HISTORY
454 BOOK III.
OF
THE
instances that a man has three wives are few; all mistresses must of course be put away without exception; besides this, the missionaries lose no opportunity of inculcating into the minds of the married people, how to walk in this state conformable to the rules laid down in holy writ, and every deviation from them is severely censured. If any baptized man leaves his wife, and takes another, and takes one or more wives besides the first, or in cafe he has had two, and one dies, and he should marry another, he is excluded the fellow ship of the church. Neither can the brethren admit of the heathenish customs in courting a wife, but they expect, that in cafe a believer wish to marry, he do all things in a decent and christian manner: it is of course expected that all baptized parents educate their children in the fear of the Lord, shewing them a good example. If by a sale of negroes by auction, or in any other way, wives are tom from their husbands, or husbands from their wives, and carried off to distant islands, though the brethren do not advise, yet they cannot hinder a regular marriage with another person, especially, if a family of young children, or other circumstances, seem to render an helpmate necessary; and, as is mostly the cafe, no hopes remain of the former ever returning. A certificate of baptism is given to every baptized negro, that must thus leave the congregation; and there have been instances, that by their godly walk and conversation in distant parts, they have caused others to hearken to their word and believe. THE
all the above injunctions are of such a nature, that they not only war against their heathenish propensities, but even against what some might call excusable indulgences; yet it THOUGH