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a sinner upon the merits, sufferings, and blood of Jesus Christ<br />
our Lord, in the 25<hi rend="superscript">th</hi> Year of her Age. These particulars may ap-<br />
pear to be somewhat foreign to the matter, but they were impress-<br />
ive to my mind, and often made me wish to be good; and caused<br />
me, when I did any thing I thought not right, to be very uneasy<br />
and to pray God to forgive me; though as soon as any temptation<br />
came in my way, I was immediately overcome by it again. I<br />
felt drawings of the heavenly Father won from my earliest<br />
Years, but did not understand what it meant. These were<br />
dark times, at that period me heard of nothing but fearing God<br />
and keeping his commandments. This I strove to do, but found<br />
alas! I could not; on account of which I was often much perplex-<br />
ed, and in fear lest I should at last be lout[?]. I went on in this<br />
way, till <add>in</add> the Year <date>1740</date> M<hi rend="superscript">r&nbsp;</hi> <persname>George Whitefield</persname> came to <placename>Ameri-<br />
ca</placename>, and preached the Gospel to the awakening of many Souls.<br />
I also at that time, in my fifteenth Year, was awakened to see<br />
my lost and undone state, on account of which I was much dis-<br />
tressed; and the more clearly I saw it, the more my anxiety<br />
increased, not only on account of all my sins, and the condemna-<br />
tion I felt in my Soul on account of them, mixed with the fear<br />
of death and hell: but also that I <del>lived</del> <add>was living</add> without Christ and<br />
without God in the world greatly increased my distress. I could<br />
scarecely eat, drink, or sleep. My fears and anxiety <del>were</del> <add>had</add> now ri-<br />
sen to such a height, that neither Sermons, books, nor prayers<br />
could satisfy me. This, my distress, continued till Jesus him-<br />
self drew near to me and gave me the assurance of the forgiveness<br />
of my Sins through faith in his most precious blood and atone-<br />
ment, by means of that text of Scripture, &quot;The Lord our<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Righteousness.&quot;