Extracts from the Diary of an Eminent Minister, lately deceased. [Concluded from our last.] JAN. 24, 1762. From the disagreeableness of a minister's pretending to devotion in the pulpit, who manifests little concern about it in private life, learn thyself to be as much concerned about living devoutly in private as preaching devoutly; knowing, from thine own experience, that nothing better recommends sermons to hearers than the piety of the preacher. From the usefulness of order and method to the remembrance of a sermon, labour after them in all thy public discourses. Heard that Mr. J. who was lately married to a person whom he greatly loved, has, within these few days, lost his reason, occasioned, it is supposed, by an inordinate degree of joy, on account of his obtaining the lady for his wife +, whom he feared he should never obtain.-Learn hence, to guard against too much love to any creature, seeing how very injurious it frequently is to the person thus loving; and learn the uncertainty of all terrene enjoyments, which, even while possessed, evade our grasp, and often afford the least pleasure when they promise most; nay, are sometimes turned into the sorest afflictions. 27. Read Dr. Owen on the Evidences of the Faith of God's Elect; the first of which is, an Approbation of Salvation by Christ, because the divine perfections are thereby glorified. I had great pleasure, and I trust profit from it. I thought I had this evidence; and felt my soul filled with titude, both for the faith and its evidence. Learn, O my soul, as thou valuest thy comfort, to think much of thy Lord Jesus Christ, and the display of the divine perfections in the salvation wrought out by him! gra Feb. 1. Saw Mr. L. a deacon of the church at Trowbridge, supposed to be dying he was delirious, his face full of eruptions, and he had a blis ter on the crown of his head; so that the appearance was very awful.Learn, that the ways of God, in thus afflicting such an eminent and useful Christian, are in the great deep. Learn also, not to expect long life, since this person, in middle age, who was well at meeting yesterday sevennight, is now, in all probability, near an eternal world! 2. Went to the Lord this evening, with my heart humbled under a sense of my guilt, and especially my wickedness in offending so good a Being, breaking so holy a law, and abusing so many mercies. Mourned, in my inward soul, on account of my incapacity to serve God, and my frequent reluctance to his service. I was earnest with the Lord for the greatest blessings; and, I trust, with right views! My soul, from the earnestness it felt, was, at the time, well persuaded of the Lord's occasioning it. March 1. Meditating on the natural perfections of the Deity, their nature and proof, I felt my awe of God increased, and was excited to carefulness in my conduct, and constrained to break out in verbal adoration.Learn frequently thus to meditate. 7. Heard of a good man's offending others, and injuring himself, by meddling in matters that did not concern him. Avoid this practice. Found that thinking and talking of others faults does my soul great harm. I have detected in myself a desire, when in company, of displaying wit, or parts, &c.; which desire frequently leads to unguarded expressions, and, being offensive to the Lord, is often the cause of darkness of soul.-Hereafter, O my soul, think thyself in danger, when thus in company, even though all the persons who compose it may be extraordinary Christians. 21. In the morning of this Lord's Day, though I had studied my sermons better than at some other times; yet I felt strong fear as to the work before me. I was least fearful as to the morning service; but I then found the greatest barrenness. Indeed I have, in general, found, that when I have seen most of the imperfection of my preparations, and + Both are still living, 1808 he has been co fined for 45 years. She is an ex. cellent Christian. felt the most of my own weakness, then the Lord has given me the greatest liberty, though not when I have been the least concerned about preparation. Zeal for God and love for souls are the soul of preaching! Seeing some persons in their shirts, at play, in the fields between Frome and Westbury, I thought duty called upon me to oppose this sin, which shewed its head in such an impudent manner. Accordingly I told them, That they ought to be ashamed of this profanation of the Lord's Day, it was a practice that led to Hell! May the Lord set home the observation! 28. Preached at Southwick this morning, and had a comfortable frame; as I had also at Trowbridge, in the afternoon, from the same text. When I went into the pulpit, I intended leaving this subject for the evening, and to insist on another text in the afternoon: but though some of the South-* wick people were there, who had heard me from Matt. ix. 12, in the morning; yet as the audience was very large, there being no service at church, and I thought this subject was most likely to profit souls, I changed my mind while singing, and repeated the same discourse. The Lord only knows whether a good end will be answered by this change; but as it led me to speak of Christ as a physician, and some persons were evidently affected, I hope his hand was in it. In the evening I had a very barren frame. Perhaps, the Lord knew I should have been too much elated had I found enlargement all the day. 15. Heard Rev. Mr. Whitefield, at Kingswood, from Isa. xxxii. 17 : found that an affectionate representation of the misery of lost sinners, and of the mercy of God to us, very much melted down the audience, 16. I saw in Pictetus a citation of Calvin; in which he places a man as talking of justification before, the Lord; the reading of which was blessed to my sul, as well as reflecting on the Greek word for Gospel, as signifying a good Message! In an evening walk, my soul was drawn out to God in adoration and love, on account of his works of nature, providence and grace. I stood still under a hedge, and, with great earnestness, addressed God, - felt ardent desire towards him, and zeal for his honour; and had some satisfaction of interest in him. The pleasure was sublime and the effect holy, and therefore I conclude the experience was genuine. 27. I frequently propose in the morning some great things to be done in the day; but never in the evening can reflect upon their having been exccuted. I wander from God; first in my heart, and then speech and actions follow. Saw the forwardness of a fellow-student justly blamed; and that greatly lessened his esteem in the hearts of the company. Learn modesty in all thy deportment. May 1. After meditating on three subjects, on which I expect to preach to-morrow at Bath, I proposed meditating (1.) On my sins in preaching, in order for amendment; (2.) My wants as a minister, in order to apply to my great Master for supplies. Sins appearing first, are preaching for self,-not for God and souls, and non-reliance on divine assistance. Wants are, a much greater knowledge of divine things, greater zeal for God, and more love to Christ, a more just and affecting apprehension of the value of a soul, an habitual belief of the absolute necessity of special influences, in ørder to my sermons doing good, &c. In order to rectify thy end, think of God's knowing it, and of the great evil of acting with any sinister view. No end, but that which pleaseth God, will, if attained, do thy soul any real service. 11. I find the greatest opposition in my heart to those duties which require the greatest degrees of spirituality, and in attendance on which the honour of God is most concerned. I believe I should never be proud, could I always see my real self. The more I view God in his works, the more I love him; but the more I view my own works, the more I hate myself. June 5. I have been ill for some days with a fever and sore throat: I found myself, when at the worst, unfit for all religious exercises; but now my disorder is removed, and I have been enabled to view it as coming from a wise God, to whom I felt my self resigned. —The Lord grant that, from the inca pacity for 'duty, which I felt in my illness, my pace in the path of duty may be quickened now I am restored! No pleasure is equal to what is enjoyed in undisturbed and enlarged meditation on divine subjects. I trust my love to God's word increases. I know also more of my need of assistance from the Lord rightly to discharge any duty, 20. Conversed with a woman, who had been a sinner, but seems a true penitent, who dates her conversion from reading The Family Instructor, on a Lord's Day, when she staid at home, in order to perpetrate sin. July 16. Prayer and reading the word was attended with peculiar de light. I meditated on Christ, his excellencies, the kindness of his heart, words, and actions as man, his office as Mediator, and his glories as God, which, I trust, increased my love and zeal. My sins appearing numerous and aggravated, laid me low. Nothing affords any relief, save Christ crucified. Why, my soul, dost thou think so seldom of him? why live so little to him? - July 23. This morning, in reading Isa. xlv. 20, I observed, that the Person to whom every knee shail bow, and every tongue swear, is called God and LORD he also swears by himself (23) which is proper to God. This same person is said to be the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. xiv. 11. Phil. ii. 10.-Let this confirm thy belief of the proper Deity of Christ; and so of his being, together with the Father and Holy Spirit, the only true Object of divine worship. MUSTARD SEED. Its 'AGRAIN of mustard seed' is said, in the parable*, to be the smallest of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is the greatest among herbs; and becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.' The mustard of our own country is very far from answering this description; but there is, in the east, a species of the sinapi, to which, no doubt, it alludes. It is called by Linnæus, Sinapi Erucoides. branches are real wood, as appears from a specimen in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks. Lightfoot, Buxtorf, and others, quote the Jewish Rabbies to the same effect, whose testimony canust be suspected of partiality to the New Testament. In the Talmud of Jerusalem †, it is said, There was in Sichi a mustard-tree, which had three branches, one of which, being cut down, served to cover the hovel of a potter; and yielded three cabs of seed.' The Rabbi Simeon, son of Chalaphtah, assures us, that he had in his garden a shoot of the mustard-tree, on which he climbed, as if on a fig-tree. These statements are, at least, sufficient to shew, that we should not form a judgment of eastern herbs by those which are familiar among ourselves. * Matt. xiii. 31) 1 6 + Tract. Peah. f. 20. JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE. Recommended to the Attention of Pious Youth. If they EVENTS often occur, which we are not prepared to expect. consist with our ideas of virtue and goodness, they never fail to prove to us so many sources of genuine joy. quent statement records. One of this agreeable kind the subse A little before nine o'clock, on a Tnesday evening, March 1805, as I was passing by a shed, erected in a newly-formed street, on the sowth side of Edinburgh, for the purpose of sawing timber, my attention was attracted by the voice of a person within it, speaking in rather a low tone. ity prompted me to make a nearer approach. I then heard, very dig. Curio - 41 tinctly, the terms Jews and Romans, in a combination of words, fluently pronounced. The first thought that struck my mind was, This is a young lad at college: he is a member of a Debating Society *. It will be his turn to deliver an essay at their next meeting; and he is now attempting to repeat it. I shall advance a little nearer to learn the subject of the oration. I silently drew nigh,—I listened,-I could hardly believe my ear to be correct! I felt the mingled sensations of surprize and pleasure, when I heard, not a part of an oration, but the voice of Prayer! This is a serious youth, thought I, apprenticed in some ungodly family. In his master's house he can find no opportunity for the purpose; and, therefore, to this place he retires to pour out his soul unto God. I too, I called to mind, was once, before I had attained the years of twelve, in like manner deprived, in the house of a friend, of such a privilege. On the neighbouring hills I daily walked, and offered up the desires of my heart to God, the Guide of my youth:' but recollecting too, that the inconvenience of the situation occasionally interrupted the regular discharge of the duty, and gradually weakened the sense of the obligation to perform it, the ardent wish rose within, May the Lord preserve thee in the good way! These thoughts had scarcely passed through my mind, when I found that he was just at the conclusion of the exercise. No sooner had he pronounced Amen, than, to my agreeable surprize, another began to pray. From the manner in which he expressed himself, I understood they had come together with the intention of uniting in this duty, in a social capacity. His voice and manner seemed to indicate that he was younger than the other. Fourteen years, perhaps, might be the age of the former; ten or eleven that of the latter. He proceeded with less ease and fluency than his associate; but appeared deeply and seriously impressed. When drawing towards a close, he requested that the Lord would be with them, as they were yet to be engaged. This led me to apprehend, that, probably, according to the practice which generally prevails in Praying Societies in Scotland, they might now be going to converse on some religious topic for their mutual edification. Having finished, however, a third engaged in prayer. He seemed, so far as I was able to judge from his voice, to be older than the second, but younger than the first, or about 12 or 13 years. He had a delightful liberty in the duty. He raised his voice rather higher than the others, though it was still much suppressed. His fervour was great. Several of his petitions pleased me much, being exceedingly ap propriate to their condition: - "O Lord, whatever other children do, as for us, O may we serve thee, the Lord! Lord bless us, and our meetings here from time to time! Bless our teachers! and let not their labours, with respect to us and the other children in the school, be in vain," &c. Had I thought sooner of committing the incident to writing, I could have preserved a greater number of their petitions. He proceeded to supplicate the blessing of Heaven to rest on all Sabbath-Schools; and that the children in them might be converted unto God. He prayed for their pa rents, for their masters, for the ministers of religion, for the success of the gospel, &c. I now understood, that they were boys connected with some Sabbath-School, who had agreed to associate frequently (once a week, probably) for mutual prayer; and wishing to conceal their pious exercises from the knowledge of parents and masters, met in this retired place, without the fear of being seen or heard. - God has his hidden ones in every period, and among persons of every age. How pleasing the * It is very customary for young men at college to form themselves into Societies, for their mutual improvement. Every time they meet, the member who presides delivers an Essay, on a subject that accords with the design of the Society (Logic, Moral Philosophy, &c.); and after remarks have been had upon it, they proceed to some controverted point. JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. thought, That multitudes, not only of fathers, but of young men and little children, are often, though to us unknown, presenting their fervent supplications in our behalf, before their heavenly Father's throbe and .ours! Here we see Religion is the same at all times; and to persons of every description, experiencing its power, it has proved an invaluable benefit! As a cordial, it has often revived the fainting soul, to the weak, it has communicated strength, and with courage it has inspired the fearful! three children, laying aside the timidities of their years, and, in a dark winter night, venturing to resort to a lonely dreary saw-pit, in order to taste the pleasures and participate the joys which the ways of genuine wisdom ever impart! From the manner in which this boy concluded his - May the God, who prayer, I learned that they were about to separate. never leaves nor forsakes his people, be with you, was my earnest desire, from henceforth, whether together or apart! I stepped aside as quickly and silently as possible, lest they should perceive themselves discovered, and I placed myself in thus be discouraged from assembling there any more. such a situation as I thought would secure a sight of them when they should Let the reador, in admienter the street. I was however disappointed. ration and gratitude, exclaim with the psalmist, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength !' - From this interesting little story, I would take occasion to recommend to the imitation of all my young readers, of a serious turn, this pleasing Let parents and guardians also be example of juvenile social devotion. exhorted to encourage young people under their care to form themselves betimes into little religious societies, in order to promote their mutual advancement in knowledge and grace! This incident, in my opinion, is a very satisfying attestation of the great importance and utility of Sabbath-Schools; and a strong encouragement to those pious and benevolent persons who devote a portion of their time and pains, not to make, as I have seen some do, an idle display of their speaking powers to gratify their own vanity and self-conceit, but to lead the minds of youth into an acquaintance with the doctrines, and to form in them a to impress them with the necesrelish for the duties of Christianity, sity of a divine change of heart and of a holy life, in order to admission into the kingdom of God! the *** Might not societies, formed in various parts of the country, for purpose of promoting Sabbath-Schools, or generous individuals, cause this Anecdote to be printed and dispersed among the young people attending them? AGAINST PRIDE OF BEAUTY. BEHOLD the blushing rose Her lovely tints display, The queen of every flower that blows Yon lily of the vale, Scarce peeping thro' the green That decks with gems the skies, When tempests threaten loud, And forms the rainbow on the cloud, And shall a child be vain, Less than the lily fair? Let me then learn to prize; If I am not as fair, I am as frail as they. To honour God be all my care, W. B. C. |