nothing would seem more desirable. Well, you never forget them. Their well doing is a matter of great importance to the world, for I am either so fond or so foolish as to think they have not many equals.

Remember me in the most affectionate manner to the dear little Doctor, and the young ladies with yourself; and all with you that belong to Christ are near the heart of

Yours,

S. W.

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The youths mentioned in this letter, by the familiar appellations of Tom and George, were destined afterwards, as their friend with his usual perspicacity foretold, to be able and zealous ministers of Christ. The first was afterwards Dr. Haweis, the well known chaplain of Lady Huntingdon, and the second, Mr. George Burnet, became an eminent clergyman, and assisted the excellent Mr. Venn in his labours at Huddersfield, who gives the following decided testimony to his valuable services in a letter to Lord Dartmouth. am greatly relieved and comforted by the presence and help of my dear fellow labourer in the kingdom and patience of Christ, Mr. Burnet; a man made to reprove the lightness of my mind, quick to discern, and bold to admonish, of unseemly carriage, yet with such unaffected humility and visible tenderness, as to make his reproofs like a polished shaft. I have great reason to adore that Providence which has brought us together, and if I do not pervert the grace of God, his joining me will further much the prosperity of my soul." "The dear little Doctor" was a young gen

tleman of piety, on whom his pastor had bestowed this title, in that innocently playful spirit which gives the freshness of a summer's breeze to the path of children of the day.

CHAPTER VIII.

MR. WALKER'S DICIPLINE OF HIS OWN MIND.

His diligent self-scrutiny.

We have hitherto been engaged in considering the character of Mr. Walker, as a consistent minister of the established church, discreetly and successfully labouring in his proper sphere, according to prescribed rules. In order, however, to discover the mainspring of these effective movements, we must follow him into his closet, in the retirement of which, he so devoutly communed with his God, that he came forth, like Moses from the mount, to shine before men. All the discipline he recommended to others, was first practised upon himself; and his knowledge of the secret idols of the human heart, was the result of a diligent search, under the guidance of gospel light, into the hidden recesses of his own bosom. In order to the full developement of his character in this instructive point of view, it will be advisable to follow the train of reflection constantly before him, in the still chamber of self-examination, prayer, and penitence.

One of his first objects seemed to be, a constant desire to cherish a recollection of his days of unfruitfulness, with a view to humiliation before God, and to

stimulate himself to more zealous exertion.

It was a point which, he told Mr. Adam, he "could never think of without great self-abhorrence." He felt ashamed that "conceit and interest" had guided him to Truro; that "by his worldly mindedness and ignorance of vital religion, the service of Christ was prostituted, the souls committed to him starved, and he feared many of them perished; and that he had sought his own glory in the very pulpit where he was placed to proclaim the Redeemer!" "I know not," he says, "how to endure the reflection: mourning over this scene, I shall go to the grave. It is not a lost case indeed; we have an advocate with the Father; but I can never undo the wrong I have done to God and man." This was not a vain expression of morbid feelings, tending to damp the joy of a soul reconciled to God through Christ; he fostered the impression for a definite purpose, and like a true believer, remembered that no portion of experience is valuable which has not a determinate use. "I reap," he observed, "great benefit from it." The remembrance of my unfaithfulness humbles me, though not as it ought, and as I desire, stirs me up to diligence and to labour more abundantly; and what I chiefly rejoice in, serves in some measure to repress that conceit, wherein my desperately wicked heart would needs swell one thing upon another." Such recurrences to our condition, before conversion, cannot fail to be extremely profitable, while a whining effort to drown the joyous feelings of a hope full of immortality in the slough of a past life, is both injurious and intrinsically wrong. Repentance will form the daily exercise

of a true Christian; but if he is under guidance from on high, he will make a practical use of it. Every tear which falls not into the stream that sets in motion the machinery of love, is shed in vain.

Mr. Walker was extremely attentive to the manner in which his mind was influenced by the opinions and conduct of men. "I feel," he said in his diary, "a lurking desire of man's esteem, mixing with the natural timidity of my constitution, which makes me inwardly draw back from any approaching trial, in which I am to look in the face of persons of an angry and violent temper." He was however enabled in a great degree to conquer that feeling, by "the mighty influence of the Spirit of God," and had grace given him to persist "in the discharge of his duty in opposition to this secret enemy." He was anxious also not to be wanting in honest indignation against sin, without ruffling his temper or experiencing injurious perturbation of mind. To this end, he cultivated the grace of compassion for the offender, recollecting what was said of our blessed Lord-he looked about upon them with indignation, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts; yet upon a review of the occasions, when he had been thus excited, he could, in the year 1756, only remember two instances, in which he had "been angry without plainly seeing sin." It is impossible to conceive a more lovely desire than this to follow the steps of our Redeemer, or a more exemplary instance of self-scrutiny.

A sense of the presence of sin in all that he did, was a leading characteristic in Mr. Walker's notices of his own experience, and he caused it to act as a

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