LETTER II.
"CURSED be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethern," is your first argument in defence of negro slavery—you then ask, "where Page 7 this curse was ever removed?" and speedily draw your conclusion, that the poor Africans must be the des|cendants of Ham!
1st. Because "the borders of the Canaanites were from Sidon as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza;" and to prove your point, Philip met the eunuch in this road.
2d. Where a curse is, a mark you think will follow. The colour, shape, and even the hair of their heads, prove the poor Africans to be children of the curse, and fit for nothing but drudgery and slavery.
In the 3d place, you labour to prove what no man denies, "that Israel had their hired and bond ser|vants."
4th. That slavery is not forbidden in the New Testament; therefore it is lawful to buy and keep slaves.
You conclude by summing up the scriptures for and against slavery, and of course 〈◊〉 the majority on your own side.—You have not divided your pamph|let into sections, but, as far as I can judge, the above is the substance of it.
I shall proceed to answer as briefly as possible, and 1st. The curse denounced upon Canaan, was re|voked in the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel. If you wish to lay any stress on the words, "a servant of servants shall he be," you shall be a servant to the Jew, and the negro shall be your's; for it is as probable that you are the descendant of Canaan as the Africans, notwithstanding your curious observations in geogra|phy. Were not the Canaanites, without distinction, devoted to destruction, on account of their abominable iniquities. The Gibeonites alone, by their subtilty, escaped with the punishment of voluntary slavery. And you cannot be ignorant of the judgments that befel Israel for abusing those hewers of wood and drawers of water.
Do you ask where the curse was removed? I refer you to the gospel—there hear the word "it is finished!" Page 8 admitting your own point, that the Ethiopians are the descendants of Ham, was not the curse removed from the eunuch you refer to? Being the ambassador of the queen of Candace, and returning from Jerusalem, not as a slave, but as the minister of a great nation, he was baptized by Philip, and most probably preached the gospel of Jesus in his own country, where it flourished for some time.
