But he seemed constantly to anticipate my thoughts, and
was sure to divert my purpose by some turn in the conversation
that particularly interested me. He took care to dwell much on the
theme of the impossibility of those ever falling away who were
once accepted and received into covenant with God, for he
seemed to know that in that confidence, and that trust, my whole
hopes were centred.
We moved about from one place to another, until the day was
wholly spent. My mind had all the while been kept in a state of
agitation resembling the motion of a whirlpool, and, when we
came to separate, I then discovered that the purpose for which I
had sought the fields had been neglected, and that I had been
diverted from the worship of God by attending to the quibbles
and dogmas of this singular and unaccountable being, who
seemed to have more knowledge and information than all the
persons I had ever known put together.
We parted with expressions of mutual regret, and when I left him
I felt a deliverance, but at the same time a certain consciousness
that I was not thus to get free of him, but that he was like to be an
acquaintance that was to stick to me for good or for evil.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185