in my essay could not be true. But the more I reflected on the authorities on which they were founded, the more constrained was I to give them credit. I sat down, disconsolate, on the turf by the road-side; and here it forcibly occurred to me, that if the statements that I had made were facts, it was high time that something should be done to put an end to such cruelties."
These convictions increased, rather than diminished, in the noble-hearted youth, and he felt that to accomplish any thing, he must give himself wholly to the work. Upon this point he consulted the ardent friends of freedom; and after mature deliberation, and a careful survey of the difficulties of the undertaking, he resolved to abandon all other pursuits, and give his life to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
The electric influence of his decision was at once felt upon others; — it increased their confidence, and fired their zeal. Sir Charles Middleton, M. P., Dr. Porteus, and Lord Scarsdale, both members of the House of Lords; Granville Sharp, J. Phillips Ramsay, and the united Society of Friends, — all rallied to his support. They knew the sacrifices that he had made, the brilliant prospects for usefulness and distinction in the church that he had renounced, and the struggles through which his mind had passed, — and they applauded the decision. They were impressed with his sincerity, his ardor, and his readiness to obey the divine will in the matter. Nor was
