N34072:39
Baxter's directions to slave-holders, revived; first printed in London, in the year 1673
Baxter's directions to slave-holders, revived; first printed in London, in the year 1673. : To which is subjoined, a letter from the worthy Anthony Benezet, late of this city, deceased, to the celebrated abbe Raynal, with his answer, which were first published in the Brussels gazette, March 7, 1782.Baxter's directions to slave-holders, revived; first printed in London, in the year 1673. : To which is subjoined, a letter from the worthy Anthony Benezet, late of this city, deceased, to the celebrated abbe Raynal, with his answer, whch were first published in the Brussels gazette, March 7, 1782.
Philadelphia: printed by Francis Bailey, 1785
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The arguments which have been advanced by the few writers, who have attempted to justify this inhuman business, can have no weight with generous minds. Those, in particular, which are drawn from the permission to hold slaves among the Jews, can in no wise be applied to the practice amongst us: For, blessed be the God and Father of all our mercies,* who hath made of one blood all nations of men, we now live under a dispensation essentially different from that of the law; in which many things were permitted to the Jews, because of the the hardness of their hearts. All distinctions of name and country, so far as they relate to the social duties, are now abolished.—We are taught by our blessed Redeemer, to look upon all men, even our enemies, as neighbours and brethren, and to do unto them as we would they should do unto us.
Under a dispensation so admirably adapted to promote ⟨p. 13⟩the temporal as well as the eternal happiness of mankind, that any should deviate so far from its principles, as to encourage a practice so replete with iniquity, and in particular that this nation, generally characterized by its attachment to civil and religious liberty, should have contributed, perhaps, more than any other, to the establishment and continuance of slavery, is a most painful reflection. It would surely have been more consistent with the avowed principles of Englishmen, both as men and as Christians, if their settlement in heathen countries had been succeeded by mild and benevolent attempts to civilize their inhabitants, and to incline them to receive the glad tidings of the gospel. But how different a conduct, towards them, has been pursued! it has not only been repugnant, in a political view, to those commercial advantages which a fair and honourable treatment might have procured, but has evidently tended to increase the barbarity of their manners, and to excite in their minds an aversion to that religion, the professors whereof so cruelly treat them.