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fhould wander about as a vagabond upon the earth; that no one would have any connection with me; nay, fo far from it, that they would fhun me, as being unfit for any fociety but the devils themselves. This temptation to blafpheme haunted me, go where I would; and oftentimes, when I took up the fcriptures to read, to meditate, or attempted to pray, or was in company or conversation with those that feared the Lord, my mind would be more infefted than ever, infomuch that I knew not what to do, for I think, if poffible, thousands of these fiery darts have paffed through my mind in a few minutes. At length I got so bad, that I began to fear I should, in my hurry and great agitation of mind, be left, sometime or other, to utter involuntarily what I felt within. To avoid this, every time it camé upon me I began to repeat, as fast as I could, "Bleffed be the Lord, bleed be the Lord.” Even while I kept fpeaking thus numberless oaths and curfes would dart through my mind, till I have been like one defperate; and have fometimes gone on in this way all the day long, dreading the approach of night, for when I went to bed I was worfe off than ever. Various are the means which I have made ufe of to put these wicked thoughts out of my mind; and many times, when in great anguish and bitterness on account of them, I pulled my hair till the tears have ran down my cheeks with pain, and I have

been toffing to and fro, longing for the morning light. But I frequently rofe in this distress, and paffed through a dismal day, retiring again, with an increase of burden, to pass through another wearifome night; "So was I made to poffefs months of vanity; and wearifome nights were appointed for me," Job vii. 3. Frequently, when I have attempted to pray against them, as soon as I have kneeled down, in one moment my mind would be filled with fuch horrid blafphemy, that I have jumped up in the greatest horror, being a terror to myself, and have flood and wept bitterly, not daring to open my mouth to call upon the name of the Lord, left I should be forced to speak what I felt paffing within. Such days as these are the bittereft that I ever paffed through, and I have had many of them. These two paffages, in the fixteenth chapter of the Revelation, were continually upon my mind, and I greatly feared left they should be fulfilled by me; "And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God," verfe 9; "and blafphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their fores, and repented not of their deeds," verfe 11. I thought my days would foon be at an end; and, when I got to that place of torment, that Satan would compel me to blafpheme; concluding, from what I felt, that it was one part of their employment who are confined in thofe difmal regions; and these

words used to cut me to the heart, "They fhall. fret themselves, and curfe their King and their God, and look upward," Ifa. viii. 21. O the misery which I have had, and the tears that I have shed, on account of this horrid temptation, which I conceive to be the masterpiece of Satan! and furely he never injected into the mind of any man worse than I have felt. Nothing ever bowed me down and diftreffed me like these "fiery darts of the wicked," Eph. vi. 16. I had never heard any one hint at fuch things, nor had I ever read of any thing of the fort, until one Sunday evening, after returning from church, a friend of mine took me with him to call upon an acquaintance of his, who, before we left the house, put a book of yours into his hand, which he lent me to read. I took it home, and never met with any book before that fuited me fo well, though there was a good deal in it I did not understand; yet some parts were very fuitable to me, as it pointed out that which none had ever done before: I read it over and over again; and, when I returned it, borrowed another, which was, "The Kingdom of Heaven taken by Prayer.' This proved a treafure indeed, being abundantly bleffed to me; and I bleffed the author of it a thousand times over before I ever faw him. It was the first book I ever read that pointed out my cafe, and from it I received the firft help I ever got in my diftrefs. One Sunday morning I retired into a

garden to peruse it; and, when I came to the 106th, and following pages, where you mention that horrid temptation that came upon you, I was much amazed to find the very things related which I had fo long laboured under, and which were fo heavy a burden to me. My diftreffing cafe was exactly pointed out, and my heart began to glow with gratitude to God that I had met with a book fo defcriptive of my feelings: it was joyful news indeed to me to read the account, as I had never read the like before, nor had I heard any thing of the kind spoken of; so that I had concluded no one had ever felt these things but myself. I kept reading on till my heart was fo full that I burst into tears, and wept for joy. I walked up and down in the garden, praifing the Lord with my whole heart, and many times cried. out, "Blefs the author of this book!" I cannot express the relief which I found; my burden feemed to be quite gone, and my heart and affections went up in gratitude to God, while tears of thankfulness flowed very copiously, and I kept on bleffing and praifing the name of the Lord for his goodness, that I had found one who had experienced the fame things which I had felt. "The author of this book," faid I, "whoever he be, has laboured under the fame fore and diftreffing temptation that I have, and he has obtained mercy; and, as the Lord hath fhewed mercy to him, it may be that he will exercise the

fame towards me." I felt encouragement tô hope, and thanked God with all my heart.

It was now church time, and, as my mafter called me to go, I was obliged to obey. But before I returned home again I had loft all those fweet feelings which I had had in the morning; for what I heard at the church was as oppofite to the matter contained in the book as the Eaft is from the Weft. In the course of the week this dreadful temptation returned upon me again as violently; and, to add to my distress, it was in a moment darted into my mind that this was the unpardonable fin; whereupon I funk in my feelings lower than ever; what I felt I cannot exprefs; I however concluded that all was over with me, and I was inevitably loft. The unpardonable fin was always uppermoft in my mind; and fometimes it lay fo heavy upon me, that I was scarcely able to go about my bufinefs; then again the weight of it would in a measure wear off for a time; but the first effectual relief I got was when hearing you preach from these words, "Surely he shall deliver thee from the fnare of the fowler, and from the noisome peftilence," Pfalm. xci. 3. Whilft you were speaking from these words my burden was quite removed, and I faw clearly that I had not committed the unpardonable fin. In the courfe of the fermon you mentioned this blafphemous temptation, obferving that there were but very few of the Lord's

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