As to the Difficulties; it may be pleaded, That the Negroes are grown
Persons when they come over, and that having been accustomed to the
Pagan Rites and Idolatries of their own Country, they are prejudiced
against all other Religions, and more particularly against the
Christian, as forbidding all that Licentiousness which is usually
practiced among the Heathens.... But a farther Difficulty is that they
are utter Strangers to our Language, and we to theirs; and the Gift of
Tongues being now ceased, there is no Means left of instructing them
in the Doctrines of the Christian Religion. And this, I own is a real
Difficulty, as long as it continues, and as far as it reaches. But, if
I am rightly informed, many of the Negroes, who are grown Persons when
they come over, do of themselves obtain so much of our Language, as
enables them to understand, and to be understood, in Things which
concern the ordinary Business of Life, and they who can go so far of
their own Accord, might doubtless be carried much farther, if proper
Methods and Endeavors were used to bring them to a competent Knowledge
of our Language, with a pious view to instructing them in the
Doctrines of our Religion.
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