have been arrested in the mad ca. reer of wickedness, and brought by Omnipotent grace, to bow to the fovereign God; Chriftians are enlivened and animated; people are more ferious, and attentive to religion, than they were formerly; it is, therefore, a more favorable moment for Ministers to engage in the pleasant work of teaching the lambs of the flock. The ferious part of their congregations will aid and encourage them, and many others will be more willing to fend their children to their catechifing meetings. And parents, it is hoped, will be more ready to hearken to advice, and go into the mode prescribed of catechifing and praying with their children. Should the prefent favorable moment be neglected, the opportunity may in a measure be loft. Say not that nothing can be done. Attempts, with the bleffing of God, may be followed with great and good confequences. You may fow feed, which may spring up affer you are laid in the grave. Attempts to promote religion are frequently bleffed, and made fuccefsful. If no attempt fhould be made it is certain nothing will be done. But if attempts fhould be made, who knows but a rich fund of knowledge may be inftilled into the minds of many of the youth, and be ever after a guard against infidelity, erroneous fentiments and vice. Say not, ye Minifters of the Gospel, the work will be dif ficult and arduous, and attended with oppofition and difcouragements. Did you not undertake the work of the miniftry expecting difficulties? If you fhould be inftrumental of guarding one youth from unbelief and vice, it will be a rich compenfation for all your Jabors, however great. Say not, ye parents, it will be a difficult task; that our children are vain and thoughtless, and we are but indifferently qualified to inftruct them, and we have neighbors that will ridicule us. Begin in the fear of God, and he will help you. The more fenfible you are of your own infufficiency the better you are prepared to undertake the work. Put on authority, mingled with meeknefs and love, and call your children together every Lord's day to catechife them. When you shall rife, after having inftructed them, to lift up your hearts and voices to God in prayer, will it not be animating to think thousands of parents, who belong to the family concert, are rifing to join in offering prayer to him, who hears the prayers of his people? We, the Minifters, call on ourfelves and one another to be faithful in this work. We call on Parents to affift us, and to teach their offspring. With pity and tender concern, we call on children and youth to attend toparental and minifterial attempts to teach them the catechifm, and give them inftruction. We call on the God of mercies, in the name of his dear Son, the Lord Jefus, to vouchsafe his bleffing, and make the attempt fuccefsful. Berkshire, Oct. 22, 1800. Recommendation of the foregoing plan. AT a meeting of the Confocia tion in the western district in the County of New-Haven, convened by letters miffive, at the houfe of Mr. Irijah Terrel in Salem (Waterbury) December 3d. 1800. A plan was communicated from the Affociation in Berkshire county, State of Maffachusetts and the afk the way of falvation. She now reviewed her paft finful life with a foul filled with horror, under the awakening sense of her guilt. Her prayer less life,-her many mifpent Sabbaths,-her former wrong motives in attending upon public worship, and the prevailing wickednefs of her heart, filled her with great remorfe. Lamenting her former mifimprovement of the Sabbath, she said, “I now with for the return of the Sabbath more than ever I did for any amufement." Thus impreffed, fhe embraced all opportunities of public and private inftruction, while her convictions increased. At length hearing a fermon from these words, An Account of a work of Divine [Continued from page 272.] A LETTER XIII. Second Letter from the Rev. WILLIAM F. MILLER, of Windfor, Wintonbury Parish. GENTLEMEN, CCORDING to what I intimated, in the close of my general narrative of the late work of divine grace, in this parifh, I fend you the particular experiences of the following perfons, to exemplify the nature of the work, in its rife and progrefs in the foul. What meaneft thou, O fleeper? Arife, call upon thy God," she was much affected, with a fenfe that she had been no more awakened to call upon God for his pardoning mercy. Sleep fled from moft of the night lifted up in cries her eyes, and her foul was the to God. She continued in this ftate of diftrefs for about a fortnight. She had thought her preceding convictions as great as nature could endure; but now the found they were not to be compared with the prefent agonies of her foul. It feemed that nature muft fink under the heavy burden, while fhe felt the weight of her guilt before God. In this diftrefs, one day, while at prayer, her mind appeared to undergo a change, which was followed with fuch a delightful view of the holiness, juftice and goodness of God, as A young woman, who, for feveral weeks, under the preaching of the word, had been confiderably awakened and alarmed, under a convincing fenfe of her fin and danger; and who, by ftrong temp-filled her foul with unfpeakable tations, had been befet, and prevailed upon to strive against the conviction in her mind, accounting it a delufion, was at length, pricked in the heart with fuch distress, as took away all peace of mind, and compelled her in earneft to VOL. I. No. 8. love to him; and as the related her exercifes, brought her to refign herself wholly up to his fovereign difpofal. Upon this ravishing view of the holiness and justice of God, which broke in upon her foul, till then unfubdued, without PP thinking of its being a regenerat- | her fifter under conviction, and hearing her converse upon religion; and by a lecture meeting, which fhe had attended in the neighborhood, which had been fet after up the commencement of the revival. For a few weeks fhe kept her convictions wholly to herself. She was afraid to be feen reading the bible, or to have it known that she was concerned for the falvation of her foul, left she should be derided or be thought to pretend to more religion than other people. To hide her convictions from the eyes of the world, she spent all her ing change: "In a moment, fhe faid, the heavy load of diftrefs in 'my breast, was all removed. A 'fweet filled peace my foul. I burft ⚫ out in rapture, O God, I will for ever bow and refign myself up to thee, a finner, as I am! Oh, I have need to be humbled before thee! I have need to confefs my fins to thee, and to lie low before thee, guilty and vile as I am! But, while thus humble, and vile in my own eyes, my foul was filled with unfpeakable joy-with fuch happiness as I never before experienced. My heart was fil-fpare time, in a chamber by herled with love and gratitude to God. I felt an unfpeakable de' light in him. It feemed to me that I could never fufficiently 'praife him. This was the happi'est day of my life. Oh, I never knew what happinefs was before." The fame day, greatly affected with what he had now experienced, fhe rode to fee one of her fifters, who lived feveral miles diftant; and as fhe rode, her mind was wholly engroffed with religion; and fhe relates, "Et feemed to me that I enjoyed more happiness in half an hour, than I had ever enjoyed in my whole life before. The goodnefs and mercy of God; ' and the fufferings of Chrift for 'finners were a feaft to my foul. I was happy to be alone. I felt humbled and unworthy; but I faw a fufficiency in Chrift, and felt that all the glory belonged to 'God." The experiences of another woman, about thirty years of age, were as follows.--For feveral years paft fhe had rarely attended public worship any where. But, fhe was now aroufed to attend to divine things, by hearing much faid about the prefent revival of religion, in the parifh ;-by feeing felf, in reading the bible and in prayer to God. For this purpose fhe fat up late, at night, and arofe at day light in the morning. But the power of conviction increafing, her diftrefs compelled her to ask for inftruction and counfel. And though greatly burdened, at the time fhe did this; yet, after hearing the great doctrines of the gofpel explained, fhe went away more forrowful than fhe came. The evening following fhe was ftruck with a ftill deeper fenfe of the greatness of her fins, and of the dreadful wrath of God, revealed from heaven against the ungodly, upon hearing a fermon upon these words, Rom. iii 19. "Now we know that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." While hearing this fermon, fhe relates," it feemed to me, juft as : though I ftood before the judg'ment feat of Chrift. I felt like a 'criminal. I never before had 'fuch an awful fenfe of the guilt of my fins, though my distresses had been very great. My mouth was ftopped, and I had nothing to fay for myself. Such was any man be in Chrift he is a new It seemed ftrange that my eyes 'had never been opened before. 'I now wondered how any body could live, without praising God. 'Oh! how vile I felt before God, as a finner, dreadfully guilty and unworthy of his notice; and yet I felt unfpeakably happy in creature; old things are paffedpraifing him, as an holy and ' rows. away; behold all things are become new"-my mind was in a moft furprifing manner brought to fubmit to God, and fuddenly impreffed with a delightful view of his great goodness and forgiving mercy, through the Lord Jefus Chrift. My troubled foul ' was strangely eafed of its forFor a few minutes a fweet calm, and a refignation to 'God's will followed, till my • mind was filled with inexpreffible joy and rejoicing in God. It now feemed to me that I could not refrain from praifing God ⚫ aloud. I longed to be by my felf, away from every body. I laid down the bible, and went out into the field, fpeaking the praifes of God; and there every thing around me feemed to be praifing him. I now faw his goodnefs in the fpires of grafs ⚫ before me-in the trees-in the birds-in the heavens-in the fhining fun-in the earth-in its abounding fulness of every thing ⚫ for the use of man, and above all, in his long forbearance to fuch a finner as I had been. I feemed 'to be in a new world, fo different did every thing now appear, as flowing from the goodness of • God. For now his goodnefs appeared in every thing. Oh • How could I fin, as I have done, against a God of fuch infinite goodness! It feemed that God and Chrift could never be fuffi'ciently praifed. I now wanted to have every body praise them. 6 6 . righteous God." This perfon for nearly a year has lived in a very high enjoyment of the confo. lations of religion. Apparently free from enthufiafm, her joys have been great in God, and in the Re. deemer. She fpends a confiderable time daily in reading the bible and in prayer; vifits the fick with peculiar tenderness; and, at times, is greatly exercifed for the falvation of others. When she confiders their finful lives against an holy God, and their danger of everlasting punishment, her heart melts for their falvation with the tendernefs of a friend, on beholding another's deftruction. Her diftreffes for the falvation of others have been fo great, that the hardly knows how to account for them, while, in refpect to herself, she feels fo happy in the enjoyment of God. The fabbath is her delight, and hearing the gospel her sweetest enjoyment. The experiences of a man, about fixty years of age, of reputa ble character, who had been a regular attendant upon public worfhip, and whofe morals, in the common ufe of the word, were good, were as follows -Soon after this powerful work of God began among us, he was convinced of its being a divine work, and was excited to a diligent ufe of the means of grace. His mind was ftruck with a conviction that outward morality would not fave him from the condemning fentence of a broken law, tho' it be the nature, and not to be compared 'with what I now felt, from the foul-fatisfying view I had of 'Chrift. A fenfe of what Christ 'had done for finners, while it 'laid me in the duft, filled my heart with joy and praise. I had, alfo, fometimes thought ' that I had a juft fense of my lit'tlenefs before God, when I had compared myself to the fmallest infect; but now I found my 'mistake, and faid, that I had never before had any just apprehenfion of my nothingnefs and unworthinefs before him. That was the happiest Sabbath, and the happiest day of my life.My foul was filled with the fweeteft joy and rejoicing in God, and Christ, and heavenly 'things." dependence of too many: That, in his paft morality, he had been fo far from yielding an acceptable obedience to the law of God, that he ftood before God condemned for innumerable tranfgreffions. He felt himself a miferable finner, in the hands of an holy and finpunishing God. His inward forebodings of eternal mifery, fpringing from the wickednefs of his own heart, awakened by the divine fpirit, took away all peace from his mind, and filled him with great foul diftrefs. He was now bowed down under a deep fenfe of his great guilt and ill defert in the fight of God, and felt his own depravity of heart and helpleffnefs' as a finner to be fuch, that nothing could prepare him for the king dom of glory, lefs than a change of heart, by the Holy Ghoft. While thus deeply diftreffed with a sense of his fin and danger, one fab bath morning on his way to meeting, he relates, "My heart appeared to undergo an inftantaneous change, and I was fuddenly < overpowered with a most affecting fenfe of God's holiness and 'juftice, which before I could never fatisfactorily comprehend; • of his readiness to pardon the humbled finner; and of the glorious fufficiency there is in the Lord Jefus Chrift, for falvaMy views of divine things were all changed in a moment, I now faw that I had never before, had any juft fenfe of the righteoufnefs of God, nor of the way 6 <tion. of falvation by Chrift. And tho' I felt vile, in my own eyes, and deeply humbled as a finner, my foul was filled with unfpeakable joy in God, and in the bleffed Redeemer. I had tho't that I before knew what happinefs was; but the happiness I then enjoyed was of a different I fhall now conclude this narrative of individuals, with an account of the experiences of another man, of forty-five years of age. This man was greatly awak ened to attend to religion feveral weeks, before he let it be known, as he had an opportunity of hearing the private inftruction given to his wife, who was, alfo, under conviction. When he informed me of his conviction, he was told how wicked and inexcufable finners are in delaying repentancethe neceffity of regeneration-the fovereignty of God in it; and the importance of improving the prefent time to make his peace with God. His convictions ftill continued to increase for many weeks; and while fome, who had been awakened long after him, were now rejoicing in hope, his anxiety continued. This greatly difcour aged him, making him envious at thofe who had obtained a hope of themselves, and exciting in his mind hard thoughts of God. He was tempted to think, at one time, |