good things. O Lord, give suitable grace, grace for grace; Spirit of grace! with thankfulness in our hearts, keep us humble, dependent, spiritual; enable us to receive all through a covenant channel, as the provision of our Father, by the way through this wilderness. O may all be sanctified by thy word and prayer, and we enabled to eat and drink to thy glory. Amen.

Read the 138 psalm. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not thou the works of thine hands. Redeeming work is thy work; regenerating work is thy work; sanctifying work is also thine.

The first is finished, the second begun, to be perfected in the third. O Lord, I hang on thy promises, which with Christ are all mine, though I have not at all times the savour of them; this is mine infirmity, and often my sin. O keep me looking unto Jesus.

March 25, 1803.

Sacrament Sabbath, Dr. M— preached from Romans vi. 17: But God be thanked that ye were, (were in the past time, not now,) the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

O Lord, I do believe the doctrines of thy Gospel; I know that I am delivered from sin as a master; it hath not dominion over my will, nor entire dominion over my affections: I would be thine, thy servant, thy child,

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thine in all obedience. I feel this new principle in the desires of my soul. I would do all things to thee, in act, and in principle. But, O Lord, the old man is still here, harassing and hindering my new will, (which I have received from thee,) from acting with freedom and energy. Unhallowed motives steal in, by-ends present themselves; and when outward duty is attained to, there is more of sin than of righteousness. Though entered upon with some measure of purity, yet before it is finished, I am at a loss to discern the true principle by which I am actuated. Lord, help me! hast thou not promised to work in me both to will and to do of thy good pleasure? Is it not the grand end of thy death, that thou might purify to thyself a glorious church, not having spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing; and shall not I be a partaker? Art thou not made of God unto thy people, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and complete redemption? O Lord, my heart pants for redemption from indwelling sin. This depravity of my nature, this opposition of my nature, this evil that is ever present with me when I would do good, this indolence, this listlessness, this want of zeal. or else self-will, keenness of temper, impatience, haste: O Lord, there is a host of enemies; gird me, arm me, shield me, lead me forth under thy banner; be my victorious King. I will go in thy name, trusting in thy promised strength and grace to help in every time of need. Glory be to God, Father, Son, and blessed Spirit, for the grace in which I stand. But for Grace I had been a willing slave to sin to this hour. By that same Grace I shall one day attain to victory. I cast my burden on the Lord, he will sustain until he deliver; and go up through the wilderness, trusting in the promises, and continue fighting in his strength. My soul

waits for thy salvation. Lord, enable me to keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith. O give faith in every part of his mediatorial character! May I feed upon him and be strong for this sore fight. Give courage, O Lord; press me forward: may I resolve, and keep the resolution, to resist unto blood, striving against sin.

I have been a slothful servant in thy family, an idle labourer in thy vineyard, an unfruitful branch, a poor dwarfish member in thy body. Grant, O grant, a little fruit on the topmost bough. Oh! at the eleventh hour may I begin to work, to bear some fruit, to the glory of that Grace by which my soul is saved from the wages of sin, death, and hell, and made heir by free gift, of the wages of righteousness, eternal life, and glory.

I wait for thy salvation!

February, 1804.

A new thing is on the wheel in the city of NewYork. A Society of ladies, organized for the purpose of relieving widows with small children, was new in this country. It is now, by the blessing of God, apparently established. It was entered upon with prayer: it has been conducted thus far with prayer. The blessing of God has rested upon it, and much good has been done by it. Some of us have looked loug, and requested of God to open a way by which the children of these widows might be instructed and taught to read his word, and by his blessing on it, come to the knowledge of the way of salvation. One mean has been attempted of an ordinary kind: twelve children were last week placed at school with Mrs. L―, to be taught to read, and some more are to be placed with

another of our widows, for the same purpose. But this indeed is new. A Society of young ladies, the first in rank in the city, in the very bloom of life, and full of its prospects, engaged in those pleasures and amusements which tend to engross the mind, and shut out every idea unconnected with them; coming forward and offering, (not to contribute towards a school,) but their own personal attendance, to instruct the ignorant. O Lord, prosper. If this be of thee, it shall prosper, and be productive of much good; but if thou bless not, it will come to nothing but shame. No good can be done but by thee, for there is none good but God; and what are all thy creatures, but instruments in thy hand, by which thou bringest to pass the purposes of thy will. Christians, redeemed, enlightened, sanctified, are no more, thou workest all their works in them, they themselves are thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which thou hast prepared, that they should walk in them. Worldlings also are thy instruments, by them also thou workest and bringest to pass the counsels of thy will; thou puttest into their heart the good thing which thou workest, and girdest them for the purpose; though not the children of thy Covenant, they are the instruments of thy providence.

O Lord, take up this matter: gird these young women to this very purpose, and prosper them in the art of teaching these orphans of thy Providence. And, O Lord, hear my more important petition. I am not worthy to be heard. O Lord, I am not worthy to be named in connexion with any good done by thee. I am the chief of sinners, the chief of backsliders; every thing in me, of me, or by me, is vile as far as it is mine. All that is otherwise, all good implanted in me, or done by me, is thine own; it is Grace, free Grace, the pur

chase of thine own anointed, my dear Redeemer, my dying, risen, ascended Saviour, and the fruit of the Holy Ghost, the sent of the Father and of the Son, to set up a kingdom of righteousness, in the hearts of the redeemed. O then, as a sinner saved by Grace, to whom thou hast been pleased to give the exceeding great and precious promises; let me, under the sprinkling of the blood of the Covenant, and in entire dependence on my surety righteousness; let me draw near and present my petition; in the name, and for the sake, of him whom thou hearest always. O Lord God almighty, by this very thing, build up thy Zion. O lay hold of these young creatures, and while they are in the way of thy providence, bring them to the house of our master's brethren. O thou great Teacher, teach thou teacher and taught. Be found of them who seek thee not, and say with Behold me, power, behold me, to a people not yet called by thy name, and out of this small thing in thy providence, bring revenues of praise to thy name as the God of grace. Amen.

And now, O Lord, for myself, I pray for deep humility; I ask for his sake, who was meek and lowly, to be kept where my place really is, (for all that which thou knowest,) at the feet of all thy servants; and if it be thy pleasure to make me a useful instrument-in proportion make me a humble soul. Let me ever remember my ways and be ashamed, and never open my mouth any more because of my shame, when thou art pacified towards me for all that I have done. O keep me in this contrite frame of mind. In all that to which thou callest me, give me a willing heart, and furnish me with every necessary for thy glory. And now prepare me to speak to these young women good and ac