As every Degree of Luxury hath some Connection with Evil, The Journal of John Woolman: Part 3
Bonus:
Summary: Woolman gets married, England and France are fighting (again), refusing to write wills is apparently a very effective means of abolition.
Commentary:
I'm going to to milk this John Woolman is a serial killer thing as long as I can:
His Marriage—The Death of his Father—His Journies into the upper Part of New-Jersey, and afterwards into Pennsylvania
If you swap two words you get: His Marriage—Of Death The Father—His Journies into the upper Part of New-Jersey, and afterwards into Pennsylvania
And it sounds like he married the Grim Reaper and wandered around the Mid-Atlantic states doing some murder.
Describing his wife as a Damsel (and thus, by default, in distress) doesn't help any.
I think it was noted in one of the prologues that I read of this that it's less a single coherent journal, and more of a collection of letters, etc. with his journaling in between, but a very large part of this one was the one letter about war between England/American and France.
A charitable benevolent Man, well acquainted with a Negro, may, I believe, under some Circumstances, keep him in his Family as a Servant, from no other Motives than the Negro's Good
Slavery bad. Racism okay.
About this Time, an ancient Man, of good Esteem in the Neighbourhood, came to my House to get his Will written; he had young Negroes; and I asked him privately, how he purposed to dispose of them? He told me: I then said, I cannot write thy Will without breaking my own Peace; and respectfully gave him my Reasons for it: He signified that he had a Choice that I should have written it; but as I could not, consistent with my Conscience, he did not desire it: And so he got it written by some other Person. And, a few Years after, there being great Alterations in his Family, he came again to get me to write his Will: His Negroes were yet young; and his Son, to whom he intended to give them, was, since he first spoke to me, from a Libertine, become a sober young Man; and he supposed, that I would have been free, on that Account, to write it. We had much friendly Talk on the Subject, and then deferred it: A few Days after, he came again, and directed their Freedom; and then I wrote his Will.
I feel like this is the most interesting thing in the whole Journal, and it's just kind of snuck in as one paragraph.
You've got the whole refusing to do business over politics question, then you have Woolman actually (apparently) talking someone into freeing their slaves. But the part that I think is most odd is the fact that he agrees to free them after his death, and that's just fine with everyone. He's not upset about depriving his son of them, Woolman isn't upset about him waiting however long (and until it won't matter to him). I guess there's some element of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, but it feels very lah-de-da. Maybe they talked about it in more depth (they did have "much friendly Talk" but it seems weird that he's so okay with, "I'll free the slaves... eventually."
As every Degree of Luxury hath some Connection with Evil, those who profess to be Disciples of Christ, and are looked upon as Leaders of the People, should have that Mind in them which was also in Christ, and so stand separate from every wrong Way, as a Means of Help to the Weaker.
You better not have ever worn a scarf, John Woolman. Your neck can just be cold. I'll allow shoes, I guess. But not nice ones.