Wesley Corpus

I had now leisure to transcribe a letter, wrote last May, from Amherst, in Nova-Scotia, by a young man whose father, some years since, went thither with his whole family:-- “IN the year 1779, I saw, if I would go to heaven, I must lead a new life. But I did not know I wanted an inward change, or see the deplorable state I was in by nature, till I was at a prayer-meeting, held at Mr. Oxley’s. While they were praying, my heart began to throb within me, my eyes gushed out with tears, and I cried aloud for mercy; as did most that were in the room, about fourteen in number. One, indeed, could not hold from laughing, when we began to cry out; but it was not long before he cried as loud as any. In a few moments, it pleased God to fill Mrs. Oxley with joy unspeakable. After this, we went, almost every night, to Mr. Oxley’s, to sing and pray. Going thence one night, and seeing the Northern Lights, I thought, ‘What, if the Day of Judgment be coming?' I threw myself down on the ground, and cried to the Lord for mercy. On Sunday, Mr. Wells, an old Methodist, came to Amherst, and gave us an exhortation; in which he said, ‘Sin and repent, sin and repent, till you repent in the bottomless pit.’ The words went like a dagger to my heart; and I con tinued mourning after God for five weeks and four days, till our monthly meeting. I was then strongly tempted to put an end to my life; but God enabled me to resist the tempta tion. Two days after, an old Methodist, after praying with me, said, ‘I think you will get the blessing before morning.’ About two hours after, while we were singing a hymn, it pleased God to reveal his Son in my heart. Since that time, I have had many blessed days, and many happy nights. “One Sunday night, after my brother Dicky and I were gone to bed, I asked him, ‘Can you believe?” He answered, ‘No.’ I exhorted him to wrestle hard with God, and got up to pray with him. But he was unbelieving still: So I went to sleep again.