"The Lord Jesus Christ is now saying to you, as he did to Peter, when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren….
"Therefore let me entreat you to look upon your Country-men around you, and pity them, not so much for their being Fellow-Captives with you in a strange Land; as for this, that they are not yet, like you, delivered from the Power of Darkness….
"Invite them to learn to read, and direct them where they may apply for Assistance, especially to those faithful Ministers, who have been your Instructors and Fathers in Christ…."—Fawcett's Address to the Negroes in Virginia, etc., pp. 8, 17, 18, 24, 25.
EXTRACT FROM THE APPENDIX OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT'S "ADDRESS TO THE CHRISTIAN NEGROES IN VIRGINIA"
"The first Account, I ever met with, of any considerable Number of Negroes embracing the Gospel, is in a letter written by Mr. Davies, Minister at Hanover in Virginia, to Mr. Bellamy of Bethlehem in New England, dated June 28, 1751. It appears that the Letter was designed for Publication; and I suppose, was accordingly printed at Boston in New England. It is to be seen in vol. ii., pages 330-338, of the Historical Collections relating to remarkable Periods of the Success of the Gospel, and eminent Instruments employed in promoting it; Compiled by Mr. John Gillies, one of the Ministers of Glasgow: Printed by Foulis in 1754. Mr. Davies fills the greatest part of his Letter, with an Account of the declining State of Religion in Virginia, and the remarkable Means used by Providence to revive it, for a few Years before his Settlement there, which was in 1747; not in the character of a Missionary, but that of a dissenting Minister, invited by a particular People, and fixed with them. Such, he observes, was the scattered State of his Congregation, that he soon found it necessary to license seven Meeting-Houses, the nearest of which are twelve or fifteen Miles distant from each other, and the extremes about Forty; yet some of his People live twenty, thirty, and a few forty Miles from the nearest Meeting-House. He computes his Communicants at about three Hundred. He then says, 'There is also a Number of Negroes. Some times I see a Hundred and more among my Hearers. I have baptized about Forty of them within the last three Years, upon such a Profession of Faith as I then judged credible. Some of them, I fear, have apostatized; but others, I trust, will persevere to the End. I have had as satisfying Evidences of the sincere Piety of several of them, as ever I had from any Person in my Life; and their artless Simplicity, their passionate Aspirations after Christ, their incessant Endeavors to know and do the Will of God, have charmed me. But, alas! while my Charge is so extensive, I cannot take sufficient Pains with them for their Instruction, which often oppresses my Heart….'"
At the Close of the above Letter, in the Historical Collections (vol. ii., page 338), there is added the following Marginal Note.—"May 22, 1754. Mr. G. Tennent and Mr. Davies being at Edinburgh, as Agents for the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, Mr. Davies informs,—that when he left Virginia in August last, there was a hopeful Appearance of a greater Spread of a religious Concern amongst the Negroes;—And a few weeks before he left Home, he baptized in one Day fifteen Negroes, after they had been catechized for some Months, and given credible Evidences of their sincerely embracing the Gospel."
After these Gentlemen had finished the Business of their late Mission in this part of the World, Mr. Davies gave the following Particulars to his Correspondent in London, in a letter which he wrote in the Spring of the previous Year, six Weeks after his safe return to his Family and Friends.—"The Inhabitants of Virginia are computed to be about 300,000 Men, the one-half of which Number are supposed to be Negroes. The Number of those who attend my Ministry at particular Times is uncertain, but generally about three Hundred who give a stated Attendance. And never have I been so much struck with the Appearance of an Assembly, as when I have glanced my Eye to that Part of the Meeting-House, where they usually sit; adorned, for so it had appeared to me, with so many black Countenances, eagerly attentive to every Word they hear, and frequently bathed in Tears. A considerable Number of them, about a Hundred, have been baptized, after the proper Time for Instruction, and having given credible Evidences, not only of their Acquaintance with the important Doctrines of the Christian Religion, but also a deep Sense of them upon their Minds, attested by a Life of the strictest Piety and Holiness. As they are not sufficiently polished to dissemble with a good Grace, they express the sentiments of their Souls so much in the Language of simple Nature, and with such genuine Indications of Sincerity, that it is impossible to suspect their Professions, especially when attended with a truly Christian Life and exemplary Conduct.—My worthy Friend, Mr. Tod, Minister of the next Congregation, has near the same Number under his Instructions, who, he tells me, discover the same serious Turn of Mind. In short, Sir, there are Multitudes of them in different Places, who are willing, and eagerly desirous to be instructed, and embrace every Opportunity of acquainting themselves with the Doctrines of the Gospel; and tho' they have generally very little Help to learn to read, yet, to my agreeable Surprise, many of them, by the Dint of Application in their Leisure-Hours, have made such a Progress, that they can intelligibly read a plain Author, and especially their Bibles; and Pity it is that many of them should be without them. Before I had the Pleasure of being admitted a Member of your Society [Mr. Davies here means the Society for promoting religious Knowledge among the Poor, which was first begun in London in August, 1750] the Negroes were wont frequently to come to me, with such moving Accounts of their Necessities in this Respect, that I could not help supplying them with Books to the utmost of my small Ability; and when I distributed those among them, which my Friends with you sent over, I had Reason to think that I never did an Action in all my Life, that met with so much Gratitude from the Receivers. I have already distributed all the Books I brought over, which were proper for them. Yet still, on Saturday Evenings, the only Time they can spare [they are allowed some short Time, viz., Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, says Dr. Douglass in his Summary. See the Monthly Review for October, 1755, page 274] my House is crowded with Numbers of them, whose very Countenances still carry the air of importunate Petitioners for the same Favors with those who came before them. But, alas! my Stock is exhausted, and I must send them away grieved and disappointed.—Permit me, Sir, to be an Advocate with you, and, by your Means, with your generous Friends in their Behalf. The Books I principally want for them are, Watts' Psalms and Hymns, and Bibles. The two first they cannot be supplied with any other Way than by a Collection, as they are not among the Books which your Society give away. I am the rather importunate for a good Number of these, and I cannot but observe, that the Negroes, above all the Human Species that I ever knew, have an Ear for Musick, and a kind of extatic Delight in Psalmody; and there are no Books they learn so soon, or take so much Pleasure in as those used in that heavenly Part of divine Worship. Some Gentlemen in London were pleased to make me a private Present of these Books for their Use, and from the Reception they met with, and their Eagerness for more, I can easily foresee, how acceptable and useful a larger Number would be among them. Indeed, Nothing would be a greater Inducement to their Industry to learn to read, than the Hope of such a Present; which they would consider, both as a Help, and a Reward for their Diligence"….—Fawcett's Address to the Christian Negroes in Virginia, etc., pp. 33. 34. 35. 36, 37. 38.
EXTRACT FROM JONATHAN BOUCHER'S "A VIEW OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"(1763)
"If ever these colonies, now filled with slaves, be improved to their utmost capacity, an essential part of the improvement must be the abolition of slavery. Such a change would be hardly more to the advantage of the slaves than it would be to their owners….
"I do you no more than justice in bearing witness, that in no part of the world were slaves better treated than, in general, they are in the colonies…. In one essential point, I fear, we are all deficient; they are nowhere sufficiently instructed. I am far from recommending it to you, at once to set them free; because to do so would be an heavy loss to you, and probably no gain to them; but I do entreat you to make them some amends for the drudgery of their bodies by cultivating their minds. By such means only can we hope to fulfil the ends, which we may be permitted to believe, Providence had in view in suffering them to be brought among us. You may unfetter them from the chains of ignorance; you may emancipate them from the bondage of sin, the worst slavery to which they can be subjected; and by thus setting at liberty those that are bruised, though they still continue to be your slaves, they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God."—Jonathan Boucher's A View of the Causes and Consequences, etc., pp. 41, 42, 43.