were destitute of Bible light, worshipping
idols of sticks and stones, and barbarously murdering one another, God put
it into the hearts of these good slaveholders to venture across the bosom
of the hazardous Atlantic to Africa, and snatch us poor negroes as brands
from the eternal burning, and bring us where we might sit under the
droppings of his sanctuary, and learn the ways of industry and the way to
God. "Oh, niggers! how happy are your eyes which see this heavenly light;
many millions of niggers desired it long, but died without the sight. I
frequently envy your situations, because God's special blessing seems to
be ever over you, as though you were a select people, for how much happier
is your position than that of a free man, who, if sick, must pay his
doctor's bill; if hungry, must supply his wants by his own exertions; if
thirsty, must refresh himself by his own aid. And yet you, oh, niggers!
your master has all this care for you. He supplies your daily wants; your
meat and your drink he provides; and when you are sick he finds the best
skill to bring you to health as soon as possible, for your sickness is his
loss, and your health his gain; and, above all when you die (if you are
obedient to your masters, and good niggers), your black faces will shine
like black jugs around the throne of God." Such was the religious
instruction I was in the habit of receiving until I was about seventeen
years old; and told that when at any time I happened to be offended, or
struck by a white boy I was not to offend or strike in return, unless it
was another black, then I might fight as hard as I chose in my own
defence. It happened about this time there was a white boy who was
continually stealing my tops and marbles, and one morning when doing so I
caught him, and we had a battle, and I had him down on the ground when Mr.
Burmey came up. He kicked me away from the white boy, saying if I belonged
to him he would cut off my hands for _daring_ to strike a white boy; this
without asking the cause of the quarrel, or of ascertaining who was to
blame. The kick was so severe that I was sometime before I forgot it, and
created such a feeling of revenge in my bosom that I was determined when I
became a man I would pay him back in his own coin. I went out one day, and
measured myself by a tree in the wood, and cut a notch in the tree to
ascertain how fast I grew. I went at different times for the space of two
months and found I was no tal