Book excerpt: "A bitterly persecuted" anti-slavery minister who emigrated from England to Virginia as a young man, Bourne "was one of the first in the United States to advocate immediate emancipation". He was present at the creation of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and opposed women's participation in that organization. This hard-hitting analysis exposes southerners' "pro-slavery perversions" of the Old and New Testaments and their profound misunderstanding of biblical labor relationships. Though authorship is generally attributed to Bourne, the author's Introduction says he "was born on the banks of Virginia's beautiful river Potomac ..." Bourne was born in Westbury, England. -- David Lesser, Antiquarian book dealer.