ted, and attended his preaching no more. I had
some years before composed a little liturgy, or form of prayer, for my
own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled 'Articles of Belief and Acts
of Religion.' I returned to the use of this, and went no more to the
public assemblies. My conduct might be blamable, but I leave it,
without attempting further to excuse it; my present purpose being to
relate facts, and not to make apologies for them.

It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of
arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any
fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural
inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or
thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might
not always do the one and avoid the other....

I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the
virtues. I ruled each page with red ink so as to have seven columns,
one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for
the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the
beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues,
on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little
black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been
committed respecting that virtue upon that day.

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right
and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end
I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables
of examination, for daily use:--

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide!
Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest
interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that
wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children
as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to
me."

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
Poems, viz.:--

"Father of light and life, thou Good supreme!
O teach me what is good; teach me thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and
continued it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was
surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined