He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.
This is the first doctrine our Emmanuel God taught the eleven after his resurrection.
There is no ifs nor ands about this doctrine. There is a thus saith the Lord for it; and this I believed in my youthful days; although, when moved by the holy spirit, I often said: I am young, time enough yet; and when I think how many there are called away by death under the age of eighteen years, I feel thankful that God spared me till my nineteenth, September, 1831.
Since I began to write my little history, I have been advised to give it up, by old and young. One young man advised me so to do, that did not know that the Lord's prayer was in the new testament; and like many others could not say it correctly. Now I do not neglect my duty, as I am traveling through this, to another world, stopping to listen to every dog, and beat off every one that barks at me.
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.