grave." Full long enough have I been servant to vanity, and laboured against my own inclination to no purpose. I have considered myself as bound to the subject of small talk, and laboured harder to talk nonsense than good sense. 'Tis time to assert myself and make the sacred volume the rule of my life, and take the life of the only perfect man for my inimitable pattern. I must stem the torrent of the world, or be borne down with it into the unfathomable vortex.I need not hesitate. I am of years enough to make a wise choice, to settle a firm judgment, and abide by it, through the assistance of Christ.

I now arraign the world. Let it have an impartial hearing, but let not the father of lies and corrupt nature plead for it. Is communion with such loose vain company consistent with communion at the consecrated supper? Does such levity favour the influence of the Spirit? Does conversation made up of vanity warm the heart to devotion? From such a course of conduct does any real benefit accrue to mankind? Is the world the wiser, the happier, for our nocturnal revellings? The subject is then reducible to this plain point. If neither we ourselves nor our fellow mortals receive any advantage, and there is no glory derived to the One Supreme, such a course is repugnant to our duty. What say you world? What can you plead ? That this question be decided is of infinite importance. Why I never discussed it before I am unable to say, and say not what gave rise to the present undertaking.

In favour of her cause the world pleads, the accomplishment of the person. Let us consider this argument. Is the body immortal ?— Were it to continue forever, that would be a reason for taking pains in its embellishment. But methinks that which is mouldering away and is subject every moment to be in such a state as renders it necessary to house it in the dust, merit not such particular attention. I consider this argument as the only one of weight which can be adduced by the world. Some make a pompous parade about a conformation to the fashions and customs of the world; but all arguments that can arise from this source are too gross to need a confutation, as though the regions of despair would be indeed less gloomy, on account of the gay company that will be there.

As to the second test, I see no possible good that can accrue to mankind. As to the third, I see not how any glory can be derived to the One Supreme. To one of these I think it evident that all our actions ought to be subservient.

Is such a course inconsistent? Have I so long been blind to the the truth? Why are so many now embracing falsehood? But every one must think and act for himself. By comparing ourselves with ourselves, we show not our wisdom. Let us with intrepid fortitude, stem the current of the world, and show ourselves bold and undaunted in our opposition, looking forward unto the glorious reward. Let us feel no reluctance at parting with these pleasures. Let us cast them off as vipers, and hug not the sweet morsel within our bosom, that is impregnated with poison. By parting with these we claim our freedom, and are brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

At length we are freed from bonds and the heavy yoke of sin. Let us lay aside every weight saith the inspired Apostle, and what are these but weights and sins that do most easily beset us.

Are these things so? Have I not resolution? I pray God direct me. Do I draw back? Then I know the consequence :- My soul shall have no pleasure in him. He is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. Are not the riches of Christ sufficient?

Saturday, April 3d, 1779.

O that I could preserve this temper of mind through life, this sweet disposition, this noble resolution; then me thinks I should be happy. I hope God is about to do something for my soul. Should this be the time I must forever declare it was not my own seeking, but attribute all to the operation of the kind Spirit.

This world is full of deceit. Long have I been deceived. I think I never viewed it in such a light before. But I know not. I fear delusion. God who has brought me thus far protect me. Praised be his goodness. Praised be his mercy. What am I? But God has no respect to persons, he does please to take notice and have mercy on some of our depraved fallen race.

How blinded are mankind! through what a false medium they view things! upon what slippery places do we move!

Great is the mystery of godliness. Why should I be singled out? O God protect me from the world. Without thee I can do nothing; by thy assistance I cannot only resist the world, but all the infernal legions. O merciful Jesus, help me to maintain this glorious warfare.

Take me under thy care, hide me under the covert of thy wings. O the sweetness of this solemn familiarity with Jesus, the sweet Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. The world knows not the pleasure of conversing with him. Who would be under the cruel bondage of satan? God brings all his sons into a glorious liberty. This service is perfect pleasure, his bonds are easy, all is perfect freedom. Great God protect me from this moment. I fear a decline, I fear I shall be again taken up with the vanities of life, and the transitory visions of time and sense. But God is able to protect me: I would rest and rely on him alone. I would put my whole trust and confidence in him, not in an arm of flesh, not in my own feeble strength. But when I am weak, then am I strong.

With a noble fortitude I would set this world at defiance. To the vain and delusory pleasures of time and sense, I would bid a lasting adieu. With an eye fixed on the recompense of reward I would surmount every obstacle. This is a most cheering circumstance, that our Divine Master is both able and ready to assist us, whenever the world is like to be too hard for us; and we are assured of his divine assistance if we put our trust in him. Let us look up to him and there will be no danger.

As we act in opposition to the world, so it is necessary that we act above the world. Let us with equanimity encounter all hardships that we may meet with in the christian course, esteeming all but as dress and dung that we may win Christ. Let us keep our eye fixed

on the mark, and let nothing that can happen to us in this world, divert our attention. Let us spurn at all earthly felicity, take the spoiling of our goods in peace, and not only so, but let us be ready to meet death with calmness and resolution. Our lives should be accounted dear no longer than they are subservient to the glory of God: the moment the honor of the Redeemer calls for them, that moment we should lay them down, for on such terms we received them, being born not for ourselves but for the glory of God. How vile is it that we should be unwilling to forego sensual gratifications when set in competition with the joys of the New Jerusalem! Shall we prefer the good of the creature to the divine amiableness? Shall we love the creature, laboring under so many imperfections, and not place our supreme affection on the Creator, who is absolutely and completely perfect, who is love ineffable? Let us rise superior to the world and all its enjoyments, and rest our souls on God, on Christ Jesus the rock of ages. Let us look down with a sacred contempt upon all created good, and look up with a seraphic ardour to uncreated good, and pour forth our whole souls in love to the Deity.

O Divine Immanuel, unvail thy beauties to me, ravish my heart with a sweet sense of thy delights, fill my mouth with eternal praise, and warm my soul with devotion. May a sense of thy greatness fall upon me and thy excellence make me afraid. May I contemplate on thy perfection day and night, and have sweet visions in the night

season.

Sunday, April 4, 1779.

Still I am at a loss about myself. I know not what I am, nor why I am thus. Whether it be the effects of melancholy, or of the season upon my constitution, that I experience, I know not. would hope aud trust there is an invisible hand in all this.

But still I

Setting this world at defiance, I would rush forward with a sacred ardour to the end of the race, where the forerunner is entered, Christ Jesus the righteous. I would disentangle myself from the gross encumbrances of the world, the impediments of the flesh, act in contrariety to them all, and esteem them as a thing of no value.

O my friends, let not this vain world deceive you. Many strong men have been cast down by her. Yea, she hath ruined thousands and tens of thousands her steps take hold on hell; they lead down to the chambers of death. I have long been in slavery to the world, and never before felt myself so much at liberty. I seem to myself almost in a new world. Grievous are the shackles of such a slavery. O defy her! Be no longer deceived by that subtle adversary. He lies in wait for your souls. He holds out the world as a bait, and with a sweet morsel hides a hook that will tear out your very vitals. But whatever others do, I am resolved, and if this resolution be from God, I trust he will enable me cheerfully to persevere and carry it into execution.

O my dear Jesus, save me, protect me from the world, from the wiles of the old serpent, and from the lust of the flesh, Let me fight under thy banner, and I shall come off victorious over these potent

enemies. 'Tis thou, O Christ Jesus, that has wrought out my salvation, and 'tis thou, O Holy Spirit, that hast carried on this work thus far. Not unto me, O God, not unto me, but to thyself be the glory. Thou hast gotten me the victory; as I hope it is in part obtained. It was thine own seeking, not mine. If I am chosen, tis thou that hast chosen me from before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, glorify thyself by thine unworthy servant. Glory to God in the highest, and peace be within my breast. Shout ye that dwell on high, for my Redeemer liveth, and remembereth to show mercy. Praise him in the highest strain ye bright intelligences, ye who dwell in light show forth his praise. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. Regard not what the world may say, but act boldly. Seeing we are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, seeing we are in the presence of angels, and what is still infinitely greater, of God himself, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth most easily beset us, and run with patience the race set before us; looking unto Jesus.

I must go unto God for wisdom, with full purpose of heart, nothing wavering, firmly resolved in my course. I must not be double-minded. I have taken my resolution, and must hold it fast unto death. But I fear to walk in this perverse and crooked world. However I would always consider myself in the immediate presence of Christ Jesus, who will afford me his all-powerful aid, and give me strength according to my temptations. With him I can do all things, and though weak, I need not fear the world.

There seems to be a radiant light cast over the Scriptures as I peruse the sacred pages, as I look into the rule of my life, that inexhaustible source of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto eternal salvation. "Whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty;"-the law of God is perfect liberty-keeps himself unspotted from the world.' 99 Come down into the dust, O world. Whoever is a friend to the world is an enemy of God. With the world I declare war, and however arduous it may be, this is encouraging that the conflict is but short, and through Divine assistance I am sure of the victory.

I think I am nearly resolved in a matter which has been long agitated in my breast, to come to the communion of the Lord's supper. I will make a bold and vigorous attempt, and risk all upon Christ. I know I am a sinner, a polluted mortal, but the blood of Christ I trust will cleanse me. Why should I neglect to acknowledge him before the world, who, I trust, has redeemed my soul? If he has inspired me with this noble resolution to serve him, I trust he will enable me to carry it into execution. Why should I hesitate respecting this matter? The reproaches of the world I would esteem my gain, my honour, my glory. Merciful God help me.

Sunday, April 4th, 1779.

How incompresensible, how inconceivable and transcendantly glorious is Jehovah! How great is that omnipotent Being who wields the immense universe of worlds! who commanded the whole into existence,

and upholds them in the most complete and perfect harmony! Immortal minds in a state of growing perfection to all eternity, will fall infinitely short of comprehending this supreme, eternal being! The highest seraph in heaven can form no adequate idea of him, but is swallowed up in admiration. He alone comprehends himself. Our minds cannot search out to perfection a single attribute. How incomprehensible art thou, O one supreme!

His Omniscience has been this afternoon, I will not say discussed, but discoursed of, by a person whom I esteem near the summit of human perfection; but how much, though inflamed with the subject, did he fall short of the description. Here finite minds find their weakness, and stagger in the attempt; for 'tis the very nature of infinite not be comprehended by finite.

The Deity is a subject on which we may employ our thoughts continually, and still find fresh delight. We may contemplate his works of creation, and behold the whole formed in unerring wisdom, and completed with exquisite beauty; so that the exact symmetry of the whole, and the perfect concordance of all its parts are beautifully expressive of its Divine original. In the minutest parts the Deity is conspicuious, and the least particle of creation, when narrowly inspected, unfolds wonders.

We may contemplate his works of providence and (as far as our comprehension will reach, and in proportion to our sagacity is our admiration,) behold the whole plan laid in infinite wisdom, in the eternal counsels of Jehovah; and the whole carried on with the most consummate skill, and verging to completion, as to human matters, with the most perfect regularity and quick dispatch. Hence they must be fools and without excuse who say there is no God.

I could wish to enlarge on this subject which is infinite and inexhaustible, but the business of the week seems necessarily to demand my attention. And I would not dismiss what I have been contemplating this day, yesterday in the afternoon, and last evening, before I commend myself to God. To him would I commit all my ways and the thoughts of my heart, that they may be established. I humbly entreat Almighty God to take me under his care, to protect and defend me from the world, to enable me to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth beset me, and to run with patience, resolution, and perseverance, the race set before me, looking to, trusting in, and relying upon Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, who for the joy set before him endured the shameful death of the Cross.

I would humbly hope and trust by the assistance of Almighty God the Father, Christ Jesus the most merciful Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier and preserver, three distinct persons in one mysterious Godhead; by the grace of the great triune Jehovah, from this day to date a new life, a life devoted unto God; my acceptance with the Father through the redemption of Christ; and my reconciliation with the Deity through the mediation of our great high priest.

God worketh when and how he pleaseth. Of his own will begat he us." Unto him be the glory, for he hath led me thus far. To God