pe the damnation of hell, only through the merits of
my dying Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; which caused me to make
intercession with Christ, for the salvation of my poor immortal soul;
and I full well recollect, I requested of my Lord and Master to give me
a work, I did not care how mean it was, only to try and see how good I
would do it." When he became acquainted with the method of salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ, he soon found relief, particularly at a time when
he was earnestly engaged in prayer; yea, he says, "I felt such love and
joy as my tongue was not able to express. After this I declared before
the congregation of believers the work which God had done for my soul,
and the same minister, the Rev. Matthew Moore, baptized me, and I
continued in this church about four years, till the vacuation" of
Savannah by the British. When Mr. Liele was called by grace himself, he
was desirous of promoting the felicity of others. One who was an
eyewitness of it, says, _That he began to discover his love to other
negroes, on the same plantation with himself, by reading hymns among
them, encouraging them to sing, and sometimes by explaining the most
striking parts of them_. His own account is this, "Desiring to prove the
sense I had of my obligations to God, I endeavoured to instruct" the
people of "my own color in the word of God: the white brethren seeing
my endeavours, and that the word of the Lord seemed to be blessed, gave
me a call at a quarterly meeting to preach before the congregation."
Afterwards Mr. Moore took the sense of the church concerning brother
Liele's abilities, when it appeared to be their unanimous opinion, "that
he was possessed of ministerial gifts," and according to the custom
which obtains in some of the American churches, he was licensed as a
probationer. He now exercised at different plantations, especially on
those Lord's Day evenings when there was no service performed in the
church to which he belonged; and preached "about three years at Brunton
land, and at Yamacraw," which last place is about half a mile from
Savannah. Mr. Henry Sharp, his master, being a deacon of the church
which called George Liele to the work of the ministry, some years before
his death gave him his freedom, only he continued in the family till his
master's exit. Mr. Sharp in the time of the war was an officer, and was
at last killed in the king's service, by a ball which shot off his hand.
The author of this account hand