Enough has been said in the fore part of this little history to prepare every truthful mind to listen with some interest to the religious experience of the author. August 29, 1831. Previous to this date the good Lord and Saviour having often called me by the gentle influences of his gracious spirit, now, upon this 29th day of August, 1831, gave me faith sufficient to encourage me to ask him to be my friend and pardon and forgive my sins. Faith is the gift of God, and without it no man can please the Lord. Faith is brought about to sinful men oftentimes by the moving of the holy spirit which guides into all truth. Whether the faith here given me would be considered by the Christian world a living faith, the faith that works by love and purifies the heart, it was the turning point to better days. Many days previous to the day herein alluded to my mind had been wrought up to the subject of religion and the necessity of an interest in Christ; my mind was saddened, my joys had fled and my soul was stirred within me, and I exclaimed, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" then I cried unto the Lord and he heard me. "When thou prayest," is the instruction of our Saviour, "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door [the heart, the mind, the soul, against all but Jesus] pray to thy Father which seeth in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." There is power in prayer. Not only is there power in prayer with a wrestling Jacob and a prevailing Israel, but our divine Redeemer manifested his willingness to save the chief of sinners, by answering the prayer of the penitent thief on the cross, by saying "this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." I did not feel that I had been a thief or a robber, but I felt I was a sinner lost forever without the pardoning grace of God. "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find," is the encouragement given to every inquiring sinner by the divine Redeemer. I felt at this time the necessity of prayer, and that of earnest, humble, contrite prayer. I had been taught to say "our Father," but now, for the first time, on the 29th of August, 1831, I retired in secret to pray under the direction of that spirit that guides into all truth. Having thus entered the closet I asked the Lord to have mercy on me a sinner. This was in the evening of the 29th; I arose from my knees, but oh, the darkness that gathered over my mind; I went to my bed but sleep had departed from me; I often knelt in earnest prayer, day after day I continued knocking at mercy's door, and praying for mercy to Him who is the sinner's friend. One evening I went to the kitchen, when under this tried state, and stood by the south window, in sadness. My mother approached me, raised my hat, and kindly says, "Moses, what is the matter, have you the cholic?" (knowing I was subject to it) "No, mam," said I, turning and looking out of the window and across the valley. I