The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
George Liele, called also George _Sharp_ because his owner's name was
Sharp, in a letter dated Kingston, Dec. 18, 1791, says, "I was born in
Virginia, my father's name was Liele, and my mother's name Nancy; I can
not ascertain much of them, as I went to several parts of America when
young, and at length resided in New Georgia; but was informed both by
white and black people, that my father was the only black person who
knew the Lord in a spiritual way in that country: I always had a
natural fear of God from my youth, and was often checked in conscience
with thoughts of death, which barred me from many sins and bad company.
I knew no other way at that time to hope for salvation but only in the
performance of my good works." _About two years before the late war_,
"the Rev. Mr. Matthew Moore,[2] one Sabbath afternoon, as I stood with
curiosity to hear him, he unfolded all my dark views, opened my best
behaviour and good works to me which I thought I was to be saved by, and
I was convinced that I was not in the way to heaven, but in the way to
hell. This state I laboured under for the space of five or six months.
The more I heard or read, the more I" saw that I "was condemned as a
sinner before God; till at length I was brought to perceive that my life
hung by a slender thread, and if it was the will of God to cut me off at
that time, I was sure I should be found in hell, as sure as God was in
Heaven. I saw my condemnation in my own heart, and I found no way
wherein I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of
my dying Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; which caused me to make
intercession with Christ, for the salvation of my poor immortal soul;
and I full well recollect, I requested of my Lord and Master to give me
a work, I did not care how mean it was, only to try and see how good I
would do it." When he became acquainted with the method of salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ, he soon found relief, particularly at a time when
he was earnestly engaged in prayer; yea, he says, "I felt such love and
joy as my tongue was not able to express. After this I declared before
the congregation of believers the work which God had done for my soul,
and the same minister, the Rev. Matthew Moore, baptized me, and I
continued in this church about four years, till the vacuation" of
Savannah by the British. When Mr. Liele was called by grace himself, he
was desirous of promoting the felicity of others. One who was an
eyewitness of it, says, _That he began to discover his love to other
negroes, on the same plantation with himself, by reading hymns among
them, encouraging them to sing, and sometimes by explaining the most
striking parts of them_. His own account is this, "Desiring to prove the
sense I had of my obligations to God, I endeavoured to instruct" the
people of "my own color in the word of God: the white brethren seeing
my endeavours, and that the word of the Lord seemed to be blessed, gave
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