For a moment it
appeared doubtful which opinion would preponderate. At this critical
juncture Benezet left his seat, which was in an obscure part of the
house, and presented himself weeping at an elevated door in the presence
of the whole congregation, whom he thus addressed--'Ethiopia shall soon
stretch out her hands unto God.' He said no more: under the solemn
impression which succeeded this emphatic quotation, the proposed measure
received the united sanction of the assembly."[A]
[Footnote A: Life of Anthony Benezet, by Roberts Vaux.]
Even the passing observer is aware how closely the Society of Friends is
identified with the anti-slavery cause, and if such an one were to make
this fact the subject of historical investigation, he would probably
find it one of considerable interest.--He would learn that some years
before the call of Thomas Clarkson in his early manhood, by a series of
distinct and remarkable Providences, into this field of labor, this
Society in America had been pervaded by a noiseless agitation on the
subject of slavery, which resulted in the abandonment of the
slave-trade, in the liberation of their slaves, and in the adoption of a
rule of discipline excluding slaveholders from religious fellowship; so
that for many years past, the sins in question have been not so much as
to be named among them, or the possibility of their commission hinted
at, by any one bearing the name and professing the principles of a
"Friend.
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