prophesy certain damnation to me whenever I should depart out of this world. But I trust this is equally false,-" For I know whom I have believed, (or trusted) and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

But to return to my narrative:

Sometime after I returned back to South-Carolina, a physician with whom I had been acquainted in Virginia, came to live in the parish where I was minister; and among his books I found the Everlasting Gospel by Paul Siegvolk; this was the second copy that had fell in my way, and I read a little more therein, but as yet had not the least thought that ever I should embrace his sentiments; yet some of his arguments appeared very conclusive, and I could not wholly shake them off, but I concluded to let them alone, and not investigate the matter; and therefore Í never gave the book even so much as one cursory reading, till with great difficulty I procured one in the city of Philidelphia, more than two years afterwards.

In the year 1779, I found myself much stirred up to exhort my fellow creatures to repent, believe, and obey the Gospel, and began to adopt a more open and general method of preaching than I had used for some years before; having been deemed one of the most consistent Calvinists upon the continent, much upon the plan of Dr. Gill, whom I esteemed almost as an oracle. But now my heart being opened, and viewing the worth of souls, I felt great compassion towards them, and invited them with all my might to fly for mercy to the arms of Christ, who died

for them, and who was willing to save them. I was gradually led into this way of preaching, without considering any thing about its consistency with strict Calvinism, but finding myself ever happy and comfortable in my own mind, and that this method of preaching was highly useful, 1 continued to go in the same course.

About this time I began to find uncommon desires for the conversion and salvation of the poor negroes, who were very numerous in that part of the country; but whom none of my predecessors, that I could learn, had ever taken pains to instruct in the principles of Christianity; neither had any single slave, either man, or woman been baptized until that summer, in the whole parish (which was very large) that I ever heard of.

The prejudices which the slaves had against Christianity, on account of the severities practised upon them by professing Christians, both ministers and people, might be one principal reason why they could not be brought to attend to religious instruction. But they had no prejudice against me on this score, as I never had any thing to do with slavery, but on the contrary condemned it; and this being pretty generally known, operated so upon the minds of those poor creatures, that they shewed a disposition to attend my ministry, more than they had ever shewed to any other. But still I never had addressed them in particular, and indeed had hardly any hopes of doing them good. But one eve

ning seeing a number of them at the door of the house, where I was preaching, I found myself constrained as it were, to go to the door,

and tell them, that Jesus Christ loved them, and died for them, as well as for us white people, and that they might come and believe in him and welcome. And I gave them as warm and pressing an invitation as I could, to comply with the glorious gospel. This short discourse addressed immediately to them, took greater effect than can be well imagined. There were about thirty from one plantation in the neighborhood present; (besides others) these returned home, and did not even give sleep to their eyes, as they afterwards informed me, until they had settled every quarrel among themselves, and according to their form of marriage, had married every man to the woman with whom he lived; had restored whatever one had unjustly taken from another; and determined from that time to seek the Lord diligently. From that very evening they began constantly to pray to the Lord, and so continued; and he was fond of them. tinued to instruct them, and within three months from the first of June, I baptized more than thirty blacks belonging to that plantation, besides as many others, as in the whole made up one hundred, of which sixty-three were men, and thirtyseven were women, all which were born in Africa, or immediately descended from such as were natives of that unhappy country.

I con

My preaching was not only useful to the poor slaves, but also to great numbers of the white people, of whom I baptized upon profession of repentance and faith in Christ, about one hundred and thirty-nine persons within the same space. This was a summer of great success, and I shall remember that happy season with pleas

ure while I live. This summer I received some farther dawnings of the day of the general Restoration in my mind, for upon considering several Scriptures, such as these," He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." Isai. liii, 11. " After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Rev. vii. 9. I became fully persuaded that the number of the finally saved would equal if not exceed the number of the lost. And I was so forcibly impressed with this new and very joyful discovery, that I not only conversed in that strain privately, but boldly preached it in the congregation, which generally consisted of nearly a thousand persons upon Sundays. Some of the people to whom I had mentioned something respecting the sentiment, thought that I was going at once to declare myself in favor of the general Restoration. But that was as yet far from being the case; though some of the arguments which 1 had glanced upon in that book, the Everlasting Gospel, would frequently present themselves to my mind in such a forcible manner that I could scarcely withstand their evidence.

In the month of September I left South-Carolina, on a visit to my friends in New-England, intending however to return to my people again; but to prevent their being left destitute, I procured the Rev. Mr. Botsford to come and supply them, upon this condition,that whenever I should

return, he should resign the congregation to me again, if I required it. But he has remained the constant Pastor ever since. I then travelled slowly through the continent, preached to the people, and conversing with my friends to whom sometimes in private I proposed some of the arguments in favor of the general Restoration, which I had read in the Everlasting Gospel, on purpose to see what answers they could give; and this I did especially to able ministers: but to my surprise often found them quite at a stand, not knowing what to say. And some were almost overpowered with even the weak manner in which I was capable of holding forth the arguments in favor of the Restoration.—And oftentimes the answer that some of the greatest men gave, were such as tended to increase my doubts respecting endless misery, rather than to remove them. I remember once, that I asked the Rev. Mr.Manning, President of Rhode-Island College, and who was at that time one of my dearest friends, what was the strongest argument that he could use in favor of the doctrine of endless misery? He answered, that it was the nature of God to lay the greatest possible restraint upon sin, and therefore he had threatened it with endless punishment, as the highest restraint he could possibly lay upon it. This argument is answered in the third dialogue. Thus after much seeking I could find no satisfaction in the matter; but still my doubts increased. Notwithstanding, I withstood the doctrine of the Restoration with all my might, and sometimes preached publicly against it with all the force I could muster. Yet there was something in its favor that gained grad