"Once, as I rid out into the woods for my health, anno 1737," he recounted, "and having lit from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer; I had a view, that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God.... The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception." The ecstasy lasted "about an hour; which kept me, the bigger part of the time, in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud." During this time he felt "an ardency of soul," which he could describe
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