nd did not believe that the child of God, when once made
so; was safe for ever. In my fleshly mind I had repeatedly said, If once
I could prove that I am a child of God for ever, I might go back into
the world for a year or two, and then return to the Lord, and at last be
saved. But now I was brought to examine these precious truths by the
word of God. Being made willing to have no glory of my own in the
conversion of sinners, but to consider myself merely as an instrument;
and being made willing to receive what the Scriptures said; I went to
the Word, reading the New Testament from the beginning, with a
particular reference to these truths. To my great astonishment I found
that the passages which speak decidedly for election and persevering
grace were about four times as many as those which speak apparently
against these truths; and even those few, shortly after, when I had
examined and understood them, served to confirm me in the above
doctrines. As to the effect which my belief in these doctrines had on
me, I am constrained to state, for God's glory, that though I am still
exceedingly weak, and by no means so dead to the lusts of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, as I might and as I ought
to be, yet, by the grace of God, I have walked more closely with Him
since that period. My life has not been so variable, and I may say that
I have lived much more for God than before. And for this have I been
strengthened by the Lord, in a great measure, through the
instrumentality of these truths. For in the time of temptation, I have
been repeatedly led to say: Should I thus sin? I should only bring
misery into my soul for a time, and dishonour God; for, being a son of
God for ever, I should have to be brought back again, though it might be
in the way of severe chastisement. Thus, I say, the electing love of God
in Christ (when I have been able to realize it) has often been, the
means of _producing holiness, instead of leading me into sin._ It is
only the notional apprehension of such truths, the want of having them
in the heart, whilst they are in the head, which is dangerous.

3. Another truth, into which, in a measure, I was led, respected the
Lord's coming. My views concerning this point, up to that time, had been
completely vague and unscriptural. I had believed what others told me,
without trying it by the Word. I thought that things were getting better
and better, and that soon the whole world woul