Classic Southern Literature

I find, since reading over the foregoing Narrative, that I have,
in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting
religion, as may possibly lead those unacquainted with my religious
views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability
of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief
explanation. What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean
strictly to apply to the _slaveholding religion_ of this land, and
with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the
Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize
the widest possible difference--so wide, that to receive the one as good,
pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and
wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy
of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity
of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping,
cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.
Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the
religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all
misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.
Never was there a clearer case of "stealing the livery of the court of
heaven to serve the devil in." I am filled with unutterable loathing
when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the
horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have
men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries,
and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the
blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and
claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs
me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on
Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation.
He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as
the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to
read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the
God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole
millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of
wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family
relation is the same that scatters whole families,--sundering husbands
and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,--leaving the hut
vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against
theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build
churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase
Bibles for the _Poor Heathen! All For The Glory Of God And The Good Of
Souls!_ The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime
in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave
are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of
religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together.
The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of
fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm
and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The
dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence
of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his
blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return,
covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have
religion and robbery the allies of each other--devils dressed in angels'
robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.

"Just God! and these are they,
Who minister at thine altar, God of right!
Men who their hands, with prayer and blessing, lay
On Israel's ark of light.

"What! preach, and kidnap men?
Give thanks, and rob thy own afflicted poor?
Talk of thy glorious liberty, and then
Bolt hard the captive's door?

"What! servants of thy own
Merciful Son, who came to seek and save
The homeless and the outcast, fettering down
The tasked and plundered slave!

"Pilate and Herod friends!
Chief priests and rulers, as of old, combine!
Just God and holy! is that church which lends
Strength to the spoiler thine?"

The Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may
be as truly said, as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees, "They
bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers. All their works they do for to be seen of men.--They love the
uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, . . .
. . . and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.--But woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against
men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in. Ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make
long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye
make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.--Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise,
and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone. Ye blind guides! which strain at a gnat, and swallow a
camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but within, they are
full of extortion and excess.--Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear
beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all
uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."

Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of
the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in America. They strain
at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Could any thing be more true of our
churches? They would be shocked at the proposition of fellowshipping
a _sheep_-stealer; and at the same time they hug to their communion a
_man_-stealer, and brand me with being an infidel, if I find fault with
them for it. They attend with Pharisaical strictness to the outward
forms of religion, and at the same time neglect the weightier matters of
the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. They are always ready to sacrifice,
but seldom to show mercy. They are they who are represented as
professing to love God whom they have not seen, whilst they hate their
brother whom they have seen. They love the heathen on the other side of
the globe. They can pray for him, pay money to have the Bible put into
his hand, and missionaries to instruct him; while they despise and
totally neglect the heathen at their own doors.

Such is, very briefly, my view of the religion of this land; and to
avoid any misunderstanding, growing out of the use of general terms, I
mean by the religion of this land, that which is revealed in the words,
deeds, and actions, of those bodies, north and south, calling themselves
Christian churches, and yet in union with slaveholders. It is against
religion, as presented by these bodies, that I have felt it my duty to
testify.

I conclude these remarks by copying the following portrait of the
religion of the south, (which is, by communion and fellowship, the
religion of the north,) which I soberly affirm is "true to the life,"
and without caricature or the slightest exaggeration. It is said to
have been drawn, several years before the present anti-slavery agitation
began, by a northern Methodist preacher, who, while residing at the
south, had an opportunity to see slaveholding morals, manners, and
piety, with his own eyes. "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the
Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

A PARODY

"Come, saints and sinners, hear me tell
How pious priests whip Jack and Nell,
And women buy and children sell,
And preach all sinners down to hell,
And sing of heavenly union.

"They'll bleat and baa, dona like goats,
Gorge down black sheep, and strain at motes,
Array their backs in fine black coats,
Then seize their negroes by their throats,
And choke, for heavenly union.

"They'll church you if you sip a dram,
And damn you if you steal a lamb;
Yet rob old Tony, Doll, and Sam,
Of human rights, and bread and ham;
Kidnapper's heavenly union.

"They'll loudly talk of Christ's reward,
And bind his image with a cord,
And scold, and swing the lash abhorred,
And sell their brother in the Lord
To handcuffed heavenly union.

"They'll read and sing a sacred song,
And make a prayer both loud and long,
And teach the right and do the wrong,
Hailing the brother, sister throng,
With words of heavenly union.

"We wonder how such saints can sing,
Or praise the Lord upon the wing,
Who roar, and scold, and whip, and sting,
And to their slaves and mammon cling,
In guilty conscience union.

"They'll raise tobacco, corn, and rye,
And drive, and thieve, and cheat, and lie,
And lay up treasures in the sky,
By making switch and cowskin fly,
In hope of heavenly union.

"They'll crack old Tony on the skull,
And preach and roar like Bashan bull,
Or braying ass, of mischief full,
Then seize old Jacob by the wool,
And pull for heavenly union.

"A roaring, ranting, sleek man-thief,
Who lived on mutton, veal, and beef,
Yet never would afford relief
To needy, sable sons of grief,
Was big with heavenly union.

"'Love not the world,' the preacher said,
And winked his eye, and shook his head;
He seized on Tom, and Dick, and Ned,
Cut short their meat, and clothes, and bread,
Yet still loved heavenly union.

"Another preacher whining spoke
Of One whose heart for sinners broke:
He tied old Nanny to an oak,
And drew the blood at every stroke,
And prayed for heavenly union.

"Two others oped their iron jaws,
And waved their children-stealing paws;
There sat their children in gewgaws;
By stinting negroes' backs and maws,
They kept up heavenly union.

"All good from Jack another takes,
And entertains their flirts and rakes,
Who dress as sleek as glossy snakes,
And cram their mouths with sweetened cakes;
And this goes down for union."

Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something
toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening
the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in
bonds--faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for
success in my humble efforts--and solemnly pledging my self anew to the
sacred cause,--I subscribe myself,

FREDERICK DOUGLASS. LYNN, _Mass., April_ 28, 1845.

THE END