He would not have blood on his hands. Nat Turner plunged through the thicket, leaves and branches smashing against his face. He crashed through the bushes, scratching his arms. Time was running out. He had to give Thomas the warning.
Nat Turner stumbled as he ran, crashing downward, but then regained his balance. He yelled when he caught sight of his friend. Still picking his way through the woods, Thomas Gray reined in his horse before he entered the road.
The clearing was quiet; even the birds seemed to have stopped singing. “Hypocrite!” Nat Turner was surprised to hear the word leap from his mouth. The only sound, other than his voice, was the irregular clomping of the anxious horse’s hooves. “You are my friend, but you are a coward! You lie to yourself! You are too afraid to stand apart from Nathaniel Francis and the others.
“You mock writers like Shakespeare, while you are afraid to risk doing anything yourself.” Thomas’s life and soul were at stake. This was no time to mince words.
“You lie to yourself, Thomas! The difference between you and Nathaniel Francis is not much more than appearance. You exchange the false friendship of drunkards like Nathaniel for transforming the world. What good are your gifts if you do nothing with them? What good are the blessings you have if you waste them on wickedness instead of using them to do good?”
Thomas looked beyond the trees to the road as though he wanted to bolt away.
Winded, Nat Turner grabbed the reins of Thomas’s horse. His lungs burned, his chest heaved. “Repent now! As your friend and brother I beg you. God’s judgment is coming!”
“Nat, quiet yourself, you fool! Someone will hear!”
“Perhaps you will escape the first death because you don’t believe. But trouble will find you where you stand in the middle, Thomas.”
“You sound like a crazy man!”
“You judge yourself lightly but for others you use a heavier measure! You tell yourself you have no problem, you are just a little drunk. Ask those who are sober if you are a drunkard!
“You and the others like you try to judge for yourselves if you are bigoted, patting yourselves. Ask slaves and free black men if you are fair, if you are without stain! If you want to know if you have a problem, ask the ones you have harmed. Better still, if you truly have courage, ask your enemies!”
Nat Turner loosed the reins and stepped back from Thomas’s horse. He stretched out his arm and pointed his finger at his friend. Then, his heart pounding, he gave the pronouncement he had given many times to others.
“God has sent me to the oppressors, to the captors, to plead with you to turn. The cries and moans of my people have risen to God’s ears. I warn you, even now He is preparing the death angel.
“God has seen your sins and the hardness of your hearts. Turn before it is too late, before brother rises against brother and nation against nation, before plowshares are turned to swords!”
Nat Turner planted his feet. “Woe to you because you demand justice and turn away from mercy!
“Woe to you because you want the best for yourselves and ignore your brothers in need!
“Woe to you because you withhold justice from the alien, the fatherless, and the widows!
“Woe to you because you point out sin in other men and ignore your own!
“Woe to you because you deny your own children, abandoning them to slavery, and selling them for concubines.”
Thomas Gray stood in his stirrups. “You are a crazy man, Nat Turner. A religious fanatic! You will be sorry for the words you have spoken to me this day!”
Nat Turner could not stop. The pronouncements controlled his mouth, controlled his words. He did not want Thomas Gray’s eternal blood on his hands. He wanted his friend to awaken. He wanted his friend to live. “Woe to you because you put wealth and titles above brotherly love!
“Woe to you because you set yourself in high places and look down on those who are not like you!
“Woe to you because you leave a curse on your generations to come!
“Woe to you because the blood of God’s children is on your hands!
“Judgment will begin with the house of God! I am sent to warn you and pray that you will turn. If you refuse, at the Final Judgment Ethiopia the Queen of the South and Nineveh will stand to give testimony against you; for even they heard the word of slaves and turned! Choose ye this day and turn!”
When Nat Turner was finished, he fled and disappeared into the woods.