is province should be
to superintend the moral and spiritual concern of the slaves, to take
upon himself the religious instruction of the adult Negroes, and to
take particular care that all the Negro children are taught to read
by the catechist and the two assistant women (now employed by the
society) and also that they are diligently instructed by the catechist
in the principles of the Christian religion, till they are fifteen
years of age, when they shall be instructed by himself with the adult
Negroes.

"This instruction of the Negro children from their earliest years is
one of the most important and essential parts of the whole plan; for
it is to the education of the young Negroes that we are principally
to look for the success of our spiritual labours. These may be easily
taught to understand and to speak the English language with fluency;
these may be brought up from their earliest youth in habits of virtue,
and restrained from all licentious indulgences: these may have the
principles and the precepts of religion impressed so early upon their
tender minds as to sink deep, and to take firm root, and bring forth
the fruits of a truly Christian life. To this great object, therefore,
must our chief attention be directed; and as almost everything must
depend on the ability, the integrity, the assiduity, the perseverance
of the person to whom we commit so important a charge, it is
impossible for us to be too careful and too circumspect in our choice
of a CATECHIST. He must consider it his province, not merely to teach
the Negroes the use of letters, but the elements of Christianity; not
only to improve their understandings, but to form their hearts. For
this purpose they must be put into his hands the moment they are
capable of articulating their words, and their instruction must be
pursued with unrelenting diligence. So long as they continue too young
to work, they may be kept constantly in the school; as they grow fit
to labour, their attendance on the CATECHIST must gradually lessen,
till at length they take their full share of work with the grown
Negroes.

"A school of this nature was formerly established by the society
of Charlestown in South Carolina, about the year 1745, under the
direction of Mr. Garden, the Bishop of London's commissary in that
province. This school flourished greatly, and seemed to answer their
utmost wishes. There were at one time sixty scholars in it, and twenty
young Negroes were annuall