Such is the scarcity of materials, and the difficulty of arriving at the scattered sources of information, that I have called the following Historical Notice of the Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States, "A SKETCH." It deserves no better name, although, perhaps, it may embody the principal facts on the subject.
For the sake of perspicuity, the SKETCH is divided into PERIODS OF TIME--the First Period, extending from the Introduction of the Negroes into the Country, in 1620, to the first Census, in 1790; a period of 170 years: the Second Period, from 1790 to 1820; a period of 30 years: and the Third Period from 1820 to 1842; a period of 22 years.
It was in the year 1501 that Isabella of Spain granted permission for the introduction of Negro slaves into Hispaniola; but such only as had been born in Spain, or in slavery among Christians; and in the following year a few had been sent into the New World.
In 1508 the Spaniards opened a direct trade in slaves, and imported Negroes into Hispaniola from the Portuguese settlements on the Coast of Guinea. Ferdinand V., by royal ordinance, enjoined a direct traffic in slaves between Guinea and Hispaniola, in 1511, and Charles V., in 1512-13.
In 1517 Charles V. granted a patent to one of his Flemish favorites, containing an exclusive right of importing slaves, four thousand annually, into Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. This favorite sold his patent to some Genoese merchants for 25,000 ducats, and they were the first who brought into regular form that commerce for slaves between Africa and America, which has since been carried on under such revolting circumstances and to such an amazing extent.
Forty-five years after, in 1562-3, the English entered the trade under Sir John Hawkins and carried Negroes from Africa to Hispaniola, and in 1567 Queen Elizabeth protected and shared the traffic. Thus the Mother Country was engaged in the traffic forty-five years before the first permanent settlement was made in her American Colonies, which was at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.
The Dutch, in common with other maritime nations of Europe, engaged in the trade, and a man-of-war of that nation, from the Coast of Guinea, in August, 1620, (four months before the Plymouth Colony arrived in America,) landed twenty Negroes for sale, in the Colony of Virginia, on James river, which determines the epoch of their introduction into the Colonies. From this period they were gradually, and at different times, introduced into all the Colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia; and for the most part, contrary to the wishes of the Colonists.
The first cargo of Negro slaves was brought into Boston in 1645, and though their introduction was denounced and the Negroes ordered to be "returned at public charge;" yet it was afterwards permitted, and people engaged in the trade.
In Maryland acts were passed encouraging the importation of Negroes, in 1671; and in this same year they were first introduced into South Carolina. They were legally admitted into Georgia in 1747. The precise year of their admission into the remaining eight of the old thirteen Colonies is not accurately known.
I have no references at hand by which to determine the number of Negroes in each of the Colonies, nor the aggregate in all, before the Declaration of Independence, as no general census was ever taken of the Colonies while they continued such. But there are statements of the number in most of the Colonies, given in different years, which I shall proceed to mention.
Virginia was settled in 1607, and in 1671 contained 2,000 Negroes; in 1763, 100,000.
Massachusetts was settled in 1620, and in 1763 contained 4,500.
Rhode Island was settled in 1636. In 1680 had imported but a few Negroes, in 1730 contained 1,648, and in 1748, 4,373.
Connecticut was settled in 1635. In 1680 had 30 Negroes, and in 1774, 6,464.
New Hampshire was settled from Massachusetts and became a separate Colony in 1741, and in 1775 contained 659 Negroes.
New York was settled by the Dutch in 1613. In 1756 contained 13,542.
New Jersey was settled 1627. In 1738 contained 3,981 Negroes and slaves, and in 1745, 4,606.
Maryland was granted to Lord Baltimore in 1632. In 1755 contained 42,764 Negroes, and for a time, 2,000 were imported annually. Mr. Burke says, in 1757 the number was upwards of 60,000.
North Carolina was permanently settled in 1650, and became distinct from Virginia in 1727. In 1701 it had 5,000 inhabitants, besides Negroes and Indians, and in 1702, 6,000.
South Carolina was granted to Lord Clarendon in 1662. In 1723 contained 18,000 Negroes; in 1724, 439 were imported; in 1730 contained 28,000; in 1731 1,500 were imported. In 1765 contained 90,000; in 1773 over 6,000 were imported. This Colony lost 25,000 Negroes in the Revolutionary war.
Georgia was settled in 1732-3. Slavery was legalized in 1747, and in 1772 contained 14,000 Negroes.
The probable number of Negroes in the Colonies at the Declaration of Independence in 1776, may be ascertained in the following manner. Take the known population in the different Colonies nearest the year 1776; compare that with the census of 1790; take into consideration the rate of increase from nature and from importation, and also the decrease; and then give the supposed population in round numbers.
| Massachusetts.--Last return in 1763 to 1776, 13 years, the population decreasing; supposed population in 1776. . . . . . | 3,500 |
| Rhode Island.--1748 to 1776, 28 years, stationary. . . . . . | 4,373 |
| Connecticut.--1774 to 1776, 2 years, decreasing. . . . . . | 6,000 |
| New Hampshire.--1775 to 1776, 1 year, stationary. . . . . . | 659 |
| New York.--1756 to 1776, 20 years increasing. . . . . . | 15,000, |
| New Jersey.--1745 to 1776, 31 years increasing. . . . . . | 7,600 |
| Delaware.--Estimated in 1776 compared with 1790. . . . . . | 9,000 |
| Pennsylvania.--Estimated in 1775 compared with 1790, the act of Abolition in 1780 taken into the account. . . . . . | 10,000 |
| In 1757, Mr. Burke says, "not the fortieth part of the inhabitants were Negroes." | |
| Maryland.--1755 to 1776, 21 years, increasing. . . . . . | 80,000 |
| Virginia.--1763 to 1776, 13 years, increasing. . . . . . | 165,000. |
| North Carolina.--Estimated in same way as Delaware. . . . . . | 75,000 |
| South Carolina.--1765 to 1776, 11 years, increasing, and loss in Revolution considered. . . . . . | 110,000. |
| Georgia.--1772 to 1776, 4 years, increasing. . . . . . | 16,000 |
| Total, . . . . . | 502,132. |
Making a total, in round numbers, of 500,000 Negroes who had, in the course of 156 years, from 1620 to 1776, accumulated on our shores, by importation and natural increase.
The proportion of free Negroes, in this estimate, at the Declaration of Independence, must have been inconsiderable; as it was not until after the Revolution that manumissions by owners, and manumissions in the progress of acts of Abolition, multiplied.
The Census of the United States for 1790, gives 697,697 Slaves and 59,481 Free Persons Of Color; a total of 757,178.
Having brought distinctly to view this multitude of people introduced amongst us in the inscrutable providence of God, the original stock being in a state of absolute Heathenism, we may inquire into the efforts made for their Religious Instruction.
1673. Mr. Baxter published his "Christian Directory," in which he has a chapter of "Directions to those Masters in Foreign Plantations who have Negroes and other slaves; being a solution of several cases about them."
The first Direction calls upon masters to "understand well how far your power over your slaves extendeth and what limits God hath set thereto."
"Remember that they have immortal souls, and are equally capable of salvation with yourselves: and therefore you have no power to do any thing which shall hinder their salvation. Remember that God is their absolute owner, and that you have none but a derived and limited propriety in them;--that they and you are equally under the government and laws of God;--that God is their reconciled tender Father, and if they be as good, doth love them as well as you;--and that they are the redeemed ones of Christ:--Therefore, so use them as to preserve Christ's right and interest in them."
The 2d. Direction--"Remember that you are Christ's trustees, or the guardians of their souls; and that the greater your power is over them, the greater your charge is of them and your duty for them. So must you exercise both your power and love to bring them to the knowledge and the faith of Christ, and to the just obedience of God's commands."
The 3d.--"So serve your necessities by your slaves as to prefer God's interest and their spiritual and ever-lasting happiness. Teach them the way to heaven, and do all for their souls which I have before directed you to do for all your other servants. Tho' you may make some difference in their labor and diet and clothing, yet none as to the furthering of their salvation. If they be infidels use them so as tendeth to win them to Christ and the love of religion, by shewing them that Christians are less worldly, less cruel and passionate, and more wise and charitable and holy and meek, than any other persons are. Wo to them that by their cruelty and covetousness do scandalize even slaves and hinder their conversion and salvation."
The 7th and last Direction--"Make it your chief end in buying and using slaves to win them to Christ and save their souls. Do not only endeavor it on the by when you have first consulted your own commodity, but make this more of your end than your commodity itself; and let their salvation be far more valued by you than their service; and carry yourself to them as those that are sensible that they are redeemed with them by Christ from the slavery of Satan and may live with them in the liberty of the saints in glory."
The works of this eminent servant of God had an extensive circulation, and these Directions may have been productive of much good on the plantations of those owners into whose hands they fell.
1680. Forty-four years after the settlement of Connecticut, the Assembly forwarded answers to the Inquiries of the Lords of the Committee of Colonies, wherein they say: "There are but few servants and fewer slaves; not above 30 in the colony. There come sometimes three or four blacks from the Barbadoes, which are sold for 22l each. Great care is taken of the instruction of the people in the Christian religion, by ministers catechising and preaching twice every Sabbath and sometimes on lecture days; and also by masters of families instructing their children and servants, which the law commands them to do."
1701. "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," was incorporated under William III. on the 16th day of of June 1701, and the first meeting of the society under its charter was the 27th of June of the same year. Thomas Lord Bishop of Canterbury, Primate and Metropolitan of all England was appointed by his Majesty the first President.
This society was formed with the view, primarily, of supplying the destitution of religious institutions and privileges among the inhabitants of the North American Colonies, members of the established church of England; and secondarily, of extending the Gospel to the Indians and Negroes.
It had been preceded by a company incorporated by Charles II. in 1661, for "the Propagation of the Gospel amongst Heathen Nations of New England and the parts adjacent in America;" which, however, did not accomplish much; the design, for the times then present and the necessities of the Colonies, being too narrow. The Honorable Robert Boyle, was first President of this company, and it was his connection with this society which led him to a deeper interest in the defence and propagation of the Christian religion, and he therefore left in his will an annual salary, forever, for the support of eight sermons in the year, for proving the Christian Religion against notorious Infidels; and he requires that the preachers employed, "shall be assisting to all companies and encouraging them in any undertaking for propagating the Christian religion in Foreign Parts."
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts entered upon its duties with zeal, being patronized by the King and all the dignitaries of the Church of England.
They instituted inquiries into the religious condition of the Colonies, responded to "by the Governors and persons of the best note;" (with special reference to Episcopacy,) and they perceived that their work "consisted of three great branches: the care and instruction of our people settled in the Colonies; the conversion of the Indian Savages; and the conversion of the Negroes." Before appointing Missionaries, they sent out a traveling preacher, the Rev. George Keith, (an itinerant missionary,) who associated with himself the Rev. John Talbot. Mr. Keith preached between North Carolina and Piscataquay river in New England, a tract above 800 miles in length, and completed his mission in two years, and returned and reported his labors to the society.
The annual meetings of this society were regularly held from 1702 to 1819 and 118 sermons preached before it by Bishops of the Church of England, a large number of them distinguished for piety, learning, and zeal. The society still exists.
The efforts of the society for the Religious Instruction of the Negroes, are briefly as follows.
In June 1702 the Rev. Samuel Thomas, the first missionary, was sent to the Colony of South Carolina. The society designed he should attempt the conversion of the Yammosee Indians; but the Governor, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, appointed him to the care of the people settled on the three branches of Cooper river, making Goose creek his residence. He reported his labors to the society, and said "that he had taken much pains also in instructing the Negroes, and learned 20 of them to read. He died in October 1706.
Dr. LeJeau succeeded him in 1706, and found "parents and masters imbued with much good will and a ready disposition to have their children and servants taught the Christian religion." "He instructed and baptised many Negroes and Indian slaves." His communicants in 1714 arose to 70 English and 8 Negroes. Dr. LeJeau died in 1717, and was succeeded permanently by Rev. Mr. Ludlam, who began his mission with great dilligence. "There were in his parish a large number of Negroes, natives of the place, who understood English well; he took good pains to instruct several of them in the principles of the Christian religion and afterwards admitted them to baptism. He said if the masters of them would heartily concur to forward so good a work, all those who have been born in the country might without much difficulty be instructed and received into the church. Mr. Ludlam continued his labors among the Negroes and every year taught and baptised several of them; in one year eleven, besides some mulattoes."
The Indian war checked the progress of the society's missions for several years. The Parishes of St. Paul's, (1705,) St. John's, (1707,) St. Andrew's and St. Bartholomew's, (1713,) St. Helen's, (1712,) received missionaries. Mr. Hasell was settled in the last named parish, and the inhabitants were "565 whites, 950 Negroes, 60 Indian slaves, and 20 free Negroes."
Rev. Gilbert Jones was appointed missionary of Christ Church Parish, 1711. He used great pains to persuade the masters and mistresses to assist in having their slaves instructed in the Christian faith; but found this good work lay under difficulties as yet insuperable. He wrote thus concerning this matter: "Though laboring in vain be very discouraging, yet (by the help of God,) I will not cease my labors; and if I shall gain but one proselyte, shall not think much of all my pains." He was succeeded in 1722 by Rev. Mr. Pownal. Two years after he reported in his parish 470 free born, and "above 700 slaves, some of which understand the English tongue; but very few know any thing of God or religion." In the parish of St. George, taken out of St. Andrew's, the church stands 28 miles from Charleston, (1719,) Mr. Peter Tustian was sent missionary, but soon removed to Maryland. The Rev. Mr. Varnod succeeded him in 1723. A year after his arrival, at Christmas, he had near 50 communicants, and what was remarkable, 17 Negroes.
He baptised several grown persons, besides children and Negroes, belonging to Alexander Skeene, Esquire. The Rev. Mr. Taylor, missionary at St. Andrew's parish in South Carolina, reported to the society "the great interest taken in the religious instruction of their Negroes by Mrs. Haige and Mrs. Edwards, and their remarkable success; 14 of whom on examination he baptised." The clergy of South Carolina, in a joint letter, acquainted the society with the fact "that Mr. Skeene, his lady, and Mrs. Haige, his sister, did use great care to have their Negroes instructed and baptised." And the Rev.
Mr. Varnod, missionary, had baptised 8 Negro children belonging to Mr. Skeene and Mrs. Haige, and he writes to the society that "at once he had 19 Negro communicants."
Mr. Neuman was sent as a missionary to North Carolina in 1722. He reported some time after "that he had baptised 269 children, 1 woman, and 3 men, and 2 Negroes, who could say the creed, the Lord's prayer, and ten commandments, and had good sureties for their further information."
The Rev. Mr. Beekett, missionary in Pennsylvania, in 1723, reported that he had baptised "two Negro slaves."
In 1709 Mr. Huddlestone was appointed school master in New York City. He taught 40 poor children out of the societies funds, and publicly catechised in the steeple of Trinity Church every Sunday in the afternoon, "not only his own scholars, but also the children, servants, and slaves of the inhabitants, and above 100 persons usually attended him."
The society established, also, a catechising school in New York city in 1704, in which city there were computed to be about 1,500 Negro and Indian slaves. The society hoped their example would be generally followed in the Colonies. Mr. Elias Neau, a French protestant was appointed catechist; who was very zealous in his duty and many Negroes were instructed and baptised. In 1712 the Negroes in New York conspired to destroy all the English, which greatly discouraged the work of their instruction. The conspiracy was defeated, and many negroes taken and executed. Mr. Neau's school was blamed as the main occasion of the barbarous plot; two of Mr. Neau's school were charged with the plot; one was cleared and the other was proved to have been in the conspiracy, but guiltless of his master's murder. "Upon full trial the guilty Negroes were found to be such as never came to Mr. Neau's school; and what is very observable, the persons whose Negroes were found most guilty were such as were the declared opposers of making them Christians." In a short time the cry against the instruction of the Negroes subsided: the Governor visited and recommended the school. Mr. Neau died in 1722, much regretted by all who knew his labors. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Wetmore, who afterwards was appointed missionary to Rye in New York. After his removal "the rector, church wardens, and vestry of Trinity Church, in New York City," requested another catechist, "there being about 1,400 Negro and Indian slaves, a considerable number of them had been instructed in the principles of Christianity by the late Mr. Neau, and had received baptism and were communicants in their church. The society complied with this request and sent over Rev. Mr. Colgan in 1726, who conducted the school with success."
Mr. Honeyman, missionary in 1724, in Providence, Rhode Island, had baptized, in two years, 80 persons, of which 19 were grown, 3 Negroes, and 2 Indians, and 2 Mulattoes.
In Naragansett, the congregation was reported to be 160, (1720) with 12 Indian and black servants.
At Marblehead, the missionary reported (1725) having baptized 2 Negroes; "a man about 25 years old and a girl 12, and that a whole family in Salem had conformed to the church."
The society looked upon the instruction and conversion of the Negroes as a principal branch of their care; esteeming it a great reproach to the Christian name, that so many thousands of persons should continue in the same state of Pagan darkness under a Christian government and living in Christian families, as they lay before under in their own heathen countries. The society immediately from their first institution strove to promote their conversion, and in as much as their income would not enable them to send numbers of catechists sufficient to instruct the Negroes; yet they resolved to do their utmost, and at least to give this work the mark of their highest approbation. They wrote, therefore, to all their missionaries, that they should use their best endeavors, at proper times, to instruct the Negroes, and should especially take occasion to recommend it zealously to the masters to order their slaves at convenient times, to come to them that they might be instructed. These directions had a good effect, and some hundreds of Negroes had been instructed, received baptism, and been admitted to the communion, and lived very orderly lives."
The History of the Society goes on to say: "It is a matter of commendation to the clergy that they have done thus much in so great and difficult a work. But, alas! what is the instruction of a few hundreds in several years, with respect to the many thousands uninstructed, unconverted; living, dying, utter pagans! It must be confessed, what hath been done is as nothing with regard to what a true Christian would hope to see effected." After stating several difficulties in respect to the religious instruction of the Negroes, (which do not exist at the present time, but in a very limited degree,) it is said: "But the greatest obstruction is the masters themselves do not consider enough the obligation which lies upon them to have their slaves instructed." And in another place, "the society have always been sensible the most effectual way to convert the Negroes was by engaging their masters to countenance and promote their conversion." The Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Fleetwood, preached a sermon before the society in the year 1711, setting forth the duty of instructing the Negroes in the Christian religion. The society thought this so useful a discourse that they printed and dispersed abroad in the Plantations great numbers of that sermon, in the same year; and in. the year 1725, reprinted the same and dispersed again large numbers. The Bishop of London, Dr. Gibson, (to whom the care of the Plantations abroad, as to religious affairs, was committed,) became a second advocate for the conversion of the Negroes, and wrote two letters on this subject. The first in 1727, "addressed to masters and mistresses of families, in the English Plantations abroad, exhorting them to encourage and promote the instruction of their Negroes in the Christian faith. The second, in the same year, addressed to the missionaries there; directing them to distribute the said letter, and exhorting them to give their assistance towards the instruction of the Negroes within their several parishes."
The society were persuaded this was the true method to remove the great obstruction to their conversion, and hoping so particular an application to the masters and mistresses from the See of London would have the strongest influence, they printed 10,000 copies of the letter to masters and mistresses, which were sent to all the Colonies on the continent, and to all the British Islands in the West Indies, to be distributed among the masters of families, and all other inhabitants. The society received accounts that these letters influenced many masters of families to have their servants instructed. The Bishop of London soon after wrote "an address to serious Christians among ourselves, to assist the Society for Propagating the Gospel in carrying on this work."
The letters of Dr. Gibson referred to, for their intrinsic excellence, and as an indication of the state of feeling on the subject, at the time they were written, render it proper that they should be inserted in this Sketch. I have not been able to obtain a copy of Dr. Fleetwood's sermon.
"The Bishop of London's Letter to the Masters and Mistresses of Families in the English Plantations abroad; exhorting them to encourage and promote the Instruction of their Negroes in the Christian Faith. London, 1727.
The care of the Plantations abroad being committed to the Bishop of London, as to religious affairs, I have thought it my duty to make particular inquiries into the state of religion in those parts; and to learn, among other things, what number of slaves are employed within the several governments, and what means are used for their instruction in the Christian faith. I find the numbers are prodigiously great; and am not a little troubled to observe how small a progress has been made in a Christian country towards the delivering those poor creatures from the pagan darkness and superstition in which they were bred, and the making them partakers of the light of the Gospel, and of the blessings and benefits belonging to it. And, which is yet more to be lamented, I find there has not only been very little progress made in the work, but that all attempts towards it, have been by too many industriously discouraged and hindered; partly by magnifying the difficulties of the work beyond what they really are; and partly by mistaken suggestions of the change which baptism would make in the condition of the Negroes, to the loss and disadvantage of their masters.
I. As to the Difficulties: it may be pleaded that the Negroes are grown persons when they come over, and that having been accustomed to the pagan rites and idolatries of their own country, they are prejudiced against all other religions, and more particularly against the Christian, as forbidding all that licentiousness which is usually practised among the heathens.
But if this were a good argument against attempting the conversion of Negroes, it would follow that the Gospel is never further to be propagated than it is at present, and that no endeavors are to be used for the conversion of heathens at any time, or in any country, whatsoever: because all heathens have been accustomed to pagan rites and idolatries, and to such vicious and licentious living as the Christian religion forbids. But yet, God be thanked, heathens have been converted and Christianity propagated in all ages, and almost all countries, through the zeal and diligence of pious and good men; and this without the help of miracles. And if the present age be as zealous and diligent in pursuing the proper means of conversion, we have no reason to doubt, but that the divine assistance is, and will be, the same in all ages.
But a further difficulty is, that they are utter strangers to our language and we to theirs; and the gift of tongues being now ceased, there is no means left of instructing them in the doctrines of the Christian religion. And this, I own, is a real difficulty, as long as it continues, and as far as it reaches. But if I am rightly informed, many of the Negroes who are grown persons when they come over, do of themselves attain so much of our language as enables them to understand and to be understood, in things which concern the ordinary business of life; and they who can go so far, of their own accord, might doubtless be carried much further, if proper methods and endeavors were used to bring them to a complete knowledge of our language, with a pious view to the instructing them in the doctrines of our religion. At least some of them, who are more capable and more serious than the rest, might be easily instructed both in our language and religion, and then be made use of to convey instruction to the rest in their own language. And this, one would hope, may be done with great ease, wherever there is a hearty and sincere zeal for the work.
But whatever difficulties there may be instructing those who are grown up before they are brought over, there are not the like difficulties in the case of their children, who are born and bred in our own Plantations, who have never been accustomed to pagan rites and superstitions, and who may easily be trained up, like all other children, to any language whatsoever, and particularly to our own; if the making them good Christians be sincerely the desire and intention of those who have the property in them and the government over them.
But supposing the difficulties to be much greater than I imagine, they are not such as render the work impossible, so as to leave no hope of any degree of success; and nothing less than an impossibility of doing any good at all, can warrant our giving over and laying aside all means and endeavors, where the propagation of the Gospel and the saving of souls are immediately concerned.
Many undertakings look far more impracticable before trial, than they are afterwards found to be in experience; especially where there is not a good heart to go about them. And it is frequently observed that small beginnings, when pursued with resolution, are attended with great and surprising success. But in no case is the success more great and surprising than when good men engage in the cause of God and religion, out of a just sense of the inestimable value of a soul, and in full and well grounded assurance that their honest designs and endeavors for the promoting religion, will be supported by a special blessing from God.
I am loth to think so hardly of any Christian master, as to suppose that he can deliberately hinder his Negroes from being instructed in the Christian faith; or which is the same thing, that he can, upon sober and mature consideration of the case, finally resolve to deny them the means and opportunities of instruction. Much less may I believe that he can, after he has seriously weighed this matter, permit them to labor on the Lord's day: and least of all, that he can put them under a kind of necessity of laboring on that day, to provide themselves with the conveniences of life; since our religion so plainly teaches us that God has given one day in seven, to be a day of rest; not only to man, but to the beasts. That it is a day appointed by him for the improvement of the soul, as well as the refreshment of the body; and that it is a duty incumbent upon masters, to take care that all persons who are under their government, keep this day holy, and employ it to the pious and wise purposes for which God,--our great Lord and Master-- intended it. Nor can I think so hardly of any missionary, who shall be desired by the master to direct and assist in the instruction of his Negroes, (either on that day or on any other, when he shall be more at leisure,) as to suppose that he will not embrace such invitations with the utmost readiness and cheerfulness, and give all the help that is fairly consistent with the necessary duties of his function, as a parochial minister.
If it be said that no time can be spared from the daily labor and employment of the Negroes, to instruct them in the Christian religion; this is in effect to say that no consideration of propagating the Gospel of God, or saving the souls of men, is to make the least abatement from the temporal profit of the masters; and that God cannot or will not make up the little they may lose in that way, by blessing and prospering their undertakings by sea and land, as a just reward of their zeal for his glory and the salvation of men's souls. In this case, I may well reason as St. Paul does in a case not unlike it, that if they make you partakers of their temporal things, (of their strength and spirits, and even of their offspring,) you ought to make them partakers of your spiritual things, though it should abate somewhat from the profit which you might otherwise receive from their labors. And considering the greatness of the profit that is received from their labors, it might be hoped that all Christian masters, those especially who are possessed of considerable numbers, should also be at some small expense in providing for the instruction of these poor creatures, and that others, whose numbers are less, and who dwell in the same neighborhood, should join in the expense of a common teacher for the Negroes belonging to them. The Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, are sufficiently sensible of the great importance and necessity of such an established and regular provision for the instruction of the Negroes, and earnestly wish and pray, that it may please God to put it into the hearts of good Christians, to enable them to assist in the work, by seasonable contributions for that end: but at present their fund does scarce enable them to answer the many demands of missionaries, for the performance of divine service in the poorer settlements, which are not in a condition to maintain them at their own charge.
II. But it is further pleaded, that the instruction of heathens in the Christian faith, is in order to their baptism: and that not only the time to be allowed for instructing them, would be an abatement from the profits of their labour, but also, that the baptizing them when instructed would destroy both the property which the masters have in them as slaves bought with their money and the right of selling them again at pleasure, and that the making them Christians, only makes them less diligent and more ungovernable.
To which it may be very truly replied, that Christianity and the embracing of the Gospel does not make the least alteration in civil property, or in any of the duties which belong to civil relations; but in all these respects, it continues persons just in the same state as it found them. The freedom which Christianity gives is a freedom from the bondage of sin and satan, and from the dominion of men's lusts and passions and inordinate desires; but as to their outward condition, whatever that was before, whether bond or free, their being baptized and becoming Christians, makes no manner of change in it. As St. Paul has expressly told us, 1 Cor. 7:20, where he is speaking directly to this point, "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called:" and at the 24th verse, "Let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God." And so far is Christianity from discharging men from the duties of the station or condition in which it found them, that it lays them under stronger obligations to perform those duties with the greatest diligence and fidelity, not only from the fear of man but from a sense of duty to God, and the belief and expectation of a future account. So that to say that Christianity tends to make men less observant of their duty in any respect, is a reproach that it is very far from deserving: and a reproach that is confuted by the whole tenor of the Gospel precepts, which inculcate upon all, and particularly upon servants (many of whom were then in the condition of slaves,) a faithful and diligent discharge of the duties belonging to their several stations out of conscience towards God. And it is also confuted by our own reason, which tells us how much more forcible and constant the restraint of conscience is, than the restraint of fear; and last of all, it is confuted by experience, which teaches us the great value of those servants who are truly religious, compared with those who have no sense of religion.
As to their being more ungovernable after baptism than before, it is certain that the Gospel every where enjoins not only diligence and fidelity, but also obedience for conscience sake: and does not deprive masters of any proper methods of enforcing obedience, where they appear to be necessary. Humanity forbids all cruel and barbarous treatment of our fellow-creatures, and will not suffer us to consider a being that is endowed with reason on a level with brutes: and Christianity takes not out of the hands of superiors any degree of strictness and severity that fairly appear to be necessary for the preserving subjection and government.
The general law both of humanity and of Christianity, is kindness, gentleness and compassion towards all mankind, of what nation or condition soever they be; and therefore we are to make the exercise of those amiable virtues our choice and desire, and to have recourse to severe and vigorous methods unwillingly and only out of necessity. And of this necessity, you yourselves remain the judges, as much after they receive baptism as before; so that you can be in no danger of suffering by the change; and as to them, the greatest hardships that the most severe master can inflict upon them is not to be compared to the cruelty of keeping them in the state of heathenism and depriving them of the tokens of salvation as reached forth to all mankind in the Gospel of Christ. And in truth one great reason why severity is at all necessary to maintain governing is the want of religion in those who are to be governed, and who therefore are not to be kept to their duty by any thing but fear and terror; than which there cannot be a more uneasy state, either to those who govern or those who are governed.
III. That these things may make the greater impression upon you, let me beseech you to consider yourselves not only as masters, but as Christian masters, who stand obliged by your profession to do all that your station and condition enable you to do, towards breaking the power of satan and enlarging the kingdom of Christ, and as having a great opportunity put into your hands of helping on this work, by the influence which God has given you over such a number of heathen idolaters, who still continue under the dominion of satan. In the next place let me beseech you to consider them not barely as slaves, and upon the same level with laboring beasts, but as men-slaves and women-slaves, who have the same frame and faculties with yourselves and have souls capable of being made eternally happy, and reason and understanding to receive instruction in order to it. If they came from abroad, let it not be said that they are as far from the knowledge of Christ in a Christian country as when they dwelt among pagan idolaters. If they have been born among you and have never breathed any air but that of a Christian country, let them not be as much strangers to Christ as if they had been transplanted, as soon as born, into a country of pagan idolaters.
Hoping that these and the like considerations will move you to lay this matter seriously to heart, and excite you to use the best means in your power towards so good and pious a work; I cannot omit to suggest to you one of the best motives that can be used for disposing the heathens to embrace Christianity, and that is the good lives of Christians. Let them see in you and in your families, examples of sobriety, temperance and chastity, and of all the other virtues and graces of the Christian life. Let them observe how strictly you oblige yourselves and all that belong to you to abstain from cursing and swearing, and to keep the Lord's day and the ordinances which Christ hath appointed in the Gospel. Make them sensible, by the general tenor of your behaviour and conversation, that your inward temper and disposition is such as the Gospel requires, that is to say, mild, gentle and merciful, and that as oft as you exercise vigor and severity, it is wholly owing to their idleness or obstinacy.
By these means you will open their hearts to instruction, and prepare them to receive the truths of the Gospel; to which if you add a pious endeavor and concern to see them duly instructed, you may become the instrument of saving many souls, and will not only secure a blessing from God upon all your undertakings in this world, but entitle yourselves to that distinguishing reward in the next which will be given to all those who have been zealous in their endeavors to promote the salvation of men and enlarge the kingdom of Christ. And that you may be found in that number, at the great day of accounts, is the sincere desire and earnest prayer of your faithful friend.
EDM. LONDON."
May 19, 1727.
"The Bishop of London's Letter to the Missionaries in the English Plantations: exhorting them to give their assistance towards the Instruction of the Negroes of their several Parishes in the Christian Faith.
GOOD BROTHER:
Having understood by many letters from the Plantations, and by the accounts of persons who have come from thence, that very little progress hath hitherto been made in the conversion of the Negroes to the Christian faith; I have thought it proper for me to lay before the masters and mistresses the obligations they are under to promote and encourage that pious and necessary work. This I have done in a letter directed to them, of which you will receive several copies in order to be distributed to those who have Negroes in your parish; and I must entreat you, when you put the letter into their hands, to enforce the design of it by any arguments that you shall think proper to be used; and also, to assure them of your own assistance in carrying on the work.
I am aware that in the Plantations where the parishes are of so large extent, the care and labor of the parochial ministers must be great; but yet I persuade myself that many vacant hours may be spared from the other pastoral duties, to be bestowed on this; and I cannot doubt of the readiness of every missionary, in his own parish, to promote and further a work so charitable to the souls of men, and so agreeable to the great end and design of his mission.
As to those ministers who have Negroes of their own, I cannot but esteem it their indispensable duty to use their best endeavors to instruct them in the Christian religion in order to their being baptized; both because such Negroes are their proper and immediate care, and because it is in vain to hope that other masters and mistresses will exert themselves in this work, if they see it wholly neglected or but coldly pursued in the families of the clergy; so that any degree of neglect on your part, in the instruction of your own Negroes, would not only be withholding from them the inestimable benefits of Christianity, but would evidently tend to the obstructing and defeating the whole design in every other family.
I would also hope that the school masters in the several parishes, part of whose business it is to instruct youth in the principles of Christianity, might contribute somewhat towards the carrying on this work, by being ready to bestow upon it some of their leisure time; and especially upon the Lord's day, when both they and the Negroes are most at liberty, and the clergy are taken up with the public duties of their function.
And though the assistance they give to this pious design, should not meet with any reward from men, yet their comfort may be that it is the work of God and will assuredly be rewarded by him; and the less they are obliged to this on account of any reward they receive from men, the greater will their reward be from the hands of God. I must therefore entreat you to recommend it to them in my name, and to dispose them by all proper arguments and persuasions, to turn their thoughts seriously to it, and to be always ready to offer and lend their assistance at their leisure hours.
And so, not doubting your ready and zealous concurrence in promoting this important work and earnestly begging a blessing from God upon this and all your other pastoral labors, I remain, your affectionate friend and brother.
EDM. LONDON."
May 19, 1727.
Dean Stanhope (of Canterbury) states in his sermon, 1714, that success had attended the efforts of the society, and speaks of "children, servants, and slaves catechised."
Bishop Berkley was in the Colony of Rhode Island from 1728 till late in 1730, and he also preached a sermon before the society, February 18, 1731, in which he thus speaks of the Negroes: "the Negroes in the government of Rhode Island, are about half as many more than the Indians, and both together scarce amount to a seventh part of the whole Colony. The religion of these people, as is natural to suppose, takes after that of their masters. Some few are baptized: several frequent the different assemblies; and far the greater part, none at all.