Benjamin Lay

“ Dear Friends, I have been for many Years, almost 20 before I ever saw Pennsylvania, closely exercised, and sorely oppressed with a false and forward Ministry, where Slave-Keeping is not permitted by Law, and has been I firmly believe a great means of bringing in and spreading the Apostacy, and so continues to do, by some that pretend to preach freely, as well or ill as by the barefaced Hirelings of our time, who cannot deny but that they make a trade of Preaching for their Bellies, but gross Apostacy by the way. ”

“ Many has said, they do not see it so great an Evil or Sin, that is, Negroe-Keeping; who so Blind as them that will not see; but them that are willing to see, I think it my duty to inform them what I can by Word and Writing, and then leave it to the Lord.
There has been that has reflected on me, as if I wanted a Party, and to see what Numbers I could get on my side; the living Lord God Almighty is Witness for me, that I desire no Party, no Number but what is on the Lords side, and his Party, which hold the Blessed Truth in righteousness and holiness of Life, indeed and in Truth. ”

“ I do not believe it is all owing to the Badness of the Ground, but for want of honest Labour performed, by Faithful and True Labourers, and then to have good, weighty, sound, clean, pure substantial Seed sown, without Mixture, in it, by such Seed Men and Women, and such I love as my own Soul, much more that which dwells and grows in them or in us, the pure eternal Truth. ”

“ Shall we I say as People who have been Blessed with so great Priviledges, and high Favours, forsake the Holy Commandment of Loving God the Truth above all, and turn to worship for covetous ends, the worst Idol that ever the Devil set up in the World.
Sure those wicked Men above-mentioned will rise up in Judgment against us; for had they been so highly favoured in all respects, as Friends as a People have been, who knows but they might have been as great Saints as any in the Church of Christ at this Day ”

“ Can there, my dear and well beloved Friends, be a better God or Holy Spirit than that, or he that leads into all Truth, which is Heaven itself, and so into all Peace and Joy; or a worse Devil or unholy Spirit than that which leads into all untruth, and so into all Sorrow, Destruction and Misery, which is Hell enough in my opinion, where the Worm never dies, and the Fire goes not out, and Torment enough for the wickedest of Men, and greater than I wish for the worst Enemies, but rather would pray for them, that they would so live as to escape that Place or State of Torment. ”

“ But abundance of Marriages are made by the Father in Hell, the Devil, which is out of the Truth: Made by the Lust of the Eye, the Lust of the Flesh, and Pride of Life, and for Covetousness to maintain them, which is all of him that is an Enemy to all Mankind, the Devil or Satan, if we did but know it there is no worse Devil or unclean Spirit than Self, that dwells and Rules in poor Mankind, to their Destruction Soul and Body. Self or Covetousness, says the Apostle, is the root of all Evil ”

“ Is it not the way rather to encourage and strengthen them in their Infidelity, and Atheism, and their Hellish Practice of Fighting, Murthering, killing and Robbing one another, to the end of the World.
My dear Friends, I beg, I would intreat, in all Humility, with all earnestness of mind, on the bended Knees of my Body and Soul; willingly and with all readiness, sincerely, if that would do, that you would turn to the Lord, the Blessed Truth, in your Hearts, for Direction, for Counsel and Advice; that you may quit your selves like Men, honourably, of this so Hellish a Practice. ”

“ B. L. Now I say my dear, inwardly and intirely beloved Friends, my Joy and my Crown, and my exceeding great Reward for all my Labours, and small Sufferings, is and I trust ever shall be your Unity, in the holy spotless eternal TRUTH, which I prefer before all my chiefest Joys in this World, my sweet Heavenly Father is Witness for me. ”

“ I heartily wish we might be brought to see this Sin, as great and as dangerous as it really is, both in Church and State, in Ministers and Hearers, that we might with one accord by Fasting and Prayer, in Spirit and in Truth, Night and Day, in Publick and Private, seek to and beseech the Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth, that he would be pleased to assist us with Strength and Courage to make War with, and engage against so Capital an Enemy that is so dishonourable to God, and all true Religion, destructive to Government and Mankind in general ”

“ If you walk in the Light as he, God is Light, and Light is God; you shall have fellowship one with another in God the Light, and the Blood, the Life, the Light the Truth, shall cleanse from all Sin, all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit. ”

“ But how does Slave Merchants, proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord? to their Slaves the Day of Vengeance they may, and a long Day it is; but I believe the Lord will repay it, tho' he suffers it long: But I pray and beseech you; you hard-hearted Ministers, of all persuasions in Church and State, that are Christians; how do you comfort all that mourn, and are in Misery, as great for aught I can learn as any are that be under the very worst of Turks, Jews or Infidels, in the known World. ”

“ But, my Friends, you that practise Tyranny and Oppression for Slave-keeping is such; he that assumes in arbitrary Manner, unjustly, Dominion over his Fellow-Creature's Liberty and Property, contrary to Law, Reason or Equity, He is a wicked sinful Tyrant, guilty of Oppression and great Iniquity: But he that trades in Slaves and the Souls of Men, does so; therefore—Beside, Friends, the very Name of a Tyrant is odious, to God, to good Men, yea to bad Men too; and the Nature and Practice is much worse. ”

“ Holy is God the Father of all Things! Holy is God, whose Will is perform'd and accomplished by his own Powers! Holy is God, that determineth to be known, and is known of his own, or those that are his! ”

“ THE sweet Influence of the Morning Star, like a Flood distilling into my Innocent Habitation, hath so filled me with the Joy of the Lord, in the Beauty of Holiness, that my Spirit is as if it did not inhabit a Tabernacle of Clay but is wholly swallowed up in the Bosom of Eternity, from whence it had its being. ”

“ O when will there be an end of these Things, seeing it now going on with main strength by almost all Parties, as well as by some of those that pretend to the most strict self-denying Doctrine in the World, that is so full of Mercy, Compassion, Forgiveness to the very worst of Enemies, Tenderness, Meekness, Mildness, Sweetness of Love, and Pity to all Creatures of all Kinds; the merciful Man is merciful to his Beast, and yet some of these Pretenders to this Purity can join with these Men-Killers and Stealers for Gain, which is hard to write, but it is True. ”

“ Especially, you that have the Word of Reconciliation to preach to the Children of Men; and if you have any true tenderness of the Love of God in you, as I right well know, blessed be the Name of the Lord, all true Ministers have, you my dear Friends, consider waightily of these important concerns, and quit yourselves of yourselves and Slaves; for a good example in you might do a great deal of good, as a bad one will do, and has done a very great deal of mischief to the Truth; for the Eyes of the People are upon you, some for good, and some for Evil. ”

“ So then Divine Wisdom exceeds all Litterature and Humane Wisdom, so far as Light excells Darkness, Heaven exceeds the Earth, and the Almighty Lord God in Heaven, exceeds Satan in Hell; for Divine Learning and Heavenly Wisdom, brings us to the Knowledge of our Maker, and to have sweet Common on with him, as the Saints had, who could say their Fellowship was with the Father and with the Son. This, this Wisdom, my Fellow Creatures of all Names, to this Learning, I do dearly, heartily and tenderly invite you, to this Brotherhood, this Fellowship, this Unity, Union and and Communion. ”

“ What a great Strait these tender hearted mourning Souls must needs be in, think ye, betwixt Love and Duty; they love you dearly for the Truth sake, and yet think it their Duty absolutely in the Fear and Love of God, to testifie against the Sin, and you for continuing in it. ”

“ ABINGTON,The 26th of the 12th Month, 1737, 8
THIS being the 10th Day of my Fasting, it came into my Mind, the carnal People's vain Notion of Christ the TRUTH, being in Heaven with a carnal Body, or Body of Flesh; now I think it is absolute Blasphemy, to say, the eternal infinite Being is in Heaven with a finite Body, as a Body or Vail of Flesh is, and so limit the blessed eternal Maker and Saviour of Mankind, and set the Saints above him; For they will allow the Saints to be in Heaven with a Body: Where is the Consistency of this dark, very dark Doctrine. ”

“ So that I may truly say, this Heavenly New-Birth is the chiefest good to bring us to the sure and certain knowledge of Heavenly things, and no other way, this, this, this is the Key that opens the Mysteries of Truth's Government, this is the Rock of Ages, & Foundation on which Truth doth and ever will build his Congregation; and Hell, Satan, Sin and Death shall never be able to prevail against it. ”

“ Shall we, our Wives, or Sons, or Daughters, when our Fellow-Merchants (of Mystery Babylon the Great) come to visit us, run to wait on them, their Horses, their Chariots and Equipage, Cooking, Sculling and waiting? No, we despise it, and them that do it. We will have our Slaves and Souls of Men to do it for us, as our Mother has and had in all Ages of the World ”

“ Oh these Nimrods! these mighty Hunters before the Lord, before him, not Followers of him, not Followers of the dear Lamb, thro' Sufferings and Death, in the Cross, in an holy, severe, strict, pure Life of Self-Denial and the daily Cross, this daily Cross, how contrary it is to proud idle lustful Flesh and Blood, what a Burthen it is to it, the very Thoughts of it, and yet how easy, light, sweet, safe and pleasant it is, when once well attained, as the dear Lamb Jesus declared, My Burthen is Light and Yoak easy, but Satan's damned Burthen full of Sin, or sinful Burthen is heavy enough. ”

“ How much more abundantly had we need to be in an awful, reverend, holy, pure, still and-quiet frame of mind, when we meet together in order for the Building up of this inward and Spiritual House, New-Jerusalem, whose Builder and Maker is God himself the Eternal TRUTH, and none else but he, and he himself alone, which was and is, is, is, to come, the Alpha and Omega, the Author as well as finisher of our most Holy Faith. ”

“ May not Truth say the same thing now, of our Preachers and Elders, Keepers and Traders in Slaves for nothing but their ungodly Gain. But what will our wicked Slave-Keepers get by flying beyond Gospel and Law, to Abraham, to patronise their cursed infernal practice; but what Truth said to the Jews, it will say to them, Ye are of your Father the Devil. ”

“ But I pray, I beg, and beseech you my Friends, in the pure Love and Fear of God; consider what part have true Believers with such Infidels, or Christ with such Belials, or our Holy pure God with such unholy impure Devils, until we can join these together; now we can never reconcile Slave-Keeping with our Principles; we may as well say as Solomon of an Harlot, their Steps go down to Death and their Feet take hold on Hell.
Now my dear Friends, let us consider the matter a little further, concerning these Men-Stealers, and weigh it in the Ballance of the Sanctuary, which is Equity and Justice. ”

“ As to pure divine Philosophy, the Scriptures themselves are a more excellent System of it, witness Solomon in the Old, and Paul in the New Testament; although we know not whether we have the hundredth, or hundred thousandth part of what was written from the Beginning, yet Christ, the Word, the TRUTH, was always the Instructor of good Men, to teach and write Truth, freely, as they had freely received of him. ”

“ So all Children, keep your Eye with God, and with Clearness eye him in every Motion, in his everlasting Power, then will cause his Light to shine in the brightness of his everlasting Glory, which will stop all forward and dry Spirits, which is hasty to utter Words before the Lord. ”

“ So where the unholy Devil reigns in Sin, there is his Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is within you, said Christ to the Pharisees, Luke 17. 21. Christ within, in his own Kingdom, where Truth and Righteousness is; but where Sin is within, there Satan is, Satan within, in his Kingdom, So all that live in Sin, the Devil lives, rules and reigns in them. ”