He was at the same time greatly distressed on account of the corruption of his nature. Original sín, as explained in the IX Article of the church of England, was felt by him and seen by him in all its force and in all its malignity. It was seen and felt by him to be the root of all actual transgression, and of itself a suffici ent ground of eternal condemnation.

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About the same time he became thoroughly convinced that if ever he were saved, he could be saved only by the free and sovereign grace of God. Hence, also, he became fully established in the doctrine of particular election, knowing of no other doctrine that could preserve him from despair. He learned the doctrine from no author, but from his own experience and the Bible. "And indeed," says he, "I cannot find to this day how any rationally convinced sinner can find any ground of encouragement in the use of the means of grace from any other doctrine. But by this doctrine I do not mean, that if we are elected we shall be saved, let us do as we will, or if we are not elected, we shall be lost let us do as we will; but I mean that God has decreed to effect salvation in the use of certain means, that he has put these means in our hands, aud in the use of these means we are encouraged to hope in his sovereign mercy."

From this view of things, he was encouraged to continue in the use of the means, though sometimes, through the depravity of human nature, he became remise and negligent.

There was a something in the means of grace, which made them always an object of his desire, though the

degree of this desire was extremely fluctuating. At one time it was remarkably strong, at another time it just existed, so that he could not refrain from using them. So high a value did he put on sermons and sacramental occasions, that he frequently rose early on the Sabbath morning, baked himself a cake, which he took with him, and walked twelve or fifteen miles to the place of worship, and sometimes returned on the same day. -A spirit of prayer was generally enjoyed by him at this time to a considerable degree. He prayed before, and prayed after, and prayed while he was hearing, for God's blessing on his own truths, and his own ordinances. He went to meeting sometimes walking, and sometimes running, frequently praying as he went.Thus he went on for upwards of a year or eighteen months. Sometimes attending upon the public and private means of grace with a great deal of fervour, and at other times with a great deal of langour, and with something like indifference, till at length, in holy and good providence, he went to hear the Rev. Samuel Davies, whose ministry he had frequently attended, without having received from it any special or direct benefit.

In this sermon however that man of God pointed out to him the road he had been travelling with more clearness than he could have done himself, and at the same time shewed him the great danger to which he was exposed. "When Satan," said the preacher, "cannot induce men to renounce religion entirely and forever, he will lead them on step by step, supported by their own resolutions, until the thread of life break, and they drop into

eternal ruin." This description sunk into his very heart. "I knew it," says he, "to be true history, and believed the dreadful consequences as pointed out would most assuredly follow. This brought me to a sad dilemma-whether I should persevere or give it over forever. But the thought would return again and again, Who car dwell with everlasting burnings!

Finally, I resolved to persevere in seeking, and if I perished I would perish on my knees.

CHAPTER II.

FURTHER CONVICTIONS,

HAVING formed the resolution to persevere in seeking God in all the appointed means of his grace, Mr. Rice was careful not to lose the advantage which he had gained; knowing the treachery of his own heart, he committed it to writing, and daily carried it in his pocket, that he might always have a monitor at hand. This expedient appears to have been remarkably blest. From that time he was in a great measure preserved from his former occasional langour and indifference, and was enabled to persevere with a considerable degree of ardour and regularity in the use of the appointed means, till he was brought to discover the way of salvation through a Redeemer.

During this period he had a growing sense of the corruption of his own nature, particularly of his unbelief and hardness of heart. The two things which ap peared to him the greatest wonders, were the goodness of God in the gift of his only begotten Son for the redemption of mankind, and his own ingratitude for sc great a gift. He saw and felt that salvation was freely offered to him in the Gospel, and that nothing separated him from it but unbelief. "This unbelief," says he, "I viewed and felt as the greatest sin of my life, that it reflected dishonour on the greatest and best of beings, rejected the council of God against my own soul, refused the greatest and best gift of God to man, and bound the guilt of all my other sins on my conscience. I wondered that I was suffered to have a place on God's earth, to breathe his air, or enjoy any of the blessings of his providence."

He thus went for sometime with the sentence of death in his heart. To obtain relief he determined to spend the Sabbath in an old house on his father's plantation, in reading, meditation, and prayer. The day was spent in a kind of mixed exercise and mixed feeling. His wretched state was at one time the object of his meditations, and at others his mind dwelt with some considerable delight on the provisions made in the plan of salvation for perishing sinners.

le sometimes thought he had a glimpse of the excellency and preciousness of the way of salvation, and the wisdom of God in devising a method of grace that at once secured his own glory and the salvation of sinners. He saw at times so much of the beauty and ex

cellency of the gospel plan, that his heart seemed ready to spring forward and embrace it. Then darkness and unbelief would again prevail.

He returned in the evening without having obtained any relief, and the two weeks which followed were the darkest and most distressing period of his whole life. He thought he was just on the point of being given up to the dominion of his own hardened and unbelieving heart. "I thought," said he, "I had these glimpses of Christ to aggravate my future condemnation, as a just punishment for my abuse of former privileges. I knew that as to outward conduct I had been more orderly than many, yet I viewed myself the most miserable sinner under heaven." No human needed now unfeld unto him the import of "Cursed is every one who contin-, ueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." He felt, without the assistance of any comment, the force of the Apostle's exclamation, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death."

No son of Adam ever yet sought the Lord in vain, A high sovereignty is indeed displayed as to the time,