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Sophia Auld
In criticizing the pro-slavery American church, Douglass lists off the names of various influential ministers who support the Fugitive Slave Law. Their names are as follows: John Chase Lord, Gardiner Spring, Leonard Elijah Lathrop, Reverend Samuel Hanson Cox, Reverend Ichabod Smith Spencer, Reverend Ezra Stiles Gannet, Daniel Sharp, and Orville Dewey.
Pro-Slavery Ministers Quotes in What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
The What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? quotes below are all either spoken by Pro-Slavery Ministers or refer to Pro-Slavery Ministers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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3. Religious Liberty
Quotes
The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem “the Fugitive Slave Law” as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. … A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind.
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4. The Church Responsible
Quotes
Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.
For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done!
In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry, but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee.
Get the entire What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? LitChart as a printable PDF.
Pro-Slavery Ministers Quotes in What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
The What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? quotes below are all either spoken by Pro-Slavery Ministers or refer to Pro-Slavery Ministers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
3. Religious Liberty
Quotes
The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem “the Fugitive Slave Law” as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. … A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
4. The Church Responsible
Quotes
Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.
For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done!
In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry, but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee.
