I suppose there are some persons whose minds naturally incline towards the doctrine of free-will. I can only say that mine inclines as naturally toward the doctrines of sovereign grace. Sometimes, when I see some of the worst characters in the street, I feel as if my heart must burst forth in tears of gratitude that God has never let me act as they have done! I have thought if God had left me alone and had not touched me by His grace, what a great sinner I should have been! I should have run to the utmost of sin, dived into the very depths of evil; nor should I have stopped at any vice or folly, if God had not restrained me. I feel that I should have been a very king of sinners if God had let me alone. I cannot understand the reason why I am saved except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine grace. I am not at this moment without Christ, but it is only because Christ Jesus would have His will with me, and that will was that I should be with Him where He is and should share His glory. I can put the crown nowhere but upon the head of Him whose mighty grace has saved me from going down into the pit. Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it all was of God, of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the sun, but the sun enlightened me. I did not commence my spiritual life; no, I rather kicked and struggled against the things of the Spirit. When He drew me, for a time I did not run after Him; there was an unnatural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good. Wooings were lost upon me, warnings were cast to the wind, thunders were despised; and as for the whispers of His love, they were rejected as being less than nothing and vanity. But, sure I am, I can say now, speaking on behalf of myself, "He only is my salvation. It was He who turned my heart and brought me down on my knees before Him. I can in very deed say with Toplady and Doddridge, "Grace taught my soul to pray and made my eyes o'erflow; grace has kept me to this day and will not let me go."