Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/35

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are brethren in tribulation. These men must be patriotic, when they jeopardise their own freedom, sweet as it is, for others; this is indeed carrying out the great law of love, "whatsoever ye would men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." I have known instances, of which we shall speak hereafter, where they have absolutely forfeited their own freedom, when unfortunately overtaken with their company within the boundaries of the Slave States. A personal friend of mine is now in prison for ninety and nine years, in the State of Kentucky, for leading away eight Slaves, being caught within the limits of that State: a man guilty of no crime but assisting his brethren peaceably in regaining what was unjustly taken from them. "Behold the arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear, for your hands are defiled with blood. They trust in vanity and speak lies." This prophesy is verified in their case; their hands are defiled with the blood of that poor man; their sins have truly caused God to hide his face from them. When God shall uncap the magazine of His wrath, and the red arm of vengeance shall seize the fiery sword of justice, and dash athwart the angry sky, these wicked men will wake up, as from an ominous dream, to a deep