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My plan was , when I met them in the boiling-house , to read a short portion of Scripture , and to make such remarks upon it , as appeared to me to be calculated to strike the minds and suit the circumstances of my
hearers . And they generally listened with apparent attention , during the whole of the discourse . The service always commenced and concluded with prayer . We had no singing -y that being a part of worship we could not
engage in for want of singing abilities . A few white people would frequently take a seat with the rest , and i have sometimes nattered myself that our meeting together was not wholly in vain . The Negroes always dressed themselves for the occasion : not in
finery , but in decent , clean apparel . This , however , I am aware , many of them would not have done had I not insisted upon it in the most particular manner . To say the least , their bodies were refreshed , and it was pleasing to see them drawn off from the toils of
the day , and join in the worship of the common Parent of our race . But such is the difficulty of getting the crep off a sugar estate in Jamaica , that it is found to be impossible to allow them any opportunities of this kind during six months in the year , without putting the whole concern to very great inconvenience . The
question is , whether the good which might he obtained would be equal to the expense and hazard of the undertaking . 1 think not , unless the people could have the afternoon in as well as out of
crop : in other words , unless the crop could be made to give way to religion , < ind nut religion to the crop . Besides , il cannot , surely , be expected that any ( lni . stian minister would consent to
consume his time amongst a people to whom lie should have not more than twelve opportunities of preaching in a year . He would , no doubt , at times hnd a lew other occasions o £
usefulness ; such as burying the dead , visit-Ing the siek , and holding conversations with the Negroes in private , and in endeavouring to instruct the young . I ° the latter class I devoted a
considerable portion of my time during a Part oi the period I passed in Jamaica-< lua" I should never have relaxed my exertions with the young , had I not clearl y pereeived that my plans of proceed ing wcnt directly to sap the
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foundations of the existing order of things . I taught the children to read , and treated them in all respects like rational beings ; whereas the government under which they are doomed to live and move , contemplates them
in the light of mere animals . I think I may assert , without fear of contradiction , that to hold a people in slavery , it is necessary to keep them in ignorance . The Negroes feel , hut they do not see their chains , and therefore it is that they are contented to drag them . Let them once be enabled to
read for themselves the sublime truth , that " God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on oil the face of the earth " and is it conceivable that , with such views of human nature , they should be contented to regard themselves as the lawful property of the whites ?
But I am treading on tender ground , and will , therefore , drop the subject for the present . T . COOPER . llMltlM
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Letter from Mr . Amphlett , $ c . 299
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Springfield , Clarke County , Ohio , Feb . 20 , 1822 . Rev . and dear Sir , 1 MAKE no apology for addressing you from this remote part of the world , because J know that any letter , the subject of which is connected with the religious improvements of the human mind , will not be considered by you as unworthy of notice or perusal .
After a variety of changes and trials 1 may , perhaps , consider myself as permanently settled , if any settlement may be called permanent in this uncertain and precarious tenure of existence . I have , therefore , considered it my duty to pay some attention to what was passing about me , iu and
among the various religious sects which prevail in this improving State of the Union ; and whenever 1 take a view of the deplorable ignorance which pervades every class of professing Christians in this country , I take shame to myself for the little value I set upon my former great privileges in connexion with what 1 believe the
most enlightened societies of professing Christians upon earth . Sir , these privileges , to be duly appreciated , must be lost , at Least for a time ; for I do believe that the great mass of the Unitarian public do not sufficiently estimate the real , the ines *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/43/
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