Blessings and Joys of Heaven And this being so plainly there asserted and the most certain and Catholic Faith of all Christians no Man that professeth an Assent to these can without contradicting himself gain-say it Yea a very Infidel may from this owned and avowed Principle of Christianity pass sentence against him acting so contrary thereto 3. And questionless from our Negro's being Slaves to argue their no Right to Religion is more Oppressive and Injurious than that Force which first made them so Because striking at their Souls and subjecting them to Hell as much only for a longer time as to their Tormenters here on Earth And to have avoided which it might have been wished either that their Creation had failed or not exceeded this fancied state and degree of Brutes And this Injustice must upon all respects be heightned by the consideration of those great Ends unto which all Momentany advantages ought to give way Nor is it to be understood as terminating only in the Sufferings of the wronged Party but directed and glancing at Him also whos 's the Soul of each Man is whether in a Bond or Freeman And who cannot be thought to resent a Fact so at once Sacrilegious and Oppressive less than an Earthly Prince doth the Murthering of a Subject the Author whereof is deservedly made with his own to wash out and silence the loud cry of his Neighbours or Fellow-subject's Blood And as a Crime of this nature marks the Oppressor with the blackest Guilt so it cannot but render him Obnoxious to the severest Vengeance that a provoked and just God can inflict upon him both Body and Soul and probably no less in this Life than certainly in the other 4. I confess as to the Provision for their Bodies they deny it not to be expedient or fit to be allowed them But this not as their Right or Due but as conducive to the Masters Convenience and Profit The most operative and universally owned Principle of this Place and indeed of the whole Plantations They consider it only in order to the enabling their People to undergo their Labour without which themselves cannot get Riches and great Estates but nothing so far as I could ever learn for the Wretches Health and Preservation And their both Discourse and most current Practice do declare no less in neither of which doth appear much Tenderness Pity to Humanity being here reputed a pusillanimous weakness and a very back friend to Interest Whence their Houses are so plentifully stored with tormenting Engines and Devices to execute their Cruelty So that the Satyrist's Poetic Description of those famous Tyrannies then practised in Rome the true resemblances of what were of old practiced in Sicily comes short of the reality of this For in the very letter of his words Praefectura Domus Siculâ non mitior Aulâ Juv. S. 6. They here outdoing those precedents of Cruelty tho the most Notorious that History hath delivered to Posterity as being persuaded That a Slave can claim nothing as his Right besides Stripes and Labour 5. And as they exceed those ancient Severities so the immodesty of the Executioners 't is to be presumed did come short of what has here been the wonder of the new and less-seasoned Adventurers to hear related It being sufficient in those times to chastize a Bond-woman Nudam humeros nudisque mamillis Bare to her shoulders and brests only Whereas here those who before were quite Naked all but a little of their middle part have this also uncovered The Mistress to the shame of her Sex as from an Eye-witness and present Spectator hath been attested to me not blushing to be present an effect 't is possible of their believing Negro's to be but Brutes amongst a crowd of Boys and Men to witness the Execution no less than to prevent Compassion The Tormenter always of the sex Masculine to keep even pace with our Satyrists words no less then with her Immanity Et caedit donec lassis caedentibus Seldom giving over before quite tired which if too soon doth argue Sloth and is apt to be interpreted a Connivance a Crime big enough to endanger his Place and to deprive him of the honour and happiness of being Archi-Mastix of the Negro's for ever after Which certainly are Inhumanities of the wrankest kind and no less needing to be restrained by some wholesome and good Law then were the like formerly exercised by the Spaniards upon the poor Americans But from which by a Bull of Charles the Fifth then King of Spain and Emperour they were most graciously released For which these also do seem to cry with their utmost earnestness unto the Government at Home not doubting but that in time they shall be heard 6. Nor are they very constant to that first and so very agreeable Principle of preserving these poor Wretches for Labour their only end in purchasing of them by a due provision of Food not likely to put them to any extraordinary expences whilst little better than what the Hogs do feed on and is to save time generally planted by themselves upon Sundays And of Cloathing for which a Canvass Shirt and Drawers during the two or three rainy Months which is all the Winter we have here will suffice And lastly by allowing them time of Rest and of respite from Labour for their tired Bodies I say they are very far from a constant acting according to that Principle unless where the benefit of preserving shall exceed the dammage they are like to sustain by suffering some few of them to be Starved or otherwise to Perish That is If three or four Hundred may be more advantageously maintained for it being uncertain which of them will out-live the other they must be at like Charges with each if they would save them all then fifteen or twenty new ones be purchased to fill up the dead rooms for so many or more are like to be wanting at the Years end without such Provision I say then 't is possible that they may fall to consult their God INTEREST and endeavour their Preservation Which kind of Considerations are not so frequent among the Mightier as with the Middle and Meaner sort who do usually find it less convenient to buy new than having but a few to preserve their old Negro's Whereby both their and the White Servants the general name for Europeans condition is less miserable under these than under the richer sort with whom the death of a good Horse and of a Negro is of equal moment and doth usually extort from them the same expressions of Grief and Sorrow unless where the Horse doth happen to be of the greater Value 7. To this also I might add as an effect of their scant allowance of Food to their Slaves the many Robberies and Thefts committed by these starved People upon the poorer English Of which if I should affirm their owners to be the occasion by thus starving of them I think I should not hit much either beside
Prince or the wisest and best learned in the Earth And they that will have it generally taken for indifferent that a very few take no hurt herein alone the Case differs all being involved in the same Neglect and Danger tho infinit multitudes besides perish thereby do shew that they put little difference between the Multitude and brute Beasts whose danger they so little esteem And in this belief I am the stronger confirmed for that some of them are more indifferent as to the baptizing of their Mulatto's as conceiving these a less degree removed from Men whose Parents on the one side are English or of the Whiter sort whilst to such as are wholly the Off-spring of Negro's they utterly deny it 36. Since the committing of these Papers to the Press even while the last sheet was Printing a certain Berbadian openly maintained these Positions That Negro's were Beasts and had no more Souls than Beasts and that Religion did not concern them Adding that they went not to those parts to save Souls or propagate Religion but to get Money Which with much more to the same purpose he uttered with so much passion and vehemency that all who heard him believ'd he spake not more his own than the seasâ—â— and opinion of the place I am not ignorant but that upon the dispersing and publishing of these Discourses if ever such a thing should happen the Correspondents and Factors for our People residing in England no less than those here disliking to see their mystery of Iniquity laid open to the view of the World may be apt as most certainly they will to decry the whole charge as a piece of Calumny and Slander notwithstanding that their Practice is so notorious and there is no one not perfectly blind that can avoid the seeing of it Nay even such cannot but know it Which must be granted by all to arise either from Infidel Paganism with a Contempt and even renouncing of the Gospel of our LORD which is much the worst or from that other of their conceiving their Negro's to be but Brutes Unto which last their Discourse doth rather encline tho there be no small cause for suspicion also of the first Others again may hope to shelter themselves under that common subterfuge for Blasphemies That what of this kind hath at any time escaped them was only to sharpen their Understandings and Wits by thus whetting them with Dispute or else that they uttered nothing further than by way of Railery For my part I shall not presume to dive into their Intentions nor judg of their Thoughts but only beg this kindness of them That if I must take their Arguments for feigned they would favour me so far as to suppose the same of my Answers and withal accept of this further Advice viz. Not to practise Opinions which they are ashamed to own amongst better People It being most certain that what elsewhere they would perâ—hance have thought to be Dispute only and in jest is here acted in the strictest earnest even beyond the equity of their Hypothesis treating their Slaves with far less Humanity than they do their Cattel For they do not use to starve their Horse which they expect shall both carry and credit them upon the Road nor to pinch the Cow of her Fodder by whose Milk their Families are sustained Which yet to their eternal shame is too frequently the lot and condition of these poor People from whose labour their Wealth and Livelihoods do wholly arise But yet whose possessours whilst they slay and starve them not only their Souls but their Bodies also which are worn out in perpetual Toil for them do nevertheless hold themselves not guilty and they that Sell them say Blessed be the Lord for I am rich and their own Shepherds pity them not as the Prophet Zechariah speaks A Cruelty capable of no Palliation and for which Vengeance cannot be long expected ere it fall upon the inhumane Authors Nor to speak truth without that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their Negro's brutality do I see how those other Inhumanities as their Emasculating and Beheading them their croping off their Ears which they usually cause the Wretches to broyl and then compel to eat them themselves their Amputations of Legs and even Dissecting them alive this last I cannot say was ever practised but has been certainly affirmed by some of them as no less allowable than to a Beast of which they did not in the least doubt but it was justifiable Add to this their scant allowance for Clothes as well as Diet and which is often the calamity of the most Innocent and Labourious their no less working than starving them to Death all which could never otherwise be so glibly swallowed by them but upon a persuasion of this or of the former worse Principle Both without doubt contrived in Hell receiving their first impressions in no other than the Devil's Mint purposely designed for the murthering of Souls Invented only to defeat the Mercies of God in their blessed Redeemer and to render void and ineffectual his precious Blood shed upon the Cross for the saving of the World And thus much shall suffice for proof of the Antecedent of my second Proposition deduced from my first general Assertion § III. 1. My Antecedent being thus made evident I shall betake my self to consider the Consequent viz. Of the Right which our Negro's have and may justly claim to the exercise of Religion upon the truth of what hath been said touching their being Men. A thing that of it self one would think should naturally follow and be granted even of course did not the Adversaries thereto hope tho our Antecedent were acknowledged yet notwithstanding this by some other ways to invalidate this Right and to continue them Heathens In order whereto they are not wanting of a twofold Argument First The Imprecation of Noah Secondly Their forfeiture of this Right by Servitude Now as before they imployed the first to unman their Negro's so that failing here they no less generously wrest it to rob them of Religion no less than of all other Rights An injury as in the end I shall shew far exceeding the former of making them Brutes simply and abstracted from the latter 2. Before I shall go about to answer which I shall desire the Reader to remark that what they have hitherto urged is only against the Christianizing of Negro's with such only of other Nations and Complexions who are under Bondage Bearing it in hand be like that the condition of the Tributary Indians upon the Continent of Hostages of Peace delivered up to the English upon the Public Faith or of the Manumissed and freed Slaves whether from Persia Madagascar or the East and West Indies brought hither none of them likely especially the last to have been descendants from Cham any more than our selves enjoyed amongst them a more happy and blessed state as to Religion Which in truth they cannot affirm even of such of them
cannot by any after act of his Creatures be forfeited so as to cause an Alienation thereof from him for be the Possession where it will his first Right can suffer no prejudice The Slaves Obligation and Right I so call it it being a real Priviledg to serve God continues firm and inviolable and no less unalterable than his Lords Nor can it be swallowed up or lost in any new pretended claim whilst that first Obligation continues the same which originally it was No prescription of time being of force against so soveraign a Power as that of Gods 3. But secondly Slaves have a Right to serve God by virtue of his determinate Precept and Command for their so doing None of his Laws being limited to any certain Order or Degree of Men but were given to every Man alike whether Bond or Free For he that said Thou shalt not Swear Kill Steal Lye Covet nor commit Adultery made no difference nor distinction in the direction of these Laws either of Lords or Peasants Free or Bondmen But the Imposition being equally laid on all must exact an equal tribute of Duty from all No Dispensation any where appearing for the omission of the Duties either of Morality or Religion to Potentates any more than the tenuity or meanness of an inferiour Person was ever in holy Scripture admitted as a tolerable excuse upon the like occasion And this Impartiality is more especially the Credit and Ornament of Christianity which for that Reason is stiled the Common Faith and the Common Salvation St. Jude 3. and St. Tit. 3. Which as the Baptist preached St. Luke 3. All flesh should see that is enjoy and partake of if they had any liking thereto And in pursuance hereof S. Paul at Athens declareth That God had now commanded all Men every where to repent words comprehensive and large and methinks very appositely pointing to these so late discovered Regions But to go on For that as he writes to Titus The Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men Such an Universality making it an Act of Grace indeed And the same Apostle in his Preaching warns all alike of the Wrath of God revealed against all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Irreligion and Injustice of Men. Both he and the rest in their practice proving their Sense to be as unlimited and unrestrained as their words were general shewing themselves in their Epistles no less exact and punctual in setting forth the Duty of Servants and as careful for the saving of their souls as for their Masters And being never so beset with Business tho doubtless they had enough as having the good of not one single Diocess or Parish but of the Universal or Catholic Church 2 Cor. 11. 28. in their thoughts and care so as to neglect the Soul of the meanest Bond-slave Whom for their encouragement he assures that God himself did take especial cognizance of their faithful services done unto Men who would not fail to recompence whatsoever good thing any Man doth whether he be Bond or Free Ephes 6. 8. And 't is remarkable that the preceding words to St. Titus do in place immediately succeed an Exhortation to Servants thereby as it were pointing out the very Persons to whom that Grace had been manifested no less than to the residue of Mankind 4. And to this agreeth the necessity thereof For Vertue which is made most effectual and operative by Religion is alike requisite and commendable in all Men At least if there be any difference the Credit of it will redound most to them from it was least expected that is from Servants But it is manifest how necessary Vertue is in that all Men do abhor to be unjustly dealt with And they that regard not Vertue themselves do yet expect it in their Vassals Whence some are so apt to applaud Integrity and other good Qualities in their Negro's and to blame and punish the contrary Nor can it be doubted but that good Qualities are as requisite in a Servant as Conjugal loyalty is in a Married Person or obedience in a Child Now Religion is the strongest exciter and spur to these Vertues fixing and engraving them upon the Heart of Man and making such deep impressions thereof upon the Soul that the Party shall even prefer Death to the foregoing of his Duty which heretofore hath been evidenced by innumerable Instances some examples thereof have in this Age been produced And then can any Man believe other than that Religion is necessary for People of this or of any other condition whatsoever Or that it is not the Master 's great Interest to have his Servants minds possessed with principles of true Piety The benefit whereof is least to the Slave tho he gain Heaven thereby whilst his Master besides that of which he is no less assured by being instrumental thereto doth in this World also reap the desired fruit of his Servant's FIDELITY Which whosoever hinders must therein be an enemy to that his own great Interest In a word God having sworn Isa 45. 23. again repeated Rom. 14. 11. That every Knee should how to him and every Tongue give him thanks and glorifie him unto which Service he hath furnished Slaves with Abilities and Parts suitable and having withal by his express Commands imposed on them alike necessity thereof unto which doubtless they are obliged to conform every Man being bound to be as Good and Vertuous as God doth require of him I say these Reasons considered the prohibiting and disabling them for this Service is certainly a most palpable deprivation of their Right which is the worst I shall say of it here and at this time 5. But then in the third place this Right I am speaking of is no less evident from the good and evil of Eternity which the Master and Slave are according to their Merits each of them to enjoy or suffer alike For as the Precepts are general so also are the Threats and Promises As for instance He saith our Blessed Lord that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned St. Mat. 16. And the great Apostle St. Paul indefinitly pronounceth Sin to be the Wages of Death to all alike Rom. 6. And in Rom. 2. he denounceth tribulation and anguish to every soul of Man that doth evil So also the Prophet Ezek. 10. 20. resolveth the matter that the soul that sinneth it shall die But on the contrary He that believeth on the Son of Man hath eternal Life and shall not come into Condemnation saith St. John 15. 24. And saith St. Paul Whatsoever good thing any Man doth speaking of Servants the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be Bond or Free Ephes 6. 8. Further adding For with God there is no respect of Persons Now the Slave's Soul being as precious and his danger and hopes equal with his Master's a Right to the due and necessary means either to prevent the one or to obtain the
out of that full Stack or Sheaff As That the foundations of Justice are to hurt no Body but to consult the Good of all That we are born to Honesty and that Justice only can confer on Men the Title of Good That whatsoever is True Simple and Sincere is most agreeable to Man's Nature That nothing Cruel is profitable That the endeavouring after Wealth and Estates by just ways is commendable but the contrary base and detestable That they do pervert the foundations of Nature who do separate Profit and Honesty It being horrid to imagin that any profit can be made by Injustice yea even at that very time when we obtain the thing reputed thus profitable it being impossible that these should conduce to any Mans benefit That Socrates was wont to curse those Men who first separated Profit and Honesty Nothing being profitable or expedient but so far as it is void of Baseness And most fully to manifest and evice this Position is the whole work and design of that excellent Treatise 5. And now let those Christians who pretend a Necessity for that which Heathens have in their several Ages and Times so siercely declaimed against As misbecoming Men and Vnnatural and do pretend a necessity for that which no temptation of Profit could induce them to accept or assent to and further do hold it convenient and even commendable as being the first step to Honour and Authority to compass Estates by the most Sordid ways which either the Examples of a Corrupt Age or their own fruitful Inventions can suggest And for this false end do deny their Slaves the exercise and benefit of Religion upon the pretended Inconveniencies and imaginary Inexpedience of it I say let them coolly weigh this virtuous Heathens resolutions concerning the necessity of Justice and the turpitude of the contrary Vice and having so done let them bethink themselves how little Right they have to that noblest Appellative of Christians if they at all care for it who do thus professedly turn their Backs to common Equity and Justice And then to consider whether of the two Themselves or their Slaves by them kept in ignorance of their Duty be the blackest and wrankest Heathens § II. 1. And thus having from the consent of Nature and Reason made it evident that Right and Equity are in despite of all Inconveniencies to be complied with I shall without further delay betake my self to my Assertion before laid down viz. That the Profession of Christianity c. Which will best be proved by looking into and displaying to each view the true Nature and Notion of Christianity which I understand to be A devoting of our selves to the Service of Christ and a strict Obligation in defiance of the whole World to promote his Interest and Honour even with the loss of whatsoever is precious or dear unto us Which Vow is to be sincerely and truly made and kept the whole Action being otherwise but meer Pageantry and Hypocrisy 2. And that this is the true Notion and sence of Christianity not only the express words of that solemn Covenant made betwixt God and our Souls at our initiation into it by Baptism doth shew but also our Blessed Lord's so often reiterated and no less plain Declaration in Answer to this very Question do most fully prove As when he forewarns his Apostles that Self-denial and a renouncing of Worldly Affections with a firm resolution to undergo the Cross that is All Losses and Sufferings are Qualifications highly necessary for all his Followers He further also acquaints us that Houses and Lands Kindred and nearest Relations and even Life it self are all to be slighted as base and vile in respect of our Duty to himself The very substance of our Vow in Baptism 3. And to place my Assertion beyond all Dispute I shall here further note That this in all Ages of Christianity hath been so understood even till this very Day Hence St. Peter's Profession to lay down his Life for his Master was accepted by him which he afterwards performed as also did the rest of the Apostles And the holy Scripture instances in St. Stephen and St. James both early Martyrs and Witnesses of this Truth And had this been otherwise the Churches Kalander had not so long since been furnished with so compleat and numerous an Army of those Noble Martyrs as to Muster up five thousand for each day throughout the Year Who all of them doubtless might have saved their Lives had it not been more for their Lord's Honour and the Interest of his Religion which they were thereby to promore thus to suffer the effusion of their Blood for him who by his own Example of pouring out his Soul unto Death did first lead them the way thereto And in the Hebrews we have the examples of the Jewish Martyrs who were sawn asunder c. set before us for our imitation by St. Paul whose Afflictions also mustered up in his latter Epistle to the Corinthians c. 11. with his frequent Exhortations to the like and a resistance even unto Blood that is in contempt of Death and of following Christ's Example of suffering for the Truth assuring us that there is no other Way or Gate by which we should obtain an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven but through much Tribulation Acts 14. do sufficiently evidence that this Doctrine was not to expire with its great Author but alway to remain a necessary condition of Admittance into his Service and Fellowship so long as he was to have a Church upon Earth that is till the Consummation of the World Now doubtless none of these were so much in love with Death but that willingly they would have redeemed their Lives at the loss only of their Estates or at least the whole with some part could it have been done without offending their Duty So that here were inconveniencies with a witness yet there was no avoiding them so long as they knew themselves under this Obligation to their Saviour and Master Christ 4. Now here some I do not say all will grant that they are indeed tied not to deny Christ But say they again are they therefore bound to proclaim him or to persuade others who think themselves much better or as well already to become his Servants and Followers 5. To which I answer That I suppose they are And that First as being absolntely bound thereto by their very Profession that is by their owning themselves for Christians The contrary being no less than a renouncing of it Because it proceeds from a neglect and even contempt thereof than which nothing can be more contrary thereto And which when not occasioned through Fear or by Accident but arising from Choice and Election and withal attended with a persistance in and defence of it is such a clear indication of our disaffection and no esteem thereof as to amount to a plain denial which every single Sin tho of the grossest kind abstracted from those doth not And
Rom. 4. 12. is intimated to have Instructed and Catechized those three hundred and eighteen whom he led forth to rescue his Cousin Lot As may be seen by comparing Gen. 14. 14. with Prov. 22. 6. and their several Margents And what he began his Posterity continued whose Slaves were not only Circumcised but also admitted to the Passover which last were both by special Command whilst the other were purely voluntary yet commended as being also their Duty even by the Law of Nature and that Principle of doing good so far as we are able implanted in our Hearts So also Joshua resolved That his Houshold should serve the Lord as well as himself And David Psal 101. purposed to retain none but faithful Persons to dwell in his House And Cornelius even before his conversion or knowledg of Christ is said to fear God with all his House Without which I fear he had missed the character of being a devout Man And it is no less evident that in the Gospel the Faithful held it their Duty even by virtue of their Calling and Profession to Christianize their Servants Every such even as Children and Subjects are to Parents and Magistrates being as it were so many Limbs and Members of their Masters and Owners and in some sort the same to them as their Children and no less accountable both to God and Man for them From whence it may seem That the same word in the three learned Languages is frequently used to express both a Servant and a Son to Intimate that strict care which each Father and Master had and ought still to use for the preservation and due provision for them both as to Soul and Body and for their Spiritual as well as Temporal Food And for all others it is Charity if not Duty to keep Men out of Misery and Ruine even against their Wills And tho they be insensible of it should they therefore be allowed to perish our selves beholding it and not advising them of the danger Should a Physician permit his Patient to starve himself because he hath lost his Appetite through the viciousness of his Stomach or over-long Fasting and Abstinence and not be accounted tho he escape being indited for a Murtherer 'T is true if after due provision made and tendered he rejects it and perisheth in that obstinate refusal after all due Means and Arguments used to convince him then we may say to him Perditio ex te ipso and the whole guilt of his destruction will lie at his own door And therefore admitting it to be no wrong to the Negro's in not making them Christians and that what is before affirmed they were of no probability of attaining to the knowledg of Christ in Guinea which also is conjectural and but a mean commendation of the Traders thither who I have heard are by Bond always obliged to the contrary yet certainly we herein wrong our selves by neglecting our Duty in so high a measure whilst instead of performing faithful service to Christ to whom we have vowed our whole Man we in the mean time are found to serve the Devil and Mammon only For as the Orator testifies that Person may justly be reputed an accessary to a Mischief which he might but did not prevent Agreable to that of St. James 4. and the last ver To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin And if Sins of Omission be by some accounted greater than those that are acted or done there is no doubt but that he who wounds his Soul by omitting his Duty injures and hurts himself equally with him that commits a Villany Nor shall I be afraid to affirm that if this I am speaking of touching our Negro's Christianity being hindred or at least neglected be no Sin then neither is Perjury Murther nor Adultery And they who being concerned herein do hold themselves innocent may as safely presume that that our Saviour Christ to promote their Gain will dispense with the most palpable violation of all his Laws For Christianity is a Religion of Charity which teacheth us to be Eyes to the Blind Ears to the Deaf Feet to the Lame and calls upon us to open our Mouths for the Dumb and which cannot Speak in their own cause And it was Christ's advice to sell all and give to the Poor for the furtherance of Christianity And if the Primitive Christians did from thence conceive themselves obliged to dispose of their whole Estates for the support of poor Believers and the encrease of the Church doubtless they were far from any deduction either from that or from any other Text for the obstructing it for their private Gain Now 't is all one to forego our Profit for the same good End as thus to dispose of it when acquired And that Piety is no less acceptable which is the means of introducing new Believers than of preserving the old Nor is its worth at all lessened by the quality of the Parties won and brought over to the Faith one Soul being as precious and dear to God as another and a Slaves being in his sight not inferiour to his Masters And where the consideration of the End namely the good of Souls is the same the excellency of the Duty cannot be abated by any less worthy intervening Circumstances And this is to be understood as relating to the care we ought to use for the Salvation of Strangers living at the remotest distance and without relation to us But here is no such plea or pretence tho it would be but of small force The parties we speak of being their Servants and even branches of each Family by whom they in a manner wholly subsist some and those not a few having by their Negro's labour arrived to vast Riches and for whose Souls they are as certainly accountable to God as for their own Who therefore cannot but claim a share equal with themselves in all things absolutely necessary for their life and being and the enabling them to perform whatsoever is by God or Man required of them The deâ—aining whereof as St. Paul 1 Tim. 5. 8. determins it is no less than a rejecting of the Faith and makes the Oppressor become WORSE than an INFIDEL Whose calling himself a Christian whilst indeed he is none doth call to mind St. John's Censure Apoc. 2. 9. of the like sort of People in his time and gives us no less occasion to apply it here I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Ezek. 8. 15. Then said he unto me Hast thou seen this O Son of Man Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater Abominations than these CHAP. III. That the Inconveniencies here pretended for this Neglect being examined will be found nothing such but rather the contrary § I. n. 1. THe absolute necessity of a Christian's promoting Christianity even in despite of the greatest Difficulties and Inconveniencies being shewed I come now
O Joshua the Son of Jozedeck the High Priest and be strong all the People of the Land and Work for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts as the Prophet Haggai Chap. 2. 4. speaks And let both Ministers and People encourage and provoke each other to Love and to good Works Let the Ministers set before them the Religious Profession of holy Job declaring his esteem for the word of God's Mouth viz. the work of Religion to be more than for his necessary Food But especially the Example of their B. Master whose Meat it was to do the Will of him that sent him and to finish his Work And with the great St. Paul let us be evermore pressed in Spirit and straightned in our Bowels at the thoughts of these Peoples deplorable Estate Not only the poor Barbarians from whom the Key of Knowledg is kept and who are hindred from entering in but the English who are the Authors thereof And as Miltiades Victories did so inflame the emulous mind of Themistocles that he could not rest for them so let the Memory of others more glorious Atchievements in this kind provoke in us the like pious Emulation not suffering us to give sleep to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eyelids until we have arrived within a prospect of its accomplishment Let us consider that we have no more Dispensation for our silence than the Apostles with other succeeding holy Bishops and Priests had who first planted and watered the Church with their Blood and went about and preached every where when it was death to be a Christian That Faith is an active and prolific Grace and cannot remain in Idleness but must operate and imploy that Heavenly Heat which it receives from above for the use of others That there is no Neutrality in this War and that whoever is not actually in Arms prepared to fight against Sin and Infidelity is to be reputed a Conspirator with them That there is the same Heaven and Salvation proposed for the conversion of Slaves as of more illustrious Grandees the whole being but the saving of Souls the effecting of which upon but a very few is worth the Labour of many all their lives Even we no less than St. Paul are debtors to the Greeks and Barbarians to the Wise and to the Vnwise And God hath by an extraordinary Providence brought these People to our very Doors to try our Justice and to see whether we will pay his Debt unto which if ever any did each Soul of us do stand most firmly obliged Look upon them and you cannot but see in their Countenances the lively Effigies of St. Paul's Macedonian imploring your help And O! let not the blood of Souls cry from the Earth for Vengeance against us Reflect but upon the sad Doom denounced against the fearful and unbelieving Rev. 21. and remember that the first great Founders of our Faith were no Cowards Think what a shame it is that we have given such just occasion to the enemies of Religion to reproach and triumph over our Timiditie or which is worse our temporizing for filthy Lucre. And since Fas est ab hoste doceri and that the bitterest Reproaches may have a salubrious Energie when prudently applied let us view the Charge drawn out of our own Liturgie against us and from thence learn to prevent a second and by wise endeavours for the redeeming of our past Errors give undeniable proofs of the deep sense we have of this Duty Nor are we to slight those puny Adversaries but to reform our selves remembring that of Solomon Prov. And that of Cicero Negligere be se quid quisque dicat non solùm arrogantis est sed prorsus dissoluti l. 2. Off. 29. 1. and also 12. 1. which I shall not repeat And if it can be possible for an Heathenish indifferency to harbour in so much as but one single Brest of any devoted to a nearer and more peculiar Service of Christ in the Ministry yet let his Prudence teach him to throw his Garment over that part of his Nakedness and to try at least to conceal it from the World And Si non re ipsa dolet If he cannot be passionately concerned dissimulare certe est Hominis it would be his Wisdom not to betray himself nor disgrace his company Especially in this day of Rebuke when the Mouth of the Slanderer is opened thus bidding us defiance Nor let the opposition and peevishness of unreasonable Men dishearten us as knowing that our true portion is to be sent forth as Sheep amongst Wolves and that success is for the most part the companion of a restless Industry Nothing as the Wise Man saith Prov. 27. 4. see the * As also 2 Kings 18. 31. Isa 37. 32. Original and Greek being of force to withstand ZEAL The Stars they say cannot exercise their Influence upon the sphere of Fire And certainly the Heavens do rarely look with a malign Aspect upon Industry nor is it often seen that God doth interpose his Power to thwart an honest Diligence even in common and Worldly Designs or if He doth He seldom confounds it How much more then may we be confident of his favour in those Heavenly Enterprizes which himself hath commanded and promised his Assistance to the undertakers And since that the most glorious Designs do often prove abortive for want of Resolution a repulse or two ought not to blunt but whet our Desires Remembring that Difficulties are the common pretences and Mormo's of inglorious Sloath but spurs and encouragements to a resolved Diligence Nor ought any to be discouraged from letting down their Nets because some perchance have already toiled to no purpose since by the Divine Benediction attending our patience and perseverance 't is possible we may yet obtain such a lucky Draught as that our Nets being ready to break through the multitude of Fishes we may be forced to becken to our Friends and Partners on the British Shore to come in to our assistance St. Bede l. Hist Eccl. Angl. relates that in the Infancy of our Church such a disappointment happened in an unconverted part of our Nation at which yet he tells us that others nothing discouraged in a second attempt perfected what the former had left for desperate Even so we overlooking all Difficulties and pressing still forward to the Mark if we faint not may obtain that that Prize for which we set forth and accomplish a Work greatly tending to the Glory of God and to the happiness of these poor Peoples Souls no less than of our own But O were our Duty as St. Chrys sweetly exhorteth l. 6. de Sacerd. c. 40. of Piety and a virtuous Life faithfully complied with we might soon and even without Miracles convert the World Wherefore Lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees as saith the Apostle Let us be instant in season and out of season and keep back nothing of the whole Councel of God that is
necessary for the Souls of Men. That so when our Lord shall come to require his Sheep calling unto us as Augustus is said to have done to Varus to restore the Souls committed to our Charge We may give our Account with Joy and not with Grief And that we now feeding the Flock of God and taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind may when the chief Shepherd shall appear receive a Crown of Glory which fadeth not away 2. And for the People I shall propose unto them three general Rules in this Affair to be guided by Whereof the first is To make the Negro's case our own as being the best way to judg what is fit for others And then to remember how unjust it would seem to one of us that our different White should deprive us of the least Advantage much more of the greatest which Religion is That Injunction of our Blessed Lord of dealing so with all Men as we should upon the like change of our Fortunes expect from them being a Principle highly Moral and Natural and sufficient to make us wave those proud distinctions which only avarice and a too worthy conceit of our selves have taught us 3. And to this I shall under the same Head add some few other Considerations of the same kind which may greatly add to our Security As 1. To reflect how dangerous Extremities are and that as nothing violent is lasting so nothing is more permanent than Moderation 2. To think how inconvenient this Distance and Difference between Man and Man Indians and Negro's English and both may in time prove The Poets advice Tros Tyriúsque mihi nullo discrimine agetur being much more conducive to our Happiness and Security 3. To meditate what fit Instruments for any State Revolution such miserable People are who being very numerous should not be too much Exasperated nor driven into Desperation 4. To reflect what a reproach and dishonour to the English Nation and Government our unchristian treating of these People is 5. Wisely to look rather to the most lasting then to the present Gain And in consequence thereof Not to labour so much for the Meat that perisheth c. St. John 6. Lastly To remember at whose Hands their Blood will be required if they perish and not think with Cain to shift the Guilt off by demanding Am I my Slaves keeper which certainly each of you are And therefore to be merciful to your own Souls if not to your Slaves He that taketh warning shall deliver his Soul Ezek. 33. But otherwise his Blood shall be upon his own Head 4. Secondly I shall beseech you to look unto the Generation of God's Children and to see what is done by others whether at Home or Abroad by our own Countrymen or by Strangers both in Europe and in their remoter Colonies and from thence to collect and imitate the best Examples As for our own Nation if we look into New-England they scruple not to admit either Negro's or Indians when capacitated and fit for it to their very Sacraments which very many of the English cannot obtain The Infants also of such are allowed Baptism And of the Bermudians I have Page 143 before spoken 5. Again if we appeal to our Mother-Country the respect there to them is notorious and even become the Scoff of this place 'T is true their Zeal is said of late to be much abated But this as 't is the Crime of some few whose great Wisdom consisteth only in getting of Money the grand Antichrist of our English Nation which in the very letter of the Text they exalt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above God and Religion So I doubt not but their Impiety will in time be better lookt into and a stop be put to its further growth at least there And those Mammonists be obliged to a more Christian deportment and compliance with the universal practice of all Believers especially of our English Nation till now 6. And as to Foraign Nations 't is certain that they treat their Negro's and others both here and in Europe as Men capacitated for the like hopes with themselves And in consequence of that belief do not only permit but compel them to partake with themselves in Religion Of whom some are daily promoted to the Priesthood and other Offices in the Church And I have here seen and discoursed with divers who were brought from those parts which besides some Reports of that nature which I had otherwise met with hath ascertained me of the truth thereof Now all these were they not better principled might urge the like Objections against their being made Christians which our selves do here But they are not yet arrived to that wisdom and fore-sight as to apprehend the Dangers and Inconveniencies of Religion 7. Thirdly I shall recommend unto them 1. A frequent view of the Terms by which only they can pretend a Right to God's Temporal Blessings He gave them the Lands of the Heathen saith David that they might observe his Statutes and keep his Laws So that obedience to God's Laws can only entitle Men to the good things that they here enjoy Which if referred to Christianity doth no question amongst other infer this Duty also 2. And then after a serious view of the Terms to see how others have fared upon the forfeiture St. Paul speaking of the Jews Rom. 9. hath these words Because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by Faith And in the Acts he bespeaks the same Jews to have thrust from them the Word of Eternal Life And in another place not only so but they are also charged with forbidding the Preaching of it to the Gentiles that they might be saved The crying Sin of these Colonies From which impudent despite done to Religion he ominates their speedy destruction and that Wrath which should and not long after did come upon them even to their utter Extermination 1 Thess 2. 16. And 3ly After all to apply this unto our selves If God spared not the Natural Branches how much less will he spare thee Be not therefore high-minded but fear for otherwise thou also shalt be broken off Nor is this the utmost of the danger but there is mentioned something further 2 Thess 1. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punisht with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power when he shall come to be admired in his Saints and to be glorified in all them that believe 8. But if none of all these Considerations will prevail the last thing I shall propose is That you will now at length remove that Vizard and undeceive the World who have been apt hitherto because going by that Name to believe you Christians Which Name with what face Men