[Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman by Austin Steward]@TWC D-Link book
Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman

CHAPTER XXXVI
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So vigorously, so zealously did he unfold the horrors of the slave system; so truthfully and faithfully did he expose the treachery of northern politicians, and so pathetically did he appeal to the humanity of every professed Christian to speak out boldly for the dumb; to shield, by the holy principles of their religion, the poor, bound, illiterate slave, from Southern cruelty and bondage,--that some of our aristocratic citizens, some of our white savans, repaid his truthful eloquence, by visiting upon him the bitterest maledictions.

From the negro, said they, we will accept these statements as true,--from him, they are pertinent and forcible; but when such unpalatable truths are uttered by a white clergyman, we cannot abide, nor will we listen to them! Let consistency blush, and justice hang down its head! Is not truth the same, whether proclaimed by black or white,--bond or free?
Is a falsehood to be pardoned because uttered by a negro?
If indeed, as was admitted, the sentiments expressed by our eloquent colored speakers, were _true_, could they be false, when enforced by our intellectual friend, Van Loon?
Certainly not; nor would the case have been so decided by these Solons, in any other case: or where the prejudice against color had not warped and blinded their otherwise good judgments.

Our speaker, however, performed his duty faithfully, and with great satisfaction to the colored people and their true friends present.
The remains of this fearless champion of liberty; this humble disciple of the despised Nazarene, now sleeps in death, beside the placid waters of the Hudson, while his cherished memory lives in the affections of thousands, who "are ready to perish," and is honored by the pure in heart, wherever his name has been known throughout the land.

In the day of final reckoning, think you, he will regret having plead the cause of the bondman?
Ah, no; nor can we doubt that to him will be rendered the welcome plaudits: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee a ruler over many things." What then are the few light afflictions endured in this life, when compared with "an eternal weight of glory," awarded to the faithful in that which is to come?
Pleasant, happy, and beneficial, as had been the reunion of old and tried friends, to celebrate a glorious event, yet, like all earthly enjoyments, it was brought to a termination, reluctant as were the friends to separate.


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