At least, some of them, who are more
capable and more serious than the rest, might be easily instructed
both in our Language and Religion, and then be made use of to convey
Instruction to the rest in their own Language. And this, one would
hope, may be done with great Ease, wherever there is a hearty and
sincere Zeal of the Work.
But what Difficulties there may be in instructing those who are
grown-up before they are brought over; there are not the like
Difficulties in the Case of their Children, who are born and bred in
our Plantations, who have never been accustomed to Pagan Rites and
Superstitions, and who may easily be trained up, like all other
Children, to any Language whatsoever, and particularly to our own; if
the making them good Christians be sincerely the Desire and
Intention of those, who have Property in them, and Government over
them.--Dalcho's _An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in South Carolina_, pp. 104-106.
ANOTHER PASTORAL LETTER OF BISHOP GIBSON OF LONDON
To the Missionaries in the English Plantations (about 1727).
DEAR BROTHER,
Having understood by many Letters from the Plantations, and by the
Accounts of Persons who have come from thence, that very little
progress hath hitherto been made in the conversion of the Negroes to
the Christian Faith; I have thought it proper for me to lay before
Masters and Mistresses the Obligations they are under, and to promote
and encourage that pious and necessary Work.
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