"'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.' Amen."
"Heard Dr. Milledoler preach in the state prison to the convicts, from Luke 19:10: 'For the Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost.' He addressed them as fellow-sinners, all being by nature lost and dependent on the same means for recovery.
"True, my heart accords. O Lord, thou knowest I stand in my own estimation a sinner, the chief of sinners. These have added to their sin against thee, breach against men, and are suffering the penalty.
"My sins have been chiefly, though far from exclusively, against God, and with many aggravations. That I was born in a Christian land, of pious parents, who gave me religious instructions; brought up under faithful, lively ministers, and in religious society; exposed to few temptations but what arose from the corruptions of my own heart, are aggravations, which, perhaps, many are mourning over, as heightening the sin of unbelief in their unregenerated state. But the aggravations--the painful remembrance of which mars my comfort and covers me with shame and confusion even now, though I know that God is pacified with me--are as far above these as the heavens are above the earth. For in that Christian land, under those Christian parents and faithful pastors, while yet young and tender, I was enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, was made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the good word of God and the power of the world to come. I was taken from the fearful pit and miry clay; my feet set upon the rock, and a new song put into my mouth, even to the amount of, O death, where is thy sting?--of redeeming love, pardoning grace, new covenant mercy, I had 'joy and peace in believing,' But forgetting my natural character, the extreme volatility of my spirits, my taste for gayety; forgetting the danger of smothering the heavenly spark by indulging to the utmost bound of lawful pleasure; forgetting my continual need of fresh supplies of grace to preserve and feed that new life which could not live on earthly food; forgetting the deceitfulness of my heart, the injunctions of my Bible, I became cold, negligent in the use of means, distant in prayer, lost enjoyment, and my heart, naturally carnal and madly fond of pleasure, got entangled. 'The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life' regained their power; other loves usurped the place of that Beloved who had bought me with his blood, and betrothed me to himself; 'that which came into my mind was, that I would be as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.' Blessed be his name, he said, 'It shall not be.' He brought me into the wilderness and pleaded with me, caused me to pass under the rod, brought me again into the bond of the covenant.