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Show 284 A DAY SPENT AT feigned labors of Ilcrculc~, that my understanding would be suspootod, if I proposed it." Tic ]wwcvcr resolved to do something for the cause by translating his c~sn.y from L~tin jnto Englisl1, enlarging anJ. prcs~mting it tO tbc public. Immediately on tho publication of this essay, he discovered to his astonishment and delight, that he was not tho only one who had been interested in this subject. Doing invited to tho house of William Dillwyn, one of these friends to tho cause, he says : "How surprised was I to learn, in the course of our conversation, of tho labors of Granville Sharp, of the writings of Ramsey, and of tho controversy in which tho latter was engaged, of all which I hacl hitherto known nothing. How surp1·ised was I to learn that WiJliam Dill· wyn had, himself, two years before, associated himself with five others for the purpose of enliglltcning the public mind on this gl"Oat subject. "II ow astonished was I to find, that a society l1ad • been formed in America for tho same object. Those thougl1ts almost ovcrpowe1·cd me. ).[y mind was overwhelmed by the thought, that I had been provi· dentially directed to this house; tho f111gor of Provi- PLAY>"ORD ilALL. 285 donee was beginning to be discernible, and that the day-star of African Eberly was rising." After this he nssociatcU ·with many friends of the c:tuse, and at last it became evident that in order to effect anything, he must sacrifice all other prospects in life, and devote himself exclusively to this work. IIe says, after mentioning reasons which prevented all his a::::soeiates from doing this: '1 I could look, there· foro, to no person but myself; and tho question was, whether I was prepared to make tl1c sacrifice. In favor of the undertaking,! urged to myself that never was any cause, w]Iich l1ad hccn taken up by man, in any country or in any agP, so great and important; that never was th ere one in wh icl1 so mucl1 misery was heard to cry for redress; tl1at ncYcr was there one in which so much good could be done; never one in which tho duty of christian e!Jarity could be so extensively exercised; never one more worthy of the devotion of a whole lifo towards it; and that, if a man thought properly, he ought to rejoice to have been called into oxistonco, if he were only permitted to become an instrument in forwarding it in any part of its progress. "Against these sentiments, on the other band, ! had |
