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, womenwhippers for
missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the
bloodclotted 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
