N34072:40
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.
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.
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 reflexion. 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.