William,’ said I, ‘cursed is every ono who continueth not in all things written or commanded in that law.’ He pushed mo aside, ran down stairs, and soon became sick and feverish. His mother begged of him to tell her the cause of his sudden distress. He said I had alarmed him exccedingly; that he found himself a great sinner, and saw no mercy for him in the world to come. His mother came running up stairs, and, in the heat of passion, locked me in my old cell, where I remained in close confinement for some days. But, as William could not be happy without my company, I was sent for. I found him very pale and pensive; however, I faithfully told him, that the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart were only evil, and that continually. He said he lately began to feel that; he had tried to make it better, but could not. Upon this, a stranger entered the room, and I was hidden at the back of a sofa, because the family were quite ashamed that I should be seen talking with William. The stranger remarked he had obscrved him talking with me, and assured him that I should do him much more harm than good; that I had occasioned great confusion in the world, by driving many people mad. On this, they all joined in scandalizing my character; and I was again confined to my old cell, in the library.
But, when my God enables me to fix an arrow in a sinner’s heart, the whole universe cannot draw it out. William was always uneasy when I was not with him; consequently, he paid me many a stolen visit. I told him, one day, not to trust in riches, for they often took to themselves wings, and flew from one man to another, as God dirccted them. Job once possessed houses, lands, sheep, a flourishing family, all of which were taken from him in a few hours; but God never forsook him.
William was advised by his friends to take a tour for a few weeks, to remove the gloom which hung upon his mind. He did so; but he returned more dejected than ever. The moment he arrived, I was sent for to talk with him. I desired him to behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world; I said there was no other name given under heaven among men, but the name of Jesus, by which they could be saved; that God so loved the world, as to send his Son into it, to save it by his death. I then went over tho whole history of the Saviour, from his birth at Bethlehem to his death on Calvary, describing his resurrection, and pointed out the evidenee of it; then led his attention to Bethany, describing the marvellous circumstances attending his ascension to his Father; and testified to him tho wonderful effects which followed, in the immense increase of conversions to the
