Part III
(Continued from July 7)
The missionary John Wray’s arrival to fulfil Post’s desire to have the slaves taught religious education and to read and write brought much censure from other plantation owners who felt that it would lead to revolt.
They accused Post of creating “anarchy, chaos and discontent among the slaves” that would lead to “destruction” of the colony. The planters insisted that if they were teaching the slaves religion, they should teach them “their duties to their masters”. Newspaper articles also arose that warned of the dire consequences of teaching slaves to read.
But Post, his health deteriorating, refused to listen to the protestations and instead sought to have more missionaries appointed to other places in the colony. Post did have some supporters of his cause who also wrote to overseas missionaries and to the colonial council insisting that there would be no endangerment to the colony.
Post also offered land in the city to build a chapel but colonial authorities “refused to cooperate.”

(Reinhart: Nederlandse literatuur en slavernij ten tijde van de Verlichting)
On Le Resouvenir, religious services were initially conducted in a shed, but after a steady increase of worshippers over a year, Post decided to build a chapel on the plantation. In September 1808, the Bethel Chapel was completed and inaugurated, “crowded with people of various colours” said to number around 600.
A house for the missionary building was completed the following year on the plantation. However further expansions would be stymied by Post’s creditors demanding their payments or he would face bankruptcy.
One of the situations Post found himself in was that his plantation did not prosper as well as the surrounding plantations, and one reason suggested was that the better treatment and living conditions of the slaves on his plantation played a role.
After four consecutive years of cotton crop harvest failures, Post had been forced to ask for credit to maintain the plantation and the mission.
Despite these financial difficulties, in October 1808, the first group of children were baptised at Bethel Chapel, and on December 26 that same year, 13 women and seven men took confession, to the tearful delight of Hermanus Post, according to Wray.
But by early 1809, Post’s health began deteriorating rapidly. He was suffering from severe asthmatic conditions and was always in much pain. He soon developed increasingly painful gout and became unable to use his hands and feet. Restricted to his bed, he died April 29, 1809.
