Page:A Chapter on Slavery.djvu/104

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A CHAPTER ON SLAVERY.

signified in this oracle. He with whom a. thousand years is as a day, and a day as a thousand years, works his own sovereign will, and effects his own purposes of grace and goodness, in a manner above the comprehension of men. For ages Africa has been ‘meted out, and trodden down.’Her deep moral degradation seems, by universal consent, to have been justification in regarding her as lawful plunder, and as a land on which a curse rests. But we rejoice that these days are going by. The darkness of ages is yielding to the bright rising of the ‘Sun of Righteousness.’ Idolatry and superstition are retiring before Christianity and civilization; and on the mountain-top, once defiled by sacrifices to devils, the banner of the cross is unfurled, while a voice in the wilderness is proclaiming, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand."‘

This is certainly an eloquent passage; and when we think of its having been written by men who, or whose fathers, were once degraded African slaves, our admiration is greatly increased.

"I have here, also," continues Mr. Freeman, "the ‘Report of the Liberia Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Minutes of their Annual Conference in Liberia in 1835.' This document is full of interest, and displays the same zeal, energy, and ability which you find generally among the colonists. Of the Conference the Report says: ‘The greatest harmony and peace prevailed during our session; and it is confidently hoped that this little band of ambassadors of Christ have gone to their respective appointments with increasing zeal in the cause of their Divine Master, and holy resolutions to spend and be spent in