58 SELF-DEDICATION. my sorrows, my deliverances, and the greatness of my mercies unto this day, with thousands of favours received from his hand, I hope that I may be permitted to say that I am the Lord's. Else, why should I thus feel? Why choose the Lord, his truth and ways, if he had not chosen me? I would tear out my heart and trample upon every noxious weed of iniquity, and endeavour to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Time was, when I could cultivate these with both hands, and take pleasure in the fruits of sin. The case, by the favour of God, is altered! In this I rest, as the fruit of my Lord's death and intercession for me. I look to Him, that by his Spirit and grace, he may perfect that which concerns. whether for the body or for the soul. Blessed Father, Son, and Spirit, this day, I again, though most unworthy, give myself to thee. Let my person, time, ministry, and all I have, be sanctified to thy glory, the increase of thy visible Church, the comfort of my family, and the benefit of my fellow creatures. Amen. Commencing the year with God, and under the influence of the spirit of grace and supplication, it is natural to expect, that the favour of heaven would attend him. "A good man's prayers Will from the deepest dungeon, climb heaven's height, And bring a blessing down." me, Of the truth of this sentiment, we have a beautiful illustration in the following extract from his diary. Feb. 14. In morning prayer, God's promise by Isaiah was strongly impressed upon my mind. will water it every moment: I will keep it night and day. Of the certain fulfilment of this promise to me, both as a source of comfort, and to promote my usefulness, and preservation from sin; I was deeply convinced. O that I may enjoy it by night and by day, to the praise of my God and Saviour! It is good to VISIT TO A BACKSLIDER. 59 have such longing desires, though the blessing be not immediately granted." The year 1798 was the first, during which Mr. Stanford attempted to keep a systematic journal of passing events, and from the notes of that journal, it appears indeed to have been a year, replete with incident. Much of the exercises of his mind, in duties and under trials, is here recorded with a faithful pen, and furnish ample evidence of the sincerity, and unaffected fervour of his piety. As the trials of life, and the temptations peculiar to Christians, had in no ordinary degree prepared the heart of Mr. Stanford, to sympathize with his afflicted brethren: so too, his suavity, united as it was with a profound and discriminating mind, constituted him a most desirable counsellor to those who were labouring under mental embarrassments in regard to their spiritual state. It is known to have been no uncommon circumstance, for ministers as well as private members, of different religious denominations, to resort to the study of this venerable man of God, to receive the benefit of his opinion and advice. This very desirable qualification for the proper discharge of the ministerial functions, brought him into frequent contact with the penitent and mourning of every class. "On the Lord's day," he says: "I visited a person who had been caught in the foul snare of the devil; his conversation, and his gratitude for subsequent deliverance, were expressed with great sensibility, and accompanied with many tears. May I always remember that necessary admonition- Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." The social disposition of Mr. Stanford rendered him a very agreeable companion; particularly in the earlier years of his life. The society of his Christian friends afforded him great delight. On one occasion the conversation turned upon "the origin of sin, and the fate of infants." And when the question was 60 FINAL STATE OF INFANTS. propounded to him, he judiciously replied: "I always feel best satisfied with plain, and revealed truth; I wish constantly to possess the humble spirit of David, when he thus appealed to his God: Lord, my heart is not haughty, neither do I exercise myself in things too high for me.' Is it not enough for me to know, and feel that I have sinned, and to look to the Lord Jesus to pardon and cleanse me? As to the final state of infants, the blessed Jesus has said, 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven,' and I can safely leave them with God, the Judge of all, who will do right." This reply did honour both to his head and his heart; and it were devoutly to be wished that all, and particularly Christians, would remember the language of Moses : "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." When his opinion upon any point in theology was required, it seemed always to afford him peculiar pleasure, to be able, by an appeal to the sacred volume, to say; "Thus it is written."—He felt in all their force, the more than poetic lines : "Oh thou vast, awful, and mysterious power! Whom Christians worship, yet not comprehend! CHAPTER IV. REMARKABLE PROVIDENCES-SUFFERINGS DURING THE PRES VALENCE OF YELLOW FEVER-DEATH OF MRS. STANFORD MR. STANFORD RESUMES HIS PUBLIC DUTIES-DECLINES SEVERAL INVITATIONS TO REMOVE FROM NEW-YORK. THE death of his valuable friend, Samuel Naylor, Esq. was announced about the 9th of March, 1798. To commemorate this event, Mr. Stanford composed a sermon, which was subsequently printed and transmitted to the surviving family, as a memorial of his gratitude for the numerous evidences of friendship, which in early life he had received from the deceased. If "To the generous mind, The heaviest debt, is that of gratitude, Ah! what then must be the anxiety of the humble Christian, suitably to express his obligations to the 'divine Author of every mercy! And although the soul can here render no adequate tribute, yet the pious man will delight to record the goodness of the Lord. It was a favourite saying of the puritan fathers: "He that will observe divine providences, shall never want providences to observe;" and it may with much truth be said, that as few men have been more accustomed to speak of the dealings of the Lord with their souls, so few have been more remarkably the objects of heavens special care, than the subject of this memoir. Like the eminently pious Mr. Brown, of Haddington, he might say:—"I have met with many trials, yet so merciful hath the Lord been to his servant, that if I 62 UNEXPECTED RELIEF. were to live my days over again, I would not desire one circumstance in my lot changed, except, that I wish I had less sin." Upon Mr. Stanford's coffin it might with truth have been inscribed: "Here lies one of the cares of Providence, Who early wanted both father and mother, "I have On the 13th of March he thus writes:sometimes been disposed to call in question the verity of narratives, in which Providence has been described as affording relief, by special and supernatural means. This arose, in part, from a disposition not to receive matters of fancy for matters of fact; but circumstances have recently occurred, calculated at least to modify my former opinions upon this point. This day, being under obligations to answer a pecuniary demand, but entirely destitute of the means, I learned a practical lesson, which changed my sentiments on the subject. The claim was correct in point of justice and honour; but unable to meet it, I resorted to my God in prayer. In the course of the day, adequate money was brought from an unexpected quarter, which more than enabled me to pay the debt, and produced in my mind not merely a conviction, that all the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, but also a determination, for the future, always to implore the aid of heaven, even in the most minute concerns of life.” On another occasion, a similar circumstance occurred in the life of Mr. Stanford, which affords satisfactory evidence of the providential care of God towards his people. When he had scarcely recovered from the withering influence of a malignant disease that prevailed through the city, and which brought him to the borders of the grave-an event of which he speaks in the language of the Christian—“ I did not murmur-I felt submissive-but I was all |