to be grieved, but you heeded not my grief; I knew not what to do: we were two natures in one, and could not be disunited; if you got your way, I began to fear that certain destruction in an earthly state, (of which I was alone conscious at that time,) was awaiting us. The habits you were contracting, if not checked and destroyed, would have ended in our shame and disgrace. You had all the so called pleasure of the gratification of your desires, but I had all the painful remorse which generally followed your unlawful indulgences. I do not say that I did not sometimes participate in spirit in some of your foolish and perilous adventures, but for the most part when I did so, there was present a sense that all was not right, and when you were most gratified I was uneasy. At last we made a temporary compromise; you agreed to allow me to make as many professions of religion as I pleased, if I would allow you to indulge yourself as you pleased. This appeared to us both at the time a happy device, but I now know it was Satan's. You had nothing to fear, for although you claimed priority, because of being first born, still I was responsible for both you and myself, and you were not responsible for me. I sinned grievously in making this compromise, and I did not then see that I actually had given you your own way, and had got nothing in exchange. The error arose from my imagining that religion consisted in ceremonies, in meats, and in drinks; and when you occasionally consented to fasting and penance, I thought your bodily exercise was profitable; yea, I knew of nothing else, so that I thought the arrangement when I made it, was all on my side, and against you, and I had hoped that I had secured the mastery over you. That was the time you sold your birthright to me

for a mess of pottage; I thought you had the power of yourself to do so, but if I had only reflected I might have learned from your conduct in that transaction, that what you parted with on such easy terms could scarcely be worth possessing, or if valuable at all, it was disesteemed by you, and as we were one, I should have suspected that you knew not what you were doing in the matter, and cared less. We were, however, both satisfied, and I was guilty of the unaccountable folly of believing that I could live as I pleased and yet be sure of salvation; for that was the true interpretation of our conduct; you did whatever you pleased, I found no fault; I did whatever I pleased, you found no fault; so that our warfare ceased, and you really became less disposed to work iniquity, the irritating power of my opposition being withdrawn. We were at peace and at ease in

Zion.

At last the time of our trial came; the truth began to trouble me, and to give it more force through the conscience, we fell into most heinous sin. You were willing to propitiate God's favour by any amount of bodily service, if you thereby could obtain the blessing. You set out upon a routine of self-imposed restrictions and bodily penances, hoping thereby to please God; and you began again to assert your claims to superiority. My mother, the natural spirit, told me to feign your form, and to go to God as you intended doing, with something that would be meritorious, and claim and receive the birthright from our heavenly father. I selected two of my youngest vices, and I went to my Father, clothed in the garments, and covered in all parts where I was exposed to detection, with the skin of the first-born; and in the spirit of a pharisee, which I really was, I

stood and prayed thus with myself:-" God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess." I was deceiving my Father, I was deceiving myself, and I was deceiving you. The crisis came; for the first time I knew experimentally the great truth, that God searcheth the heart. I had thought my Father was blind, and was such an one as myself, and could not see; but I now felt within me as if all things were naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. I dreaded His anger for having dared to attempt to deceive Him; I trembled for your enmity, when you should discover my duplicity; and I was a terror to myself, because of my spiritual wickedness, which had been so painfully manifested. I then knew the spirit of the publican standing afar off, who would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. The light began to dawn, you discovered what I had done and had said you would slay me. I found mercy with God, who opened mine eyes that I might see my sin; the course of duty was set so plainly before me as to leave me without doubt as to what I should do; and the knowledge I received through my natural spirit, that you would surely kill me if I remained any longer subject to you, or entered into any compromise with you, at once moved me to resolve to leave you, and never more have any desire in common with you, until your enmity was destroyed.

So I left you, and, as already related, I dreamed a dream. A new thing happened unto me: I received a communication imparting to my spirit a knowledge which I could neither see nor feel through my body or

my intellect, for it was spiritually discerned: you were dead to me then in reality, but my spirit became life, and when I ceased to make you the only medium of my religious knowledge and duty, I obtained another helpmeet for me. I had often heard of the Spirit; then for the first time I knew Him. He opened to me a door in heaven, and I saw that there was a direct medium of communication between my spirit and God's Spirit, without either your intervention or that of any other man. I then learned practically the meaning of the word which saith, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, but is within you. And I also saw the folly of trusting in any external form or ceremony, they being merely visible signs, to convey an idea of the truth to the mind, which is there formed and set in order by the Spirit when He is given to the man. I was surprised at the nature of my spiritual dream. Not one word was said to me about my iniquity; not one word about my duty; and not one condition was imposed upon me. It was wholly a promise of blessing even in the life that now is, and also in that which is to come. I awoke, and I said within myself, surely God is in me, and I knew it not. I was afraid, and I said, How dreadful is this place! my body is none other than the temple of God, and my spirit is the gate of heaven. I bestirred myself within me: I felt that love so unbounded, and goodness so undeserved, and a promise so rich and so unexpected, even that the Lord my God would be with me, and keep me in all places whither I went; that the land whereon I was lying, which was my intellect and my body, would be purified and sanctified, and made a meet residence for a holy spirit; and that although I was leaving you then, He gave me the assurance that I

should be again brought into this same land, reunited to you as I this day am. Such a promise filled me to overflowing with gratitude and thankfulness to Him that gave it to me; and grieved for my sins, full of sorrow because of my unworthiness, I resolved to dedicate myself to His service, and become a place in which God would be worshipped in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. From thence, for me to live was Christ: Christ's service became the chief business of my life; Christ's glory became the chief end of my life; Christ's grace became the chief support of my life; Christ's favour and presence became the chief happiness of my life. I believed, and therefore did I speak of Christ, and worship God in spirit and in truth.

I went on my journey, and I came towards the east; I began to inquire for myself into the purpose of God, for in that purpose I had learned that all things originate. I saw the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness in the field of the world, and, lo, I saw three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon its mouth. When the flocks were watered, the shepherds rolled away the stone from the well's mouth, and put it again in its place. I wondered when I saw that the sheep, the sinners of mankind, who are thirsty, could only get water through their shepherds, and when they were pleased to give it to them; and knowing from my own experience how injurious a practice this was, and having learned that all men should come to the knowledge of the Lord, and that a tenth of the whole redeemed family, from Abraham's time, should dwell upon the earth, a kingdom of righteousness and peace to the