Secondly, That this plague was sent by God many years after the injury, the cause of the plague, was committed. And for what end were this and such like examples recorded in holy Scriptures? without doubt, for our learning.—For God is the same to-day as he was yesterday, and will continue the same for ever. He does not reject the prayer of the poor and destitute; nor disregard the cry of the meanest Negro. The blood of them spilt for these many years in your respective provinces will ascend up to heaven against you.’ Some who have only seen Negroes in an abject state of slavery, broken-spirited and dejected, knowing nothing of their situation in their native country, may apprehend, that they are naturally insensible of the benefits of Liberty, being destitute and miserable in every respect, and that our suffering them to live amongst us (as the _Gibeonites_ of old were permitted to live with the _Israelites_) though even on more oppressive terms, is to them a favour; but these are certainly erroneous opinions, with respect to far the greatest part of them: Although it is highly probable that in a country which is more than three thousand miles in extent from north to south, and as much from east to west, there will be barren parts, and many inhabitants more uncivilized and barbarous than others; as is the case in all other countries: yet, from the most authentic accounts, the inhabitants of _Guinea_ appear, generally speaking, to be an industrious, humane, sociable people, whose capacities are naturally as enlarged, and as open to improvement, as those of the _Europeans_; and that their Country is fruitful, and in many places well improved, abounding in cattle, grain and fruits. And as the earth yields all the year round a fresh supply of food, and but little clothing is requisite, by reason of the continual warmth of the climate; the necessaries of life are much easier procured in most parts of _Africa_, than in our more northern climes. This is confirmed by many authors of note, who have resided there; among others, _M. Adanson_, in his account of _Goree_ and _Senegal_, in the year 1754, says, ‘Which way soever I turned my eyes on this pleasant spot, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature; an agreeable solitude, bounded on every side by charming landscapes, the rural situation of cottages in the midst of trees; the ease and indolence of the Negroes reclined under the shade of their spreading foliage; the simplicity of their dress and manners; the whole revived in my mind the idea of our first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in its primitive state: They are, generally speaking, very good-natured, sociable and obliging. I was not a little pleased with this my first reception; it convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable abatement made in the accounts I had read and heard every where of the savage character of the _Africans_. I observed, both in Negroes and Moors, great humanity and sociableness, which gave me