Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-02-04

Will not resist him-he will get out of Isaac
all we want to know"-this was the general
hellei, and, acting upon it, a committee visi-
ted the pastor. An explanation took place
and the good man readily consented to do all
he could.
He went to the cell. The slave felon and
the man OF God confronted each otherl
81 come, Isaac" said the latter, ito find
out from you everything about this wicked
insuTrection, and you, "-"Master," hastily
Interrupted Isaac, ''you come for no such pnr.
pose. lou may have been over-persuaded
to do so, or unthinkingly have given your
consent. But will you, who first taught me
religion, who made Inc know that my Jesus
suffered and died IN trnth-will you tell me
To betray confidence sacredly entrusted to me,
and thus sacrifice others lives because my
life is 10 be forieitedl Can you persuade me,
as a sufferer and %struggler for freedom, to
turn traitor to the very men who were to help
me! Oh, master! let me love you;" and IL
sing, as If uncertain Of the influence of his
appealed his full stature, and looking his
minister directly in the face, he added, with
commanding maiesty-"you know me-
/ wish the very language Of Isaac, the
slave, could be used. | wish that | could
repeat the tale as | heard the old minister tell
II. SO minute, yet so natural, so particular
In detail, yet so life-like! The Jail, its inner
cell, the look and bearing Of Isaac, his calm
ness, his gentleness of soul! 1t was touch
ing in the extreme. ! have known sternest
Shareholders to weep, like children, as they
would listen to the story. But ! can only
narrate it, as | remember it, in brief outline.
The old divine continued
81 could not proceed. | looked at Isaac;
my eye fell before his. | could not forget
his rebuke; | acknowledged my sin. For the
first time in my ministerial life | had done a
mean, a base act, and, standing by the side
OF "a chained f>elon, | felt myself to be tie
criminal"
a long silence ensued. The minister was
in hopes that Isaac would break it; he did
not. lie made several efforts TO do so, but
tailed. Recovering from his shock at length,
ana reyertlng, in his own mind, to the hor-
rorS which the revolt would have occasioned,
ne resumed the conversation thus:
but, Isaac, yours was a wicked plot, and,
IT you had succeeded, you would have made
The very streets run blood. How could YOU
think OF this! How consent to kill your old
MISTRESS! How dream of staying me and
"Masler," Isaac quickly responded, 81 love
old master and mistress. | love Won and
yours. | would die to bless you any time.
| would hurt no human being, no liy-
ing thing. But you taught me, that God
was the God of black as well as whiie-that
he was no respecter Of persons-that in his
eye all were alike equal,-and that there was
no religion unless we loved him and our
nelghbor, and did unto others as we would
should do unto US. Master, | was a
slave. My wife and children We're slaves
If equal with others before God, they should
be equal among men. | saw my young mas
tiers learning, holding what they made, and
making what they could. But, master, my
race could make nothing, hold nothing.-
What they did they did for others, not for
themselves. And they had to DO it, wheth-
er they wished 1t or not, for they were slaves.
Master, this Is not loving our neighbor, or
doing to others as W. would have them do to
US. | knew there was and could be no help
for me, for wife or children, for my race, en-
cept we were all free; and as the whites
would not let this be so, and as God told Inc
he could only help those who helped them-
selves, ! preached freedom 10 the slaves, and
bid them strike for it like men. Master, we
were betrayed. But ! tell you now, if we
had succeeded, | should have slain old mas
ter and mistress and you first, to show my
people that | could sacrifice my love, as | or
dered them to sacrifice their hates, 10 have
lustlce-luslice for them-iustice for mine
justice for all. | should have been miserable
and wretched for life, | could not kill any
human creature without being so. But;mas-
ter, God here"-poinling with his chained
hand to his heart-told me then, as he tells
me '0O, that | was right
81 don't know how it was" continued the
old minister, 'but | was overpowered.-
Isaac mastered ne. 1t was not that his rea-
soning was conclusive that could have an
swered easily; but my conduct had been so
base, and his honesty was so transparent, his
look SO earnest and sincere, his voice so com
handing, that | forgot everything in nv sym-
pathy for him. He was "a hero, and bore
himself like one, without knowing it! |
knew, by that instinct which ever accompa-
MES goodness, that the slave-felon's con-
science was unstained by crime, even in
thought; and g~rasping him by the hand, with
out scarce knowing what | was going TO do. |
said, Isaac let US pray. And | prayed long,
prayed earnestly. ! did not stop to think of
my words. My heart poured itself Out, and
| was relieved"
phu "Hhi I dohtui was the character /
of your prayer!"
What it ought to have been" enerreti-
cally responded the old divine. 81 PRAYED
to God as our common Father. | acknowl.
edged that he would do justice; that il was
hard for us poor morlals to say who was
right and who wrong on earth that the yery
best were sinners, and those deemed the
worst by us might be regarded the best by
Him. ! prayed for Isaac. prayed God to
forgive him, If wrong; to forgive The whites,
il he was right; to forgive and bless all.
was choked with tears. | caught hold of
Isaac hand and pressed it warmly and re-
celved his warm pressure in return. And
with a JOY never experienced before or since
| heard his earnest, solemn Amen as I clo-
sed.
I'VE stood together for some time in ST.
lence. Isaac was deeply moved. | saw il
by the working of his frame, and the muscles