Rejoice and be thankful, for you are plucked as a brand
out of the burning, and now your redemption is sealed and sure."
I wept for joy to be thus assured of my freedom from all sin, and
of the impossibility of my ever again falling away from my new
state. I bounded away into the fields and the woods, to pour out
my spirit in prayer before the Almighty for his kindness to me:
my whole frame seemed to be renewed; every nerve was buoyant
with new life; I felt as if I could have flown in the air, or leaped
over the tops of the trees. An exaltation of spirit lifted me, as it
were, far above the earth and the sinful creatures crawling on its
surface; and I deemed myself as an eagle among the children of
men, soaring on high, and looking down with pity and contempt
on the grovelling creatures below.
As I thus wended my way, I beheld a young man of a mysterious
appearance coming towards me. I tried to shun him, being bent
on my own contemplations; but he cast himself in my way, so
that I could not well avoid him; and, more than that, I felt a sort
of invisible power that drew me towards him, something like the
force of enchantment, which I could not resist.
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