Excerpt from A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends: Against Slavery and the Slave Trade

IT was intended to include in the following pages, an account of the labours of Friends, in all the Yearly Meetings where slavery once existed, to induce the members to set their slaves free; and letters were accordingly addressed with a view of procuring the information necessary for drawing up such a sketch. From two of the Yearly Meetings, however, the in formation could not be obtained; as the documents in relation to the subject were so circumstanced, as not to be readily accessible. It is believed, however, that the means used in the limits of those meetings to con vince the understandings of the members of the iniquity of slave holding, and to induce them to give the negro the enjoyment of his natural right to liberty, were essentially the same as those detailed in the subsequent narrative.

It is obvious, that in so brief a space as this essay affords, a very imperfect View of the arduous and unwearied labours of the Society in the cause of free dom could be given; but perhaps enough is said to show the benefit of patient, persevering labour, under the influence of gospel love, in checking, and finally eradicating an evil, which long-established custom had sanctioned, and which was interwoven with all the social relations, and with the strongest feelings of self interest. Should it happily be the means of inciting others to pursue the same course in reference to slavery, the object of its publication will be obtained.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.