And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as God
intended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, by
the working of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show
signs of having been better off long ago. Many, like the South Sea
Islanders, have curious arts remaining among them in spite of their
brutish ignorance, which they could only have learned when they were
far more clever and civilised than they are now. And almost all of
them have some sad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept
up in songs and foolish tales, of having been richer, and more
prosperous, and more numerous, a long while ago. They will confess
to you, if you ask them, that they are worse than their fathers--that
they are going down, dying out--that the gods are angry with them, as
they say. The Lord have mercy upon them! But what is, to my mind,
the most awful part of the matter remains yet to be told--and it is
this: That man may actually fall by original sin too low to receive
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be recovered again by it. For the
negroes of Africa and the West Indies, though they have fallen very
low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. They have still
understanding left to take it in, and conscience, and sense of right
and wrong enough left to embrace it; thousands of them do embrace it,
and are received unto righteousness, and lead such lives as would
shame many a white Englishman, born and bred under the gospel.
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