“On one occasion during the annual convention of the Society at Philadelphia, when that body was engaged on the subject of slavery, as it related to its own members, some of whom had not wholly relinquished the practice of keeping negroes in bondage, a difference of sentiment arose as to the course which ought to be pursued.  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.”  The change described, was effected, not by “pressure from without,” but by the constraining influence of the love of Christ.  The chief instruments in the hands of Divine Providence in bringing about so remarkable a reformation, were John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, of whom the former was the earlier in the field and broke up the fallow ground, under circumstances of the greatest discouragement, of which the instance above related is an example.

The life of this ever-memorable man was a pattern of apostolic Christianity—­pure, patient, self-denying, meek.  Love was the element he breathed.  His heart not only yearned towards the oppressed of the human family, but his compassion extended to the brute creation, under whose sufferings in the service of man, to use his own expression, “creation at this day doth loudly groan.”  Though dependent on his own labor for a livelihood, he was careful in a most exemplary degree, “not to entangle himself with affairs of this life, that he might please Him who had called him to be a soldier;” and the reader of his life will find that this unworldly man took similar pains to avoid wealth, which others do to acquire it.  Perhaps I may be excused for