327 Are there no slaves at home-are there none, who if not under task masters, are at least working more for the profit of their employers than their own common support! To say nothing here about the slavish and hard condition of the poor welch girls, and irish fish-women, porters and carriers (particularly in London ;) sure I am, when christianty is abroad (in the world) the condition and state of all these poor creatures, together with porters-carters, hackneycoachmen, watermen, &c. &c. will undergo a renovation, as well as their temper and opinion; the wretched state of most day-labourers, mechanics, and journeymen, principally owing to their small gains, or low wages, nearly equals the late slave trade; Distress and want are more pressing than humanity; and like a shipwrecked mariner, crew, and passengers, perceiving death, ready to swallow them up, are commanded even to "make no mention of the names of other gods, neither to let it be heard out of their mouth. (Exod. xxiii. 13.) "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." (Isa. xliii. S.) That all or most of the names of the months and the days of the week have been, and are ascribed by way of honour to the idols of the heathens, and in conformity to their worships, needs no question: is not the gospel day then the glorious time wherein the Lord will fulfil his covenant with Israel, "I will take away the names of Baalim" (the plural number of Baal, relating to divers idols, &c.) "out of his mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their names, (Hosea, ii, 17.) t I find that the idolatrous: Romans gave names to several of their months, in honour of their pretended deities: So the likeidolatry prevailing among our Saxon ancestors, induced them to call the days of the week by the name of the idol, which on that day they peculiarly worshipped. Hence, also, in the days of popish superstition, not only the use of heathenish names. and customs were indulged, but also other unsound and unscrip become almost insensible to every feeling, even that of self-preservation! Alas, what awful scenes have I not witnessed, occasioned by the scanty and hard earning of the industrious labourer and mecha nics, and still more awful examples for their poor dear children!—the voice raised to an undue and unnatural tone-the features distorted-the soul harrowed up, and all the passions on the wing-the hands lifted up-wages! wages! the rest, reader, unutterable. Where then is the "boasted independence, and the power of pursuing the occupation and habits of life which we prefer, and the prospect of happier days, and improved situation for ourselves and our children!" Alas, I see little or nothing of it; all family endearments and social intercourse, willing and loving services, and grateful returns, seem to me, (I speak by experience,) dreadfully im tural practices in religion were invented and introduced, even when the profession of the christian religion became national! From this corrupt source sprang the popish sacrifice of the mass, the celebration of which, at particular times, gave rise to the vulgar names of Michaelmas, Martinmas, Christmas, and the like. If then christians are to make no mention of the name of other gods, surely neither the reproach of singularity, nor the sagacious reasonings of such as would evade the cross of Christ ought to turn any side from the language of truth, and keeping to the simplicity of the gospel. It is not less strange than curious to observe, men who rank high in the republic of letters, but popular ministers condemning as pagan, roman, and grecian idolatry and heathenism, that science of judicial astrology, which pretends to foretel future events, by the aspects, positions, and influences of the heavenly bodies-- the dominion of the stars over our bodies and minds, the arbiters of our happiness---life and death," &c. yet continue in the use of others (above mentioned) equally idolatrous and heathenish! Surely such do err, "not knowing the scriptures." peded, if not entirely cut off from the poor labourer, the industrious mechanic and journeyman! There were not wanted men, who, not only enemies to the slave-trade, but men "most respectable and amiable," who boldly asserted, that the negroslaves are even happier than our own peasantry, and that their situation is not only far superior to that of the bulk of the English poor, but even those of the continent, or Scotland, or Ireland; and that the labour required of the negroes by no means occupies the whole day! and besides the day called Sunday, they have certain numbers of holidays in the year, while the British labourer has no time, but finds the very utmost he can do will barely maintain himself and family! But this no more proves the equality and justness of the state and condition of my countrymen than it either proves the justice and humanity of the slave-merchant, or compensates for the horrible and abominable crime of man-stealing! The remark which the Christian Observer, added to Wilberforce's masterly and eloquent refutation of the above positions, is very pertinent. "We know indeed of a theory, half popular, and half philosophical, which, being made up of a little truth, with a great deal of falsehood, is plausible enough to impose on those who are not very solicitous about the happiness of their fellow-creatures, and therefore willing to get rid of such inquiries as soon as may be. It is an opinion about as old as the flood, that external circumstances notwithstanding, happiness is pretty equally distributed. The learned is happy, nature to explore, The rich is happy, in the plenty given, "And so upon the authority of Pope, and the sages of antiquity, gentlemen," as he calls them "very complacently infer that the negroes are as happy as the rest!" Vide review of Wilberforce on the abolition of the slave trade. However, happy for the Afric race, by an act of the legislature, at last, this iniquitous traffic, Dark with crime, and dropping blood, Groans of Afric swell'd the blast! is for ever done away with, at last, abolished by the law of England. Woe to the land, when wealth proclaims Another land's undoing; Whose trophied column rises high, On robbery and ruin. Britannia saw, with deep disdain, The foul reproach, the coward stain, She saw, and swept her shame away, May this horrible traffic be for ever forgotten! or if remembered, only to the disgrace of the sever * Two poems, which were composed for the Anniversary, on the abolition of the slave trade. Vide Chr. Obs. for 1808. teenth and eighteenth century! And will you, my friends, tarnish these fair-earned laurels,-which no conquest of glory, no banner ever so triumphantly waved, could equal, by suffering your fellow countrymen, the poor labourer and mechanic, to be com pared to a negro in the West Indies! 41 What do you think, my friends, eighteen shillings a guinea, or even twenty-five shillings a week (these times) will do for a labourer or journeyman with a wife and large family! Is it possible that he can be any other than the inhabitant of "the miserable hovel," or "the wretched cellar!" Is this to render unto thy workmen or servants, "that which is just and equal?" You know better, by your own expenses, how far "two pounds a week" will do for domestic affairs. Rather, are they not wronged both of their wages and time?"Common sense," common honesty ought to teach such better, (without the authority of the gospel,) that it is neither just nor equal that the masters-the employers should have the labour of men, their health and strength of their youth and age, as long as they are able to work, and all the profit, and they not wages enough to keep them decent, while in health, much less in sickness, or out of employ! "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail!" (Amòs. viii. 4.) “I will come near to you to judgment: and I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts!" (Mal. iii. 5.) And what is not less surprising than singular to observe, these poor labourers and mechanics are called upon to put |