sed, and
that at such a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your
lives in your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your
heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their backs,
even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom are these
disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by the men born and
bred in Boston, for they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of
shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons, some of them not
long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives,
tending horses, and driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who
saw that filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he
had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, and that
a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or holidays, enjoys himself
and friends without molestation. Not only this man, but many in
town who have seen their behavior to you, and that without any
provocations twenty or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have
wondered at the patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage
in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but
in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong than do
wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the disgrace of our
reputation; for every good citizen does honor to the laws of the
State where he resides....

My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and many other
abuses we at present labor under: for the darkest is before the
break of day. My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was
with our African brethren six years ago, in the French West Indies.
Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening;
hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures
inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing else but to gratify
their masters' pride, wantonness, and cruelty: but blessed be God,
the scene is changed; they now confess that God hath no respect of
persons, and therefore receive them as their friends, and treat them
as brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand,
from a sink of slavery to freedom and equality.

An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and chartered
in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three or four other
organizations. Generally close to the social aim of the church an