will that which he does not will. I was not willing to be damned; but I felt as if it would be better for me to be damned, than that the glory of God should be eclipsed.

"I continued in this unutterable horror more than two weeks, in which time, by experience, I could say:

'Weeping, woe and lamentation,
Vain desires, and fruitless prayer,
Shame, and hell, and condemnation,
Doubt, distraction and despair,'

were all I felt. For I despaired of obtaining salvation from any or all of
my former duties-of obtaining help from any created power.
I even
despaired of the mercy of God, unless there could be a way that he could
have mercy on me consistent with his justice; for I was convinced that
he was a just God as well as a Saviour. In this situation I had no one
to whom I could tell my trials, or from whom to receive advice.

"One day I had a little calm on my mind, and while sitting and musing on my state, the following train of thoughts fell into my mind: Once I was company for almost any person, but now I am company for nobody. There was a time when I took pleasure in the world, but now there is nothing earthly that is desirable to me-all things are tasteless and insipid. Oh! that I had never been born, was the language of my heart, for nothing will again be agreeable unto me. I shall never feel any more satisfaction in company, I, who used to pray so much and so constantly, cannot now offer one petition; for it seemed as if I did not pray at all; yet, upon a recollection, I believe I breathed prayer all the time, and that all my sighs were- God be merciful to me a sinner,' for I kept breathing or repeating the following lines:

'Oh! God of mercy, hear my call,

My load of guilt remove;
Break down this separating wall
Which bars me from thy love.'

"While I was thus musing, the words of the apostle, Heb. ix: 26, passed through my mind-' But now once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.' I was in such deep meditation that they seemed to pass through my mind without notice. The same words occurred a second time, but still I took no thought upon them. They came to my mind a third time, and I began to think, what can these words mean? But now once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." As I was meditating on this passage my load and burden of sin went off, and I began to feel calm and peaceable in my mind. This affrighted me, for I feared I was losing my concern, and should turn back into my old state, and be as bad or worse than ever. I cried, Oh! Lord, I had rather remain in this distressed state till I am as old as Methuselah, could it be possible, than to turn back again to folly. I then tried to make myself feel as I had felt before, by thinking of what a bad state I was in, but I could not again obtain that feeling and distress. I then concluded that the Spirit of God had departed from me, and I was left to myself, and given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. But still in all this I could not, I could not feel that distress which I had before felt.

"At length I began to reason with myself in the following manner :What does this mean? What state was I in when I was taken with this distress? I was in love of the world and its vanities. In what state

has it left me?

The world and all its vanities are loathsome to me. I hate sin and folly, and have no relish for any earthly good. What do I love? I know I love God, and long after righteousness. What then is this but a change wrought by the power of God in my soul? This is conversion, this is what I have read of in the Scriptures, being born again, &c. As soon as I believed this, I gave glory to God, and Oh! what love, joy and peace filled my soul. Now I saw a just God and a Saviour; and in Christ beheld a blessed sacrifice for sin, to the full satisfaction of Divine justice. Oh! how the character of Jesus shined in my soul. Oh! thought I, Jesus is precious to me-my transport and my trust. My soul kept crying, 'Jesus, Jesus.' I saw in him a universal love, a universal atonement, a universal call to mankind to obey it. Now I saw that God had ever been my friend, and that he had ever been waiting to be gracious to me. My joy became unspeakable and full of glory. My soul was inflamed with the love of God as my great Creator and Preserver, to Jesus Christ as my only Redeemer, and to the Holy Ghost as my Reprover and blessed Comforter. Oh! what love I felt to all mankind, and wished that they all might share in the fulness which I saw so extensive and so free for them all. Oh! what pity flowed into my soul for poor sinners, whom I saw in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity.”

Evangelical Christians will feel a deep interest in perusing the above experience. It reminds us of those of Bunyan, Whitefield and Wesley. How the biographer of Randall could pass by this thorough experience, with a mere notice of its date, we are at a loss to know, unless he saw too much grace there for his own views of the efficient cause of regeneration. Cold indeed on so full a display of the love of God! Every Christian feels essentially what Randall experienced. And if he compares his experience with the Bible, he will find that both concur in teaching that it is the grace of God which changes the heart. "I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." So Randall was alive to his own goodness once, but the commandment came -went to his heart-he died to sin and to his former hope, and became a new creature in Christ. His whole language is different from the expression of many of this day, "When I started."

No department in Christian science is more instructive than that of grace-experiences. "Come and hear, all ye

that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul," is the language of every true convert. Spiritual obedience follows regeneration, as an evidence that we are the children of God. The regenerated heart exercises that faith in Christ which enables it to overcome the world.

The words of De Saci are to this point: "But that faith, by a vital reception of which we are Christians, after showing us this ground of corruption and sin, which ought profoundly to humble us, shows us with it the infinite mercy blood of Jesus Christ, as

of God, and the efficacy of the the Mediator and Reconciler of men to God. We must then unite these two views, which ought never to be separated the view of ourselves and our sins, and the view of Jesus Christ and his merits." Surely there is a glory in Christ seen by every humble soul. Christ is the joy of the real penitent. Christ is the glory of those who devoutly exclaim" Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and thy truth's sake."

Randall, after his conversion, became strongly attached to experimental religion. But as the Congregational church, whose meetings he attended, was on legal ground, this occasioned his delaying a public profession. But in about a year he married, and after becoming a father, he and his wife decided that the child must be taken into covenant, as understood by Pedobaptists. Thus they entered the church for the sake of the child. Such is the tendency of a rite not revealed in the Gospel. A few experimental Christians, who held frequent prayer meetings, were found in the church. The pastor attended with them but once. As Randall found in this church but little vital religion, and much immorality, his interest in the members diminished, but the prayer meetings became more interesting. This led him to study the Scriptures on the subject of baptism. He could not find infant baptism there, nor any form of baptism except immersion. By this means he embraced Baptist principles; but delayed expressing the change to his few praying brethren. After some delay he told them his new views, and learned from them they had been studying the Bible on the same subject, and had arrived at the like conclusion. After this, Mr. Randall and three of his brethren repaired to Madbury, New Hampshire, and were baptized by William Hooper, on the same day in which the administrator was ordained, in the year 1776. The four then baptized became ministers of the

Gospel. Randall united with the Baptist church in Berwick, Maine. He continued his services in the Newcastle prayer meeting as a leader, but finally as a preacher. In 1778 he commenced preaching at New Durham, New Hampshire. Soon after this he dissented from the Baptists, and formed the new connexion.

The work of separation, according to the Memoir, commenced as follows: "Randall was called upon by one of his own brethren in the ministry, in a public assembly, to tell why he did not preach election as Calvin held it.' Disputation followed this injudicious and untimely question. Randall asserted disbelief in the doctrine. Nothing was settled. A meeting to discuss the subject was held at Gilmanton in 1779. By this means the division was increased. Mr. Randall decided to separate, and form a new sect. But previously another meeting was held in Madbury meeting-house, in the presence of a large assembly, which completed the division. A public assembly is not a proper place for disputations among brethren. They should be in private, where the mind is more likely to be kept calm. Nor should the doctrine of Calvin be the question, but rather the doctrine of the Bible. Calvin is not a perfect guide; the Word of God only is.

We resume the narrative of the biographer. In 1779 the Baptist church in London and Canterbury, New Hampshire, under the care of Edward Lock, the branch church in Barrington, and Elder Toser Lord, of Maine, united to form the new connexion. In 1780 Mr. Randall united with the new church in Barrington. On the 5th of April, in the same year, he was ordained at New Durham as an evangelist. Elder T. Lord preached, Elder Lock gave the hand of fellowship. ❝ *Elder Randall," in the words of the Memoir, "now began his Gospel career, and laid the foundation of the connexion, now extending over a great part of North America, commonly known by the denomination of "FREE-WILL BAPTISTS."† The first Free-Will

*Elder-the term extensively used by Baptists and Free-Will Baptists in that day.

As Free-Will Baptist is the name which that sect give themselves, we shall designate them by the same.

Baptist church, then, was formed at New Durham, 1780. Articles of faith, presented by Elder Randall, were adopted. Those who dissented from the Baptists the preceding year were associated with Randall, who was doubtless the principal agent in their change of connexion.

The ordination of Randall forms a dividing line in his life, as relating to this new sect, of which he was from that time the leader. His preceding course was one of changes, and of much interest. By his deep religious anxiety in the gaiety of youth, we see that vanity is often associated, in the same youthful mind, with distress of soul. But many, like Randall, when alarmed, fall into self-righteousness, comparing their own supposed goodness with the character of others. His opposition to the sound, pungent preaching of Whitefield, illustrates the enmity of the natural heart against the Bible. But his distress and penitence, on hearing of the death of Whitefield, show that the Divine Spirit had taken possession of his heart; the enmity was slain and the soul humbled, even before the man supposed he had the evidence of regenerating grace. His penitential prayers resulted from a new heart. This doctrine should be understood by all evangelical Christians.

The public profession of religion which Randall first made, was more for the sake of complying with custom, than the result of investigation. But when he examined the Bible, he saw the ordinance as revealed in the Gospel. But we do not find that in his subsequent departure from the Baptists there was much said about the Bible, either on his part or that of his accusers, but about Calvin's doctrine. A different appeal, and a different manner of conducting that appeal, might have prevented Randall's swerving from the doctrines of grace. For want of this, he permitted himself to be ordained apart from the people among whom he received Gospel baptism. His success in preaching was great before he left the Baptists. He traveled much; and in the midst of opposition, which he met with great firmness and perseverance, was very successful in winning souls to Christ.

We now follow him in his new connexion. In the twen