The Liberator

TO REFORMERS—THE RELIGION OF THE SOUL.

BOSTON, July 5, 1846.

Mr. Lloyd Garrison:

Being deeply impressed with the need of more of that spirit of consecration to righteousness, that was so fully possessed by the ancient Christians, and being of the opinion that the majority of the readers of the Liberator approach the nearest to that state of entire conformity to the right, of any other body of people now living, I wish to have an opportunity, through the columns of the only perfectly free, straight-forward, and open-to-all-sides (however unpopular the subject may be) journal that the country has yet produced, to say a few words to a portion of its truth-loving readers, if you can allow me the privilege of doing so, as follows:

To those of the readers of the Liberator who are in possession of that in-dwelling spirit of God that is given to all men, but received and known alone by those who are the true children of God: For some time I have had the privilege of an acquaintance with many of you, and after having searched in vain, in different parts of the land, for those who carried out the principles of Christianity in regard to their fellow men, I have been refreshed and encouraged by finding those who did seem to make Christianity something more than mere theory and empty talk. In my travels, to meet with the kind words and warm hearts of the old-fashioned anti-slavery people, was a rich enjoyment, that none can appreciate but those who have experienced the same. There is a very great difference between the abolitionists of the old school, and any other class of people you meet with, and if the Liberator never does any good in regard to the abolition of slavery, the good it has done in forming the character of individuals, and in raising a class of men and women 'ready to every good word and work,' will cause the whole of its readers to be thankful that they ever were so fortunate as to become acquainted with it. It is not my purpose to praise you only, at this time; for, although I know that a person is regarded as the enemy of his race who ventures to remonstrate with mankind for their neglect of the right, yet the truest friend of ours, is the one who, when we are out of the right path, would fain lead us back to truth and duty. In my intercourse with my friends as just mentioned, I have, among the many excellent qualities so fully possessed by them, found in very many of them a lack of something, which I regard as the most important of all things in this world, and the absence of which, is the cause of nearly all the vice and crime, misery and wretchedness, with which our world is cursed. I allude to true spirituality of soul. In almost all my acquaintances, I have found a deficiency of this, and in some a total denial of its value, and a disposition to regard the whole matter as priestcraft, hypocrisy and cant; nor am I surprised at this feeling, originating, as it does, in an abhorrence of the complicated, foul-mouthed, self-adulating, soul-sickening, nauseating and disgusting cant of the church, all over in sin, up to its brow in detestable sentiments, and rolling itself with delight, on its bed of heathenish, soul-abhorring and God-defying conduct, and then, right from a week of the most ungodly oppression the devil ever conceived of, flocking in crowds to their impious rendezvous of deviltry, where all their crimes are apologised for, and receive a baptizing, to screen them from the piercing gaze of the friends of truth. To hear a church of this character so piously talk of God and heaven; why, it is enough to make any lover of right cast from him, and spurn from his presence, the whole category of religious words, and determine never to let the name of religion, or God, pass his lips again. The church is so full of sickening talk of God, and so much fuller of a crucifixion of him, that we are in danger of never mentioning the idea of love to him, and communion with him, lest we should countenance, in some degree, at least, that most putrid and hell-equalling of all bodies, the so called church of Christ. I honor the motive which leads to this neglect of what many of you used to think of great importance, and more than that, have yourselves enjoyed its richness, so that while you read these words, a chord of tenderness is touched in your hearts, and you feel a response to the truth of what I say. I have talked with you, and know you understand what it is to bow the knee in prayer, when none but God is nigh, to pour out your souls before him in most confiding love and trust. You, those to whom this letter is addressed, are not strangers to this language; your hearts are not dead to God, although you have wandered from him, and given up prayer in part. Still, when these things are mentioned, the tear of former remembrance, of joys of a superior nature to any that this world can afford, falls upon the paper, and you heave a sigh and say, 'It is true; how much enjoyment I once had in God, when all was light, peace and joy, but now a darkness, a sense of desolation is over me, and the love of God does not fill my soul as it used to.' You need not remain in this situation. You can be a radical reformer, and expose all the heaven-daring iniquities of the state and church, and yet be filled to overflowing with the love of God, and have your soul so fixed upon him as to be indifferent to the censure of your fellow men, and not conceited at all about their slander and persecutions of you for righteousness' sake. If I thought that this would countenance the church, I would not recommend it, but it is my real and settled opinion that if those who denounce the church, were full of love to God, and as strong supporters of this love, as they are of love to man, the church would receive such a shock that it could not stand against it, but would reel and rock till it fell, to rise no more; and O, what joy would then be felt by all the earth, when 'Great Babylon' will have fallen, no more to curse the earth with her enchantments.

It is the contending for the religious sentiment that gives the church its power. Reformers must either deny, in toto, the existence of the sentiment of religion in man, in which case they will have to give the science of Phrenology the lie, or cultivate it in themselves, and show the church and world that they do not disbelieve in spiritual religion, but do not believe that the church has it herself. I, for one, believe the church knows no more about evangelical, heart-felt experience, in the things of God, than it does about doing right towards its fellow men.

Yours for truth and righteousness,

C. B. STEARNS.