IN ancient Times it was the Practice of many Nations, when at war with each other, to sell the Prisoners they [...] in Battle, in order to defray the Expences of the War. This unchristian or rather inhuman Practice, after many Ages continuance, is at length generally abolished by the Christian Powers of Europe, but still continues among some of the Nations of Asia and Africa, and to our sad Experience we find it also practised by the Natives of America. In the present war, how many of our poor Country Men are dragged to Bondage and sold for Slaves; how many mourn, a Husband, a Wife, a Child, a Parent or some near Relation taken from them; and were we to follow them a little farther, and see them exposed to sale and bought up to be made a Gain of, what Heart so hard that would not melt with Sympathy and Sorrow: And could we hear the Purchasers, for the sake of Gain, push­ing on the Savages to captivate our People, what inhuman wretches should we call them, what Punishment should we [...] their Guilt deserved! But while our Hearts are affected for our Brethren and Relations, while we feel for our own Flesh and Blood, let us extend our Thoughts to others, and allow me, gentle Reader! to recommend to thy serious Consideration, a Practice that prevails among several Nations who call themselves Christians, and I am sorry to say it, in which we as a Nation are deeply engag­ed, & which is of such a Nature, as that nothing can be more inconsistant with the Doctrines and Practice of our meek Lord and Master, nor stained with a deeper Dye or In­justice, Cruelty and Oppression, I mean the SLAVE TRADE, the purchasing and bringing the poor Negroes from their Native Land, and subjecting them to a State of perpetual Bondage, and that often the most cruel and op­pressive. And this carried on cheifly at the instigation of those to whom the Promulgation of the merciful, pure, and holy Gospel of Christ Jesus was committed. Will not the just Judge of all the Earth visit for all this? Or dare we say, that this very Practice is not one Cause of [Page 3] the Calamities we at present suffer. And that the Captivity of our People is not to teach us to feel for others, and to induce us to discourage a Trade, by which many Thousands are Yearly captivated? Evils do not arise out of the Dust, nor does the Almighty willingly af­flict the Children of Men; But when a People offend as a Nation, or in a publick Capacity, the Justice of his moral Government requires that as a Nation they be punished, which is generally done by War, Famine or Pestilence. I know there are many Arguments offered in favour of the Purchasers, but they are all drawn from Avarice or ill founded, none will stand the Test of that divine Rule, To do unto all Men, as we would they should do unto us. Without Purchasers, there would be no Trade; and consequently every Purchaser as he encou­rages the Trade, becomes partaker in the Guilt of it, and that they may see what a deep dye the Guilt is of, I beg leave to quote some Extracts from the Writings of Persons of Note, who have been long employed in the African Trade, and whose Situation and Office in the Factories will not admit any to question the Truth of what thy relate. By these we shall see, that in order to get Slaves, the Europeans settled at the Factories in Afri­ca, encourage Wars, and promote the Practice of stealing Men, Women and Children, which they readily purchase without any Regard to Justice, Equity or any of the ten­der Ties of Nature.

William Bosman, Factor for the Dutch AFRICAN Com­pany, at the Factory at DELMINA, who wrote an Ac­count of that Country, now more than fifty Years past, tells his Readers ‘That the Booty which the Negro Soldiers aim at in their Wars, are Ornaments of Gold and Prisoners of War, in Order to sell them for Slaves at Pleasure, that many of the Inhabitants depend on Plun­der and the Slave-Trade; and that when Vessels arrive, if they have no Stock of Slaves, the Factors trust the In­habitants with Coods for the Value of one or two Hundred Slaves, which they send into the inland Country in Order to buy Slaves, at all Markets even sometimes two Hundred Miles deep in the Country, [Page 4] where Markets of Men were kept in the same Manner as those of Beasts with us, He farther adds. That, in his Time, the Europeans furnished the Negroes with an incredible Quantity of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder, which was then the Cheif vendible Merchandize there.’ This was the State of the Negro Trade when B [...]man wrote his Account of GUINEA, which, as I have already said, was more than fifty Years ago; Since that Time the Trade is prodigiously augmented, there being now more than ten Ships to one that was then imployed in it: And as the Demand for Slaves has augmented, so have the Negroes been the more induced not only to wage War one with another, but also to put in practice the most base and inhuman Methods, in Order to get their unhappy Countrymen into their Power, that they may sell them to the European Traders.

John Barbot, Agent General of the French Royal Afri­can Company, in his Acc. printed 1732 writes as follows. ‘Those Slaves sold by the Negroes, are for the most Part Prisoners of War, taken either in fight or pursuit, or in the incursions they make into their Enemies Terri­tories; others are stolen away by their own Contry-Men, and some there are who will sell their own Children, Kindred or Neighbours. This has often been seen, and to compass it, they desire the Person they intend to sell, to help them in carrying something to the Factory by Way of Trade, and when there, the Person so deluded, not understanding the Language, is sold and delivered up as a Slave, notwithstanding all his Resistance and ex­claiming against the Treachery. Abundance of little Blacks of both sexes are also stolen away by their Neigh­bours, when found abroad on the Roads, or in the Woods; or else in the Corn Fields, at the Time of the Year when their Parents keep them there all Day, to scare away the devouring small Birds,’

A Person of Candour and undoubted Credit now living in Philadelphia, who was on a trading Voyage, on the Coast of Guinea, about seven Years ago, was an Eye Wit­ness of the Misery and Desolation which the Purchase of Slaves occasions in that Country, a particular Instance of [Page 5] which he relates in the following Manner viz. ‘Being on that Coast, at a Place called Basalia, the Commander of the Vessel according to Custom sent a Person on Shore, with a Present to the King of the Country, acquainting him with their arrival, and letting him know that they wanted a Cargo of Slaves: The King promised to fur­nish them with Slaves, and in Order to do it, set out to go to War against his Enemies, designing also to surprize some Town and take all the People Prisoners. Some­time after the King sent them Word he had not yet met with the desired success, having been twice repulsed, in attempting to break up two Towns; but that he still hoped to procure a Number of Slaves for them; and in this Design he persisted, till he met his Enemies in the Field, where a Battle was fought, which lasted three Days, during which Time the Engagement was so bloody, that 4500 were slain on the Spot. Think, says the Author, what a pitiable sight it was, to see the Widows weeping over their lost Husbands, and Orphans deploring the loss of their Fathers &c.’ What must we think of that cruel Wretch who occasioned such a Scene of Misery, or what of those who for the sake of Gain instigated him to it.

N. N. Bru [...], a noted Traveller, a Narative of whose Travels is to be met with in a new Collection of Voyages, printed by the King's Authority in the Year 1745, Tells his Readers; ‘That the Europeans are far from desiring to act as Peace-Makers, amongst the Negroes, which would be acting contrary to their Interest, since the greater the Wars, the more Slaves are procured.’ He also gives an Account of the Manner in which the Slaves are got, in the Place where he then was, in the following Terms viz. ‘When a Vessel arrives, the King of the Country sends a Troop of Guards to some Village, which they surround; then seizing as many as they have Orders for, they bind them and send them away to the Ship, were the Ship's Mark being put upon them, they are hear'd of no more. They usually carry the Infants in Sacks, and gag the Men and Women for fear they should alarm the Villages, thro' which they are carried: For, says he, these Actions are ne­ver committed in the Villages near the Factories, which it is the King's Interest not to ruin, but in those up the Country.’

[Page 6]Also, Joseph Randal, in his Book of Geography, prin­ted in the Year 1744, in the Account he gives of the Guinea Trade, after generally confirming the above Ac­count, adds: ‘That in time of full Peace nothing is more common, than for the Negroes of one Nation to steal those of another, and sell them to the Europeans. There has, says he, been Instances amongst the Negroes of Children selling their Fathers and Mothers, when they have been weary of them, and wanted to enjoy what they had; which I suppose, says that Author, gave birth to the Laws, by which the Children are not to inherit the Goods or Estates of their Fathers and Mothers. Thus, these poor Creatures are brought down to the Coast to be sold to the Merchants of Europe. When the Price is agreed upon, which for an able bodied Man, under thirty five Years of age, may be about 5 Pounds, the Women a fifth Part less, and the Children in proportion to their Age, the European Merchants brand them with hot Irons to distinguish them, and looks the poor wret­ches up in some Prison, till they can be sent on board; When they come to America, they are disposed of, some to the Spaniards to work in the Mines, (for the English are obliged by the Assiento Contract, to deliver thirty Thousand Slaves every Year to the Spaniards, and the rest are sold to the Planters in America.) It is thought that the English transport annually near fifty Thousand of those unhappy Creatures, and the other European Nations together about Two Hundred Thousand more.’ Let but any one reflect that each Individual of this Num­ber had some tender attachment which was broken by this cruel Separation; some Parent or Wife, who had not even the Opportunity of mingling Tears in a parting Embrace; or perhaps some Infant whom his Labour was to feed and Vigilance protect,; or let any consider what it is to lose a Child, a Husband or any dear Relation, and then let them say what they must think of those who are ingaged in, or encourage such a Trade. By the fore mentioned Accounts it appears, how by various perfidious, and cruel Methods, the unhappy Negroes are inslaved, and that mostly, by the Procurement of those called Christians, [Page 7] and violently rent from the tenderest Ties of Nature, to toil in hard Labour, often without sufficient Supplies of Food, and under hard Taskmasters, and this mostly to up­hold the Luxury or Covetousness of proud selfish Men, without any Hope of ever seeing again their native Land; or an end to their Miseries. Oh ye cruel Taskmasters! ye hard-hearted Oppressors! will not God hear their Cry; and what shall ye do; when God riseth up; and when he visiteth; what will ye answer him? Did not he that made you make them? and did not one fashion you in the Womb?

Hitherto I have considered the Trade as inconsistent with the Gospel of Christ, contrary to natural Justice, and the common feelings of Humanity, and productive of infinite Calamities to many Thousand Families, nay to many Na­tions, and consequently offensive to God the Father of all Mankind. Yet it must be allowed, there are some well minded Persons, into whose Hands some of the Negroes have fallen, either by Inheritance, Executorship, or even some perhaps purely from Charitable Motives, who rather desire to Manage wisely for their good, than to make Gain by their Labour; these I truly sympathize with, for, considering the general situation of those unhappy People, they have indeed a difficult Path to tread.

I might next consider the Trade as it is destructive of the Welfare of human Society, and inconsistent with the Peace and Prosperity of a Country; as by it the number of natural Enemies must be encreased, and the Place of those taken up who would be its support and security. Or I might shew from innumerable Examples, how it introduces Idleness, discourages Marriage, corrupts the Youth, and ruins and debauches Morals. I might likewise expose the weakness of those Arguments, which are com­monly advanced in Order to vindicate the Purchasers, such, as their being Slaves in their own Country and there­fore may be so to us, or that they are made acquainted with Christianity in lieu of their Liberty, or that the last Purchaser will use them better than they formerly were: But not to mention, that these are only vain pretences, that the true Motive of encouraging the Trade is selfish Avarice; to say nothing of the weakness of the Argument. [Page 8] That because others do ill, we may do so too; or the absurdity of recommending the Christian Religion by In­justice and a disregard to the Rights and Liberties of Mankind, or the Encouragement that every new Purchaser gives to a Trade altogether unjust and iniquitous. What is already said, will I hope be sufficient to prevent any consi­derate Christian from being, in any Degree, defiled with a Gain so full of Horrors, and so palpably inconsistent with the Gospel of our blessed LORD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, which breaths nothing but Love and Goodwill to all Men of every Nation, Kindred, Tongue and People.

WE fervently warn All in Profession with us, that ‘they be careful to avoid being any Way concern­ed, in reaping the unrighteous Profits arising from that iniquitous Practice of Dealing in Negroes & other Slaves; whereby in the original Purchase one Man selleth Ano­ther, as he doth the Beasts that perishes, without any bet­ter Pretension to a Property in him, than that of supe­rior Force; in direct Violation of the Gospel-Rule, which teacheth Every One to do as they would be done by, and to do Good unto All; being the Reverse of that covetous Disposition, which furnishes Encourage­ment to those ignorant People to perpetuate their savage Wars, in Order to supply the Demands of this most un­natural Traffick, whereby great Numbers of Mankind, free by Nature, are subjected to inextricable Bondage; and which hath often been observed, to fill their Posses­sors with Haughtiness, Tyranny, Luxury and Barbari­ty, corrupting the Minds, and debasing the Morals of their Children, to the unspeakable Prejudice of Religion and Virtue, and the Exclusion of that holy Spirit of uni­versal Love, Meekness and Charity, which is the un­changeable Nature and the Glory of true Christianity. We therefore can do no less than, with the greatest Ear­nestness, to impress it upon Friends every where, that they endeavour to keep their Hands clear of this uprigh­teous Gain of Oppression.’

IF any Man will be a Disciple of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He must deny himself and take up his Cross dayly. He must be willing to lose that Life, those Affections and Desires we naturally have to that which is earthly and sensual. Hence it appears, that one of the greatest Defection any one can make from Christianity, is by indulging in them selves a worldly Spirit, a Spirit that seeks its Joy and Consolation in the Riches, Honours, and Friendships of this World: And indeed this seems to have been the chief Inlet, of that stream of Corruption, which in different Ages has overspread the Christian Churches.

Great Noise has been made about Schisms and Heresies, but the true Foundation of all these Evils, the Heresy of all Heresies is and has in all Ages been, a proud, selfish worldly Spirit, more or less cloaked under the Appearance of Zeal, with which it has not only deceived many, but has often deceived it self. We are called to love God with all our Heart, and with all our Strength, to turn from every Thing, that leads not to God and his holy Will; with all the Desire, Delight and Longing of our Heart, to give up ourselves wholly to the Light and holy Spirit of God; pleased with nothing in this World, but as it gives Time and Place, and Occasion of doing and being that, which our heavenly Fa­ther would have us to do and be, seeking for no Happiness from this earthly fallen Life, but that of overcoming all its Spirits and Tempers.

The ancient Philosophers began all their Virtue in a total Renunciation of the Spirit of this World; they saw with the Eyes of Heaven, that Darkness was not more contrary to Light, than the Spirit and Wisdom of this World was con­trary to divine Wisdom: Therefore they allowed of no Progress in Virtue, but so far as a Man had overcome him­self, and the Spirit of this World. This gave a divine Soli­dity to all their Instructions, and proved them to be Masters of true Wisdom. But the Doctrine of the Cross of Christ, the last, the highest, the most finishing Stroke given to the Spirit of this World, that speaks more in one Word, than [Page 10] all the Philosophy of volumnious Writers, is yet professed by those, who are in more Friendship with the World, than was allowed to the Disciples of Pithagoras, Socrates, Plato or Epictetus. Nay, if those ancient Sages were to start up amongst us with their divine Wisdom, they would bid fair to be treated by the Sons of the Gospel, if not by some Fa­thers of the Church, as dreaming Enthusiasts. But, this is a standing Truth, the World can only love its own, and Wisdom can only be justified of her Children. The hea­ven born Epictetus told one of his Scholars, that then he might first look upon himself as having made some true Profi­ciency in Virtue, when the World took him for a Fool; an Oracle like that, which said, the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God.

If you ask what is the Apostacy of these last Times, or whence is all the degeneracy of the present Christian Church, it must be placed to a worldly Spirit. If here you see open Wickedness, there only Form of Godliness, if here superficial Holiness, political Piety, crafty Prudence, there haughty Sanctity, partial Zeal, envious Orthodoxy, if al­most every where, you see a Jewish Blindness, and Hard­ness of Heart, and the Church trading with the Gospel, as visibly, as the old Jews bought and sold Beasts in their Temple, all this is only so many Forms, and proper Fruits of the worldly Spirit. This is the great Net, with which the Devil becomes a Fisher of Men; and be assured of this, that every Son of Man is in this Net, till through, and by the Spirit of Christ he breaks out of it. I say the Spirit of Christ, for nothing else can deliver him from it. If you trust to any Kind or Form of religious Observances, to any Kind of Learning, or Effort of human Prudence, and then I will tell you what your Case will be, you will overcome one Temper of the World, only and merely by cleaving to ano­ther: For nothing can overcome or renounce the World, but singly, and solely the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is, that many learned Men with all the rich Furniture of their Brain, live and die Slaves to the Spirit of this World, the Spirit of Christ is not the one only Thing that is the Desire of their Hearts, and therefore their Learning only works in and with the Spirit of this World, and becomes itself no small Parts of the Vanity of Vanities.

[Page 11]Would you know the evil Nature and Effect of a Spirit given up to the World, and not subjected to the Spirit of Grace: You need only look at the blessed Effect of a con­tinual State of Watching, a continual humble Application to God in the true Spirit of Prayer, for the one goes down­wards with the same Strength, as the other goes upward, the one betroths, and weds to an earthly Nature, with the same certainty, as the other espouses, and unites to Christ. The Spirit of continual Watchings and Prayer, is a pressing forth of the Soul out of this Earthly Life, it is a stretching with all its Desire after the Life of God, it is a Leaving as far as it can, all its own Spirit, to receive a Spi­rit from above, to be one Life, one Love, one Spirit with Christ in God. This Prayer which is an Emptying itself of all its own Lusts and natural Tempers, and an Opening it self for the Light and Love of God to enter into it, is the Prayer in the Name of Christ, to which nothing is denyed; for the Love which God bears to the Soul, is an eternal ne­ver ceasing Desire to open the Birth of his holy Word and Spirit in it, and stays no longer till the Door of the Heart open for Him; and nothing does or can keep God out of the Soul, or hinder his Union with it, but the Desire of the Heart▪ turned from it. What the Soul desireth, that is the Fewel of its Fire, and as its Fewel is, so is the Flame of its Life. As we sow, we shall reap; if to the Spirit, we shall reap Life and Peace; if to the Flesh, we shall of the Flesh reap Corruption. Wherever and in whatsoever the Will chuseth to dwell and delight, that becometh the Soul's Food, its Cloathing and Habitation. Since this is the Case, let us stop a While, let our Hearing be turned into Feel­ing. Let us consider whether there is any Thing in Life, that deserves a Thought, but how to keep in a continual State of Watching and Prayer, that we may attain to that Purity of Heart, which alone can see, find and possess God

WHat Cause, says that Author, shall we assign for the Opposition to Gospel-Truths that appears amongst us, and for that Dislike to those, who urge the Necessity of Regeneration and of the spiritual Life? The true Rea­son is nigh at Hand, tho' others are pretended: Such Doc­trines are contrary to the Maxims and Principles that go­vern the Hearts and Conduct of the Children of this Ge­neration, are at Variance with the false Interests of Flesh and Blood, declare open War against the Kingdom of Self, and strike at every Thing that is most near and dear to cor­rupt Nature; and therefore carnal Men of every Denomi­nation think themselves concerned in Character to oppose and discredit such a Representation of Christianity. They can be zealous for Opinions, Forms, and an external Wor­ship of any Kind, because they leave them in quiet Posses­sion of their Ambition, their Covetousness, their Love of themselves, and their Love of the World: They can rea­dily take up a Profession of Faith in a suffering Saviour, nay bring themselves to trust in an outward Covering of his Merits and Righteousness for Salvation, because this costs them nothing; but to be cloathed with his Spirit of Hu­mility, Poverty and Self-denial; to renounce their own Wills in his Lowliness, Meekness, and total Resignation to the Will of God, to mortify the fleshly Appetites; to be crucified to the World; to strip themselves of all Com­placency and Satisfaction in those Endowments, whether natural or acquired, which appear great and glorious in the Eyes both of themselves and Others; and, in a Word, to take up their Cross, and nakedly follow a naked Christ in [Page 13] the Regeneration: These are hard Savings, they cannot bear them: But Wisdom is justified of her Children; un­acceptable as these Doctrines are to Others▪ yet to them, and in them too, they are the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God. It was by such Foolishness of Preaching that Christ's Kingdom first prevailed over the Kingdoms of this World; and it must be by the same Doctrine, un­der the Influence of the same Spirit, that we can only hope for its Continuance to the End of it.

The Way to any good Degree of Perfection in the di­vine Life, lies thro' great Mortification and Self-denial: Some think it enough to get Doctrines into the Head; but till the Heart is in some Measure purified by Faith, nothing is rightly done: And in Order to this, the Children of An [...]k, (those corrupt Passions and Inclinations that war against the Soul,) must be driven out, the Perversness of the Will broken, the Understanding simplified, the Pride of our Hearts plukt up by the Roots, and all the Cords that bind us to the World and the Things of it untwisted; in a Word, our Idols must be cast out, and every cursed Thing removed that separates betwixt God and us; for the Pure in Heart, and they only shall see God. It was by this Kind of holy Violence practised on themselves, that the Wor­thies both of the Old and New Testament, in all Ages of the Church, have laid hold on the Kingdom of Heaven been favoured with such rich Communications from God, and enabled to work such Wonders as surpass the Belief of Many in this degenerate incredulous Age: And that a pre­paratory Discipline of Strictness and Severity is necessary in Order to qualify us for any extraordinary Vouchsafements of Illumination and Grace, we may learn from the Schools instituted among the Jews for the Training up of Persons for the prophetic Office, where they were educated in great Abstraction from the World, in the Government of their Passions, and the Mortification of their natural Pro­pensions, that being so disengaged from the common Im­pediments of a holy Life, they might be more at Liberty for Devotion and the Contemplation of heavenly Things, and by such previous Exercises become fit Instruments for the Holy Spirit, and more receptive of heavenly Wisdom. [Page 14] Thus came they out holy Enthusiasts, Men of God fur­nished to every good Word and Work, Scribes well in­structed unto the Kingdom of Heaven, and fearless of giv­ing Offence in the Way of Duty, even before Kings, be­ing no less qualified for Reproof and Correction, than for Doctrine and Instruction in Righteousness: Patterns these for all Persons of a religious Character, whether they live in Colleges or in Kings Houses; whether they attend on those who go clothed in Purple and fine Linnen, and fare sumptuously every Day. or are called forth to a more pro­miscuous Employment of their Office; for tho' the Dispen­sation of Prophecy as it respects the foretelling future E­vents, has a long Time ceased in the Church, yet the Cha­racter of Prophets in the Capacity of Declarers of God's Word and Will, and as Denouncers of his Judgments on all impenitents, even the most dignified Offenders, is never to cease in it, neither is the Lord's Hand shortned that it cannot extend Comfort and Courage, Light and Direction for these Purposes now as formerly: But, Alas! our Hearts are straitned that they cannot receive it as they ought, and we are so entangled, as to Many of us, with such an evil Covetousness after the Things of this Life, so studious to seek the Honour that cometh of Man, more than the Ho­nour that cometh of God, that we want Boldness to hold the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ without Respect of Per­sons: For let Men be never so highly titled or charactered, let their Pretensions to Learning be what they will, and their Acquaintance with Creeds, Canons and Commenta­tors never so extensive, yet so long as they continue Men of this World, and follow the Things of it, so long as their Affections are set on Things beneath, and their Hearts un­surrendered to God, they are no better than dry Bones as to the divine Life, without Marrow or Moisture; and as they cannot in such a State receive the Things of the Spirit of God, not having spiritual Senses exercised thereto, so will these Things of Course appear Foolishness unto them in Others, and they will speak Evil of that which they know not. A Party Spirit, says the same Author, whether it be in Religion or Politics, proceeds from Littleness of Mind and Narrowness of Heart, it puts out both the Eye of [Page 15] the Judgment and the Eye of Charity, and so hinders us from seeing the brightest Excellence in our Neighbour that is not just as high or low as our selves, as I heared a Man of Learning once say, that he could not allow Milton's Pa­radise lost to be a good Book, because written by an Olive­rian. But the Christian knows no such Straitness; for his Bowels are enlarged towards All that will come within the Embraces of his Charity, which is as wide as the East is from the West. He cannot wrangle and hate about Diffe­rences of Opinion, for he is got above them; his Call, his universal Call is Love, and he has adopted for his Motto that Saying of Luther: In whomsoever I see any Thing of Christ, him I love. In this Man, wheresoever he lives, and by what Name soever he is called, the Kingdom of Christ is come; and of such heavenly Men and Women it will consist in that enlarged glorious State of it which we are given to look for: And what, if it be already begun on Earth!

‘The one true Church of Christ is the Communion of Saints, and Charity; true Charity, i. e. the Love of Christ is the Life and Soul of it: Is then the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts, and have we fervent Charity among Ourselves? For, be it known of a Truth, that as much as we possess of this heavenly Trea­sure, so much have we of Christianity, and no more; and that without it, all Zeal for Religion is but Conten­tion, all Modes of Worship but Formality, and all Or­thodoxy but vain Opinion.’