tenwithin me, I knew not how (as de-. scribed above by the Prophet Isaiah, but whom I did not then know any thing of). I also traced the whole progress of the soul and body (as well as I was able to do) from infancy to perfect maturity; showing that they were both gradually increased and strengthened in a similar manner, till they were ripe and ready to fulfil the great object of God and nature, by entering respectively into the state of holy matrimony; from the affection of natural love in one case, and divine love in the other; which latter I considered as the spirit of God, which at this mature period operated, as I supposed, for this holy end, in all divinely instructed souls, as the natural passion did, in all healthy and well-nurtured bodies.

I little thought at that time, that the Holy Scriptures, which I so wickedly and foolishly. despised, would have taught me the same things (by the Holy Spirit) had I properly studied them. But after my conversion (I hope) or at

desist. This I shall therefore do, after declaring my entire persuasion, that perhaps there is not a mysterious passage in the Bible, which may not, and will not in the Lord's good time, be opened by means of this universal key; for HE says, after interpreting the Parable of the Sower and Seed to his disciples, " For there is nothing hid, which shall not be "manifested: neither was any thing kept secret, but that it "should come abroad." Mark, iv.

least conviction of sin and righteousness, when I had (almost miraculously) procured a Bible, I read with a delightful surprise in St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians the following Scripture, and others of a like nature, which appeared to me to teach the same truths, viz. "Till we all "come in the unity of the FAITH and of the KNOWLEDGE of the Son of God, unto a perfect man; "unto the measure of the stature, of the fulness " of Christ. That we henceforth be no more "children, tossed to and fro, and carried about "with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of

66

men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they "lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth "in love, may grow up into him in all things, "which is the HEAD, even CHRIST; from WHOM "the whole BODY, fitly joined together and com"pacted, by that which every joint supplieth, "according to the effectual working in the mea"sure of every part, maketh increase of the ແ BODY UNTO THE EDIFYING OF ITSELF "IN LOVE."

I also set forth in a way of comparison the destructive nature of libertinism in the body, with spiritual libertinism, or infidelity to God, in the soul; the first as the shadow, the latter as the substance; and proved clearly (to myself) that the same causes induced them both, and that they were equally and similarly fatal. That the foul disease in the body was an exact

emblem of the similar corruption which took place in the soul of the infidel, when it (scorning to submit to the lawful and holy matrimony of truth and love, which I had discovered in the soul, between right reason and true sentiment) went a whoring from truth, and the God of truth, after the vain idols, the false pleasures of ambition, vanity, lust, covetousness, &c. These I considered to be the painted, tainted, and deceitful harlots of the soul, that ruined mankind, by communicating the poison, the infectious virus of infidelity, or spiritual fornication, to the soul; which poison in both cases attacked the source of life and generation, and terminated both our natural and spiritual life in corruption, and extinction of the vital principles of faith and love.

And now, the floods of light and heat, or knowledge and faith, and (what I supposed to be) divine beauty, which broke in upon my mind and heart, on all sides, were infinitely too copious, too rapid, and too spiritual, to be faithfully committed to paper; for the views of thought, and the ineffable feelings, which as it were overwhelmed my soul with an ocean of ravishing glory, wisdom, beauty, and holiness, in the space of a few minutes, would, if verbally and distinctly developed, have filled volumes! I gasped for breath, I was continually ready to shout aloud; and when I attempted to write, was unable to begin, from the boundless views

and transporting sentiments, which struggling in my soul, big with the mighty birth of heavenly. truth and salvation, rushed in crowds to be delivered! An invisible hand seemed to have withdrawn the veil from the face of nature, and for a moment to lay open all her secret treasures to my view. New languages in the various forms of matter entered the awakened eyes and ears of my soul, and revealed to me those spiritual realities, of which they were only the beautiful and eloquent (though silent) shadows.

Sometimes, I doubted whether I was not dreaming. I then brought my dreams to the standard of what I thought rational or mathematical demonstration; and finding them to square, that is to say, as well as run parallel therewith (as it appeared to me), I concluded that I was awake. I then believed that I was, and must be, assisted by a supernatural power, and that the work which I was engaged in must undoubtedly be approved by the Deity, who thus vouchsafed to instruct and enlighten my blindness and weakness. Such a persuasion as this could not fail to stimulate my ardour; but at the same time, it threw a weighty impression of awe and reverence upon my soul, which made me more humble, tender, and cautious; which spiritually, as it were, made me to take my shoes from off my feet, being sensible that I stood on holy ground; and rendered me exceedingly fearful, lest I should write any

thing discordant to truth, and to the infinite holiness of that spirit, which I believed did condescend to guide my utter weakness and darkness.

I concluded my Essay on the mutual resemblance of the soul and body, with taking a general view of the brute creation, and showing that all the good and evil sentiments in the heart of man were strongly pourtrayed in them; not only in their peculiar dispositions and instincts, but also in the particular conformation of their bodies. That from observing their natures and actions, man might learn what was really good or bad, lovely or hateful in himself; because all these several qualities, actions, and forms had an appropriate voice, and made their proper impressions on their corresponding originals in the human heart, and excited concordant or discordant vibrations, like those of two violins in unison, or the reverse; so that all impressions of moral evil or deformity were immediately felt to be such, in the pure heart*, by discordant vibrations, which by causing uneasiness, or pain, self-evidently proved them to be such, to its good natural sentiments, and the same inversely.

* That is to say, comparatively, not absolutely; in other words, a simple, unsophisticated, uncontaminated state of the heart.

H