After having preached a sermon, `under extreme depression of mind, a minister who was present said to him-" Within a few months past, I was called to visit a sick woman who used to attend your evening lectures, which the Lord blessed to the conversion of her soul from the error of her ways. I saw her the day before her death; she enjoyed a sense of pardon and peace in Christ, and I have been subsequently informed that she died rejoicing in the Lord, and this ought to comfort and strengthen you in the labour of the gospel." This communication, though Mr. Stanford had no distinct recollection of the woman, made a serious impression upon his mind, and proved an excitement to persevere even under the greatest discouragements, in hope of further usefulness in the work of the Lord. On the last of April, Dr. B***** returned from England, and brought him letters from several very dear and valuable friends. "This to me," said Mr. Stanford, "is like what Solomon says-As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.' Prov. xxv. 25. Such a correspondence, at so great a distance, adds beauty to the charms of friendship, and supports the mind while sojourning in this vale of tears. But O how superior to this is the good news of the gospel, and the application of a promise from Jesus, the Prince of life, who has passed into the heavens."

In the month of August he took a journey to the south, and preached in many places, particularly at Lower-Dublin, Philadelphia, Salem, and Trenton. In Philadelphia he was appointed to deliver a discourse to a meeting of ministers. This service he performed, from Ruth ii. 4-" The Lord bless thee." At Salem he preached in the Presbyterian and Baptist churches, both of which furnished full and attentive auditories, although at the time a very malignant fever prevailed in the town and neighbourhood, which proved fatal to many of the inhabitants. Refreshed

by these visits, he returned home on the 22d of September. The next day being the Sabbath, he preached twice, with considerable satisfaction; but at ten o'clock on Monday morning he was taken very ill; at twelve he was much worse; and in a short time the symptoms became quite alarming. It proved to be a violent typhus fever; the infection of which it is supposed he received on his late visit to Salem. Under this afflictive dispensation he continued about two weeks, when it pleased the Lord to rebuke the disease, and bring him up again from the gates of death. During this illness, the Lord granted him the peculiar consolations of the gospel, and he said with reference to this affliction: "I do hope it was the means of trimming my lamp, that I may be ready when death shall really appear." More than five weeks elapsed before he was able again to preach; but by the close of the year, his strength was so far restored, that with some degree of satisfaction he could once more apply himself to the discharge of his public duties.

CHAPTER VI.

MR. STANFORD'S PUBLIC DUTIES INCREASE IN NUMBER AND IN RESPONSIBILITY-ALARM BY FIRE-COMMENCES GRATUITOUS LABOURS IN THE NEW-YORK ALMS-HOUSE,

AND STATE-PRISON.

HIS

THE following copious extract from his journal will explain the feelings of his heart, as well as narrate the events of his life, during the year 1805.

"It has pleased God to spare my life to the commencement of another year, and now I am anxious, if it may please the Lord, to grant me some word of promise, upon which, as a staff in my hand, I may commence and pursue my journey, should I be permitted to live through the present year. In due time, the last verse of the 23d Psalm was powerfully impressed upon my mind- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. However, I was induced to inquire, what right I had to appropriate it? Looking over the Psalm, and comparing it with the history of my life, I had abundant reason to believe that the Lord had been my Shepherd;' he had often restored my soul' from wandering, and constantly prepared a table for me in the wilderness' of my sorrows; I was therefore encouraged to hope that this text would be made good to me in the progress of my journey, and I have really found it so."

6

The public labours of Mr. Stanford were unusually great, whether we speak of their variety or their extent. He could not therefore be expected, like TELLIER, the Chancellor of France, to make very great progress in mental cultivation during the last twenty years of his life, yet such was his habitual in

96

MEDITATION IN THE FIELDS.

dustry, that even this was not wholly neglected. Besides the periodical publications of the day, with most, if not all of the more elaborate commentaries, and books on practical divinity, he read the History of the Church with great care. In the history of the Moravian missionaries to Greenland, and the missions of his own and other denominations, to the deluded heathen, he took a very deep interest. Upon this point he remarks:-" I observe that the principal, if not the only subject on which they preached, was the love of Christ in suffering and dying for guilty men; and God blessed this simple, though important subject, to the conversion of multitudes, who were enveloped in the darkness of superstition, and who were accustomed to the grossest vices. I also greatly admire the holy zeal of those missionaries, in encountering hardships and perils in the course of their journeys, to promote the glory of God in Christ, and the conversion of the most abject classes of mankind. Alas! I feel constrained to blush before the throne of my God, and deplore the small portion of zeal which I possess. O that the Lord would enlighten and strengthen my heart in the discharge of every duty, and make me faithful until I die!"

In June he visited a friend in Newark, hoping to derive an augmentation of bodily health and mental vigour, from a change of air and scenery. "Here,"

he says, "I found it beneficial frequently to wander alone in the fields, for the purpose of meditation and devotion. And here I do believe I received such tokens of my God's goodness, and instructions in his holy word, as to animate me, in some degree, to persevere in the work of the Lord."

The pious Matthew Henry used to say:-"It will do us good to be often alone; and if we have the art of improving solitude, we shall find we are never less alone than when alone. Meditation and prayer ought to be both our business and our delight when

RETIREMENT, MEDITATION, AND PRAYER. 97

We are alone; while we have a God, a Christ, and a heaven to acquaint ourselves with, and to secure an interest in, we need not want matter either for reflection or devotion, which, if they go together, will mutually befriend each other. Our walks in the fields are then truly pleasant, when in them we walk with God. There we have a free and open prospect of the heavens above us, and the earth around us, and the hosts and riches of both; by the view of which we should be led to the contemplation of the Maker and Owner of all." The spiritual minded Baxter, Brainard, and Cowper, loved, and frequently sought the enjoyments of solitude" Particularly," said Mr. Baxter, "have I found that the fittest time for myself is in the evening." The prevailing opinion of the most pious and learned in every age has been, that MEDITATION more than any other human means, has a tendency to invigorate the mental faculties, render the ordinances of religion fruitful, increase the comfort, and promote the holiness of the Christian. It is therefore equally a subject of surprise and lamentation, that Christians, generally, are so little inclined to avail themselves of this inestimable privilege. No Christian, whether he be a minister, or uninvested with a public office, can long maintain a holy walk with God, if he allows himself to be carried forward in the perpetual whirl of public business. The soul, in order to its healthful action, requires that salutary rest which retirement, meditation, and prayer, are calculated to impart, no less than the physical energies demand the restoring influences of quietude and aliment.

"In secret silence of the mind,

My heav'n, and there my God I find.”

From a memorandum in his diary, it appears, that in the woods on Long-Island, Mr. Stanford wrote