earnestly; but I
now saw that while man had been injuring me, I had been offending God; and
that unless I ceased to offend him, I could not expect to have his
sympathy in my wrongs; and moreover, that I could not be instrumental in
eliciting his powerful aid in behalf of those for whom I mourned so
deeply.

This may provoke a smile from some who profess to be the friends of the
slave, but who have a lower estimate of experimental Christianity than I
believe is due to it; but I am not the less confident that sincere prayer
to God, proceeding from a few hearts deeply imbued with experimental
Christianity about _that time_, has had much to do with subsequent happy
results. At that time the 800,000 bondmen in the British Isles had not
seen the beginning of the end of their sufferings--at that time, 20,000
who are now free in Canada, were in bonds--at that time, there was no
Vigilance Committee to aid the flying slave--at that time, the two
powerful Anti-Slavery Societies of America had no being.

I distinctly remember that I felt the need of enlisting the sympathy of
God, in behalf of my enslaved brethren; but when I attempted it day after
day, and night after night, I was made to feel, that whatever else I might
do, I was not qualified to do that, as I was myself alienated from him by
wicked works. In short, I felt that I needed the powerful aid of some in
my behalf with God, just as much as I did that of my dear friend in
Pennsylvania, when flying from man. "If one man sin against another, the
judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against God, who shall entreat for
him?"

Day after day, for about two weeks, I found myself more deeply convicted
of personal guilt before God. My heart, soul and body were in the greatest
distress; I thought of neither food, drink or rest, for days and nights
together. Burning with a recollection of the wrongs man had done
me--mourning for the injuries my brethren were still enduring, and deeply
convicted of the guilt of my own sins against God. One evening, in the
third week of the struggle, while alone in my chamber, and after solemn
reflection for several hours, I concluded that I could never be happy or
useful in that state of mind, and resolved that I would try to become
reconciled to God. I was then living in the family of an Elder of the
Presbyterian Church. I had not made known my feelings to any one, either
in the family or out of it; and I did not suppose that any one had
discov