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SECTION III.
SLAVERY IN AFRICA.
We come now to speak of the slavery of the African race,—a subject which has of late taken so much of the attention of philanthropists. It seems, at first View, one of the most dark and inscrutable permissions of Divine Providence, to suffer the carrying away of thousands and even millions of a particular race of men from their own country, to labor in servitude in other regions of the earth. And some, perhaps, have felt at times disposed to question either the existence or the goodness of an overruling Power, when such a wrong could be permitted to go on so long unchecked. But it would be poor reasoning to conclude that, because our finite and narrow minds cannot at once grasp the purposes of an Omniscient and Infinite Being, therefore such a Being does not exist, when His works all around us testify in the plainest manner to His existence, His wisdom, and His goodness. It would be a far wiser and juster View, to presume that we do not understand His designs, than that there are none, or that they are not wise and good. How vast must be His plans, who looks from eternity to eternity, and
