As soon as I discovered the first signs of daylight, I arose, got all my affects and implements on board, and set sail, proceeding upwards, hoping to give the musquitoes the slip, who were now, by the cool morning dews and breezes, driven to their shelter and hiding places. I was mistaken however in these conjectures, for great numbers of them, which had concealed themselves in my boat, as soon as the sun rose, began to revive, and sting me on my legs, which obliged me to land in order to get bushes to beat them out of their quarters. An account of the sufferings and horrid death of a Negro slave in one of the Southern States which sufficiently evinces the necessity of the abolition of such laws as allow the enslavement of human beings.-Arminian Magazine I was not long since invited to dine with a Planter who lived three miles from To avoid the heat of the sun, I resolved to go on foot, sheltered in a path, leading through a pleasant wood. I was leisurely travelling along, attentively examining some peculiar plants which I had collected, when, all at once, I felt the air strongly agitated, though the day was perfectly calm and sultry. I. immediately cast my eyes towards the clear ground, from which I was but a small distance, in order to see whether it was not occasioned by a sudden shower; at that instant, a sound resembling a deep rough voice, uttered, as I thought, a few inarticulate monosyllables. Alarmed and surprised, I precipitately looked all around, when I perceived at about six rods distance, something resembling a cage, suspended to the limb of a tree; all the branches of which appeared covered with large birds of prey, fluttering about and anxiously endeavouring to perch on the cage. Actuated by an involuntary motion of my hands, more than by any design of my mind, I fired at them; they all flew to a short distance with a most hideous noise: when, horrid to think, and painful to repeat, I perceived a Negro suspended in a cage, and left to expire! I shudder when I recollect that the birds had already picked out his eyes; his cheek bones were bare; his arms had been attacked in several places, and his body seemed covered with a multitude of wounds. From the edges of the hollow sockets, and the lacerations with which he was disfigured, the blood slowly dropped, and tinged the ground beneath. No sooner were the birds flown, than swarms of insects covered the body of this unfortunate wretch, eager to feed on his mangled flesh, and drink his blood. I found myself in stantly arrested by the power of affright and terror; my nerves were convulsed; I trembled; I stood motionless, involuntarily contemplating the fate of this Negro in all its dismal latitude. The living spectre, though deprived of his eyes, could distinctly hear; and in his uncouth dialect begged me to give him some water to allay his thirst. Humanity herself would 1 have recoiled back with horror; she would have balanced, whether to lessen such reliefless distress, or mercifully with one blow to end this dreadful scene of agonizing torture! Had I had a ball in my gun, I certainly should have dispatched him, but finding myself unable to perform so kind an office, I sought, though trembling to relieve him as well as I could. A shell ready fixed to a pole, which had been used by some negroes, presented itself to me; I filled it with water, and with trembling hands I guided it to the quivering lips of the wretched sufferer. Urged by this irresistible power of thirst, he endeavoured to meet it, as he instinctively guessed its approach, by the noise it made in passing through the bars of the cage. "Tanki you, white man, tanki you, puti some poison, and givi me."-How long have you been hanging there? I asked him. Two days and me no die; the birds, the birds, aah me!" Oppressed with reflections which this shocking spectacle afforded me, I mustered strength enough to pass away, and soon reached the house where I intended to dine. There I heard that the reason for this slave's being thus punished, was on account of his having killed the overseer of the plantation. They told me that the law of self-preservation rendered such executions necessary, and supported the doctrine of slavery with the arguments generally made use of to justify the practice; with the repetition of which I shall not trouble the reader. ACCOUNT OF INFIDELS. Some particulars of the lives and deaths of several Infidels, us Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert, Diderot, Condorcet, Thomas Paine, Antitheus, &c. But the old Dragon's tail has not so wide a swing [Meth. Mag. Eng.] It is not, perhaps, generally known, that Voltaire, who in the coarse of his life, distinguished himself above all others in the' propagation of infidelity, visited England, at an early age, aud received marks of attention from George the first, and several of the nobility, which he did not deserve. The present King of Great Britain, however, to his honour be it spoken, has never countenanced the Infidels of France; and to his Majesty's religious disposition it may be owing, under God, that, the English nation now enjoy more civil liberty, more real Christianity, and consequently more happiness, than any other nation in Europe. When Voltaire was in England, he determined to dedicate his life to the vile project of destroying CHRISTIANITY; and on his return to Paris, he was so full of his design, and so sanguine in his hopes of accomplishing it, that when M. Herault, the Lieutenant of the Police, reproached him with his wickedness, and said to him, "You may do or write what you please, you will never be able to destroy the Christian religion," Voltaire answered without hesitation, "That is what we shall see."-And with insufferable arrogance, he would exclaim, "I am wea"ry of hearing people repeat that twelve men have been suffi"cient to establish Christianity. I will prove that one man "may suffice to destroy it."* His correspondence with the famous Frederic King of Prus sia deserves attention in this view. In August 1759, in a letter to the King he says, “I am afraid "that you want leisure at the close of the campaign, and that "you are so occupied in cudgelling the Arabians, Bulgarians, &c. "that you have not time to apply yourself to PHILOSOPHY, and "to the destruction of the WRETCH [meaning the religion of Je"sus Christ.] I take the liberty, dying, to recommend by will, this "WRETCH to your majesty. She is more your enemy than you "believe. Her Virgin and her Fanatic are indeed something; "but this Virgin and this Fanatic will not reform the west; "whereas Frederic was born to enlighten the world."† Various means were used by these and other Infidels, to accomplish their purpose of destroying Christianity. The compilation of the famous dictionary called the Encyclopædia, furnished them with a favourable cpportunity of disseminating their principles. D'Alembert considered it as the grand means of enlightening mankind, and of crushing the WRETCH. In that publication every art was exhausted to diffuse the poison of infidelity as widely as possible, but yet in such a way as not to excite suspicion. Raynal, a man who had been expelled from the order of Jesuits for his impiety, was the principal writer on divinity employed in it. In order that the Encyclopædia might be generally read, it was held up to the world as the treasury of * Vide Voltaire, edit, de Kell. + Works of the K. of Prussia. knowledge of every kind. Great cunning was used in those articles in which the doctrines of religion were discussed; and it was principally by the references which were given to other articles, that the reader was led to an acquaintance with the stores of deism and atheism which were prepared for him. Voltaire, when expressing bis wishes that a philosophical work might be published, that should for ever crush the WRETCH, says, "I place all my hopes in the Encyclopædia."* The Advocate General of the Parliament of Paris accused the authors of the Encyclopædia of being deists, atheists, corrupters of rebels against the king; and the parliament condemned the publication + But afterwards the Infidels obtained the countenance of the ministers of state, and the work acquired an almost unbounded circulation. Europe was inundated with the books which were fabricated by these men against religion, under the various title of Systems, Romances, and Histories. In those publications the favourite principle of Voltaire was constantly kept in view, “ Strike, but conceal the hand." Posthumous works were invented for deceased writers. Sketches were prepared by one person, and filled up by another, and impiety was insinuated in every form that could make it palatable or popular: "Always endeavour," says Voltaire to D'Alembert, "to crush the WRETCH." I only ask "five or six bon mots, [witty sayings, jests,] a day, and that will "be enough. He will never recover it. Laugh, Democritus, "and make me laugh, and the sages shall triumph." Great pains were taken by these Infidels to spread their publications in different nations. Voltaire says to the king of Prussia, "Were I not so old, and had I health, I would quit, without regret, the house which I have built, to go and dedicate, with two or three PHILOSOPHERS, the remainder of my life, under "your protection, to the printing of a few useful books. But, Sire, cannot you, without exposing yourself, have some of the "Berlin booksellers encouraged to reprint them, and to distribute "them throughout Europe, at a price low enough to ensure their "sale?" Frederic answered, "You may make use of our printers as you please. They enjoy perfect liberty; and as "they are connected with those of Holland, France, and Ger"many, I have no doubt but that they have the means of conIveying books whithersoever they may think proper."Ş ༔་ The King of Prussia often solicited Voltaire for new publications against Christianity, and was very diligent in spreading several impious books of his own writing. "Good gentlemen "PHILOSOPHERS," says Frederic to Voltaire, "exert your whole * Letter to Damilaville. Memiors of Voltaire. Works of the K. of Prussia. A Ibid. force. Combat with error. Heap argument on argument, to "destroy the WRETCH." Voltaire asserted, that in Calvin's own town, (Geneva) there were but a few beggarly fellows who believed in the consubstantial, i. e. in Jesus Christ; and he exulted in the approaching fall of the Church of England, whilst he extolled the English truths, meaning the impieties of Hume. When writing to D'Alembert in the year 1763, he said, "I fear that you are not sufficiently " zealous. You bury your talents. You only contemn whilst 66 you should abhor and destroy the monster. Could not you "crush him in your pages? It was given to Meleager to kill the "boar; hurl the javelin, but hide your head. Comfort me in my old age." 66 In a few years afterwards, he says to D'Alembert, "Both you "and Damilaville must be well pleased to see the contempt in"to which the WRETCH is fallen, amongst the better sort of peo"ple throughout Europe. That is what we wished for, and all "that was necessary. We never pretended to enlighten the "shoe-makers and house maids. We leave them to the Apos"tles. But several of the PHILOSOPHERS, were afterwards of a different opinion, and in order to corrupt the minds of the lower classes of people, they employed pedlars, to sell at low prices, in the country towns, the books which were written against religion; and the village schoolmasters were also engaged in the same infamous work. In this war against Christianity, the French Infidels considered the Socinians as their worthy allies. They knew that Socinianism led directly to Deism, and that, in fact, many of those persons who called themselves Socinians, were already Deists. Hence, Voltaire says to the King of Prussia, on the 8th of November 1773, "What vexes me is, that you do not establish a "Socinian church, after having appointed several for the Jesuits. "There are Socinians still to be met with in Poland; they swarm "in England, and we have some of them in Switzerland. Juli"an would certainly have favoured them. They hate that which "he hated; they despise that which he despised; and they like "him are worthy men."+ These pretended PHILOSOPHERS were guilty of every species of hypocrisy and falsehood, which could in the least tend to the accomplishment of their purposes. Voltaire, when writing to D'Argental, says, "If I had an hundred thousand men, I know "what I would do with them, but as I have them not, I will re"ceive the Sacrament at Easter, and you may call me hypocrite as much as you please." * Letter of the 2nd Sept. 1768. + Works of the K. of Prussia. |