horror of mind seized me, that I felt as if I was going to drop into the bottomless pit; my heart sunk within me; I was quite chilled, and afterwards broke out into a cold sweat; my strength of body seemed to be all gone from me; and, if I had not sat down, I believe, I should have dropped on the floor. I then perceived that religion was heart-work, to which I had been an utter stranger, and had been deceiving myself in a false profession; and I felt the wretched, fallen, lost state I was in by nature, and that Original sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth contrary to the spirit, and therefore in every person born into this world it deserveth God's wrath and damnation.' Article the 9th. I now experienced the difference between legal convictions and those which are produced under the powerful quickening operations of God's spirit; "You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." I believed his threatenings denounced against me as a sinner, and trembled at his word, which says, "The soul that sins shall die," and is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, Heb. iv. "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light," Eph. v. 13. I had been alive without the law; but when the commandment came

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sin revived, and I died. I now saw the spirituality of God's law, which discovered to me my lost and fallen state, and what an infinite distance there was betwixt me and a holy God, and how far short I fell of the law's demands; "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin ;" and, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to do them." Formerly I had no other knowledge of sin than by actual transgressions; but now I found that these corrupt fruits sprung from a corrupt fountain, an evil and depraved nature, which originated in the fall; By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;" therefore this condemnation was intailed upon me in man's fall; for, By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 12. bukes of God in my conscience, and his wrath revealed against my sin, pulled down my self-righteous spirit. "When thou," Lord, "with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth," Psalm xxxix. 11.

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By the law is the knowledge of sin;" this discovered to me my corruption and the concupiscence of my heart. "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence; for, without the law sin was dead," Rom. vii. 8. And I believe all that the law can do is to discover sin, and condemn the

sinner; as the Apostle says, "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful," Rom. vii. 13. It condemns the sinner, and is called the ministration of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7,9. It shews the aboundings of our transgressions; "Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound," Rom. v. 20. And "it was added because of transgressions," Gal. iii. 19. The distress and anguish I felt on account of my sin, are, I believe, what Paul calls the terrors of the Lord; for, death and judgment were uppermost in my thoughts, and "The yoke of my transgressions was bound by his hand," Lam. i. 14. So that my heart continually meditated terror; and, for some years I had no rest because of my sin, as David says, "For mine iniquities are gone over my head; as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me," Psa. xxxviii. 4. But God, who discovered to me my sin, did not suffer me to hate nor to shun the light, but to come to it, and expose my conscience to the force of truth. "He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." I kept up a very strict attendance at church, and often heard a great deal said about open and profane sin. But my wound lay within, and sorely distressed I was; which made me listen very attentively to the minister, hoping to hear my

feelings brought forth; but in this I was generally disappointed, for my case was not touched upon; so far from it, that I frequently returned with an increased burden, for he set before me an impossible task, holding forth the law as the only rule of life, and setting me to work in my own strength; at which I laboured very hard, and I may say fared hard too, for all fulness of grace is in Christ, not in the law; and God ministereth not his spirit by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith; therefore setting poor helpless sinners to work for life instead of pointing them to Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, Rom. x. 4, is binding heavy burdens upon men's shoulders which are grievous to be borne, Mat. xxiii. 4. Such preaching keeps troubled souls back, rather than helping them forwards. Christ says, "Ye enter not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered," Luke xi. 52. · "The law worketh wrath, for where no law is there is no transgression," Rom. iv. 15: it gendereth to bondage, Gal. iv. 24. The preaching of the law contracts, instead of enlarging the heart, which was the effect it always had upon me; and, though the ministry which I sat under was called the gospel, yet there was little else brought forth but the works of the law; and Paul calls the gospel the ministry of the spirit. These discourses upon the law communicated nothing but wrath and bondage to fear, and have often sent me away in great anguish and

bitterness of soul, with a distressed and disconso late mind. "While I suffer thy terrors," says David, "I am distracted," Psalm lxxxviii. 15. I laboured hard to keep the law, and work out a righteousness of my own, but all in vain; " I,” saith the Lord, "will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee," Isa, lvii. 12. They are but as filthy rags at best, and God says, "Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works," Isa. lix. 6. And this I found, that, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified;" whilst in Christ all that believe are freely justified from all things: "By his knowledge," says God," shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities;" and "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory;" as it is also written, "Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength," Isa. xlv. 24. I heard much about vows, promises, and resolutions; and I made many; and at this fruitless toil laboured for some years, striving against sin in my own strength, whereby I was kept in continual bondage and agitation of mind, for the law was set before me as my rule, holiness of life enforced, and a progressive sanctification insisted upon; in all which I found myself very deficient, and never could come up to the rule I heard laid down, for I was daily offending in thought, word, and deed, and he that offends but in one point is guilty of all, Jam. ii. 10. So far