The irritable passions, where lay his weakest side, were conquered in
the same way. His friends once carried him to the House of Commons, to
hear a debate on the slave trade, which Colonel Tarlton defended with
some warmth. When Naimbanna came out of the house, he exclaimed, with
great vehemence and indignation, that he would kill that man wherever
he met him; for he told stories of his country. He told people that his
countrymen would not work, and that was a great story. His countrymen
would work; but Englishmen would not buy work; they would buy only men.
His friends told him that he should not be angry with Colonel Tarlton,
for perhaps he had been misinformed, and knew no better. Besides,
they told him that, at any rate, he had no right to kill him: for the
Almighty says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." This
calmed him in a moment; and he never afterward expressed the least
indignation toward Colonel Tarlton; but he would have been ready to
show him any friendly office if it had fallen in his way.
At another time, when he saw a drayman using his horse ill, he became
enraged, and declared he would get a gun and shoot that fellow
directly. But his anger was presently assuaged by this or some similar
passage of Scripture: "Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go
down upon your wrath." He showed so much tenderness of conscience that
he seemed anxious about nothing but to know what his religion required
him to do.
When he could determine the rectitude of an action, he set an example
even to Christians, by showing that he thought there was no difficulty
in the performance. He said his father had ordered him, when he arrived
in England, never to drink more at one time than a single glass of
wine; and he considered his father's injunction as sacred. On this
head, therefore, all the instruction which he wanted was to turn his
temperance into a Christian virtue, by practising it with a sincere
desire to please God.
In the gay scenes which often presented themselves to his view, he
never mixed. His friends were very solicitous to keep him from all
dissipation, which might have corrupted the beautiful simplicity of
mind that was so characteristic in him. He was fond of riding on
horseback, but when he got upon a horse, it was difficult to govern
his desire for rapid motion. After remaining in England a year and a
half, and being carefully instructed in the Christian religion, he only
waited for an opportunity of returning home, which did not occur for
five or six months afterward.
In the meantime, two great points were the burden of his thoughts,
and gave him much distress. The first related to his father, whose
death he heard had happened about a year after he left the country.
The principal cause of his solicitude was his uncertainty whether his
father had died a Christian. He knew that he had been well disposed
toward Christianity, but he had never heard whether he had fully
embraced it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account