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 disconsolate 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 And this I found, that, "By shall no flesh living be justi

works," Isa. lix. 6.

the deeds of the law

fied;" 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

was I from having that holiness of temper which I heard of (for the question was often asked, What are your tempers, &c. ?) and those good frames and feelings, that in myself I daily found that which was quite the reverse of all this, being full of fury and fretfulness, bitter in spirit, filled with rebellion, enmity, malice, wrath, peevishness, discontent, and envy, with every other evil working within : and so far was I from feeling myself more and more sanctified, so as to be free from these things, that I appeared to get more vile, and my corrupt nature shewed itself in every shape; which leads me to think that such preachers are physicians of no value, who set men to look for such attainments in themselves, instead of leading them to Jesus Christ, in whom they are all to be found; "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. Those who teach such things keep poor souls in bondage, and, "The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city," Eccl. x. 15. I have often returned home from hearing a sermon bowed down with distress and grief, lamenting my short-comings; then I used to resolve to be more circumspect, watchful, and observant, and that I would guard against every transgression and every evil with which I had before been overcome; vow and promise that I never would commit the like again, but in future would be more diligent: but, alas! sin was too strong for me, and

I was soon overcome. me ye can do nothing," John xv. 5. I broke through all my promises, and then sunk into the deepest distress; and have set to vowing again in the same way, till I have been ready to bind myself down with oaths; but, as Job says, "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands ever so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me," Job ix. 30, 31; and so I found it, till this bitter and woful experience made me completely sick of this wretched way of going on: and now, if ever I hear a man setting people to make vows, my soul hates what they advance, knowing that they who are at such a work will have no better success than I had; and whoever sets them at it are turning the blind and the lame out of the way; and that which is lame is not to be turned out of the way, but rather to be healed. Christ is the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of paths to dwell in, and in him is peace and truth; as saith the prophet, "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth," Jer. xxxiii. 6. All fulness is in the Saviour. If ever I made a vow, as soon as I had done it Satan set upon me again with the same temptation I had been protesting against, and never left me till I had broken through all my promises; so that I never kept one vow that I had made, but as soon as I had broken them I was truly wretched and miserable. I verily be

Christ declares, "Without