like silence of a stony cell, but amidst a thousand domestic cares, in a close chamber, with nothing to hide his agony from wife and little ones but an old curtain behind which he could pray. Nevertheless he followed in the wake of the great mediaeval spirits, and, according to the manner of his day, forsook the world. He was naturally of a cheerful turn of mind, and fond of jovial society: but now he determined to give up all companionship; and, that he might the more thoroughly carry out his resolution, removed from Mortlake, where he was working, to Kingston, preferring to walk a dozen miles a day rather than run the risk of being entangled again in bad company.
He became very regular at church, had daily prayer with his wife, and learnt several little prayers to say as he walked to and from the scene of his labour. But to his dismay he found that the more he tried to act rightly, the more he felt inclined to do wrongly. This continual struggle brought home the sense of sin so terribly to him, that he fell into the deepest gloom and despair. "Molly," he cried out to his wife, "I am undone for ever; I am lost and gone; there is no hope nor mercy for me. You know not what a sinner I am; you know not where I am, nor what I feel!"
It was the beginning of a state of mental anguish only paralleled by that related with such graphic force in Bunyan's "Grace Abounding."
Hell became to him the one great reality. It swallowed up every other thought. He envied the horses and cattle, because they had no judgment-day to fear; he wished that he had never been born. For a long time he was tempted to throw himself into the Thames.
The interest and peculiarity of Huntington's struggles lies in the fact that it was due in no way to human influence. No fellow-sinner had reproved him; no Mr Evangelist had ever said to him, "Flee from the wrath to come;" no Vicar-General Staupitz had told him to look alone to Jesus; no holy Monica was praying for him.
He was so ignorant, that though he had lived twenty-six years in a so-called Christian land, he did not know where Christ was born. As to other people's doings or thinkings, he knew nothing
