The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3 — John Shaqi
The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3Various
History
The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
The strong contrast between Sarah and Angelina Grimke was shown not
only in their religious feelings, but in their manner of treating the
ordinary concerns of life, and in carrying out their convictions of
duty. In her humility, and in her strong reliance on the "inner light,"
Sarah refused to trust her own judgment, even in the merest trifles,
such as the lending of a book to a friend, postponing the writing of a
letter, or sweeping a room to-day when it might be better to defer it
until to-morrow. She says of this: "Perhaps to some, who have been led
by higher ways than I have been into a knowledge of the truth, it may
appear foolish to think of seeking direction in little things, but my
mind has for a long time been in a state in which I have often felt a
fear how I came in or went out, and I have found it a precious thing to
stop and consult the mind of truth, and be governed thereby."
Already the sisters had begun to reflect upon the evils of slavery.
Evidences of the tenor of their reflection are furnished in their
letter, and also in Sarah's diary, which she commenced in 1828. Angelina
was the first to express her abhorrence of the whole system; while
Sarah's mind, for a while at least, was too much absorbed by her
disappointed hopes and her trials in the ministry to allow her to do
much more than express sympathy with Angelina's anti-slavery sentiments.
In the autumn of 1829 Angelina left Charleston never to return, and made
her home with Sarah in the home of Catherine Morris. She soon became
interested in Quakerism, and eventually joined the Society. The daily
records of their lives and thoughts, for the ensuing four or five years,
exhibit them in the enjoyment of their quiet home, visiting prisons,
hospitals, and almshouses, and mourning over no sorrow or sins but their
own. Angelina was leading a life of benevolent effort, too busy to admit
of the pleasure of society, and her Quaker associations did not favor
contact with the world's people, or promote knowledge of the active
movements in the larger reforms of the day. As to Sarah, she was
suffering keenly under a great sorrow of her life.
Meanwhile, events were making; the anti-slavery question was being
agitated and discussed. In February, 1831, occurred the famous debate at
Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, presided over by Dr. Lyman Beecher. The
eloquence of that debate swept over the country; it flooded many hearts,
and set souls aflame. Sarah Grimke also thought a _little_. Under
date of "5th mo., 12th, 1835," appears the following in Angelina's
diary:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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