And now let me point out to you the grand delusion which had liked to have ruined my soul. I saw very early something of the unholiness of my nature, and the necessity of being born again. Accordingly I watched, prayed, and fasted too, thinking to purify my heart by these means; whereas it can only be purified by faith. (Acts xv. 9.) Watching, praying, and fasting are necessary duties, but I, like many others, placed some secret reliances on them, thinking they were to do that for me, in part at least, which Christ only could.

The truth is, though I saw myself to be a sinner, and a great sinner, yet I did not see myself an utter lost sinner, and therefore I could not come to Jesus Christ alone to save me. I despised the doctrine of justification by faith alone, looking on it as a foolish and dangerous doctrine. I was not yet stript of all my righteousness, could not consider it as filthy rags, and therefore I went about to establish a righteousness of my own, and did not submit to the righteousness of God by faith. (Rom. x. iii.) I did not seek after righteousness through faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Thus I stumbled and fell. (Rom. ix. 31, 32.) In short, to use a homely similitude, I put the justice of God into one scale, and as many good works of my own as I could into the other; and when I found, as I always did, my own good works not to be a balance to the divine justice, I then threw in Christ as a makeweight.

And this every one really does, who hopes for salvation partly by doing what he can for himself, and relying on Christ for the rest. But, dear Sir, Christ will either be a whole Saviour or none at all. And if you think you have any good service of your own to recommend you unto God, you are certainly without any interest in Christ. Be you over so sober, serious, just, and devout, you are still under the curse of God, as I was, and knew it not, provided you have any allowed reliance on your own works, and think they are to do something for you, and Christ to do the rest.

I now proceed to acquaint you with the success I have lately had in my ministry. As soon as God had opened my own eyes and showed me the true way to salvation, I began immediately to preach it. And now I dealt with my hearers in a very different manner from what I had used to do. I told them very plainly, that they were children of wrath, and under the curse of God, though they knew it not; and that none but Jesus Christ could deliver them from that curse. I asked them, if they had ever broken the law of God once, in thought, word, or deed? If they had, they were then under the curse; for it is written. ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them.’ And again: ‘He that keepeth the whole law,and yet offendeth in one point, is guilty of all.’

If, indeed, we could keep the whole law, without offending in one point; if we had done, and continue to do, all the things in God’s law, then, indeed, we might lay claim to eternal life on the score of our own works. But who is sufficient for these things? If we break God’s law, we immediately fall under the curse of it; and none can deliver us from this curse but Jesus Christ. There is an end, for ever after, of any justification from our own works. No future good behaviour can make any atonement for past miscarriages. If I keep all God’s laws to-day, this is no amends for breaking them yesterday. If I behave peaceably to my neighbour this day, it is no satisfaction for having broken his head yesterday.

If, therefore, I am once under the curse of God, for having broken God’s law, I can never after do anything of myself, to deliver me from this curse. I may then cry out, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin? And find none able to deliver, but Jesus Christ. (Rom. vii. 23—25.) So that if I am once a sinner, nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse me from sin. All my hopes are then in him; and I must fly to him as the only refuge set before me.

In this manner, dear Sir, I preached, and do preach, to my flock, laboring to beat down self-righteousness; laboring to show them that they were all in a lost and perishing state, and that nothing could recover them out of this state, and make them children of God, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now see the consequence. This was strange doctrine to my hearers. They were surprised, alarmed, and vexed. The old man, the carnal nature, was stirred up, and railed, and opposed the truth. However, the minds of most were seized with some convictions, and the hearts of some were truly broken for sin, so that they came to me as those mentioned in the Acts, thoroughly pricked in the heart, and crying out with strong and bitter cries, ‘What must we do to be saved?’

I then laid the promises before them, and told them if they found themselves under the curse, Christ was ready to deliver them from it; if they were really weary and heavy laden, Christ would give them rest; if their hearts were broken for sin, and they looked unto Christ, he would heal them. I exhorted them also to thank God for these convictions, assuring them it was a token of good to their souls. For God must first smite the heart, before he can heal it. (Isa. xix. 22.) I generally found that they received comfort from the promises; and though they complained much of the burden of sin, and of an evil heart of unbelief, yet they always went away refreshed and comforted. Many have come to me in this manner, and more are continually coming; and though some fall off from their first convictions, yet others cleave stedfastly unto the Lord. They begin to rejoice in him, and to love him; they love his word, and meditate much upon it; they exercise themselves in prayer, and adorn their profession by a suitable life and conversation.

Source: ‘The Works of Mr. Berridge, by Mr. Whittingham, Vicar of Potton’, in: John Gadsby, ‘Memoirs of the Principal Hymn-writers and Compilers of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries’, Fifth Edition, Published J Gadsby, London, 1882, pp 18-19

[Editor’s note: I have added paragraph breaks to the above, since in the original, this piece appears without any breaks in the main text. Other than this, all content and formatting is as it appears in the above book]