understanding: "Shall not the land tremble for this!" that is, for this same abominable oppression of the poor (the buying them for slaves) in which Great Britain and her Colonies are infinitely more guilty than the people to whom this appeal was made! and "shall not the land" (therefore) "even our land, tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?" &c. Surely "God will never forget any of these works," my countrymen!
The prophet Jeremiah manifestly alluded to the like deceitful practices of the Jews (whereby they reduced the poor to slavery) when he made a solemn protest against them in the name of God:—"Your sins" (said he) "have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked (men): they lay wait as he that setteh snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage (or coup) is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord! Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" &c. Jer. v. 26 to 29. Here again the Almighty plainly appeals to the human understanding concerning the propriety or rather the necessity, of exerting the divine vengeance against such an oppressive nation.
And yet how inconsiderable was the crime of the Jewish nation in this respect, if compared with the numerous bondage and with the unbounded oppsession of the poor negroes in the British colonies? Have we not therefore just reason to fear that God will "visit for these things ?" Does not the word of God, which cannot change, appeal to us, my countrymen, as well as to the Jews?—"Shall not my soul" (saith the Lord!) "be avenged on such a nation as this?"
The same prophet, in the next chapter, declares the divine vengeance to be at hand:—"For thus hath the Lord of hosts said,—Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem. This (is) the city to be visited! she
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