Note 693 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES (continued 2)
Reading edition
"A deacon of the church at Newport esteemed the slave trade with its rum accessories as home missionary work. It is said that on the first Sunday after the arrival of his slaves he was accustomed to offer thanks 'that an overruling Providence had been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another cargo of benighted heathen to enjoy the blessings of a Gospel dispensation.'"—Bliss, op. cit., 22. In general on the slave trade as missionary work see Froude, History of England, VIII, 439.