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Gerrit Smith Broadside and Pamphlet Collection

To those ministers in the county of Madison, who refuse to preach politics.

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874.

Digital Edition.

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Call number: Smith 435

To those Ministers in the County of Madison, who refuse to preach politics:

Bear with me. It is not to annoy you - it is not for any unworthy purpose - that I so often speak to you, and speak of you. It is again to entreat you to preach politics, that I come to you. My conviction, that the continued enslavement of millions in this Nation, is because its religious teachers will not preach politics, has lost none of its strength and earnestness, since I first began, and that was years ago, to urge you to preach politics. My conviction, that this refusal to preach politics does, more than aught else, peril our country, and threaten its utter ruin, is still among the deep and immovable convictions of my breast.

You will, perhaps, tell me, that it is useless to preach politics - that the experiment has been made, and made unsuccessfully. You will, perhaps, tell me, that I have myself preached politics, all over this County; and that, nevertheless, five sixths of its voters are willing to vote for slaveholders - for buyers and sellers of their fellow men. But, you should remember, that I am but a layman; and that such is public opinion and the state of society, that, when a layman turns religious teacher, he carries with him but little of the influence, and none of the authority, accorded to an appointed and ordained minister of the gospel. You should remember too, that you have arrayed yourselves against me, and done what you could to render odious, ridiculous, and vain, my poor attempts to supply your place, and preach the politics, which you should preach. So far from giving me your countenance, most of you vote for slaveholders. Alas, that you, who profess to be ambassadors of the Savior, should be guilty of putting the reins of Government into the hands of oppressors of the Savior's poor! You would not vote for sheep-thieves, comparatively petty, as you would yourselves call their crime, were one man to steal your children, and another your sheep: - how, then, can you justify your votes for men-thieves? You answer me, that, whilst the sheep-thief is despised, the slaveholder is respectable. I frankly admit, that he is respectable: and, with equal frankness, you should admit, that he would not be, if he had his due; and that they, who, by their votes, or otherwise, contribute to his respectability, take upon themselves a fearful responsibility. Have you never thought, that slavery cannot come to a bloodless termination, until the slaveholder has ceased to be respectable? This is as true, as that adultery will continue to abound, so long as the adulterer is respectable, and welcome to the most influential circles. There is a Janus-faced political party in this Nation, which, whilst at the South, as openly and boastfully proslavery as its rival, professes, at the North, to be antislavery: and this profession it makes, in the face of the fact, that what the election of a slaveholder, and the very prince of slaveholders, to the highest office in the gift of the people can do to make slaveholding respectable, it has just been striving, with all its might, to do.

You well know what "to preach politics" means, in my use of the phrase. The phrase is not original with myself. It has, for years, been customary to charge the few ministers, who are faithful enough to remind their hearers, by allusions however brief and indirect, of the antislavery politics of the Bible, with preaching politics. I wished to justify and honor those ministers: and, hence, I was willing to have my own inculcation of the politics of the Bible pass under the very same name, which was given to reproach theirs. You well know, that the charges of my playing the electioneering political partisan, when I preach politics, are as false and wicked, as they are frequent. You well know, how unfounded is the declaration, that it would be as proper to preach any other politics, as those I preach. You well know, that the politics I preach are the politics of the Bible - the politics, which declare, that "He that ruleth over men must be just," and not the most flagrant of robbers; that the ruler "is the minister of God," and not the servant of the Devil; -politics, which make it the duty of Civil Government, not to create and uphold the most grinding and bloody system of oppression, but to "Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor." You well know too, that the politics of this Nation - the politics of its great political parties - the politics, which bind and beat and bruise the poor - are as unlike the politics of the Bible, as darkness is unlike light, as Hell is unlike Heaven. You well know too, that, in my preaching of politics, I present not the claims of any political party; make no appeals to selfishness; throw out no baits to ambition or avarice: but read what God says of Civil Government and the Civil Ruler, and argue, that Civil Governments and Civil Rulers should, in every age, conform to God's plain requirements of them.

One of your excuses for not preaching politics is, that political action is not the best means for overthrowing slavery. But, whether it be the best or poorest means to this end, or even no means at all, affects not the question of your duty to exhort your hearers to substitute the politics of the Bible for their unrighteous and oppressive politics. And, whether if men choose, as the Bible requires, "just" rulers, or rulers who withhold wages, whip women, and steal babies, slavery does or does not endure, the obligation to choose "just" rulers remains unimpaired and absolute.

In what other way, however, than by political action, can American slavery be overthrown? Moral suasion is, indeed, indispensable to the antislavery cause: but it is so, mainly because of the political action, which is its legitimate result. Water is indispensable to the mill; and so is human strength to the well doing of the young corn: but water, without the wheel on which to fall; and human strength, without the hoe in human hands, can no more cause the mill to move, or the corn to grow, than mere moral suasion can abolish slavery. The political action in the one case, and the wheel and the hoe in the others, are equally needful to give effect to the motive power: - and to divorce moral influence from the political action, in which it naturally results, is quite as absurd, as would be the experiment to make the mill turn by turning the water away from it, or the corn to grow by casting away the hoe.

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The slavery, which Congress has, and that too in palpable violation of the Constitution, authorized in the District of Columbia, in our Territories, and under the National flag, is, manifestly, a slavery, which the whole American people are bound to overthrow; and how else, than by political action, shall they overthrow it? How too shall the people of Virginia and Georgia abolish Virginia and Georgia slavery, but by political action?

I am not forgetful of your scruples against employing political power for the subversion of slavery. But you must pardon my lack of respect for them. That Mr. Garrison, who scorns all political action under a Government, which takes life, should scorn it, even for the deliverance of the slave, is consistent. But, that those of you, who pollute your souls, by voting up slavery, should express doubts of your right to vote it down; that those of you, who are guilty of voting the power of the Nation into the hands of slaveholders, should question your right to vote it out of their hands, is a trial of our patience, which, should it provoke us to call you hard names, would be justly chargeable with at least ninety-nine hundredths of the blame of those names.

I must again pause to express my amazement and sorrow, that ministers and christians vote for slaveholders. Ministers of the gospel voting for slaveholders, when other ministers of the gospel are shut up in State Prisons for six, twelve, fifteen years, charged with no other offence than tile humanity of helping poor slaves out of the clutches of slaveholders! Christians voting for slaveholders, when slaveholders are, everyday, buying and selling christians! Well may we exclaim:

"O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!"

I know, that you would rather say, that it is the abolitionists, who are bereft of reason. It is but a few weeks, since a highly respectable minister of the gospel, whom, "from my youth up," I have known and honored and loved, told a friend of mine, that, on the subject of slavery, I am insane; and he added, as if to abate the wonder of my friend, that insanity runs in my family. The sanity of this minister has turned him against the "Niggers." My insanity has turned me toward them. The "Niggers," if no others, will decide, that, here is one case, in which it is better to be insane than sane.

A common complaint against my preaching politics is, that I am unauthorized and unfit to be a religious teacher. But, does not your omission to preach politics excuse, to some extent, well meaning attempts to supply it, be those attempts however imperfect or blundering or unauthorized? And have I not often told you, that I should cease from such attempts, as soon as you, who are competent to it, shall enter upon the work of preaching politics?

Some of you will admit, that it might not be amiss for me to preach politics on any other day than the Sabbath. But, here, is a point, which I cannot, dare not yield. The Bible is full of politics, and its politics, as well as its other instructions, are entitled to be preached on the Sabbath. One part of the Bible is as holy as another. Every part of it is as holy, as the Sabbath: and it is, consequently, no desecration of the Sabbath to use it for publishing any of the truths of the Bible. Therefore, to yield the point, that it is proper to preach politics on the Sabbath, is what I cannot, so long as I remain a believer in the whole Bible, and in the equal sacredness of all its parts. To yield this point would be to fall in with the popular notion, that all politics are corrupt - that one kind is morally no better than another - and that, because it would be unseemly and revolting to teach the politics of the Democratic or Whig party on the Sabbath, no other kind of politics, not even the politics of the Bible, should be taught on that day.

But, after all, is there the most perfect sincerity in your demonstrations of horror at my preaching of politics? I never hear any of you complain, that the New England ministers preached politics on the Sabbath, in the Revolutionary war. Nevertheless, the politics, which they preached, were bloody politics; and the oppression, against which those politics were arrayed, was simply an unrighteous money tax. On the other hand, the politics, which the abolitionist preaches, are bloodless and peaceful - though the form of oppression, which they are intended to overthrow, is as cruel and horrible, as any, that ever aroused the revenge of the human heart. I ask again, whether you are perfectly sincere; - for I have never known you complain even of those New England ministers, who, on Sunday, as well as other days, went upon the very battle field to preach and pray their bloody politics. The only preaching of politics, of which I hear you complain, is that of which your Clay and Polk-voting hearers and supporters complain.

It will soon be two years, since I attempted, in the presence of a great audience, in the County of Onondaga, to vindicate the use, which I make of the Sabbath, in behalf of the enslaved and crushed millions of my countrymen. How far I succeeded, or how far the ministers of the gospel, who confronted me, succeeded, is left to others to judge. I now propose, that an opportunity be given to the people of the County of Madison to hear arguments for and against such use; and that, to this end, numerous meetings be held in the County.

I would, indeed, that you might all, ere the proposed meetings, be persuaded, that it is your duty to preach politics, and to preach them on the Sabbath as well as on other days. I would, indeed, that, instead of opposing me in those meetings, you might all take my side, or, rather, take my place in them, and inculcate on your fellow citizens the duty of casting their votes for deliverers, not oppressors, of the poor - for friends, not enemies of impartial and universal liberty. It is not, however, to be expected, that you will all have the integrity and courage and self-denial to perform that duty. which to perform requires far more of integrity, courage, and self-denial, than is required in the performance of any other of the duties of the ministers of the gospel in this nation. It costs but little to sneer at and denounce the preachers of politics; to call them tramplers on the Sabbath and Infidels. But, it will cost you a great deal to turn preachers of politics yourselves. Ere you can make up your minds to preach politics, and to tell your hearers not to vote for the robbers of the poor and the traffickers in human flesh; you must, of course, make up your minds to be persecuted - to be deprived of your salaries - and to he driven from your pulpits. Who of you could have retained his

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place and means of subsistence, had lie, last Autumn, been honest enough and courageous enough to say to his people: "Vote not for Clay - vote not for Polk. They are not fit for civil rulers, who live on the coerced and unrequited toil of their poor, lashed, and bleeding, and broken hearted, sisters and brothers. They are monsters of inhumanity, who sell brother from sister -parent from child - husband from wife."

The duty of the teacher of religion, as is manifest in the practice of both prophets and apostles, is to preach those truths to his people, which they are least willing to hear. Do they hate Temperance? Then is he, both "in season and out of season," to set the claims of Temperance before them. Is Adultery their besetting sin? Then is the Seventh Commandment, more than any other, to be pressed upon their consciences. But, do we not know, that the American people, in all the length and breadth of the land, are mad upon their political idols? - and that Churches and Congregations, which would bear the most pointed rebukes of their other sins, would gnash their teeth upon their pastors, should those pastors deal faithfully and plainly with them, in respect to these idols? Pastors of the proslavery Churches of the County of Madison! - are you happy in the thought, that yours are gentle tempered Churches? Let me tell you, that you have never most effectually tried their temper; and that you never will have done so, until you have arraigned their votes for Clay and Polk, or some other of their blood-red political crimes against God and man. When you have been thus bold and faithful, you will learn, that many professing christians, who sleep sweetly, whilst you "sew pillows to their arm-holes," wake up in wrath, as soon as you begin to tear away those "pillows." I wish the experiment could be made on some of the proslavery religionists of this County. I wish, that some of the proslavery ministers of this County could, for once, be so forgetful of the counsels of prudence, as to make the experiment.

I seldom hear a minister speak of his having dealt plainly and honestly with his people, that I am not, more or less, inclined to ask him: "But have you dared to preach politics to them?" By this most searching test of ministerial fidelity in this land have I, at once, desired to try him. John might have boasted, that, by his plain and faithful preaching, he brought Herod to do "many things." But, had he forborne to press upon Herod that one thing, the pressing of which cost him his head; he might, indeed, have saved his head, but he might, too, have lost his soul. So the minister of the gospel in this County who deals, be it ever so closely, with his people, in respect to every other of their sins; - if, nevertheless, he slides over that, which is the greatest sin of this Nation - the sin of choosing oppressors and the apologists of oppressors for rulers - entitles himself to the reward, not of a faithful, but of a traitorous, religious teacher.

Oh that every minister in this County would, the present Summer, preach, were it only one honest sermon on politics - a sermon, showing how widely the politics of God in the Bible differ from the politics of the Devil in our country - a sermon, showing what a crime against humanity and religion it is to cling to the Whig, or Democratic, or any other proslavery party, be it in Church or State. The County of Madison would thereby be influenced to take her stand, at the approaching Election, by the side of the slave: - other Counties would quickly follow her example: - and but little tune would pass away, ere Liberty would be proclaimed "throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof."

That there may be no lack of time to diffuse the notice of the proposed meetings, and that they may not interfere with the urgent claims of the harvest field, it is thought proper to defer them until September. They will, with the Divine permission, be held as follows:

At Bailey's Corners, Brookfield, Tuesday, Sept. 2
At Log City, - - Tuesday, Sept. 9
Hamilton Village, Wednesday, " 3
Madison Village, - Wednesday, " 10
Baptist Church, Lebanon, Thursday, " 4
Munnsville, - - Thursday, " 11
Slab City, Georgetown, Friday, " 5
Cazenovia, - - Friday, " 12
Erieville, - - Saturday, " 6
De Ruyter, - - Saturday, " 13

(The following day, viz. Sunday, 14th September, I expect to preach politics in Homer, Cortland

Co. The morning exercises to begin at 1-2 past 10.)
At Baptist Church, Fenner, Tuesday, Sept. 16
At Canastota, - - Thursday, Sept. 18
Chittenango, - Wednesday, " 17
Peterboro, - - Saturday, " 20

All the meetings in Madison Co. to begin at 1 P. M.

At each of the meetings to be held in this County I shall be happy to meet in discussion such person, as my opponents may select for this purpose. It is immaterial to me, whether the question for discussion be: "Is it right to preach on the Sabbath such politics, as Gerrit Smith preaches on

that day?" or: "Is it right to preach the politics of the Bible on the Sabbath?" I say, that I have no choice between these questions; and I say so, for the simple reason, that the politics, which I preach on the Sabbath, are identical with the politics of the Bible.

Respectfully yours,

GERRIT SMITH.

PETERBORO, July 15th, 1845.

P.S. It is proper to say, that should I, by reason of the bodily infirmities, which now confine me to my home, or from some other cause, be prevented from attending any of the proposed meetings, my place will be supplied by another and abler advocate of the duty of preaching politics.