Friendly Advice TO THE Gentlemen-Planters OF THE East and West INDIES In Three Parts I. A brief Treatise of the most principal Fruits and Herbs that grow in the East West Indies giving an Account of their respective Vertues both for Food and Physick and what Planet and Sign they are under Together with some Directions for the Preservation of Health and Life in those hot Climates II. The Complaints of the Negro-Slaves against the hard Usages and barbarous Cruelties inflicted upon them III. A Discourse in way of Dialogue between an Ethiopean or Negro-Slave and a Christian that was his Master in America By Philotheos Physiologus Printed by Andrew Sowle in the Year 1684. A Brief TREATISE Of the Principal Fruits and Herbs That grow in Barbadoes Jamaica And other Plantations in the West-Indies The First Part. THis short discourse of the Qualities of the Fruits which that gallant Island of Barbadoes yields I thought would not be improper as well for that I do not know that any has hitherto distinctly spoken thereof as also because they being for the most part the same with those produced not only in the Western Plantations but also in Guinea the East-Indies and most hot Countries one and the same pains will serve to describe the Properties of them all or at least to give such a general Philosophical Account that whatever you meet with in thâ—se Reigons neighbouring to the Sun 's more near and direct Beams you may be well able by this Specimen and from the Form Taste Colour Smell and Signature of each Vegetable to understand its Nature Use and Operation In the first place we must in general observe that all Fruits in hot Climates are better as being as by Nature prepared to an higher degree of Maturity than in Cold for the Sun making his nearer visits with auspicious Beams and an innocent and complemental Warmth both better disposes the Earth's teeming Womb and by a most excellent Chymistry refines the ripening Fruits from their gross dull phlegmatick Juices Winter Snows Frosts and other Excesses are there only remembred and talkt of not known and that Sol's too ardent kisses may not be offensive Nature provides always delicate cooling Briezes and refreshing Gales of Wind which not only relieve the Inhabitants from the ill effects of an excessive Heat but much conduce to the melioration of the Fruits Which being thus brought to its full and absolute perfection before gathered may much safer be eaten in those warm Countries than in Cold where they have not Sun enough to digest their Rawness into a Temperature so fit for Food And as it is not fit for Man or Beast to labour so much and so hard in hot Regions as in cold therefore the wise Creator has by his Hand-maid Nature given them food prepared to their hands that they might have no such need of Toiling there being there no Winter to consume what Summer brings forth but a continued Spring or perpetual Harvest of most excellent and never-failing Vegetations some of the chief of which we shall proceed to speak of in particuâ—ar Of Pine Apples THis incomparable Fruit deservedly claims precedency for its delicacy and excellency for when full Ripe its Taste is so exquisitly delightful and pleasant that it seems to exceed all others that the Earth produces whence 't is reported that when some of them by great care and the favour of a speedy Voyage were brought into England for very rarely can they be preserv'd so long and presented to King Iames he was so ravisht with its charming deliciousness that he said It was not fit to be tasted by a Subject but only proper to Regale the Gusto of Princes inured to the highest Delicacies The four grand Qualities whence all perfect Tastes do proceed viz. the Astringent or Saltish the Bitter the Sweet and the Sour are herein so equally mixt and compounded by Gods Hand-maid Nature that 't is hard to distinguish which of them does predominate but the truth is the most delightful Moderator and King of all Tastes viz. the Sweet doth a little exceed all the other three so that there is nothing appears but an inviting Beauty delightful Redolency and ravishing Taste that feasts in the highest degree all those Senses at once For it must be noted That all the various and numberless Tastes of things both in the Annimal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms do all proceed and arise from the four grand Qualities aforesaid at large described in my Way to Health and The Good House-wife made a Doctor c. so that there are but four perfect Tastes they being the Radix of all others as the seven Notes are the Basis or Foundation of all Musical Harmony and according to the Equality of those four or the weakness or predominancy of each such a Taste does carry the upper dominion in all things and accordingly is the same more or less grateful to the Pallate and Stomach and homogeneal to the Body But though our Pines are one of the best sorts of Fruits in the world they stand the Inhabitants of those parts and the Eaters of them but in very little stead being by our English chiefly eaten after or betwixt Meals to pleasure wanton Appetite and depraved Senses for which cause their genuine nature and operation is hardly known to those that devour the most of them however their excellent Taste pleasant Smell and curious Shapes do declare their noble Vertues being either eaten alone or with Bread on a well prepared Stomach for they moderate cool comfort and refresh the Spirits cleanse the Passages remove Obstructions that fur the Pipes and also purge away and help to digest all slimy and sharp Juices that offend Nature being light of Concoction and if eaten full Ripe on an empty stomach it powerfully purgeth by Urine It makes a good breakfast or supper with the help of Bread it being clean and easie that the natural Heat can easily overcome and digest it at pleasure and Bread does dry up the humidity of the Fruit and renders the Nourishment more firm But note likewise that this rare Fruit is only good Raw as we usually but improperly call it that without any other Preparation than what Nature and the Sun 's digestive Heat gives it and entire and alone except only a little Bread eat with it it is so compleat that it will not admit of any alteration or composition since they cannot add to its Vertues or raise Nature to an higher degree as in many other things may be done but here what-ever humane Art is used or things intermixt it is still for the worse because Nature the Art of God has already cook't it to the sublimest Perfection it being the best and most fragrant Fruit the West-Indies do bring forth most wholsom and healthy to be eaten now and then viz. two or three times a week to make a Meal or part of a Meal with it for the God of Eternal Wisdom hath appointed all things
that the Stomach will not be able after a little time to digest its food neither with it nor without it So this Spice being too much eaten wounds Nature to the very Heart for by degrees it debilitates the proper Heat infects the Blood with a salt sharp keen Quality partches up and consumes the sweet Oyl and Radical Moisture suffocates the pure Spirits by whole-sale causing the Blood their limpid Fountain and natural habitation to become wheyish and watery Especially if Chollerick or Sanguine Complexion'd People shall accustom themselves to the eating of such Sawces it will much sooner and more deplorably vitiate the Tone of their Stomachs than of such as are Plegmatick but they are not good nor natural for any whatsoever except now and then in a Physical way for very cold dull heavy Phlegmatick People and they must eat it sparingly too but the mischief is whoever shall accustom themselves to these Sawces cannot forbear from Excess therein without great trouble and constraint upon themselves The very same is to be understood of all other Extreams as Brandy Tobacco and the like Besides all such things are far more pernicious and bring greater danger to Health in hot Countries than in colder Climates as many have found by woful Experience because there the central Heat is nothing so strong and powerful as in colder Regions and consequently the pure Spirits and Radical Moisture weaker and more apt to be wounded suffocated or evaporated as all do know that have Eyes that can see into the Arcana of Nature But to return to our Guinea-Pepper it is such an Extream in Nature viz. so hot and poysonous that if the bigger sort be dryed and the Cods cut and the Seeds scattered amongst Clothes Hats or the like that are to be packt up it proves the best Preservative from the Moth and other Vermine that is known for its excessive keenness destroys all Generation even in the very bud Likewise if it be burnt in a Room the Doors and Windows being close shut it will destroy and kill all Buggs Fleas or the like and you too if you do not get out in time its fumes are so hot poysonous and penetrating when once the fire has open'd its body and manifested what before internally lay hid This bigger sort our English do commonly pickle and so preserve it for a common Sawce to eat with Flesh Now this pickling of it with Salt and Vinegar does still add to its heat and sharpness For Salt is of an hot harsh sharp Nature and if it be not moderately eaten dries heats and is of a partching operation very inimical to Health but a Ring-leader to the Scurvey and other Diseases and Vinegar is also of an hot keen fretting Nature especially when joyned or incorporated with such high fires and things of unequal Natures Therefore the frequent use of this sort of Swace is to be accounted very injurious to Health especially in such hot Climates where the continual influences of the Sun do more exhale and draw forth the Radical Moisture thereby weakning the central parts which ought therefore rather to be refresht and cherisht by proper Foods than annoyed and prejudiced by such hot violent things as do yet further depress and debilitate them Of Occora or Grommer THis is a brave Noble Fruit and being boyled they make a gallant substantial Food affording a good firm Nourishment being eaten with Butter Vinegar and Bread Some will boyl and eat them with Flesh but they do not eat so well as many other sorts of Herbs and Roots do in that case for they being in themselves of a jellyous Nature do not seem so proper to be eaten with Flesh But they make an excellent Pottage which if well prepared and proper Ingerdients added afford a brave strong firm Nourishment and yet easie of Concoction If the intrinsick Vertues of this Fruit were understood the Food made thereof would be had in far greater estimation than it is for both the Fruit it self and the Pottage made thereof are of singular Vertues and use for weakly People and such as are inclinable to Consumptions weak Heats and Obstructions of the Breast far more excellent than Mr. Doctors Ielly made of Harts-Horn and the like as being much more natural and agreeable to the Stomach Which way ever you dress them they are not only delightful to the Pallate when a little innur'd to them but also easie of Concoction gently loosing the Belly of a moderate or middle Nature as to heat and may by all Ages and Constitutions healthy or sickly be eaten with safety and to the advantage of Health and Strength and we do advise all the English to eat of it more frequently and then they shall assuredly find more Vertues therein than is here set down Of Aguma THis is an Herb of a bitter Nature but when boyled that Martial Taste is much allayed and it becomes a brave noble Salad or Food being boyled in plenty of good Water and eaten with Butter Venegar Salt and Bread or with Flesh for it powerfully opens the gates of Nature and the obstructions of the Breast and Stomach it moderately relaxes the Belly cools and refresheth all the internal parts affording brisk lively Spirits pure Blood and a good Habit of Body if Temperance be observed by the eaters thereof which does give the greatest Credit and Reputation to all sorts of Meats and Drinks for the best and most Natural cannot but prove burthensome and harmful when Sobriety is wanting The excellency of this Herb does chiefly reside in the distasteful or bitter Quality which at first eating is somewhat unpleasant but a little custome will make it friend and more delightsom than others that are less bitter for all Herbs are the most grateful to the Stomach and easiest of Digestion in which the Bitter Quality or Taste is a little predominant for this property is lively and the cause of Motions quick and penetrating for which cause the wise Antients have noted and not without sufficient ground all or most bitter Herbs to be good against most kinds of Stoppages and Obstructions And therefore on that account this Herb is to be preferred before those of a sweeter milder Nature because all sweet things are heavy and more flat on the Stomach and harder of Concoction and nothing so brisk and lively for which reason the Natives in Guinea have a certain Root or Fruit call'd Tantarobois which is full of bitter Seeds and them they mix with their Foods which proves very profitable to their Healths so that they live strong and lusty to very great Ages This herb Agumma is under the Government of Mercury and Mars in the sign Gemini Of Red-weed or Catterpillars THis is an Herb of a mild gentle friendly Nature and Operation easie of Concoction cleanseth the Stomach and gently loosens the Belly and is very profitable boyled in plenty of Water and eaten with Butter Salt and Bread as also with Flesh but especially with
Tarts Sweet-Meats and a thousand Novelties brought from forreign Regions of themselves more than sufficient for a sober and temperate Meal not considering the Injuries they thereby do both to their Bodies and Minds nor regarding in the mean time the starving condition of us their poor Slaves that would be glad of the Crums that fall from their over-spread Tables and yet 't is from our sore Labour and grievous Sweat and pinched Bellies that what they thus wickedly waste upon their pampered Lusts is extracted Alas how few of our Christian Masters do ever consider or endeavour to put into practice either Abstinence or Sobriety though their own Prophets and Apostles commend those Virtues as the surest Bulwarks and Fortifications against Temptations and Viciousness and such as render the Body pleasant and healthful fit to discharge all its Functions and prepares the Mind to be the Temple of the Lord. But these are things too sublim for our gorbellied Christians to consider of when a number of them gather themselves together to the Burial of a Swine which they will Roast or burn it whole and then bury it in their ungodly Paunches and make them swim in their foolish Hogshead accompanied with drunken Healths and roaring Huzza's where one or two of these Epicurean swearing roaring Christians will destroy in Superfluity as much as an hundred of us poor Vassals can get with our hand and sore Labour But why O ye Christians do you thus violate the Commands of our Creator and withstand and walk contrary to the pure innocent Laws of Nature and by your Intemperances and Oppressions contemn the great Law of Love and doing unto all their fellow Creatures as they would be done unto Consider these things impartially and count us no longer Dogs nor hide the Pearl any longer in your ungodly Earth and be as studious and careful to look for it and find it as you have carelesly lost it and you shall see and know the Errors of your wayes and above all know this that every Master must give an Account of his Stewardship to the grand Master of Heaven and Earth and that there must be Retaliation made either in this World or the World to come But alas what likelihood or hopes are there of our Relief Ease or Refreshment from those Oppressions and Burthens under which we languish when these we complain of are become so unnatural that they deal as hardly and cruelly with their own Seed even the Fruit of their own Loins as with us For do not our Masters to gratifie their raging Lusts sometimes take our Women and make them their Concubines viz. either our Wives or our Daughters which best pleaseth them For Adultery is accounted no greater a Crime amongst many of them than Fornication both of them but Venial Sins Tricks of Youth or Modish Gallantries upon whom they beget mungril Children that are neither White nor Black but between both which therefore are called Molatto's and when these poor Women in compliance with such their brutish Heats have conceived by them and brought forth yet the Fathers being without natural Affection though they are their own Seed do expose them and make them perpetual Slaves both they and their Posterity Now what can be more hellish Cruelty or greater Baseness then for men to afflict their own Seed to beget Children in their Drunkenness and Paroxisms of Lust and then not to care what becomes of them nay to make themselves Authors of their Miseries as well as of their Beeing and instead of providing for and well Educating them to enslave and tyrannize over them and leave them in that wretched condition to all Generations There cannot sure be a greater Sin against Gods pure Law in Nature Do not the whole Hosts of the four Worlds condemn this and will not the very Beasts of the Earth rise in Judgment against such vile hard hearted Wretches and Nature disown and spue them out as abominable For as the Cruelties and Oppressions of our Masters are our Plagues at present so they will certainly draw down Judgments on themselves in time if not prevented by Repentance and Reformation for their Violence awakens the center of dark Wrath both in the internal and external Nature and by a secret and sympathetical Power these awakened poysonous Properties do strongly excite the malignant Influences of the Coelestials and attract their Male Configurations for every particular Quality in Nature has a Key in it self to open the Gate of its own Principle whence proceed many Calamities according to the degree of the Sin or Evil committed there being a certain Secret by powerful sympathy between the Coelestial and Terrestrial Bodies by and through whose evil Influences mutually working on each other Plagues and Vengeance and Calamities are engendred as on the other side by their benigne Influences sweetly clasping and embracing each other in Harmony Peace and Plenty Health and Security do proceed For this cause it is in point of Self-Interest a thing of dangerous Consequence for our Christian Masters to be so severe towards us for the groaning of him that suffereth Pain and Torment is the beginning of Trouble and Misery to him that is the cause thereof And it would be well for them and happy for us poor Vassals if our Masters would but be so sober as to consider and be sensible of this Truth that their fierce Wrath Violence and Oppressions to us do clearly demonstrate that the poysonous Wrath is awakened does predominate in them so that let them call themselves by what name or title they please His Servants they are whom they obey the dark fierce Spirit has overcome the good Genius in their Soul and all the pure Virtues as Temperance Compassion Fellow-feeling Courtesie Humanity Iustice and Charity are clapt under Hatches just as we were when we were brought Captive out of Guinnea into the Land of Bondage And then this irritated Wrath or poysonous Spirit does powerfully penetrate all Elements and Bodies and where-ever it finds matter capable or disposed to receive its malignant Rayes they incorporate For the All wise Creator has endued every thing in all the four Worlds with an attractive and influential Virtue and therefore the Sons of men by their Vncleanness Violence and Oppressions do first awaken and stir up the wrathful Spirit in themselves which kindles the Wrath in the Coelestial Bodies and attracts their ill Influences and if whole Nations or Countries live in the irritated Wrath then there are showered down Epidemical Diseases as Pestilence War Famine and the like all according to the nature of the Evils committed or Properties of Nature that were awakned The same is to be understood when any particular Person or Family has awakned the poysonous Wrath it doth powerfully attract the male Influences whence Sickness waste of Estate and many other great Troubles Miseries both to the Body and Mind follow the truth of this daily Experience doth testifie how many of our great Masters have
by their Vitiousness Vncleanness Intemperance Violence and Oppressions both to Man and Beast whom they have had the Government over fallen into great Disorders Distempers Losses Crosses Troubles and Vexations so that their Children that were kept so fine and choice that they would hardly suffer the Air to blow on them or their Legs to carry them whilst they lived in Prosperity are many of them come to nothing some forced to work hard for their Bread others have taken worse Courses and have been immaturely cut off 'T is true the Evils both private and publick are sometimes more tollerable also the good Life and Prayers of some sober People that live in a Town or Country do interpose and in some degree withstand or mittigate the poysonous kindled Wrath so that the Judgment is sometimes deferred and with-holden as for two or three Ages according to the degrees of the awakned Evils and the intermingled Virtues Therefore since we have obtained the favour to plead our own Cause we will be bold to tell our Masters that these things cannot be otherwise it being the eternal Law of God in Nature that whatever Evil Violence or Oppression is committed either by Superior or Inferior if not repented of there must be a time of Retaliation either in this World or that to come according to the Nature of the Evil for as there is such an Affinity between man and man that they can move each other either to Love or Hate so there is a proportionate Similitude between him and the Coelestial Bodies and Elements Man being not only the Image and Likeness of God and Nature but the Horizon of both Worlds in whom the superior and inferior Natures are conjoyned and have their Intercourse for he is the Off-spring of the Stars as well as the Sun of the Earth Therefore let us praise and magnifie the Lord Creator of this wonderful Nature which is surpassing humane Understanding and Number For there is no Religion or form of Worship in the World so noble and well-pleasing to him as for mankind to imitate him by living in and under the power of the eternal Principle of his Light and Love which will lead all that hearken to the Voice of Wisdom into all Innocency and Well-doing and thereby as naturally attract or draw down the sweet and pleasant Virtues out of all things as the Loadstone doth Iron But on the contrary our Masters have built their Babel and fortified themselve with the Poysons of Saturn and Fierceness of Mars and made Gluttony their Trade and Violence their Study whence proceed all our Miseries and Oppressions which at long-run recoyl back upon themselves with Interest destroying all their peace of Mind health of Body and outward Estates For are not most of those that thus violate our Creator's Law in Nature miserably afflicted with many cruel Diseases as the Stone Collick windy Distempers Palsies Cramp Leprosies Kings-Evils Gout dry Belly-Aches Dropsies Consumptions and an hundred other Evils of this Nature which they also intail on their Prosterity so also are they plauged with Vexations and Discords between Man and Wife and with disobedient and rebellious Children Rot and Murrain amongst their Cattel their Crops blasted or spoiled by unseasonable Weather Losses and Disappointments in their Trading even to the consumption of their Estates All which are the Iudgments of God and just Rewards that follow Oppression Violence and Cruelty and of spending the Blood and Sweat of their poor Slaves in superfluous Wantonness for they make nothing to squander away Talents in Courtly Vanities and value not Money in the way of Gluttony then it shall go by whole Sale But if a poor Slave breaks but a Glass or miscarries in any little inconsiderable thing then presently the livid Poyson of Saturn is raised and the flaming Thunder-bolts of Mars are let fly in the greatest Fury and Fierceness imaginable and the best word that comes out of their Mouth is Dog Devil damn'd Dog Bitch and the like hellish Expressions not to mention their horrid Oathes Curses and Execrations which lewd Words are followed by inhumane Blows for they fall upon us with Whip and Spur till the Blood come and we are almost killed with their Cruelty And though they boast and speak excellent things of the Christian-Religion and contemn us for being ignorant of it yet 't is plain they never design that we should know and embrace it for why else do they make it loathsom in our Eyes by acting so contrary to its Genuine Nature and Principles Why do they dress up that which is the greatest Beauty and the most amiable thing in the World in the shape of a frightful deformed Hag or terrible Fury that seems good for nothing but to Bite and Scratch and Prog for its Paunch and wallow in Uncleanness like a Swine Were they in earnest or desirous to make us Christians and save our immortal Souls they would remove out of our way all Stumbling-Blocks of Scandal draw us with the Cords of Love and Meekness they would set us Examples by their blameless Lives and holy Conversations they would be at pains and charge to teach us the Foundation Principles of Christian Religion and to read the Bible and would in those and other Exercises of Virtue and Piety bring up our little Ones But so far are they from any of this that they act the direct contrary and desire and endeavour to keep us Heathens that we may continue their Slaves and thereby are Guilty not only of oppressing our Bodies but as much as in them lies of damning our Souls But our God is more merciful and expects a Return but proportionable to the Talent he hath intrusted his Ways are the Paths of Love and all his Out-goings are Compassion he hath not left us without a guide even a Light shining in a dark place to the conduct whereof if we give heed we shall do well Nor do we in this Complaint intend to tax all our Christian Masters for we must acknowledge that there are some few of them more Just and Merciful unto us for though under them we labour hard yet we have our Food in some order both as to Quantity and Quality and have tolerable Rest which gives us Life and Vigour in our occasions neither do they lay upon us Burthens greater than we can bear besides they often speak kindly to us which chears and comforts our Hearts and Spirits they call us no evil Names which is well liking unto us They allow us the usual time each day to rest in and eat our Food They treat our Women more kindly and allow them better Accomodations when they bring forth their young Ones And though sometimes some of this better sort will command our young Women to be their Concubines yet then in such cases if they prove with-Child they will have some regard to their own Seed and respect to the Women And it is also observable that all such as deal any thing
Heart and Life which you call your selves in customary Words or that are serious in the Religion which you your selves say You hope to be saved by Call us Heathens as long as you will I am confident Christ hath not more bitter Enemies in the World than some of you that wear his Livery We Blacks are more gentle to you than you Christians are to one another and I have been assured that all the Heathens in the World have shed less Christian Blood than what Hypocrite Christians themselves have greedily let out or occasioned to be destroyed Thus you honour dead Saints and abhor the Living and would gladly make more Martyrs whilst you keep Days in Commemoration of those that others made Can any thing be more preposterously absurd more foolishly wicked than these interferring Contradictions Were it not better to be what you call your selves or to call your selves what you are If you approve of these Christian Doctrines why do not you square your Conversations accordingly If you think them needless Notions why do not you disown them Or why do you so much cry up and magnifie them Be either Christians indeed or cease to upbraid us for being Heathens for such shuffling Hypocrisie is more abominable to God and Man than the most ignorant Paganism Mast. I have given you Sambo a large liberty of Prating and you have used it very confidently How come you so wonderous Wise How dare you upbraid us that have the Light of the Gospel Or indeed why should we mind any thing such Heathens as you can say or talk of Negr. We boast not of Wisdom what I have said arises from plain matter of Fact which no Person whom our Creator hath endued with a rational Soul can be ignorant of if he do not wilfully quench and extinguish in himself that Light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the World and which one of your own Prophets calls The Candle of the Lord. Nor are we altogether such ignorant dark Heathens as you call and suppose us for many of the Christians do not esteem nor look on us any otherwise or better than Dogs for tell me I pray boon Master what difference has our Creator made between you and us Hath he endued you with any particular Quality or Property more then we are furnisht with The Members of our Bodies the Faculties of our Minds our Senses and all the Furniture of Nature are equal and the same in us as in you We are not Beasts as you count and use us but rational Souls and in us is contained the true Nature and Properties of all Elements and created things Nor do we contemn or flight the Light of the Gospel as you call it but we wonder at you that so much talk of it and so little practise the good Rules of Life contained therein Besides since you are pleased to grant us the Liberty to plead our own Cause we might tell you that we have the same Gospel that you so much talk of written in our Hearts and doing by Nature the things that are written in the Law being without the Law are a Law unto our selves as one of your illuminated Prophets speaks And if we do the things that are right in the sight of God and walk in his innocencent Law in Nature according to our measure and understanding we have so far discharged our Duty and we doubt not but the goodness of our Creator will accept thereof and pardon our involuntary Misprisions and Failings and if you have a larger Manifestation of the eternal Light and Love of God which we have no reason to doubt then the more is required of you and therefore the greater and more sore will your Condemnation be Mast. And do you black Heathenish Negroes then dane compare your selves with us brave white Christians Does not your very Hue that sooty Skin of yours serve for an Emblem of the darkness of your Minds You eat all unclean Foods Carrion and Vermine without scruple you have no Order nor decent Ceremonies at your Marriages you go naked and have not wherewithal to cover your Shame in a Word you are in most particulars the very next Door to Beasts and therefore we have hardly so much care and esteem for you as we have for our Horses or other Cattel Are you not altogether unlearned and can neither spue Latine nor sputter Greek nor understand the Hebrew Rabbins and the Talmud your Discourses are not trim'd with Flowers of Rhetorick nor can you chop Logick nor make Syllogisms and run down both Truth and Sense with Mood and Figure and the Magick of a concluding Ergo What Divines or Clergy-men what cunning Lawyers have you to boast of Though you pretend to do Cures yet you never read Galen nor Paracelsus nor have any Apothecaries to make a Trade of the Materia Medica nor Chymists to tell you the Medicinal Vertues of Minerals you have very few Persons of Honour amongst you except your Kings and but a few Misses and no Theaters or Play-houses for the Education of your Youth your Women are not so nobly arrayed nor have those charming Arts to invite men to love and dote upon them as ours daily study neither do you drink Wine in Bowls nor understand the genteel mystery of quaffing of Healths with an Huzza or to Swear Modishly with a boon Courage All these things We enjoy and make sumptuous Feasts where we spend as much in a few Hours as two or three Hundred of such Wretches as you can earn in some dayes We have all forts or War like Weapons and murthering Engines to use at our pleasure We eat and drink of the fattest Foods and richest Liquors and take our ease and clothe us in costly Attire and study new Fashions for our Garments to render us more honourable and admired and many other great Priviledges we have which you are destitute of Negr. These Sir are brave things indeed to vapour with Is it possible that rational men much less such illuminated Christians as you account your selves should thus be taken with things that are so much below the Dignity of humane Nature to boast of your Evils and glory in your Shame As for our Complexion 't is the Livery of our Creator the property of the Climate and Soil wherein his good Providence disposed of us to be born and bred we made not our selves Black nor do you make your selves White wherein then have you any thing to brag of above us If for this cause you despise us you at the same time despise that adorable Power which is the Maker both of us and you And thought White be an Emblem of Innocence yet there are whited Walls filled within with Filth and Rottenness what is only outward will stand you in no stead it is the inward Candor that our Creator is well-pleased with and not the outward have a care therefore that you be not found as black within as we are externally You upbraid us with