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
to be used with Sobriety Temperance and Order for which end he hath given all these brave comforts unto the Sons of men This is a Fruit highly dignified with Coelestial Energy being under the Sun and Venus in the Sign Leo. Of Plantains THis is a brave noble Fruit pleasant and grateful to the Senses if not gathered till full ripen'd on the Trees they afford a Nourishment of a middle nature but not so quick nor brisk on the Pallate and Stomach nor so easie of Concoction as Pines because in these the Lunar Property does predominate and the four Qualities or Tastes are not so equaliz'd yet it must be acknowledged a good and wholsom Fruit especially for such as live easily and work but little for hard Labourers ought to have food that affords a Nourishment more firm and substantial and therefore such should eat Bread or some other dry Food with them It is a general custom to gather them before they are ripe and let them ripen off the Trees which is both contrary to Reason and Nature for thereby the purer brisk spirituous parts are as it were totally destroyed so that the true lively Vertues and Sweetness become of a dull heavy nauseous and unpleasant Taste and harder of Concoction affording a much worse Nourishment Nor is this Fruit good being any way prepar'd as by Art tho' it be customary for many to make Tarts with them and compound them with several Ingredients which is not commendable for Nature has already advanced them to the highest degree provided you let them alone long enough viz. till they are full Ripe and all alteration then is for the worse and not for the better But the Women must be doing something though it be Mischief as Mother Eve has given them an Example But if when 't is full Ripe it be eaten temperately either alone or rather with some Bread it is wholesom and profitable to Nature but be advised not to eat them in wantonness on full Stomachs or between Meals as the custom of the English is but not without great prejudice to Nature for they are naturally a little dull and heavy and therefore they require a brisk Appetite and well prepared Stomach and store of heat to concoct them This Fruit is under the dominion of the Moon and the Sign Pisces as to heat they are moderate viz. rather cooling than hot when full ripe they gently open Obstructions of the breast being eaten with Bread in a Morning but unripe they are binding and if baked with Sugar Spices and the like lose their natural operation and thereby become hot and apt to obstruct the Passages and tire the Appetite and Stomach generate evil Juices dull Spirits and thick Blood and therefore so prepared are no commendable Food Of Bonnanoes IT is a Fruit much of the nature with Plantains but somewhat sweeter or more Venereal and easier of Concoction very pleasant and delightful to the Pallate Stomach and Senses Nature having likewise prepared this to the height so that whatever alteration Mrs. Housewife makes proves improper and hurtful the best way of eating them is like the rest before either alone or with Bread and so they cleanse open and remove Obstructions gently loosen the Belly being of a middle Quality neither hot nor cold in Excess a Meal of them now and then will be not only grateful but also healthful but if they are eaten green or ripned off the Trees then their nature and operations will be altogether contrary and have many ill effects for before Fruits arrive to their full Maturity the Astringent Bitter and Sowr Qualities do too violently predominate and all such things must therefore prove hurtful to the Body whereas when full ripe the sweet balsamiak and pure spirituous Qualities do tincture the Saturnine and Martial Properties and as it were captivate their poysonous fierce hot Natures that they can scarce be felt or tasted the powers and vertues of Sol and Venus being become more strong Besides ripening of Fruits off from the Trees is unnatural and opposeth her method in the highest degree as is before declared Of Cocoe-Nuts THe Kernels of this Fruit are of a full strong sweet and delightful Taste to the Pallate and Stomach but apt to stop and fur the Passages if eaten alone or in Quantities ut on the contrary if Order and Temperance be observed it makes a brave sublime Food very profitable for all Ages and Constitutions affording a clean pure Nourishment easie of Digestion breeds good Blood and pure fine brisk Spirits Besides this Fruit contains a thin or milky Substance of a Cordial nature if eaten with some dry Food as Bread and the like But neither this nor the Kernal is not to be eaten alone on full Stomachs or between Meals as English People are apt to do in all places where they come accounting nothing food but Flesh and Fish whereas Herbs Seeds Fruits and Grains do far transcend them as to brave firm substantial Nourishment as I have else-where in several Treatises demonstrated viz. in my Way to Health long Life and Happiness The good Housewife made a Doctor c. These Cocoe-Fruits are under the Sun and Venus and the Coelestial sign Libra but its outward shell or covering is Martial and Saturnine Of Gâ—ovars THis Fruit is under the dominion of the Moon and Mars and the sign Scorpio it hath its harsh Taste from Mars its Sweetness from the Moon If eaten unripe or green then it binds the belly but when full ripe it is a good wholsom pleasant Fruit may be eaten raw at Meals with bread and other food as Milk or the like They are of a moderate cooling opening Quality but there are two sorts one that are white within and the other Red which last are the best of the two Of Sour-Sopps THis is a good Fruit agreeable to the Stomach if full ripe and it lie not too long after it be gathered before it be eaten it is endued with a grateful pleasant Taste very easie of Concoction if eaten moderately especially with Bread or some other dry food if a Meal be so made now and then it will prove very profitable to the breast by cleansing and removing Obstructions that lie in those Passages it also moderately cools and allays Drought and gently loosens the belly and if a Glass of White-Wine allay'd with Water be drank after it or other proper Liquor it will bravely cleanse the passages of the Uriters and cause plentiful evacuation of Urine but if they lie too long after gathering before you use them much of the good Qualities and natural Vertues will be abated and it will be apt to have a contrary operation it is cold in Quality and therefore proves most profitable to the Chollerick and Sanguine Complexions but not so good for Phlegmatick Bodies Mercury and the Moon have dominion over it and it is to be attributed to the sign Taurus Of Prickle-Pears THis is a pleasant delightful Fruit very
body and are quick of Concoction cleanse the Passages are good against the Obstructions of the breast gently loosen the belly and purge by urine especially if a whole Meal be made of them without flesh and only eaten as aforesaid They are under the dominion of the Moon and Cancer Of Potato's THis is a very brave noble and more excellent Root than any other the West-Indies bring forth of a friendly temperate Quality somewhat windy if eaten hot or whilest the fiery Atomes or Vapours be in it therefore they are far better and wholsomer cold as many other of the like nature are They afford a brave firm substantial Nourishment surpassing therein all other Roots but not comparative to that of Bread they are Restorative of a most pleasant Taste comfort and strengthen the body of a warming nature and operation so that they are a good food eaten alone or with Bread Butter Flesh or the like The common ways of preparing or dressing them are divers but the most common are Stewing and Roasting them in the Embers the last of which is most commendable but being more tedious than the other is not so frequently practised either way they make a good Dish being eaten when through cold with Oyl Vinegar Salt and Bread or Butter instead of Oyl to such as do not love it or cannot procure it As to Temperature they are of a middle Nature but rather warm than cold easie of Concoction and the drier they are prepar'd the warmer and firmer Nourishment they yield Likewise they make a good sort of Drink but it will not admit of much age being apt then to become acid sharp and keen it may be made either stronger or smaller according to the Quantity of Potato's allowed and Water put to them There are various sorts but the driest and yellowest are best They are under Sol in the sign Taurus The young and tender Leaves are a pretty good Sallet boyl'd they cleanse the stomach and loosen the belly being eaten with Butter Vinegar Salt and Bread a fine Meaâ— may be made of them Of Yams THis also is an excellent Root temperately hot and more dry than moist of a lovely white Colour and pleasant innocent Taste which demonstrates their good Vertues they afford an harmless clean and yet pretty substantial Nourishment neither much bind nor relax the belly but of the two rather loosen They are easie of Concoction and if they be well prepared according to Art make a brave friendly pleasant food drest with Butter Vinegar and Salt and eaten with Bread They are good for every Age and Constitution rarely disagreeing with any they are very useful to be eaten with Flesh a little Flesh and good store of Yams They are under the government of Venus and Luna and the sign Libra Of Cusado-Bread THis Bread is of an innocent nature and operation yet affords a strong substantial Nourishment far beyond what most People suppose for being put into any kind of Pottage Milk or the like it dissolves its self into gellious substance which is a token of its strength as its pure white Colour and innocent Taste demonstrates its innate Vertues and Equality of Parts The four grand Qualities at large described in my other Treatises whence the four perfect Tastes do proceed being so equally mixt that by its Taste it can hardly be distinguished which does carry the upper dominion under which simplicity lies hid the most soveraign Vertues of Nature it is most pleasant when new but not then the wholsomest 't is a good Ingredient to be eaten with Butter Cheese Herbs Milk or any kind of Pottages as also with Flesh and will alone sustain Nature for a man may live as long without being tyred and be as well supported as to health and strength with it as with the best Wheaten Bread and being once familiariz'd through a little custom and use it becomes pleasant to most Ages and Constitutions I remember a Master of a Ship that assured me That being by stress of Weather kept out at Sea much longer than they expected so that all their Provisions were spent but Water and Cusado Bread of which they had plenty he and his Ships Crew lived thereon for many days without any other Sustenance and though at first being used to variety of other Foods they thought it some-what hard yet after some days it became most pleasing and they were so far from complaining of their strength being diminished that they found themselves more than ordinary brisk and active As for the Temperature of this Bread it is rather hot than cold and is of easie concoction 't is under the government of Saturn and Venus in the sign Scorpio It s poysonous Liquor which is pressed out of the Root when it is made into Bread is Saturnine and the white flowery substance or matter is Venereal Nor is it strange to those that understand Nature's course that Poyson and most wholsom Food should proceed from one and the same Vegetable diversly prepared for such do know that in all things as well as in this there are lurging Poysons that are the Root of every Life and without which there could be neither Vitality nor Vegetation Of Ginger THis is an excellent Spice of an hot dry tart Nature endued with a stronger and more durable heat than Pepper and every way more efficacious so that where-ever this Spice is there is no need of Pepper it is chiefly good for cold and moist Stomachs and such as are troubled with cold windy Diseases for it discusseth and helpeth Digestion and in some degree consumeth crude phlegmatick Humors good especially for aged People in cold and moist Seasons of the year But neither this sort of Spice nor any other is good to be used in hot Seasons or Climates except in a Physical way as I have else-where demonstrated Particularly in Young People and Chollerick Complexions the frequent use of such things does heat dry and consume the purer Spirits and Radical Moisture and inflame the Blood and in some Constitutions makes it sharp and keen they are also injurious to the natural Heat of the Stomach and digestive Faculty whence the Scurvey Ioynt-Aches and many cruel Distempers proceed and assist not a little to the generation of the Stone where-ever they meet apt matter for that purpose The same is to be understood of all other things in which heat and driness do too violently predominate the frequent use of which is like the common drinking of Brandy when once the Stomach is accustomed to them it cannot digest its food without them and yet the Remedy is as bad as the Disease for as the natural heat is more debilitated so more Brandy is craved for till People utterly destroy themselves Of Oranges THere being various sorts of this Fruit differing in their Temperature and Nature they are to be considered according to the sweetness sowrness and tartness of them the sowrest sort are the coldest most sharp and penetrating and
therefore are not so good and profitable as those called Sevil which is a mean between the sowr and the sweet and therefore is best for sawce and far more acceptable to the Pallate but especially to the Stomach than either the sweet or the sowr which being full ripe fresh gathered do not only make the best Sawces to most sorts of Food as Herbs both raw and boyled Flesh c. far exceeding all Vinegars made with Wine or other Liquors but they also prove profitable in many Diseases especially to allay Drought in Feavers and prevent the putrifaction of the Humors for they cool and refresh the Stomach and are good moderately used in times of Health for Chollerick People but eat them not too frequently for they astringe or bind the belly and are not proper for Phlegmatick or Melancholly Complexions and as the moderate use of them for Sawce in food does excite and sharpen the Appitite so on the contrary the frequent custom of eating them is apt to hurt the digestive Faculty by their cold dry astringent Qualities they being Extreams in Nature and therefore cautiously to be used The Sweet Oranges are not good for Sawce for they naturally dull or subvert the Appetite nevertheless they being of a middle Nature or temperate Quality are good and very grateful to well-prepared Stomachs to be eaten alone or with some Bread or other dry food after them in time of Health especially for Young People and the Phlegmatick and Melancholly but still they ought to remember their sure friend Temperance else they will prove injurious and hinder Concoction Of Lemmons AS these are sharper and more sour then Oranges so they are colder more keen or piercing but they make a Sawce that does wonderfully cool and for the present stir up the Appetite comfort the Stomach and are good against Vomiting very grateful to such as have weak dull or flat Stomachs they cut and attenuate gross Humors allay Thirst and are refreshing to such as have hot Livers but on the other side if not very moderately used their astringent sharp or keen Quality will by simile awaken the Saturnal and Martial Fires in the Body and instead of allaying heat they inflame the Blood and irritate the natural Spirits which proves fatal as to Health for as all such Fruits are unequal in their parts so they by simpathy cause an unequal operation in the Humors which is the Radix of all Distemperatures Of Limes LImes are an Immature Fruit in which two extream Properties do predominate viz. the Saturnal and Martial Poysons because the Sun and Coelestial Influences have not had Power to raise or awaken the balsamick or friendly Vertues of Nature or bring the Properties into an equal operation as is done in other Fruits for these two fierce Qualities are so powerful as indeed being the very Radix of the Fruit that the friendly Property or good Vertue is wholly hid or captivated by them so that it cannot be tasted or felt hence the Juice of this fruit does contain as I have elsewhere declared a Saturnine churlish fire which is of an hard coagulating astringent or binding nature and operation like the raw cold saturnine Air of Winter which does congeal the Water and harden all things 2 dly A sharp keen Martial Property of a sour harsh fretting nature and operation Now these two Extreams meeting together do render it very hurtful to the genuine nature of the Stomach and generate bad Blood stir up the original Poysons by simile and the Saturnine Property does draw together and congeal the Excrements in the Bowels and the Martial Fires are forth-driving and cannot endure to be bounded from whence proceed various Diseases as Gripes Collicks Illiacal Passions or cruel Belly-Akes For this cause our English and others that use these Juices in their Voyages to the East-Indies and other parts are sorely vexed with many Diseases which they contract though they little think it from their Punch-Bowls rather than the disagreeableness of the Climate Moreover the sharp cold Juices of Oranges and Lemmons which in hot Countries they are greedy of and do eat too freely do prove very pernicious as to their Health for the truth is it is not the Climate whether hot or cold that causes so many Diseases but Peoples Intemperances and taking wrong Measures for the Natives both of the East South and West are as healthy and long liv'd as those of the North and these our frequent Distempers when we travel into those parts do but declare our Intemperances and that the Meats and Drinks we so much desire are not proper for our Bodies in such Climates where not our own irregular Fancies but the usages of the Natives of each Country ought to be our Guides and Examples both as to Meats Drinks and Exercises and then each Country would soon become as natural and wholsom to us as our own our Bodies being assimulated thereunto Of Pinpillow-Pears THis is a Fruit that is not much in use being some-what troublesom to procure by reason of their Martial Weapons or Prickles they are of a sharp brisk Taste their Juices quick and penetrating they cut Phlegm beget Appetite and help Conoction being of a cooling Nature they may be eaten with a little Sugar with safety but they are chiefly good for Chollerick and Sanguine People and are under Mars in Aries Of Pepper commonly called Guinea-Pepper OF this there are two sorts one great the other small but both are much of the same nature and operation only the smallest is rather the hottest They both contain three extream Qualities viz. 1. An astringent Sulpher or stupifying Poyson from Saturn 2. A fierce bitter keen sharpness from Mars And 3. An hot penetrating Poyson from Mercury In this Vegetation all friendliness and pure Vertues are captivated and the original forms of Nature do predominate there being in it no kind of Equality or Harmony but all is out of Tune and the four grand Qualities whence all Tastes proceed have here their operations in Discord and confusedly combate one another therefore whatever any may pretend the frequent eating of it must needs prove pernicious to Health for those forementioned fierce poysonous Qualities do by degrees as it were insensibly prey upon and violate the natural Heat and hinders the way of the Spirits as if men designed to mortifie their natural Legs on purpose to use Wooden ones or Crutches so they destroy the genuine innate heat of their Stomachs and vainly endeavour to procure a false and adventitious one that may better forsooth supply Nature The truth is this hot fiery Sawce does powerfully stir up or beget Appetite and warms the Stomach which does intice many to eat it with their common food but they never consider the mischiefs it brings unto Health being like Brandy a dram of which after a full Meal of heavy Victuals will help Concoction and ease the burthened Stomach but the frequent use of it will so destroy the natural Heat
murder the other at their pleasure and as for those that they save alive 't is not out of pity or kindness but to gratifie their own Covetousness by making Merchandize of them and exposing them to Slavery far worse than Death For then we are hurried from our nearest and dearest Relations the kind Husband from his loving Wife the tender Mother from her helpless Babes and Youths the comfort and joy of Age snatcht from their mourning Parents and that without any hopes of ever seeing one another again Thus are we sometimes driven many Miles by Land over partching Deserts and through howling Wildernesses down to the Sea-Coasts and and Factories being all the way miserably abus'd by our unmerciful Drivers and wearied and spent with Over-Travel Hunger Drought and excessive Heat which puts a period to many of our sweet Lives but the same when it happens is reckoned an happiness for thereby that greater and long lasting Misery is prevented which those that survive must endure for no sooner are they arrived at the Sea-side but they are sold like Beasts to the Merchant who glad of the booty puts us aboard the Ship claps us under Deck and binds us in Chains and Fetters and thrusts us into the dark noisom Hold so many and so close together that we can hardly breathe there are we in the hottest of Summer and under that scorching Climate without any of the sweet Influences of the Air or briezing Gale to refresh us suffocated stewed and parboyled altogether in a Crowd till we almost rot each other and our selves Nay many times not only our profest Enemies but our Treacherous Friends betray us to these intollerable Miseries for so far is the Root of bitterness irritated and such an Ascendent it hath got over us that for vain trifles our paltry Parents shall sell their Children and Husbands their Wives into perpetual Slavery Nor let any Christian Tyrants for this upbraid us for if it be as in truth it is a most unnatural wickedness in our People to sell them is it not upon the matter almost as bad in the Christians to buy them Nay rather is not the chiefest Crime in them since they are the Tempters and Occasioners of it for they allure our â—eople to it by offering them several sorts of Goods which they find they have most mind to And is not this a fine imployment think you for Christians to run to remotest Regions to get their innocent Fellow Creatures and make Slaves of them Whilst we are thus mew'd up in the Ship besides the inconveniencies of heat and danger of suffocation and the Torture of our Chains we also run the hazard of being half starved for the Ship-Masters out of Covetousness and for their own Lucre will not allow us fit or competent Meats or Drinks but just enough to keep Life and Soul together and that corrupt decayed stinking and unwholsome by which all our Healths and Lives are destroyed or impaired for oft times half or more of our wretched Number dye in the Voyage and others of us of more sturdy Spirits and Tempers when they see themselves thus Captiv'd scorning to preserve a Life that thenceforth would be only advantagious to others and burthensome to them by refusing all Sustenance have shortened their dayes As for the rest we are so generally wounded in our Healths by the ill â—sage we receive on Ship-board that we seldom recover our strength and when we come on Shore we find no â—etter fare nor Treatment from our â—ew Christian Masters most of them proving as sharp and Tyrannical as our â—wn Heathen Fathers and Brethren as â—hey call them for when we by the Ship-Master and Seamen have suffered so many violent Miseries and sore Opâ—ressions that we are thereby as poor weak and feeble as Death so that we â—an hardly either stand or go which â—endring us not capable to answer â—he Covetous ends of our new Masters our Afflictions are thereby doubled for when our strength fails us the inconsiderate and unmerciful Overseers make nothing to Whip and Beat us â—nd the best words they can afford us â—re Damn'd Doggs Black ugly Devils â—dle Sons of Ethiopean Whores and the â—ike Alas we expected another sort of Treatment from the Christians who boast themselves the Sons and Favourites of the God of Love and Goodness and who we have been informed are or ought to be endued with the Spirit of Meekness Innocency and doin unto all as they would be done unto We understand that to be a Christian is to live under the Government of the Divine Principle of Benignity and Well-doing from whence all good Vertues are deriv'd as streams from a Fountain But verily we find little very little or scarce any sign at all of this excellent Spirit to reign in the hearts of our Masters or Overseers but on the contrary find them over-ruled and filled with Devilishness Cruelty and Oppression which are so extream that we can as hardly bear them as the Israelites of Old could the grievous and unreasonable Burthens of Egyptian Pharoah and his Task-masters which did force them to cry unto the Lord for ease and deliverance from those cruel Bonds and Slaveries even as we do at this day To enumerate the miseries we endure by a particular Bill of 〈◊〉 would be too tedious we shall Instance in some few of the most Insufferances that all knowing Power to whom our Cries are directed knows all the several aggravations of them and the Consciences of our Masters cannot but witness to the Truth and Justice of our Complaints 1. Though we acknowledge man is born to Labour and had not hands only given him to put Victuals into his Mouth but first to use them in tilling the Earth and getting Food and all other things requisite for humane Life yet certainly the merciful God never intended that any of his Creatures should be forced to Labour beyond their natural strength nor have burthens imposed on their weary Shoulders greater than they are able to bear Labour was undoubtedly enjoyned as an exercise to preserve Health and Strength and prevent Sloth and Idleness not as a perpetual Plague to destroy Nature and make Life a Torment and Death a Courtesy yet our Flint-hearted Tyrants not content with diligent Industry and pains force us to unreasonable Labours both for toil and continuance beyond the power of Nature and whereas a good man is merciful even to his Beast they extend no Compassion to us who are of the same Species with themselves but slave us on in continual drudgery till our Heart-strings crack and our Nerves are enfeebled and our Marrow is exhausted and our Bones fall under their Burthens and our Spirits are consumed and our Souls in Weariness and Anguish wish for Death rather than Life The end of all Natures Motions is Rest nor can she perform any of her Operations without Refreshment Ground alwayes plow'd yields little encrease but must lie fallow now and then if you expect a
Epitom of the four Worlds Intellectual Rational Elemental and Sensitive 'T is true we are not so ready at Words nor so nimble to express our Conceptions but we can more than guess at what is Just and Fit and Honest and Seemly and know what is agreeable to the dignity of humane Nature and what not though the Christians despise us by the Name of Heathens we must acknowledge that we are not so well acquainted with the wordy and notional matters of Religion nor do talk so much of it nor keep so much ado about it as many of the Christians do for we do not Wrangle nor Fight nor Backbite or Hate one another for or touching the Worship of God Nor do we Kill Burn or Imprison any for not agreeing with us or being of our Intellectual Complexions because God in his Wisdom has made all things to differ many there are whose Eyes are open see into the truth of these things As for our Faith touching God and Eternity we have not much to say neither do we ever use many Words For we have only one Book viz. Our selves in which is contained the true Nature and Property of all things both Internally and Externally and happy is he that can read but the Christ-Cross-Row in his own Book it is more profitable to him than a multitude of Books cry'd up and admired by the World And this we do know and acknowledge that there is a good and an evil Spirit or Principle within us one which prompts and invites and leads us to Good and the other drawing us to Evil and by the light of the good Principle we distinguish between what is Right and the contrary and whensoever we do Evil we are convinced and reproved for it by this good Genius whereby we are sensible that Lying Swearing Adultery Idleness Disobedience to our Masters Burning of Houses Murther and the like are Sins against God and when at any time we commit any such things we are accused and condemned for the same in our Hearts though our Masters nor any Creature else know thereof In short the main Differences between the Christians and us seem to be no more than these that they are White and we Black because they are born in one Climate and we in another they have Learning as Reading Writing speaking of various Languages and we have none of those Ornamental Advantages but they may please to remember that the more Paint Glass has upon it the more it keeps out the Light They are educated under certain Rights and Forms and taught divers Notions of Religion which we are not skill'd in But the grand point of Religion To do as we would be done by we understand as well as they and are sure they practise it less than we What then do they talk so much of the Leaves when we can see no Fruits let us feel their Christianity and see it as well as hear of it and no doubt then we shall be more in love with it These I say are the chief Differences for as to the natural â—roperties of the Body and Soul there is but very little setting aside Custom and Education For as I said before as to the Members of the Body and inward Faculties we are alike in all particulars neither is there any difference as to the Soul and Spirit they are as much subject to Passions Lusts and irregular Affections as we as also to Sicknesses Mortality and all other Misfortunes And as your Prophet hath said God whose wonderful Works we both equally are is no Respecter of Persons but every one tâ—at feareth his Name and worketh Righteousness according to the Measure and Gift he has endued every one with whether Bond or Free Jew or Gentile is accepted of him And it is not the Name that will justifie but a living in the Nature and Power of well-doing according as the Creator has dispensed his Gifts to each Person And let Christians know this as a certain truth that neither before nor at the great Day of Reckoning and when Accounts must be given good Words nor long formal Prayers will stand them in stead except they have lived in the Nature Power and Operation of the good Spirit which we pray and wish they would do and that they would Act what they Talk and then both they and we should find the Benefit to the Praise and Glory of God and our own Comfort For this is without dispute that since Christians do know more of God and of the heavenly Mysteries than we do then there is the more required of them and how they discharge themselves in their Practice we cannot see for surely they do very little or not at all live in and under the Christian Spirit for that leads all that are guided by it to love even their Enemies to take Compassion and do unto all as they would be done unto and also endues it Followers with the Virtues of Meekness Humility Self-denyal Temperance and Purity and to deny all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts. But instead of these dictates of thy most holy Religion O thou great Preserver of men they enslave and oppress thy poor unworthy Servants and are drunk with our Blood and Sweat We rise early and lie down late and labour beyond our strength whilst our luxurious Masters stretch themselves on their soft Beds and Couches they drink Wine in overflowing Bowls and set their Brains a-float without either Rudder or Compass in an Ocean of other strong and various Drinks even till they are Drunk and vomit up their Shame and Filthiness whilst we are allow'd nothing but Water and now and then a little Cowou They feast themselves with the fattest Lambs and variety of rich costly Foods and live in all Uncleanness and Gluttony They have their Men-Servants and their Maids their Coaches and Horses to wait on them whilst we groan under the over-grievous Burthens and excessive Labour which they impose upon us They wantonly consume the Encrease and Product of our heavy Pains in Riot and Voluptousness in Superfluity and all kind of extravagant Vitiousness their chief Study and Philosophy being to gratifie their liqourish Palates and insatiate Paunches and to enslave us with many intollerable Burthens so that their Lamps are ready to be extinguished by their Superfluity and Excess of Oyl whilst they make frequent and solemn Feasts that is offer Sacrifices and celebrate Festivals to their Idol Belly-God-Paunch the Divinity which they chiefly adore and invite our rich Masters and Dames and there they sit Eating and Drinking whether they have any Appetites or no in a formal way perhaps two or three Hours inticing each other to Gormandize and Guzzle down great Quantities and variety of rich Food and strong Cordial-Drinks not only beyond the Necessities but even the power of Nature and yet not therewith content when they have thus already exceeded all bounds of Temperance they yet proceed to gorge themselves with Wine various sorts of brave noble Fruits
Condemn in others Nay you do ten times worse than they both because you profess your selves Christians which is a Religion of Love Sweetness and Beneficience to all the Creation and for that you use us worse than the Turks do their Servants and especially in this that you rather hinder than promote our embracing the Christian Faith whereas amongst the Turks any Christian Slave may turn Mahumetan and is encouraged thereunto and thereby gains his Liberty Mast. The World is come to a fine pass that such ignorant Slaves and Heathens as you are that do neither know nor worship the true God should presume either to instruct or condemn us Do not you know that most of the hard usage you so much complain of is occasioned by your selves for if we should not be severe and rule you with a Rod of Iron you are so stubborn and disobedient that there would be no governing of you therefore we are forced to beat you into Obedience and good Manners you are so morose surly and inhumane so that you are the first cause of those Miseries you endure Have not you made several Attempts to Rise and cut off the Christians Root and Branch and make your selves Masters of all that we have And do not such Offences require a strict Hand and severe Punishments What greater Crime can there be than for you to betray your Masters Negr. True it is the World is come to that pass and mens Wickedness is arrived to that height that good Advertisements and wholsom Counsel either of Christian Iew or Gentile will not be entertained let it come from whom it will if it tend to Vertue be sure it shall be withstood with various Pretences Whereas you accuse us of evil Carriage and that the same hath been the Original of all our Griefs and sore Oppressions there is a certain Truth therein tho' not as you intend it for if we and our Fore-fathers had not violated the innocent Law of Nature by Violence and Transgression we had never fallen under your Yoke nor been carried away Captives out of our own Native Country but now we have by the divine Justice been retaliated for ours and our Princes Transgressions However though we acknowledge this is but just from God yet that doth not concern you nor can you from thence justifie your Oppressions which could not be occasioned by the Miscarriages you speak of because they had long been practised upon us before any of us made any of those ill Attempts you mention 't was your Cruelties put us upon those extravagant courses And since Oppression according to the Doctrine of your most holy wise Prophet makes Wise Men mad 't was no wonder if some of our silly Country-men were thereby so far transported as to seek by unjustifiable means to gain their Liberty or a Melioration of their wretched condition Besides if we had indeed offended you yet you ought not to retaliate Evil for Evil since on the contrary your Christian Doctrine enjoyns you to return Good for Evil to love even your Enemies how dare you then in the Light of this holy and everlasting Gospel to talk and act after this manner Do you indeed dream that your Cruelty and ruling us with a martial Rod and barbarous Fierceness will make us Tractable and Friendly or to love our Masters and do our Labours with willingness Alas we imagined you to be greater Seers into the Mysteries of God and his Law in Nature than to entertain such vain and impossible Conceits For how contrary is this not only to your Christian Principles but also to Reason and the common Sense and Experience of all mankind With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness saith your own Prophet And again Did ever the Wrath of Man accomplish the Righteousness of God Or Tyranny beget Love If those who have the government of generous Horses or go about to tame wild Beasts and endeavour by gentle Vsage to make them tractable and fit for Service rather then by Cruelty and Beating much more those who have the command of Men should bring them to Order and Discipline by the mildest and fairest means and all the Arts of Sweetness and Perswasion not treating them worse than Gardiners do those wild Plants which by careful looking to and good Usage lose the Savageness of their Nature and in a little time come to bear excellent Fruit. In vain therefore you go about to excuse your Tyranny and Oppression towards us by making the World believe that you are as it were constrained or forced to be cruel to us Though yet the same be true in one Sense viz. you are irritated there unto from you own innate awakened Wrath which does predominate in your Hearts and Souls and then those fierce Arrows of Mars and Poysons of Saturn which you let fly at us do by simily stir up the original Venoms and wrathful Qualities in us And this and this only is it that hath occasioned some of the worser sort of our Country-men to Curse you and your Posterity and to endeavour to kill and destroy you which is a crying Sin which we neither justifie nor can execute since 't is condemned by God and his Law in Nature And all that have attempted such savage Mischiefs ought not to go unpunisht neither will they for the just Law of Retaliation will take hold them but will you therefore punish the Innocent for or with the Guilty because some called Christians commit Murders and Treasons must all of that Profession be cut off by the Ax or the Gibbet If you will deal ingenuously your own Hearts will tell you that the occasion of these Evils committed or endeavoured to have been committed arise from your Sins and the great Abuses wherewith you have from time to time afflicted us viz. your Murdering us at your pleasure and no Account or just Compensation rendred for the same Therefore does our innocent Blood call for Vengeance on you and without serious Repentance and Amendment must be reckoned for Consider well these things and then tell us Do you think or can you in Reason but expect that the great Tyranny Injustice and cruel Usages you have practised upon us will in due time be brought back upon you and your Land or Posterity if you do not atone for these Evils and give us Ease and Refreshment And though we are never so submissive can not the kindled Wrath raise up other Enemies to destroy you and yours in a Moment Therefore be intreated to bethink your selves in time for undoubtedly the Cup of Wrath is almost full Mast. I have considered what you alledge touching the severe Usage which we have and do daily offer to your Country-men I must confess I cannot well seehow the same can be reconciled to the Doctrine of our holy and harmly Christian Religion But alas What would you have us do If we should leave off these Practices how should we live at the Rate we do fill our Tables