love to, and concern for the flock to whom he miniftred, which he laboured above all things to preferve upon his mind. But he often reviews these fervices with great fatisfaction and pleasure, expreffing much joy in the exercise of the best affections and confidence of divine acceptance. In one part of the diary he concludes his reflections with these words: "The great difference I " find in my mind, as to clearness and con"fufion of thought, fometimes feized with "fuch languor and indifpofition, fuch ftupidity and barrenness, I can have no dif"tinct perceptions, I cannot think with

any relish; at other times I find fuch " surprising vigour and freedom of spirit, "fuch strongly affecting views of those "things, which before were covered with " thick darkness, and this attended with "the greatest pleasure, that I seem to my

felf quite another perfon; this difference, "I fay, I cannot account for. I know not "the dependance the foul has upon the

body, and how far the temper of the

one may be affected by the ftate of the "other; but for the mind itself, furely “fuch changes do not depend upon choice.

Сс

or an act of the will, here another caufe "must be acknowledged."

it

BESIDES the daily fervices of the closet, appears from his diary, that he frequently fhut himfelf up the whole day, which he fpent in prayer, reading the fcriptures, and religious meditation. Thefe days he often marks, as very entertaining and useful to him; and the exercifes of his mind, with respect to the state of his own foul, that of his family, his congregation, and the public intereft, are all fet down, in which fuck a fpirit of piety and charity breathes, as is rarely to be met with.

THE reader will, I believe, be pleafed with an account of the reasons of his spending fo much time in the fecret exercises of devotion, in his own words, which are as follow : "I have refolved to fet apart this

day for the folemn exercises of devotion ;

not that I place religion in fuch things, "for certainly it confifts in a conformity of "the habitual difpofition of the mind to "the will of God, and an uniform tenor "of converfation. When I was a child in

religion (that is, beginning to be ferious) many

"many a danger I was expofed to, particularly that of being impofed upon by a warm imagination, laying too great ftrefs what I accounted divine impreffions, upon fervours and raptures in religion: "This, I believe, fome young and unex

upon

;

perienced chriftians are apt to fall into "but true christianity confifts in love to "God, and charity to men, which is the "bond of perfectness: It confifts in doing

justly, and loving mercy; in m ekness "patience, and contentment. O! my foul! "endeavour to grow in these virtues, that "is the fure way of pleafing God; and it "is effentially neceffary to real religion, that

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a defign of pleafing God, be conftantly " and uniformly pursued; whenever that is neglected, fincerity is loft. But I apply myself to these exercises, first, because they are a noble employment of the mind, "most worthy of its rational powers, tend

ing to their highest perfection, and af

fording most folid joy: Secondly, in fo"lemn tranfactions with God, I may hope "for fuch a confirmation in virtuous fenti"ments and difpofitions; and fuch advan"tages over worldly lufts, as may be of

great use to me in future life; and this

hope is juftified by experience. Thirdly, "I would lay ftricter obligations upon my"felf to greater watchfulness and caution "against the springs of error, and perplexi

ty, and guilt, into which I have been " formerly mifled, and my life rendered un"comfortable.'

To all which it may be added, that to his converfing fo much with himself, and these extraordinary labours in the closet, were, no doubt, in a great measure owing, not only the uncommon goodness of his fpirit, and the exact regularity and usefulness of his life; but that intimate acquaintance, with the human heart, and those amazing ftrains of reasoning, which appear in his fermons, which could be the effect of nothing but the closet, application to thinking, and the most careful attention to his own mind.

BESIDES all this, he gives an account, in his diary, of several alterations of opinion in religious matters, and has been very particular in the reasons of them; and upon what principles he embraced fome opinions, contrary to what he had formerly received;

and

and in several places fets down his reafonings upon the importance of various articles of faith, as they affect the chriftian life. One of these paffages concludes thus: My mind has been often difturbed about "fome particular points of orthodoxy; but I

am perfuaded, with that measure of know

ledge God has given me (little, when " compared with the attainments of others) 68 no mistake about the chriftian truth will deprive me of acceptance, unless, which "I hope is not my cafe, it arises from fel"fifh irregular defires, oppofing the defign "of christianity itself: And the most sub"stantial enjoyment, conformable to the

scope of the gofpel, is that fincere fatisfaction, which results from a true difpo"fition, to fall in with it univerfally."

IT has been already obferved, that his diary contains an account of all the important events that befel him, with his reflections upon them; his own refolutions and the principles upon which he founded them. In these things he has descended very minutely, and made many obfervations upon his own schemes in life, and the many difappointments he met with, which tended

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