the time that I became a Fellow of King's, attended regularly at his church. Being the only gownsman that attended there, I rather wondered that he did not take any notice of me; I thought that if I were a minister, and saw a young gownsman attending as regularly and devoutly as I did, I should invite him to come and see me; and I determined, if he should do so, I would avail myself of the opportunity to get acquainted with him. I longed exceedingly to know some spiritual person who had the same views and feelings with myself; and I had serious thoughts of putting into the papers, as soon as I should be ordained, an advertisement to the following effect: "That a young Clergyman who felt himself an undone sinner, and looked to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and desired to live only to make known that Saviour unto others, was persuaded that there must be some persons in the world whose views and feelings on this subject accorded with his own, though he had now lived three years without finding so much as one; and that if there were any minister of that description he would gladly become his curate, and serve him gratis." At last he did invite me to come and drink tea with him; and invited a Mr. D., an artist, to come and meet me. The conversation did not take a useful turn, for Mr. D. was not what I should call a religious man; and we parted without any profitable communication of our sentiments. In a few days I invited Mr. Atkinson to sup with me, and asked Mr. D. to meet him: it happened that Mr. D. could not come; so that Mr. A. and I were tête-à-tête. I soon dropped some expressions which conveyed the idea of my feeling myself a poor, guilty, helpless sinner: and Mr. A. was quite surprized, for he had set it down as a matter of course that I must be a staunch pharisee; he had, even for the whole space of time that I had been at college, noticed my solemn and reverent behaviour at St. Mary's, so different from that which is generally observed in that place, and concluded, as three of his pious friends had also done, that I was actuated by a proud pharisaical spirit; when therefore he found that I was of a very different complexion, he manifested an union of heart with me, and introduced me the very next day to an excellent man, my dear friend, Mr. John Venn, who, alas! is just now deceased. (July 1813.) Here I found a man after my own heart, a man for whom I have retained the most unfeigned love to his last moments, and of whom I ever shall retain the most affectionate remembrance. He, Mr. J. Venn, soon took me over to Yelling*, and introduced me to a man of no ordinary character, his own dear and honoured Father. O what an acquisition was this! In this aged minister I found a father, an instructer, and a most bright example: and I shall have reason to adore my God to all eternity for the benefit of his acquaintance. This blessed man had often heard his son speak of this singular gownsman of King's College, and had advised him to get acquainted with him; but God, no doubt for wise and gracious reasons, had kept far from me all spiritual acquaintance: by which means he made it to appear the more clearly that the work in me was not of man, or by man, but of God alonet.' * A village about twelve miles from Cambridge. + 1782, June 1. (Extract from the Diary of Mr. J. Venn.) "Drank tea at Atkinson's with Simeon, an undergraduate Fellow of King's, a religious man, and Jowett. "Being now acquainted with Mr. Atkinson, I undertook the care of his church during the long vacation; and I have reason to hope that some good was done there. In the space of a month or six weeks the church became quite crowded; the Lord's table was attended by three times the usual number of communicants, and a considerable stir was made among the dry bones. I visited all the parish from house to house, without making any difference be June 2nd. (Sunday.)-Drank tea with Jowett, Simeon, (who preached his first sermon to-day at St. Edward's,) and Atkinson. 3rd.-Called on Simeon, and walked with him to Trumpington. Supped with Simeon and Atkinson. 4th.-Simeon and Atkinson drank tea with me. 6th.-Called on Simeon, and walked to Grantchester." The next day Mr. Venn left College and went home to Yelling, where he was alone, as his father and family were in London. "13th.-Simeon of King's walked over from Cambridge to see me; walked on the terrace with him and in church. Family prayers extempore-his engagement. 14th.-Rode over with Simeon to Everton to introduce him to Mr. Berridge. 15th.-Walked with Simeon in the church; he returned after dinner to Cambridge." July 14, 1782, Mr. S. writes to Mr. J. Venn, desiring to be introduced to his father: "I propose, with the blessing of God, riding over to Yelling on Tuesday morning next before 8 o'clock, or at farthest a quarter after. To converse with your father has long been my desire, and that I shall be both pleased and edified by it I have not the least doubt. Your most affectionate friend in Christ, Mr. J. Venn has made the following memorandum in his pocketbook: "16th July, 1782. Tuesday.-Mr. Simeon came at 8, and stayed till past 8 at night." tween Churchmen and Dissenters: and I remember disputing with the Dissenting Minister (in a friendly way) about the doctrine of Election. I could not receive the doctrine of Election, not being able to separate it from that of reprobation: but I was not violent against it, being convinced, as much as I was of my own existence, that, whatever others might do, I myself should no more have loved God if he had not first loved me, or turned to God if he had not by his free and sovereign grace turned me, than a cannonball would of itself return to the orifice from whence it had been shot out. But I soon learned that I must take the Scriptures with the simplicity of a little child, and be content to receive on God's testimony what he has revealed, whether I can unravel all the difficulties that may attend it or not; and from that day to this I have never had a doubt respecting the truth of that doctrine, nor a wish (as far as I know) to be wise above what is written. I feel that I cannot even explain how it is that I move my finger, and therefore I am content to be ignorant of innumerable things which exceed, not only my wisdom, but the wisdom of the most learned men in the universe. For this disposition of mind I have unbounded reason to be thankful to God; for I have not only avoided many perplexities by means of it, but actually learned much, which I should otherwise have never learned. I was not then aware that this simple exercise of faith is the only way of attaining divine knowledge; but I now see it is so; and in fact it is the true way in which we attain human knowledge also; for the child receives every thing first upon the authority of his teacher, and thus learns the very first rudiments of language; he does not say, How do I know that a, b spells ab? or, that this is the nominative case, and that is the verb, and that is the accusative case that is governed by it? No: he calls things as he is taught to call them, and then in due time he sees that these things are not the arbitrary dictates of his master, but that they of necessity appertain to language, and exist in the very nature of things; and thus in time he comes to see a beauty and propriety in things which were at first no better to him than senseless jargon. This, I am persuaded, is the way in which we should receive instruction from God; and if we will do so, I verily believe, that we shall in due time see a beauty and harmony in many things, which the pertinacious advocates of human systems can never understand." The Rev. M. M. Preston, in his "Memoranda” of Mr. S., has recorded an incident which may be noticed here: "The very first day of his public ministrations was marked by an occurrence of a remarkable character. In returning from the church through the thoroughfare called St. Edward's Passage, his attention was arrested by the loud wrangling of a man and his wife. The door being open, he entered the house, and earnestly expostulated with them on the sin of absenting themselves unnecessarily from the House of God, and disturbing, by such unseemly conduct, those who had been there. He then knelt down to pray for them; and persons passing by, attracted by the novelty of the scene, gradually collected, till the room was full. It was not likely that such zeal in a young man of his station should long remain unnoticed." |