Whips, chains, gags, and thumb-screws have all lain under the droppings of the sanctuary, and instead of rusting from off the limbs of the bondman, those droppings have served to preserve them in all their strength.
Douglass uses a vivid metaphor to illustrate how the church, instead of opposing slavery, has strengthened its instruments of oppression.
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More from Frederick Douglass
We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.
Lincoln was not only a great President, but a GREAT MAN--too great to be small in anything.
I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.