America for the same object! These thoughts almost overpowered me. My
mind was overwhelmed by the thought that I had been providentially
directed to this house; the finger of Providence was beginning to be
discernible, and that the daystar of African liberty was rising."

After this he associated with many friends of the cause, and at last
it became evident that, in order to effect any thing, he must
sacrifice all other prospects in life, and devote himself exclusively
to this work.

He says, after mentioning reasons which prevented all his associates
from doing this, "I could look, therefore, to no person but myself;
and the question was, whether I was prepared to make the sacrifice. In
favor of the undertaking, I urged to myself that never was any cause,
which had been taken up by man, in any country or in any age, so great
and important; that never was there one in which so much misery was
heard to cry for redress; that never was there one in which so much
good could be done; never one in which the duty of Christian charity
could be so extensively exercised; never one more worthy of the
devotion of a whole life towards it; and that, if a man thought
properly, he ought to rejoice to have been called into existence, if
he were only permitted to become an instrument in forwarding it in any
part of its progress.

"Against these sentiments, on the other hand, I had to urge that I had
been designed for the church; that I had already advanced as far as
deacon's orders in it; that my prospects there on account of my
connections were then brilliant; that, by appearing to desert my
profession, my family would be dissatisfied, if not unhappy. These
thoughts pressed upon me, and rendered the conflict difficult.