O. S. to Frederick Douglass, July 1852
Cotton Divinity and Infidelity.
Mr. Editor:—As an antidote to the infidel tendency of cotton divinity, I send you a letter sometime since addressed to a former member of Congress from New York, a gentleman distinguished in politics and literature, but whose faith in Christianity had been shaken by its pro-slavery ministers and professors.
O. S.
July, 1852.
"And now, my dear sir, permit me without offence, and in all the frankness of friendship, to turn to another and a very important subject. It was with pain I read the avowal, in your letter, of your doubts of the verity of revealed religion, and that your doubts has been greatly strengthened by the conduct of the clergy and other religionists. "especially in their blasphemeous attempt to justify by the word of God the traffic in human flesh." You allude in particular to the revolting vindications of slavery by the Rev. Messrs. — & —. I have no disposition to deny or mitigate the criminality of such of the clergy as are lending their personal and official sanction to a stupendous system of wickedness and heathenism. I fully participate in your loathing for men who call themselves ministers of Jesus Christ, and yet by their conduct in relation to human bondage, dishonor their Divine Master, and give the lie to almost every precept he ever uttered.—And yet in these men, and their deplorable baseness, I see nothing to shake my faith in the truth of revealed religion.
We need no other revelation, than the works of nature, to convince us of the existence of a wise and omnipotent Creator.—The most humble plant, the minutest insect, displays and adaptation of means to an end, an ingenuity of machinery, a perfection of execution, infinitely beyond the proudest triumph of human art. There can be no stupidity more profound than that which at-
tributes the fair and wondrous structure of the universe to chance. That there is a God, all nature does indeed cry aloud. Now let us, as far as we are able, ascertain, from His works, the character of this God, and then compare it with that given of him in Scripture, and we shall find a wonderful analogy. The Bible reveals nothing contrary to the teachings of nature, although much which she does not teach. Examine the precepts of the New Testament, and say if they are not worthy a wise and benevolent Deity, and if they would not, if obeyed, render this earth a paradise. Then look at human nature; behold its depravity and degradation, and remember that each man's own consciousness testifies to his free agency. Again; open the Bible and see this corrupt, but independent, self-acting nature, exactly mirrored in its pages. There you read the awful declaration, "The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."
But you may ask, "does not the gospel profess to be a remedy for all this corruption?" "are we not told that Christ is the Physician of souls?" The gospel tells us, "This is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil;" and what says the Great Physician? "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." Christianity was not intended to place a physical restraint on our affections and actions, and thus to destroy our moral responsibility. Hence it is no argument against Christianity, that it has not banished sin and misery from the world. Should God, by an exercise of his power, crush at once all rebellion against his authority, this life would cease to be a state of trial and probation, preparatory to another and a better one.—Why he permits either moral or physical evil we know not; but the existence of the latter does not disprove a divine Creator, nor of the former, the truth of revealed religion.
Christ and his apostles never promised that the religion they announced should be universally received, nor that it should reform mankind before the millenium—a period shrounded in the darkness of prophetic imagery, and certainly not embracing the
present time. But the wickedness "of the clergy and other religionists" proves to you as it has been to multitudes, a stumbling stone, and a rock of offence. You can apprehend how an infidel can spurn the restraints of the gospel, and mock all its promises and threats; but you doubt its power and truth, when you find its own consecrated ministers and teachers trampling under foot all its holy precepts of mercy and of justic in reference to black men, and seeking that honor which consists in the applause of selfish godless politicians. Now, as a body, the ministers of the gospel do not repudiate it in their conduct. There is but little justice and benevolence in the world that does not spring directly from Christianity. It was well said by Dr. Franklin, "If men are so bad with religion, what would they do with[out] it?" But again; Christians and clergymen are men, and not angels, and this only in the other world, that the spirits of just men are "made perfect." Hence, the gospel teaches us that we are all sinners, and the more holy a man is, the more ready will he be to acknowledge the humiliating truth. On this great truth rests the doctrine of purification by faith, and not by works. So frail are we, so far removed from perfection, that we have all reason to deplore the "iniquity of our holy things." It, therefore, no more follows that a Christian is a hypocrite because he is not faultless, than it does that a man who is ambitious, cannot be a patriot.
You will probably admit all this, but yet contend, that to pretend that Jesus Christ sanctions and approves such a mass of villany and cruelty as American slavery, indicates a state of heart utterly at variance with the spirit of Christianity; and that the religious teachers who, in the name of the Lord, bless such a festering accumulation of moral putrification, are either hypocrites themselves, or else that the religion they profess is an imposture. And does it seem possible, my dear sir, that your Democratic friends who are ever prating about liberty, equality, and rights of man, and universal suffrage, and even co-operating with the slaveholders,
in protecting and extending human bondage, and even laboring to disfranchise and oppress all not colored like themselves, can be any other than base, venal, lying demagogues?—Good and evil, truth and falsehood, are strangely mingled in the world, and are rarely found alone.
But admit that our pro-slavery clergy are just as base and profligate as the pro-slavery demagogues with thom they act, and what then? Do you believe the horrible doctrine taught by these parsons, that God authorizes one portion of the human family, whenever they have the power, to use the other portion as their beasts of burden? If you do I wonder not at your doubting the verity of revealed religion. But you do not; and your disgust with these parsons, arises from their disobedience to the precepts of HIM whom they acknowledge to be their Divine Master. Now I put it to your candor: can the lawfulness of any authority be disproved by the mere fact of resistance to it? Do you infer that Christ is a usurper, because some of his ministers rebel against him? These men transgress certain precepts you find in the Bible; is that a reason why you should doubt the divine authority of the Bible?
But I will take other ground, and acknowledging the wickedness of the pro-slavery clergy, I maintain that their wickedness affords a very strong proof of "the verity of revealed religion."
The inconsistencies and vices of professed Christians, were plainly and frequently predicted by Christ and His Apostles; and hence, had the ministers and professors of Christianity uniformly led holy lives, the Bible would have been falsified. The Savior Himself foretold that false prophets, that is, false religious teachers, would come in sheep's clothing, while inwardly, they would be ravening wolves. St. Peter tells us of false teachers, who would in after times bring in damnable heresies, and make merchandize of believers; and St. Paul warned Timothy that there would be professing Christians speaking lies in hypocrisy, having consciences seared as with a hot iron, and having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And so I could go on multiplying texts in
reference to the future corruptions of the Christian Church. Now these predictions, so extraordinary, so painful, so mortifying, must have proceeded from the spirit of truth for every day, from the treachery of Judas, to the delivery of the last pro-slavery sermon, has witnessed the accomplishment of some, or all of them.
It is not, however, merely the accomplishment of these predictions, that should confirm, instead of shaking your faith—how will you account for their utterance? Was it ever known that imposters, in the very act of founding a new religion, and anxious to recommend it to mankind, thus disparaged its influence, and proclaimed in advance the future wickedness of many of its votaries? Surely, then, the fulfilment now of predictions so wonderful, and I may say so unnatural, made eighteen centuries ago, affords no just cause for doubting the veracity of those who uttered them.
Be assured, there is wheat in the field, as well as tares. There is a vast amount of piety, zeal, and Christian benevolence, of which the world knows nothing. There is much real, although imperfect Christianity. God has many hidden ones, but they will not always be hidden. The time will come, when a great multitude, which no man can number, gathered from all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb: and the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
True it is, the religion of Christ seems to have effected little, when we compare the state of public morals with the standard of the gospel; but we have reason to bless God and take courage, when we compare Christian with Pagan countries.
There is also an important consideration we should not overlook, which is that religion is a personal affair; and that whether our clergy be saints or sinners, they cannot answer for us, nor we for them, but that each one must appear at the bar of God, and answer for himself.
And now, my dear sir, may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you joy and peace in believing."