reading your letter...... In one thing especially I mark a similitude: my bad history would have been still worse, had I not been restrained by want of money, and want of effrontery, from acting out what was conceived in my heart: and I seldom fail, several times in the course of the week, to thank the Lord for thus keeping me from rendering myself and others miserable-and mischievous. "There is a notion very common, that a studious disposition, or what I call the love and pride of science, preserves a man from sensual inclinations or indulgences; and so it may as far as pride of character is concerned; but I believe no further. It is, I apprehend, very common for the most scientific persons to be by turns, in secret, very sensual: and, in short, though there are various differences of character, nothing can preserve any man, but a serious regard to the all-seeing eye of God, and a diligent use of his appointed means, in dependence on his all-sufficient. grace. What discoveries will the day of judgment make! How many through life stand high for moral virtue, because they artfully and successfully elude detection! And how often is the detection itself of some concealed vice the first thing that excites suspicion; while the person himself has for years been conscious that he was quite another character than he was supposed to be! "The deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the human heart; the artifices of Satan and his instruments; the inefficacy of forms, about which men so zealously contend; the corrupt motives of many conversions of this external kind, which have the fairest appearance of impartiality, serious examination, and conviction; the difference between convictions, impressions, and temporary earnestness, and a real change of heart; the sovereignty and super-abundance of divine grace; the excellence of true Christianity; the unspeakable advantage of a pious education: these and several other particulars might be selected as topics on which to enlarge. But it is not needful, and I have neither time nor room.-The Lord has indeed dealt most wonderfully with you; and I trust your future life will shew that the grace bestowed on you has not been in vain; but that he intended to make you not only blessed, but a blessing. I see no reason to doubt, the reality of your humiliation. If you thought it deep enough, I should doubt, But you seem rather to confound humiliation with terror and distress: the former is essential to repentance, the lat ter merely circumstances: repentance may be without them, and they without repentance. ...... "Believe me, in great haste, "Your affectionate and faithful "THOS. SCOLL.” "Chapel Street, May 26, 1798. "DEAR SIR, ...I THANK you for your kind inquiries about my health, it is no worse than usual; for I never had strong health: and for nearly twenty years have been very much subject to asthma and billous complaint, which require me to use such means as often keep me languid. But on the whole I am better in some respects than I was some years since; though I do not seem capable of quite so much work. During the twelve years and a half that I have been in London, I have never once been laid by on the Lord's day; though I have often been apparently unfit for my work: but the Lord has helped me through; and I am best when employed. "the bookseller has bought the whole stock in band of the Bible, and at most we shall not divide two shillings and sixpence in the pound on the original publisher's debts, which to me were £842. If I could have raised the money, I should have purchased the residue of the work: but perhaps, indeed certainly, it was best I should not.* "I shall be glad to hear from you more at length; and, as my engagements will permit, shall be happy to give my sentiments on any subject you desire, and to make any communications in my power.-I trust the Lord is your guide and teacher: he hath done great things for you, as an earnest of greater; and I hope it will be found that he means you to be an instrument of good to many others also. "I remain, "Your sincere and faithful "Friend and servant, * See Life, pp. 188, 195. "THOMAS SCOTT." "DEAR SIR, "Chapel-street, August 29, 1798. "I OUGHT to have answered your last sooner: but at this season of the year I am seldom capable of so much application as at other times, and am therefore very ready to shift off any thing that can be postponed. "As I have not heard any more from you, I hope the Lord has so ordered matters that it will not be necessary for you to go abroad, which in your present circumstances seems undesirable: yet we are very incompetent judges in such matters. Who could previously have thought that St. Paul's tedious imprisonment would have been for the furtherance of the gospel? Should you, therefore, after all your reluctance, be unable to decline the service with propriety, I trust it will be overruled for the glory of God, and for your own good, and future usefulness; and what is our cross does not often prove our snare. The acquisition of the French language may be a very important advantage, in a variety of circumstances. I have an idea that it is not at all improbable, that France itself may, within a course of years, be one of the best fields for missionaries. But I will not enlarge at present on that. "Your account of the manner in which the Lord has hitherto led you is highly satisfactory: and also your views of the importance of retirement, and of much personal secret religion; to which an over eagerness in studying even religious books, an indulged delight in pious company and converse, and a disproportionate frequency in attending on public or social worship, may often prove great hindrances. When the mind is upon the whole properly disposed, we are seldom hindered in the first instance by gross evils, at which we revolt: but various things, not evil in themselves, nay, perhaps good in their place, become the little foxes that spoil the vines,* and prevent fruitfulness, as well as make way for the enemy to suggest further temptations. We are naturally most indisposed to what is most spiritual: secret communion with God is of all duties most spiritual: we therefore find it peculiarly difficult to keep our hearts thoroughly close to it; and the enemy will use every method of rendering us formal and remiss in it. But you are forewarned, and I trust will be forearmed.-Depend upon it, every thing will prosper in Sol. Song, ii, 15. the event in a very near proportion to our earnestness and perseverance in prayer: but negligence here will be followed by a declension, perhaps almost unperceived, in all other respects; and will make way for temptations, falls, corrections, darkness, and inward distresses. If, like Jacob, we wrestle with God and prevail, we shall eventually prevail in all our other conflicts. "I do not in the least wonder at what you mention concerning your desire for the ministry; and I think it very probable that the Lord intends in due time thus to employ you. It appears, however, to me, that you should endeavor rather to repress and moderate the desire, than to indulge it at present; at least to aim and pray for a willingness to wait the Lord's time, and to submit to his will as to the event. I should not consider it as any deduction from the prospect of future usefulness, should you meet with various disappointments and delays, and repeatedly seem to have the door shut against you; so as to induce you to leave it calmly in the Lord's hands to determine whether he sees good to employ you or not. I lay a great stress on the apostle's rule, Not a novice, or new convert; and deem some time spent in gaining self-acquaintance, knowledge of the human heart, and experience both of what is within and what is around us, with other qualifications and endowments for so arduous and important a work, much better than a premature entrance upon it; and, if the Lord have work for us to do, we shall certainly be preserved to do it. I think, however, that it is very right to have an eye to the service continually, and to be aiming to acquire that kind of knowledge which may be peculiarly suited to the character of a minister, as well as that which is profitable to a Christian. And here I should advise you to recede, though with caution, from your strict rule of reading nothing but on religious subjects. I did this for a considerable time: but I think I should have been qualified for various services, for which I am now incompetent, had I set apart a portion of my time, not too large, for acquiring general knowledge. It appears to me that theology is best learned from the scriptures and a few select books; that one often reads very pious works without much enlarging one's fund of knowledge, though they produce a good effect on the heart; that a minister should be continually, if possible, Increasing his knowledge, while he watches carefully his eart; and that any sensible book, if read so as to be con tinually compared with the scriptures, will increase useful knowledge, namely, that of human nature, of the state of the world, the delusions which prevail, the most plausible objections to our doctrines, the weak side of our way of stating them, and a thousand other things which a well informed scribe in the law of God knows how to make good use of. I call this reconnoitring; which is necessary to the commander, though not to the common soldiers. Perhaps a little reading of this kind, such as history, biography, systems of morals, &c. might eventually favor your grand design. I am not aware of the line in which you have thoughts of obtaining admission. Ithink I have heard that there are great difficulties in this respect in the established church of Scotland: is it easier among the seceders? or have you any other plan? I throw out these hints, being ready to give my opinion on any thing you may think it worth while to propose to me, as I feel considerably interested in your concerns. "Your present employment in respect of the Sunday schools seems to promise considerable usefulness, and may prove a step to something further. I should consider it of some importance to proceed with it decidedly, yet giving as little offence as possible, without deviating from your grand purpose. I can give no decided opinion on the method by which your teachers proceed. As far as the children are concerned, it is certainly right to endeavor, by suitable explanations and illustrations, to make the truths inculcated clear and intelligible, and to apply them to their hearts and consciences: yet I easily conceive how, by admitting the presence of other persons, you may fall under the charge of lay preaching; and whether some method might not be devised of attaining the object, without exposing yourselves to the censure, or at least to a plausible charge of irregularity, may be worth considering...... "I could say something on Sunday schools, had I room. I do not approve of teaching more in them than reading;* and I should be rejoiced to have them under the care of pious persons: but, if you knew how many thousands of children in England are by them taught to read the Bible, and accustomed to go to a place of worship, 'when otherwise they would have been learning, practising, and teaching all manner of wickedness, you would think this little * That is, not of writing, &c. |