The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By HimselfEquiano, Olaudah
History
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By Himself
Equiano, Olaudah
Enslaved persons -- Great Britain -- Biography; Enslaved persons -- United States -- Biography; Equiano, Olaudah, 1745-1797
our passage, I took all the pains that I could to instruct the Indian
prince in the doctrines of Christianity, of which he was entirely
ignorant; and, to my great joy, he was quite attentive, and received
with gladness the truths that the Lord enabled me to set forth to him.
I taught him in the compass of eleven days all the letters, and he
could put even two or three of them together and spell them. I had
Fox's Martyrology with cuts, and he used to be very fond of looking
into it, and would ask many questions about the papal cruelties he saw
depicted there, which I explained to him. I made such progress with
this youth, especially in religion, that when I used to go to bed at
different hours of the night, if he was in his bed, he would get up on
purpose to go to prayer with me, without any other clothes than his
shirt; and before he would eat any of his meals amongst the gentlemen
in the cabin, he would first come to me to pray, as he called it. I
was well pleased at this, and took great delight in him, and used much
supplication to God for his conversion. I was in full hope of seeing
daily every appearance of that change which I could wish; not knowing
the devices of satan, who had many of his emissaries to sow his tares
as fast as I sowed the good seed, and pull down as fast as I built up.
Thus we went on nearly four fifths of our passage, when satan at last
got the upper hand. Some of his messengers, seeing this poor heathen
much advanced in piety, began to ask him whether I had converted him
to Christianity, laughed, and made their jest at him, for which I
rebuked them as much as I could; but this treatment caused the prince
to halt between two opinions. Some of the true sons of Belial, who did
not believe that there was any hereafter, told him never to fear the
devil, for there was none existing; and if ever he came to the prince,
they desired he might be sent to them. Thus they teazed the poor
innocent youth, so that he would not learn his book any more! He would
not drink nor carouse with these ungodly actors, nor would he be with
me, even at prayers. This grieved me very much. I endeavoured to
persuade him as well as I could, but he would not come; and entreated
him very much to tell me his reasons for acting thus. At last he asked
me, 'How comes it that all the white men on board who can read and
write, and observe the sun, and know all things, yet swear, lie, and
get drunk, only excepting yourself?' I answered him, the reason was,
that they did not fear God; and that if any one of them died so they
could not go to, or be happy with God. He replied, that if these
persons went to hell he would go to hell too. I was sorry to hear
this; and, as he sometimes had the toothach, and also some other
persons in the ship at the same time, I asked him if their toothach
made his easy: he said, No. Then I told him if he and these people
went to hell together, their pains would not make his any lighter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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