Cuires, September 12, 1829<\/p>\n
Reply to Materne’s criticism of an article on Christianity’s freeing of slaves<\/em><\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Dear friend<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>,<\/p>\n Mama brought from Lyon the letter you happily decided to write me. Nothing startles me more than a letter from Materne. I begin to fear an accident or misfor\u00adtune … I open the letter. I read and am agreeably surprised to find only the good advice of a good friend. The only thing that bothers me is that you digress too much for me to know what your thoughts are. Get to the matter, lawyer.<\/p>\n I come to the case, which is very well pleaded. But I am sorry not to be able to discuss it with you face to face. I would agree with you that my intentions can be misunderstood. Nevertheless I think I expressed them very clearly since one of the first sentences says, “Let us weep for the misfortune of our oppressed brothers; let us weep for the cruelty of our brothers the oppressors.”<\/p>\n Further, I have clearly pointed out, as you yourself admit, the intellectual and moral slavery joined to bodily slavery; it is one of the dominant thoughts of my letter. I even added that Christianity, freeing people from intellectual and moral slavery and giving them the liberty of the children of God, ought also to free them from bodily slavery.<\/p>\n I made every effort, therefore, to show how I felt\u2014making no case for the bar\u00adbarians sympathetic to the Negro trade\u2014that I was as horrified as you.<\/p>\n As for the object of the prophecy, I think it could be given the meaning I have attributed to it. For, as a famous author said (I think it was Newton), one should judge prophecies by the outcome. Prophecy foretelling a slavery in general terms and slavery being general and a real fact, nothing stands in the way, it seems to me, of the application I have made. My assertion is fortified by this observation, which I ask you to verify, that frequently the predictions in Scripture apply equally to two orders of phenomena, physical and intellectual. Such a one is the destruction of Jerusalem and punishment of the Jews. At the same time they were expelled and despised, they were struck with blindness and obstinacy. The same with this other scriptural prediction: “You shall eat your bread in the sweat of your brow;’ which applies as much to the nourishment of the soul as of the body.<\/p>\n So much for useless words. You have, perhaps, the last issue of l’Abeille. <\/em>My article is in it or has not yet appeared.’ If it is, you can judge without so much of my prattle; if it is not, all my arguments are vain and I willingly submit to the distin\u00adguished people who edit the journal. For, if as you tell me, this article might be con\u00adtrary to justice and good morals, or if it could be wrongly interpreted, I a hundred times prefer that it not be printed. Had there been time, I would have withdrawn it to read it over with you. But, jacta est <\/em>alea.<\/em><\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n Let me now say that you have made me laugh by praising my zeal for reading the Holy Bible, by talking about my reputation, my numerous articles, by compar\u00ading my letter to the most orthodox philosophical systems, etc…. We are no long\u00ader in rhetoric class, so why so many oratorical pains in speaking to a friend? Do you know that even when you tell me foolish things, I take them as proofs of your friendship for me and your zeal for truth? Much more when you make observations both wise and friendly. Disputare philosophorum est.<\/em><\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Did not Cicero<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> debate with Atticus?<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Si parva licet componere magnis.<\/em><\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n You recognize that we agree on one point: the danger of a false interpretation. A short conversation would put us in quick agreement on the others. Thank you for your good advice: next time I will be more careful. I wrote the article off the top of my head and in half an hour, and took it to M. Louet the same day. In the future I will reread dispassionately articles written in a moment of ardor and let a night pass between composition and correction. In the meantime be ever sure that I will ac\u00adcept your advice with the greatest affection and try to profit from it, and am always<\/p>\n Your faithful friend,<\/p>\n A.-F Ozanam<\/p>\n