Friend John Woolman Visits the Camp Creek Settlement, 1757

[A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman… (London, 1847), pp. 43-45:]

…we came amongst Friends at Cedar Creek in Virginia, on the 12^th [of the 5^th month]; and the next day, rode, in company with several Friends, a day’s journey to Camp Creek. As I was riding along in the morning, my mind was deeply affected in a sense I had of the want of divine aid to support me…in uncommon distress of mind, I cried in secret to the Most High, “O Lord! be merciful, I beseech thee, to thy poor afflicted creature.” After some time, I felt inward relief; and soon after, a Friend in [the] company began to talk in support of the slave-trade, and said, the negroes were understood to be the offspring of Cain, their blackness being the mark which God set upon him, after he murdered Abel his brother; that it was the deign of Providence they would be slaves, as a condition proper to the race of so wicked a man as Cain was. Then another [in the company] spake in support of what had been said. To all which I replied in substance as follows: that Noah and his family were all who survived the flood, according to scripture; and as Noah was of Seth’s race, the family of Cain was wholly destroyed. One of them [in the company] said, that after the flood Ham went to the land of Nod and took a wife; that Nod was a land far distant, inhabited by Cain’s race, and that the flood did not reach it; and as Ham was sentenced to be a servant of servants to his brethren, these two families being thus joined, were undoubtedly fit only for slaves. I replied, the flood was a judgment upon the world for their abominations; and it was granted that Cain’s stock was the most wicket, and therefore unreasonable to suppose that they were spared. As to Ham’s going to the land of Nod for a wife, no time being fixed, Nod might be inhabited by some of Noah’s family, before Ham married a second time; moreover the text saith, “That all flesh died that moved upon the earth.”—Gen. vii. 21. I further reminded them how the prophets repeatedly declare, “that the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father: But every one be answerable for his own sins.” I was troubled to perceive the darkness of their [the company’s] imaginations; and in some pressure of spirit [I] said, the love of ease and gain are the motives in general of keeping slaves, and men are wont to take hold of weak arguments to support a cause which is unreasonable. I have no interest on either side, save only the interest which I desire to have in the truth. I believe liberty is their [enslaved people’s] right, and as I see they are not only deprived of it, but treated in other respects with inhumanity in many places, I believe He, who is a refuge for the oppressed, will, in his own time, plead their cause; and happy will it be for such as walk in uprightness before Him. And thus our conversations ended.

14^th of Fifth Month.—I was this day at Camp Creek Monthly Meeting, and then rode to the mountains up James’ River, and had a meeting at a Friend’s house; in both [Camp Creek and the Friend’s house] which I felt sorrow of heart, and my tears were poured out before the Lord, who was pleased to afford a degree of strength, by which way was opened to clear my mind amongst Friends in those places. From then I went to Fork Creek, and so to Cedar Creek again….

[Relevant Component(s), National Park Service Thematic Framework: Creating Social Institutions and Movements--Religious Institutions; Peopling Places--Community and Neighborhood]

[selected and posted by NGH]