Page:Memoirs of the Lives.djvu/75

63 of his heart, yet I could not partake of his proffers, his riches proceeding from slaves, lest I should have lessened my future happiness, which I had an eye to in the faith, and now in measure witness the end of it, which otherwise would have brought me into bondage, and made me a debtor and an oppressor in the creation, which was so contrary to me that nature groaned under the sight and sense I had of it, which hastened me to Pennsylvania, where the Lord raised me again to substance, which was  consumed by a fire, where I wonderfully escaped the lot of those that were burnt, in all which I saw the hand of the Lord, who has again raised me to fulness and plenty,  which I now mention to commemorate his providence."

From the time of his first arrival in Pennsylvania, until the year 1729, he was zealously engaged, through all the vicissitudes of his fortune, in promulgating his opinions on the subject of slavery. This he did by a strong exposition of his sentiments, when he