funk within me; I was quite chilled, and afterwards broke out into a cold sweat; my ftrength of body feemed to be all gone from me; and, if I had not fat down, I believe I fhould have dropped on the floor. I then perceived that religion was heart work, to which I had been an utter ftranger, and had been deceiving myself in a false profeffion; and I felt the wretched, fallen, loft state I was in by nature, and that "Original fin 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, fo that the flesh lufteth contrary to the spirit, and therefore in every person born into this world it deferveth God's wrath and damnation." Article the 9th. I now experienced the difference between legal convictions and thofe which are produced under the powerful quickening operations of God's fpirit; "you hath hequickened who were dead in trefpaffes and fins." I believed his threatenings denounced against me as a finner, and trembled at his word, which fays, "the foul that fins fhall die," and is quick and powerful, and fharper than any two-edged fword, Heb. iv. 12. "All things that are reproved are made manifeft by the light, for whatfoever doth make manifeft is light," Eph. v. 13. I had been alive without the law; but when the commandment came fin revived, and I died. I

now faw the fpirituality of God's law, which difcovered to me my loft and fallen ftate, and what an infinite diftance there was betwixt me and a holy God, and how far fhort I fell of the law's demands; "The law is fpiritual, but I am carnal, fold under fin;" and "Curfed 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 fin than by actual tranfgreffions; but now I found that thefe corrupt fruits fprung 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 entailed upon me in man's fall; for, "by one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin, and fo death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned," Rom. v. 12. The rebukes of God in my confcience, and his wrath revealed against my fin, pulled down my felf-righteous fpirit. "When thou, Lord, with rebukes doft correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to confume away like a moth," Pfa. xxxix. 11. "By the law is the knowledge of fin;" this discovered to me my corruption and the concupifcence of my heart. by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupifcence; for without the law fin was dead," Rom. vii. 8. And I believe all that the law can do is to discover fin, and condemn the

"But fin, taking occafion

finner; as the Apoftle fays, "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But fin, that it might appear fin, working death in me by that which is good; that fin by the commandment might become exceeding finful," Rom. vii. 13. It condemns the finner, and is called the miniftration of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. It fhews the aboundings of our tranfgreffions; "Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound," Rom. v. 20. And "it was added because of tranfgreffions," Gal. iii. 19. The diftrefs and anguish I felt on account of my fin, 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 tranfgreffions was bound by his hand," Lam. i. 14. So that my heart continually meditated terror; and for fome years I had no reft because of my fin, as David says, "For mine iniquities are gone over my head; as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me," Pfa. xxxviii. 4. But God, who discovered to me my fin, did not fuffer me to hate nor to fhun 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 manifeft that they are wrought in God," Prov. iii. 21. I kept up a very strict attendance at church, and often heard a great deal faid about open and profane fin. But my wound lay within, and forely dif

is

treffed I was; which made me liften very attentively to the minifter, hoping to hear my feelings brought forth; but in this I was generally difappointed, for my cafe was not touched upon; fo far from it, that I frequently returned with an increased burden, for he fet before me an impoffible task, holding forth the law as the only rule of life, and fetting me to work in my own ftrength; at which I laboured very hard, and I may fay fared hard too, for all fulness of grace in Chrift, not in the law; and God miniftereth not his fpirit by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith; therefore fetting poor helpless finners to work for life instead of pointing them to Chrift, who is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom, x, 4, is binding heavy burdens upon men's shoul ders which are grievous to be borne, Mat. xxiii, 4, Such preaching keeps troubled fouls back, rather than helping them forwards. Chrift fays, 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 tranfgreffion," Rom. iv. 15: it "gendereth to bondage," Gal. iv. 24. The preaching of the law contracts, inftead of enlarging the heart, which was the effect it always had upon me; and, though the miniftry which I fat under was called the gospel, yet there was little elfe brought forth but the works of the law; and Paul calls

"Ye

the gospel the ministry of the spirit. These difcourses upon the law communicated nothing but wrath and bondage to fear, and have often fent me away in great anguish and bitterness of foul, with a diftreffed and difconfolate mind. "While I fuffer thy terrors," fays 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," faith the Lord, "will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee," Ifa. lvii. 12. They are but as filthy rags at beft, and God fays, "Their webs shall not become garments, neither fhall they cover themselves with their works," Ifa. lix. 6. And this I found, that "by the deeds of the law fhall no flesh living be juftified;" whilst in Chrift all that believe are freely juftified from all things: "By his knowledge," fays God, "shall my righteous fervant juftify many, for he shall bear their iniquities;" and "In the Lord fhall all the feed of Ifrael be juftified, and shall glory;" as it is also written, "Surely, fhall one fay, in the Lord have I righteousness and ftrength," Ifa. xlv. 24. I heard much about vows, promises, and resolutions; and I made many; and at this fruitlefs toil laboured for fome years, ftriving againft fin in my own ftrength, whereby I was kept in continual bondage and agitation of mind, for the law was fet before me as my rule, holiness of life enforced, and a progreffive fan&tification infifted upon; in all