iv.
PREFACE.
in the present; — met with his emphatic and most earnest
protest. He took occasion, on the instant, to urge his
hearers to a constant recollection of the slavery of their
race and of the wrongs it had brought upon them.
The whole subject is, without doubt, a matter of first-
rate importance. I apprehend that we cannot take a
step forward for advancement, until we arrive at right
convictions upon the point, viz.,—"What are the primal
ideas which shall command our attention? What shall
be the absorbing themes of thought and action, in this
race in our day and generation."
Anxious that our leading minds should ponder and
discuss this topic, I have put it in the foremost place in
the volume; to invite attention to it, and to elicit
thought.
My own conviction is not only unchanged: it be¬
comes more deeply rooted as I get more and more
acquainted with the condition of the Race, their supreme
difficulties, their vast needs, and the large demands,
social, civil, educational and religious, which are con¬
stantly gathering around them.
This great problem, it seems to me, should engage
their best thought, and stimulate their noblest endeav¬
ours.
The papers relating to Africa are republished be¬
cause of the Author's interest in that great continent,
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