West Indies; but it also entertains another important purpose, in close connection with this high end. It is a cherished idea of many of its supporters, that by their endeavors, and through the objects of their benevolence, they may send abroad healthful influences and a saving power, far beyond the limits of their immediate field of labor;—even to the benighted father-land, whence the ancestors of the sable dwellers upon these islands were first brought; and thus help to raise up the great African family, in its several sections, to civilization and enlightenment;—to bring up a people, who for centuries "have lain among the pots,"[1] to the fine adornment, and the beauteous proportions of grace,—and to aid in that which seems just now, the great work of christendom—the regeneration of a continent!
Falling in with these purposes and aims, I wish to avail myself of the prophetic announcement I have emoted, by calling attention to some facts, in order to show, first of all, that in the work of the Divine Providence, this withered arm of the human species—the Negro race—is gradually, nay rapidly, resuming life and vitality, and hastening with a pace quick beyond all precedent, to the open day of the Gospel: and then I wish to employ the evidences of this fact which I may present, as the grounds for increased zeal and energy, in the particular department this Society aims to fulfil.
The term Ethiopia is, in the original, Cush. This Cush was one of the four sons of Ham. His descendants, in part, settled in Asia between the Euphrates
- ↑ Psalm lxviii. 13.
