[325] "For they tell the Negroes, that they must believe in Christ, and receive the Christian faith, and that they must receive the sacrament, and be baptized, and so they do; but still they keep them slaves for all this."--MACY'S _Hist. of Nantucket_, pp. 280, 281. [326] Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 117. [327] Mr. Palfrey relies upon a single reference in Winthrop for the historical trustworthiness of his statement that a Negro slave could be a member of the church. He thinks, however, that this "presents a curious question," and wisely reasons as follows: "As a church-member, he was eligible to the political franchise, and, if he should be actually invested with it, he would have a part in making laws to govern his master,--laws with which his master, if a non-communicant, would have had no concern except to obey them. But it is improbable that the Court would have made a slave--while a slave--a member of the Company, though he were a communicant.--PALFREY, vol. ii. p. 30. Note. [328] Butts _vs_. Penny, 2 Lev., p. 201; 3 Kib., p. 785. [329] Hildreth, vol. ii. p. 426. [330] Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 748. [331] Palfrey, vol. ii. p. 30. Note. [332] Hist. Mag., vol. v., 2d Series, by Dr. G.H. Moore. [333] Slavery in Mass., p. 57, note. [334] I use the term freeman, because the colony being under the English crown, there were no citizens. All were British subjects. [335] Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 746. [336] Ibid., p. 386. [337] Mr. Palfrey is disposed to hang a very weighty matter on a very slender thread of authority. He says, "In the list of men capable of bearing arms, at Plymouth, in 1643, occurs the name of 'Abraham Pearse, the Black-moore,' from which we infer ... that Negroes were not dispensed from military service in that colony" (History of New England, vol. ii. p. 30, note). This single case is borne down by the laws and usages of the colonists on this subject. Negroes as a class were absolutely excluded from the military service, from the commencement of the colony down to the war with Great Britain. [338] Slavery in Mass., Appendix, p. 243. [339] Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. viii. 3d Series, p. 336. [340] Lyman's Report, 1822. [341] Mather's Magnalia, Book III., p. 207. Compare also p. 209. [342] Elliott's New-England Hist., vol. ii. p. 165. [343] Mr. Palfrey comes again with his single and exceptional case, asking us to infer a rule therefrom. See History of New England, note, p. 30. [344] Chief-Justice Parker, in Andover vs. Canton, 13 Mass. p. 550. [345] Slavery in Mass., p. 62. [346] Mott's Sketches, p. 17. [347] At the early age of sixteen, in the year 1770, Phillis was baptized into the membership of the society worshipping in the "Old South Meeting-House." The gifted, eloquent, and noble Dr. Sewall was the pastor. This was an exception to the rule, that slaves were not baptized into the Church.