followed by a number of my rude mates, who begaff to speak lightly of the preacher, and I joined them-a thing which I believe I was never heard to do before; for I concluded that it was as bad to speak against a minister, as it was to speak against my parents;-but I believe it was the enemy who pushed me forward in it, for he strove hard to devour my poor soul; and it is of the Lord's mercy that I am not consumed. The speaker tarried all night at my father's house; in the morning he improved his time in conversing with the family, but I was very careful to keep out of the room, and when I was called to attend on family worship, I stood by the door, and when he said Amen! I retired immediately. He exhorted the rest of the family some time, and I was much afraid that he would speak to me also. I took my work and sat down in the kitchen, expecting thereby to escape his notice; but as soon as he had freed his mind with them, he came in and seated himself near where I was sitting, and had it not been for fear of treating him irreverently, I should have immediately left the room. I resolved therefore to keep my seat in silence, but his words were to me sharper than any two edged sword, and I began to tremble, while he opened in a plain and easy way my dangerous condition, whilst remaining irreconciled to God.-At length I frankly acknowledged that I had often felt the need of pure religion, and saw clearly that I was a sinner-he said, "If you will kneel down I will pray for you now; but I did not yield to his request. He then asked me, if I ever prayed for myself; to which I made him no answer. "Well, (said he) if you will try to pray for yourself one week, I will by the help of God try to pray for you." 0

what inward horror I then felt thrill through my whole soul! Conviction then awoke in my poor heart to a great degree.

As soon as he left the room, I retired to the barn, that at a 66 manger" I might pray to him who was born in the stable at Bethlehem." With a heart big with grief and eyes streaming with tears, I fell on my knees, and was dumb before my God, whilst sorrow overwhelmed me; in grief I then came to a determination to seek the Lord with all diligence. I arose and walked towards the house and began to reflect, that my sisters would know how I felt, and laugh at me; therefore I washed my face and appeared as cheerful as I could; yet my conviction was so keen and pungent, that it was impossible for me to conceal it altogether; for like Nehemiah of old, my countenance was sad for about one week; in which time I had a great sense of my sins and of the wrath of God against the sinner; which I thought must soon fall on my devoted head, because I had sinned in so high a degree against the best of beings.

On the Sabbath following I attended a meeting near my father's. When I retired to dress myself for the assembly, my clothes looked too gay for me, and I said within myself, What can all this mean?formerly my clothing never used to be half gay enough; but now I took one handkerchief after another, and at length said to myself, I cannot appear in the congregation before God with any one of these, on which I have wasted so much of his precious time in needless work of stitching and flowering, of which I now repent; for I might have improved that blood-bought time to better purpose. My heart said truly, I am more fit to be

I

clothed with sackcloth and to sit down in ashes, than to adorn this dying clay in needle work. went to my dear mother and asked her for a plain handkerchief. After I was plainly attired, I went forth. At first sight my sisters reproached me with the intention of becoming a quaker. I said nothing, but my tears flowed plentifully, whilst inwardly I said, If you could but know what I feel within, you could not laugh.

I went to meeting with a solemn desire to obtain religion, and was not ashamed to let the world know that I wanted to become a real Christian more than I wanted all things else; yea I felt a resolution to forsake the foolish and live to God in the way of understanding; to turn to God with full purpose of heart, and seek the salvation of my im_mortal soul.

When I came to the place of worship, there was nothing which took any particular hold of my mind, and my heart seemed to be hardened; and here the enemy began to reason with me, and took great advantage of my poor inexperienced mind, as I was very ignorant of all his devices, and too ready to believe his suggestions; whereby he soon made me ashamed of ever attempting to pray or say anything about my having a desire of religion. The following are some of the reasonings, which powerfully impressed my mind.-Thou foolish child! why dost, thou think to seek God now in the days of thy youth--you will thereby lose the best part of your cheerful days--look at those Christians and see how melancholy they are--O how lonesome are their lives they go mourning all their days and have no pleasure-day and night they mourn! What, said I, have these Christians no pleasure?

who then can have pleasure? or where, can pleasure be found? The answer came to me in the form of a question; thus, Have you not felt more miserable since you began to seek the Lord than you did before you listened to things of a pious nature ? I answered thus in my mind-there must be a difference or the Bible cannot be true; for yesterday I read of the righteous, that their peace shall be as a river-and of the wicked, that there is no peace to the wicked, saith my Godthey are like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. But stop,

said the enemy, only think how much happier you were when in your merry circle than you are now, therefore give up all these dull and awful thoughts of death and eternity. O, be much ashamed for your enthusiastic conduct and become gay, pleasant and lively, which so much becomes a youth like you.

Reflections, thus rushing in like a flood, soon overpowered my resolutions, and I began to hold down my head much chagrined, and thought that every body knew just how I felt, and what had passed in my mind. O how thoughtless, said I to myself, I was to come here so meanly dressed, for I had left some of my former gaiety at home. I had reasoned so long with the enenly of all good that my heart was hardened, and I dropped all my pious resolutions of seeking the Lord until a more convenient opportunity; doting on a long life and much pleasure in the ways of sin and folly. O what a poor deluded girl I was, ensnared, blinded and much entangled by the gods of this world, and did not as yet discover the deception. I went home with a wandering mind, and did not return to the afternoon.

meeting because of shame; and the week passed on without my having any very serious impressions; nor did I attend secret prayer or use any of the means of grace, while stupidity possessed my mind, till towards the close of the week, when the time of HENRY MARTIN'S appointment to preach drew near, and we expected him to return.

The fear of man now began to take hold of me, and I was much troubled about how I should meet him, or what I should say to him; for I had promised to pray-in secret until he returned. When the day arrived that he was to preach and I was preparing for meeting, a thought darted into my mind as though some one had spoken to me, saying, I will tell you how you can let the minister know, that you have given up seeking the Lord for the salvation of your soul, without speaking a word. Take your nubs and put them into your ears again, curl your hair, and put on your ornaments, and he will imme diately see that you have gone back to your old course again. Accordingly I did so, and thought I should thereby escape the particular notice of his eye.

In this I was disappointed and much mistaken; for as soon as he entered the room, he fixed his eyes on me, and before he spoke to any one in the room, he came to me, and told me all my heart, and as I thought knew all that had passed my mind and how I then felt-and truly his words were not without effect, but sharp like a sword they pierced my heart to the quick, and I began to tremble as though limb by limb all would fall from my body. Once more I dared to lift a desire to God for mercy, and said in my heart, O most merciful God! if thou wilt give me strength to rise once more from my seat,