Sewall's Reponse to Mather

Sewall’s Response to Mather’s “The Negro Christianized” Cotton Mather and Samuel Sewall clearly disagree on the legality of slavery. For Sewall, it is most important that slaves be given the same freedom as all men; for Mather, it is most important that slaves be Christianized and given the opportunity of eternal light through the grace of Jesus Christ. Christianizing slaves, according to Sewall, neither makes possession of them legal nor improves the providence …

…have men do unto you, even so do unto them: Matth. 17.12. 3.3” (Sewall, 327). In Sewall’s opinion, by violating the Golden Rule, slave owners clearly place themselves in a precarious position. Works Cited Mather, Cotton. The Negro Christianized. The Literatures of Colonial America. Ed. Susan Castillo and Ivy Schweitzer. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. 333-37. Sewall, Samuel. The Selling of Joseph. The Literatures of Colonial America. Ed. Susan Castillo and Ivy Schweitzer. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. 323-27.