been said of me in my childhood by those by whom
I had been taught to pray, both white and black, and in whom I had the
greatest confidence, that I had too much sense to be raised, and if I
was, I would never be of any use to any one as a slave. Now finding I
had arrived to man's estate, and was a slave, and these revelations
being made known to me, I began to direct my attention to this great
object, to fulfil the purpose for which, by this time, I felt assured I
was intended. Knowing the influence I had obtained over the minds of my
fellow servants, (not by the means of conjuring and such like
tricks--for to them I always spoke of such things with contempt) but by
the communion of the Spirit whose revelations I often communicated to
them, and they believed and said my wisdom came from God. I now began to
prepare them for my purpose, by telling them something was about to
happen that would terminate in fulfilling the great promise that had
been made to me--About this time I was placed under an overseer, from
whom I ran away--and after remaining in the woods thirty days, I
returned, to the astonishment of the negroes on the plantation, who
thought I had made my escape to some other part of the country, as my
father had done before. But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit
appeared to me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this
world, and not to the kingdom of Heaven, and that I should return to the
service of my earthly master--"For he who knoweth his Master's will, and
doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, and thus have I
chastened you." And the negroes found fault, and murmurred against me,
saying that if they had my sense they would not serve any master in the
world. And about this time I had a vision--and I saw white spirits and
black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened--the thunder
rolled in the Heavens, and blood flowed in streams--and I heard a voice
saying, "Such is your luck, such you are called to see, and let it come
rough or smooth, you must surely bare it." I now withdrew myself as much
as my situation would permit, from the intercourse of my fellow
servants, for the avowed purpose of serving the Spirit more fully--and
it appeared to me, and reminded me of the things it had already shown
me, and that it would then reveal to me the knowledge of the elements,
the revolution of the planets, the operation of tides, and changes of
the seasons. After this revelatio