*-( 32 , 2 . 
 
 THE 
 
 INJUSTICE and IMPOLICY 
 
 SLAVE TRADE,' 
 
 Slavery of the Africans : 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 for the Promotion of Freedom, and for. 
 the Relief of Persons unlawfully hol-. 
 
 DEN IN BONDAGE, 
 
 ». r .| r-; - ,--p If * Pi |‘ I 4~ ■ » Cj s A 4 fy. * 
 
 At their annual Meetinc in Niw-Haven^' 
 September 15, 1791. 
 
 By JONATHAN EDWARDS, D. D„ 
 
 of the 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED IN 
 
 Preached before the Connecticut Society* 
 
 Pastor of a Church in New-Haven* 
 
 Printed by Thomas and Samuel Green* 
 
 M, D C C, X C I. 
 
4 - 
 
 I 
 
 At a meeting of the Connecticut Society 
 for the Promotion of Freedom , and 
 for the Relief of Perfons unlawfully 
 holden in Bondage , at New-Haven y 
 September 15, 1791, 
 
 V OTED, That the Prefident re- 
 turn the Thanks of this Society 
 to the Rev. Do&or Edwards, for his 
 Sermon this Day delivered before the 
 Society, and that he requeft a Copy 
 thereof, that it may be printed. 
 
 Teft. Simeon Baldwin, Sec’y* 
 
 — 
 
The injuftice and impolicy of the flave-r 
 trade, and of the flavery of the Afri- 
 cans. 
 
 MATTHEW VII. 12. 
 
 Therefore all things whatsoever you 
 
 WOULD, THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU, DO 
 YE EVEN SO TO THEM ; FOR THIS IS THE 
 LAW AND THE PROPHETS. 
 
 T HIS precept of our divine Lord hath always. 
 
 been admired as molt excellent ; and doubt- 
 lefs with the greateft reafon. Yet it needs fome 
 explanation. It is not furely to. be underftood in 
 the moil unlimited lenfe, implying that becaufe a, 
 prince expefts and wifhes for obedience from his 
 lubjefts, he is obliged to obey them : that becaufe 
 parents wifh their children to fubmit to their go- 
 vernment, therefore they are to fubmit to the go- 
 vernment of their children : or that becaufe fome 
 men wifh that others would concur and aflift them 
 to the gratification of their unlawful delires, there- 
 fore they alfo are to gratify the unlawful defires of 
 others. But whatever we are confcious, that v/e 
 fhould, in an exchange of circumftances, wifh, and 
 are periiiaded that we might reafonably wilh, that 
 others would do to us •, that we are bound to do to 
 them. This is the general rule given us in the 
 
 text ; 
 
 . - v, v 
 
i 4 > 
 
 text ; and a very extenfive rule it is, reaching to 
 the whole of our conduct : and is particularly ufeful 
 to dired! our. conduct toward inferiours, and thole 
 •whom we have in our power. I have therefore 
 thought it a proper foundation for. the difcourfe 
 ■which by the Society for the Promotion of Freedom , 
 and for the Relief of Perfons unlawfully holden in. 
 Bondage , I have the honour to be appointed to de- 
 liver, on the prefent occafion. 
 
 This divine maxim is molt properly applicable 
 to the flave-trade, and to the flavery of the Afri- 
 cans. Let us then make the application. 
 
 Should we be willing, that th^ Africans or any 
 pther nation Ihould pu.rchafe us, our wives and 
 children, tranlport us into Africa and there fell us 
 5nto perpetual and abfolute flavery ? Should we be 
 willing, that they by large bribes and offers of a 
 gainful traffic Ihould entice our neighbours to kid • 
 nap and fell us to them, and that they Ihould hold 
 in perpetual and cruel bondage, not only ourfelves, 
 hut our pofterity through ail generations ? Yet why 
 is it not as right for them to treat us in this man- 
 ner, as it is for us to treat them, in the fame man- 
 ner ? Their colour indeed is different from our’s. 
 Tut does this give us a. right to enflave them ?. The 
 nations from Germany to Guinea have com- 
 plexions of every (hade from the faireft white, to a 
 jetty "black : and if a black complexion fubjed! a 
 nation or an individual to flavery ; where fhall fla- 
 very begin ? or where fhall it end ? 
 
 I propofe to .mention a few reafons again!! the. 
 right of th.e flave-trade — and then to conflder the 
 principal arguments, which I have ever heard urg- 
 ed in favour of it. — -What will be faid again!! the 
 flave-trade will generally be equally applicable to 
 flavery itfelf ; and if conciuflve again!! the former, 
 will be equally conduflve again!! the latter. 
 
 ' , * ' As 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 As to the flave-trade, I conceive it to be unjuft 
 in itfelf — abominable on account of the cruel man- 
 ner in which it is conduced — and totally wrong on 
 account of the impolicy of it, or its deftruftive ten- 
 dency to the moral and political interefts of any 
 Country. 
 
 I. It is unjuft in itfelf.— It is unjuft in the fame 
 fenfe, and for the fame reafon, as it is, to fteal, to 
 fob, or to murder. It is a principle, the truth of 
 which hath in th,is country been generally, if not 
 vniverfally acknowledged, ever fince the commence- 
 ment of the late war, that all men are horn equally 
 free. If this be true, the Africans are by nature 
 equally entitled to freedom as we are ; and therefore 
 \ve have no more right to enflave, or to afford aid to 
 enflave them, than they have to do the fame to us. 
 They have the fame right to their freedom, which 
 they have to their property or to, their lives. There- 
 fore to enflave them is as really and in the fame 
 fenfe wrong, as to fteal from them, to, rob or to. 
 murder them. 
 
 There are indeed cafes in which men may juft- 
 ly be deprived of their liberty and reduced to 
 flavery ; as there are cafes in which they may be 
 juftly deprived of their lives. But they can juftly 
 be deprived of neither, unlefs they have by their 
 own voluntary conduct forfeited it. Therefore ftill 
 the right to liberty ftands on the fame bafts with 
 the right to life. And that the Africans have done 
 fomething whereby they have forfeited their liberty 
 muft appear, before we can juftly deprive them of 
 it ; as it muft appear, that they have done fome- 
 fhing whereby they have forfeited their lives, be- 
 fore we may iuftly deprive them of thefe. 
 
 II. The flave-trade is wicked and abominable 
 qn account of the cruel manner in which it is car- 
 ried on. 
 
 I * * • 1 ' • 
 
 Befide 
 
( <i ) 
 
 Bdide the dealing or kidnapping of men, wo- 
 men and children, in the firft inftance, and the in- 
 itiation of others to this abominable practice j the 
 inhuman manner in which they are tranfported to 
 America, and in which they are treated on their 
 paflfage and in their fubfequent flavery, is fuch as 
 ought forever to deter every man from acting any 
 part in this bufmefs, who has any regard to juftice 
 or humanity. They are crowded fo clofely into 
 the holds and between the decks of veflels, that 
 they have fcarcely room to lie down, and fometimes 
 not room to fit up in an erett pofture ; the men at 
 the fame time fattened together with irons by two 
 and two ; and all this in the moft fultry climate. 
 The confequence of the whole is, that the moft dan- 
 gerous arid fatal difeafes are foon bred among them, 
 whereby vaft numbers of thofe exported from Afri- 
 ca perifti in the voyage : others in dread of that 
 flavery which is before them, and in diftrefs and 
 defpair from the lofs of their parents, their children, 
 their hufbands, their wives, all their dear connec- 
 tions, and their dear native country itfelf, ftarve 
 themfelves to death or plunge themfelves into the 
 ocean. Thofe who attempt in the former of thofe 
 ways to efcape from their perfecutors, are tortured, 
 by live coals applied to their mouths. Thofe who 
 attempt an efcape in the latter and fail, are equally 
 tortured by the moft cruel beating, or otherwife as 
 their perfecutors pleafe. If any of them make an 
 attempt, as they fometimes do, to recover their li- 
 berty, fome, and as the circumftances may be, ma- 
 ny, are put to immediate death. Others beaten, 
 bruifed, cut and mangled in a moft inhuman and 
 Blocking manner, are in this fituation exhibited to 
 the reft, to terrify them from the like attempt in 
 future : and fome are delivered up to every fpecies 
 of torment, whether by the application of the whip, 
 
 or 
 
( l ) 
 
 Or of any other inflrument, even of fire itfclf, as tine 
 ingenuity of the Ihip-mafter and cf his crew is able 
 to fuggeft or their fituation will admit •> and theie 
 torments are purpofely continued for feveral days, 
 before death is permitted to afford relief to thefe 
 objects of vengeance. 
 
 By thefe means, according to the common com- 
 putation, twenty-five thoufand, which is a fourth 
 part of thofe who are exported from Africa, and by 
 the conceffion of all, twenty thoufand, annually per- 
 ifh, before they arrive at the places of their defti- 
 nation in America. 
 
 But this is by no means the end of the fufferings 
 cf this unhappy people. Bred up in a country fpon- 
 taneoufiy yielding the neceflaries and conveniences 
 of favage life, they have never been accuftomed to 
 labour : of courfe they are but ill prepared to go 
 through the fatigue and drudgery to which they are 
 doomed in their ftate of flavery. Therefore partly 
 by this caufe, partly by the fcantine.fs and badnefs 
 of their food, and partly from .deje&ion of fpirits, 
 mortification and defpair, another twenty-five thou- 
 fand die in the feafoning, as it is called, i. e. with- 
 in two years of their arrival in America » This 
 I fay is the common computatiom Or if we will 
 in this particular be as favourable to the trade as in 
 the eftimate of the number which perifhes on the 
 paflage, we may reckon the number which dies in 
 the feafoning to be twenty thoufand. So that of 
 the hundred thoufand annually exported from Af- 
 rica to America, fifty thoufand, as it is commonly 
 computed, or on the moft favourable eftimate, forty 
 thoufand, die before they are feafoned to the coun- 
 ty* . .. . 
 
 Nor is this all. The cruel fufferings of thefe ph 
 tiable beings are not yet at an end. Thencefor- 
 ward 
 
C 8 ) 
 
 watd they have to drag out a miferable life in abfo- 
 lute flavery, entirely at the difpofal of their maftersj 
 by whom not only every venial fault, every mere 
 inadvertence or miftake, but even real virtues, are 
 liable to be conflrued into the moft atrocious crimes, 
 and punifhed as fuch, according to their caprice or 
 rage, while they are intoxicated fometimes with li- 
 quor, fometimes with pafiion. 
 
 By thefe mafters they are fupplied with barely 
 enough to keep them from ftarving, as the whole 
 expence laid out on a Dave for food, clothing and 
 medicine is commonly computed on an average at 
 thirty fhillings fterling annually. At the fame time 
 they are kept at hard labour from five o’clock in 
 the morning, till nine at night, excepting time to 
 eat twice during the day* And they are conftant- 
 ly under the watchful eye of overfeers and Negro- 
 drivers more tyrannical and cruel than even their 
 mafters themfelves. From thefe drivers for every 
 imagined, as well as real neglett or want of exerti- 
 on, they receive the Jafh, the fmack of which is all 
 day long in the ears of thofe who are on the plant- 
 ation or in the vicinity ; and it is ufed with fuch dex- 
 terity and feverity, as not only to lacerate the Ikm* 
 but to tear out fmall portions of the flefh at almoft 
 every flroke. 
 
 This is the general treatment of the Daves. But 
 many individuals fuffer kill more feverely. Many, 
 many are knocked down ; fome have their eyes 
 beaten out ; fome have an arm or a leg broken, or 
 chopt off and many for a very fmall or for no 
 crime at all, have been beaten to death merely to 
 gratify the fury of an enraged maker or overfeer. 
 
 Nor ought we on this occafion to overlook the 
 wars among the nations of Africa excited by the 
 trade, or the dekru&ion attendant on thofe wars. 
 Not to mention the dekru&ion of property, the 
 
 burning 
 
C $ ) 
 
 burning of towns and villages, &c. it Hath been de- 
 termined by realonable computation, that there are 
 annually exported from Africa to the various parts 
 of America, one hundred thoufand Haves, as was 
 before obferved ; that of thefe fix thoufand are cap- 
 tives of war j that in the wars in which thefe are 
 taken, ten perfons of the vidtors and vanquifhed are 
 killed, to one taken ; that therefore the taking of 
 the fix thoufand captives is attended with the daugh- 
 ter of fixty thoiifand of their countrymen.. Now 
 does not jiiftice ? does not humanity fhririk from 
 the idea, that in order to procure one Have to grat- 
 ify our avarice* we ftiould put to death ten human 
 beings ? Or that in order to increafe our property, 
 and that only in fome fmall degree, we fhould carry 
 On a trade, .or even connive at it, to fupport which 
 fixty thoufand of our own fpecies are flain in war ? 
 
 Thefe fixty thoufand, added to the forty thou- 
 fand who perifh on the paflage and in the feafon- 
 ing, give us an hundred thoufand who are annually 
 deftroyed by the trade ; and the whole advantage 
 gained by this amazing deflruflion of human lives 
 is fixty thoufand flaves. For you will recollect, 
 that the whole number exported from Africa is an 
 hundred thoufand ) that of thefe forty thoufand die 
 bn the paffage and in the feafoning, and fixty thou- 
 fand are deftroyed in the wars. Therefore while 
 one hundred and fixty thoufand are killed in the 
 wars and ate exported from Africa, but fixty thou- 
 fand are added to the ftock of Haves. 
 
 Now when we confider all this ■, when we conli- 
 der the miferies which this unhappy people fuffer 
 in their wars, in their captivity, in their voyage to 
 America, and during a wretched life of cruel sla- 
 very : and efp'ecially when we confider the annual 
 deftrudtion of an hundred thoufand lives in the 
 manner before mentioned * who can hefitate to de- 
 B dare 
 
( xo ) 
 
 clarc this trade and the confequent fiavery to be 
 contrary to every principle ofjuftice and humanity, 
 of the law of nature and of the law of God ? 
 
 III. This trade and this flavery are utterly wrong 
 on the ground of impolicy. In a variety of refpedts 
 they are exceedingly hurtful to the ftate which to- 
 lerates them. 
 
 i. They ar.e hurtful, as they deprave the morals 
 of the people. — The inceffant and inhuman cruel- 
 ties pradtifed in the trade and in the fubfequent (la- 
 very neceflarily tend to harden the human heart a- 
 gainft the tender feelings of humanity in the maflers 
 of veflels, in the failors, in the fadtors, in the proprietors 
 of the (laves, in their children, in the overfeers, in the 
 (laves themfelves, and in all who habitually fee thofe 
 cruelties. Now the eradication or even the dimi- 
 nution of companion, tendernefs and humanity, is 
 certainly a great depravation of heart, and muft be 
 followed with correfpondent depravity of manners. 
 And meafures which lead to fuch depravity of heart 
 and manners, cannot but be extremely hurtful to 
 the ftate, and confequently are extremely impolitic. 
 
 i. The trade is impolitic as it is fo deftrudtive 
 of the lives of feamen. The ingenious Mr. Clark- 
 fon hath in a very fatisfadlory manner made it ap- 
 pear, that in the (lave-trade alone Great-Britain 
 lofes annually about nineteen hundred feamen; and 
 that this lofs is more than double to the lofs annu- 
 ally fuftained by Great-Britain in all her other trade 
 taken together. And doubtlefs we lofe as many as 
 Great-Britain in proportion to the number of fea- 
 men whom we employ in this trade. — Now can it 
 be politic to carry on a trade which is fo deftrudtive 
 of that ufeful part of our citizens, our feamen ? 
 
 3. African flavery is exceedingly impolitic, as it 
 difeourages induftry. Nothing is more eflential to 
 the political profperityof any ftate, than induftry in 
 
 the 
 
( II. ) 
 
 the citizens. But in proportion as flaves are mul- 
 tiplied, every kind of labour becomes ignominious : 
 and in fa<5t in thofe of the United States, in which 
 Haves are the mod numerous, gentlemen and ladies 
 of any fafliion difdain to employ themfelv.es in bu- 
 finefs, which in other Hates is confident with the 
 dignity of the fird families and fird offices. In a 
 country filled with Negro flaves, labour belongs to 
 them only, and a white man is defpifed in propor- 
 tion as he applies to it. — Now how dedru&ive to 
 indudry in all of the lowed and middle clafs of ci- 
 tizens, fuch a fituation and the prevalence of fuch 
 ideas will be, you can eafily conceive. The con- 
 fequence is, that fome will nearly darve, others will 
 betake themfelves to the mod difhoned practices, 
 to obtain the means of living. 
 
 As flavery produces indolence in the white peo- 
 ple, fo it produces all thofe vices which are natu- 
 rally connected with it ; fuch as intemperance, 
 lewdnefs and prodigality. Thefe vices enfeeble 
 both the body and the mind, and unfit men for 
 any vigorous exertions and employments either ex- 
 ternal or mental. And thofe who are unfit for fuch 
 exertions, are already a very degenerate race de- 
 generate, not only in a moral, but a natural lenfe. 
 They are contemptible too v and will foon be de- 
 fpifed even by their Negroes themfelves. 
 
 Slavery tends to lewdnefs not only as it produces 
 indolence, but as it affords abundant opportunity 
 for that w'ickednefs without either the danger and 
 difficulty of an attack on the virtue of a woman of 
 chadity, or the danger of a connection with one of 
 ill fame. A planter with his hundred wenches a- 
 bout him is in lome refpeCbs at lead like the Sul- 
 tan in his feraglio, and we learn the too frequent 
 influence and effeCt of fuch a fituation, not only 
 from common fame, but from the multitude- of 
 
 mur 
 
C ) 
 
 mulattoes in countries where flaves are very nu- 
 merous. 
 
 Slavery has a mod direCt tendency to haughti- 
 nefs alfo, and a domineering fpirit and conduCt in 
 the proprietors of the flaves, in their children, and 
 in all who have the control of them. A man who 
 has been bred up in domineering over Negroes, can 
 Scarcely avoid contracting fuch a habit of haughti- 
 nefs and domination, as will exprefs itfelf in his 
 general treatment of mankind, whether in his pri- 
 vate capacity, or in any office civil or military with 
 which he may be veiled. Defpotifm in economics 
 naturally leads to defpotifm in politics, and domeftic 
 flavery in a free government is a perfect folecifm in 
 human, affairs. 
 
 How baneful all thefe tendencies and effects of 
 flavery mult be to the public good, and efpecially 
 to the public good of fuch a free country as our’s, 
 I need not inform you. 
 
 4.. In the fame proportion is induftry and labour 
 are difcouraged, is population difcouraged and pre- 
 vented. This is another refpeCb in which flavery 
 is exceedingly impolitic. That population is pre- 
 vented in proportion as induftry is difcouraged, is, 
 I conceive, fo plain that nothing needs to be faid 
 to illuftrate it. Mankind in general will enter into 
 ■matrimony as loon as they poflefs the means of 
 fuppprting a family. But the great body of any 
 people have no other way of fupporting them- 
 ielves or a family, than by their own labour. Of 
 courfe as labour is difcouraged, matrimony is dif- 
 couraged and population is prevented. — But the 
 impolicy of whatever produces thefe effedls will be 
 acknowledged by all. The wealth, ftrength and 
 glory of a ftate depend on the number of its virtu- 
 ous citizens : and a ftate without citizens is at leaft 
 as great an abfurdity, as a king without fubjeCls. 
 
 5. The 
 
( *3 ) 
 
 5. The impolicy of flavery ftill further appears 
 from this, that it weakens the ftate, and in propor- 
 tion to the degree in which it exifts, expofes it to 
 become an eafy conqueft. — The increafe of free ci- 
 tizens is an increafe of the ftrength of the ftate. But 
 pot fo with regard to the increafe of flaves. They 
 not only add nothing to the ftrength of the ftate, 
 but actually diminilh it in proportion to their num- 
 ber. Every flave is naturally an enemy to the ftaje 
 in which he is holden in flavery , and wants nothing 
 but an opportunity to afiift in its overthrow. And 
 an enemy within a ftate, is much more dangerous 
 than one without it, 
 
 Thefe obfervations concerning the prevention of 
 population and weakening the ftate, are fupported 
 by fads which have fallen within our own obferva- 
 tion. That the fouthern ftates, in which flaves are 
 fo numerous, are in no meafure fo populous, ac- 
 cording to the extent of territory, as the northern, is 
 a fad of univerfal notoriety : and that during the 
 late war, the fouthern ftates found themfelves greatly 
 weakened by their flaves, and therefore were fo eafi- 
 ly overrun by the Britifh army, is equally noto- 
 rious. 
 
 From the view we have now taken of this fub- 
 jed we fcruple not to infer, that to carry on the 
 flave-trade and to introduce flaves into our coun- 
 try, is not only to be guilty of injuftice, robbery 
 and cruelty toward our fellow-men j but it is to 
 injure ourfelves and our country ; and therefore it 
 is altogether unjuftifiable, wicked and abominable. 
 
 Having thus conftdered the injuftice and ruinous 
 tendency of the flave-trade, I proceed to attend to 
 the principal arguments urged in favour of it. 
 
 i. It is faid, that the Africans are the pofterity 
 of Ham, the fon of Noah ; that Canaan one of 
 Ham’s fens, was curfed by Noah to be a fervant 
 
 of 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 of fer’vants ; that by Canaan we are to underftand 
 Ham’s pofterity in general ; that as his pofterity 
 are devoted by God to fiavery, we have a right to 
 enflave them. — This is the argument : to which I 
 anfwer : 
 
 It is indeed generally thought that Ham peopled 
 Africa ; but that the curfe on Canaan extended to 
 all the pofterity of Ham is a mere imagination. 
 The only reafon given for it is, that Canaan was 
 only one of Ham’s Tons ; and that it feems reafon- 
 able, that the curfe of Ham’s conduft fhould fall 
 on all his pofterity, if on any. But this argument 
 is infufncient. We might as clearly argue, that the 
 judgments denounced on the houfe of David, on 
 accpunt of his fin in the matter of Uriah, muft equal- 
 ly fall on all his pofterity. Yet we know, that many 
 of them lived and died in great profperity. So in 
 every cafe in which judgments are predicted con- 
 cerning any nation or family. 
 
 It is allowed in this argument, that the curfe was 
 to fall on the pofterity of Ham, and not immediate- 
 ly on Ham himfelf ; If otherwife, it is nothing to 
 the purpofe of the flave- trade, or of any flaves now 
 in existence. It being allowed then, that this curfe 
 was to fall on Ham’s pofterity, he who had a right 
 to curfe the whole of that pofterity, had the fame 
 right to curfe a part of it only, and the pofterity of 
 Canaan equally as any other part ; and a curfe on 
 Ham’s pofterity in the line of Canaan was as real a 
 curfe on Ham himfelf, as curfe on all his pofteri- 
 ty would have been. 
 
 Therefore we have no ground to believe, that 
 this curfe refpe&ed any others, than the pofterity o( 
 Canaan, who lived in the land of Canaan, which is 
 well known to be remote from Africa. We have 
 a particular account, that all the fons of Canaaq 
 fettled in the hnd of Canaan ; as may be feen in 
 
 Gen. 
 
( i5 ) 
 
 Gen. x. 15 20. “ And Canaan begat Sidon his 
 
 “ firft born, and Heth, and the Jebufite, and the 
 <c Emorite, and the Girgafite, and the Hivite, and 
 “ the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, 
 
 <f and the Zemorite, and the Hamathite ; and a f- 
 “ tcrward were the families of the Canaanites Ipread 
 a abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was 
 “ from Sidon, as thou goeft to Gerar, unto Gaza ; 
 
 as thou goeft unto Sodom and Gomorrah, Ad- 
 “ mah, and Zeboim, even unto Lafhah.” — Nor 
 have we account that any of their pofterity except 
 the Carthaginians afterward removed to any part 
 of Africa : and none will pretend that thefe 
 peopled Africa in general ; efpecialiy confidering, 
 that they were fubdued, deftroyed and fo far extir- 
 pated by the Romans. 
 
 This curfe then of the pofterity of Canaan, had • 
 no reference to the inhabitants of Guinea, or of Af- 
 rica in general ; but was fulfilled partly in Jofhua’s 
 time, in the reduction and fervitude of the Canaan- 
 ites, and efpecialiy of the Gibeonites ; partly by 
 what the Phenicians fuffered from the Chaldeans, 
 Perfians and Greeks; and finally by what the Car- 
 thaginians fuffered from the Romans. 
 
 Therefore this curfe gives us mo right to enflave 
 the Africans, as we do by the fiave-trade, becaufe 
 it has no refpedt to the Africans whom we enfiave. 
 Nor if it had refpetfted them, would it have given 
 any fuch right ; becaufe it was not an inftitution of 
 flavery, but a mere prophecy of it. And from this 
 prophecy we have no more ground to infer the right 
 of flavery, than we have from the prophecy of the 
 deftrufftion of Jerufalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or by 
 the Romans, to infer their right refpedtivcly to de- 
 ftroy it in the manner they did ; or from other pro- 
 phecies to infertile right of Judas to betray his 
 mafter, or of the Jews to crucify him. 
 
 2. The 
 
C *6 ) 
 
 i. The right of flavery is inferred from the iti- 
 ftance of Abraham, who had fervants born in his 
 houfe and bought with his money. — But it is by nd 
 means certain, that th'efe were flaves, as our Ne- 
 groes are. If they were, it is unaccountable, that 
 he went out at the. head of an army of them to fight 
 his enemies. No Weft-India planter would eafily 
 be induced to venture himfelf in fuch a fituation. 
 It is far more probable, that fimilar to fome of the 
 vaflals under the feudal conftitution, the fervants of 
 Abraham were only in a good meafure dependant 
 on him, and prote&ed by him. But if they 
 were to all intents and purpofes flaves, Abraham’s, 
 holding of them will no more prove the right of 
 flavery, than his going in to Hagar, will prove it 
 right for any man to cohabit with his wench. 
 
 3. From the divine permiflion given the Iiraelites 
 fo buy fervants of the nations round about them, it 
 is argued, that we have a right to buy the Africans 
 and hold them in flavery. See Lev. xxv. 44 — 47. 
 tc Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which 
 tf thou fhalt have, fhall be of the heathen that are 
 “ round about you ; of them fhall ye buy bond- 
 “ men and bondmaids. Moreover, of the child- 
 “ ren of the ftrangers that do fojourn among you^ 
 tc of them fhall ye buy, and of their families, that 
 ,e are with you, which they begat in yOur land j 
 “ and they fhall be your pofiefiion. And ye fhall 
 “ take them as an inheritance for your children af- 
 “ ter you, to inherit them for a pofleflion ; they 
 “ fhall be your bondmen for ever : but over your 
 “ brethren the children of Ifrael ye fhall not rule 
 “ one over another with rigour.” But if this be at 
 all to the purpofe, it i9 a permiflion to every nation 
 under heaven to buy (laves of the nations round a- 
 bout them ; to us, to buy of our Indian neigh- 
 bours •, to them, to buy of us to the French, ttf 
 
( i7 ) 
 
 buy of the Englifh, and to the Englifh to buy ef 
 the French ; and fo through the world. If then 
 this argument be valid, every man has an entire 
 right to engage in this trade, and to buy and fell 
 any other man of another nation, and any other man 
 of another nation has an entire right to buy and 
 fell him. Thus according to this conftru&ion, 
 we have in Lev. xxv. 43, &c. an inftitution of an 
 univerfal flave-trade, by which every man may not 
 only become a merchant, but may rightfully be- 
 come the merchandize itfelf of this trade, and may 
 be bought and fold like a beaft, — Now this confe- 
 quence will be given up as abfurd, and therefore 
 alfo the conftruCtion of fcripture from which it fol- 
 . lows, muft be given up. Yet it is prelumed, that 
 there is no avoiding that conftrudtion or the abfurd- 
 ity flowing from it, but by admitting, that this per- 
 miflion to the Ifraelites to buy flaves has no refpeCt 
 to us, but was in the fame manner peculiar to them, 
 as the permiflion and command to fubdue, deftroy 
 and extirpate the whole Canaanitifh nation ; and 
 therefore no more gives countenance to African 
 flavery, than the command to extirpate the Cana- 
 anites, gives countenance to the extirpation of any 
 nation in thefe days, by an univerfal daughter of 
 men and women, young men and maidens, infants 
 and fucklings. 
 
 4.- It is further pleaded, that there were flaves in 
 the time of the apoftles ; that they did not forbid 
 the holding of thofe flaves, but gave directions to 
 fervants, doubtlefs referring to the fervants of that 
 day, to obey their m afters, and count them worthy of 
 all honour. 
 
 To this the anfwer is, that the apoflles teach the 
 general duties of fervants who are rignteoufly in 
 the flare of fervitude, as many are or may be, by 
 hire, by indenture, and by judgment of a civil court. 
 
 C But 
 
X 18 ) 
 
 But they do not fay, whether the fervants in general 
 of that day .were juftly holden in flavery or not. 
 In like manner they lay down the general rules of 
 obedience to civil magiftrates, without deciding 
 concerning the chara&ers of the magiftrates of the 
 Roman empire in the reign of Nero. And as the 
 apoftle Paul requires mafters to give their fervants 
 that which is juft and equal , (Col. iv. i.) fo if any 
 were enflaved unjuftly, of courfe he in this text re- 
 quires of the mafters of fuch, to give them their 
 freedom. — Thus the apoftles treat the flavery of 
 that day in the fame manner that they treat the civil 
 government ; and fay nothing more in favour of 
 the former, than they fay in favour of the latter. 
 
 Befides, this argument from the flavery prevail- 
 ing in the days of the apoftles, if it prove any thing, 
 proves too much, and fo confutes itfelf. It proves, 
 that we may enflave all captives taken in war, of 
 any nation, and in any thdmoft unjuft war, fuch as 
 the wars of the Romans, which were generally un- 
 dertaken from the motives of ambition or avarice. 
 On the ground of this argument we had a right to 
 enflave the prifoners, whom we, during the late 
 war, took from the Britifli army ; and they had the 
 ' fame right to enflave thofe whom they took from 
 us and fo with refpedt to all other nations. 
 
 5. It is flrongly urged, that the Negroes brought 
 from Africa are all captives of war, and therefore 
 are juftly bought and holden in flavery. — This is a 
 principal argument always urged by the advocates 
 for flavery; and in a folemn debate on this fubjeft, 
 it hath been ftrongly infifted on, very lately in the 
 Britifh parliament. Therefore it requires our par- 
 ticular attention. 
 
 Captives in a war juft on theic- part, cannot be 
 juftly enflaved ; nor is this pretended. Therefore 
 the captives who may be juftly enflaved, muft be 
 
 taken 
 
( *9 ) 
 
 taken in a war unjuft on their part. But oven- op 
 the fuppofition, that captives in fuch a war may be 
 juftly enftaved, it will not follow, that we can juft> 
 ly carry on the flave-trade, as it is. commonly car- 
 ried on from the African, coaft. In this trade any 
 flaves are purchaied, who are offered for fale, whe- 
 ther juftly or unjuftly enftaved. No enquiry is 
 made whether they were captives in any war ; much 
 lefs, whether they were captivated in a war unjuft 
 on their part. 
 
 By the moft authentic accounts, it appears, that 
 the wars in general in Africa are excited by the 
 profpe<5l of gain from, the fale of the captives of the 
 war. Therefore thofe taken by the affailants ip 
 fuch wars,, cannot be juftly enftaved. Befide thefe, 
 many are kidnapped by thofe of neighbouring na- 
 tions ; fome by their own- neighbours ; and fome 
 by their kings or his. agents others for debt or 
 fome trifling crime are condemned to perpetual 
 flavery — But none of thefe are juftly enftaved. And 
 the traders make no enquiry concerning the mode 
 or occafion of their firft enflavement. They buy 
 all that are offered, provided they like them and 
 the price. — So that the plea, that the African flaves 
 are captives in war, is entirely infufficient to juftify 
 the flave-trade as now. carried on. 
 
 But this is not all j if it were ever fo true, that 
 all the Negroes exported from Africawere captives 
 in war, and that they -vyere taken in a war unjuft on 
 their part ; ftiil they could not be juftly enftaved. 
 — We have no right to enflave a private foe in a 
 ftate of nature, after he is conquered. Suppofe in 
 a ftate of nature one man rifes againft another and 
 endeavours to kill him ; in this cafe the perfon af- 
 faulted has no right to kill the affailant, unlefs it be 
 neceffary to preferve his own life. But in wars be- 
 tween nations, one nation may no doubt fecure it- 
 
 fdc 
 
C *9 ) 
 
 felf againft another, by other means than the flave- 
 ry of its captives. If a nation be victorious in the 
 war, it may exaCt fome towns or a diftriCt of coun- 
 try, by way of caution ; or it may impofe a fine 
 to deter from future injuries. If the nation be not 
 victorious, it will do no good to enflave the captives 
 whom it has taken. It will provoke the victors, 
 and foolifhly excite vengeance which cannot be re- 
 pelled. 
 
 Or if neither nation be decidedly victorious, to 
 enflave the captives on either fide can anfwer no 
 good purpofe, but mull at leaft occafiOn the enflav- 
 ing of the citizens of the other nation, who are now, 
 or in future may be in a flate of captivity. Such a 
 practice therefore necefiarily tends to evil and not 
 good. 
 
 Befides ; captives in war are generally common 
 foldiers or common citizens ; and they are general- 
 ly ignorant of the true caufe or caufes of the war, 
 and are by their fuperiours made to believe, that 
 the war is entirely juft on their part. Or if this be 
 rot the cafe, they may bv force be compelled to 
 ferve in a war which they know to be unjuft. In 
 either of thefe cafes they do not deferve to be con- 
 demned to perpetual flavery. To infliCt perpetual 
 flavery on thefe private foldiers and citizens is man- 
 ifeftly not to do, as we would with that men fliould 
 do to us. If we- were taken in a war unjuft on our 
 part, we fhould not think it right to be condemned 
 to perpetual flavery. No more right is it for us to 
 condemn and hold in perpetual flavery others, who 
 are in the fame fituation. 
 
 6. It is argued, that as the Africans in their own 
 country, previoufiy to the purchafe of them by the 
 African traders, are captives in war ; if they were 
 not bought up by thofe traders, they would be put 
 to death': that theiefore to purchafe them and to 
 
 fubjeCt 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 fubjeft them to flavery inftead of death, is an aft of 
 mercy not only lawful, but meritorious. 
 
 If the cafe were indeed lb as is now repre-r 
 fented, the purchale of the Negroes would be no 
 more meritorious, than the aft of a man, who, if 
 we were taken by the Algerines, fhould purchale us 
 out of that flaveyy. This would indeed be an aft 
 of benevolence, if the purchafer Ihould fet us at li- 
 berty. But it is no aft of benevolence to buy a 
 man out of one ftate into another no better. Nay, 
 the aft of ranfoming a man from death gives no 
 right to the ranfbmer to commit a crime or an aft 
 of injuftice to the perfon ranfomed. The perfon 
 ranfomed is doubtlefs obligated according to his 
 ability to fatisfy the ranlomer for his expence and 
 trouble. Yet the ranlomer has no more right to 
 enflave the other, than the man who faves the life 
 of another who was about to be killed by a robber 
 or an afiaflin, has a right to enflave him. — The li- 
 berty of a man for life is a far greater good, than 
 the property paid for a Negro on the African coaft. 
 And to deprive a man of an immenfely greater 
 good, in order to recover one immenfely lels, is an 
 immenfe injury and crime. 
 
 7. As to the pretence, that to prohibit or lay a*- 
 fide this trade, would be hurtful to our commerce ; 
 it is fufficient to alk, whether on the fuppofition, 
 that it were advantageous to the commerce of Great- 
 Britain to fend her (hips to thefe Hates, and tranf- 
 port us into perpetual flavery in the Weft-Indies, 
 it would be right that fhe fhould go intQ that trade. 
 
 8. That to prohibit the flave trade would in- 
 fringe on the property of thofe, who have expended 
 large fums to carry on that trade, or of thofe who 
 wilh to purchale the flaves for their plantations, 
 hath alfo been urged as an argument in favour of 
 the trade. — But the fame, argument would prove. 
 
( 22 > . 
 
 that if the fkins arid teeth of the Negroes were as 
 valuable articles of commerce as furs and elephant’s 
 teeth, and a merchant were to lay out his property 
 in this commerce, he ought by no means to be ob- 
 flru&ed therein. 
 
 9. But others will carry on the trade, if we do 
 not. — So. others will rob. Ideal and murder, if we 
 do not. 
 
 10. It is faid, that fome men are intended by na- 
 ture to be flaves. — If this mean, that the author of 
 nature has given fome men a licence, to enflave o- 
 thers ; this is denied and proof is demanded. If 
 it mean, that God hath made fome of capacities in- 
 ferior to others, and that the lad have a right to en- 
 flave the firft ; this argument will prove, that fome 
 of the citizens of every country, have a right to en- 
 flave other citizens of the fame country ; nay, that 
 fome have a right to enflave their own brothers and 
 Aiders. — But if this argument mean, that God in his 
 providence differs fome men to be enflaved, and 
 that this proves, that from the beginning he intend- 
 ed they fhould be enflaved, and made them with 
 this intention ; the anfwer is, that in like manner 
 he differs fome men to be murdered, and in this 
 fenfe, he intended and made them to be murdered. 
 Yet no man in his fenies will hence argue the lav/- 
 fulnefs of murder. 
 
 11. It is further pretended, that no other men, 
 than Negroes, can endure labour in the hot cli- 
 mates of the Wed-Indies and the fouthern dates. — 
 But does this appear to be fa£t ? In all other cli- 
 mates, the labouring people are the mod healthy. 
 And I confefs I have not yet feen evidence, but 
 that thofe who have been accudamed to labour 
 and are inured to thofe climates, can bear labour 
 there alfo. — However, taking for granted the fact 
 afferted in this objection, dees it follow, that the 
 
 inhabitants 
 
 *» • 
 
( *3 ') 
 
 inhabitants of thofe countries have a right to enflavb 
 the Africans to labour for them ? No more iurely 
 than from the circumftance, that you are feeble and 
 cannot labour, it follows, that you have a right to 
 enflave your robuft neighbour. A3 in all other ca- 
 fes, the feeble and thole who choole not to labour* 
 and yet wilh to have their lands cultivated, are r.e- 
 ceflitated to hire the robuft to labouf for them ; fo 
 no reafon can be given, why the inhabitants of hot 
 climates fhould not either perform their own labour, 
 or hire thofe who can perform it, whether Negroes 
 or others. 
 
 If our traders went to the coaft of Africa to mur- 
 der the inhabitants, or to rob them of their proper- 
 ty, all would own that fuch murderous or piratical 
 practice's are wicked and abominable. Now it is as 
 really wicked to rob a man of his liberty, as to rob 
 him of his life * and it is much more wicked, than 
 to rob him of his property. All men agree to con- 
 demn highway robbery. And the Have-trade is as 
 much a greater wickednefs than highway robbery, 
 as liberty is more valuable than property- How 
 ftrange is it then, that in the fame nation highway 
 robbery fhould be punifhed with death, and the 
 flave-trade be encouraged by national authority. 
 
 We all dread political flavery, or fubje&ion to 
 the arbitrary power of a king or of any man or men 
 not deriving their authority from the people. Yet 
 fuch a ftate is inconceivably preferable to the fiave- 
 ry of the Negroes- Suppofe that in the late war we 
 had been fubdued by Great- Britain} we fhould have 
 been taxed without our confent. But thefe taxes 
 would have amounted to but a fmall part of our 
 property. Whereas the Negroes are deprived of 
 all their property } no part of their earnings is their 
 own } the whole is their m afters.- — In a conquered 
 ftate we fhould have been at liberty to difpofe of our- 
 
 felves 
 
( H ) 
 
 felves and of our property in moft cafes, as wS 
 fhould choofe. We fhould have been free to live in 
 this or that town or place in any part of the country, 
 or to remove Out of the country ; to apply to this 
 or that bufinefs ; to labour or not ; and excepting a 
 fufficiency for the taxes, to difpofe of the fruit of 
 our labour to our ov/n benefit, or that of our child- 
 ren, or of any other perfon. But the unhappy Ne- 
 groes in flavery can do none of thefe things. They 
 muft do what they are commanded and as much as 
 they are commanded, on pain of the lafh. They 
 muft live where they are placed, and muft confine 
 themfelves to that fpot, on pain of death. 
 
 So that Great-Britain in her late attempt to en- 
 flave America, committed a very fmall crime in- 
 . deed in comparifon with the crime of thofe who en- 
 flave the Africans. 
 
 The arguments which have been urged againft 
 the (lave-trade, are with little variation applicable 
 to the holding of flaves. He who holds a flave, 
 continues to deprive him of that liberty, which was 
 taken from him on the coaft of Africa. And if it 
 were v/rong to deprive him of it in the firft iriftance, 
 why not in the fecond ? If this be true, no man 
 hath a better right to retain his Negro in flavery, 
 than he had to take him from his native African 
 Ihores. And every man who cannot fhow, that 
 his Negro hath by his voluntary condutt forfeit- 
 ed his liberty, is obligated immediately to ma- 
 numit him. Undoubtedly we fhould think fo, 
 were we holden in the fame flavery in which the 
 Negroes are : And our text requires us to do to o- 
 thers, as we would that they fhould do to us. 
 
 To hold a flave, who has a right to his liberty, is 
 not only a real crime, but a very great one. Ma- 
 ny good chriftians have wondered how Abra- 
 ham, the father of the faithful, could take Hagar to 
 
 his 
 
 i 
 
 
C 25 ) 
 
 his bed ; afrd how Sarah, celebrated as an holy 
 woman, could confent to this tranfadtion : Alio, 
 how David and Solomon could have fo many 
 wives and concubines, and yet be real faints. Let 
 fuch inquire how it is poilible, that our fathers and 
 men now alive, univerfally reputed pious, fhould 
 hold Negro (laves, and yet be the fubjedts of real 
 pietv ? And whether to reduce a man, who hath 
 the fame right to liberty as any other man, to a (late 
 of abfolute (lavery, or to hold him in that (late, be 
 not as great a crime as concubinage or fornication. 
 I prefume it will not be denied, that to commit 
 theft or robbery every day of a man’s life, is as 
 great a fin as to commit fornication in one inftance. 
 But to fteal a man or to rob him of his liberty is a 
 greater fin* than to fteal his property, or to take it 
 by violence. And to hold a man in a ftate of (lavery, 
 who has a right to his liberty, is to be every day 
 guilty of robbing him of his liberty, or of man- 
 ftealing. The confequence is inevitable, that other 
 things being the fame, to hold a Negro (lave, un- 
 lefs he have forfeited his liberty, is a greater fin in 
 the fight of God, than concubinage or fornication. 
 
 Does this conclufion feem ftrange to any of you ? 
 Let me entreat you to weigh it candidly before you 
 rejedt it. You will not deny, that liberty is more 
 valuable than property ; and that it is a greater fin 
 to deprive a man of his whole liberty during life, 
 than to deprive him of his whole property ; or that 
 man-ftealing is a greater crime than robbery. Nor 
 will you deny, that to hold in (lavery a man who 
 was ftolen, is fubftantially the fame crime as to fteal 
 him. Thefe principles being undeniable, I leave 
 it to yourfelves to draw the plain and neceffary con- 
 fequence. And if your confciences (hail, in fpite 
 of all oppofition, tell you, that while you hold your 
 Negroes in (lavery, you do wrong, exceedingly 
 
 D wrong ■, 
 
< a6 ) 
 
 ■wrong ; that you do not, as you would that men 
 fhould do to you ; that you commit fin in the fight 
 of God ; that you daily violate the plain rights of 
 mankind, and that in a higher degree, than if you 
 committed theft or robbery ; let me befeech you 
 not to ftifle this convi&ion, but attend to it and adb 
 accordingly ; left you add to your former guilt, 
 that of finning againft the light of truth, and of 
 your own confidences. 
 
 To convince yourfelves, that your information 
 being the fame, to hold a Negro flave is a greater 
 fin than fornication, theft or robbery, you need on- 
 ly bring the matter home to yourfelves. I am wil- 
 ling to appeal to your own confciences, whether 
 you would not judge it to be a greater fin for a 
 man to hold you or your child during life in fuch 
 fiavery, as that of the Negroes, than for him to 
 fpend one night in a brothel, or in one inftance to 
 fteal or rob. Let confcience fpeak, and I will fub- 
 mit to it’s decifion. 
 
 This queftion feems to be clearly decided by re- 
 velation. Exod. xxi. 16. <c He that ftealeth a man 
 te and felleth him, or if he be found in his hand, 
 <f he fhall furely be put to death.” Thus death is, 
 by the divine exprefs declaration, the punilhment 
 due to the crime of man-ftealing. But death is not 
 the punilhment declared by God to be due to for- 
 nication, theft or robbery in common cafes. There- 
 fore we have the divine authority to afiert, that man- 
 ftealing is a greater crime than fornication, theft or 
 robbery. Now to hold in fiavery a man who has a 
 right to liberty, is fubftantially the fame crime as to 
 deprive him of his liberty. And to deprive of li- 
 berty and reduce to fiavery, a man who has a right 
 to liberty, is man-ftealing. For it is immaterial 
 whether he be taken and reduced to fiavery clan- 
 deftinely or by open violence. Therefore if the 
 • Negroes 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 Negroes have a right to liberty, to hold thehn in 
 flavery is man-ftealing, which we have feen is, by 
 God himfelf, declared to be a greater crime than 
 fornication, theft or robbery. 
 
 Perhaps, though this truth be clearly demon- 
 flrable both from reafon and revelation, you fcarce'- 
 ly dare receive it, becaufe it feems to bear hardly 
 on the charafters of our pious fathers, who held 
 flaves. But they did it ignorantly and in unbelief 
 of the truth ■, as Abraham, Jacob, David and So- 
 lomon were ignorant, that polygamy or concubin- 
 age was wrong. As to domeftic flavery our fathers 
 lived in a time of ignorance which God winked' at ; 
 but now he commandeth all men every where to re- 
 pent of this wickednefs, and to break off this fin by 
 righteoujnefs , and this iniquity by Jhewing mercy to the 
 poor, if it may be a lengthening out of their tranquil- 
 ity. You therefore to whom the prefent blaze of 
 light as to this fubjett has reached, cannot fin at fo 
 cheap a rate as our fathers. 
 
 But methinks I hear fome fay, I have bought my 
 Negro ; I have paid a large fum for him ; I cannot 
 lofc this fum, and therefore I cannot manumit him. 
 — Alas ! This is hitting the nail on the head. This 
 brings into view the true caufe which makes it fo 
 difficult to convince men of what is right in this 
 cafe. — You recollect the ftory of Amaziah’s hiring 
 an hundred thoufand men of Ifrael, for an hund- 
 red talents, to affift him againfl the Edomites ; 
 and that when by the word of the Lord, he was 
 forbidden to take thofe hired men with him to the 
 war, he cried out, “ But what ffiall we do for the 
 <c hundred talents, which I have given to the army 
 ‘ c of Ifrael ?” In this cafe, the anfwer of God was, 
 “ The Lord is able to give thee much more than 
 tc this.” — To apply this to the fubjeft before us, 
 God is able to give thee much more than thou fhalt 
 lofe by manumitting thy Have, You; 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 You may plead, that you ufe your (lave well j 
 you are not cruel to him, hut feed and clothe him 
 comfortably, &c. Still every day you rob him of a 
 moft valuable and important right. And a high- 
 way man, who robs a man of his money in the moft 
 eafy and complaifant manner, is ftill a robber j and 
 murder may be effedted in a manner the leaft cruel 
 and tormenting ; ftill it is murder. 
 
 Having now taken that view of our fubjeft, which 
 was propofed, we may in reflexion fee abundant 
 reafon to acquiefce in the inftitution of this fociety. 
 If the Have-trade be unjuft, and as grols a violation 
 of the rights of mankind, as would be, if the Afri- 
 cans ftiould tranfport us into perpetual flavery in 
 Africa to unite our influence againft it, is a duty 
 which we owe to mankind, to ourfelves and to God 
 too. It is but doing as we would that men ftiould 
 do to us. — Nor is it enough that we have formed 
 the fociety ; we muft do the duties of it. Thefirft 
 of thefe is to put an end to the flave-trade. The 
 iecond is to relieve thofe who, contrary to the laws 
 of the country, are holden in bondage. Another is 
 to defend thofe in their remaining legal and natur- 
 al rights, who are by law holden in bondage. An- 
 other and not the leaft important objedt of this lo- 
 ciety, I conceive to be, to increafe and difperfe the 
 light of truth with refpedt to the fubjedt of African 
 flavery, and fo prepare the way for its total aboli- 
 tion. For until men in general are convinced of 
 the injuftice of the trade and of the flavery itfelf, 
 comparatively little can be done to effedt the moft 
 important purpofes of the inftitution. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, that the trade is even 
 now carried on from this ftate. YefTels are from 
 time to time fitted out for the coaft of Africa, to 
 tranfport the Negroes to the Weft-Indies and other 
 parts. Nor will an end be put to this trade, with- 
 
 . ' ' out 
 
( *9 ) 
 
 out vigilance and ftrenuous exertion on the part of 
 this fociety, or other friends of humanity, nor with- 
 out a patient enduring of the oppofition and odium 
 of all who are concerned in it, of their friends and 
 of all who are of the opinion that it is juftifiable. 
 Among thefe we are doubtlefs to reckon lome of 
 large property and confiderable influence. And if 
 the laws and cuftoms of the country equally allow- 
 ed of it, many, and perhaps as many as now plead 
 for the right of the African flave- trade, would plead 
 for the right of kidnapping us, the citizens of the 
 United States, and of felling us into perpetual flave- 
 ry. — If then we dare not incur the difpleafure of 
 fuch men, we may as well diflfolve the fociety, and 
 leave the flave-trade to be carried on, and the Ne- 
 groes to be kidnapped, and though free in this 
 Hate, to be fold into perpetual flavery in diftant 
 parts, at the pleafure of any man, who willies to 
 make gain by fuch abominable pradices. 
 
 Though we muft exped oppofition, yet if we be 
 Heady and perfevering, we need not fear, that we 
 lhall fail of fuccefs. The advantages, which the 
 cauie has already gained, are many and great. 
 Thirty years ago fcarcely a man in this country 
 thought either the flave-trade or the flavery of Ne- 
 groes to be wrong. But now how many and able 
 advocates in private life, in our legiflatures, in Con- 
 grefs, have appeared and have openly and irrefra- 
 gably pleaded the rights of humanity in this as well 
 as other inflances ? Nay, the great body of the peo- 
 ple from New-Hampfhire to Virginia inclufively, 
 have obtained fuch light, that in all thofe ftates the 
 further importation of (laves is prohibited bv law. 
 And in Maflachuletts and New-Hampfhire, flave- 
 ry is totally abolifhed. 
 
 Nor is the light concerning this fubjed confined 
 to America. It hath appeared with great dearnefs 
 
( 1 ° ) 
 
 'in France ; and produced remarkable effects in the 
 National Aflembly. It hath alfo fhone in bright 
 beams in Great-Britain. It fiafhes with fplendor 
 in the writings of Clarkfon and in the proceedings 
 of feveral focieties formed to abolifh the (lave-trade. 
 Nor hath it been poflible to fhut it out of the Brit- 
 ifh parliament. This light is ftill increafing, and in 
 time will effedt a total revolution. And if we judge 
 of the future by the paft, within fifty years from 
 this time, it will be as fhameful for a man to hold 
 ■a Negro Have, as to be guilty of common robbery 
 or theft. But it is our duty to remove the obfta- 
 cles which intercept the rays of this light, that it 
 may reach not only public bodies, but every indi- 
 vidual. And when it fhall have obtained a gene- 
 ral fpread, fhall have difpelled all darknefs, and 
 flavery fhall be no more j it will be an honour to 
 be recorded in hiftory, as a fociety which was form- 
 ed, and which exerted itfelf with vigour and fideli- \ 
 ty, to bring about an event fo necefiary and condu- 
 cive to the interefts of humanity and virtue, to the 
 fupport of the rights and to the advancement of 
 the happinefs of mankind. 
 
 appendix;. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ess 
 
 QOME obje&ions to the dottrine of the preced- 
 Q ing fermon, have been mentioned to the author, 
 fince the delivery of it. Of thefe it may be proper 
 to take fome notice. 
 
 i. The flaVes are in a better fituation than that 
 in which they were in their own country ; efpecial- 
 ly as they have opportunity to know the Chriftian 
 religion and to fecure the faving bleflings of it. 
 Therefore it is not an injury, but a benefit to bring 
 them into this country, even though their importa- 
 tion be accompanied and followed with flavery. It 
 is alfo faid, that the fituation of many Negroes un- 
 der their matters is much better, than it would be, 
 were they free in this country ; that they are much 
 better fed and clothed, and are much more happy; 
 that therefore to hold them in flavery is fo far from 
 a crime, that it is a meritorious a£t. 
 
 With regard to thefe pleas, it is to be obferved, 
 that every man hath a right to judge concerning 
 his own happinefs, and to choofe the means of ob- 
 taining or promoting it ; and to deprive him of this 
 right is the very injury of which we complain ; it is 
 ro enflave him. Becaufe we judge, that the Ne- 
 groes are more happy in this country, in a ftate of 
 flavery, than in the enjoyment of liberty in Africa, 
 we have no more right to enflave them and bring 
 them into this country, than we have to enflave any 
 of our neighbours, who we judge would be more 
 happy under our control, than they are at prefent 
 under their own. Let us make the cafe our own. 
 Should we believe, that we-were juftly treated, if 
 the Africans fhould carry us into perpetual flavery 
 
 in 
 
( 3 * ) 
 
 ih Africa, on the ground that they judged, that wii 
 Ihould be more happy in that ftate, than in our pre- 
 fect fituation ? 
 
 As to the opportunity which the Negroes in this 
 country are faid to have, to become acquainted with 
 Chriftianity ; this withrefpedt to many is granted s 
 But what follows from it ? It would be ridiculous 
 to pretend, that this is the motive on which they 
 adt who import them, or they who buy and hold 
 them in flavery. Or if this were the motive,- it 
 would not fandtify either the trade or the flavery. 
 We are not at liberty to do evil, that good may 
 come ■, to commit a crime more aggravated than 
 theft or robbery, that we may make a profelyte to 
 Chriftianity. Neither our Lord jefus Chrift, not 
 any one of his apoftles has taught us this mode of 
 propagating the faith. 
 
 2. It is faid, that the dodtrine of the preceding 
 fermon imputes that as a crime to individuals, which 
 is owing to the ftate of fociety. This is granted ; 
 and what follows ? It is owing to the ftate of foci- 
 ety, that our neighbours, the Indians roaft their 
 captives : and does it hence follow, that fuch con- 
 dudt is not to be imputed to the individual agents 
 as a crime ? It is owing to the ftate of fociety in 
 Popilh countries, that thoufands worlhip the beaft 
 and his image : and is that worlhip therefore not 
 to be imputed as a crime to thofe, who render it ? 
 Read the Revelation of St. John. The ftate of fo- 
 ciety is fuch, that drunkennefs and adultery are ve- 
 ry common in fome countries ; but will it follow, 
 that thofe vices are innocent in thofe countries ? 
 
 3. If I be ever fo willing to manumit my Have, 
 I cannot do it without being holden to maintain 
 him, when he fhall be fick or fhall be old and de- 
 crepit. Therefore I have a right to hold him as a 
 Have. — The fame argument will prove, that you 
 
 have 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 have a right to enflave your children or your pa- 
 rents ; as you are equally holden to maintain them 
 in ficknefs and in decrepit old age. — The argument 
 implies, that in order to Tecure the money, which 
 you are afraid the laws of your country will fomc 
 time or other oblige you to pay ; it is right for you 
 to rob a free maa of his liberty or be guilty of man- 
 dealing. On the ground of this argument every 
 town or parifh obligated by law, to maintain its 
 helplefs poor, has a right to fell into perpetual fiave- 
 ry all the people, who may probably or even pofli- 
 bly occafion a public expence. 
 
 4. After all, it is not fafe to manumit the Ne- 
 groes : they would cut our throats ; they would en- 
 danger the peace and government of the Hate. Qr 
 at lead; they would be fo idle, that they would not 
 provide themfelves with necedaries : of courfe they 
 mud: live by thievery and plundering. 
 
 This objedlion requires a different anfwer, as it 
 refpedts the northern, and as it refpedts the iouth- 
 ern flares. As it refpedts the northern, in which 
 Oaves are fo few, there is, not the lead: foundation 
 to imagine, that they would combine or make in- 
 furredtion againfl the government ; or that they 
 would attempt to murder their mailers. They are 
 much more likely to kill their mailers, in order to 
 obtain their liberty, or to revenge die abufe they 
 receive, while it is llill' continued, than to do it af- 
 ter the abule hath ceafed, and they, are redored to. 
 their liberty. In this cafe, they w.ould from a. fenfe 
 .of gratitude, or at leail from a conyidtion of the 
 •jufhee of their mailers, feel a ltrong attachment,., 
 in, he ad of a murderous difpofition. 
 
 Nor is. there the lead danger, but that by a pro- 
 per vigilance of the feledl-men, and by* a liridt ex- 
 ecution of the laws sow exiding, the Negroes might, 
 in a tolerable degree be kept from idlenefs and pil- 
 fering, ' E. Aik 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 All this hath been verified by experiment. In 
 Maflachufetts, all the Negroes in the common- 
 wealth were by their new conftitution liberated in a 
 day : and none of the ill confequences objefted fol- 
 lowed either to the commonwealth or to individuals. 
 
 With regard to the fouthern ftates, the cafe is 
 different. The Negroes in fome parts of thofe 
 Hates are a great majority of the whole, and there- 
 fore the evils objected would, in cafe of a general 
 manumiffion at once, be more likely to take place. 
 But in the firft place there is no profpedt, that the 
 conviftion of the truth exhibited in the preceding 
 difcourfe, will at once, take place in the minds of 
 all the holders of flaves. The utmoft that can be 
 expected, is that it will take place gradually in one 
 after another, and that of co'urfe the flaves will be 
 gradually manumitted. Therefore the evils of a 
 general manumiffion at once, are dreaded without 
 reafon. 
 
 If in any ftate the flaves fhould be manumitted in 
 conflderable numbers at once, or fo that the num- 
 ber of free Negroes ihouM become large ; various 
 meafures might be concerted to prevent the evils 
 feared. One I beg leave to propofe : That over- 
 feers of the free Negroes be appointed from among 
 themfelves, who fftall be empowered to infped: the 
 morals and management of the reft, and report to 
 proper authority, thofe who are vicious, idle or in- 
 capable of managing their own affairs, and-thatfuch 
 authority difbofe of them under proper matters for 
 a year or other term, as is done, perhaps in all the 
 ftates, with regard to the poor white people in like 
 manner vicious, idle or incapable of management. 
 Such black averieers would naturally be ambitious 
 to difcharge the duties of their office ; they would 
 in many refpe&s have much more influence than 
 white men with their country men : and other Ne- 
 groes 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 groes looking forward to the fame honourable dilh 
 tinflion, would endeavour to deferve it by their 
 improvement and good condufl. 
 
 But after all, this whole objection, if it were ever 
 fo entirely founded on truth j if the freed Negroes 
 would probably rife againft their mailers, or com- 
 bine againft government j rells on the fame ground,, 
 as the apology of the robber, who murders the man 
 whom he has robbed. Says the robber to himfelf, 
 I have robbed this man, and now if I let him go he 
 will kill me, or he will complain to authority and I 
 lhall be apprehended and hung. I mull therefore 
 kill him. There is no other way of fafety for me. 
 — The coincidence between this reafoning and that 
 of the objection under confideration, mull be mani- 
 feft to all. And if this reafoning of the robber be 
 inconclusive ; if the robber have no right on that 
 ground to kill the man whom he hath robbed ; 
 neither have the flave-holders any more right to 
 continue to hold their Haves. If the robber ought 
 to fpare the life of the man robbed, take his owp 
 chance and elleem himfelf happy, if he can efcape 
 jultice ; fo the flave-holders ought immediately to., 
 let their Haves go free, treat them with the utmoll 
 kindnefs, by fuch treatment endeavour to pacify 
 them with refpeft to palt injuries, and elleem them- 
 felves happy, if they can compromile the matter in 
 this manner. 
 
 In all countries in which the Haves are a majority 
 of the inhabitants, the mailers lie in a great meafure 
 at the mercy of the Haves, and may moH rationally 
 expefl fooner or later, to. be cut off, or driven out 
 by the Haves, or to be reduced to the fame level 
 and to be mingled with them into one common 
 mufs. This I think is by antient and modern e- 
 vents demonflrated to be the. natural and neceflary 
 courfe of human, affairs. The hewers of wood and 
 
 drawers 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 drawers or water among the Ifraelites, the Helots 
 among the Lacedemonians, the (laves among the 
 Romans, the villains and vaffials in moftof the king- 
 doms of Europe under the feudal fyftem, have long 
 fince mixed with the common mafs of the people, 
 and (hared the common privileges and honours 6f 
 their refpeftive countries. And in the French Weft- 
 Indies the Mulattoes and free Negroes are already 
 become jb numerous and powerful a body, as to be 
 allowed by the National Aftembly to enjoy the 
 common rights and honours of free men. Thefe 
 fadls plainly (how, what the whites in the Weft- 
 Indies and the Southern States are to expect con- 
 cerning their pofterity, that it will infallibly be a 
 mungrel breed, or el(e they muft quit the country 
 to the Negroes whom they have hitherto holden in 
 bondage. 
 
 Thus it feems, that they will be neceffitated by 
 Providence to make in one way or another com- 
 penfation to the Negroes for the injury which they 
 have done them. In the firft cafe, by taking them 
 into affinity with themfelves, giving them the.r 
 own fons and daughters in marriage, and making 
 them and their pofterity the heirs of all their pro- 
 perty and all their honours, and by raifing their co- 
 lour to a partial whitenefs, whereby a part at lead 
 of that mark which brings on them lo much con- 
 tempt, will be wiped off. In the other call-, by 
 leaving to them all their real eftates. It is niani- 
 feft by the bare dating of the two cafes, that the 
 compen fation in the latter, cafe is by much the lead. 
 In the former cafe, the compilation will include 
 all that is included in the latter and much more. 
 If therefore our fouthern brethren and. the inha- 
 bitants of the Weft-Indies would balance their ac- 
 counts with their Negro (laves, at the c heaped pof- 
 fible rate, they will doubtlefs, judge it prudent, to 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 leave the country with all their houfes, lands and. 
 improvements to their quiet pofieflion and domini- 
 on j as otherwife Providence will compel them to 
 much dearer fettlement, and one attended with a 
 circumftance inconceivably more mortifying, than 
 the lofs of all their real eftates, I mean the mix- 
 ture of their blood with that of the Negroes into 
 one common pofterity. 
 
 At lead it is to be hoped, that thefe confiderati- 
 ons will induce them to forbear any further import- 
 ation of (laves, as the more numerous the (laves 
 are, the more dangerous they will be, and the more 
 deeply tinged will be the colour of their mulatto 
 pofterity. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, but that the Negroes in 
 thefe northern dates alfo will, in time, mix with 
 the common mafs of the people. But we have this 
 confolation, that as they are fo fmall a proportion 
 of the inhabitants, when mixed with the reft, they 
 will not produce any very fen fible diver fity of co- 
 lour. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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