and made manifest no way wherein he can be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly, but through his dear Son. At this time it was that the Lord was pleased, by his Spirit, to teach me to pray. I was obliged to throw away my daily form of prayers, and, with the poor publican in the temple, to cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" With the jailor, "What must I do to be saved?" And with Peter, "Lord, save, or I perish!" My prayers now were such as these, which came from a miserable heart; and. I never till then knew what it was to pray; for it is one thing to say prayers, and another to pray indeed: the one being only from the mouth, the other springing from a feeling sense of want in the heart. My old ways of sin were now effectually hedged up with thorns, so that I could not find my former paths. Destruction appeared on every side, without any way of escape, for some time; but at last it pleased the Lord, in this valley of Achor, to open unto me a door of hope. When the Lord had effectually convinced me that I had nothing, and could do nothing in any wise to merit his favour, or contribute towards my own salvation, either in whole or in part, and that I was fearfully and totally fallen; that every faculty of my soul was out of order, and that my heart was deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; that I could not recover myself, by any power of my own, from the absolute dominion of sin, the curse of the law, the wrath revealed therein, and the tyranny

of the devil; then he was pleased to set before me his dearly beloved Son, as the only refuge from all these things, and as the sinner's all-sufficient surety.

I remember a time when you insisted upou it that Christ saved none but sensible sinners, and produced this passage to confirm it, which was spoken by the Lord himself, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." I never heard such news in this world before, neither could I believe it at the time. Surely,' said I, he must be mistaken; but, should he not, God knows I am a sinner bad enough, and vile enough, and therefore who can tell (if it be true) but he may save me! When I got home I set to work, like the noble Bereans of old, to examine the word, to see whether these things were so or not; when, lo and behold! it was just as you had represented. Now a hope sprung up of better times, and from thence the Bible and I came together; and blessed be God for such a meeting, it being now my study, meditation, and soul's delight. And oh! what comfort did such texts as these bring to my poor soul! They poured in so fast, that before one had well delivered it's joyful tidings there was another, like Job's messengers, one upon the heels of another. "They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick." "Fear not, like flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the

gift of God." "Io, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." "Come

unto me,

me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Such passages as these were running in my mind from morning till night; yea, from week's end to week's end; and, examining the word to see who and what sort of persons had been saved, to my astonishment I found Mary Magdalen, Manasseh, Paul, &c. which caused my hope and expectation to increase exceedingly. In process of time the Lord was pleased, now a little and then a little, to enlighten me into the doctrines of the gospel as preached by you, and I had not a single doubt but what you said was true. He shewed me how that, in his dearly beloved Son, he could save all those that believe in him, though the worst of sinners, and still be true to his law and threatenings; that he was just the Saviour I wanted, suitable in all points; and he convinced. me that out of him I must perish and be damned, there being no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must or can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ; and that by faith in his blood and righteousness alone it is that we are justified freely from all things, and in no other

sense.

Imputed righteousness was the first doctrine of the gospel that the Lord was pleased to reveal and apply with power to my heart.

K

He

shewed me how his dear Son was made sin for us (by imputation, having all the sins of the elect placed to his account), who knew no sin; and this was done that, by the imputation of his righteousness (consisting both of his active and passive obedience), we might be made the righte ousness of God in him. And in him God the Father is well pleased with his people; but then it is only and entirely on account of his righte ousness, and not for any thing in them; for, was he extreme to mark iniquity in the very best of their works, there could be no standing in judgment before him; therefore, take away the im puted righteousness of the dear Redeemer, and every one must stand to his own account, and answer for all his sins; the consequence of which must be everlasting destruction and endless wo!

Soon after this the precious Jesus was set before me in all his beauty and glory, as an able and all-sufficient Saviour, and as the only hiding place from the storm and covert from the tempest; but, though I had no doubt of his being so to others, this would not do for me-I must know whether I had any part or lot in him myself. I had not a single doubt but all that believed in him as their Saviour, and put their trust in him as such, would certainly be finally and eternally saved; yet I found myself shut up in unbelief, suggesting, 'He cannot belong to me: I can never believe that he veiled the glory of his divine nature in a ta

bernacle of flesh and blood, and became Emanuel, God with us, to save such a monstrous sinner as myself.' In which my old master confirmed me as strongly as he could, representing it as impossible, and the very height of presumption to indulge such a thought. I found my want of faith; I found also that the Lord had promised to give it, and to work it in the hearts of his people by the operation of his Spirit. My prayer to him therefore was, to fulfil his promise; to give me faith; to work a firm persuasion in my mind that Jesus Christ was mine; that I had an interest in him; and that all that he did and suffered was to work out and bring in an everlasting righteousness to justify me. This for a long time I sought after, and, blessed be God, not in vain; for about three years ago I had a comfortable persuasion that Christ was mine; that he was my Surety; that he had paid all my debts, and that his precious blood was shed to wash away my sins. This faith came to me by hearing the word preached; and upon thus believing and receiving him into my heart I experienced unutterable rest and peace, and such a manifestation of pardoning love as caused me to rejoice with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory; and, with Zion of old, I could say, that, when the Lord was pleased thus to turn my captivity, I was like them that dream. And from that time the Lord appeared to me as a loving, kind, and tender Father in Jesus Christ, and completely reconciled and well