"Fugitive Slave Law" prompted them to emigrate to Canada; but proximity determined their choice of a home rather than any large principle. We read in the Acts of the Apostles, that when those who at Stephen's death were persecuted, were scattered abroad, "they went everywhere, preaching the word." So when our brethren felt constrained to leave the United States, it was meet, it seems to me, that some of them should have thought of Africa and her needs. On the other hand, if Liberians had been duly awake to the welfare of our race, we should have shown our brotherly feeling by inviting the wanderers to our shores.
These two hindrances, that is, a lack of missionary zeal and a tenacious hold on locality, will doubtless prevent active efforts for the regeneration of Africa. So, too, they will serve to check commercial enterprise. But as a people, we shall have to rise above these things. The colored churches of America will find, by and by, they can retain no spiritual vitality unless they rise above the range of selfish observation, to broad, general, humane ideas and endeavors. Self-preservation, self-sustentation, are only single items in the large and comprehensive category of human duties and obligations.
"Unless above himself, he can erect himself,
How poor a thing is man."
And this is equally true with regard to Liberian black Christians. Do not think that I pretend to say that w' in Africa stand on such a high vantage-ground that we can point invidiously at our brethren in America. I have no hesitation in saying, as my
