The next opportunity, I gave him a history of the ancient patriarchs,
showing the simplicity, integrity, and holiness of their lives,
extolling their faith in God, and promptness in obeying all his
commandments. William became much more thoughtful than I had seen him
upon any former occasion. What I told him he generally related to his
friends at table. Their conversation was now more manly and rational;
formerly they conversed only about horses, hounds, dress, &c. now
about the history of the world, its creation, the remarkable men
who had lived in it, the different changes which had taken place in
empires, kingdoms, &c.

He was wonderfully taken with the account I gave of that nation whom
God had chosen for his own people, viz. the Jews. I told him how
wonderfully God had delivered them from captivity in Egypt; how he
drowned in the Red Sea an army of Egyptians, with their king at their
head, who were pursuing the Jews. But when I told him of the holy law
of God, and expatiated a little upon it, he shrugged up his shoulders
and said it was too strict for him. Well, William, said I, cursed is
every one who continueth not in _all things_ written or commanded in
that law. He pushed me aside, ran down stairs, and soon became sick
and feverish. His mother begged of him to tell her of his sudden
distress. He said I had alarmed him exceedingly; that he found himself
a great sinner, and saw no mercy for him in the world to come. His
mother came running up stairs, and in the heat of passion locked me
into my old cell, where I remained in close confinement for some days.
But William could not dispense with my company; accordingly I was sent
for. I found him very pale and pensive; however, I faithfully told
him, that the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are only evil,
and that continually. He said he lately began to feel that; he had
tried to make it better, but could not. Upon this a stranger entered