'In my preaching of the Word I took special notice of this one
thing, namely, that the Lord did lead me to begin where his Word
begins with sinners; that is, to condemn all flesh, and to open
and allege, that the curse of God by the law doth belong to, and
lay hold on all men as they come into the world, because of sin.
Now this part of my work I fulfilled with great feeling, for the
terrors of the law, and guilt for my transgressions, lay heavy on
my own conscience. I preached what I felt, what I smartingly did
feel, even that under which my poor soul did groan and tremble to
astonishment. Indeed, I have been as one sent to them from the
dead; I went myself in chains to preach to them in chains; and
carried that fire in my own conscience that I persuaded them to
beware of.[175] I can truly say, that when I have been to preach,
I have gone full of guilt and terror even to the pulpit-door, and
there it hath been taken off, and I have been at liberty in my
mind until I have done my work, and then, immediately, even before
I could get down the pulpit stairs, I have been as bad as I was
before: yet God carried me on with a strong hand, for neither guilt
nor hell could take me off my work. Thus I went on for the space
of two years, crying out against men's sins, and their fearful
state because of them.'[176]

A man so much in earnest soon became a most acceptable and popular
preacher. He studied his sermons carefully, and wrote such memorandums
and notes as might refresh his memory before going into the pulpit,
although his intensity of feeling, his ready utterance, and natural
eloquence which charmed his hearers, and his extensive usefulness
as a preacher, render it quite improbable that he restricted himself
to notes while publicly engaged in sacred services. They must have
aided him when he did not enjoy liberty of utterance. 'At times