CHAPTER XIX. "THOU SHALT REMEMBER ALL THE WAY WHICH THE LORD THY GOD LED THEE."-DEUT. viii. 2. 16 BY HONOUR AND DISHONOUR, BY EVIL REPORT AND GOOD REPORT."-2 COR. vi. 8. THE reader, who has perused the foregoing chapter to its close may well say, "that it behoves me to be thankful." He must not, however, suppose from what is there stated, that I have dwelt beneath an unclouded sun, and travelled none but smooth.and flowery paths, No, this has not been the Man is born to a greater or less portion of trou ever since I quitted the sea. case. ble, as certainly as that the sparks fly upwards. ""Tis the associate of all human kind, In calms we meet it, meet it in the wind- Many a cheering proof of ministerial success has the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls given to strengthen my hands, when they have been ready to hang down in sorrow and despair; so that, at times, while more holy and able men have been mourning over what they, perhaps erroneously, considered an unfruitful field of labour, I have been permitted to see, that God gave me some increase. These merciful cordials were not sent unnecessarily or in vain; they have arrived at the best of seasons, and have afforded relief when trials were at hand. For often have I had to mourn over the backslidings of the young and the old; to see all my fond hopes and fair expectations blasted, in many instances, when and where I least expected, and most keenly felt, the disappointment. Nor have I been altogether exempt from trials on the part of my brethren and superiors in the ministry. At the time I am writing, and for some years past, I have enjoyed the happiness of serving under a diocesan whose anxious desire it is, that all his clergy may "be instant in season and out of season, to save souls alive." Hence, for a long time, I have had neither to encounter rebuke, nor to apprehend opposition from any quarter, for endeavouring to do what my duty, my time, and strength demand and enable me to perform, for the instruction and salvation of my people and so far as a minister who rebukes, as well as exhorts his flock, can reasonably expect to find it, I certainly do enjoy the respect and affection of the people among whom I dwell and minister the word. But things were not always so, either in my former or my present parish. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is a regenerating, experimental principle; and his Gospel being his or dained power unto salvation, it separates its partakers from a world that lieth in wickedness, and makes them a new and a peculiar people. Hence this blessed Gospel is as much resisted and condemned by many a chief priest, and scribe, and pharisee of the Church of Eng land in the nineteenth century, as it was by those of Jerusalem in the time of our blessed Lord's sojourn upon earth—as much disapproved of, and vilified by many of our worldly minded clergy and laity on shore, as it is by many of the captains and other officers of our ships of war at sea. All this our Lord assured his disciples would be the case, so long as men are strangers to the saving and converting grace of God. This I knew before I entered into the ministry; and, knowing this, and being determined, by the help of God, to preach the good old doctrines of this glorious but abused Gospel, as they are made known in the Scriptures, and laid down in the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of our national church, I could not expect that clergymen of the above description would give me the right hand of fellowship, or speak well of my intentions or proceedings. Nor was I mistaken in my calculations, for very soon after I commenced my labours, those who were nearest at hand shunned me, and spake ill of my ways; nor did they stop here, for some of them, and particularly an old naval chaplain, of whose fame I had heard before I quitted the service, wrote to the bishop, entreating him to rebuke me, and tie up my hands. Indeed, so many were their threats of getting me further from them, that for a long time both myself and my venerated friend, the encumbent, expected the order for my removal to arrive every week. This kept us both, as well as my affectionate poor flock, in a state of unsettledness and continual anxiety. Yet, notwithstanding all which my adversaries said and did, I continued, amidst evil report and good report, for seven years; even until I saw it was my duty, and felt it was my choice voluntarily to leave this post for another and far more important sphere of action. Yet this act of leaving the people was truly a painful one, when the moment arrived that it must be put into execution. So long as I could, I had kept the matter from their knowledge; and when I quitted the village, I stole, as it were, away, for I could not encounter the task of going and saying in person, "farewell." Thus I left my first flock in presence, but not in spirit, for many a spot in their quiet church-yard is in my estimation, hallowed ground; because there sleep the remains or mortal part of several who were exceedingly dear to me, as being among the first fruits of my public ministry; and whose parting blessings were given to me as the most precious of legacies, just as they stood on the confines of time, and were about to wing their flight into the presence and glory of their Redeemer. But now a fresh train of opposition arose when I least expected any such encounter. The kind and generous friend who, unsolicited, had made me an offer of my present living, brought me hither on the Saturday, and showed me whatever he thought would induce me to accept it, and fix my wanderings for the residue of my days. We staid over the approaching Sabbath, and I preached in the church twice on that day; not to bare walls, but to a deplorably thin and heartless congregation. Among these were a few of the leading inhabitants; two or three of whom choose to be highly offended with the matter and manner of my services. The subjects of my discourses were Romans i. 16. "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," and Revelation xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." From the first of these texts I endeavoured to show the nature and tendency of the Gospel. How, that while it exhibits to fallen man his lost estate by nature, and by practice; it brings life and immortality to light, and is, in the Hands of the Holy Spirit, the instrument of enlightening his understanding, sanctifying his heart, and saving his soul; "by grace through faith; and that not of himself, for it is the gift of God; not of works, least any man should boast." From the second, I aimed to describe, what the blessedness of those who die in the Lord consists of; namely, a perfection of holiness, happiness, and wisdom in the society of angels, and spirits, and just men made perfect, and in the presence and glory of God the Saviour-That, "dying in the Lord" is dying in the faith of Christ; being justified by faith in his obedience and sacrifice, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost. And that the works of such characters, that is, the works of faith, and labours of love, do follow them as evidences, that they were those who "worshipped God in the Spirit; rejoiced in Christ Jesus: and placed no confidence in the flesh." In short, that the works of the believer do follow him as evidences of his having possessed that saving faith in Christ, "which purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the world," In which point of view, as our Church Art |