LETTER I.
To Mr. John Lawrence, South Quay, Virginia.

I SHOULD not trouble you with the following lines, was it not for the bad effect your pamphlet, in vindication of negro slavery has had, on the minds of ignorant, weak and self-interested men. Some in­deed are willing to suppose it unanswerable, but I told the gentleman who favoured me with your pro­duction, that I thought I could answer all the argu­ments you advanced. He pledged me to do it. I pro­mised. I perform; for,

May the present contest between freedom and sla­very prove such. I am young and you are old—where­fore I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom; but great men are not always wise; neither do all the aged understand judgment; therefore, I said, hearken to me, I also will shew mine opinion, concerning slavery.

[Page 5] You begin by saying, "that the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice." Granted, for Christians; and it is probable the deists after a few years experi­ence, will judge the New-Testament to contain the best rules of action.

Your assertion, "that whatever has been as yet said in favour of the emancipation of slaves, has been drawn from reason, and the conduct of some of the United States," is a palpable error. Slavery has been preached against, both by Heathens and Chris­tians, before the United States were known. Homer said, 2600 years ago,

As you seem to discard reason, I shall endeavour to prove by the authority of scripture (which is not con­trary, but always consistent with reason) that even the Mosaic dispensation condemns perpetual slavery. Yes, sir, I will produce a "Thus saith the Lord," for the manumission of slaves.

I join with you most cordially, in "wishing rigid disputants for liberty, to read their Bibles more;" for its doctrines breathe a most noble love of freedom, and a perfect hatred of tyranny.

When you wish the citizens of America to read the constitutions of the states less, I must wish you a good night; for if it should ever be the case, gross darkness will cover the land, and strange infatuation posses the people.

Thirst after knowledge, religious and political, should be the first trait in the character of republicans. The very essence of their government, modus of exist­ence, and energy of action, depends on the knowledge and virtue of the citizens. The citizens of America should, therefore, read the constitutions of the differ­ent states with attention; compare them together, and be emulous which state shall form the best consti­tution, and enact the best laws, in order to render [Page 6] the greatest possible happiness to all their fellow crea­tures. The maxim of their legislatures should be, "Nothing is done whilst any thing remains to be done."

But I must endeavour to set you right with regard to that book called the Bible, which you take for granted supports negro-slavery, and that your treatise makes it manifest! Do you imagine, sir, that the Bible is like Pope's Temple of Fame?

Excuse this digression; it describes but too truly the [...]ate of the Bible; it is made to say any thing, or no­thing, just as it suits the party concerned. But, sir, let us attend to the eternal rule of rectitude contained in it, and endeavour to separate the precious from the vile.

Having thus introduced the subject, I bid you adieu for the present: till I hear of your reformation,

LETTER II.

"CURSED be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethern," is your first argument in defence of negro slavery—you then ask, "where [Page 7] this curse was ever removed?" and speedily draw your conclusion, that the poor Africans must be the des­cendants of Ham!

1st. Because "the borders of the Canaanites were from Sidon as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza;" and to prove your point, Philip met the eunuch in this road.

2d. Where a curse is, a mark you think will follow. The colour, shape, and even the hair of their heads, prove the poor Africans to be children of the curse, and fit for nothing but drudgery and slavery.

In the 3d place, you labour to prove what no man denies, "that Israel had their hired and bond ser­vants."

4th. That slavery is not forbidden in the New Testament; therefore it is lawful to buy and keep slaves.

You conclude by summing up the scriptures for and against slavery, and of course [...] the majority on your own side.—You have not divided your pamph­let into sections, but, as far as I can judge, the above is the substance of it.

I shall proceed to answer as briefly as possible, and 1st. The curse denounced upon Canaan, was re­voked in the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel. If you wish to lay any stress on the words, "a servant of servants shall he be," you shall be a servant to the Jew, and the negro shall be your's; for it is as probable that you are the descendant of Canaan as the Africans, notwithstanding your curious observations in geogra­phy. Were not the Canaanites, without distinction, devoted to destruction, on account of their abominable iniquities. The Gibeonites alone, by their subtilty, escaped with the punishment of voluntary slavery. And you cannot be ignorant of the judgments that befel Israel for abusing those hewers of wood and drawers of water.

Do you ask where the curse was removed? I refer you to the gospel—there hear the word "it is finished!" [Page 8] admitting your own point, that the Ethiopians are the descendants of Ham, was not the curse removed from the eunuch you refer to? Being the ambassador of the queen of Candace, and returning from Jerusalem, not as a slave, but as the minister of a great nation, he was baptized by Philip, and most probably preached the gospel of Jesus in his own country, where it flourished for some time.

Pray, Mr. Lawrence, who were the Carthaginians, and out of whose loins came the intrepid Hannibal? Were they not Africans? And though they were con­quered, they made a great struggle for liberty.

Your 2d observation scarcely deserves notice: how­ever, as the prejudice of the age is very strong against the colour of the poor Africans, I shall make a few remarks.—And first, you say, "where a curse is, a mark will follow." Very true; the tree is known by its fruit. But who told you that the descendants of Canaan had a black skin on account of the curse?—Neither sacred nor profane historians: then it must be the child of fancy, owing, I suppose, to the devil being painted black. But you should remember the Africans, of late, not without cause, paint the devil white; and owing to such men as you, who de­fend slavery, the name of a christian is become more frightful to them than the devil himself.

I shall leave others to philosophise on the colour of skins; it is enough for me, that the heat of the fire will turn most things black. The scorching sun of Africa, without any cold winters to bleach, has per­haps had this effect, in a long succession of years, on the colour and hair of negroes; add to this, that when the colour becomes once tinged, in the union of the sexes, amongst all creatures, a likeness is pro­duced, which may be a reason why the blacks do not change their hue sooner in this country: when inter­marriages become general, the white colour will pre­vail in northern climates, but in more southern latitudes [Page 9] it will always remain yellow or copperish.^* But hear what the negro saith:

My 2d remark is on your observation about the shape of negroes; "that they are formed for drud­gery," &c. A man must be strangely prejudiced, not to see that both labour and thought affect the shape of every human being. Hence you may know a cruel slave-holder or tyrant by his complexion; as Mr. Jef­ferson well observes, "The whole commerce between master and slave, is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on one part, and degrading submission on the other: our children see this and imitate it. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineament of wrath, puts on the same airs, gives a loose to his worst of passions; and thus nursed and educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped with odi­ous peculiarities." Is it any wonder, that so many of the negroes, between their hard labour, want of thought, and the most abject slavery, should want fine features? But notwithstanding their condition, I have seen some hundreds of negroes as well made as any white man: besides, if you were to make slaves of all the awk­ward people, I am afraid many of your white brethren would come under the lash.

I proceed to consider your third argument; "we read in the scriptures of hired servants and of bond servants." Yes, and of men having a great number [Page 10] of wives and concubines: but was it so from the be­ginning? No, sir, there is not a single clause in the moral law that justifies either.

But who are your great patterns of slavery? Abra­ham and Solomon! Let us see what kind of slaves they had: the former had three hundred and eighteen trained servants, born in his house, whom Josephus calls respectable men, well instructed; they were a part of his family, had received the covenant of cir­cumcision, and adopted into the church of God; therefore could not be involuntary slaves. And if they were, how unlike your negro slaves! When do you instruct them to read and write, and teach them to bear arms, to fight with their masters? No, you are conscious of guilt; therefore you must not instruct them, nor permit them to bear arms, lest they should claim their indisputable right—equal liberty with your­selves.

But what manner of slaves had Solomon? Could the man who condemned oppression, and declares death to be more tolerable than subjection (Eccles. iv.) keep involuntary slaves? No. But he brought the remnant of the Canaanites under tribute, and employed some of them, for a season, as bondmen, in the building of the temple, for which labour they were most pro­bably paid along with Hiram's servants.

But now we have it, Lev▪ xxv. 44, 45, 46. The Jews were permitted to buy of the heathen that were around them, and to leave their bondmen as an inhe­ritance for their children for ever. But what was to become of the children of these bondmen? Not a word about them! surprising, that the law did not mention, "they and their children shall be your pos­session for ever."^*

The fact is, that the Levitical law knew nothing of involuntary slavery, unless in the case of theft or debt—and in either of those cases, the year of jubilee [Page 11] cleared all bondmen, without distinction. Read the 10th verse of Lev. xxv. And ye shall hallow the fifti­eth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. The words for ever, in regard to bondage, could extend no farther than that year. In short, the Israelites could not consider their servants as bondmen any longer than they used them as themselves; the same laws were made for the stranger as for the Israelite. But the poor negroes in America have no law to defend them—their evi­dence will not hold good against a white man; they may be abused, tortured, and are often wantonly kil­led—but what can they do? Nothing.

If a bond servant ran away from his master in Is­rael, he was not to be delivered up to him again, but he was to live where he chose, "where it liketh him best—thou shalt not oppress him," Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. This plainly proves that the Israelites had no other law to bind their bondmen, but the law of kind­ness. Thousands of such voluntary bondmen may be had at this day in Europe, who would willingly attach themselves and families to good masters. Yes, mo­ney would be given with them, provided their masters would support them without becoming burdensome to the public. What a contrast between the bondmen which the Jews had, and those which the Americans keep! There, if a servant ran away from his master, none dared to deliver him up again: but he was to live where he pleased: here; if a poor wretch runs away, for fear, perhaps, of being flogged to death, all the blood-hounds in the country are after him, and all the newspapers must publish, to the eternal disgrace of their country, that such a negro has run away, with so much reward for bringing him back, dead or alive; how many of the poor wretches are at this day wan­dering in the woods, and had rather starve themselves to death than be taken; and when taken, how many put an end to their existence, rather than bear the scorpion whips of their masters. There were no such cases in Israel? would to God there were none in A­merica!

[Page 12] You triumph, by saying, "Now as we have liberty from the Old Testament to buy and keep slaves, let us search our New Testament, and see if we can find it forbidden there." But stop, sin! where in the Old Testament can you find a passage that justifies [...] doing either? Are you a Jew or a Gentile? The wise regulations contained in the Levitical law, concerning bondmen, appertained to the Jews alone;^* and this was granted them upon the same ground as the law of divorce, and plurality of wives.

The 8th commandment expressly forbids your kind of slavery: and the law of Moses condemns to death every slave-holder in America; "He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall surely be put to death."

Are there any in America at this day, so wilfully ig­norant as not to know that the poor Africans were kid­napped from their native country, by a set of miscre­ants, who ought to have been extirpated, long ago, from the face of the earth; knowing this property to be stolen, you keep it still in your possession, when you ought to return it to the right owners; wherefore, the blood of those innocent men, you deprive of their rights, shall be required at your hands.

How impertinently you apply the tenth command­ment to the friends of abolition. Can there be any thing more absurd! Pray, sir, wear the cap yourself, it fits you and your slaveholding brethern exceeding well: for what else but diabolical covetousness could tempt men to trade in their fellow-creatures

You plainly see, at least ought to see, that Abra­ham, Moses, and Solomon, your great patterns for slavery, will do nothing for you. They had each of them a black comely woman for a wife; and the curse [Page 13] of God [...]ell heavy on M [...]ria [...] for speaking against Mo­ses on that account. The conduct of these great men, plainly prove, that they knew [...]nothing of the curse of slavery which you suppose to be inflicted by God on all Africans. Praying that God may open your eyes,

LETTER III.

I COME now to what I call your fourth head; where you say, ‘If slavery is not forbidden in the New Testament, we may lawfully keep slaves.’ By your leave, sir, we may not. The New Testament does not forbid us, with St. Francis, to preach to fishes, and baptise horses and horned cattle. Com­mon sense, however, teaches us that such a con [...]uc [...] would be absurd. Cock-fighting, horse-racing, and various species of iniquitous gaming, not then, per­haps, in use, are not forbidden in the New Testament, yet we know such practices to be contrary to the laws of Christ, and obnoxious to every idea we can form of moral virtue. But the gospel, sir, wherever its precepts are obeyed, abolishes slavery: this is, at any rate, tantamount to its being forbidden.

The first sermon that Jesus Christ preached, pro­claimed liberty to the captives. All the prophets preached against oppression, and predicted the day of emancipation. Christ took his text from Isaiah, [...] 1, 2, and declared, that it was that day fulfilled in their ears. Glorious news! hear it: ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me: because he hath appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverence to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bound; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ And he closed the [Page 14] book—and if I was to do the same, this alone would be enough against slavery. But perhaps you will say the above text has a spiritual meaning; and most as­suredly it has a literal one. Religious and civil liber­ty go always hand in hand; they are, in some respects, as closely connected as the soul is to the body. The whole system of christianity is called by James, "the perfect law of liberty." It could not be perfect, unless it comprehended the whole family of man, and this it does in a conspicuous manner: the angels brought glad tidings of great joy unto all people, nations, kin­dred and tongue under heaven. The word gospel signifies not only news but good news to all nations, and individuals who embrace the truth: and the truth shall make them free.

I do not say, that the believing slave will be imme­diately liberated from an unbelieving master. But I dare venture to affirm and prove, that every believ­ing master, obeying the precepts of Christ, would set [...] slaves at liberty without hesitation.

Suppose, for instance, that the young man who came to Christ to ask, "what he should do to inherit eternal life," to be a slaveholder; Christ told him to keep the commandments. O, he was a fine professor! all this he had done! Christ admired him: and so do I admire many things in my slave-holding friends.—But Christ said, "there is one thing lacking, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor." He might answer, if a slave-holder, there are no poor in my neighbourhood, we all support our own slaves! Slaves, didst thou say? What, go to heaven with a load of slaves on thy back! no, no, the gate is too strait and the road too narrow for thee. Go and in­struct them in the principles of liberty, then set them free and give them something to begin the world with. When you have done this, take up your cross and fol­low me; my mission on earth is to preach-deliverance to the captives, to set at liberty them that are bound, to do good to all, to love mine enemies, to establish a system of perfect equality among mankind.

[Page 15] None of my disciples dare to lord it over one ano­ther. He that would be greatest must be the servant of all: I cannot admit a slave-holder within the pales of my Church; if you would become my disciple, you must deny yourself the pleasure of handling a cowskin or a hickory to flog slaves. Yes, you must deny your­self the pleasure of their labour, unless you choose to pay them for it, and even then you must forbear threat­ening, for my disciples must be meekness and love. If you object and say, "I have paid for them," then you had no right to pay for what no man had a right to sell; I cannot admit my followers even to sell them­selves.

If you have bought those men, knowing them to be stolen, Moses, in whom you trusted, will put you to death for it? and, if you had them from you fa­ther or great-grandfather, you are condemned just the same, unless ye flee to me as the Saviour for refuge: and you must know that I am come, not to deliver my people in their sins, but from their sins. If you would consider yourself a christian, your slaves must be instructed and set at liberty: they must enjoy the same privileges with yourself: but if you are determin­ed to keep them still in bondage, you may expect the consequence. Remember the fate of Pharoah, and repent in time.

St. Paul exhorted those who had believing servants "not to despise them, because they were brethren, but rather to do them service, because they are faithful and partakers of the benefit," that is, they are now paid for their services, are well treated, and have full li­berty to change their masters if they can better them­selves. But what must the poor slave do, who has an unbelieving master? let him,

Notwithstanding your strange comment on "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." [Page 16] The precept will continue eternally the same; and, in order that you they understand it, I would send you, for a few years, to be a slave to the Algerines, who, by the bye, are angels when compared with many of the English and American slave-holders. Your saying, that, if you were a slave, your holder had a right to keep you so, is downright blasphemy against justice and common sense; if you was to swear to this hypo­thesis, no man in his senses would believe you.

It is true, according to the laws of retaliation, the negroes have a right to make slaves of all their present [...]ders in America. "He that admits no right but force, no justice but superior violence, arms every man against himself, and justifies all excesses. If it be law­ful to enjoy because we can; if we may seize the property of another, insult his person, or force him to labour for our luxuries or caprice, merely because he is weaker; this principle will be equally fatal to ourselves." It justifies your slaves, the instant they become the stron­ger, in taking you, your wives and your children, and separate you from each other, force you to labour to the [...]sic of whips and chains, from 4 o'clock in the morning till 8 at night, without any refreshment but a little Indian meal and water, half naked, yes, [...]n some plantations quite naked, half starved and coop­ed up together at night in a cold, dirty hovel, cover­ed with wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores: rob­bed of every thing that is dear; slogged for praying, and tortured for preaching consolation to your fellow sufferers; and, after having exhausted your youth in servitude, you are abandoned in old age to wretched­ness and diseases. This is not an exaggerated statement of the case, but the real representation of things which are in America in the year 1797. O shame! where hast thou fled!

But it is the use and not the abuse of slavery which you defend: it is impossible, sir, to separate them: the whole system is abominably iniquitous. I know there are many humane masters in America, who use their slaves better, than many do their hired servants [Page 17] in Europe. What then, if a man keeps his whores well, does that justify his having them? I argue against the first principles of slavery; no man has a right to use or abuse another without his consent, unless he be guilty of some crime against society, which exposes him to its vengeance; every individual in the universe possesses certain rights which no man can divest him of, without injustice.

Your hackneyed phrase, "Servants obey your masters," suits your purpose just as well as ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone:’ where in the bible do you meet with the words "Slaves obey your tyrants"? no where. It is well known the word slave is not to be found in the original text of the bible. The word slave in Jer. ii. 14. is added by the transla­tors, and the word Somaton, rendered slaves in Rev. xviii. 13. should be translated bodies as is the case every where else. The word dou [...]s, and its derivatives, would read very awkward, if translated slaves, slave, slaving, &c. instead of servant, serve, serving. A few quotations will be sufficient to shew the absurdity. Gen. xlii. 10. "But to buy food are thy slaves come." Psalm cxix. 91. ‘They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy slaves.’ Luke i. 38. and Mary said, "Behold the slave of my Lord." Luke xv. 29. "Lo these many years do I slave thee." Acts xx. 19. "Slaving the Lord with all humility of mind"!!!

That hired and indented servants should be exhort­ed to obey their masters, is very rational; and was it not for the ruinous system of slavery, it would be done more cheerfully. But

[Page 18] But the slave-holder, with one stroke, extirpates every thing that alleviates the evils of life, and arms every man in an eternal war against his fellow-creature. Let me therefore advise you, sir, to renounce princi­ples which can be maintained by no one but a profes­sed enemy to mankind. Wishing you to weigh the matter well, I remain,

LETTER IV.

I WAS going to wish you a good morning, Sir, but the Poet forbids me.

Alas! the poor African is fallen among thieves, and the Priests and Levites of popery and protestantism, have passed him by, whilst wallowing in his blood, and instead of relieving him, you have endeavoured to prove that he deserves to be made a slave, both he and his children for ever, and that for the sins of his fore­fathers! And are there none who will have mercy on the poor African? Yes: the Samaritan comes by; French Deists have pour'd wine and oil into the wounds of the distressed negroes, whilst professed Christians keep them in bondage, and will not let them go free! But

But what shall we say when Israel turns his back on the enemy? There is an Achan in the camp, and I do not hesitate to affirm that the present forlorn state of religion in many of the states, is owing to negro slavery.

I know there are many other crying sins in the coun­try, but this is the principal vice. "Robbers invade the property, and murderers the life of human beings, but he that holds another man in bondage, subjects the whole of his existence to oppression, bereaves him of every hope, and is therefore more detestable than the robber and assassin combined."

With what face can any slave holder pray for the success of the gospel, whilst he acts contrary to its first principles? Or have the Americans (as Day saith) shared the dispensing power of St. Peter's successors to excuse their own observance of those rules which they impose on others? It is truly ridiculous in a civil sense, that they should with one hand sign a bill of rights declaring all men equally free, and yet with the other hand brandish a whip over their affrighted slaves: if men would be consistent, they must admit all the consequences of their own principles; and the Ame­ricans, both as men and professed Christians, are reduc­ed to the dilemma of acknowledging the rights of▪ their negroes, or surrendering their own.

Your observation on Mr. O'Kelly's comment on Rev. 18. 30, I should take no notice of, were it not for this horrid question, "Pray where is the difference between one man making use of a horse to serve him, and another employing a slave?" You think that ac­cording to the above text, it is an equal abomination [Page 20] to buy horses, chariots, fine linen, &c. as it is to buy the bodies and souls of men:—what diabolical reason­ing! because what may be lawfully sold is connected with what no man has a right to sell; do you suppose that it justifies you in keeping slaves;—and the church of Rome in selling indulgences, and pretending to bring souls for money out of purgatory!

Your argument with J. Ramsay that the devil is the author of slavery, proves you to be a faithful ser­vant of Old Nick, otherwise you would not be so zealous in defending his trade. You charge those who are advocates for the manumission of slaves, with "being blinded by the devil;" pray, sir, to what end did Jesus Christ come into the world? was it not to destroy the works of the devil? then according to your own mouth you are condemned to be the man blinded by the devil—and that the friends of emanci­pation are children of light, labouring together with Christ to destroy slavery▪ which is the works of Belzebub!

As a champion combating all around, you next meet Mr. Leland, who asserts "that the whole scene of sla­very is pregnant with enormous evils, and why not liberate them at once;"—"He would to heaven this was done, for the sweets of rural and social life, will never be enjoyed until then;" had he said justice will not be done until then: God will not be honoured by the slave holders until then, it would be as well.

Something, he says, must be done, and you say that this something is already done, and refer him to Titus ii. 9. You might as well refer him to Tobit and his dog, for the exhorting of servants to obey their masters, has no more to do with the obedience to their tyrants, than I have to do with the inhabitants of Jupiter; no, sir, that something has not yet been done in all the states: the negroes in the first place should be instructed so as to understand their rights as men, and their duties as citizens: then emancipate them without hesitation. This instead of producing any bad consequences, would cause the blessings of God to flow through the land, as our majestic rivers roll their rapid waves to the ocean. Let the legisla­tors of the different states, therefore enact, that every [Page 21] slave-holder shall instruct his negroes in the duty of citizenship, and use them in every respect as citizens for the term of [...] at which period they are to have full liberty to choose their own masters, or form a settlement together in such parts of the union as shall be appointed for them.—Any man holding slaves, not complying with the above law, shall forfeit £—to the state, and the immediate manumission of all his slaves.

If such a law should not be enacted, I would hope that every conscientious man will act in this case as if there was no law, knowing this, "that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and dis­obedient, &c." and O that I could see the time

LETTER V.

AS you have concluded your pamphlet by col­lecting together those passages of scripture which you suppose favoured slavery and bondage. I shall collect a few out of many which speak against oppression. If similar consequences are deduced from the same causes, the application of the words Africans, America, &c. instead of Israel and Canaan, can be no crime; they are, however, wrote in Italics, that you may see where the scripture-words are exchanged.

Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; for he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker. Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, and will judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puff­eth at him. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. But he shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the [Page 22] children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. The cry of the children of Africa is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression where­with the British and the Americans oppress them; and I will break the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their oppressors as in the day of Midian. Surely op­pression maketh a nation as well as a wise man mad.

So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the [...]de of their oppressors there was power. Wherefore the Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the day shall come upon you, that unless you repent of your evil doings, he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish-hooks.

O Americans! thus saith the Lord, execute judg­ment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it. Hear this now ye kine of Bashan, which oppress the poor negroes and crush the needy among them; which say to their masters, come and let us drink, for to-morrow will be as to day and much better: but thus saith the Lord, woe to the oppressing city! she obeyed not my voice; she received not correction, in her late strug­gle for Liberty she trusted not in the Lord that he would provide for her if in case she liberated her slaves; she drew not near to her God to ask counsel of him, who fought her battles and established her independence. Wherefore what have ye to do with me, O Southern States, nor are ye to the north, east and west free from blood; for the poor Africans have ye bought and sold like cattle. Wherefore have I sold your sons and your daughters to the Algerines and Indians, and I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the slave holders, and against those who oppress the poor negroes, and turn away the stranger from his right, for ye were strangers yourselves at one time in this land.

Therefore thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor op­press him; for ye know the heart of a stranger. Wherefore thus saith the holy One of Israel, because [Page 23] ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and per­verseness and stay thereon. His iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

Therefore go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth­eaten: your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Behold the hire of the slaves which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them that have reaped and planted have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth: ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. Ye have condemn­ed and killed the just, and he (the poor African) doth not resist you; but in a mournful tone after being scour­ged and tortured to the last degree saith with his expiring breath, "Master, you have killed me."

For thy violence against thy brother, (the African) shame shall cover thy borders, O America! Because I have called by a particular Providence upon you to set them free, when you obtained your own liberty, and ye refused. I have stretched out my hand, since and smote your borders, particularly the seat of your Federal Govern­ment with a malignant scourge, but you have not re­garded. I have caused an insurrection to take place in the land, and have sent forth a furious element to threat­en and destroy your cities; your commerce likewise I have given as a pr [...]y to contending powers. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my re­proof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh as a desolation, and your de­struction cometh as a whirlwind: for I will continue to plague you more and more, until you let the Africans go free.

Ye have fasted and kept days of thanksgiving, but is not this the fast I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burden, and let the oppressed African go free, and that ye break every yoke of bondage among you: therefore learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, and if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour, if ye oppress not the stranger, &c. Then [Page 24] I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land I have given to your fathers▪ for ever and ever.—But if ye continue to keep the A­fricans in bondage, behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud oppressors, yea, and all who do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. No not so much as a slave-holder in the world

Then shall the oppressed take up this proverb against the tyrants and say; How hath the oppressor ceased! What shall the prey be taken from the mighty, and the captive be delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away; and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be DRUNKEN WITH THEIR OWN BLOOD, as with sweet wine. I, even I, am he that will comfort you O Africans!—Who art thou, that thou should'st be afraid of a man that shall die—and forgettest the Lord thy maker; and hast feared every day continually because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he was ready to destroy.

And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive-exile haste­neth that he may be loosened, and that he should not die in the pit; nor that his bread should fail. For it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulders, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing—because of the promise and the oath of God, the unction of Liberty shall be poured upon all flesh; and Ethiopia among other nations shall stretch forth her hands to God. Yes, all the nations of the earth shall like kindred drops of rain mingle together in one ocean of love—in one family of brethren. Then I shall sing—

I hope Mr. L—and the Americans in general will think of the threatenings above quoted, and consider whilst it is called to day, what belongs to their peace. I rejoice that there are so many in the United States who abhor slavery in their hearts; for their sakes, I trust the Lord will spare the land from a deluge of blood. This is the fervent prayer of the author, who will behold, with transports of joy the rising empire of America established in righteousness and peace. Farewell.—I shall ever remain,