Walkers Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life | Page 4

so happy to keep in ignorance
and degradation, and to receive the homage and the labor of the slaves,
they forget that God rules in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, having his ears continually open to the cries,
tears and groans of his oppressed people; and being a just and holy
Being will at one day appear fully in behalf of the oppressed, and arrest
the progress of the avaricious oppressors; for although the destruction

of the oppressors God may not effect by the oppressed, yet the Lord our
God will bring other destructions upon them--for not unfrequently will
he cause them to rise up one against another, to be split and divided,
and to oppress each other, and sometimes to open hostilities with sword
in hand. Some may ask, what is the matter with this enlightened and
happy people?--Some say it is the cause of political usurpers, tyrants,
oppressors, &c. But has not the Lord an oppressed and suffering people
among them? Does the Lord condescend to hear their cries and see
their tears in consequence of oppression? Will he let the oppressors rest
comfortably and happy always? Will he not cause the very children of
the oppressors to rise up against them, and oftimes put them to death?
"God works in many ways his wonders to perform."
I will not here speak of the destructions which the Lord brought upon
Egypt, in consequence of the oppression and consequent groans of the
oppressed--of the hundreds and thousands of Egyptians whom God
hurled into the Red Sea for afflicting his people in their land--of the
Lord's suffering people in Sparta or Lacedemon, the land of the truly
famous Lycurgus--nor have I time to comment upon the cause which
produced the fierceness with which Sylla usurped the title, and
absolutely acted as dictator of the Roman people--the conspiracy of
Cataline--the conspiracy against, and murder of Cæsar in the Senate
house--the spirit with which Marc Antony made himself master of the
commonwealth--his associating Octavius and Lipidus with himself in
power,--their dividing the provinces of Rome among themselves--their
attack and defeat on the plains of Phillipi the last defenders of their
liberty, (Brutus and Cassius)--the tyranny of Tiberius, and from him to
the final overthrow of Constantinople by the Turkish Sultan, Mahomed
II., A.D. 1453. I say, I shall not take up time to speak of the causes
which produced so much wretchedness and massacre among those
heathen nations, for I am aware that you know too well, that God is just,
as well as merciful!--I shall call your attention a few moments to that
christian nation, the Spaniards, while I shall leave almost unnoticed
that avaricious and cruel people, the Portuguese, among whom all true
hearted christians and lovers of Jesus Christ, must evidently see the
judgments of God displayed. To show the judgments of God upon the
Spaniards I shall occupy but little time, leaving a plenty of room for the

candid and unprejudiced to reflect.
All persons who are acquainted with history, and particularly the Bible,
who are not blinded by the God of this world, and are not actuated
solely by avarice--who are able to lay aside prejudice long enough to
view candidly and impartially, things as they were, are, and probably
will be, who are willing to admit that God made man to serve him
alone, and that man should have no other Lord or Lords but
himself--that God Almighty is the sole proprietor or master of the
WHOLE human family, and will not on any consideration admit of a
colleague, being unwilling to divide his glory with another.--And who
can dispense with prejudice long enough to admit that we are men,
notwithstanding our improminent noses and woolly heads, and believe
that we feel for our fathers, mothers, wives and children as well as they
do for theirs.--I say, all who are permitted to see and believe these
things, can easily recognize the judgments of God among the Spaniards.
Though others may lay the cause of the fierceness with which they cut
each other's throats, to some other circumstances, yet they who believe
that God is a God of justice, will believe that SLAVERY is the
principal cause.
While the Spaniards are running about upon the field of battle cutting
each other's throats, has not the Lord an afflicted and suffering people
in the midst of them whose cries and groans in consequence of
oppression are continually pouring into the ears of the God of justice?
Would they not cease to cut each others throats if they could? But how
can they? The very support which they draw from government to aid
them in perpetrating such enormities, does it not arise in a great degree
from the wretched victims of oppression among them? And