Thus we run the way of God’s commandments, as he enlarges the heart with the influence and full persuasion of his love. This is highly commended of the Lord; hence he says, _I remember thee_, _the kindness of thy youth_, _and the love of thine espousals_, _when thou wentest after me in a land that was not sown_. So he complains of others, _that they had left their first love_. With respect to this willingness to serve the Lord, I am sure, as I felt this love, so I was anxious to spread the savour of it in every place; and though entirely destitute of human learning, eloquence, and oratory, yet the Lord went before me, opening my mouth, and opening doors in his providence for me, giving testimony to the word of his grace; some were convinced, others comforted, some brought into sweet liberty, some were brought out of damnable errors, and many sweetly instructed in the grand plan of a sinner’s salvation; and I bless God there are many witnesses to these things to this day. This incurred the displeasure of the Devil, of the Citizens of a barren country, and those Preachers who knew nothing of the power of God in their souls, and of course never were the instruments of communicating it to others. Though in this Work I have discerned in myself too much a savoring of flesh and blood—a willingness to cry, _a confederacy_, to any—and I have sorely smarted for my folly, though I never gave up an inch of truth to please any; yet being naturally facile, and filled with zeal, with but little knowledge, perhaps, in many instances, I have not acted so decidedly as I ought to have done—I hope my Lord has forgiven me this wrong, and of the Church I must beg pardon, while I must plead youth and inexperience—but by many scourges, reproaches, temptations, and trials, I have been since a little better informed, and now understand the meaning of that singular text in the Proverbs—_A whip for the horse_, _a bridle for the ass_, _and a rod for the fool’s back_. It is now my most sincere desire to glorify God, to speak good of his name, to be of use to his dear people, and to make manifest the savoriness of divine truth in every place; but this cannot be done, either by a minister or private believer, without opposition. This leads me to the following names, which in the experience of God’s saints are inseparable—