Re: FUCK RELIGION!

affair, that it is
ever uppermost in their thoughts, they will naturally make it the
subject of conversation when they get together, in which they will grow
more and more free. Restraints will soon vanish, and they will not
conceal from one another what they meet with. And it has been a practice
which, in the general, has been attended with many good effects, and
what God has greatly blessed amongst us: but it must be confessed, there
may have been some ill consequences of it; which yet are rather to be
laid to the indiscreet management of it than to the practice itself; and
none can wonder, if among such a multitude some fail of exercising so
much prudence in choosing the time, manner, and occasion of such
discourse, as is desirable.

SECTION III. This Work Further Illustrated in Particular Instances.

But to give a clear idea of the nature and manner of the operation of
God's Spirit, in this wonderful effusion if it, I would give an account
of two particular instances. The first is an adult person, a young woman
whose name was Abigail Hutchinson. I fix upon her especially, because
she is now dead, and so it may be more fit to speak freely of her than
of living instances: though I am under far greater disadvantages, on
other accounts, to give a full and clear narrative of her experiences,
than I might of some others; nor can any account be given but what has
been retained in the memories of her friends, of what they have heard
her express in her lifetime.

She was of an intelligent family: there could be nothing in her
education that tended to enthusiasm, but rather to the contrary extreme.
It is in no-wise the temper of the family to be ostentatious of
experiences, and it was far from being her temper. She was, before her
conversion, to the observation of her neighbors, of a sober and
inoffensive conversation; and was a still, quiet, reserved person.