IT is necessary, as I proceed, to acquaint you with the particular circumstances of the matter.

[Page 6] FOR near two years before this uncommon thing happened to me, I was inclining to be­lieve there was neither Heaven or Hell, and grew so hardened in my heart as to hate the Holy Bible, and was in a strange temptation to cast away all thoughts of GOD, and give my­self up to all evil, concluding I should die like the beasts; but still had some fear at times, which put me in great trouble, tho' I did not tell my tho'ts and feelings to any person for near two years; and I think I may say I was on the brink of ruin: But O the wonderful mercy of GOD, who saw me in my doleful and lamentable state! And as my case was singular, the merciful GOD dealt with me in a singular manner, to convince me of my folly. I think I may say as David said of old, Come unto me all you that fear the LORD, and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul.

JAN. 10th, 1791, at night I went to bed as usual, but slept none 'till late, for trouble of mind; but sometime late in the night, when the people were all asleep, I was risen up in the bed, and was praying to GOD that if there was any Heaven or Hell I might instantly know it. As the words were in my mouth, I was smitten with a heavy blow on my breast, which laid me backward on my [Page 7]bed: The same instant I saw a man in the room with a bright shining light around him, which appeared brighter than the sun, shin­ing in his full strength; and he spake to me and said he knew all my vain thoughts before I told them to him, and bid me fear not and follow him; and in a moment my spirit left my body and followed my Guide, who con­veyed me beyond the moon and starry regions: Then instantly I was carried to the most-glorious City, which shone with such bright­ness that it dazzled my eyes to behold it: Then I was brought to the bar of GOD's awful justice, and CHRIST took his seat on the right-hand of power; and I was called as a criminal to answer for my sins. It appeared to me that the awful Judge opened a very great book, which contained the names of the righteous and the wicked; the former was on the right-hand, the latter on the left: Some of the names of the righ­teous were brighter than others; some seem­ed to be dull: Those of the wicked were all black. The Judge then pointed to my name, which was on the left hand, and bid me look and see it; and there I saw my name, which was very black: I also saw my sins recorded in the book, and that I had been to very wicked frolicks; but the most heinous sin was, that I hated the Holy Bible, and did [Page 8]not believe in CHRIST, or that there was a Heaven or Hell.

THEN I heard the awful Judge pronounce his glorious name JEHOVAH! which caused the Heavens to rejoice and Hell to tremble; and he likewise said, if ever I made game of that Holy Name, I should never have a right there, and the gates should be forever shut against me. All this time I stood trembling to hear my doom, and I saw all that was laid to my charge to be true, and GOD was just in condemning me; my conscience also bearing witness against me: But O the terrors that filled my soul, none can tell, unless they were in my soul's stead!—It appeared to me that the Judge held over my head a great sword of justice, ready to take vengeance on me: But in the midst of my fears, unexpected to me JESUS CHRIST came and kneeled down between me and the bar of GOD, and like a Mediator plead my cause in a most affecting manner, and said, O Father, I have died for this sinner! And now, O Father, spare this sinner! O Father, I stand between him and the stroke of thy wrath!—O Father, why should he die!—And at these words of the Mediator, the justice of GOD seemed to be silent; and GOD was well pleased with what CHRIST had said on my be­half, [Page 9]and CHRIST turned to me with a smiling face, and said, Your sins are for­given, and your transgressions I will remem­ber no more. Then he shewed me, and bid me look and see the prints of the nails in his hands; this, said he, I bore for you: And at those words of his, the heavenly host sung for joy, and CHRIST said, I was welcome as any to all the joys and pleasures of the New-Jerusalem, and I could not forbear to sing among the rest. I think I can say, There is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that re­penteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that needeth no repentance.

CHRIST said unto me you must go back to the world again, and gave me a great charge to my Father and Family, that they should put away all sin, and live a praying life to GOD, or they should never come to that place. CHRIST said, that the Bible was his book, and it was all his, and it should remain to ages yet to come; and if any should add unto, or diminish from that book, he never should come to that glorious place. The people sung after the manner of the christian churches on earth; CHRIST died, seemed to lead their song. I saw there, men, women and children, and heard them sing together; the little children sung a verse of the Gospel sonnet, which was as follows; [Page 10]

CHRIST said he had suffer'd for me in the world, and I must be willing to suffer for him: Then CHRIST took me by the hand, and walked some distance from the multi­tude; all which shewed great reverence to him, for as he came toward them they ceased from their music, and arose and bow­ed their heads, and gave glory to him, that another sinner was suffered to come. I saw also that they gave glory to him, that they had obtained salvation, and praised him as their Savior and procurer of all they enjoyed in Heaven. When CHRIST came to the end of his walk, he let go my hand, and pointed toward a man that was yet fur­ther, and sat on his seat, and said, that was the man that made the Psalms. I asked, if it was King David? He said, yea. He also shewed me a man near the King, which was Nathan the Prophet, and this, said he, was my name, and when I should come here to stay I should sing with him: He walked back to the bar again, and I followed him. He asked me, if I were now satis­fied there was a Heaven? I said I was. Then the Father spake to the Son, and said [Page 11]he must know that there is a Hell of woe. CHRIST put forth his hand, and hid me stand thereon, and I did so: Then he car­ried me swift as lightning to Hell, and sat me down in the midst of the blaspheming crew; and indeed as there is nothing on earth that can resemble Heaven, so there is nothing that can resemble Hell: It is a place of woe, and the wretched creatures appeared to be in the greatest distress and torment: I heard them scream, and cry, and lament, and curse the day they were born. I heard them blaspheme against the GOD of Heaven, and it appeared very frightful, for they seemed to be in full despair; which they said was never to be at an end, and they never expected to have any rest: When thousands of years were past, it was still a begining. Some have thought that Hell was a place of fire and brimstones altho' that is the most [...]able comparison we can make, yet it is far short of what it is indeed, to the wrath of GOD and a guilty conscience, which is their torments. It appeared to burn more terrible than fire.

[Page 12] I SAW that old Serpent the Devil; he ap­peared to be something in human shape, but black; his countenance appeared very fright­ful, and full of malice against CHRIST, and in appearance he had a chain about his neck, which so bound him down that he could not rise up before CHRIST, but lay and growled in the greatest misery and torment.

I SAW that the damned crew were in fear of the day of judgment; for they said their punishment would then be increased; and when I was in Hell I looked to see if there were any infants in that place, but saw none: Then I asked CHRIST if there were any in­fants there? He said no; for I said I have heard some say, they believed there were. He said, I must read his Bible where it says, Suffer little children to came unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven: Then CHRIST asked me if I were now satis­fied that there was. Hell? I said I was: He put forth his hand, and I seemed to sit thereon, and he brought me swift as light­ning to my home, and I saw it no more.

I WOULD say a few words to the candid and honest Reader; whether it may be a benefit to others I know not, but it is a reality to me, and is what I have seen and heard: If any scruple the truth of it, it is all one to me, for I have had no thoughts of the praise of men in relating this strange and uncommon Fact [Page 13]and indeed I have been so far from writing any thing that is not true, I have not wrote all that is true; nor is it possible for me to point out to your view all that I saw while I was there. But I shall proceed to write a few words more: I saw there faces of men which did so much resemble their faces when on earth, that they could easily be known; I knew some of them. One man came and spoke to me and said he once lived near my Father's house on earth: He said his name was Simeon Dunn. Also I saw Dunn's Mother at some distance from me; and Jonathan Hopkins, Barnabas Sweasey and my Wife's Mother, in the realms of bliss. When CHRIST led me on the heaven­ly ground he asked me if I had ever a child or earth? I told him I had. He pointed to a small child and said, there it is; and I heard it sing the verse which I mentioned before. When CHRIST led me on, he said, all the laws of nature are dissolved.—Where I stood at the bar of GOD, his awful justice appeared [...]rible I could not endure his face and words. He appeared with terrible majesty and glory, and had I ten thousand times the gift to set it forth, and all the gifts of earth to help me, I could not display the glory and majesty which I saw in him; for GOD is a Spirit infinite, eternal and unchangeable.