ly with men of every race,
and make them sharers with us in the blessings of the gospel.

But thus far we have not come upon any case where the difference was one
not only of race but of color. Even here, however, we are not without
scriptural instances to guide us. You remember that of Ebed-melech, the
Ethiopian. Jeremiah was, by the cruelty of his enemies, imprisoned in a
dungeon or water tank, and was sunk in the mire at the bottom.
Ebed-melech, learning his condition, went and informed King Zedekiah of
the real state of the case, and obtained a command to take an escort of
thirty men with him and deliver him from the dungeon lest he should die.
So with great tenderness the Ethiopian threw down rags to put under the
ropes which he let down, and by which he was to soften the pressures of
the cords under his arms as they drew him up therewith from his filthy
prison; and after they had thus delivered him there came to the prophet
this message of God concerning him; "Go and speak to Ebed-melech, the
Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good;
and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will
deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord; and thou shalt not be given
into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely
deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall
be for a prey unto thee; because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith
the Lord." Here we have a kindness done by a colored man to Jeremiah,
and a message sent from God to the colored man acknowledging and
rewarding that kindness; but O! how many debts of that sort owed by men
among ourselves to the colored people have been forgotten or repudiated!
In the agony of the war, colored people fought in the ranks of the
Northern armies; and I have heard those who have belonged to the
Confederate side declare with tears in their eyes that the faithful
watch kept by their colored servants over their wives and families while
they were absent with the troops was beyond all praise. And yet in these
days we read every now and then of colored people shot down like dogs on
the slightest provocation, and prevented on the merest pretext from
exercising the rights of citizens of this free Republic, and men look on
and do nothing. But God may say something by and by, and when he speaks
men's ears shall tingle! We have another illustrati