Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

the joyous affections of this day, I quickly forgot my own worthlessness and helplessness, and thus looking off from Jesus, found myself standing on slippery ground. But oh! the happiness of that state, where pride shall never intrude to make our joys an occasion of sorrow."

"Rose at six, and passed the morning in great tranquillity. Learnt by heart some of the three first chapters of Revelation. This is to me the most searching and alarming part of the Bible; yet now with humbling hope I trusted that the censures of my Lord did not belong to me; except that those words, Rev. ii. 3,- For my name's sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted,' were far too high a testimony for me. to think of appropriating to myself; nevertheless I besought the Lord, that whatever I had been, I might now be perfect and complete in all the will of God."

"Men frequently admire me, and I am pleased, but I abhor the pleasure I feel; oh! did they but know that my root is rottenness!"-"Heard professor Farish preach at Trinity Church, on Luke xii. 4, 5, and was deeply impressed with the reasonableness and necessity of the fear of God. Felt it to be a light matter to be judged of man's judgment; why have I not awful apprehensions of the glorious being at all times? The particular promise him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out,' &c. dwelt a long time on my mind, and diffused an affectionate reverence of God.”—“ I see a great work before me now, namely, the subduing and mortifying of my perverted will. What am I that I should dare to do my own will, even if I were not a sinner; but now how plain, how reasonable, to have the love of Christ constraining me to be his faithful willing servant, cheerfully taking up the cross he shall appoint me.". "Read some of Amos with Lowth. The reading of the Prophets is to me one of the most delightful employments. One cannot but be charmed with the beauty of the imagery, while they never fail to inspire me with awful thoughts of God and his ha

tred of sin."-" The reading of Baxter's Saint's Rest determined me to live more in heavenly meditation." "Walked by moonlight, and found it a sweet relief to my mind to think of God, and consider my ways before him. I was strongly impressed with the vanity of the world, and could not help wondering at the imperceptible operation of grace, which had enabled me to resign expectations of happiness from it.". "How frequently has my heart been refreshed, by the description in the Scriptures of the future glory of the Church, and the happiness of man hereafter."—"I felt the force of Baxter's observation, that if an angel had appointed to meet me, I should be full of awehow much more when I am about to meet God.". "In my usual prayer at noon, besought God to give me a heart to do his will."-"For poor *** I interceded most earnestly, even with tears."

That one thus eminently watchful and holy, who "counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord," should speak of himself in the strongest terms of self-condemnation, will appear incongruous to those only who forget that the prophet, who uttered in the presence of Jehovah the words of submissive devotion, "Here am I, send me," exclaimed at the same time in the lowly language of contrition, "Wo is me, for I am undone, I am a man of polluted lips ;" and that it was when the Laodiceans ceased to know that they were "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," that they became defective in zeal for the glory of their Saviour. Whoever considers that tenderness of conscience is found always in an exact proportion to fervent desires after an entire conformity to the divine image, will be prepared to expect, and pleased to peruse, such humble confessions and sacred aspirations as Mr. Martyn's, which seem to bring us back to the days of Ephraim the Syrian, and St. Augustine."The essence of Evangelical humiliation," observes the celebrated writer* on the Religious Affections,

* Jonathan Edwards,

consists in such humility as becomes a creature under a dispensation of grace, consisting in a mean esteem of himself as nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious, attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory. He that has much grace, apprehends much more than others that great height to which his love ought to ascend, and he sees better than others how little a way he has risen towards that height, and therefore, estimating his love by the whole height of his duty, it appears astonishingly little and low in his eyes. It most demonstrably appears that true grace is of that nature, that the more a person has of it with remaining corruption, the less does his goodness and holiness appear in proportion, not only to his past deformity, but to his present deformity, in the sin that now appears in his heart, and in the abominable defects of his highest affections and brightest experience."-What better comment can be found on these profoundly scriptural remarks of a divine, who stood singularly high in Mr. Martyn's estimation, than the self-abasing acknowledgments of his which follow?

"What a sink of corruption is the heart! and yet I can go from day to day in self-seeking and self-pleasing. Lord, show me myself, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, and teach me to live by faith on Christ, my all."-"I fear the exemption from assaults, either external or internal, is either in itself a bad symptom of self-ignorance, or leads to pride and self-seeking. Reveal to me the evil of my heart, O thou heart-searching God."

"I feel a sad strangeness between God and my soul from careless unbelieving prayer. I am afraid the work of grace is but shallow. I pray, but look not for an answer from above: but while I consider at the times of prayer every grace as coming from God, yet in the general tenor of my course, I seem to lay the greater stress on my endeavours, heedless of the strength of Christ."" How much better it is to have a peaceful sense of my own wretchedness, and an hum

ble waiting upon God for sanctifying grace, than to talk much, and appear to be somebody in religion!"

"O my God, who seest me write, and recordest in the book of thy remembrance more faithfully my sins and backslidings; bring down my soul to repent in dust and ashes for my waste of time, carnal complacency, and self-sufficiency. I would desire to devote myself anew to thee in Christ; though I fear I hardly know what it means, so great is really my ignorance of myself."

"Short and superficial in prayer this morning, and there undoubtedly is the evil. Read Lowth-Learnt 15th John; and endeavoured faintly to be drawing nigh unto God. Read D. Brainerd's Journal in the afternoon. At Mr. Simeon's church this evening, my mind was wandering and stupid. His sermon was very impressive, on Rev. iii. 2. Thanks to God, that though my graces are declining, and my corruptions increasing, I am not unwilling to be reclaimed. For with all this evil in my heart, I would not, could not choose any other than God for my portion."-“ At dear Mr. Simeon's rooms, I perceived that I had given him pain by inattention to his kind instructions. Base wretch that I am, that by carelessness and unmortified pride, I should thus ungratefully repay his unexampled kindness. But if the sense of ingratitude to man be thus painful, what ought I not to feel in reference to God, that good and holy Being, whose sparing mercy keeps me out of hell, though I daily dishonour Christ, and grieve his Holy Spirit! But O my soul! it is awful to trifle in religion. Confession is not repentance, neither is the knowledge of sin contrition."

66

Hearing I was to meet two men who were not serious, I felt pride, contempt, and discontent, to be the torment of my heart."-"Condemned myself for not exerting myself in doing good to man, by visiting the sick, &c. Certainly every grace must be in exercise, if we would enjoy the communion of the perfect God. I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect.' Every wheel of the chariot must be in mo tion to gain the race."

"Was in a composed state, but security led to pride. On my looking up to God, for pardon of it, and for deliverance from it, I feel overwhelmed with guilt. How fast does pride ripen the soul for hell!"-"Retained the manna of past experience till it putrified in my hand."-" How utterly forgetful have I been this day of the need of Christ's grace, of my own poverty and vileness! Let me then remember, that all apparent joy in God without humility, is a mere delusion of Satan." "This is my birthday, and I am ashamed to review it: Lord Jesus, watch over me in the deceitful calm! Let me beware of the lethargy, lest it terminate in death. I desire on this day to renew my vows to the Lord, and O that every succeeding year of my life may be more devoted to His glory than the last."

"I thought that my fretfulness, and other marks of an unsubdued spirit arose from a sense of my corruption, and a secret dependence on my own powers for a cure. Were I to bring the maladies of my soul to the great Physician, in simple reliance on his grace, I should, with many other benefits, receive a cure of that bane of my peace, disappointed arrogance, which proudly seeks for good, where it never can be found. In every disease of the soul, let me charge myself with the blame and Christ with the cure of it, so shall I be humbled and Christ glorified.”—“I do not doubt but that I belong to God, yet I am afraid to rejoice in that relation. I do not live in the sense of my own helplessness, and therefore do not perceive that my security is not in myself, but in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.""I found that the omission of my Journal had been attended with bad effects. O wretched man that I am! If God's word did not unequivocally declare the desperate wickedness of the heart, I should sink down in despair. Nothing but infinite grace can save me. But that which most grieves me is, that I am not humbled at the contemplation of myself."

"When I look back on every day, I may say I have

« ZurückWeiter »