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he saw that he would be obliged, by his official station, to be instrumental in fui -
nishing munitions of war to the troops of his own country, which he deemed to
be in the wrong, he at once resigned his public office, though he had been in it
nearly twenty years, and was fitted for no other employment-had none in view-
and had spent all his paternal inheritance, and the excess of his salary above his
own wants, in acts of benevolence and philanthropy. How refreshing to witness
such instances of strictly conscientious conduct! But that God in whom he trusted
His brothers, who were in comfortable circumstances,
did not leave him to want.
highly applauded his course, and cordially invited him to partake of their bounty,
to any extent, and for any duration. He accepted their kind invitation for the
time, and devoted himself to literary pursuits.

He had before, in 1767, published a work "On the Pronunciation of the English Tongue," and, in 1768, a tract entitled, "Remarks on several Important Prophecies," and a small treatise on the "Eastern Coast of Africa." He also took strong ground against the impressment of seamen-thus showing himself ahead of his age in another department of philanthropy. On this subject he had an interview with Dr. Johnson, who, instead of encouraging him in his laudable efforts, argued How much he was influenced by the the "necessity" of impressing seamen. "great moralist," will appear from the following remarks, in his own diary, upon

THE DUTY OF PLEADING FOR THE OPPRESSED.

I have been told that it is the common lot of the poor and laborious part of mankind to endure hardships and inconveniences; that the pressing and forcing them into service is no injustice nor illegality, being nothing more than one necessary contingent circumstance of their low condition of life, in which they were bred; and that the cruelty rather rests with persons, who, like me, take notice of their grievances, and render them unhappy by persuading them All this has been urged to me with such plausible that they are so. sophistry, and important self-sufficiency of the speaker, as if he supposed that the mere sound of words was capable of altering the nature of things; as if there were no distinction between good and evil, but that the circumstances of persons or occasions might render it expedient or necessary to practise the one as well as the other. Thus the tyrant's plea of necessity is made to remove all bounds of law, morality, and common right! But "wo be to them that call evil good, and good evil!" Happy would it be for this nation, and the eternal souls of such as mislead it, if the feelings of the seamen and other laborious poor had no other stimulation than the recital of their unhappy cases by such poor advocates as myself! Are they not surely of the same blood-have they not the same natural knowledge of good and evil to discern, and the same feelings to be sensible of injuries-as those who cause their sufferings?

It is to prevent and dissuade from acts of violence and injustice, but surely not to aggravate the sense of them, that such circum

stances are noticed. Nay, it is charity towards the oppressors, as well as the oppressed, to endeavor to convince them of their error; and how can this be done but by speaking of the oppressions? It is even a crime to be silent on such occasions; for the Scriptures command, "Open thy mouth; judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." Nay, it is the cause of God himself, who has declared, "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor."

Granville Sharp now took an increased interest in the abolition of the slave trade, in connection with which an instance of horrible cruelty had been brought to light, which has hardly its parallel on the page of history. The ship "Zong" sailed from Africa, with 440 slaves on board, for the island of Jamaica: many had died on the voyage, and when the ship came in sight of Jamaica, a large number were sick. "The master of the "Zong" then called together the officers, and told them that, if the sick slaves died a natural death, the loss would fall on the owners of the ship; but if they were thrown alive into the sea, it would be the loss of the underwriters." Accordingly, they proceeded to their horrid work, and actually threw overboard into the sea ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO HUMAN BEINGS ALIVE! This, as might be supposed, did much to arouse the nation to the character of the execrable traffic; and Granville Sharp never ceased laboring for its abolition till he saw the object of his wishes attained.

Another event which distinguishes the life of Mr. Sharp occurred about the year 1787,--it was the foundation of the colony of free blacks at Sierra Leone. In consequence of his own benevolent exertions, a large number of slaves had been freed in England, and being brought up to no trade, they became more or less dependent on public charity. These he had sent to Sierra Leone at his own expense, and thus he may be considered as the FOUNDER OF THE COLONY AT THAT PLACE. In this same year, the society was formed in London for the abolition of the slave trade, of which Mr. Sharp was a prominent member, and in which he continued to labor with unabated zeal till his death. Soon after this, a number of Christians of different denominations conferred together about forming a Bible Society, which resulted in the establishment of the "British and Foreign Bible Society," in 1804, of which Mr. Sharp was the first chairman. "Perhaps it would not have been possible," says Mr. Owen, the historian of the society, "to find, throughout the British dominions, a man in whom the qualities requisite for the first chairman of the British and Foreign Bible Society were so completely united as they were in this eminent philanthropist." Without going further into detail, we may say of Mr. Sharp that in every good cause-in every thing that tends to honor God and bless man-he took the deepest interest, and labored, to the extent of his powers, to the day of his death, which took place on the 6th of July, 1813.3 It is unnecessary to write a eulogy upon Mr. Sharp's character. What it was,

Prov. xxxi. 9.

Ibid. xiv. 31.

The following epitaph upon his tomb was written by the Rev. John Owen:-"At the age of seventy-eight, this venerable philanthropist terminated his career of almost unparalleled activity and usefulness, July 6, 1813, leaving behind him a name that will be cherished with affection and gratitude as long as any homage shall be paid to those principles of justice,

But

will be sufficiently seen from this brief sketch of his life. As a scholar, he stood very high; indeed, it was wonderful how he accomplished so much in literature, while he labored so assiduously in every prominent object of benevolence. though his writings were numerous, and had many readers at the time, and exerted great influence, yet, as most of them were pamphlets, and were written for temporary purposes, they are not much referred to now. Among them, however, are many that are not ephemeral. Such are his "Remarks on Several Important Prophecies," "Remarks on the Use of the Definite Article in the New Testament," "Remarks on Duelling," "An Account of the Division of the English Nation into Hundreds and Tithings," "On Personal Liberty," "A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share of the Legislature," &c. &c. In his memoirs, is a list of sixty-one publications on various subjects of law, religion, classical literature, morals, and philosophy. Indeed, a life of greater activity, usefulness, and benevolence, the world has seldom if ever witnessed.

THE LOVE OF GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOR.1

All the moral duties of the Gospel are briefly comprehended in two single principles of the Law of Moses, namely: The love of God, and the love of our neighbor. Nothing, therefore, can be esteemed truly lawful under the gospel, that is in the least repugnant to either of these; and we need never be at a loss to distinguish what is, or what is not so, if we will but carefully consider the proportion or degree of that love, which is clearly expressed to be due both to God and our neighbor in these two comprehensive and eternal maxims. The degree of love due to God exceeds all comparison or consideration of other things; for it must (says the text) be "with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might," which necessarily implies a most fervent zeal for the glory of God, far exceeding all worldly considerations. And with respect to the degree or true proportion of love due to our neighbor, we have no pretence to plead ignorance, since the appointed measure of it is contained in every man's breast-"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "On these two commandments" (said the Eternal Judge) "hang all the law and the prophets.” 5 The same Eternal Judge of mankind made also, on another occasion, a similar declaration concerning the sum or compendium "of the law and the

humanity, and religion, which, for nearly half a century, he promoted by his exertions and adorned by his example." The inscription on his monument in Westminster Abbey (which I had the pleasure of reading myself in July, 1850) is much longer. Two of the lines read thus:-"His WHOLE SOUL WAS IN HARMONY WITH THE SACRED STRAIN, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, ON EARTH PEACE, AND GOOD-WILL TOWARDS MEN," But two more lines I read with most painful interest, when I thought of the inconsistency of my own country:-" HE AIMED TO RESCUE HIS NATIVE COUNTRY FROM THE GUILT AND INCONSISTENCY OF EMPLOYING THE ARM OF FREEDOM TO RIVET THE FETTERS OF BONDAGE."

From the tract entitled "The Law of Liberty, or Royal Law, by which all Mankind will certainly be judged."

2 In these extracts from Granville Sharp, I have preserved the italics of the author; or, rather, what he has in small capitals, I have printed in italics.

a Deut. vi. 5.

Lev. xix. 18.

Matt. xxii. 40.

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prophets"-"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you," said he, "do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." This most excellent rule of conduct and behavior towards our neighbors, which includes the whole substance or spirit of "the law and the prophets," so perfectly corresponds with the second great commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves, namely, to manifest our love by doing to them as we ourselves might with reason and justice expect and desire they would do unto us, that it seems intended like a sort of paraphrase to explain the true tenor of it; for though the mode of expression is different, yet the effect of the doctrine is undoubtedly the same; because the apostle Paul has in like manner declared this second great commandment to be the compendium of "all the law." says he, "is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy "All the law," neighbor as thyself."

When, therefore, we consider that "all law" is reduced to so small a compass that it may be accounted, comparatively, as one word, there is no room left for offenders to plead ignorance as an excuse for having violated the general laws of morality and the natural rights of mankind. nents, as they regard their own eternal welfare, to take this subject Let me, therefore, exhort my oppointo their most serious consideration, and no longer refuse to acknowledge this glorious word or maxim as the true measure (except a still greater measure of love is required) of all their actions, and more especially with respect to the present point before us, the legality or illegality of slavery among Christians! For this question, by infallible necessity, falls under the decision of this very law, because it sets before us our own personal feelings as the proper measure or standard of our behavior to other men; for tyrants, slaveholders, extortioners, and other oppressors, would most certainly dislike to be treated as they treat others; so that this compendious law necessarily excludes the least toleration of slavery, or of any other oppression, which an innocent man would be unwilling to experience in his own person from another.

So that slavery is absolutely inconsistent with Christianity, because we cannot say of any slaveholder that he doth not to another what he would not have done to himself! For he is continually exacting involuntary labor from others without wages, which he would think monstrously unjust, were he himself the sufferer! Nay, many of them are so besotted with avarice, that they are not content with reaping the whole fruit of other men's labor upon earth without wages,3 but would deprive their poor laborers even of their eternal comfort, if they could exact a little more work from

2 Gal. v. 14.

Matt. vii. 12. "Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work."—Jer. xxil. 13,

them, by reducing them nearer to the state of brutes! What I advance cannot be denied, for it is notorious that many masters oppose the instruction of their slaves in Christian knowledge, and but very few promote it as they ought; so that the iniquity of the ignorant slave must rest with double weight on the guilty head of the owner, to fill up the measure of his sins!

Suppose a reverse of fortune-that an English or Scotch slaveholder or slavedealer is shipwrecked on the Barbary coast, and is retained as a slave by the Moors who seize him, or is sold as such to another person, according to the detestable custom of that savage people! Would he esteem himself the lawful property of his tawny master, because the wretched police of those barbarians, in tolerating slavery, is similar to his own former practices as an American slaveholder or African trader? Would he not think it cruel treatment to be esteemed a mere chattel, and, as such, to be ranked with the horses and oxen of his African master? Like them, to be compelled by stripes to perform the most servile and abject labor? Like them, to receive no wages, or other reward for his service, except a little coarse provender, merely to keep him in working order for his master's benefit? Would he not think himself griev ously injured by being forcibly detained and prevented from working for himself? And would he not think himself absolutely robbed of the fruits of his own labor? He would certainly have ample reason to lament the Mohammedan's ignorance of the heavenly precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" for he would then be taught, by his own sufferings, to comprehend the full force, extent, and meaning of that benevolent command, which, in his prosperity, he was never willing to understand, though the doctrine is so plain and obvious that there can be no excuse for misunderstanding it for unless the slaveholder can make it appear that his slave is not his neighbor, he must necessarily acknowledge this "law of liberty" to be the true measure of his conduct and behavior towards his slave as well as towards all other men.

HERBERT KNOWLES, 1798-1817.

Or this most promising youth, who was born in Canterbury, in the year 1798, I can find no particular account, except the following concluding paragraph of an article in the twenty-first volume of the "London Quarterly Review," upon the "Cemeteries and Catacombs of Paris:"

"We cannot close this article more appropriately than by a churchyard poem,

"It often happens that the slave himself has neither the power nor the wish to be free. He is then brutified; but this apathy is the dire effect of slavery, and so far from being a justifying cause, that it contains the grounds of its bitterest condemnation."-COLERIDGE; Literary Remains, i. 300.