Now I could, and did rejoice with David, "I will love thee, O Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies" (Ps. xviii. 1-3); and being thus delivered, I went on again in the strength of the Lord, with peace of mind, tranquillity of soul, and "joy in the Holy Ghost" (Acts xiii. 52); the scriptures were again opened to my mind in their blessedness, and by their comfort I had hope, (Rom. xv. 4). I had the company and presence of my precious Lord Jesus, and was set upon my high places (Hab. iii. 19); and I thought I could suffer anything for the sake of my blessed Lord, who had suffered and done so much for me.

And now, reader, let me advise thee a little; make sure work in thy own conscience, by laying it open to the plain truths of God; look well to thy ways; see to it, whether thou art in the way of life, and walking in the footsteps of the flock (Song i. 8); for know assuredly, that the show of religion will never do thee any good, nor the form of godliness,without the power (2 Tim. iii. 5); "a lamp without oil" (Matt. xxv.) will gain thee no admittance into heaven; and what a disappointment it will be unto thee, though now walking in the fair show of religion in the flesh, then to hear that unalterable sentence, "Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. xxv. 41). The scripture testimony runs thus: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves. Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates" (2 Cor. xiii. 5). Vital godliness is more than show, external works, or lip-service; it consists of the following mercies,-being born again (John iii. 5); a broken and contrite heart (Isa. Ivii. 15); a conscience purged from dead works, by the blood of Christ (Heb. ix. 14); the fear of the

Lord put in the heart, and his law written therein (Jer. xxxi. 33); which is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death (Prov. xiv. 27); and the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins (Luke i. 77); faith and hope in God (1 Pet. i. 21); and Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. i. 27). These things will enable a sinner to ponder well the paths of his feet (Prov. iv. 26), and to walk circumspectly (Eph. v. 15), and to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things (Tit. ii. 10). He will walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Cor. v. 7); and to such Jesus will be precious (1 Pet. ii. 7); such and such only will have their hearts directed into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ (2 Thess. iii. 5); and to them Christ will be all and in all (Col. iii. 11).

My exercises, trials, temptations, and deliverances, brought me experimentally to know the truth and blessedness of the words of my sweetest Lord Jesus: "In me ye shall have peace; in the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John xv. 33); and again, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple: and whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke xiv. 26, 27). The religion of Jesus hath no new appendages; it is the same narrow way now as it ever hath been; whatever men have devised, or contrived to widen it, or to adorn it by new apparel, they have not destroyed or altered its simplicity, power, and blessedness. Christ Jesus, the way, &c. is the same rock of offence and defence now as ever. Men may strive and try to make things palatable to the world, but in vain, for Jesus saith, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away" (Matt. xxiv, 35).

Through many a sore trial and temptation my blessed Lord hath supported me, and delivered me. To this day I have in remembrance the wormwood

and the gall, but "the Lord is my portion saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him" (Lam. iii. 24). The sweetness and savour of the mercies of the Lord, were after awhile withdrawn; and coldness, stupidity, and darkness again pervaded my mind. I believe in the seasons of sweet liberty I made more of my enjoyments than I did of the Lord who gave them; therefore, there was a needs be that I should be taught my fault in so doing, and be brought to live. simply on the Lord, as my everlasting all. For some time, all my former joys and comforts fled, my confidence in God seemed broken up, and faith and hope in him appeared to cease; I again had no access to my God in prayer; the Bible appeared to me a sealed book; and my mind was as barren as the mountains of Gilboa, where there is neither dew nor rain. And now Satan again besieged the poor mason, and as it is written," he came in like a flood" (Isa. lix. 19), and stirred up all he could against me; he said, I had neglected to watch and pray, and leanness of soul had come upon me for so doing: and what was more, that I had sinned against the Holy Ghost, for which sin there was no forgiveness in this world, nor in that which is to come. This accusation swept away my peace, my heart sunk within me, my knees smote one against the other, I trembled and feared greatly, I could not call upon the Lord, and all his mercies seemed to be clean gone from me. This was a fiery trial (1 Pet. iv. 12); but it was a strange one to me: nothing now sounded in my mind but the awful sin against the Holy Ghost; it drove me to join with Job and Jeremiah, to curse the day, and say," Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night it was said there is a man-child born" (Job iii. 1-3); "cursed be the day wherein I was born, let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed" (Jer. xx. 14). I was even driven back on the borders of despair, and tempted to give up all my religion; this was passing and walking through floods and flames (Isa. xliii. 2).

I knew not that the Lord was with me, or that he supported me; but, bless his dear name, this sharp trial only lasted a fortnight, and then the matter was cleared up, and I was once more delivered from the jaws of the lion (Amos iii. 12), and from falling a prey to his teeth (Ps. cxxiv. 6).

To describe the feelings of my mind I cannot ; but those who have trod this dreary path know something of them; it was to me as if my heart was rending asunder with the sound of the unpardonable sin, and yet I could not tell what that sin was. I was so sorely tried on the subject, that I spake of it to several, but none could tell me what it was; one said, she had a book of sermons, and there it was pointed out: I was eager to catch at any thing that would give me a clue to it. The first sermon in the book was on the subject; I read it with all the attention I could muster; and as I read, the more I was convinced that I had committed it; and in the story of Francis Spira, I thought I read my own character in legible lines of sinning and repenting, and that all mercy was at an end. The sweat began to flow, my hair raised on my head, and I, almost mad, roared aloud; for as by pouring oil into the fire the flame increases, so did the reading of that book increase my distress. I cursed the book and the author too, for writing such things to torment a poor sinner. The author's name was

Russel.

But honour, praise, and glory be to my precious Lord! in a day or two after reading this sermon, he spake home his word with power to my heart, saying, "Because they said he hath an unclean spirit" (Mark iii. 30); I felt the temptation give way, my soul was melted down before the Lord, I wept aloud for joy, and I said, "Dear Lord, I never thought or said thou hadst an unclean spirit." Joy and peace sprang up again in my soul; my heart and affections returned again to their centre, and Jesus was abundantly precious unto me; I felt such love to him, that I wanted to be

home in glory with him, to praise him as I ought! What a wonder-working God the God of Israel is, especially to me the chief of sinners: I desire to spend and be spent in his service, declaring his truth, and speaking well of his name, that he in all things may be glorified. I could now join in sweet harmony with David, making melody to the Lord in my heart (Eph. v. 19), saying, "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen" (Ps. xcviii. 1, 2). Bless the Lord, O my soul !

After many days and weeks of blessedness and comfort, walking in fellowship and communion with the Lord, all being right and straight between him and my soul, "the sun went down over the prophets" (Mic. iii. 6), the Bible was again sealed up, and darkness pervaded my mind, the old adversary returned again with his wiles (Eph. vi. 11), and my ever dear Jesus had withdrawn himself, and was gone. I called him, but he gave me no answer: I sought him, but I found him not (Song v. 6). I think, to a regenerated man, it is almost a hell to be living without the company of the Friend of sinners, the precious Lord Jesus; especially as I had enjoyed so much of his tender mercy, and of communion with him.

Now was the devil's time to work, as the “ good man of the house was not at home, he was gone a long journey, and had taken the bag of money with him, but would come home at the day appointed" (Prov. vii. 19, 20). So Satan was permitted to take advantage of the mason once more, to make him believe a lie, and to lie against his right (Job xxxiv. 6); for it came to pass, that I believed I had sinned wilfully, after having received the knowledge of the truth, and there remained no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indig