch of the Southern churches, nor to the cries of his Nor[thern] jackals who carry "[illegible]" [to] lay out their perverse wits in writing [or] preaching in defense of slavery, and [the] very pious "brethren of the South." To have given proofs of their fidelity to [the] higher law. They are true men in and of the pulpit, honest, and fearless [advocates] of truth and right, even under the [awful] frowns and threats of clerical jackals, [and] political lions and judicial butchers with [their] packs of hounds. Such ministers are [the] true representatives of Christ, and will [be] honored and trusted and sustained [illegible] men everywhere, and honored and [com]mended by posterity, and rewarded, in [hea]ven; while their persecutors will go to [their] own place and their memory [illegible] an [illegible]ing rot. They are wide-awake men, [vigi]lant watchmen on the wall of Zion, and [will] not be caught napping under the [shears of] Delilah, nor hushed and despoiled of [illegible] moral power by the complimentary title [illegible] D. D. from a pro-slavery college. They [will] escape that infliction, as they are not [in the] line of "semilunar" promotion; nor do [they] need any such evanescent and [illegible] titles.
When we find a professed minister of the gospel laboring to justify American slave[ry] by the bible, which is replete with condemnation of all fraud, injustice and oppress[ive]
all selfishness, pride and laziness, which are the elements that make up the concrete substance of slavery, we are compelled to infer that he is either ingnorant of its letter and [illegible], or that his brains are out of joint, or that he is a rascally knave and deceiver, and consequently ought to be promptly un[frocked] and turned out of the pulpit in disgrace. In either the first or second alternative, let him be sent to school, or to the lunatic asylum. If the laity of the churches would faithfully [illegible] their bibles and judge for themselves its plain teaching on this subject, and exercise a manly christian courage and independence, they would soon cleanse the pulpit of all the pro-slavery vermin that now curse the churches and desecrate and pollute the sacred altars of the Christian religion, and hereby render unto Caesar and to [ ] their appropriate dues. Now I insist that this is a fair, candid and rational, and even biblical and charitable judgment of the case; and why should we not pass judgment upon such ministers according to the [illegible] rule of righteous judgment—judge [illegible] by its [illegible]—judge the counterfeit by [illegible] with the genuine, and call [illegible] by their right names and [illegible] according to truth, [regardless of popular opinion], and cotton christianity and cotton politics?
Those proud and [illegible] doctors of the divinity [illegible] will, like many other shams and imposters, have their [illegible] and be [illegible] and flattered by knavish politicians, [illegible] thieves and kidnappers; but Truth and [illegible] will regain their ascendancy, and [this] regurgitation will sweep them from [illegible] which they have defiled, and [illegible] them by men who, like the revolutionary fathers, will recognize a power and authority above all earthly conventions, and compacts, and iniquitous compromises.
These D. D.'s may still find employment at more suitable and inviting stations - on board pirate ships and slave-traders, and as chaplains of the marauding banditti of the south-west, who glory in their valor as the greatest land-robbers in the world. They [need] such priests to teach the supremacy of the lower law and to pray to the god of [illegible] for the success of their arms in plundering Mexico and Spain of more territory for extending the [illegible] institution of slavery.
The scroll of eternal infamy is not yet full. The United States is hastening to supply her share of candidates for its immortal [illegible]. Some faithful and impartial historian will inscribe thereon the names of some of our "Doctors of Divinity" and "Doctors of Laws," which will never cease to shine with lurid glare in its detested emblazonry.
Yours &c.,
R. S.