{"id":30,"date":"2025-10-21T13:16:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/?post_type=chapter&p=30"},"modified":"2026-01-06T14:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:27:21","slug":"chapter-1-3","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/chapter\/chapter-1-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 1.3"},"content":{"raw":"I was naturally of a lively turn of disposition; and during the space of time from my first awakening until I knew my peace was made with God, I rejoiced in the vanities of this life, and then again sunk back into sorrow.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFor four years I had continued in this way, frequently laboring under the awful apprehension, that I could never be happy in this life. This persuasion was greatly strengthened during the three weeks, which was the last of Satan\u2019s power over me, in this peculiar manner,<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>on which account I had come to the conclusion that I had better be dead than alive. Here I was again tempted to destroy my life by drowning; but suddenly this mode was changed\u2014and while in the dusk of the evening, as I was walking to and fro in the yard of the house, I was beset to hang myself with a cord suspended from the wall enclosing the secluded spot.\r\n\r\nBut no sooner was the intention resolved on in my mind, than an awful dread came over me, when I ran into the house; still the tempter pursued me. There was standing a vessel of water\u2014into this I was strangely impressed to plunge my head, so as to extinguish the life which God had given me. Had I done this, I have been always of the opinion, that I should have been unable to have released myself; although the vessel was scarcely large enough to hold a gallon of water. Of me may it not be said, as written by Isaiah, (chap. 65, verses 1, 2.) \u201cI am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not.\u201d Glory be to God for his redeeming power, which saved me from the violence of my own hands, from the malice of Satan, and from eternal death; for had I have killed myself, a great ransom could not have delivered me; for it is written\u2014\u201cNo murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.\u201d How appropriately can I sing\u2014\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\u201cJesus sought me when a stranger,<\/div>\r\n
Wandering from the fold of God;<\/div>\r\n
He to rescue me from danger,<\/div>\r\n
Interposed his precious blood.\u201d<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nBut notwithstanding the terror which seized upon me, when about to end my life, I had no view of the precipice on the edge of which I was tottering, until it was over, and my eyes were opened. Then the awful gulf of hell seemed to be open beneath me, covered only, as it were, by a spider\u2019s web, on which I stood. I seemed to hear the howling of the damned, to see the smoke of the bottomless pit, and to hear the rattling of those chains, which hold the impenitent under clouds of darkness to the judgment of the great day.\r\n\r\nI trembled like Belshazzar, and cried out in the horror of my spirit, \u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d That night I formed a resolution to pray; which, when resolved upon, there appeared, sitting in one corner of the room, Satan, in the form of a monstrous dog, and in a rage, as if in pursuit, his tongue protruding from his mouth to a great length, and his eyes looked like two balls of fire; it soon, however, vanished out of my sight. From this state of terror and dismay, I was happily delivered under the preaching of the Gospel as before related.\r\n\r\n\"Illustration\r\n\r\nIllustration of a vision of the young Jarena Lee. Satan appears as a monstrous\u00a0dog with a long forked tongue and eyes of fire, standing as if ready to pounce. Generated by CoPilot, 11-06-2025. Edited in Photoshop.\r\n\r\nThis view which I was permitted to have of Satan, in the form of a dog, is evidence, which corroborates in my estimation, the Bible account of a hell of fire, which burneth with brimstone, called in Scripture<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the bottomless pit; the place where all liars, who repent not, shall have their portion; as also the Sabbath breaker, the adulterer, the fornicator, with the fearful, the abominable, and the unbelieving, this shall be the portion of their cup.\r\n\r\nThis language is too strong and expressive to be applied to any state of suffering in\u00a0<\/span>time<\/i>. Were it to be thus applied, the reality could no where be found in human life; the consequence would be, that\u00a0<\/span>this<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>scripture would be found a false testimony. But when made to apply to an endless state of perdition, in eternity, beyond the bounds of human life, then this language is found not to exceed our views of a state of eternal damnation.\r\n\r\nDuring the latter part of my state of conviction, I can now apply to my case, as it then was, the beautiful words of the poet:\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\u201cThe more I strove against its power,<\/div>\r\n
I felt its weight and guilt the more;<\/div>\r\n
\u2019Till late I heard my Saviour say,<\/div>\r\n
Come hither soul, I am the way.\u201d<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThis I found to be true, to the joy of my disconsolate and despairing heart, in the hour of my conversion to God.","rendered":"

I was naturally of a lively turn of disposition; and during the space of time from my first awakening until I knew my peace was made with God, I rejoiced in the vanities of this life, and then again sunk back into sorrow.<\/p>\n

For four years I had continued in this way, frequently laboring under the awful apprehension, that I could never be happy in this life. This persuasion was greatly strengthened during the three weeks, which was the last of Satan\u2019s power over me, in this peculiar manner,<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on which account I had come to the conclusion that I had better be dead than alive. Here I was again tempted to destroy my life by drowning; but suddenly this mode was changed\u2014and while in the dusk of the evening, as I was walking to and fro in the yard of the house, I was beset to hang myself with a cord suspended from the wall enclosing the secluded spot.<\/p>\n

But no sooner was the intention resolved on in my mind, than an awful dread came over me, when I ran into the house; still the tempter pursued me. There was standing a vessel of water\u2014into this I was strangely impressed to plunge my head, so as to extinguish the life which God had given me. Had I done this, I have been always of the opinion, that I should have been unable to have released myself; although the vessel was scarcely large enough to hold a gallon of water. Of me may it not be said, as written by Isaiah, (chap. 65, verses 1, 2.) \u201cI am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not.\u201d Glory be to God for his redeeming power, which saved me from the violence of my own hands, from the malice of Satan, and from eternal death; for had I have killed myself, a great ransom could not have delivered me; for it is written\u2014\u201cNo murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.\u201d How appropriately can I sing\u2014<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\u201cJesus sought me when a stranger,<\/div>\n
Wandering from the fold of God;<\/div>\n
He to rescue me from danger,<\/div>\n
Interposed his precious blood.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But notwithstanding the terror which seized upon me, when about to end my life, I had no view of the precipice on the edge of which I was tottering, until it was over, and my eyes were opened. Then the awful gulf of hell seemed to be open beneath me, covered only, as it were, by a spider\u2019s web, on which I stood. I seemed to hear the howling of the damned, to see the smoke of the bottomless pit, and to hear the rattling of those chains, which hold the impenitent under clouds of darkness to the judgment of the great day.<\/p>\n

I trembled like Belshazzar, and cried out in the horror of my spirit, \u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d That night I formed a resolution to pray; which, when resolved upon, there appeared, sitting in one corner of the room, Satan, in the form of a monstrous dog, and in a rage, as if in pursuit, his tongue protruding from his mouth to a great length, and his eyes looked like two balls of fire; it soon, however, vanished out of my sight. From this state of terror and dismay, I was happily delivered under the preaching of the Gospel as before related.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Illustration of a vision of the young Jarena Lee. Satan appears as a monstrous\u00a0dog with a long forked tongue and eyes of fire, standing as if ready to pounce. Generated by CoPilot, 11-06-2025. Edited in Photoshop.<\/p>\n

This view which I was permitted to have of Satan, in the form of a dog, is evidence, which corroborates in my estimation, the Bible account of a hell of fire, which burneth with brimstone, called in Scripture<\/a><\/span>\u00a0the bottomless pit; the place where all liars, who repent not, shall have their portion; as also the Sabbath breaker, the adulterer, the fornicator, with the fearful, the abominable, and the unbelieving, this shall be the portion of their cup.<\/p>\n

This language is too strong and expressive to be applied to any state of suffering in\u00a0time<\/i>. Were it to be thus applied, the reality could no where be found in human life; the consequence would be, that\u00a0this<\/i>\u00a0scripture would be found a false testimony. But when made to apply to an endless state of perdition, in eternity, beyond the bounds of human life, then this language is found not to exceed our views of a state of eternal damnation.<\/p>\n

During the latter part of my state of conviction, I can now apply to my case, as it then was, the beautiful words of the poet:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\u201cThe more I strove against its power,<\/div>\n
I felt its weight and guilt the more;<\/div>\n
\u2019Till late I heard my Saviour say,<\/div>\n
Come hither soul, I am the way.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This I found to be true, to the joy of my disconsolate and despairing heart, in the hour of my conversion to God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"public-domain"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[50],"class_list":["post-30","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","license-public-domain"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/revisions\/179"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}