“Aug. 13.—­Clear conviction of sin is the only true origin of dependence on another’s righteousness, and therefore (strange to say!) of the Christian’s peace of mind and cheerfulness.”

“Sept. 8.—­Reading Adams’ Private Thoughts.  Oh for his heart-searching humility!  Ah me! on what mountains of pride must I be wandering, when all I do is tinctured with the very sins this man so deplores; yet where are my wailings, where my tears, over my love of praise?”

“Nov. 14.—­Composition—­a pleasant kind of labor.  I fear the love of applause or effect goes a great way.  May God keep me from preaching myself instead of Christ crucified.”

“Jan. 15, 1834.—­Heard of the death of J.S., off the Cape of Good Hope.  O God! how Thou breakest into families!  Must not the disease be dangerous, when a tender-hearted surgeon cuts deep into the flesh?  How much more when God is the operator, ’who afflicteth not from his heart [[Hebrew:  meilivo]], nor grieveth the children of men!’ Lam. 3:33.”

“Feb. 23, Sabbath.—­Rose early to seek God, and found Him whom my soul loveth.  Who would not rise early to meet such company?  The rains are over and gone.  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”

Feb. 24.—­He writes a letter to one who, he feared, was only sentimental, and not really under a sense of sin.  “Is it possible, think you, for a person to be conceited of his miseries?  May there not be a deep leaven of pride in telling how desolate and how unfeeling we are?—­in brooding over our unearthly pains?—­in our being excluded from the unsympathetic world?—­in our being the invalids of Christ’s hospital?” He had himself been taught by the Spirit that it is more humbling for us to take what grace offers, than to bewail our wants and worthlessness.

Two days after, he records, with thankful astonishment, that for the first time in his life he had been blest to awaken a soul.  All who find Christ for themselves are impelled, by the holy necessity of constraining love, to seek the salvation of others.  Andrew findeth his brother Peter, and Philip findeth his friend Nathanael.  So was it in the case before us.  He no sooner knew Christ’s righteousness as his own covering, than he longed to see others clothed in the same spotless robe.  And it is peculiarly interesting to read the feelings of one who was yet to be blest in plucking so many brands from the fire, when, for the first time, he saw the Lord graciously employing him in this more than angelic work.  We have his own testimony. “Feb. 26.—­After sermon.  The precious tidings that a soul has been melted down by the grace of the Saviour.  How blessed an answer to prayer, if it be really so!  ‘Can these dry bones live?  Lord, Thou knowest.’  What a blessed thing it is to see the first grievings of the awakened spirit, when it cries, ’I cannot see myself a sinner; I cannot pray, for my vile heart wanders!’ It has refreshed me more than a thousand sermons.  I know not how to thank and admire God sufficiently for this incipient work.  Lord, perfect that which Thou hast begun!” A few days after:  “Lord, I thank Thee that Thou hast shown me this marvellous working, though I was but an adoring spectator rather than an instrument.”