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 out of the line of its course: it was crossing the world, like the sun, on a belt from east to west; but poor Africa was far to the southward, out of its way, and seemingly beyond the reach of its influence. Or, if its missionaries sought, in their benevolence, to get to them, they were stopped by the Great Desert on the North, by the deadly malaria on the West: the white man could not live in that atmosphere and under that tropical sun.

Was there no hope, then, for that dark continent? Must "Ethiopia ever stretch out her hands" in vain? Had God "forgotten to be gracious?" — had the good Savior of mankind forsaken so large a portion of His creatures? No! He had not forgotten or forsaken them. In His own time and in His own manner He was preparing deliverance for them. The means, too, were seemingly hard and strange — such as could not have been thought of, such as could hardly be believed, by man. Such is ever the manner of the Divine working: "His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts." It is impossible that they should be; for He knows all, while man knows but an infinitesimal part: He beholds the universe at a glance, while man sees but the single thing just before his eyes. It is not till effects begin to show themselves, that man has an understanding of causes: it is not till results begin to appear, that man begins to have a dawning perception of God's great designs.

As Moses, of old, was in God's providence permitted to be taken away by the daughter of Pharaoh, that he might afterwards return to his people,