^ 187 v 
 
CECILS REMAINS. 
 
REV. RICHARD CECIL, M.A. 
 
 Late Rector of Bisley, and Vicar of Chobham, 
 
 Surrey ; and Minister of St. John's Chapel, 
 
 Bedford Row^ London. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 
 
 A VIEW OF HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 BY JOSIAH PRATT, B. D. F. A. S. 
 
 Cbitioiu 
 
 ANDOVER 
 
 PUBLISHED BY MARK NEWMAN. 
 
 Flagg &; Gould... printers. 
 
 1824. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ** HE that has the happy talent of parlor-preach- 
 ing, " sa} r s Dr. Watts,* " has sometimes done 
 more for Christ and souls in the space of a 
 few minutes, than by the labor of many hours 
 and days in the usual course of preaching in 
 the pulpit." 
 
 On my first intercourse with Mr. Cecil, now 
 upwards of fifteen years since when in the full 
 vigor of his mind, I was so struck with the 
 wisdom and originality of his remarks, that I 
 considered it my duty to record what seemed 
 to me most likely to be useful to others. 
 
 It should be observed that Mr. Cecil is made 
 to speak often of himself: and, to persons who 
 do not consider the circumstances of the case, 
 there may appear much egotism in the quanti- 
 ty of such remarks here put together, and in 
 the manner in which his things are said : but 
 this will be treating him with the most flagrant 
 
 * An humble attempt towards the revival of relig* 
 ion. Part I. Sect. 4. 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 injustice ; for it must be remembered that the 
 remarks of this nature were chiefly made by 
 him, from time to time, in answer to my par- 
 ticular inquiries into his judgment and habits 
 on certain points of doctrine or practice. 
 
 I have labored in recording those sentiments 
 which I have gathered from him in conversa- 
 tion, to preserve as much as possible his very 
 expressions ; and they who were familiar with 
 his manner will be able to judge, in general, 
 how far I have succeeded : but I would ex- 
 plicitly disavow an exact verbal responsibility. 
 For the sentiments I make myself answerable. 
 
 In some instances, I have brought together 
 observations made at different times ; the rea- 
 der is not therefore to understand that the 
 thoughts here collected on any subject al- 
 ways followed in immediate connexion. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 View of the Character of the Rev, Richard Cecil 9 
 
 REMAINS. 
 
 On the Christian Life and Conflict ... 77 
 On Subjects connected with the Christian Min- 
 istry : 
 
 On a Minister's qualifying himself for his 
 
 Office . . ' 100 
 
 On the Assistance which a Minister has rea- 
 son to expect in the Discharge of his Pub- 
 lic Duty 104 
 
 On Preaching Christ . . . . .107 
 
 On a Minister's Familiar Intercourse with his 
 hearers . . . . . . . 114 
 
 On a Ministers encouraging Animadversion 
 on himself . . . . . .116 
 
 On Limits, with regard to frequenting Public 
 
 Exhibitions 122 
 
 On the Means of promoting a Spirit of Devo- 
 tion in Congregations . . . 124 
 On the Marriage of Christian Ministers . 127 
 On Visiting Death-beds . . . .132 
 Miscellaneous Remarks .... 137 
 On Infidelity and Popery . . . . .155 
 On a Christian's Duty in these Eventful Times . 162 
 On Fortifying Youth against Infidel Principles . 165 
 On the Management of Children . . . 168 
 On Family Worship 172 
 
Viii CONTENTS. 
 
 On the Influence of the Parental Character . 175 
 Remarks on Authors . . . . .180 
 On the Scriptures : 
 
 Miscellaneous Remarks .... 188 
 On the Old and New Dispensations . .196 
 On Typical and Allegorical Explanations of 
 
 Scripture 198 
 
 On the Diversity of Character in Christians, and 
 
 on correcting the defects in our Character . 200 
 On the Fallen Nature of Man . . . .209 
 
 On the Need of Grace 211 
 
 "On the Occasions of Enmity against Christianity 215 
 On Religious Retirement ..... 218 
 
 On a Spiritual Mind . . . . . 223 
 
 On Declension in Religion . . ... . 227 
 
 On a Christian's associating with Irreligious Per- 
 sons for their good 230 
 
 On the Christian Sabbath 232 
 
 On Judging Justly ...... 234 
 
 On the Character of St. Paul . . . .237 
 
 Miscellanies 240 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Remarks by Mr. Cecil, communicated to the Edi- 
 tor by some friends ..... 272 
 Some negative rules, given to a Young Minister 311 
 Fragment A Dying Minister's Eare well . .315 
 Lines on the death of a child at day-break . 322 
 
A 
 
 VIEW OF THE CHARACTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. RICHARD CECIL. 
 
 IN depicting the PERSONAL and MINISTERIAL char- 
 acter of my departed friend, while I shall com- 
 municate occasionally the impressions made by 
 him on my own mind, most of which were re- 
 corded at the time they were made, 1 shall en- 
 deavor to render him, as much as possible, the 
 portrayer of his own character, by detailing 
 those descriptions of his views and feelings 
 which I gathered from him. 
 
 NATURE, EDUCATION, and GRACE combine to 
 form and model the PERSONAL CHARAC- 
 TER, of every Christian. God gives to his 
 reasonable creature such physical and intellec- 
 tual constitution as he pleases ; education and 
 circumstances hide or unfold, restrain or ma- 
 ture this constitution ; and grace, while it reg- 
 ulates and sanctifies the powers of the man, 
 varies its own appearances according to the 
 varieties of those powers. And it is by the 
 endless modifications and counteractions of these 
 principles that the Personal Character of a 
 Christian is formed. 
 2 
 
10 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 It might have been expected from Mr. Ce- 
 cil's earliest displays of character, that he was 
 formed to he an instrument of extensive evil 
 or of eminent good. There was a DECISION 
 a DARING an UNTAMEABLENESS in the structure 
 of his mind even when a boy, combined with 
 a tone of authority and command, and a talent 
 in the exercise of these qualities, to which 
 the minds of his associates yielded an implicit 
 subjection. Fear of consequences never enter- 
 ed into his view. Opposition, especially if. ac- 
 companied by any thing like severity or op- 
 pression, awakened unrelenting resistance. 
 
 Yet this bold and untameable spirit was al- 
 lied to a NOBLE and &ENEROUS disposition. There 
 was a magnificence in his mind While he 
 was scrupulously delicate, perhaps even to some 
 excess, on subjects entrusted to his secrecy, 
 and on affairs in progress ; yet he would nev- 
 er lend himself in his own concerns, or in those 
 of other persons, to any thing that bordered 
 on artifice and manoeuvre : for he had a native 
 and thorough contempt of whatever was mean, 
 little, and equivocating. That " honesty is 
 the 'best policy" may be a strong, or the pre- 
 vailing motive for uprightness with men of a 
 lower tone of character, but I question if it at 
 all entered into calculation with my great friend. 
 His mind was too noble, to have recourse to 
 other means or to aim at other ends, than those 
 which he avowed ; and too intrepid not to avow 
 those which he did entertain, so far as might 
 be required or expedient. 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 1 1 
 
 His temptations were to the sins of the 
 spirit, rather than to those of the flesh ; and 
 he possessed, all his life long, a superiority to 
 the pleasures of mere sense not often seen. 
 He was, indeed, TEMPERATE in all things hold- 
 ing his bodily appetites n entire subjection. 
 
 SYMPATHY WITH SUFFERING was an eminent 
 characteristic of Mr. Cecil's mind a sympathy 
 which sprung less from that softness and sensi- 
 bility which are the ornament of the female, 
 than from the generosity of his disposition. He 
 would have had ail men happy. It grat'iied 
 his generous nature to ease the burdens of suf- 
 fering man. If any were atflicted by the visit- 
 ations of God, he taught them to bow with sub- 
 mission, while he pitied and relieved ; if the 
 affliction were the natural and evident fruit of 
 crimes, he admonished while he sympathised; 
 if the sufferings of man or brute arose from the 
 voluntary inflictions of others, he was indignant 
 against the oppressor. 
 
 Such was the intrepid and noble, yet humane 
 mind, which was trained by Divine Grace, un- 
 der a long course of moral discipline, for em- 
 inent usefulness in the Church of God. Mr. 
 Cecil's intellectual endowments will be spoken 
 of hereafter. At present, f shall trace the 
 rise and the advances of his Christian character. 
 
 He had early religions impressions. These 
 were iirst received from Janeway's u Token 
 forChildren," which his mothergave him when 
 he was about six years of age. u I was much 
 affected by this book," said he, " and recollect 
 
12 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 that I wept, and got into a corner, where I 
 prayed that I also might have k an interest in 
 Christ,' like one of the children there men- 
 tioned, though I did not then know what the 
 expression meant." 
 
 Those impressions of his childhood wore a- 
 way. He fell into the follies and vices ofyoutb ; 
 and, by degrees, hegan to listen to infidel prin- 
 ciples, till he avowed himself openly an unbe- 
 liever. He has alluded frequently in his writ- 
 ings to this criminal part of his history : but I 
 shall add some paragraphs on this point partly 
 in his own words. 
 
 He was suffered to proceed to awful lengths 
 in infidelity. The natural daring of his mind 
 allowed him to do nothing by halves. Into 
 whatever society he enlisted himself, he was 
 its leader. He became even an apostle of in- 
 fidelityanxious to banish the scruples of more 
 cautious minds, and to carry them all lengths 
 with his own. And he was too succesful. In 
 after-iife he has met more than one of these 
 converts, who have laughed at all his affection- 
 ate and earnest attempts to pull down the fa- 
 bric erected too much by his own hands. 
 
 Yet he was never wholly sincere in his infi- 
 delity. He has left a most impressive and en- 
 couraging testimony to the power of Parental 
 Influence in preserving his mind, under the 
 grace of God, from entirely believing his own 
 lie.* He gave me a farther instance of the 
 power of conscience in this respect : 
 
 * See remains : on the Influence of the Parental 
 Character. 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 13 
 
 " When I was sunk in the depths of infideli- 
 ty, t was afraid to read any author who treat- 
 ed Christianity in a dispassionate, wise, and 
 searching manner. He made me uneasy. Con- 
 science would gather strength. I found it more 
 difficult to stifle her remonstrances. He would 
 recal early instructions and impressions, while 
 my happiness could only consist with their ob- 
 literation." 
 
 Yet he appears to have taken no small 
 pains to rid himself of his scruples ; " I have 
 read," said he " ail the most acute and learned 
 and serious infidel writers, and have been real- 
 ly surprised at their poverty. The process of 
 my mind has been such on the subject of Rev- 
 elation, that I have often thought Satan has 
 done more for me than for the best of them ; 
 for I have had, and could have produced, argu- 
 ments, that appeared to me far more weighty 
 than any I ever found in them against Revela- 
 tion." 
 
 He did not proceed in this career of sin with- 
 out occasional checks of conscience. Take 
 the following instance : 
 
 " My father had a religious servant. I fre- 
 quently cursed and reviled him. He would 
 only smile on me. That went to my heart. I 
 felt that he looked on me as a deluded crea- 
 ture. I felt that he thought he had something 
 which I knew not how to value, and that he 
 was therefore greatly my superior. 1 felt there 
 was a real dignity in his conduct. It made me 
 appear little even in my own eyes. If he had 
 condescended to argue with me, I could have 
 
14 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 cut some figure; at least by comparison, wretch- 
 ed as it would have been. He drew me once 
 to hear Mr. Whitefield, I was 17 or 18 years 
 old. It had no sort of religious effect on me, 
 nor had the preaching of any man in my un- 
 converted state. My religion began in con- 
 templation. Yet I conceived a high reverence 
 for Mr. Whitefield. I no longer, thought of him 
 as the " Dr. Squintum" we were accustomed to 
 buffoon at school. I saw a commanding and 
 irresistible effect, and he made me feel my own 
 insignificance^' 
 
 For this daring offender, however, God had 
 mercy in reserve ! He was the child of many 
 tears, instructions, admonitions, and prayers ; 
 and, though now a prodigal, he was to be re- 
 covered from his wickedness ! 
 
 While under the control of bad principles, he 
 gave into every species of licentiousness sav- 
 ing that, even then, the native nobleness of his 
 mind made him despise whatever he thought 
 mean and dishonourable. Into this state of sla- 
 very he was brought by his sin ; but here the 
 mercy of God taught him some most important 
 lessons, which influenced his views and govern- 
 ed his ministry through after-life, and the same 
 mercy then rescued him from the slavery to 
 which he had submitted. The penetration and 
 grandeur of his mind, with his natural superior- 
 ity to sensual pleasures, made him feel the little- 
 ness of every object which engages the ambi- 
 tion and the desires of the carnal man : inso- 
 much that God had given him, in this unusual 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 15 
 
 way of bringing him to himself, a thorough dis- 
 gust of the world before he had gained any 
 hold of higher objects and better pleasures. 
 
 It was thus that God prepared him for fur- 
 ther communications of mercy. And here he 
 felt the advantage of having been connected 
 with sincere Christians. He knew them to be 
 holy, and he felt that they were happy. u It 
 was one of the first things," said he, " which 
 struck my mind in a profligate state, that, in spite 
 of all the folly and hypocrisy and fanaticism 
 which may be seen among religious professors, 
 there was a mind after Christ, a holiness, a hea- 
 venliness, among real Christians." He added on 
 another occasion, " My first convictions on the 
 subject of religion were confirmed from ob- 
 serving that really religious persons had some 
 solid happiness among them, which I had felt 
 that the vanities of the world could not give. 
 I shall never forget standing by the bed of my 
 sick mother. 6 Are not you afraid to die ?' 1 
 asked her : ; No.' ; No !' 'Why does the uncer- 
 tainty of another state give you no concern?' 
 6 Because God has said to me, Fear not : when 
 thoupassest through the waters I will be with thee ; 
 and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
 theeS The remembrance of this scene has of- 
 tentimes since drawn an ardent prayer from me, 
 that I might die the death of the righteous." 
 His mind opened very gradually to the truths 
 of the Gospel: and the process through which 
 he was led is a striking evidence of the immi- 
 nence of his past danger. " My feelings," he 
 said, u when I was first beginning to recover 
 
16 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 from my infidelity, prove that I had been suf- 
 fered to go great lengths ; and, to a very aw- 
 ful degree to believe my own lie. My mind 
 revolted from Christianity. God did not bring 
 me to himself, by any of the peculiar motives 
 of the Gospel. When I was about twenty years 
 old, 1 became utterly sick of the vanity, and 
 disgusted with the folly, of the world. I had 
 no thought of Jesus Christ, or of Redemption. 
 The very notion of Jesus Christ or of Redemp- 
 tion repelled me. I could not endure a system 
 so degrading. I thought there might possibly 
 be a Supreme Being; and if there were such 
 a Being, he might hear me when I prayed. 
 To worship the Supreme Being seemed some- 
 what dignified. There was something grand 
 and elevating in the idea. But the whole scheme 
 and plan of redemption appeared mean, and de- 
 grading, and dishonorable to man. The New 
 Testament, in its sentiments and institutions, 
 repelled me ; and seemed impossible to be be- 
 lieved, as a religion suitable to man." 
 
 The grace of God triumphed, however, over 
 all opposition. The religion, which began in 
 this disgust with the world and disaffection to 
 the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, made 
 rapid advances in his mind. The seed sown 
 in tears by his inestimable mother, though long 
 buried, now burst into life, and shot forth with 
 vigor : and he became a preacher of that truth, 
 which once he laboured to destroy. Yet grace 
 did not annihilate the natural character and 
 qualities of the mind ; though it regulated and 
 directed them, The Christian's feelings and 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 17 
 
 experience were modified by the constitution 
 of the man. After a long course of spiritual 
 watchfulness and warfare, he spoke thus of 
 himself: 
 
 " There is what Bacon calls a DRY LIGHT, in 
 which subjects are viewed, without any predi- 
 lection, or passion, or emotion, but simply as 
 they exist. This is very much my character 
 as a Christian. 1 have great constitutional re- 
 sistance. Tell me such a thing is my DUTY 
 I know it is, but there I stop. Talk to me 
 of HELL my heart would rise with a sort of 
 daring stubbornness. There is a constitution- 
 al desperation about me, which was the most 
 conspicuous feature in my character when 
 young, and which has risen up against the gra- 
 cious measures which God has all rny life ta- 
 ken to subdue and break it. I feel I can do 
 little in religion without ENCOURAGEMENT. I 
 am persuaded and satisfied, tied and bound, by 
 its truth and importance and value; but I view 
 the subject in a DRY LIGHT. A strong sense of 
 DIVINE FRIENDSHIP goes a vast way with me. 
 When I fall, God will raise me. When I want, 
 God will provide. When I am in perplexity, 
 God will deliver. He cares for me pi.ties 
 me -hears with me guides me loves me !' y 
 
 But the energy of Divine Grace was most 
 conspicuous, in the control and mastery of 
 this resisting and high spirit of which our friend 
 complained. Nay, if there were any one Chris- 
 tian virtue in which he was more advanced 
 than any other, it appears to me to have been 
 HUMILITY not that humility which debases it- 
 
18 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 self that it may be exalted, and which is offend- 
 ed if its professions be believed : but the hu- 
 mility which arose from abiding 1 and growing 
 conviction of his infinite distance from the 
 standard of perfection, and the little compara- 
 tive use which he had made of his many means 
 and helps in approaching that standard a 
 humility that expressed itself, therefore, in a 
 teachableness of mind,* a ready acknowledg- 
 ment of excellence in others, and a candor in 
 judo-ing of other persons, which are seldom 
 equalled ; and which were rare endowments 
 in a mind that could not but feel its own pow- 
 ers, and its superiority to that of most other 
 men. But God has a thousand unseen meth- 
 ods of forming and cherishing those graces in 
 his servants, which seem most opposed to 
 their constitution, and least to be expected in 
 their circumstances. 
 
 Mr. Cecil gave me one day the following 
 remarkable illustration of this subject in his 
 own case : " It is a nice question in casuistry: 
 How for a man may feel complacency in the 
 exercise of talent. A hawk exults on his wing; 
 
 * " A friend, who knew him for thirty or forty 
 years, has informed me," says Mr. Wilson, in the Ser- 
 mons preached on occasion of Mr. Cecil's death, " that 
 he was more ready to hear of his faults from persons 
 whom he esteemed, than most men When any fail- 
 ings were pointed outto him, he usually thanked the 
 reprover, and anxiously inquired for further admoni- 
 tions. I have obsr-rved myself, that, when he gave 
 advice, which he did with acuteness and decision, he 
 was quite superior to that little vanity which is offend- 
 ed if the counsel be not followed." 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 19 
 
 hie skims and sails, delighting in the conscious- 
 ness of his powers. 1 know nothing of this 
 feeling. DISSATISFACTION accompanies me, in 
 the study and in the pulpit. I never made a 
 sermon, with which I felt satisfied ; I never 
 preached a sermon, with which I felt satisfied. 
 I have always present to my mind such a con- 
 ception of what MIGHT be done, and I sometimes 
 hear the thing so done, that what I do falls 
 very far beneath what it seems to me it should 
 be. Some sermons which I have heard have 
 made me sick of my own for a month after- 
 wards. Many ministers have no conception 
 of any thing beyond their own world : they 
 compare themselvesonly with themselves ; and, 
 perhaps they must do so : if I could give them 
 my views of their ministry, without changing* 
 the men, they would be ruined ; while now 
 they are eminent instruments in God's hands. 
 But some men see too much beyond themselves 
 for their own comfort. Perhaps complacency 
 in tbe exercise of talent, be it what it may, is 
 hardly to be separated, in such a wretched 
 heart as man's, from pride. It seems to me 
 that this dissatisfaction with myself, is the mes- 
 senger sent to buffet me and keep me down. 
 In other men, the separation between compla- 
 cency and pride may be possible ; but I scarce- 
 ly think it is so in me."* 
 
 I have alluded to Mr. Cecil's READY ACKNOWL- 
 EDGMENT OF THE WORTH OF OTHERS J and I must 
 
 * Mr. Churton has a remark on Dr. Johnson, some- 
 what of a similar nature to this of Mr. C. on himself. 
 He thinks that " Johnson's morbid melancholy and 
 
SO CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 add, that he cultivated that discrimination of 
 excellence, which leads a man to discover and 
 esteem it in the midst of imperfections. He 
 had an unfeigned regard to real worth, wher- 
 ever it was found. The powers of the under- 
 standing have often fascinated men of inferior 
 wisdom, and lessened the odiousness of an im- 
 moral state of heart too plainly seen in others ; 
 hut if the excellencies of the head and the 
 heart must be disjoined, he never failed to val- ' 
 ue that which is most truly valuable. He would 
 say " Such a friend of ours is what many men 
 look down on, as a weak man ; but I honour 
 his wisdom and his devotedness. He throws 
 himself out, and all the powers which God has 
 given him, into the service of his Master, in 
 all those ways which seem to him best; and, 
 though perhaps he and I should forever differ 
 on the best way, apd though I see in him ma- 
 ny peculiarities and weaknessess, yet I honor 
 and love the man ; I revere his simplicity and 
 his piety. He is what God has made him ; and 
 all that he is he puts into action for God." If 
 Mr. Cecil was at any time severe in his re- 
 marks on others, his severity was chiefly direct- 
 ed against that ignorant vanity and affectation, 
 which push a man forward where great men 
 would retire, and which make him dogmatical 
 
 constitutional infirmities were intended by Providence, 
 like St. Pauls's thorn in the flesh, to check intellectual 
 conceit and arrogance ; which the consciousness of 
 his extraordinary talents, awake as he was to the voice 
 of praise, might otherwise have generated in a very 
 culpable degree." BoswelVsLife of Johnson, Zd Edit. 
 8?'o. vol. Hi. p. 564. 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 21 
 
 where wise men would speak with humility 
 and candor. 
 
 Closely allied with his humility, was that 
 
 OPENNESS TO CONVICTION, wtllCfl Mr. C^Cil pOS- 
 
 sessed in an unusual degree. Ho had dived so 
 deeply into his own heart, and had read man 
 so accurately his short-sightedness, his scan- 
 ty span, his pride, and h s passions that he 
 was, more than most men, superior to that lit- 
 tle feeling which makes us quil the scholar's 
 form. Many men speak of themselves and of 
 all around them as in a state of pupilage and 
 childhood, but I never approached a man, on 
 whose mind this conviction had a more real 
 and practical influence. 
 
 DISINTERESTEDNESS was a pre-eminent char- 
 acteristic of Mr Cecil as a Christian. Hi^ whole 
 spirit and conduct spoke one language : " Let 
 me and mine be nothing, so that thy kingdom 
 may come !" His disinterestedness was ground- 
 ed on his conviction of the absolute nothingness 
 of all earthly good, compared with the glory of 
 Christ and the interests of his kingdom. In all 
 pecuniary transactions, of a private or public 
 nature, he was governed by this principle ; and 
 made a free and cheerful sacrifice of what he 
 might have lawfully obtained, if he thought his 
 receiving it would impede his usefulness. 
 
 On one occasion of this nature, he explained 
 the noble principle on which he acted : C; A 
 Christian is called to refrain from some things, 
 which, though actually right, yet will not bear 
 a good appearance to all men. 1 once judged 
 it my duty to refuse a considerable sum of mon- 
 3 
 
22 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL* 
 
 ey, which I might lawfully and fairly have re- 
 ceived, because I considered that MY account 
 of the matter could not be stated to some, to 
 whom a different representation would be made. 
 A man who intends to stand immaculate, and, 
 like Samuel, to come forward and say Whose 
 ox, or whose ass have I taken ? must count the 
 cost, I knew that my character was worth 
 more to me than this sum of money. By pro- 
 bity, a man honors himself. It is the part of 
 a wise man, to wave the present good for the 
 future increase. A merchant suffers a large 
 quantity of goods to go out of the kingdom to 
 a foreign land, but he has his object in doing so ; 
 he knows, by calculation, that he shall make so 
 much more advantage by them. A Christian 
 is made a wise man by counting the cost. The 
 best picture I know of the exercise of this vir- 
 tue, drawn by the hand of man, is that by John 
 Bunyan in the characters of Passion and Pa- 
 tience." 
 
 Associated with this disinterestedness of spir- 
 it, was a singular PRACTICAL RELIANCE ON PROV- 
 IDENCE, in all the most minute and seemingly 
 indifferent affairs of his life. He was emphatic- 
 ally, to use his own expression, " a pupil of 
 signs" waiting for and following the leadings 
 and openings of divine providence in his affairs. 
 I once consulted him throughout a very deli- 
 cate and perplexing- affair. In one stage of it, 
 he said to me ^ You have not done this thing 
 exactly as I should have felt my mind led to 
 do it. 1 fee! mvself in such cases like a child 
 in the mi<!;!leof an intricate andperplexed wood. 
 T0 considerations weigh with me : first If I 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 23 
 
 could see all the involutions, and relations, and 
 bearings, and consequences of the affair, then 
 I might feel myself able to move forward : but 
 secondly I know not one of them, not even 
 the shadow of one, nay, hardly the probability 
 of such and such issues. Then I am driven to 
 simple reliance. I have never found God fail 
 me in such cases. When 1 am utterly lost and 
 confounded I look for openings, clear and evi- 
 dent to my own conviction. 1 have a warrant 
 for all this. Our grand danger with reference 
 to Providence is, that we should walk as men: 
 Are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?" 
 
 On another occasion he said tfc We make 
 too little of the subject of Providence. My 
 mind is by nature so intrepid and sanguine, and 
 it has so often led me to anticipate God in his 
 guidings. to my severe loss, that perhaps [ am 
 now too suspicious and dilatory in following 
 him. However, this is a maxim with me 
 that, when I am waiting with a simple, child- 
 like spirit for openings and guidings, and imag- 
 ine 1 preceive them, God would either prevent 
 the semblance of them from rising up before 
 me, if these were not his leadings in reality, or 
 he would preserve me from deeming them such ; 
 and therefore I always follow what appears to 
 be my dnty without hesitation " 
 
 But the spring of all these Christian virtues, 
 'and the master-grace of his mind, was FAITH. 
 His whole spirit and character were a living 
 illustration of that definition of the apostle 
 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evi- 
 dence of things not seen I He appeared to me 
 
24 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 never to be exercised with doubts and- fears. 
 His magnanimity entered most strikingly into 
 his religious character. He was convinced 
 and satisfied by all the divine declarations and 
 promises and he left himself, with unsuspect- 
 ing confidence, in God's hands.* 
 
 1 quote Mr. Wilson's testimony to the PA- 
 TIKNCE of our friend UNDER AFFLICTIONS. u He 
 was not only, in opposition to all the tenden- 
 cies of his natural dispositions, resigned, but 
 cheerful under his trials. I have seen him re- 
 peatedly, at his Living in the country, return 
 from his ride racked with pain ; pale, emaciat- 
 ed, speechless. I have seen him throw him- 
 self all along upon his sofa, on his face, and 
 cover his forehead with his hands ; and there, 
 without an expression of complaint, endure the 
 paroxysm of his disorder: and 1 have been as- 
 tonished to observe him rise up in an instant, 
 with. his wonted dignity, and enter upon con- 
 versation with cheerfulness and vigor. He has 
 often acknowledged to me, that the anguish he 
 felt was like a dagger plunged into his side. 
 
 * Mr. Wilson justly remarks of our friend, that 
 u the determination and grandeur of his mind display- 
 ed his faith to peculiar advantage. This divine prin- 
 ciple quite realized and substantiated to him the things 
 which are not seen and eternal. It was absolutely like 
 another sense. The things of time were as nothing. 
 Every thing that came before him was referred to a 
 spiritual standard. His one great object was fixed, and 
 this object engrossed his whole soul. Here his foot stood 
 immoveable, as on a rock. His hold on the truths of 
 the Scriptures was so firm, that he acted on them boldly 
 and unreservedly. He went all lengths, and risked 
 all consequences, on the word and promise oi God," 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 25 
 
 and that through a whole summer he has not 
 had two night* free from tormenting pain. Such 
 were his sufferings tor ten or twelve years 
 previous to his last illness. And yet this was 
 the man, or rather this was the Christian, from 
 whose lips 1 never heard a murmuring word." 
 
 It is almost needless to add lhat Mr. Cecil 
 possesed REMARKABLE DECISION OF CHARACTER. 
 When he went to Oxford he had made a reso- 
 lution of restricting himself to a quarter of an 
 hour daily, in playing on the violin; 'on which 
 instrument he greatiy excelled, and of which 
 he was extravagantly fond : hut he found it im- 
 practicable to adhere to his determination : and 
 had so frequently to lament the loss of time in 
 this fascinating amusement, that with the nohle 
 spirit which characterized him through life, 
 he cut his strings, and never afterward repla- 
 ced them. He studied for a painter; and, af- 
 ter he had changed his object, retained a fond- 
 ness and a taste for the art: he was once call- 
 ed to visit a sick lady, in whose room there 
 was a painting which so strongly attracted his 
 notice, that he found his attention diverted 
 from the sick person, and absorbed by the paint- 
 ing : from that moment he formed the resolu- 
 tion of mortifying a taste, which he found 
 so intrusive, and so obstructive to him in his 
 nobler pusuits ; and determined never after- 
 ward to frequent the exhibition. 
 
 Nor was his INTRKPID AND INFLEXIBLE FIRM- 
 NESS less conspicuous, whenever the interests 
 of truth and the honor of Christ were concern- 
 ed. The world in arms would not have appal- 
 3* 
 
26 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 led him, while the glory of Christ was in his 
 view. Nor do I believe that he would hare 
 hesitated for a moment, after he had given to 
 nature her just tribute of feeling and of tears, 
 to go forth from his family, and join " the no- 
 hie army of martyrs" who expired in the flames 
 in Smithfield, had the honor of his Master call- 
 ed him to this sacrifice ; nor would his knees 
 have trembled, nor his look changed. 
 
 Yet I cannot hut add that this firmness never 
 degenerated into rudeness. He knew and ob- 
 served all those decencies of life, which render 
 mutual intercourse agreeable; and he had that 
 ease of manner, among all classes of society, 
 which bespoke perfect self-possession and a 
 thorough knowledge of the world. His ad- 
 dress in meeting the manners and habits of 
 thinking of persons of rank, either when they 
 were inquiring into religion or under affliction, 
 was perhaps scarcely to be equalled. 
 
 The association^ in our friend's mind were 
 often of a very humorous kind. He had a 
 strong natural turn for associations of this na- 
 ture, which threw a great vivacity and charm 
 over his familiar conversation employed as 
 it was, in the main, like every faculty of his 
 mind, for useful ends. He was fully aware, 
 however, of the danger of possessing such a 
 faculty, and the temptations to which it expos- 
 ed him ; prompted and supported as it was by 
 a buoyancy of spirits, which even great and 
 lengthened pain could scarcely subdue. I have 
 looked at him, and listened to him, with aston- 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 27 
 
 ishment-when, meeting with a few other young- 
 men occasionally at his house, we have found 
 him dejected and worn out with pain stretch- 
 ed on his sofa, and declining to join in our con- 
 versation till he caught an interest in what 
 was passing when the question of an inquir- 
 ing or burdened conscience has roused him to 
 an exertion of his great mind he has risen 
 from his sofa he has forgot his suffering and 
 has left us nothing to do but to admire and treas- 
 ure up most profound and impressive remarks 
 on -the Scripture, on the heart, and on the 
 world. 
 
 The mention of his humor and his vivacity 
 of spirits leads me to remark, that I am not 
 writing a panegyric, but drawing a character. 
 No likeness can be faithful, while the best 
 original is such as he must be in the present 
 state, if it carry no shades. I have no wish to 
 conceal the shades of this extraordinary char- 
 acter. Sternness and levity were the two con- 
 stitutional evils, which most severely exercised 
 him. They seem to have been the necessary 
 result, in an imperfect being, of the union of 
 that masculine and original vigor with humor 
 and an ardent fancy, which met in the struct- 
 ure of his mind. So far, indeed, had grace tri- 
 umphed over these constitutional enemies that 
 the very opposite features were the most pro- 
 minent in his character; and no one could ap- 
 proach him without feeling himself with a most 
 TENDER and SERIOUS mind. I speak of those oc- 
 casional ebullitions, which tended to remind 
 him, that, though he was invested with a new 
 
28 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 and triumphant nature, he was yet at home in 
 the body, and subject to the recurrence of his 
 constitutional infirmities. 
 
 Yet, though Mr. Cecil felt occasionally tempt- 
 ations to levity, through the buoyancy and spring 
 of his animal spirits, his prevailing temper was 
 of a quite opposite description. A sensibility 
 of spirit, with his view of human nature and 
 of the world, threw a cast of MELANCHOLY over 
 his mind. He was far more disposed to weep 
 over the guilt and misery of man, than to smile 
 at his follies. u 1 have," said he, u a salient 
 principle in me. My spirits never sink. Yet 
 I have a strong dash of melancholy. It is a 
 high and exquisite feeling. When 1 first wake 
 in the morning, 1 could often weep with pleas- 
 ure. The holy calm the silence the fresh- 
 ness thrill through my soul. At such moments 
 I should feel the presence of any person to be 
 instrusion and impertinence, and common affairs 
 nauseous. The stillness of an empty house is 
 paradise to me. The man who has never felt 
 thus cannot be made to understand what I 
 mean." 
 
 " Hooker's dying- thought," he added, " is 
 congenial to my spirit. c I am going to leave 
 a world disordered, and church disorganized, 
 for a world and a church where every angel 
 and every rank of angels stand before the 
 throne in the very post God has assigned them.' 
 1 am obliged habitually to turn my eye from 
 the wretched disorders of the world and the 
 church, to the beauty, harmony, meekness, and 
 glory of a better world." 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 29 
 
 On another occasion, he said " I have been 
 long in the habit of viewing every thing a- 
 round me as in a state of ALIENATION. 1 have 
 no hold on my dearest comforts. My children 
 must separate from me. One has his lot cast 
 in one place, and another elsewhere. It may 
 be my particular leading, but 1 have never lean- 
 ed toward my comforts without finding them 
 give way. A sharp warning has met me 
 4 These are aliens, and as an alien live thou a- 
 mong them.' > We may use our comforts by the 
 way. We may take up the pitcher to drink, 
 but the moment we begin to admire, God will 
 in love dash it to pieces. But 1 feel no such 
 alienation from the church. I am united to 
 Christ, and to all his glorified and Irving mem- 
 bers, by an indissoluble bond. Here my mind 
 can centre and sympathize, without suspicion 
 or fear." 
 
 " 1 feel," he would say, " a congeniality with 
 the character of Jeremiah. I seem to under- 
 stand him. I could approach him, and feel en- 
 couraged to familiarity. It is not so with Elijah 
 or Ezekiel. There is a rigor and severity a- 
 bout them, which seem to repel me to a dis- 
 tance, and excite reverence rather than sym- 
 pathy and love." 
 
 In a very interesting case on which I con- 
 sulted him, he gave me a striking view of this 
 feature in his character u I should have fal- 
 len myself into an utterly different mode of 
 conducting the affair. But you have not the 
 melancholy in your constitution which I have, 
 and therefore to look for my mode of thinking 
 
30 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 in you would be expecting what ought not to 
 be expected. This is a strong- alternative in 
 3'our dispensation. Now I have long been in 
 the habit of viewing every thing of that as- 
 pect rather in a melancholy light. You are 
 standing on the justice, the reason, the truth 
 of your cause. I should have heard God say- 
 ing fc Son of man, follow me. 5 It would 
 have led me into a speculative mystical 
 sort of way. I should have seen in it the 
 flood that is sweeping over the earth the ut- 
 ter bankruptcy of all human affairs. Most men, 
 if they had stood by and compared our conduct, 
 would have commended yours as rational, but 
 condemned mine as enthusiastic as connecting 
 things together which had no proper connex- 
 ion ; but this is my way of viewing every al- 
 terative in my dispensation." 
 
 ct The heart," said he, " must be divorced 
 from its idols. Age does a great deal in cur- 
 ing the man of his frenzy ; but, if God has a 
 special work for a man, he takes a shorter and 
 sharper course with him. Stand ready for it. 
 I have been in both schools. Bleeding and 
 cauterizing have done much for me, and age 
 has done much also Can I any longer taste 
 what I eat or what I drink ?" 
 
 Though the Memoir of Mr. Cecil's life, and 
 the Letters which are subjoined, bear ample 
 testimonj' to the TENDERN T ESS OF HIS RELATIVE 
 AFFECTIONS, yet I cannot but add here what a 
 friend wrote on visiting him, many years be- 
 fore his decease, at a time when he was ex- 
 pecting the death of Mrs. Cecil : " Mrs. Cecil 
 was ill. I called on Mr. Cecil. I found him 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 31 
 
 in -his study, sitting over his Bible in great 
 sorrow. His tears fell so fast, that he could 
 utter only broken sentences. He said, 6 Chris- 
 tians do well to speak of the grace, love, and 
 goodness of God; but we must remember that 
 he is a holy and jealous God. Judgment must 
 begin at the house of God. This severe stroke 
 is but a farther call to me to arise and shake 
 myself. My hope is still firm in God. He, 
 who sends the stroke, will bear me up under 
 it; and I have no doubt but if I saw the whole 
 of his design I should say, c Let her be taken !' 
 Yet, while there is life, I cannot help saying, 
 ; Spare her another year, that I may be a lit- 
 tle prepared for her loss !' I know I have 
 higher ground of comfort : but I shall deeply 
 feel the taking away of the dying lamp. Her 
 excellence as a wife and a mother, I am 
 obliged to keep out of sight or I should be 
 overwhelmed. All I can do, is, to go from 
 text to text, as a bird from spray to spray. 
 Our Lord said to his disciples, Where is your 
 faith ? God has given her to be my comfort 
 these many years, and shall I not trust him 
 for the future ? This is only a farther and 
 more expensive education for the work of 
 the ministry : it is but saying more closely, 
 1 Will you pay the price ?' If she should die, 
 I shall request all my friends never once to 
 mention her name to me. I can gather no 
 help from what is called friendly condolence. 
 Job's friends understood grief better, when 
 they sat down and spake not a word." 
 
 Our departed friend was, at once, a public 
 
32 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 and a RETIRED man. While his sacred office, ex- 
 ercised for many years in a conspicuous sphere 
 brought him much before the world, his turn 
 of mind was retired he courted solitude 
 he held converse there with God, and his own 
 great spirit mingled with the mighty dead ; he 
 had such a practical knowledge and deep im- 
 pression of the nothingness of the whole world 
 compared with spiritual and eternal realities, 
 and he had so deeply felt and so thoroughly 
 despised its lying pretensions to meet the wants 
 and to satisfy the longings of the immortal soul, 
 that it was no sacrifice to him to turn away 
 from the shows and pursuits of life, and to shut 
 out ail the splendor and seductions of the world. 
 
 Yet this retired spirit was not unsocial, mo- 
 rose, or repulsive. No one called him from 
 his retirement to ask spiritual counsel, but he 
 was met with tenderness and urbanity. No con- 
 genial mind encountered his, without eliciting 
 sparks both of benevolence and wisdom. Not 
 a child in his family could carry its little com- 
 plaints to him, but he would stop the career 
 of his mind to listen and relieve. 
 
 His study was his favorite retreat. His sta- 
 tion exposed him to constant interruptions, 
 some necessary and others arising from the in- 
 judiciousness of those who applied to him. 
 it was not unusual with him to make use of 
 his power of abstraction on these occasions. 
 Time was too valuable to be lavished away 
 on the inconsideration of some of those, who 
 thought it necessary to call on him. It was 
 generally his practice, not immediately to obey 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 33 
 
 a summons from his study, but, when he knew 
 he had to do with persons who would occupy 
 much of his time by a long conversation before 
 the business was brought forward, rather than 
 hurt their feelings he would carry down in his 
 mind the train of thought which he was pursu- 
 ing in his study, and, while that which was be- 
 side the purpose played on his ear, his mind 
 was following the subject on which it had en- 
 tered before. 
 
 Some men are at home in society ; the wide 
 world is their dwelling-place ; they are known 
 and read of all men ; they have a peculiar tal- 
 ent for improving mixed society. But this was 
 not the character of Mr. Cecil. He unfolded 
 himself, indeed, to his friends ; but those friends 
 could not but feel, that, when they broke in 
 on his retirement for any other objects than 
 what were connected with his high calling, 
 they were intruders on inestimable time. I 
 had indeed, the privilege and happiness of free 
 access to him at all times, for a considerable 
 course of years, while I was his assistant in 
 the ministry ; but, for the reasons just assign- 
 ed, though I was a diligent observer of his mind 
 and habits, I feel myself not prepared to speak 
 fully of his more domestic and retired charac- 
 ter. 
 
 u Retirement," he said, u is my grand ordi- 
 nance. Considerations govern me. Death is 
 a mighty consideration with me. The utler 
 vanity of every thing under the sun is another. 
 If a man wishes to influence my mind,, he must 
 assign considerations ; and, if he assigns one or 
 4 
 
34 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 two which will weigh well, I seem impatient 
 to stop him if he is proceeding to assign more. 
 He has given me a consideration, and THAT suf- 
 fices. The ' Night Thoughts' is a great hook 
 with me, notwithsanding its glaring imperfec- 
 tions it realizes death and vanity. And, because 
 this is the frame and habit of my own mind, 
 my ministry partakes of it; and must partake 
 of it, if I would preach naturally and from my 
 heart. 17 
 
 In surveying the personal character of Mr. 
 Cecil, it remains to speak somewhat more fully 
 of his intellectual powers. 
 
 His IMAGINATION was not so much of the play- 
 ful and elegant, as bold, inventive, striking, and 
 instinctively judicious and discriminating. 
 
 His TASTE in the sister arts of Painting, Poe- 
 try, and Music was refined, and his judgment 
 learned. In his younger days he had studied 
 and excelled in painting and music; and, though 
 he laid them aside that he might devote all his 
 powers to his work, yet the savor of them so 
 far remained, that I have been witness innu- 
 xnerable times, both in pjablic and private, to 
 the felicity of his illustrations drawn from these 
 subjects, and to the superiority that his intimate 
 knowledge of them gave him over most per- 
 son with whom they happened to be brought 
 forward. His taste, when young, was for Ital- 
 ian music ; but, in his latter years, he was fond - 
 of the G^rn):ui style, or rather the softer Mo- 
 ravian. Anthems, or any pieces wherein the 
 woHfe were reiterated, he disliked, for pub- 
 lic worship especially, as they sacrificed the re- 
 al spirit of devotion too much to the music. His 
 
CHARACTER, OF MR. CECIL. 35 
 
 feelings on this subject were exquisite. u Pure, 
 spiritual, sublime devotion," he would say, 
 "should be the soul of public music." He 
 often lamented thve introduction of any other 
 style of architecture in places of worship, beside 
 that winch was so peculiarly appropriate, and 
 which, because it was so, called up associations 
 best suited to the purposes of meeting, He said 
 most strikingly-"! never enter a Gothic church, 
 without feeling myself impressed with some- 
 thing of this idea^ Within these walls has been 
 resounded for centuries, by successive genera- 
 tions, *Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ! 
 The very damp that trickles down the walls, 
 and the unsightly green that moulders upon 
 the pillars, are far more pleasing to me from 
 their associations, than the trim, finished, clas- 
 sic, heathen piles of the present fashion. 
 
 His powers of comparison, analogy, and JUDG- 
 MENT have been rarely equalled. These had 
 been exercised so long and with so much en- 
 ergy on all the conditions and relations around 
 him on the word of God on his own mind 
 on the history, opinions, passions, prejudices, 
 and motives of men in every age, and of every 
 character and station on moral causes and ef- 
 fects on every subject that can come within 
 the grasp of a philosophic mind that the result 
 was a WISDOM so prominent and commanding, 
 that every man felt himself with a mind of 
 the very first order both in capability and ac- 
 quirement. In some case?, wherein my wish- 
 es, perhaps, formed my opinions; and, trying 
 to hide the truth from myself, I have asked his 
 opinion as a confirmation of my own he has 
 
36 CHARACTER OF MR. <CECIL, 
 
 unmasked my heart to itself, by his wise and 
 searching replies. His decisions were more 
 according to circumstances than in most men ; 
 and, when he gave them, it would generally 
 be with a declaration that other circumstances 
 might wholly change the aspect of the thing ; 
 and he did this in such a manner if I may 
 judge by my owtf case as often to make a man 
 look about him, and bethink himself what a 
 treacherous and blind party he had to transact 
 with in his bosom. 
 
 To those who did not know him intimately, 
 he might sometimes appear to want a quick- 
 ness of perception. The appearance of this 
 faculty is often assumed, where God has not 
 given it. Where the mind does decide rapidly, 
 its conclusions are generally partial and defec- 
 tive, in proportion to their rapidity. Intuition 
 is not a faculty of the present condition of be- 
 ing, whatever it may be of that toward which 
 we are advancing. He affected no such qual- 
 ity, yet he possessed more of it than most men. 
 When he did not fully understand what was ad- 
 dressed to him, he said so ; and his mind was so 
 familiar with the difficulty of discovering truth 
 through the veils and shades thrown over her by 
 prejudice and self-love, that he did not hastily 
 bring himself to think that he possessed your 
 full meaning. 
 
 His good sense and wisdom led him to AVOID 
 
 ALL PECULIARITY AND ECCENTRICITY. He Was de- 
 
 cidedly adverse to every thing of this nature. 
 u When any thing peculiar appears,'*' he would 
 say, 4t in a religious man's manners, or dress, 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 37 
 
 r furniture, this is supposed by the world to 
 constitute his religion. A clergyman indeed is 
 allowed by common consent, and indeed it is 
 but decent in him, to have every thing about 
 him plain and substantial rather than ornamen- 
 tal and fashionable." 
 
 THE PERSONAL CHARACTER of Mr. Cecil had a 
 manifest influence on his MINISTERIAL, We 
 find him frequently accounting for those views 
 and feelings which prevailed in his ministry, 
 by a reference to his constitution and his ear- 
 ly history. 
 
 His SENTIMENTS ON THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE are 
 
 scattered through his writings, as this was ever 
 present to his mind. Wherever he was, and 
 whatever was his employment, he was always 
 the Christian minister. He was ever on the 
 watch to do the work of an Evangelist; and to 
 make Jull proof of his ministry. 
 
 I have collected together his thoughts on 
 this subject in some sections of his 4t Remains ;'* 
 and I think it impossible that any young minis- 
 ter should read these thoughts, without imbib- 
 ing a higher estimation of his sacred office. 
 More will be found on these points in the fol- 
 lowing views of his ministerial Character gath- 
 ered from his own lips. 
 
 These views were most striking and sub- 
 lime. " A minister is a Levite. In general, 
 he has, and he is to have, no inheritance among 
 his brethren. Other men are not Levites. 
 
 They must recur to means, from which a min- 
 4* 
 
38 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ister has no right to expect any thing. Their 
 affairs are all the little transactions of this 
 world. But a minister is called and set apart 
 for a high and sublime business. His transac- 
 tions are to be between the living and the dead 
 between heaven and earth ; and he must 
 stand as. with wings on his shoulders. He must 
 look, therefore, for every thing in his affairs 
 to be done for him and before his eyes. I am 
 at a loss to conceive how a minister, with right 
 feelings, can plot and contrive for a living. If 
 he is told that there is such a thing for him if 
 he will make such an application, and that it 
 is to be so obtained and so only, all is well 
 but not a step farther. It is in vain, however, 
 to put any man on acting in this manner, if he 
 be not a Levite in principle^and in character. 
 These must be the expressions of a nature com- 
 municated to him from God a high principle 
 of faith begetting simplicity. He must bean 
 eagle towering toward heaven on strong pin- 
 ions. The barn-door hen must continue to 
 scratch her grains out of the dunghill." 
 
 He thought that the life of a minister, with 
 respect to worldly affairs, ought to be, pecul- 
 iarly above that of other men, a life of faith. 
 It was his maxim, to lay out no money unne- 
 cessarily and, with this principle, he regard- 
 ed his purse as in God^s hand, and found it like 
 the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil. He 
 confessed that he could advise this conduct in 
 no case but in that of a Christian minister, 
 who was a wise and prudent, as well as right- 
 hearted manager of his affairs. His habit was, 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 39 
 
 to be the child of simplicity and faith acting 
 as a servant of God, on those principles which 
 he judged most suitable to his character and 
 station. 
 
 He had exalted ideas of ministerial authori- 
 ty not the authority which results mere- 
 ly from office, but from office united with per- 
 sonal character not the claims of priestly ar- 
 rogance, but the claims of priestly dignity. 
 " 1 never choose to forget that I am a PRIEST, 
 because I would not deprive myself of the right 
 to dictate in my ministerial capacity. 1 cannot 
 allow a man, therefore, to come to me merely 
 as a friend, on his spiritual affairs, because I 
 should have no authority to say to him c Sir, 
 you must do so and so.' I cannot suffer my 
 best friends to dictate to me in any thing which 
 concerns my ministerial duties. I have often 
 had to encounter this spirit ; and there would 
 be no end of it, if I did not check and resist it. 
 I plainly tell them that they know nothing of 
 the matter. I ask them if it is decent, that a 
 man immersed in other concerns should pre- 
 tend to know my affairs and duties, better than 
 myself, who, as they ought to believe, make 
 them the study of my life. I have been dis- 
 gusted deeply disgusted at the manner in 
 which some men of flaming religious profes- 
 sion talk of certain preachers. They estimate 
 them just as Garrick would have estimated 
 the worth of players, or as Handel would have 
 ranged an orchestra. ' Such an one is clever 
 he is a master' Clever ! a master ! Worth 
 and character and dignity are of no weight in 
 the scale." 
 
40 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 These views are just and noble ; and they 
 are suited to his own great mind, and the en- 
 tire hold which his office had on his heart. 
 But. listening with his whoie soul to that in- 
 junction, Meditate oil these things, give thyself 
 wholly to thetu it may be doubted whether he 
 did riot sometimes challenge to his office more 
 respect than the party concerned could be ex- 
 pected to allow due. 
 
 Mr. Cecil's PREPARATION AND TRAINING FOR 
 THIS EXALTF,D OFFICE have been already spok- 
 en of in the view of his personal character. 
 This was, as has been seen, of no common kind. 
 
 His QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE DISCHARGE- OF THE 
 
 MINISTRY were peculiar. The great natural 
 powers which God had given him, were mould- 
 ed and matured by the training and discipline 
 through which he was led, and were consecrat- 
 ed by grace to the service of his Master. It 
 will not be requisite to recapitulate what has 
 been said on this subject I shall here speak 
 only of those qualifications which were more 
 appropriate to him as a public teacher. 
 
 His LEARNING consisted more in the knowledge 
 of other men's ideas, than in an accurate ac- 
 quaintance with the niceties of the languages. 
 Yet he was better acquainted with these, than 
 many who devote a disproportionate time to 
 this acquisition. His incessant application, 
 chiefly by candle-light, when at Oxford, to the 
 study of Greek, of which he was enthusiasti- 
 cally fond, brought on an almost total loss of 
 sight for six months. He had determined to 
 become a perfect master of the niceties of that 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 41 
 
 refined and noble language. The counsel, 
 however, which he received from Dr. Bacon, 
 and which is recorded in his u Remains," under 
 the head of " Miscellaneous Remarks on the 
 Christian Ministry," put him on proportioning 
 his attention more according to the future util- 
 ity of his pursuits than he had heen accustom- 
 ed to. " I was struck with his advice," he 
 said. " 1 had an unsettled sort of religion, hut 
 enough to make me see and choose the truth 
 which he set before me." 
 
 So solid and extensive was^Mr. Cecil's real 
 learning, that there were no important points, 
 in morals or religion, on which he had not 
 read the best authors, and made up his mind 
 on the most mature deliberation ; nor could 
 any topic be started in history or philosophy, 
 on subjects of art or of science, with which he 
 was not found more generally acquainted than 
 other men. But, while he could lay these 
 parts of learning under contribution to aid him 
 in his one object of impressing truth on man, 
 he was a master in the learning which is more 
 peculiarly appropriate to- his profession. He 
 was so much in the habit of daily reading the 
 Scriptures in the originals, that, as he told 
 me, he went to this employ naturally and in- 
 sensibly. He limited himself to no stated quan- 
 tity ; but, as his time allowed, he read one or 
 two, and sometimes five or six chapters daily. 
 
 Mr. Cecil had THE POWER OF EXCITING AND 
 PRESERVING ATTENTION above most men. All 
 his effort was directed, first to engage attention, 
 and then to repay it to allure curiosity, and 
 then to gratify it. 
 
42 CHARACTER OF MR, CECIL. 
 
 Till the attention was gained he felt that 
 nothing could be effected on the mind Some- 
 times he would have recourse to unusual meth- 
 ods, suited indeed to his auditory, to awaken and 
 fix their mind*. u [ was once preaching,' 1 he 
 said, ;i a Charity Sermon where the congrega- 
 tion was very large, and chiell) o the low. r or- 
 der. I found it impossible, by my usual method 
 of preaching 1 , to gam their attention. It was in 
 the afternoon, and my hearers seemed to meet 
 nothing in my preaching, which was capable 
 of rousing them out of the stupefaction of a 
 full dinner. Some lounged, and some turned 
 their hacks on me. k i MU*T HAVE ATTENTION,' 
 I said to myself. fc 1 WILL be heard.' The 
 case was desperate; and, in despair, 1 sought 
 a desperate remedy. 1 exclaimed aloud, k Last 
 Monday morning a man was hanged at Tyburn' 
 instantly the face of things was changed ! 
 All was silence and expectation ! I caught their 
 ear, and retained it through the Sermon." This 
 anecdote leads me to observe that Mr. Cecil 
 had, in an unusual degree, the talent of adapt- 
 ing his ministry to his congregation. While 
 he was for instance, preaching on the same day 
 at Lothbury, at St. John's morning and after- 
 noon, and at Spitalfields in the evening he 
 found four congregations at these places, in 
 many respects, quite distinct from one another ; 
 and yet he adapted his preaching, with admi- 
 rable skill, to meet their habits of thinking. 
 
 But when he had gained the attention, he 
 was ever on the watch not to weary it. He 
 seemed to have continually before his eyes the 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 43 
 
 sentiments of our great critic and moralist :* 
 " Tediousness is the most fatal of all faults; 
 negligences or errors are single and local, but 
 tediousness pervades the whole ; other faults 
 are censured, and forgotten ; but the power of 
 tediousness propagates itself. He that is wea- 
 ry the tirst hour, is more weary the second ; 
 as bodies forced into motion, contrary to their 
 tendency, pass more and more slowly through 
 every successive interval of space." Mr. Ce- 
 cil would say, " You have a certain quantity of 
 attention to work on : make the best use of it 
 while it lasts. The iron will cool, and then 
 nothing, or worse than nothing, is done. If a 
 preacher will leave unsaid all vain repetitions^ 
 and watch against undue length in his entrance 
 and width in his discussion, he may limit a writ- 
 ten sermon to half an hour, and one from notes 
 to forty minutes; and this time he should not 
 allow himself to exceed, except on special oc- 
 casions." 
 
 His POWER OF ILLUSTRATION was great and 
 versatile. His topics were chiefly taken from 
 Scripture and from life. His manner of illus- 
 trating his subjects by Scripture examples, was 
 the most finished I have ever heard. They 
 were never introduced violently or abruptly ; 
 but his matter was so moulded in preparation 
 for them, by a few well-turned sentences, that 
 the illustration seemed to be placed in the 
 Scripture almost for the sake of the doctrine. 
 The general features of the character or his- 
 tory were left in the back-ground, and those 
 * Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 35. 
 
44 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL, 
 
 only which were appropriate to the matter in 
 hand were brought forward, and were thus pre- 
 sented with great force to the mind. His tal- 
 ent in discriminating the striking features, and 
 connecting them with his matter, was so pecu- 
 liar, that the histories of Abraham, of Jacob, of 
 David, and of St. Paul, seemed in his hands to 
 be ever new, and to be exhaustless treasures 
 of illustration, 
 
 The turn both of his mind and of his experi- 
 ence seemed to lead him to this method. What 
 he did, therefore, with ease and feeling, it was 
 natural should be done frequently; and, ac- 
 cordingly I have scarcely ever heard a sermon 
 from him in which there were not repeated 
 exercises of this peculiar talent, and in some 
 sermons almost the entire subject has been 
 treated in this manner. 
 
 This talent of illustrating his subjects, and 
 particularly of seizing incidents for improve- 
 ment, gave an edge to bis wise admonitions in 
 private ; and fixed them deep in the memory. 
 Riding with a friend in a very windy day, the 
 dust was so troublesome, that his companion 
 wished they were at their journey's end, where 
 they might ride in the fields free from (hist ; 
 and this wish he repeated more than once 
 while on the road. When they reached the 
 fields, the flies so teazed his friend's horse, 
 that he could scarcely keep his seat on the 
 saddle. On his bitterly complaining, u Ah ! 
 Sir", said Mr. Cecil, u when you were in the 
 road the dust was your only trouble, and all 
 your anxiety was to get into the fields ; you 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 45 
 
 forgot that the fly was there ! Now this is a 
 true picture of human ^ife; and you will find 
 it so in all the changes you make in future. 
 We know the trials of our present situation ; 
 but the next will have trials, and perhaps worse, 
 though they may be of a different kind." 
 
 At another time, the same friend said he 
 should esteem it a favor, if he would tell him 
 of any thing which he might in future see in 
 his conduct which he thought improper. "Well, 
 Sir !" he said, u many a man has directed the 
 watchman to call him early in the morning", 
 and has then appeared very anxious for his 
 coming early; but the watchman has come 
 before he has been ready for him ! I have seen 
 many people very desirous of being told their 
 faults; hut 1 have seen very few who were 
 pleased when they received the information. 
 However, I like to receive an invitation, and 
 I have no reason to suppose you will be dis- 
 pleased till I see it so. I shall therefore re- 
 member that you have asked for it." 
 
 His STYLE, particularly in preaching and in, 
 free conversation, was easy and natural. If he 
 ever laboured his expression, it was in search 
 of emphasis, rather than precision of words 
 which would penetrate the soul, rather than 
 round his period and float in the ear. He con- 
 sidered that vigorous conceptions would clothe 
 themselves in the fittest expressions 
 
 Verbaque provisam rem non invita se<^uentur. 
 
 Or, as Milton has admirably said u True elo- 
 quence I find to be none, but the serious and 
 
46 CHARACTER OP MR. CECIL. 
 
 hearty love of truth : and that, whose mind so- 
 ever is fully possessed with a fervent desire 
 to know good things, and with the dearest char- 
 ity to infuse the knowledge of them into oth- 
 ers, WHEN SUCH A MAN WOULD SPEAK, his WOrds, 
 
 like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip a- 
 bout him at command, and in well-ordered tiles, 
 as he would wish, fall aptly into their own 
 places." 
 
 His written style has less ease than that of 
 his conversation or preaching. He excelled 
 rather in strong intuitive sense, than in a train 
 of arguments ; and more in the liveliness of his 
 thoughts, than in their arrangement. He would 
 put down his thoughts as they arose often at 
 separate times, and as suggested by the occasion 
 and was not always nice in rejecting obsolete 
 expressions, or antithesis in sense. This occa- 
 sioned a want of flow and ease in many parts 
 of his writings, which was obviated by the 
 warmth of conversation or preaching. 
 
 IMPRESSION was the leading feature of his min- 
 istry. Perhaps the INFORMATION conveyed by 
 it to the mind was not sufficiently systematic 
 and minute. He had seen so much the evil of 
 spending the preacher's time in doctrinal state- 
 ments, that possibly there was some deficiency 
 in this respect in his own practice. When, in- 
 deed, he had to introduce religion to his con- 
 gregations at St. John's or Chobham, on his first 
 entering on those charges, he dealt with them 
 as a people needing information on first princi- 
 ples : but my remark applies to the habit and 
 course of his ministry. For, however true it is, 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 47 
 
 that, when a man becomes a serious reader of 
 God's word he must grow in the knowledge of 
 the truth ; yet many will still read the Bible 
 with an indiscriminating mind, unless their min- 
 ister's statements give them, not only a lucid 
 general view of doctrines, but somewhat of a 
 systematic and connected view ; and not a few 
 buried in the cares of the world will de- 
 rive all their notions of the system of divine 
 truth from what they hear in public. 
 
 Mr. Cecil wrote and spoke to mankind. He 
 dealt with the business and bosoms of men. 
 An energy of truth prevailed in his ministry, 
 which roused the conscience ; and abenevolence 
 reigned in his spirit, which seized the heart: 
 yet I much question whether the prevailing 
 effect of his preaching was not determination 
 grounded on CONVICTION and ADMIRATION, rather 
 than on EMOTION. When in perfect health and 
 spirits, and master of his subject, his elo- 
 quence was finished and striking : but, though 
 there was often a tenderness which awakened 
 corresponding feelings in the hearer, yet his 
 eloquence wanted that vehement passion which 
 overpowers and carries away the minds of 
 
 lers, 
 
 si vis me flere, dolendum est 
 Primum ipsi tibi 
 
 bis is the great secret for getting hold of the 
 heart. But as not much of the impassioned en- 
 tered into the composition of his nature, and 
 he was at the same time pre-eminent in geinus 
 and judgment, it could not but follow that ADMI- 
 RATION should affect the hearer more frequently 
 
4& CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 than STRONG FEELING. A friend has told me that 
 he has often lost the benefit of the truth which 
 Mr. Cecil has uttered, in admiration of the ex- 
 quisite manner in which it was convened. And 
 I have again and again detected this in myself; 
 and found I have been watching eagerly for 
 what would fall next from him, not in the spirit 
 of a new-born babe that desires the sincere milk of 
 the word that I might grow thereby, but for the 
 gratification of a mental voluptuousness. 1 de- 
 sire no one will suppose that 1 impute to him 
 any of the studied artifices of eloquence. No 
 man sought more than he did, thai his hearers' 
 faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in 
 the power of God, No man more sincerely aim- 
 ed to have, his speech and his preaching not with 
 enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstra- 
 tion of the spirit and of power: yet, moreover, be- 
 cause the preacher was wise he still taught the peo- 
 ple knowledge ; yea, he GAVE GOOD HEED, and 
 SOUGHT OUT, and SET IN ORDER the messages of 
 divine mercy. The preacher SOUGHT TO FIND 
 OUT acceptable words, yet that which was written 
 was upright, even words of truth. He could not 
 but treat his subjects in this exquisite manner, 
 while his taste, his genius, and his nature re- 
 mained ; yet this could not but be sanctified to 
 his Master's honor, while he retained the per- 
 fect integrity, the deep conviction, and the sin- 
 gleness of eye which his Master had given him. 
 That it was the farthest possible from trick and 
 artifice might be seen in his most familiar con- 
 versation ; where his manner, when he was ful- 
 ly called out, was exactly what it was in the 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL, 49 
 
 pulpit. His mind grasped every subject firm- 
 ly : his imagination clothed it with images 
 embodied it gave it life called up number- 
 less associations and illustrations : it was real- . 
 ized : it was present to him: his taste and 
 judgment enabled him to seize it in the most 
 striking points of view. 
 
 u His apprehensions of religion," Mr. Wil- 
 son most justly observes, " WERE GRAND and 
 ELEVATED. His fine powers, governed by di- 
 vine grace, were exactly calculated to seize 
 all the grandeur of the Gospel. The stupen- 
 dous magnitude of the objects which the Bible 
 proposes to" man, the incomparable sublimity 
 of eternal pursuits, the astonishing scheme of 
 redemption by an incarnate Mediator, the na- 
 tive grandeur of a rational and immortal being 
 stamped with the impress of God, the fall of 
 this being into sin, and poverty, and meanness, 
 and guilt, his recovery by grace to more than 
 his original dignity in the love and service of 
 his Creator, filled all his soul. He seemed 
 often to labor with an imagination occupied 
 with his noble theme. He felt, and he taught, 
 that no other subject was worthy the consider- 
 ation of man. In comparison with it, he led 
 his auditors to condemn and trample on all the 
 petty objects of this lower world. Its meanness, 
 its uncertainty, its deceit, its vanity, its vexation, 
 its nothingness, he set fully in their view. He 
 even made them look down with a generous 
 concern on those who were buried in its inter- 
 ests, and who forgot, amidst the toys of child- 
 ren, the real business of life." 
 5* 
 
50 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 Some of his printed sermons are perfect mod- 
 els of sirr,<plicity, vivacity, and effect. That, 
 for instance, on the u Power of Failh." 
 
 His COUNTENANCE, though not modelled alto- 
 gether after the artificial rules of beauty, beam- 
 ed in animated conversation and in the pulpit, 
 with the beauty of a great and noble mind. 
 Dignity and benevolence were strongly pour- 
 trayed there. The variety of its expression 
 was admirable : nor could any one feel the full 
 force of the soul which he threw into his dis- 
 courses, if this expression was concealed from 
 him by distance or situation. His ACTION was 
 graceful and forcible : latterly, owing perhaps 
 to his increasing infirmities and almost uninter- 
 rupted pain, it discovered, I think, some con- 
 straint and want of ease. 
 
 There was a FAMILIARITY and an AUTHORITY 
 in his manner, which to strangers sometimes 
 appeared dogmatism. His manner was, in truth, 
 like that of no other man. It was altogether 
 original ; and, because it was original, it some- 
 times offended those who had no other idea of 
 manner than of that to which they had been 
 accustomed. Yet even the prejudiced could 
 not hear him with indifference. There was a 
 dignity and command, a decision and energy, a 
 knowledge of the heart and the world, an up- 
 rightness of mind and a desire to do good, and 
 all this united with a tenderness and affection, 
 which few could witness without some favora- 
 ble impressions. 
 
 His most striking sermons were generally 
 those, which he preached from very short 
 texts, such as My soul hangeth on thee All my 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 51 
 
 fresh springs are in thee O Lord ! teach me tin/ 
 way As thy day w, so shall thy strength be. In 
 these sermons, the whole subject had probably 
 struck him at once ; and what comes in this 
 way is generally found to be more natural and 
 forcible, than what the mind is obliged to ex- 
 cogitate by its own laborious efforts : As the 
 subject grows out of the state of the mind at 
 the time, there is that degree of affinity be- 
 tween them which occasions the mind to seize 
 it forcibly, and to clothe it with vivid colors. 
 A train of the most natural associations presents 
 itself, as one link draws with it its kindred links. 
 The attention is engaged the mind is concen- 
 trated scripture and life present themselves 
 without effort, in the most natural relations 
 which they bear to the subject that has full 
 possession of the man, and composition becomes 
 easj', and even interesting. 
 
 It was a frequent, and a very useful method 
 with him, to open and explain his subject in a 
 very brief manner, and then to draw inferen- 
 ces from it ; which inferences formed the great 
 body of the sermon, and were rather matters 
 of ADDRESS to the consciences and hearts of his 
 hearers, than of DISCUSSION; so that the whole 
 subject was a kind of application. This seems 
 to me to have been his most effective manner 
 of preaching. Take an instance : Matt, xviii. 
 20. I. EXPLAIN the words. II. Raise from them 
 two or three REMARKS: Contemplate 1. The 
 Glory and Godhead of our Master : 2. The 
 honour which He puts on His house and the 
 assembly of His Saints : 3. The privilege of 
 
52 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 being- one of Christ's servants whom He will 
 meet : 4. The obligations lying on such ser- 
 vants What manner of persons ought such to be! 
 He was remarkably observant of character. 
 When I have asked his opinion of a person, he 
 has frequently surprised me with such a full 
 and accurate delineation of him, as he could 
 have obtained only by very patient and pene- 
 trating observation. The reason of this ap- 
 peared, when I learnt that it was his custom in 
 his sermon notes, when he wished to describe 
 a particular character, not to put down its 
 chief features as they occurred to his mind 
 from the general observations which he had 
 made on men ; but he would put down the 
 initial of some person's name, with whom 
 he was well acquainted, and who stood in his 
 mind as the representative of that class of char- 
 acters. He had nothing to do then, when he 
 came to enlarge on that part of his subject, but 
 strongly to realize to himself the person in 
 question, and he would draw a much more 
 vivid picture of a real character than he could 
 otherwise do.* 
 
 * Lavater somewhere mentions an admirable prac- 
 tice of his own, which carried our friend's principle 
 into constant use in his ministry. He fixed on certain 
 persons in his, congregation, whom he considered as 
 representatives of the respective classes into which his 
 Jiearers might be properly divided amounting, as I 
 recollect, to SEVEJV. In composing his discourses, he 
 kept each of these persons steadily in his eye and la- 
 bored so to mould his subjects as to meet the case of ev- 
 eryone by which incomparable rule he rendered him- 
 self intelligible and interesting to all classes of his flock. 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 53 
 
 Mr. Cecil was not himself led to the knowl- 
 edge of God through great terrors of conscience: 
 his ministry did not, therefore, so much abound 
 in delineations of the working and malignity 
 of sin, as in those topics which grew out of his 
 course of experience ; nor did he enter fre- 
 quently or largely into the details of the spir- 
 itual conflict. He was himself drawn to God, 
 and subdued by a sense of divine mercy and 
 friendship ; he was led, therefore, to detail 
 largely the transactions of the believing mind 
 with God, in the exercise of dependance and 
 submission. 
 
 He was more aware than most men of the 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF BRINGING DOWN THE TRUTH TO THE 
 COMPREHENSION OF THE MASS OF HEARERS. 
 
 A young minister may leave College with 
 the best theory in the world, and he may take 
 with him into a country parish a determination 
 to talk in the language of simplicity itself; but 
 the actual capacity to make himself understood 
 and felt is so far removed from his former hab- 
 its, that it is only to be acquired by experience. 
 Hear how wisely Mr. Cecil wrote to a young 
 friend about to take orders : u I advised him, 
 since he was so near his entrance into the min- 
 istry, to lay aside all other studies for the pres- 
 ent,but the one 1 should now recommend to him. 
 1 would have him select some very poor and 
 uninformed persons, and pay them a visit. His 
 object should be to explain to them, and dem- 
 onstrate to them the truth of the solar system. 
 He should first of all sethimself to make that sys- 
 tem perfectly intelligible to them, and then he 
 
54 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 should demonstrate it to their full conviction 
 against all that the followers of Tycho Brahe 
 or any one else could say against it. He would 
 tell me it was impossihle : they would not un- 
 derstand a single term. Impossible to make 
 them astronomers ! And shall it be thought 
 an easy matter to make them understand re- 
 demption !" 
 
 He gave the following account of his HABIT 
 
 OF PREPARATION FOR THE PULPIT : 
 
 " I generally look into the portions of Scrip- 
 ture appointed by the church to be read in the 
 services of the day. I watch too, for any new 
 light which may be thrown on passages in the 
 course of reading, conversation, or prayer. I 
 seize the occasions furnished by my own experi- 
 ence my state of mind my family occurren- 
 ces. Subjects taken up in this manner are al- 
 ways likely to meet the cases and wants of 
 some persons in the congregation. Sometimes, 
 however, I have no text prepared : and 1 have 
 found this to arise generally from sloth: I go 
 to work : this is the secret : make it a business : 
 something will arise where least expected. 
 
 "It is important to begin preparation early. 
 If it is driven off late, accidents may occur 
 which may prevent due attention to the sub- 
 ject. If the latter days of the week are occu- 
 pied, and the mind driven into a corner, the 
 sermon will usually be raw and undigested. 
 Take time to reject what ought to be reject- 
 ed, and to supply what ought to be supplied. 
 
 "It is a favorite method with me to reduce 
 the text to some point of doctrine. On that 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 55 
 
 topic I enlarge, and then apply it. I like to 
 ask myself ' What are you doing? What is 
 your aim ?' 
 
 " I will not foretell my own views by first 
 going lo commentators. I talk over the sub- 
 ject to myself: I write down all that strikes 
 me : and then I arrange what is written. Af- 
 ter my plan is settled, and my mind has ex- 
 hausted its stores, then I would turn to some 
 of my great Doctors to see if I am in no error : 
 but I find it necessary to reject many good 
 things which the Doctors say ; they will tell 
 to no good effect in a sermon. In truth, to be 
 effective, we must draw more from nature and 
 less from the writings of men : we must study 
 the book of Providence, the book of nature, 
 the heart of man. and the book of God : we 
 must read the history of the world : we must 
 deal with matters of fact before our eyes." 
 
 In respect to mechanical preparation, Mr. 
 Cecil was in the habit of using eight quarto pa- 
 ges, on which he put down his main and subor- 
 dinate divisions, with such hints as he thought 
 requisite. These notes, written in an open 
 and legible manner, such as his eye could catch 
 with ease, he put into one of the portable 
 quarto Bibles, of which several editions were 
 printed in the xviith century, in a good type, 
 but, in consequence of the closeness and excel* 
 lence of the paper, such as bind up in a very 
 compact size. Of these editions there are some* 
 
 * I have compared four of these Bibles, vi 
 London, 1648 Haye's, Camb. 1670, and also that of 
 1677 and Buck's, Camb. without date. 
 
50 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 which are printed page for page with anoth- 
 er: and one of these editions Mr. Cecil was 
 in the constant habit of using, both in public 
 and in private, from the mechanical assistance 
 afforded to him in turning to passages from 
 the recollection of the part of the page in 
 which they occurred. 
 
 It will he interesting to hear Mr. Cecil's own 
 
 ACCOUNT OF HIS MANNER OF COMMENCING HIS MIN- 
 ISTRY ; as it notices mistakes from which he 
 was not only early but most effectually deliv- 
 ered, and his remarks on them may afford a 
 serious caution to others. 
 
 u 1 set out," he said, " with levity in the pul- 
 pit. It was above two years before I could get 
 the victory over it, though I strove under 
 sharp piercings of conscience. My plan was 
 wrong. 1 had bad counsellors. I thought 
 preaching" was only entering the pulpit, and 
 letting off a sermon. I really imagined this 
 was trusting to God, and doing the thing clev- 
 erly. I talked with a wise and pious man on 
 the subject. * There is nothing,' said he, ; like 
 appealing to facts.' We sat down and named 
 names. We found men in my habit disreputa- 
 ble. This first set my mind right. I saw such 
 a man might sometimes succeed : but I saw, at 
 the same time, that whoever would succeed in 
 his general interpretations of Scripture, and 
 would have his ministry that of a workman that 
 needeth not to be ashamed must be a laborious 
 man. What can be produced by men who re- 
 fuse this labor? a few raw notions, harmless 
 perhaps in themselves, but false as stated by 
 them. What then should a young minister do ? 
 
CHARACTER. OF MR. CECIL. 57 
 
 His office says, ; Go to your books. Go to 
 retirement. Go to prayer.' c No !' says the 
 enthusiast, 'Go to preach. Go and be a wit- 
 ness !' A witness ! of what ? Fie don't know !" 
 
 Thus qualified by nature, education, and 
 grace enriched by his various manly acquisi- 
 tions and matured by experience, he appear- 
 ed in the pulpit unquestionably as one of the 
 first preachers perhaps the very first preach- 
 er of his time. 
 
 He was SINCERELY ATTACHED TO THE CHURCH 
 OF ENGLAND, both by principle and feeling to 
 her ORDER and DECORUM. He entered into the 
 spirit of those obligations, which lay on him 
 as a clergyman ; and, looking at general conse- 
 quences, would never break through the order 
 and discipline of the church, to obtain any par- 
 tial, local, and temporary ends. 
 
 In the more PRIVATE exercise of his pastoral 
 office, as a counsellor and friend, he manifest- 
 ed great FAITHFULNESS, TENDERNESS, and WISDOM. 
 
 In proof of this 1 might appeal to what is 
 said in the "Remains," on the subject of u vis- 
 iting deathbeds." I shall here subjoin a few 
 more illustrations of this part of his character. 
 
 An interview was contrived between him 
 and a noble lady, by some of her relations. 
 She began to listen to the affairs of religion. 
 Her life had been gay and trifling. She knew 
 that he understood her situation ; and she began 
 to introduce her case by saying that she sup- 
 posed he thought her a very contemptible and 
 wicked creature. "No, Madam, 1 do not look 
 at you in that view. I consider that you have 
 
 , 
 
58 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 been a wanderer; pursuing happiness in a 
 mistaken road an immortal /being fluttering 
 through the present short but important scene, 
 without one serious concern for what is to come 
 after it is passed by. And, while others know 
 what is to happen to them, and wait for it, you 
 are totally ignorant of the subject." " But Sir, 
 is k possible to arrive at any certainty with re- 
 spect to a future condition ?" u Why what lit- 
 tle trifling scenes would occupy your ladyship 
 and myself, if we were confined to this small 
 spot of a carpet that is under our feet! The 
 world is a little, mean, despicable scene in it- 
 self. But we. must leave it; and can you sup- 
 pose that we are left to step into another state, 
 as into a dark abyss not knowing what awaits 
 us there ? No the next step I take from the 
 world is not into a void that no one has explor- 
 ed a fathomless abyss a chaos of clouds and 
 darkness but I know what it is I am assured 
 of it." He said to me in reporting this conver- 
 sation, u I rested on this, and left it to work 
 on her mind. I thought it belter to defer the 
 subject of this assurance to try her, and I have 
 reason to believe that she feels anxious for our 
 next occasion of meeting, that she may hear 
 how we can make out the grounds of our as- 
 surance." This is one among many instances 
 of the wise methods in which he accommodat- 
 ed his instructions to the character. 
 
 u Many of my people," he said, " and espe- 
 cially females, talk thus to me 'I am under 
 continual distress of mind. I can lay hold of 
 no permanent ground of peace. If 1 seem to 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 59 
 
 get a little, it is soon gone again. 1 am out at 
 sea, without compass or anchor. My heart 
 sinks. My spirit faints. My knees tremble. 
 All is dark above, and all is horror beneath.' 
 ' And pray what is your mode of life ?' ' I 
 sit by myself.' fc In this small room, I suppose, 
 and over your fire? 1 'A considerable part of 
 my time.' ' And what time do you go to 
 bed ?' ' I cannot retire till two or three 
 o'clock in the morning.' ' And you lie late, 
 I suppose, in the morning?' 'Frequently.' 
 'And pray what else can you expect from this 
 mode of life, than a relaxed and unstrung 
 system and, of course, a mind enfeebled, 
 anxious, and disordered? I understand your 
 case. God seems to have qualified me to 
 understand it, by especial dispensations. My 
 natural diposition is gay, volatile, spirited. 
 My nature would never sink. But I have some- 
 times felt my spirit absorbed in horrible appre- 
 hensions, without any assignable natural cause* 
 Perhaps it was necessary I should be suffered 
 to feel this, that I might feel for others ; for, 
 certainly, no man can have any adequate sym- 
 pathy with others, who has never thus suffer- 
 ed himseif. 1 can feel for you therefore, while 
 I tell you that I think the affair with you is 
 chiefly physical. I myself have brought on the 
 same feelings by the same means. I have sat 
 in my study till 1 have persuaded myself that 
 the ceiling was too low to suffer me to rise and 
 stand upright ; and air and exercise alone, could 
 remove the impression from my mind !' 
 
 His taking the charge of ST. JoHN' f s CHAPEL 
 
 JJQ lei 
 
60 CHARACTER OF MR. CKCIL. 
 
 is the most important event of his life, as it ap- 
 pears to have been the sphere for which he 
 was peculiarly raised up and prepared by Pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 The circumstances attending 1 his establish- 
 ment of a? serious and devout congregation in 
 this place, mark the strength and simplicity of 
 his mind ; while they may show the necessi- 
 ty under which such men will sometimes be 
 brought, of acting for themselves, with per- 
 fect independence of the whole body of their 
 brethren. 
 
 These circumstances he related to me as fol- 
 lows : " When 1 married, 1 lived at a small 
 house at Islington, situated in the midst of a 
 garden, for which 1 paid 14/. a year. My an- 
 nual income was then only 80/. and, with this, 
 I had to support myself, my wife, and a servant. 
 I was then, indeed, minister of St. John's, but 
 I received nothing from the place for several 
 of the earlier years. When I was sent thither, 
 I considered that I was sent to the people of 
 that place and neighborhood. I thought it my 
 duty therefore, to adopt a system and a style of 
 preaching which should have a tendency to 
 meet their case. All which they had heard 
 before, was dry, frigid, and lifeless. A high, 
 haughty, stalking spirit characterised the place. 
 I was thrown among men of the world, men of 
 business, men of reading and men of thought. 
 1 began, therefore, with principles. I preach- 
 ed on the divine authority of the sacred scrip- 
 tures. I dissected Saurin's Sermons. 1 took 
 the sinews and substance of some of our most 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 61 
 
 masterly writers. I preached on such texts as 
 If ye believe not Moses and the Prophets, nei- 
 ther will ye believe though one rose from ihe dead. 
 I set myself to explain terms and phrases. My 
 chief object was under-ground work. But 
 what was the consequence of this? An out- 
 cry was raised against me throughout the re- 
 ligious world. It was said, that, at other pla- 
 ces, I continued to preach the truth ; but that, 
 at St. John's, I was sacrificing it to my hearers. 
 Even my brethren, instead of entering into my 
 reasons and plan, lay on their oars. My pro- 
 tectress turned her back on me. I hesitated, 
 at first, to enter on so great a risk ; but, with 
 grandeur of spirit, she told me she would put 
 her fortune on the issue : if any benefit resulted 
 from it, it should be mine, and she would bear 
 me harmless of all loss. She heard me a few 
 times, and then wholly withdrew herself, 
 and even took away her servants. Some of 
 them would now and then steal in; but as they 
 reported that they got ' no food,' the report did 
 but strengthen the prejudices of their mistress. 
 She could not enter into my motives. I was 
 obliged to regard her conduct as Huss did that 
 of the man who was heaping the faggots round 
 him, O sancta simplicitas i She could not calcu- 
 late consequences, and was unmoved even when 
 I placed my conduct in its strongest light * Can 
 you attribute'any but the purest motives to me ? 
 Ought not the very circumstances to which I 
 voluntarily subject myself by adhering to the 
 plan^you condemn, to gain me some credit for 
 my intentions ? Had 1 preached here, in the 
 6* 
 
(>2 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 manner I preached elsewhere, you know that 
 the place would have been crowded by the re* 
 ligious world. I should then have obtained from 
 it an income of 200/. or 300/. a year, whereas I 
 now sit down with little or no advantage from 
 it, though I have a family rising up about me. 
 God sent me hither to preach to this people, 
 and to raise a congregation in this place ; and 
 I am proceeding in that system and way, which 
 seems to me best adanted under God to meet 
 the states of this people ; and while I am doing 
 this, i bring on myself temporal injury. I can 
 have no possible motive to sacrifice the truth 
 to a few blind pharisees, who will never while 
 1 live become my friends. 5 
 
 u I laboured under this desertion of my 
 friends for a long time : it was about seven 
 years, before affairs began to wear such an as- 
 pect, that my protectress and others allowed 
 that matters had certainly turned out as they 
 could not have foreseen. Several witnesses 
 rose up of undoubted and authentic character, 
 to testify the power of the grace of God. One 
 circumstance will place the prejudice which 
 existed against me in a strong light. A conver- 
 ted Jewess, who had been driven from her fa- 
 ther*^ house on account of her sentiments, and 
 was a woman of great simplicity and devotion, 
 refused to accompany a friend to St. John's, 
 because, as she said, she could not worship 
 there spiritually, and rather chose to spend the 
 afternoon among her friend's books ; in which 
 employment, I doubt not, she worshipped God 
 in the spirit, and was accepted of him. For my 
 own satisfaction, I wrote down at large the rea- 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 63 
 
 sons on which I had formed my conduct, for I was 
 almost driven into my own breast for support 
 and justification. One friend, indeed, stood by 
 me. He saw my plan and entered fully into 
 it ; and said such strong* things on the subject 
 as greatly confirmed my own mind. ' The 
 Church of Christ,' said he, ; must sometimes 
 be sacrificed for Christ.' A certain brother 
 preached a charity sermon ; and in such a style, 
 that he seemed to say to me, 'Were I here, 
 you should see how I would do the thing.' 
 What good he did, I know not ; but some of 
 the evil I know, as several persons forsook the 
 chapel, and assigned his sermon as the reason ; 
 and others expressed themselves alarmed at 
 the idea of Methodism having crept into the 
 place. It was ill-judged and unkind. He 
 should have entered into my design, or have 
 been silent." 
 
 About the middle of July, 1800, Mr. Cecil 
 entered on the Livings of BISLRY and CHOBHAM 
 in Surry. A few weeks after this I visited him 
 with our dear and mutual friend Dr. Fearon. 
 
 Here I saw him in a quite different situation 
 from any in which I had seen him before, and 
 was not a little curious to remark the man- 
 ner in which he would treat a set of plain and 
 homely villagers. Though he was repeated- 
 ly in great anguish during the day which we 
 passed with him, yet his mind, in the intervals, 
 was so vigorous and luminous that I have scarce- 
 ly ever gathered so much from him in an equal 
 time. 
 
 On this occasion, among other things which 
 
64 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 are recorded in his u Remains," he stated to 
 us his views and feelings respecting his new 
 charge. " Bisley is a rectory. It is complete- 
 ly out of the world. The farmers in these 
 parts are mostly occupiers of their own land. 
 They crowded round me when I first came, 
 and were eager to make bargains with me for 
 the tythe. I told them I was ignorant of such 
 matters, but that I would propose a measure 
 which none of them could object to. The far- 
 mers of Bisley should nominate three farmers 
 of Chobham parish ; and whatever those three 
 Chobham farmers should appoint me to receive, 
 that they should pay. This was putting myself 
 into their power indeed, but the one grand 
 point with me was to conciliate their minds, 
 and pave the way for the gospel in these par- 
 ishes. And so far it answered my purpose. I 
 had desired the three farmers to throw the 
 weight, in dubious cases, into the farmer's scale. 
 After we had settled the business, one of the 
 three, to convince the Bisley farmers that they 
 had acted in the very spirit of my directions, 
 proposed to find a person who would immedi- 
 ately give them 50/. a year for their bargain 
 with me. This has given them an idea that 
 we act upon high and holy motives." 
 
 What a noble trait is this of his upright and 
 disinterested mind ? One might almost with 
 confidence predict that such an introduction 
 into his parishes was a presage of great use- 
 fulness. A minister has no right to wanton 
 away the support of his family ; but, having 
 secured that, whatever sacrifices he may make 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 65 
 
 with snch holy motives as these, will be abun- 
 dantly repaid ; probably in the success of his 
 ministry, certainly in his master's approbation 
 and the peace of his own bosorn. Those sac- 
 rifices of what may be strictly his due, which 
 a narrow and worldly mnn may refuse to make, 
 though he entail discord and feuds on his par- 
 ish, will be trifles to the mind of a true Chris- 
 tian minister, 
 
 u I hardly think it likely that a man could 
 have been received in a more friendly man- 
 ner than I have been. About 500 people at- 
 tend at Chobham, and 300 at Bisiey. I find I 
 can do any thing with them while 1 arn serious. 
 A Baptist preacher had been somewhere in 
 the neighborhood before I came. He seems 
 to have been wild and eccentric, and to have 
 planted a prejudice in consequence of this in 
 the people's minds, who appear to have had 
 no other notion of Methodism than that it was 
 eccentricity. 
 
 "While [ am grave and serious they will 
 allow me to say or do any thing. For instance ; 
 a few Sundays since it rained so prodigiously 
 hard when I had finished my sermon at Bjsley, 
 that I saw it was impracticable for any body 
 to leave the church. I then told the people, 
 that as it was likely to continue for some time, 
 we had better employ ourselves as vyell as we 
 could, and so I would take up the subject again. 
 I did so; and they listened to me readily for 
 another half-hour, though I had preached to 
 them three quarters of an hour before I had 
 concluded. All this they bear, and think it 
 
66 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 nothing strange ; but one wild brother with 
 one eccentric sermon would do me more mis- 
 chief than I should be able in many months to 
 cure." 
 
 A very strong instance of personal attach- 
 ment to him occurred soon after he took Chob- 
 ham. A stranger was observed to attend church 
 every Sunday, and to leave the village imme- 
 diately after service was over. Every new 
 face there was a phenomenon, and of course 
 the appearance of this man led to inquiry. 
 He was found to be one of his hearers at St. 
 John's a poor, working-man, whom the ad- 
 vantages received under his ministry had so 
 knit to his pastor, that he found himself repaid 
 for a weekly journey of fifty miles. Mr. C. 
 remonstrated with him on the inexpediency 
 and impropriety of thus spending his Sabbath, 
 when the pure word of God might be heard 
 so much nearer home. 
 
 But we must approach the closing scene of 
 this great man's life and labors. 
 
 No touches need to be added to the affect- 
 ing picture which Mrs. Cecil has drawn of his 
 gradual descent to the grave. I will only sub- 
 join here some remarks on his VIEWS and FEEL- 
 INGS with respect to that Gospel of which he 
 had been so long an eminent and successful 
 minister. 
 
 His VIEWS of Christianity were modified, as 
 has been seen by his constitution and the cir- 
 cumstances of his life. His dispensation was 
 to meet a particular class of hearers. He was 
 fitted, beyond most men, to assert the reality, 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 67 
 
 dignity, and glory of religion as contrasted 
 with the vanity, meanness, and glare of the 
 world. This subject he treated like a master. 
 Men of the world felt that they were in the 
 presence of their superior of one who unmask- 
 ed their real misery to themselves, and pursu- 
 ed them through all the false refuges of vain 
 and carnal minds. 
 
 While this was the principal character of 
 Mr. Cecil's ministry for years, at that place 
 for which he seems to have been specially 
 prepared; yet he was elsewhere, with equal 
 wisdom, leading experienced Christians for- 
 ward in their way to heaven : and, latterly, 
 the habit of his own mind and the whole sys- 
 tem of his ministry were manifestly ripening 
 in those views which are peculiar to the Gos- 
 pel. 
 
 No man had a more just view of his own 
 ministry than he had ; nor could any one more 
 highly value the excellence which he saw in 
 others, though it was of a different class from 
 his own. "I have been lately selecting," he 
 said to me, "some of C 's letters for publica- 
 tion. With the utmost difficulty, I have given 
 some little variety. He begins with Jesus 
 Christ, carries him through, and closes with 
 him. If a broken leg or arm turns him aside, 
 he seems impatient to dismiss it as an intrusive 
 subject, and to get back again to his topic. I 
 feel as I read his letters fc Why, you said this 
 in the last sentence ! What, over and over 
 again ! AVhat nothing else ! No variety of 
 view ! No illustration !' And yet, I confess, 
 
68 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 that, when I have walked out and my mind 
 has been a good deal exercised on his letters, 
 I have caught a sympathy ' It is one thing, 
 without variety or relief; but this one thing 
 is a TALISMAN !' 1 have raised my head I have 
 trod firmly my heart has expanded I have 
 felt wings ! Men must not be viewed indis- 
 criminately. To a certain degree I produce 
 effect in my way, and with my views. The 
 utter ruin and bankruptcy of man is so wrought 
 into my experience, that I handle this subject 
 naturally. Other men may use God's more di- 
 rect means as naturally as I can use his more indi- 
 rect and collateral ones. Every man, however, 
 must rather follow than lead his experience ; 
 though, to a certain degree, if he finds his hahits 
 diverting him from Jesus Christ as the grand, 
 prominent, only feature, he must force himself 
 to choose such topics as shall lead his mind to 
 him. I am obliged to subject myself to this 
 discipline. I frequently choose subjects and 
 enter into my plan, before I discover that the 
 SAVIOUR occupies a part too subordinate: I throw 
 them away, and take up others which point 
 more directly and naturally to Him." 
 
 In his last illness, he spoke, with great feel- 
 ing, on the same subject: u That Christianity 
 may be very sincere, which is not sublime. 
 Let a man read Maclaurin's sermon on the 
 Cross of Christ, and enter into the subject with 
 taste and relish, what beggary is the world to 
 him ! The subject is so high and so glorious, 
 that a man must go out of himself, as it were, 
 to apprehend it. The apostle had such a view 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 69 
 
 when he said / count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jtsus my 
 Lord. 1 remember the time, even after 1 be- 
 . came really serious in religion, when I could 
 not understand what St. Paul meant not by 
 setting forth the glory of Christ, but by talking 
 of it in such hyperbolical terms, and always 
 dwelling on the subject: whatever topic he 
 began on, 1 saw that he could not but glide 
 into the same subject. But I NOW understand 
 why he did so, and wonder no more ; for there 
 is no other subject, comparatively, ivorthy our 
 thoughts, and therefore it is that advanced 
 Christians dwell on little else. I am fully per- 
 suaded, that the whole world becomes vain, 
 and empty to a man, in proportion as he enters 
 into living views of Jesus Christ." 
 
 His FEELINGS on religion, as they respected 
 his submission to the divine will, were admirably 
 expressed by himself: " We are servants, and 
 we must not choose our station. I am now cal- 
 led to go down very low, but I must not resist. 
 God is saying to me, c You have not been doing 
 my work in my way : you have been too hast}'. 
 Now sit down, and be content to be a quiet 
 idler : and wait till I give you leave again to 
 go on in your labors.' " 
 
 In respect to his PERSONAL COMFORT, he had 
 said u I have attained satisfaction as to my 
 state, by a consciousness of change in my own 
 breast, mixed with a consciousness of integrity. 
 
 Two evidences are satisfactory to me: 
 
 1. A consciousness of approving God's plan 
 of government in the Gospel. 
 7 
 
70 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 2. A consciousness, that, in trouble, f run to 
 God,as a child." 
 
 These evidences Mr. C. illustrated even in 
 his diseased moments before his death. On 
 that afflicting dispensation 1 shall make no re- 
 marks of my own, as I think nothing can be 
 added to what my friend, his successor, has so 
 welLsaid in the second of his funeral sermons, 
 and which is here subjoined. 
 
 " During the whole period of his last illness, 
 a space of nearly three years, the state of his 
 mind fluctuated with his malady. Every one, 
 who has had opportunities of observing the 
 operation of palsy, knows, that, without de- 
 stroying, or, properly speaking, perverting, 
 the reasoning powers, it agitates and ener- 
 vates them. Every object is presented through 
 a discolored medium. False premises are as- 
 sumed; and the mind is sometimes more than 
 usally expert in drawing inferences according- 
 ly. In a word, the whole system is deranged 
 and shattered. An excessive care and irrita- 
 tion and despondency are produced u/ider the 
 impression of which the sufferer acts every mo- 
 ment, without being at all aware of the cause. 
 His morbid anxiety is, besides, fixed on some 
 inconsiderable or ideal matter, which he mag- 
 nifies and distorts ; while he remains incapable 
 of attending to concerns of superior moment, 
 and any attempts to rectify his misapprehen- 
 sions, quicken the irritation, and increase the 
 effects of the disorder. 
 
 "Under this peculiar visitation it pleased 
 God that our late venerable father should labor. 
 
(CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 71 
 
 The energy, and decision, and grandeur of his 
 natural powers, therefore, gradually gave way, 
 and a morbid feebleness succeeded. Yet even 
 in this afflicting state, with his body on one side 
 almost lifeless, his organs of speech impaired, 
 and his judgment weakened, the spiritual dis- 
 positions of his heart displayed themselves in 
 a very remarkable manner. He appeared 
 great in the ruins of nature ; and his eminently 
 religious character manifested itself, to the hon- 
 or of divine grace, in a manner which surpris- 
 ed all who were acquainted with the ordinary 
 effects of paralytic complaints. The actings 
 of hope were, of course, impeded ; but the hab- 
 it of grace which had been forming in his mind 
 for thirty or forty years shone through the 
 cloud. At such a period there was no room 
 for fresh acquisitions. The real character of 
 the man could only appear, when disease al- 
 lowed it to appear at all, according to the grand 
 leading habits of his life. If his habits had 
 been ambitious, or sensual, or covetous, or 
 worldly, these tendencies, if any, would have 
 displayed themselves : but as his soul had been 
 long established in grace, and spiritual religion 
 had been incorporated with all his trains of 
 sentiment and affection, and had become like 
 a second nature, the holy dispositions of his 
 heart acted with remarkable constancy under 
 all the variations of his illness : so that one of 
 his oldest friends observed to me, that if he 
 had to choose the portion of his life, since he 
 first knew him, in which the evidences of a 
 state of salvation were most decisive, he should, 
 
72 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 without a moment's hesitation, select the pe- 
 riod of his last distressing malady. 
 
 u Throughout his illness, his whole mind, in- 
 stead of being fixed on some mean and insignif- 
 icant concern, was riveted on spiritual objects. 
 Every other topic was so uninteresting to him, 
 and even burdensome, that he could with re- 
 luctance allow it to be introduced.. The value 
 of his soul, the emptiness of the world, the near- 
 ne-s -and solemnity of death, were ever on his 
 lips He spent his whole time in reading the 
 Scripture, and one or two old divines, particu- 
 larly Archbishop Leighton. All he said and did 
 was as a man on the brink of an eternal state. 
 
 "His humility, also, evidently ripened as he 
 approached his end. He was willing to receive 
 advice from every quarter. He listened with 
 anxiety to any hint that was offered him. His 
 view of his own misery and helplessness as a 
 sinner, and of the necessity of being entirely 
 indebted to divme grace, and being saved as 
 the greatest monument of its efficacy, was con- 
 tinually on the increase. 
 
 "fiis simplicity and fervor in speaking of 
 the Savior, were also very remarkable. As 
 he drew nearer to death, his one topic was 
 Jesus Christ. All his anxiety and care were 
 centred in this grand point. His apprehensions 
 of the work and glory of Christ, of the extent 
 and suitableness of his salvation, and of the un- 
 speakabje importance of being spiritually uni- 
 ted to him, were more distinct and simple, if 
 possible, than at any period of his life. He spake 
 of him to his family, with the feeling, and in- 
 
CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 73 
 
 terest, and seriousness of the aged and dying 
 believer. 
 
 " His faith, also, never failed. I have heard 
 him, with faltering and feeble lips, speak of the 
 great foundations of Christianity with the ful- 
 lest confidence. He said, he never saw so 
 clearly the truth of the doctrines which he had 
 been preaching, as since his illness* His view 
 of the certainty and excellency of God's prom- 
 ises in Christ was unshaken. 
 
 u The interest, likewise, which he took in 
 the success of the Gospel, was prominent, when 
 his disease at all remitted. His own people 
 lay near his heart; and, when a providence 
 had occurred which he hoped would promote' 
 their benefit, he expressed himself with old Sim- 
 eon, c Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart 
 in peace.' 
 
 u The principal effect of his distemper was 
 in throwing a cloud over his comfort ; yet, in 
 producing this, the spiritual tendency of his 
 mind appeared. His diseased depression ope- 
 rated indeed, but it was in leading him to set 
 a high standard of holiness, to bring together 
 elevated marks of regeneration, and to require 
 decisive evidences of a spirit of faith and adop- 
 tion. The acuteness of his judgment then ar- 
 gued so strongly from these false premises, 
 that he necessarily excluded himself almost en- 
 tirely from the consolation of hope. If I may 
 be allowed a theological term the objective 
 acts of faith; those that related to the grand 
 objects proposed in the Scriptures on the tes- 
 timony of God, such as the work of redemption, 
 .7* 
 
74 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 the person of Christ, and the virtue of his blood, 
 remained the same ; nay, were ripened and 
 strengthened as his dissolution approached; 
 but the subjective acts of faith ; those which 
 respected his own interest in these blessings^ and 
 which gave life to the exercises of hope ; rose 
 and sunk with his disease. He was precisely 
 like a man oppressed by a heavy weight: as 
 the load was lightened, he began to move and 
 exert himself in his natural manner: when the 
 burden was increased, he sunk down again un- 
 der the oppression. 
 
 u About a year before his death, when his 
 powers of mind had for a long time been debil- 
 itated, but still retained some remnants of their 
 former vigor, his religious feelings were at 
 times truly desirable. His intellectual powers 
 were indeed too far weakened for joy; but 
 there was a resignation, a tranquillity, a ripeness 
 of grace, a calm and holy repose on the bosom 
 of the Saviour, that quite alarmed, if I may so 
 speak, his anxious family, under the impression 
 that there appeared nothing left for grace to 
 do, and that he would soon be removed from 
 them, as a shock of corn cometh in its season. 
 Even when his disease had made still further 
 progress, as often as the slightest alleviation 
 was afforded him, his judgment became more 
 distinct, his morbid depression lessened, and he 
 was moderately composed. It was only a few 
 weeks before his dissolution that such an in- 
 terval was vouchsafed to him. He then spake 
 with great feeling from the Scriptures, in fami- 
 ly worship, for about half an hour j and dwelt on 
 
CHARACTER OF Mil. CECIL. 75 
 
 the love, and grace, and power of Christ with 
 particular composure of mind. 1 had the happi- 
 ness of visiting him at this season. He was so 
 much relieved from his disease, as to enter with 
 me on genera! topics relating to religion, and to 
 give me some excellent directions as to my con- 
 duct as a minister. In reply to various ques- 
 tions which i put to him, he spake to me to the 
 following purport; k l know rn}'self to be a 
 wretched, worthless sinner,' (the seriousness 
 and feeling with which he spake I shall never 
 forget,) c having nothing in myself but poverty 
 and sin. 1 know Jesus Christ to be a glorious 
 and almighty Saviour. I see the full efficacy 
 of his atonement and grace ; and I cast myself 
 entirely on him, and wait at his footstool. I 
 am aware that my diseased and broken mind 
 makes me incapable of receiving consolation ; 
 but 1 submit myself wholly to the merciful and 
 wise dispensations of God.' 
 
 "One or two other interesting testimonies 
 of the spiritual and devoted state of his heart 
 may be here mentioned. A short time before 
 his disease, he requested one of his family to 
 write down for him in a book the following sen- 
 tence ; ' " None but Christ, none but Christ," 
 said Lambert dying at a stake : the same, in 
 dying circumstances, with his whole heart, saith 
 Richard Cecil.' The name was signed by him- 
 self, with his left hand, in a manner hardly leg- 
 ible through infirmity." 
 
 Such was Mr. Cecil. I sincerely regret that 
 some masterly observer did not both enjoy and 
 improve opportunities of delineating a more 
 
76 CHARACTER OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 perfect picture of his great mind. I have, 
 however, faithfully detailed, the impressions 
 which his character made on me, during a long 
 course of affectionate admiration of him : nor 
 have I shrunk from intermingling such remarks, 
 as every faithful observer must find occasion 
 to make while he is watching the unfoldings 
 of the best and greatest of men. 
 
 CHRISTIAN PARENTS, and particularly CHRIS- 
 TIAN MOTHERS, may gather from the history and 
 character of our departed friend every possible 
 encouragement to the unwearied care of their 
 children. While St. Austin, Bishop Hall, Rich- 
 ard Hooker, John Newton, Richard Cecil, and 
 many other great andeminentservants of Christ, 
 have left on record their grateful acknowledg- 
 ments to their pious mothers, as the instruments, 
 under the grace and blessing of God, of win- 
 ning them to himself, let no woman of faith and 
 prayer despair respecting even her most unto- 
 ward child. 
 
 Mr. Cecil's MERE ADMIRERS should feel what 
 a weight of responsiblity his ministry and his 
 character have laid them under. They gave 
 him the ear, but he labored for the heart. 
 They were pleased with the man, but he pray- 
 ed that they might become displeased with 
 themselves. They would aid him in his 
 schemes, but he was anxious that they should 
 serve his Master. How soon must they meet 
 him at that judgment-seat before which all 
 must appear, to receive according to what they 
 have done in the body whether good or evil ! 
 
 His SINCERE FRIENDS are called to imitate his 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 77 
 
 example to follow him as he followed Christ 
 to live above this vain world to sacrifice 
 every thing to the honour of Christ and the 
 interests of Eternity to bear up under pain 
 and weariness and anxiety, leaning on Almigh- 
 ty strength; till they join him in that world 
 where weakness shall be felt no more ! 
 
 JOSIAH PRATT. 
 
 REMARKS MADE BY MR. CECIL CHIEF- 
 LY IINT CONVERSATION WITH THE 
 EDITOR, OR IN DISCUSSIONS WHEN 
 HE WAS PRPSENT. 
 
 tc Mult a ab eo prudent er disputata, mult a etiam brevi- 
 ter et commode dicta memories, mandabam, Jierique 
 studebam ejus prudent iadoctior.' 1 '* Cic. de Amicit. I. 
 
 On the Christian Life and Conflict. 
 
 THE direct cause of a Christian's spiritual life, 
 is union with Christ. All attention to the mere 
 circumstantials of religion, has a tendency to 
 draw the soul away from this union. Few 
 men, except ministers are called, by the na- 
 ture of their station, to enter much into these 
 circumstantials : such, for instance, as the 
 evidences of the truth of religion. Ministers 
 feel this deadening effect of any considerable 
 or continued attention to externals : much more 
 must private Christians. The head may be 
 strengthened, till the heart is starved. Some 
 private Christians, however, may be called on, 
 by the nature of those circles in which they 
 
78 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 move, to be qualified to meet and refute the 
 objections which may be urged against religion. 
 Such men as well as ministers, while they are 
 furnishing themselves for this purpose, must 
 acquiesce in the work which God appoints for 
 them, with prayer and watchfulness. If they 
 cannot always live and abide close to the ark, 
 and the pot of manna, and the cherubim, and 
 the mercy seat ; yet they are drawing the wa- 
 ter and gathering the wood necessary for the 
 service of the camp. But let their hearts still 
 turn toward the place where the Glory resi- 
 deth. 
 
 THE Christian's fellowship with God is rather 
 a habit, than a rapture. He is a pilgrim, who 
 has the habit of looking forward to the light 
 before him : he has the habit of not looking 
 back : he has the habit of walking steadily in 
 the way, whatever be the weather, and what- 
 ever the road. These are his habits: and the 
 Lord of the Way is his Guide, Protector, 
 Friend, and Felicity. 
 
 As the Christian's exigencies arise, he has a 
 spiritual habit of turning to God, and saying, 
 with the Church, u Tell me, O thou whom my 
 soul loveth, where thou feedest^ where thou. mokest 
 thy flocks to rest at noon. I have tried to find 
 rest elsewhere. I have fled to shelters, which 
 held out great promise of repose ; but I have 
 now long since learned to turn unto thee : Tell 
 we, O thou whom my soul hvelh^ where thou feed- 
 est) where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon." 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 79 
 
 THE Christian will look back, throughout eter- 
 nity, with interest and delight, on the steps 
 and means of his conversion. u My Father 
 told me this ! My Mother told me tliat ! Such 
 an event was sanctified to me ! In such a place, 
 God visited my soul I" These recollections 
 will never grow dull and wearisome. 
 
 A VOLUME might be written on the various 
 methods which God has taken, in Providence, 
 to lead men first to think of Him. 
 
 THE history of a man's own life, is to himself, 
 the most interesting history in the world, next 
 to that of the Scriptures. Every man is an 
 original and solitary character* None can ei- 
 ther understand or feel the book of his own 
 life like himself. The lives of other men are 
 to him dry and vapid, when set beside his own. 
 , He enters very little into the spirit of the Old 
 Testament, who does not see God calling on 
 him to turnover the pages of this history when 
 he says to the Jew, Thou shalt remember all the 
 way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty 
 years. He sees God teaching the Jew to look 
 at the records of his deliverance from the Red 
 Sea, of the manna showered down on him from 
 heaven, and of the Amalekites put to flight be- 
 fore him. There are such grand events in the 
 life and experience of every Christian. It may 
 be well for him to review them often. I have, 
 in some cases, vowed before God to appropri- 
 ate yearly remembrances of some of the signal 
 turns of my life. Having made the vow, I 
 
 
80 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 hold it as obligatory : but I would advise others 
 to greater circumspection ; as they may bring 
 a galling yoke on themselves, which God de- 
 signed not to put on them. 
 
 TRUE grace is a growing principle. The Chris- 
 tian grows in DISCERNMENT: a child may play 
 with a serpent ; but the man gets as far from 
 it as he can : a child may taste poison ; but 
 the man will not suffer a speck of poison near 
 him. He grows in HUMILITY: the blade shoots 
 up boldly, and the } ; oung ear keeps erect with 
 confidence ; but the full corn in the ear inclines 
 itself toward the earth not because it is feebler, 
 but because it is matured. He grows in STRENGTH: 
 the new wine ferments and frets ; but the old 
 wine acquires a body and a firmness. 
 
 TENDERNESS of conscience is always to be dis- 
 tinguished from scrupulousness. The con- 
 science cannot be kept too sensible and tender : 
 but scrupulousness arises from bodily or mental 
 infirmity, and discovers itself in a multitude of 
 ridiculous, and superstitious, and painful feel- 
 ings. 
 
 THE head is dull, in discerning the value of 
 God's expedients ; and the heart cold, slug- 
 gish, and reluctant, in submitting to them: but 
 the head is lively, in the invention of its own 
 expedients ; and the heart eager and sanguine, 
 in the pursuit of them. JVo wonder, then, that 
 God subjects both the head and the heart to a 
 course of continual correction. 
 
REMAINS OF MR, CECIL. 81 
 
 EVERY man will have his own criterion in form- 
 ing his judgment of others. 1 depend very 
 much on the effect of affliction. I consider 
 how a man comes out of the furnace : gold 
 will lie for a month in the furnace without los- 
 ing a grain. And, while under trial, a child 
 has a hahit of turning to his father : he is not 
 like a penitent, who has been whipped into 
 this state : it is natural to him. It is dark, and 
 the child has no where to run, but to his fa- 
 ther. 
 
 DEFILEMENT is inseparable from the world. A 
 man can no where rest his foot on it without 
 sinking. A strong principle of assimulation 
 combines the world and the heart together. 
 There are, especially, certain occasions, when 
 the current hurries a man away, and he has 
 lostthe religious government of himself. When 
 the pilot finds, on making the port of Messina, 
 that the ship will not obey the helm, he knows 
 that she is got within the influence of that at- 
 traction, which will bury her in the whirlpool. 
 We are to avoid the danger, rather than to 
 oppose it. This is a great doctrine of Scrip- 
 ture. An active force against the \vorld is not 
 so much inculcated, as a retreating, declining 
 spirit. Keep thyself unspotted from the world. 
 
 THERE are seasons when a Christian's distin- 
 guishing character is hidden from man. A 
 Christian merchant on 'Change is not called 
 to shew any difference in his mere exterior 
 carriage from another merchant. He 
 8 
 
82 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 a reasonable answer if he is asked a question. 
 He does not fanatically intrude religion into 
 every sentence he utters. He does not sup- 
 pose his religion to be inconsistent with the 
 common interchange of civilities. He is affa- 
 ble and courteous. He can ask the news of 
 the day, and take up any public topic of con- 
 versation. But is he, therefore, not different 
 from other men ? He is like another merchant 
 in the mere exterior circumstance, which is 
 least in God's regard ; but, in his taste ! 
 his views ! his science ! his hopes -his 
 happiness ! he is as different from those around 
 him as light is from darkness. He waits for 
 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who nev- 
 er passes perhaps through the thoughts of 
 those he talks with, but,to be neglected and 
 despised ! 
 
 THE Christian is called to be like Abraham, in 
 conduct; like Pan!, in labors; and like John, 
 in spirit. Though, as a man of faith, he goes 
 forth not knowing whither, and his principle 
 is hidden from the world, yet he will oblige 
 the world to acknowledge: tw His views, it is 
 true, we do not understand. His principles 
 and general conduct are a mystery to us. But 
 a. more upright, noble, generous, disinterested, 
 peaceable, and benevolent man, we know not 
 where to find." The world may even count 
 him a madman ; and false brethren may vilify 
 his character, and calumniate his motive* : yet 
 he will he;r down evil, by repaying good; 
 and will silence his enemies, by the abundance 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 83 
 
 of his labours. He may be shut out from the 
 world cast into prison banished into obscu- 
 rity no eye to observe him, no hand to help 
 him hut it is enough for him. if his Saviour 
 will speak to him and smile on him ! 
 
 CHRISTIANS are too little aware what their re- 
 ligion requires from then), with regard to their 
 WISHES. When we wish things to he otherwise 
 than they are ; we lose sight of the great prac- 
 tical parts of the life of godliness. We wish, 
 and wish when, if we have done all that lies 
 on us, we should fall quietly into the hands of 
 God. Such wishing cuts the very sinews of our 
 privileges and consolations. You are leaving 
 me for a time ; and you say you wish you could 
 leave me better, or leave me with some assis- 
 tance : but, if it is right for you to go, it is right 
 for me to meet what 1-es on me, without a wish 
 thdt I had less to meet, or were better able to 
 meet it. 
 
 I COULD write down twenty cases, wherein I 
 wished God had done otherwise than he did; 
 but which I now see, had 1 had my own will, 
 would have led to extensive mischief. The 
 life of a Christian is a life of paradoxes. He 
 must lay hold on God : he must follow hard af- 
 ter him : he must determine not to let him go. 
 And yet he must learn to let God alone. Qui- 
 etness before God is one of the most difficult 
 of all Christian graces to sit where he places 
 us; to be what he would have us to be, and 
 this as long as he pleases. We are like a 
 
84 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 player at bowls : if he has given his bowl too 
 little bias, he cries, u Flee :" if he has given 
 it too much, he cries, " Rub," you see him 
 lifting his leg, and bending his body, in con- 
 formity to the motion he would impart to the 
 bowl. Thus 1 have felt with regard -to my 
 dispensations: I would urge them or restrain 
 them : I would assimilate them to the habit of 
 rny mind. But 1 have smarted for this under 
 severe visitations. It may seem a harsh, but 
 it is a wise and gracious dispensation, toward 
 a man, when, the instant he stretches out his 
 hand to order his affairs, God forces him to 
 withdraw it. Concerning what is morally good 
 or evil, we are sufficiently informed for our di- 
 rection ; but concerning what is naturally good 
 or evil, we are ignorance itself. Restlessness 
 and self-will are opposed to our duty in these 
 cases. 
 
 SCHOOLING THE HEART is the grand means of 
 personal religion. To bring motives under 
 faithful examination, is a high state of religious 
 character: with regard to the depravity of the 
 heart we live daily in the disbelief of our own 
 creed. We indulge thoughts and feelings, 
 which are founded upon the presumption that 
 all-around us are imperfect and corrupted, but 
 that we are exempted. The self-will and am- 
 bition and passion of public characters in the 
 religious world, all arise from this sort of prac- 
 tical infidelity. And though its effects are so 
 manifest in these men, because they are lead- 
 ers of parties, and are set upon a pinnacle so 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 85 
 
 that all who are without the influence of their 
 vortex can see them ; yet every man's own 
 breast has an infallible, dogmatizing, excom- 
 municating, and anathematizing spirt working 
 within. 
 
 Acting from the occasion, without recollec- 
 tion and inquiry, is the death of personal reli- 
 gion. It will not suffice merely to retire to the 
 study or the closet. The mind is sometimes, in 
 private, most ardently pursuing its particular 
 object; and, as it then acts from the occasion, 
 nothing is further from it than recollectedness. 
 I have for weeks together, in pursuit of some 
 scheme, acted so entirely from the occasion, 
 that, when I have at length called myself to 
 account, 1 have seemed like one awaked from 
 a dream. lk Am I the man who could think and 
 and speak so and so ? Am I the man, who could 
 feel such a disposition, or discover such con- 
 duct ?" The fascination and enchantment of the 
 occasion is vanished ; and I stand like David in 
 similar circumstances before Nathan. Such 
 cases in experience are, in truth, a moral in- 
 toxication ; and the man is only then sober, 
 when he begins to school his heart. 
 
 THE servant of God has not only natural sensi- 
 bilities, by which he feels, in common with oth- 
 er men, the sorrows of life ; but he has moral 
 sensibilities, which are peculiar to his charac- 
 ter. When David was driven from his king- 
 dom, he not only felt depressed as an exile 
 and wanderer; but he would recollect his own 
 sin as punished in the affliction. EH had not 
 8* 
 
6 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 only to suffer the pangs of a father in the loss 
 of his sons; hut he would recal, with bitter- 
 ness of spirit, his own mismanagement, in bring- 
 ing up these sons. St. Paul had not only to en- 
 dure the thorn in the flesh ; but he would feel 
 that he carried about him propensities to self- 
 exaltation, which rendered that thorn neces- 
 sary and salutary. 
 
 DANGEROUS PREDICAMENTS are the brinks of temp- 
 tations. A man often gives evidence to others 
 that he is giddy, though he is not aware of it 
 perhaps himself. Whoever has been in danger 
 himself will guess very shrewdly concerning 
 the dangerous state of such a man. 
 
 A haughty spirit is a symptom of extreme 
 danger A haughty spirit goeih before a fall. 
 
 Presumptuous carelessness indicates danger. 
 
 u Who fears ?" This is to be feared, that you 
 feel no cause of fear. Such was Peter's state : 
 Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I. 
 
 Venturing on the borders of danger is much 
 akin to this. A man goes on pretty well till 
 he ventures within the atmosphere of danger: 
 but the atmosphere of danger infatuates him. 
 The ship is got within the influence of the 
 vortex, and will not obey the helm. David 
 was sitting in this atmosphere on the house- 
 top, and was ensnared and fell. 
 
 An accession of wealth is a dangerous predic- 
 ament for a man. At first he is stunned, if 
 the accession be sudden : he is very humble 
 and very grateful. Then he begins to speak 
 a little louder, people think him more sensible, 
 and soon he thinks himself so. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 87 
 
 A man is In imminent danger when, in suspect- 
 ed circumstances* he is disposed to equivocate, as 
 Abraham did with Pharaoh, and Isaac with 
 Abimelech. 
 
 Stupidity of conscience under chastisement 
 an advancement to power, when a man be- 
 gins to relish such power popularityself in- 
 dulgence a disposition to gad about, like Dinah 
 all these are symptoms of spiritual danger. 
 
 A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES in our condition 
 of life is a critical period. No man who has not 
 passed through such a change, can form any 
 adequate notion of its effects upon the mind. 
 When money comes into the pocket of a poor 
 man in small sums, it goes out as it came in, 
 and more follows it in the same way; and with 
 a certain freedom and indifference, it is applied 
 to its proper uses: but when he begins to re- 
 ceive round sums, that may yield him an in- 
 terest, and when this interest comes to be add- 
 ed to his principal, and the sweets of augmen- 
 tation to creep over him, it is quite a new world 
 to him. In a rise of circumstances, too, the 
 man becomes, in his own opinion, a wiser man, 
 a greater man ; and pride of station crosses him 
 in his way. Nor is the contrary change less 
 dangerous. Poverty has its trials. That is a 
 fine trait in the Pilgrim's Progress, that Chris- 
 tian stumbled in going down the Hill into the 
 Valley of Humiliation. 
 
 A SOUND head, a simple heart, and a spirit de- 
 pendent on Christ, will suffice to conduct us in 
 every variety of circumstances. 
 
88 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 I CANNOT look through my past life without 
 trembling. A variation in my circumstances 
 has been attended with dangers and difficulties, 
 little of which I saw at the time compared with 
 what reflection has since shewn me, but which 
 in the review of them make me shudder, and 
 ought to fill me with gratitude. He, who views 
 this subject aright, will put up particular pray- 
 ers against sudden attacks. 
 
 GOD will have the Christian thoroughly hum- 
 bled and dependent. Strong minds think per- 
 haps sometimes, that they can effect great things 
 in experience by keeping themselves girt up, 
 by the recurrence of habit, by vigorous exer- 
 tion. This is their unquestionable duty. But 
 God often strips them, lest they should grow 
 confident. He lays them bare He makes 
 them feel poor, dark, impotent. He seems to 
 say, " Strive with all your vigor, but yet 1 am 
 He that worketh ail in all." 
 
 THERE is no calling or profession, however en- 
 snaring in many respects to a Christian mind, 
 provided it be not in itself simply unlawful, 
 wherein God has not frequently raised up faith- 
 ful witnesses, who have stood forth for exam- 
 ples to others, in like situations, of the practi- 
 cability of uniting great eminence in the Chris- 
 tian Life with the discharge of the duties of 
 their profession, however difficult. 
 
 FEAR has the most steady effect on the consti- 
 tutional temperament of some Christians, to 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 89 
 
 keep them in their course. A strong sense of 
 DUTY fixes on the minds of others, and is the 
 prevailing 1 principle of cpnduct, without any 
 direct reference to consequences. On minds 
 of a stubborn, refractory and self-vtilled temper, 
 fear and duty have in general little effect: they 
 "brave fear, and a mere sense of duty is a cold 
 and lifeless principle ; but GRATJTUDK, under a 
 strong and subduing sense of mercies, melts 
 them into obedience. 
 
 THERE is a large class, who would confound 
 nature and grace. These are chieily women. 
 They sit at home, nursing themselves over a 
 fire, and then trace up the natural effects of 
 solitude and wnnt of air and exercise into spir- 
 itual desertion. There is more pride in this 
 than they are aware of They are unwilling 
 to allow so simple and natural a c r use of their 
 feelings; and wish to find something in the 
 thing more sublime 
 
 THERE are so many things to lower a man's 
 topsails he is such a dependent creature he 
 is to pay such court to his stomach, his food, 
 his sleep, his exercise that, in truth, a hero 
 is an idle word. Man seems formed to be a 
 hero in suffering not a hero in action. Men 
 err in nothing more then in the estimate which 
 they make of human labour. The hero of the 
 world is the man that makes a bustle the man 
 that makes the road smoke under his chaise-and- 
 four the man that raises a dust about him 
 the man that manages or devastates empires ! 
 
90 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 But what is the real labor of this man compar- 
 ed with that of a silent sufferer? He lives on 
 his projects. He encounters, perhaps, rough 
 roads- -incommodious inns bad food storms 
 and perils weary days and sleepless nights : 
 but what are these ! his project his point 
 the thing that has laid hold on his heart 
 glory a name consequence-pleasure wealth 
 these render the man callous to the pains 
 and efforts of the body! 1 have been in both 
 states, and therefore understand them ; and I 
 know that rpen form this false estimate. Be- 
 sides there is something in bustle, and stir, 
 and activity, that supports itself. At one peri- 
 od, I preached and read five times on a Sunday, 
 and rode sixteen miles. But what did it cost 
 me ? Nothing ! Yet most men would have look-, 
 ed on while I was rattling from village to vil- 
 lage, with all the dogs barking at my heels, 
 and would have called me a hero: whereas, if 
 they were to look at me now, they would call 
 me an idle, lounging: fellow. " He makes a 
 Sermon on the Saturday he gets into his study 
 he walks from end to end he scribbles on 
 a scrap of paper he throws it away and scrib- 
 bles on another he takes snuff he sits down 
 scribbles again walks about." The man 
 cannot see that here is an exhaustion of the 
 spirit, which, at nigfht, will leave me worn to 
 the extremity of endurance. He cannot see 
 the numberless efforts of mind, which are cros- 
 sed v and stifled, and recoil on the spirits; like 
 the fruitless efforts of a traveller to get firm 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 91 
 
 footing 1 among 1 the ashes on the steep sides of 
 Mount Etna.* 
 
 ELIJAH appears to have been a man of what we 
 call a GRKAT SPIRIT : yet we never find him 'ris- 
 ing against the humiliating methods, which 
 God was sometimes pleased to take with him; 
 whether he is to depend for his daily food on 
 the ravens, or is to he nourished by the slen- 
 der pittance of a perishing widow. Pride 
 won id choose for us such means of provision, 
 as have some appearance of our own agency 
 in them ; arid stout-heartedness would lead us 
 to refuse things, if we cannot have them in our 
 own way. 
 
 THE blessed man is he, who is under education 
 in God's school ; where he endures chastise- 
 ment, and by chastisement is instructed. The 
 foolish creature is bewitched, sometimes with 
 the enchantments and sorceries of life. He 
 begins to lose the lively sense of that some- 
 thing, which is superior to the glory of the 
 world. His grovelling soul begins to say, u Is 
 not this tine? Is not that charming? Is not 
 that noble house worth a wish? Is not that 
 equipage worth a sigh ? 91 He must go to the 
 Word of God to know what a thing is worth. 
 He must be taught there to call things by their 
 proper names. If he have lost this habit t when 
 his heart puts the questions he will answer 
 them like a fool ; as I have done a thousand 
 
 * See the Adventurer, No. cxxvii. J. P. 
 
92 REMAINS,, OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 times. He will forget that God puts his child- 
 ren into possession of these things, as mere 
 stewards ; and that the possession of them in- 
 creases their responsibility. He will sit down, 
 and plan and scheme to obtain possession of 
 things, which he forgets are to be burnt and 
 destroyed. But God dashes the fond scheme 
 in pieces. He disappoints the project. And, 
 with the chastisement he sends instruction ; 
 for he knows that the silly creature, if left to 
 himself, would begin, like the spider whose 
 web has been swept away, to spin it again. 
 And then the man sees that Job is blessed 
 not, when God gives him sons and daughters, 
 and flocks, and herds, and power, and honor; 
 but when God takes all these away not when 
 the schemes of his carnal heart are indulged; 
 but when they are crossed and disappointed. 
 A STUBBORN and rebellious mind in a Christian, 
 must be kept low by dark and trying dispensa- 
 tions. The language of God, in his providence, 
 to such an one, is generally of this kind: ' I 
 will not wholly hide myself I will be seen 
 by thee. But thou shalt never meet me, ex- 
 cept in a dark night and in a storm." Minis- 
 ters of such a natural spirit are often fitted for 
 eminent usefulness by these means. 
 
 THE Christian, in his sufferings, is often tempt- 
 ed to think himself forgotten. But his afflic- 
 tions are the clearest proofs, that he is an object 
 both of Satan's enmity, and of God's fatherly 
 discipline. Satan would not have mnn suffer 
 a single trouble all his life long, if he might 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 93 
 
 have his way. He would give him the thing 
 his heart is set upon. He would work in with 
 his ambition. He would pamper his lust 
 and his pride. But God has bettor things in 
 reserve for his children : and they must be 
 brought to desire them and seek them ; and 
 this will be .through the wreck and sacrifice of 
 all that the heart holds dear. The Christian 
 prays for fuller manifestations of Christ's pow- 
 er and glory and love to him ; but he is often 
 not aware, that this is, in truth, praying to be 
 brought into the furnace ; for in the furnace 
 only it is, that Christ can walk with his friends, 
 and display, in their preservation and deliver- 
 ance, his own almighty power. Yet when 
 brought thither, it is one of the worst parts of 
 the trial, that the Christian often thinks him- 
 self, for a time at least, abandoned. Job thought 
 so. But while he looked on himself as an out- 
 cast, the infinite Spirit and the wicked Spirit 
 were holding a dialogue on his case ! He was* 
 more an object of notice and interest, than the 
 largest armies that were ever assembled, and 
 the mightiest revolutions that ever shook the 
 world, considered merely in their temporal 
 interests and consequences. Let the Christian 
 be deeply concerned, in all his trials, to hon- 
 our his Master before such observers! 
 
 AFFLICTION has a tendency, especially if long 
 continued, to generate a kind of despondency 
 and ill-temper : and spiritual incapacity is close- 
 ly connected with pain and sickness. The spir- 
 it of prayer does not necessarily come with 
 9 
 
91 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 affliction. If this be not poured out upon the 
 man, he will like a wounded beast, skulk to his 
 den arid growl there. 
 
 GOD has marked IMPLICITNESS AND SIMPLICITY OF 
 FAITH with peculiar approbation. He has done 
 this throughout the Scripture ; and he is doing 
 it daily in the Christian life. An unsuspecting, 
 unquestioning, unhesitating spirit he delights 
 to honor. He does not delight in a credulous, 
 weak, and unstable mind. He gives us full evi- 
 dence, when he calls and leads ; but he expects 
 to tind in us what he himself bestows an open 
 ear and a disposed heart. Though he gives 
 us not the evidence of sense ; yet he gives 
 such evidence as will be heard by an open ear, 
 and followed by a disposed heart: Thomas! 
 because thou hast seen me thou hast believed : bless- 
 ed are they that have not seen and yet have be" 
 lieved. We are witnesses what an open ear 
 and a disposed heart will do in men of the 
 world. If wealth is in pursuit if a place pre- 
 sents itself before them if their persons and 
 families and affairs arc the object a whisper, 
 a hint, a probability, a mere chance, is a suffi- 
 cient ground of action. Jt is this very state of 
 mind with regard to religion, which God de- 
 lights in and honors. He seems to put forth his 
 hand, and to say u Put thy hand into mine. 
 Follow all my leadings. Keep thyself atten- 
 tive to every turn." 
 
 A SOUND heart is an excellent casuist. Men 
 stand doubting what they shall do, while an 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 95 
 
 evil heart is at the bottom. If, with St. Paul, 
 they simply did one thing, the way would be 
 plain. A miser, or an ambitious man, knows 
 his points ; and he has such a simplicity in the 
 pursuit of them, that you seldom tind him at a 
 loss about the steps which he should take to 
 attain them. He has acquired a sort of instinc- 
 tive habit in his pursuit. Simplicity and recti- 
 tude would have prevented a thousand schisms 
 in the Church; which have generally risen 
 from men having- something else in plan and 
 prospect, and not the one thing. 
 
 WHAT / do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt 
 know hereafter is the unwearied language of 
 God, in his providence. He will have CREDIT 
 every step. He will not assign reasons, be- 
 cause he will exercise faith. 
 
 PRIDE urges men to inquire into the PHILOSOPHY 
 of Divine truth. They are not contented, for 
 example, with the account which the Bible 
 gives of the origin of evil, and its actual riaflu- 
 ence on mankind ; but they would supply what 
 God has left untold. They would explain the 
 fitness and propriety of things. A mathemati- 
 cian may summon his scholars round his chair, 
 and from self-evident principles deduce and 
 demonstrate his conclusions : he has axioms ; 
 but concerning evil we have none. A Christ- 
 ian may say on this subject, as Sir Christopher 
 Wren did concerning the roof of King's College 
 Chapel u Shew me how to fix the first stone, 
 and I will finish the building. 1 " u Explain the 
 
96 
 
 origin of evil, and I will explain every other 
 difficulty respecting evil." We are placed in 
 a disposition and constitution of things, under a 
 righteous Governor. If we will not rest satis- 
 fied with this, something is wrong in our state 
 of mind. It is a solid satisfaction to every man 
 who has been seduced into foolish inquiries 
 that it is utterly impossible to advance one inch 
 by them. He must come back to rest in God's 
 appointment. He must come back to sit pa- 
 tiently, meekly, and with docility, at the feet 
 of a teacher. 
 
 DUTIES are ours: events are God's. This re- 
 moves an infinite burden from the shoulders of 
 a miserable, tempted, dying creature. On this 
 consideration only, can he securely lay down 
 his head and close his eyes. 
 
 THE Christian often thinks, and schemes, and 
 talks, like a practical Atheist. His eye is so 
 conversant with second causes, that the great 
 Mover is little regarded. And yet those sen- 
 timents and that conduct of others, by which 
 his affairs are influenced, are not formed by 
 chance and at random. They are attracted to- 
 ward the system of his affairs, or repelled from 
 them, by the highest power. We talk of at- 
 traction in the universe ; but there is no such 
 thing, as we are accustomed to consider it. The 
 natural and moral worlds are held together in 
 their respective operations, by an incessant 
 administration. It is the mighty grasp of a 
 controlling hand, which keeps every thing in 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 97 
 
 its station. Were this control suspended, there 
 is nothing adequate to the preservation of har- 
 mony and affection between my mind and that 
 of my dearest friend, for a single hour. 
 
 LORD Chesterfield tells his son, that when he 
 entered into the world and heard the conjec- 
 tures and notions about public affairs, he was 
 surprised at their folly; because he was in the 
 secret, and knew what was passing in the cab- 
 inet. We negotiate. We make treaties. We 
 make war. We cry for peace. We have pub- 
 lic hopes and fears. We distrust one minister, 
 and we repose on another. We recal one gen- 
 eral or admiral, because he has lost the nation- 
 al confidence, and we send out another with a 
 full tide of hopes and expectations. We find 
 something in men and measures, as the suffi- 
 cient cause of ail sufferings or anticipations. 
 But a religious man enters the cabinet. He 
 sees, in all pubhc fears and difficulties, the 
 pressure of God's hand. So long as this pres- 
 sure continues, he knows that we may move 
 heaven and earth in vain : every thing is bound 
 up in icy fetters. But, when God removes his 
 hand, the waters flow ; measures avail, and 
 hopes are accomplished. 
 
 WE are too apt to forget our actual depend- 
 ance on Providence, for the circumstances of 
 every instant. The most trivial events may 
 determine our state in the world. Turning up 
 one street instead of another, may bring us into 
 company with a person whom we should not 
 9* 
 
98 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 otherwise have met; and this may lead to a 
 train of other events, which may determine 
 the happiness or misery of our lives. 
 
 LIGHT may break in upon a man after he has 
 taken a particular step ; hut he will not con- 
 demn himself for the step taken in a less degree 
 of Jig-lit : he may hereafter see still hetter than 
 he now does, and have reason to alter his opin- 
 ion again. It is enough to satisfy us of our 
 duty, if we are conscious that at the time we 
 take a step, we have an adequate motive. If 
 we are conscious of a wrong motive, or of a 
 rash proceeding, for such steps we must expect 
 to suffer. 
 
 Trouble or difficulty befalling 1 us after any 
 particular step, is not, of itself, an argument 
 that the step was wrong. A storm overtook 
 the disciples in the ship ; but this was no proof 
 that they had done wrong to go on board. Esau 
 met Jacob, and occasioned him great fear and 
 anxiety, when he left Laban ; but this did not 
 prove him to have done wrong in the step 
 which he had taken. Difficulties are no ground 
 of presumption against us, when we did not run 
 into them in following our own will : yet the 
 Israelites were with difficulty convinced that 
 they were in the path of duty, when they found 
 themselves shut in by the Red Sea. Christ- 
 ians, and especially ministers, must expect 
 troubles : it is in this way that God leads them : 
 he conducts them " per ardua ad aslra." They 
 would be in imminent danger if the multitude 
 at all times cried Hosanna ! 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 99 
 
 We must remember that we are short-sight- 
 ed creatures. We are like an unskilful chess- 
 player, who takes the next piece, while a skil- 
 ful one looks further. Ho, who sees the end 
 from the beginning, will often appoint us a most 
 inexplicable way to walk in. Joseph was put 
 into the pit and the dungeon : but this was the 
 way which led to the throne. 
 
 We often want to know too much and too 
 soon, We want the light of to-morrow, but it 
 will not come till to-morrow. And then a slight 
 turn, perhaps, will throw such light on our 
 path, that we shall be astonished we saw not 
 our way before. u I can wait," says Lavater. 
 This is a high attainment. We must labor, 
 therefore, to be quiet in that path, from which 
 we cannot recede without danger and evil. 
 
 THERE is not a nobler sight in the world, than 
 an aged and experienced Christian, who, hav- 
 ing been sifted in the sieve of temptation, stands 
 forth as a confirmer of the assaulted testify- 
 ing, from his own trials, the reality of religion ; 
 and meeting, by his warnings and directions 
 and consolations, the cases of all who may be 
 tempted to doubt it, 
 
 THE Christian expects his reward, not as due 
 to merit ; but as connected, in a constitution of 
 grace, with those acts which grace enables 
 him to perform. The pilgrim, who has been 
 led to the gate of heaven, will not knock there 
 as worthy of being admitted ; but the gate 
 shall open to him, because he is brought thith- 
 
100 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 er. He, who sows, even with tears, the pre- 
 cious seed of faith, hope, and love, shall doubt- 
 less come again with joy, and bring his sheaves - 
 with him; because it is in the very nature of 
 that seed, to yield, under the kindly influence 
 secured to it, a joyful harvest. 
 
 ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE 
 CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 
 
 On a Minister's qualifying himself for his office. 
 
 WHEN a young minister sets out, he should sit 
 down and ask himself HOW HE MAY BEST QUALIFY 
 
 HIMSELF FOR HIS OFFICE. 
 
 How does a physician qualify himself! It is 
 not enough that he offers to feel the pulse. 
 He must read, and inquire, and observe, and 
 make experiments, and correct himself again 
 and again. He must lay in a stock of medical 
 knowledge before he begins to feel the pulse. 
 
 The minister is a physician of a far higher 
 order. He has a vast field before him. He 
 has to study an infinite variety of constitutions. 
 He is to furnish himself with the knowledge 
 of the whole system of remedies. He is to 
 be a man of skill and expedient. If one thing 
 fail, he must know how to apply another. 
 Many intricate and perplexed cases will come 
 before him: it will be disgraceful to him not 
 to be prepared for such. His patients will put 
 many questions to him : it will be disgraceful 
 to him not to be prepared to answer them. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 101 
 
 He is a merchant embarking in extensive con- 
 cerns. A little ready money in the pocket will 
 not answer the demands that will be made upon 
 him. Some of us seem to think it will. But they 
 are grossly deceived. There must be a well 
 furnished account at the banker's. 
 
 But it is not all gold that glitters. A young 
 minister must learn to separate and select his 
 materials. A man who talks to himself will 
 find out what suits the heart of man : some 
 things respond : they ring again. Nothing of 
 this nature is lost on mankind : it is worth its 
 weight in gold, for the service of a minister. 
 He must remark, too, what it is that puzzles 
 and distracts the mind : all this is to be avoided : 
 it may wear the garb of deep research, and 
 great acumen, and extensive learning ; but it 
 is nothing to the mass of mankind. 
 
 One of the most important considerations in 
 making a sermon, is to disembarrass it as much 
 as possible. The sermons of the last century 
 were like their large, unwieldly chairs. Men 
 have now a far more true idea of a chair. They 
 consider it as a piece of furniture to sit upon, 
 and they cut away from it every thing that 
 embarrasses and encumbers h. It requires as 
 much reflection and wisdom to know what is 
 not to be put into a sermon, as what is. 
 
 A young minister should likewise look round 
 him, that he may see what has succeeded and 
 what has not. Truth is to be his companion, 
 but he is to clothe her so as to gain her access. 
 Truth must never bow to fashion or prejudice ; 
 but her garb may be varied. No man was ev- 
 
102 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 er eminently successful in his ministry, who 
 did not make Truth his friend. Such a man 
 might not see her, indeed, in all her beauty 
 and proportions ; but, certainly, he saw and 
 loved her. A young minister should remem- 
 ber that she does not wear the dress of a par- 
 ty. Wherever she is, she is one and the same, 
 however variously men may array her. He, 
 who is ignorant of her prominent and distin- 
 guishing features, is like a musician who plays 
 half score : it grates on every well-formed ear; 
 as fatal error finds no corresponding vibration 
 in the renewed heart. Truth forms an imme- 
 diate acquaintance with such a heart, by a cer- 
 tain fitness and suitableness to its state and 
 feelings v She is something different from the 
 picture which a churchman draws of her. A 
 Dissenter misses her perfect figure. A French- 
 man distorts her features in one way, and an 
 Englishman in another. Every one makes his 
 own cast and color too essential to her. 
 
 Knowledge, then, and truth, are to be the 
 constant aim of a young minister. But where 
 shall he find them ? Let him learn from a fool, 
 if a fool can teach him any thing. Let him be 
 every where, and always a learner. He should 
 imitate Gainsborough. Gainsborough transfus- 
 ed nature into his landscapes, beyond almost any 
 of his contemporaries ; because Gainsborough 
 was every where the painter. Every remark- 
 able feature or position of a tree every fine 
 stroke of nature was copied into his pocket- 
 book on the spot; and, in his next picture, ap- 
 peared with a life and vivacity and nature, 
 
^ REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 103 
 
 which no strength of memory or imagination 
 could have supplied. 
 
 There is a certain wise way, too, in which 
 he should accustom himself to look down on 
 the pursuits of all other men. No man of 
 eminence in his profession is destitute of such 
 a partial feeling for his profession ; though 
 his judgment may remonstrate with him there- 
 on, as an unfounded partiality. The minister 
 however, is REQUIRED so to view all other pur- 
 suits. He alone is the man, whose aim is eter- 
 nity. He alone is the man, whose office and 
 profession, in all their parts are raised into 
 dignity and importance by their direct refer- 
 ence to eternity. For eternity he schemes, 
 and plans, and labors. 
 
 He should become a philosopher also. He 
 should make experiments on himself and oth- 
 ers, in order to find out what will produce ef- 
 fect. He is a fisherman ; and the fisherman 
 must fit himself to his employment. If some 
 fish will bite only by day, he must fish by day : 
 if others will bite only by moon-light, he must 
 fish for them by moon-light. He has an en- 
 gine to work, and it must be his most assidu- 
 ous endeavour to work his engine to the full 
 extent of its powers : and, to find out its pow- 
 ers, is the first step toward success and effect. 
 Many men play admirably on the organ, if you 
 would allow to them that there is no difference 
 between an organ and a harpsichord, but they 
 have utterly mistaken its powers. Combina- 
 tion is the unrivalled excellence of the organ; 
 and therefore he only can display its powers, 
 
104 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 / ; 
 
 who studies the chords and stops in all their 
 infinite variety of resolution arid composition, 
 rather than the rapid motion of his fingers only. 
 But all the minister's efforts will be vanity, 
 or worse than vanity, if he have not unction. 
 Unction must come down from heaven, and 
 spread a savor and relish and feeling over his 
 ministry. And, among all the other means of 
 qualifying himself for his office, the Bible must 
 hold the first place, and the last also must be 
 given to the word of God and prayer. 
 
 On the Assistance which a Minister has reason to 
 expect in the Discharge of his Public duty. 
 
 MEN have carried their views on this subject 
 to extremes. Enthusiasts have said that learn- 
 ing, and that studying and writing sermons, 
 have injured the church. The accurate men 
 have said, "Go and hear one of these enthu- 
 siasts hold forth !" 
 
 But both classes may be rendered useful. 
 Let each correct its evils, yet do its work in 
 its own way. 
 
 Some men set up exorbitant notions about 
 accuracy. But exquisite accuracy is totally 
 lost on mankind. The greater part of those 
 who hear, cannot be brought to see the points 
 of the accurate man. The Scriptures are not 
 written in this manner. I should advise a young 
 minister to break through all such cobwebs, 
 as these unphilosophical men would spin round 
 him. An humble and modest man is silenced, 
 if he sees one of these critics before him. He 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 105 
 
 should say, c; I am God's servant. To my own 
 master I stand or fall. I will labor according 
 to the utmost ability which God givetb, and 
 leave all consequences to him." 
 
 We are especially taught in the !Ve -v Tes- 
 tament, to glorify the Spirit of God ; and, in 
 his gracious operations in our ministry, we are 
 nearer the apostolic times than we often think 
 ourselves. But this assistance is to be expect- 
 ed by us, as laborers in the vineyard ; not as 
 rhapsodists. Idle men may be pointed out, 
 who have abused the doctrine of divine assis- 
 tance ; but what has not been abused ? We 
 must expect a special blessing to accompany 
 the truth : not to supersede labor, but to rest 
 on and accompany labor. 
 
 A minister is to be in season, and out of sea- 
 son ; and, therefore, every where a minister. 
 He will not employ himself in writing secular 
 histories : he will not busy himself in prose- 
 cuting mathematical inquiries. He will labor 
 directly in his high calling: and indirectly, in 
 a vast variety of ways, as he may be enabled : 
 and God may bless that word in private, which 
 may have been long heard in public in vain. 
 
 A minister should satisfy himself in saying, 
 u It matters not what men think of my talents. 
 Am I doing what I can ?" for there is great 
 encouragement in that commendation of our 
 Lord's, She hath done what she could. It would 
 betray a wrong state of rnind to say, u If I had 
 discharged my duty in such and such a way, 
 I should have succeeded." This is a carnal 
 spirit. If God bless the simple manner in 
 10 
 
106 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 which you spoke, that will do good ; if not, 
 no manner of speaking could have done it. 
 
 There is such a thing in the religious'world 
 , as a cold, carnal wisdom : every thing must 
 be nicely weighed in the scales : every thing 
 must be exactly measured by the rule. I ques- 
 tion if this is not worse, in its consequences, 
 than the enthusiasm which it opposes. Both 
 are evil and to be shunned. But I scarcely 
 ever knew a preacher or writer of this class 
 who did much good. 
 
 We are to go forth, expecting the excellency 
 of Go(Ts power to accompany us, since we are 
 but earthen vessels : and if, in the apostolic days, 
 diligence was necessary, how much more re^ 
 quisite is it now ! 
 
 But, to the exercise of this diligence, a suf- 
 ficiency in all things is promised. What does 
 a minister require ? In all these respects the 
 promise is applicable to him. He needs, for 
 instance, courage and patience : he tnay, there- 
 fore, expect that the Holy Spirit will enable 
 him for the exercise of these graces. 
 
 A minister may expect more superintendence, 
 more elevation, than a hearer. It can scarce- 
 ly be questioned that he ought to pray for this : 
 if so, he has a ground in Scripture thus to pray. 
 
 I have been cured of expecting the Holy 
 Spirit's influence without due preparation on 
 our part, bv observing how men preach who 
 take up that error. 1 have heard such men 
 talk nonsense by the hour. 
 
 We must combine Luther with St. Paul 
 " Bene orasse est bene studuisse" must be united 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 107 
 
 with St. Paul's Meditate upon these things : give 
 thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may ap- 
 pear to all. One errs who says *' I will preach 
 a reputable sermon :" and another errs who 
 says, " I will leave all to the assistance of the 
 Holy Spirit," while he has neglected a dili- 
 gent preparation. 
 
 On. Preaching Christ. 
 We preach Christ crucified. 1 Cor. i. 23. 
 
 CHRIST is God's great ordinance. Nothing ev- 
 er has been done, or will be done to purpose, 
 but so far as he is held forth with simplicity. 
 All the lines must centre in Him. \ feel this 
 in my own experience, and therefore 1 govern 
 my ministry by it : but then this is to be done 
 according to the analogy of faith not ignorant- 
 ly, absurdly, and falsely. I doubt not, indeed, 
 but that excess on this side is less pernicious 
 than excess on the other ; because God will 
 bless His own especial ordinance, though par- 
 tially understood and partially exhibited. 
 
 THERE are many weighty reasons for render- 
 ing Christ prominent in our ministry : 
 
 1. Christ cheers the prospect. Every thing 
 connected with Him has light and gladness 
 thrown round it. I look out of my window : 
 the scene is scowling dark frigid forbid- 
 ding : I shudder my heart is chilled. But, let 
 the Sun break forth from the cloud I can feel 
 I can act I can spring. 
 
 2. God descending and dwelling with man, is 
 
108 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 a truth so infinitely grand* that it must absorb alt 
 other " You are his attendants ! Well ! but 
 the KING ! There he is! the KING!" 
 
 3. Oat of Christ God is not intelligible, mud 
 less amiable. Such men as Clarke and Aberne- 
 thy talk sublime nonsense. A sick woman said 
 to me fc Sir ! 1 have no notion of God. I 
 can form no notion of Him. You talk to me 
 about Him, but 1 cannot get a single idea 
 that seems to contain any thing' fc But you 
 know how to conceive of Jesus Christ as a 
 man ! God comes down to you in Him, full of 
 kindness and condescension.' ' Ah ! Sir, that 
 gives me something to lay hold on. There I 
 can rest. I understand God in his Son.' But 
 if God is not intelligible out of Christ, much less 
 is He amiable, though 1 ought to feel Him so. 
 He is an object of horror and aversion to me, 
 corrupted as I am ! I fear I tremble I re- 
 sist I hate I rebel. 
 
 4. A preacher may pursue his topic, without 
 being led by it to Christ. A man who is accus- 
 tomed to investigate topics is in 1 danger. He 
 takes up his topic and pursues it. He takes 
 up another, and pursues it. At length Jesus 
 Christ becomes his topic, and then he pursues 
 that. If he cannot so feel and think as to bend 
 all subjects naturally and gracefully to Christ, 
 he must seek his remedy in selecting such as 
 are more evangelical. 
 
 5. God puts peculiar honour on the preaching 
 of Christ crucified. A philosopher may philos- 
 ophize his hearers, but the preaching of Christ 
 must convert them. John the Baptist will 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 109 
 
 make his hearers tremble ; hut, if the least in 
 the kingdom of heaven is greater than he* let him 
 exhibit that peculiar feature of his superiori- 
 ty Jesus Christ. Men may preach Christ ig- 
 norantly blunderingly absurdly: yet God will 
 give it efficacy, because he is determined to 
 magnify his own ordinance. 
 
 6 (jrod seemx, in the doctrine of tht cross, to 
 design the destruction of man' 1 s pride. Even the 
 murderer and the adulterer sometimes become 
 subjects of the grace of the Gospel, because 
 the murderer and adulterer are more easily 
 convinced and humbled: bur the man of virtue 
 is seldom reached, because the man of virtue 
 disdains to descend. Remember me, saved a 
 dying malefactor ! God 1 thank Thee, condemn- 
 ed a proud Pharisee ! 
 
 EVERY minister should therefore inquire, "WHAT 
 
 IS FO& ME THE WISEST WAY OF PREACHING CHRIST 
 
 TO MEN ?" Some seem to think that in the 
 choise of a wise way, there lurks always a 
 TRIMMING disposition. There ARE men, doubt- 
 less, who will sacrifice to Self, even Ckrist Je- 
 sus the Lord: but they of ail men, are farthest 
 from the thing. There is a secret in doing it, 
 which none but an honest man can discover. 
 The knave is not half wise enough. 
 
 We are not to j'ulsre one another in these 
 things'. Sufficient it is to us, tp ka<;v what WE 
 have to do. There are different ways of do- 
 in^ the same thing, and that w:th succe^ and 
 acceptance We see this in the apostles them- 
 selves. They not only preached Christ in 
 10* 
 
110 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 different ways; but, what is more, they could 
 not do this like one another. They declare 
 this fact themselves ; and acknowledge the grace 
 of God in their respective gifts. Our beloved 
 brother Paul writes, says St. Peter, according to the 
 wisdom given unto him. But there are Peters, in 
 our days, who would say " Paul is too learn- 
 ed. Away with these things, which are hard 
 to be understood. He should be more simple. 
 I dislike all this reasoning." And there are 
 Pauls, who would say, " Peter is rash and un- 
 guarded. He should put a curb on his impet- 
 uosity." And there are Johns, who would 
 say, " They should both discharge their office 
 in my soft and winning manner. No good will 
 come of this fire and noise." Nothing of this 
 sort ! Each hath his proper gift of God ; one 
 after this manner, and another after that : and 
 each seems only desirous to occupy faithfully 
 till his Master come, leaving his brethren to stand 
 or fall to their own Master. 
 
 Too much dependance is often placed on a 
 system of RATIONAL CONTRIVANCE. An ingenious 
 man thinks he can so manage to preach Christ, 
 that his hearers will say " Here is nothing 
 of methodism ! This has nothing to do with 
 that system !" 1 will venture to say, if this is 
 the sentiment communicated by his ministry, 
 that he has not delivered his message. The 
 people do not know what he means, or he 
 has kept back part of God's truth. He has 
 fallen on a carnal contrivance, to avoid across, 
 and he does no good to souls. The WHOLE 
 MESSAGE MUST be delivered j and it is better it 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 1 1 
 
 should be delivered even coarsely, than not at 
 all. We may lay it down as a principle That 
 if the Gospel be a MEDICINE, and a SPECIFIC too 
 as it is it must be got down SUCH AS IT is. 
 Any attempt to sophisticate and adulterate will 
 deprive it of its efficacy : and will often recoil 
 on the man who makes the attempt, to his 
 shame and confusion. The Jesuits tried to 
 render Christianity palatable to the Chinese 
 by adulterating it, but the Jesuits were driven 
 with abhorrence from the empire. 
 
 If we have to deal with men of learning, let 
 us shew learning so far as to demonstrate that 
 it bears its testimony to the truth. But accom- 
 modation in manner must often spring from hu- 
 mility. We must condescend to the capacity 
 of men, and make the truth intelligihle to them. 
 
 If this be our manner of preaching Christ, 
 we must make up our minds not to regard the 
 little caviller who will judge us by the standard 
 of his favorite author or preacher. We must 
 be cautious, too, since men of God have been 
 and ever will be the butt and scorn of the 
 world, of thinking that we can escape its 
 snares and its censures. It is a foolish pro- 
 ject To AVOID GIVING OFFENCE ; but it is our 
 duty, to avoid giving UNNECESSARY offence. It 
 is necessary offence, if it is given by the truth ; 
 but it is unnecessary, if our own spirit occa- 
 sion it. 
 
 1 have often thought that St. Paul was rais- 
 ed up peculiarly to be an example to others, 
 in labouring to discover the wisest way of ex- 
 hibiting the Gospel , not only that he was to 
 
1 1 2 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 be a great pattern in other points, but design- 
 edly raised up ibr this very thing. How does 
 ho labor to make the truth REASONABLY PLAIN ! 
 How does he strain every nerve and ransack 
 every corner of the heart, to make it REASON- 
 ABLY PALATABLE ! We need not be instructed in 
 his particular meaning when he says, / became 
 all things to all men. if by any means 1 might 
 save some. His history is a comment on the de- 
 claration. 
 
 The knowledge of Jesus Christ is a wonder- 
 ful mystery. Some men think they preach 
 Christ gloriously becausp they name him every 
 two minutes in their sermons. But that is not 
 preaching Christ. To understand, and enter 
 into, and open his various offices and charac- 
 ters the glories of his person and work his 
 relation to us, and ours to Him, and to God the 
 Father and God the Spirit through Him this 
 is the knowledge of Christ. The divines of 
 the present day are stunted dwarfs in this 
 knowledge, compared with the great men of 
 the last age. To know Jesus Christ for our- 
 selves, is to make him a -CONSOLATION, DE- 
 LIGHT, STRENGTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, COMPANION, 
 
 and END. 
 
 This is the aspect in which religion should 
 be presented to mnnkindi.it is suited, above 
 nil other, to produce effect ; and effect is our ob- 
 ject. We must take human nature as we find hu- 
 man nature. We must take human nature in 
 groat cities, as we find human nature in great cit- 
 ies. We may say u THIS or THAT is th^ aspect 
 which OUGHT to have most eilect: we must 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 1 3 
 
 illurpinate the mind : we must enlist the reason : 
 we must attack the conscience." We may do 
 all this, and yet our comparative want of suc- 
 cess in begetting and educating the sons of 
 glory, may demonstrate to us that there is 
 some more effective way ; and that sound sense 
 and philosophy call on us to adopt that way, 
 BECAUSE it is the most effective. 
 
 Our system of preaching must meet man- 
 kind : they must find it POSSIBLE to live in the 
 bustle of the world, and yet serve God: after 
 being worried and harassed with its concerns, 
 let them hear cheering truths concerning 
 Christ's love and care and pity, which will op- 
 erate like an enchantment in dispelling the 
 cares of life, and calming the anxious per- 
 turbations of conscience. Bring forward pri- 
 vileges and enforce duties, in their proper pla- 
 ces and proportions. 
 
 Let there he no extremes : yet I am arrived 
 at this conviction : Men, who lean toward the 
 extreme of evangelical PRIVILEGES in their min- 
 istry, do much more to the conversion of their 
 hearers ; than they do, who lean toward the 
 extreme of REQUIREMENT. And my own EXPERI- 
 ENCE confirms my observation. I feel myself 
 repelled, if any thing chills, loads, or urges 
 me. This is my nature, and I see it to he very 
 much the nature of other men. But, let me 
 hear Son of 'man , tliou hast played the harlot with 
 many lover* ; yet return again to me, sairfi the. 
 Lord I am melted and subdued. 
 
1 1 4 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 On a Ministers Familiar Intercourse with 
 his Hearers. 
 
 WHAT passes, on these occasions, too often 
 savours of this world. We become one among 
 our hearers. They come to church on Sun- 
 day ; and we preach : the week comes round 
 again, and its nonsense with it. Now if a min- 
 ister were what he should be, the people 
 would feel it. They would not attempt to in- 
 troduce this dawdling 1 , silly, diurnal chat ! 
 When we countenance this, it looks as though, 
 u On the Sunday \ am ready to do MY business; 
 and, in the week, you may do YOURS/' This 
 lowers the tone of what 1 say on the Sabbath. 
 It forms a sad comment on my preaching. 
 
 I have traced, I think, some of the evil that 
 lies at the root of this. We are more concern- 
 ed to be thjaught gentlemen, than to be felt 
 as ministers. Now being desirous to be thought 
 a man who has kept good company, strikes at 
 the root of that rough work the bringing of 
 God into his own world It is hard and rough 
 work to bring God into his own world. To 
 talk of a Creator, and Preserver, and Redeem- 
 er, is an outrage on the feelings of most com- 
 panies. 
 
 There is important truth in what Mr. Wes- 
 ley said to his preachers, when rightly under- 
 stood, however it may have been ridiculed : 
 u You have no more to do with being gentle- 
 men, than dancing masters." The character 
 of a minister is far beyond that of a mere gen- 
 tleman. It takes a higher walk. He will, in- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 115 
 
 deed, study to be a real gentleman : he will be 
 the farthest possible from a rude man : he will 
 not disdain to learn nor to practise the decen- 
 cies of society: but he will sustain a still high- 
 er character. 
 
 It is a snare to a minister when in company, 
 to be drawn out to converse largely on the 
 state of the funds, and on the news of the day. 
 He should know the world, and what is doing 
 in the world, and should give things of this na- 
 ture their due place and proportion ; but if he 
 can be drawn out to give twenty opinions on 
 this or that subject of politics or literature, he 
 is lowered in his tone. A man of sense feels 
 something violent in the transition from SUCH 
 conversation to the Bible and to prayer. 
 
 Dinner visits can seldom be rendered really 
 profitable to the mind. The company are so 
 much occupied, that little good is to be done. 
 A minister should shew his sense of the value 
 of time : it is a sad thing when those around 
 him begin to yawn. He must be a man of 
 business. It is not sufficiently considered how 
 great the sin of idleness is. We talk in the 
 pulpit of the value of time, but we act too lit- 
 tle on what we say. 
 
 Let a minister who declines associating much 
 with his hearers, satisfy himself that he has a 
 good reason for doing so. If reproached for 
 not visiting them so much as they wish, let him 
 have a just reason to assign. A man who is at 
 work for his family, may have as much love for 
 them as the wife, though she is always with 
 them. 
 
116 REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 
 
 I fell into a mistake, when a young- man, 
 in thinking that I could talk with men of the 
 world on their own ground, and could thus win 
 them over to mine. I was fond of painting, and 
 so talked with them on that subject. This pleas- 
 ed them : but I did not consider that I gave a 
 consequence to their pursuits which does not 
 belong to them ; whereas I ought to have en- 
 deavored to raise them above these, that they 
 might engage in higher. I did not see this at 
 the time : hut I now see it to have been a great 
 error. A wealthy man builds a fine house, 
 and opens to himself fine prospects : he wants 
 you to see them, for he is sick of them him- 
 self. They thus draw you into their schemes. 
 A man has got ten thousand pounds : you con- 
 gratulate him on it, and that without any inti- 
 mation of his danger or his responsibility. Now 
 you may tell him in the pulpit that ricies are 
 nothing worth; but you will tell him this in 
 vain, while you tell him out of it that they are. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield says, a man's character is 
 degraded when HE is TO BE HAD. A minister 
 ought never TO BE HAD. 
 
 On a Ministers encouraging Animadversion on 
 
 himself. 
 IT is a serious inquiry for a minister, now FAR 
 
 HK SHOULD ENCOURAGE ANIMADVERSION ON HIMSELF 
 
 IN HIS HEARERS. He will encounter many ignor- 
 ant and many censorious remarks, but he may 
 gain much on the whole. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 117 
 
 He should lay down to himself a few princi- 
 ples. 
 
 It is better that a minister smart than mistake. 
 It is better that a traveller meet a surly, im- 
 pertinent fellow to direct him his way, than 
 lose his way. A minister is so important in his 
 office, that, whatever others think of it, he 
 should regard this and this only as the transac- 
 tion for eternity. But a man may be laboring 
 in the fire : he may be turning the world up- 
 side down, and yet be wrong. You say he 
 must read his Bible. True ! but he must use 
 ALL means. He must build his usefulness on 
 this principle if by ANY means. If the wheel 
 hitches, let him, by ANY means, discover where 
 it hitches. This principle is to be worked con- 
 tinually in his mind. He must labor to keep 
 it up to a fine, keen edge. Let him never be- 
 lieve that his view of himself is sufficient. A 
 merchant sailing in quest of gain, is so intent 
 on his object, that he will take a hint from any 
 man. If we had all the meaning to which we 
 pretend in our pursuits, we should feel and act 
 like him. 
 
 A minister must lay it down also as a princi- 
 ple, that he will never sufficiently understand his 
 own pride and self-love ; and that confidence in 
 his own sense, which cleaves closely to every man. 
 He must consider this as the general malady. 
 Man is blind and obstinate poor and proud. 
 This silly creature through ignorance of this 
 principle, will not only not hear a vulgar hear- 
 er, who animadverts on him; but he will scarce- 
 Iv listen to a superior man among his hearers. 
 11 
 
1 18 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 He attends to such a one, because it would be 
 indecent not to attend. But he finds some ex- 
 cuse for himself in his own bosom He rever- 
 ences what is said very little, if at all. He 
 strokes and flatters himself, and makes up the 
 affair very well in his own mind. 
 
 A minister should consider how much more 
 easily a weak man can read a wise wan, than a 
 wise man can read himself: and that for this 
 reason no man can see and hear himself. He 
 is too much formed in his own habits his fam- 
 ily notions his closet notions to detect him- 
 self. He, who stands by and sees a game play- 
 ed, has vast advantages over the players. 
 Besides, preachers err systematically learn- 
 edly scientifically. The simple hearer has 
 an appeal to nature in his heart. He can often 
 feel that his minister is wrong, when he is not 
 able to set him right. Dr. Manton, no doubt, 
 thought he had preached well, and as became 
 him, before the Lord Mayor ; but he felt him- 
 self reproved and instructed, when a poor man 
 pulled him by the sleeve, and told him he had 
 understood nothing of his sermon : there was 
 an appeal in this poor man's breast to nature : 
 nature could not make any thing of the Doc- 
 tor's learning. When Apelles took his stand 
 behind his picture, he was a wise man : and he 
 was a wise man too, when he altered the shoe 
 on the hint of the cobbler: the cobbler, in his 
 place, was to be heard. 
 
 A minister should consider, too, that few will 
 venture to speak to a public man. It is a rare, 
 thing to hear a man say u Upon my word that 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 1 9 
 
 thing, or your general manner, is defective or 
 improper." If a wise man says this, he shews 
 a regard, which the united stock of five hun- 
 dred flatterers will not equal. 1 would set 
 down half the blunders of ministers to their not 
 listening to animadversion. I have heard it 
 said for the men, who would animadvert on 
 us, talk among themselves, if we refuse to let 
 
 them talk to us 1 have heard it said, 
 
 " Why don't you talk to him ?" " Why don't 
 you talk to him ! because he will not hear !" 
 
 Let him consider, moreover, that this aver" 
 sioufrom reproof is not wise. This is a symp- 
 tom of the disease. Why should he want this 
 hushing-up of the disorder? This is a mark of 
 a little mind. A great man can afford to lose : 
 a little insignificant fellow is afraid of being 
 snuffed out. 
 
 A minister mistakes who should refuse to 
 read any anonymous letters. He may, perhaps, 
 see nothing in them the first time ; but, let him 
 read them again and again. The writer raises 
 his superstructure^ probably, on a slight basis; 
 yet there is generally some sort of occasion. 
 If he points out but a small error, yet THAT is 
 worth detecting. 
 
 In the present habits of men, it is so difficult 
 to get them to tell the naked truth, that a min- 
 ister should shew a disposition to be corrected : 
 he should shew himself to be sensible of the 
 want of it. He is not to encourage idle people: 
 that could be productive of no possible good. 
 
 These are some of the reasons for a minis- 
 ter's encouragement in a judicious manner, of 
 animadversion on himself in his hearers. 
 
120 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 Sometimes, however, a man will come who 
 appears to be an impertinent man, independ- 
 ently of what he has to remark a man who 
 is evidently disposed to be troublesome. Such 
 a man came to me, with u Sir, you said such 
 a thing* that seemed to lean to the doctrine of 
 universal redemption. Pray, Sir, may 1 speak 
 a little with you on that subject ?" The man- 
 ner of the man at once marked his character. 
 He seemed to bring with him this kind of sen- 
 timent u I'll go and set that man right. I'll 
 call that man to account." It was a sort of de- 
 mocratic insolence of mind. Instead of answer- 
 ing him as he expected, I treated him as a child. 
 I turned it into an occasion of preaching a ser- 
 mon to him :-- u Sir, do you come to instruct me, 
 or to be instructed? Before we enter on a 
 question which has exercised the greatest men, 
 we want a preparedness of mind : we want a 
 deep humility a teachableness a spirit of 
 dependence of which you seem to me to 
 have but little." 
 
 On the other hand, a man may come, quite 
 as ignorant as the other, yet a simple charac- 
 ter. I have distressed him. Though he can- 
 not, perhaps, be made to understand what he 
 inquires about yet a minister should say to 
 himself, " Have I puzzled him ? He is wounded, 
 and he comes for help." 
 
 A minister should remember that he is not 
 always to act and speak authoritatively. He 
 sits on his friend's chair, and his friend says his 
 thing's to him with frankness. They may want 
 perhaps a little decorum ; but he should re- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 121 
 
 eive them in the most friendly and good-.hu- 
 inoured way in the world. A thing strikes 
 this man and that man : he may depend on it, 
 that it has some foundation. 
 
 Bnt there are persons, whom a minister 
 should more than encourage to animadvert on 
 him. He should employ them. He should 
 explain himself to them. He does not merely 
 want an account of his sermon, but he employs 
 them on business. To such sensible persons, 
 he will say " What serious judgment do you 
 form of my preaching ? Do tell me what sort 
 of man I am." 
 
 A minister has to treat with another sort of 
 hearers uncandid men, and yet men of capa- 
 city : a sort of men, who are not now pleased, 
 and then displeased. They spy a blot every 
 where. He is likely to make a mistake with 
 regard to such men : " What signifies the 
 opinion of that man? That man can never be 
 pleased." True ! that man cannot be pleased, 
 but it does not follow that he tells you no truth. 
 In treating with such a man he should say 
 His edge may be too keen, for candor and sound 
 judgment; yet if it lays open tome what I 
 could not otherwise see, let me improve by its 
 keenness. What hurt can he do to me ? He 
 may damp or irritate others, by talking thus 
 to them ; but let me learn what is to be learnt 
 from him." Such a man lifts a minister from 
 his standing, where he settles down too easily 
 and firmly. If I know a man to be of this class, 
 I will distinguish: "This is the man: but that 
 is myself 1" If I would write a book to stand 
 11* 
 
122 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 the fire, let me find out the severest censor. 
 My friend is but half the man: there is a con- 
 sentaneousness of sentiment between us: we 
 have fallen in together, till we scarcely know 
 how to differ from each other. Let the man 
 come who says u Here I can discover you to 
 yourself; and there !" The best hints are ob- 
 tained from snarling people. Medicaments 
 make the patient smart, but they heal. 
 
 Yet a minister must not take this in the gross. 
 He is not to invite rude men round his door. 
 If he suffer his hearers to treat him irreverent- 
 ly if he allow them to dispute with him on 
 every occasion he will bring ruin on the 
 Church. The priests lips must keep knowledge. 
 If a parent allow his children to question every 
 thing, so that nothing is to be settled without 
 a hundred proofs, they will soon despise their 
 teacher, for they will think themselves able to 
 teach him. The minister must have decided 
 superiority and authority, or he will want one 
 of the principal qualities of his ministry. This 
 is not inconsistent with receiving hints. He 
 may mistake in some things : but he should 
 mark the complexion of his congregation in 
 deciding how far they are to be heard on his 
 mistakes. If the people are heady, forward, 
 confident in their own sense, they are never to 
 be encouraged. They are gone too far. 
 
 On the Limits which a Minister should put to the 
 indulgence of his curiosity with regard to Pub- 
 lic Exhibitions. 
 
 AN extreme is to be avoided. Some persons 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 123 
 
 would condemn even rational curiosity. But 
 the -works of the Lord are great: sought out of all 
 them that have pleasure therein, i would not 
 object therefore, to visit the museum ; or to go 
 to see the rare natural productions often exhi- 
 bited. I would enlarge, too, my views of man 
 and the world, by frequenting the panoramas 
 of cities. And though I would not run after 
 every sight, yet I would use my liberty in se- 
 lecting. 
 
 But some are in an opposite extreme. They 
 are found every where. But he, who sustains 
 a character of a scribe of the kingdom of heaven , 
 ought not to be found every where. The man, 
 who is seeking a heavenly country, will shew the 
 spirit of one whose conversation is there. 
 
 There is something in religion, when right- 
 ly apprehended, that is masculine and grand. 
 It removes those little desires, which are " the 
 constant hectic of a fool." 
 
 Every thing of the drama, and whatever is 
 so distinctly the course of this world, must be 
 shunned. If a minister take one step into the 
 world, his hearers will take two. Much may 
 be learnt from the sentiments of men of the 
 world. If a man of this character who heard 
 me preach, should meet me where he would 
 say, "Why I did not expect to see you here !" 
 then he ought not to have seen me there. 
 
 There must be measure and proportion in 
 our attention to arts and sciences. These were 
 the very idols of the heathen world : and what 
 are THE:Y, who now follow them with an idola- 
 trous eagerness, but like children, who are 
 
124 REMAINS OP MR. CECIL* 
 
 charmed with the sparkling of a rocket,. and 
 yet see nothing in the sun ? 
 
 Yet I would not indulge a cynical temper. 
 If I go through a gentleman's gallery of pictures 
 I would say "This is an admirable Claude !" 
 but I would take occasion to drop a hint of 
 something higher and better, and to make it 
 felt that I fell in with these things rather inci- 
 dentally than purposely. But all this must be 
 done with tenderness and humility: "I tread 
 on the pride of Plato," said Diogenes, as he 
 walked over Plato's carpet : u Yes and with 
 more pride," said Plato. 
 
 "THEY pass best over the world," said queen 
 Elizabeth, " who trip over it quickly: for it is 
 but a bog. If we stop, we sink." 
 
 I would not make it my criterion " Christ 
 would not come hither!" / must take a lower 
 standard in these things. / am a poor creature, 
 and must be contented to learn in many places 
 and by many scenes, which Christ need not to 
 have frequented. 
 
 On the means of promoting a Spirit of devotion in 
 
 Congregations. 
 
 LET us ask, "What is man?" He is a crea- 
 ture of feeling, as well as of intellect. We - 
 must interest him as we can. It is unphilosoph- 
 ical to depend on the mere statement of truth. 
 No doubt there is a contrary error: for what 
 is the end of exciting attention, if there is noth- 
 ing deserving attention? 
 
 It is of the first importance, to PUT MEANING 
 into every part of the service. In either ex- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 125 
 
 trerae, of appealing to the understanding or 
 the feelings, there may be no meaning: in a 
 dull and lifeless preacher, there is no meaning ; 
 and, in one of a contrary character, there may 
 be nothing worthy of the name. 
 
 There is, besides, TOO LITTLE ATTENTION, in 
 many churches, TO MAN AS MAN. 1 would con- 
 sult his convenience in all lawful points. If he 
 could sit easier on cushions, he should have 
 cushions. I would not tell him to be warm in 
 God^s service, while 1 leave him to shiver with 
 cold. No doors should creak : no windows 
 should rattle. 
 
 Music has an important effect on devotion. 
 Wherever fantastical music enters, it betrays 
 a corrupt principle. A congregation cannot 
 enter into it ; or if it does, it cannot be a Chris- 
 tian congregation. Wherever there is an at- 
 tempt to set off the music in the service, and 
 the attempt is apparent, it is the first step to- 
 ward carnality. Though there is too little life 
 in the style of music adopted among the Mora- 
 vians, 'yet the simplicity of Christianity per- 
 vades their devotion. 
 
 ORDER is important. Some persons by com- 
 ing in when they please, propagate a loose 
 habit of mind. For man is a sympathetic crea- 
 ture ; and what he sees others neglect, he is in 
 danger of growing negligent in himself. If 
 the reader goes through the service as though 
 the great business for which they are assem- 
 bled is not yet begun, the people will soon feel 
 thus themselves. 
 
 The minister should take occasion frequent- 
 
126 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ly to impress on the people the IMPORTANCE OF 
 THE WORK in which they are engaged, it is 
 not enough to take it for granted that they feel 
 this. We must take nothing for granted. Man 
 needs to be reminded of every thing, for he 
 soon forgets every thing. 
 
 MONOTONY must be above all things, avoided. 
 The mind is vagrant: monotony cannot recal 
 it. There may be continued vehemence, while 
 the attention is not excited : it is disturbance 
 and noise : there is nothing to lead the mind 
 into a useful train of thought or feeling. 
 
 There is an opposite error to vehemence. 
 Men of sense and literature depress devotion 
 by treating things ABSTRACTEDLY. Simplicity, 
 with good sense, is of unspeakable value. Re- 
 ligion must not be rendered abstract and curious. 
 If a curious remark presents itself, reserve it 
 for another place. The hearer gets away from 
 the bustle and business of the week : he comes 
 trembling under his fears : he would mount up- 
 ward in his spirit : but a curious etymological 
 disquisition chills and repels him. 
 
 In truth, we should be men of business in 
 our congregations. We should endeavor both 
 to excite and instruct our hearers. We should 
 render the service an interesting affair in all its 
 parts. We should rouse men : we should bind 
 up the broken-hearted : we should comfort the 
 feeble minded: we should support the weak: we 
 should become all things to all men, if by any 
 means we may save some. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 127 
 
 On the Marriage of Christian Ministers. 
 IT seems to me, that many men do not give 
 sufficient weight to our Lord's observations up- 
 on those who made themselves eunuchs for the 
 kingdom of heaven's sake, nor to St. Paul's rea- 
 soning on the subject of marriage. 1 would 
 only imply, that both our Lord and the apostle 
 seem to establish it in a principle, that a single 
 state, when it can be chosen, and is chosen for 
 the sake of the gospel, is the superior state. 
 This, I fear, is too much forgotten ; and those 
 men, who might have received the saying, and 
 have done more service to the church of God by 
 receiving it, have given it little or no weight 
 in their deliberations. 
 
 And yet it ought to be considered, that the 
 very character which would best fit men for 
 living in a single state, would abstract them 
 too much from the feelings and wants of their 
 people. 1 am fully sensible that I should have 
 been hardened against the distresses of my 
 hearers, if I had not been reduced from my nat- 
 ural stoicism by domestic sufferings. 
 
 The cases, I allow, are extremely few, in 
 which a man may do, on the whole, more ser- 
 vice to the church, by imitating St. Paul, than 
 by marrying: yet there are such cases; and it 
 behooves every minister seriously to consider 
 himself and his situation, before he determines 
 . on marriage. He should not regard this state 
 as indispensably necessary to him, but should 
 always remember, that, caeteris paribus, he, 
 who remains single is most worthy of honor. 
 
 But, when it is proper that a minister should 
 
128 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 marry, and he has determined to do it, how few 
 select such women as suit their high and holy 
 character! A minister is like a man who has 
 undertaken to traverse the world. He has not 
 only fair and pleasant ground to travel over, 
 but he must encounter deserts and marshes and 
 mountains. The traveller wants a firm and 
 steady stay. His wife should be above all 
 things, a woman of faith and prayer a woman, 
 too, of a sound mind and of a tender heart 
 and one who will account it her glory to lay 
 herself out in co-operating with her husband 
 by meeting his wants and soothing his cares. 
 She should be his unfailing* resource, so far as 
 he ought to seek this in the creature. Blessed 
 is she, who is thus qualified and thus lives ! 
 
 But after all, the married minister, if he 
 would live devotedly, must move in a deter- 
 mined sphere. Whatever his wife may be, yet 
 she is a woman and if things are to go on well, 
 they must have two separate worlds. There 
 may, indeed, be cases, when a man with some- 
 thing of a soft and feminine cast about his mind, 
 may be united to a woman of a mind so supe- 
 rior and cultivated, that he may choose to make 
 it his plan that they shall move in the same 
 world. In such rare cases it may be done with 
 less inconvenience than in any other. But, 
 even here, the highest end is sacrificed to feel- 
 ing. Every man, whatever he his natural dis- 
 position, who would urge his powers to the 
 highest end, must be a man of solitary studies. 
 Some uxorious men of considerable minds 
 have moved so much in the women's world, 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 129 
 
 that reflection, disquisition, and the energies 
 of thought have been ruined by the habit of 
 indulging the lighter, softer, and more playful 
 qualities. Such a man is indeed, the idol of 
 the female world; but he would rather deserve 
 to be so, if he stood upon his own ground while 
 he attempted to meet their, wants, instead of 
 descending to mingle among them. 
 
 God has put a difference between the sexes, 
 but education and manners have put a still 
 greater. They are designed to move in sep- 
 arate spheres, but occasionally to unite togeth- 
 er in order to soften and relieve each other. 
 To attempt any subversion of God's design 
 herein, is being wiser than He who made us : 
 and who has so established this affair that each 
 sex has its separate and appropriate excellence 
 only to be attained by pursuing it in the or- 
 der of nature. Thought is pr ought to be the 
 characterizing feature of the man, and feeling 
 that of the woman. 
 
 Every man and woman in the world has an 
 appropriate mind; and that in proportion to 
 their strength of thought and feeling. Each 
 has a way of their own a habit a system a 
 world separated and solitary in which no per- 
 son on earth can have communion with them. 
 Job says of God, He knoweth the way that I take ; 
 and, when the Christian finds a want of com- 
 petency in his bosom friend to understand and 
 meet his way, he turns with an especial near- 
 ness and familiarity of confidence to God, who 
 knoweth it in all its connexions and associations, 
 its peculiarities and its imperfections. 
 12 
 
130 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 I may be thought to speak harshly of the 
 female character; but, whatever persuasion I 
 have of its intended distinction from that of 
 man, I esteem a woman, who aims only to be 
 what God designed her to be, as honorable as 
 any man on earth. She stands not in the same 
 order of excellence, but she is equally honour- 
 able. 
 
 But women have made themselves, and weak 
 men have contributed to make them, what God 
 never designed them to be. Let any thinking 
 man survey the female character as it now 
 stands often nervous, debilitated, and imag- 
 inative, and this super-induced chiefly by edu- 
 cation and manners and he will find it im- 
 possible that any great vigor of mind can be 
 preserved, or any high intellectual pursuits 
 cultivated, so far as this character stands in his 
 way. 
 
 u DOING AS OTHERS DO," is the prevalent 
 principle of the present female character, to 
 whatever absurd, preposterous, masculine, or 
 even wicked lengths it may lead. This is so 
 far as it avails with man or woman, the ruin, 
 death, and grave of all that is noble, and virtu- 
 ous, and praise-worthy. 
 
 A studious man, whose time is chiefly spent 
 at home, and especially a minister, ought not 
 to have to meet the imaginary wants of his 
 wife. The disorders of an imaginative mind 
 are beyond calculation. He is not worthy the 
 name of a husband, who will not with delight 
 nurse his wife, with all possible tenderness and 
 love, through a real visitation, however long ; 
 
REMAINS OF MR,. CECIL. 131 
 
 but he is ruined, if he falls upon a woman of 
 a sickly fancy. It is scarcely to be calculated 
 what an influence the spirit of his wife will 
 have on his own, and on all his ministerial af- 
 fairs. If she comes not up to the full standard, 
 she will so far impede him, derange him, un- 
 sanctify him. 
 
 If there is such a thing as GOOD in this world, 
 it is in the ministerial office. The affairs of 
 this employment are the greatest in the world. 
 In prosecuting these with a right spirit, the 
 minister keeps in motion a vast machine ; and, 
 such are the incalculable consequences of his 
 wife's character to him, that, if she assist him 
 not in urging forward the machine, she will 
 hang as a dead weight upon its wheels. 
 
 A woman may have a high taste : her nat- 
 ural temper may be peevish and fretful : she 
 may have a delicate and fastidious mind : she 
 may long for every thing she sees. It is not 
 enough that she is. in reality, a pious woman. 
 Her taste, her mind, her manners, must have 
 a decorum and congruity to her husband's of- 
 fice and situation. She must bear to be cross- 
 ed in her wishes for unsuitable objects: he 
 will say, with firmness, u This shall not be. 
 It is not enough, that it would gratify you: it 
 is wrong. It is not enough, that it is not fla- 
 grantly sinful : it is improper, unsuitable to our 
 character and station.* It is not enough that 
 money will buy it, and I hare got money : it 
 would be a culpable use of our talent. It is 
 
 * Nee, tibiquid liceat, sed quid fecisse decebit, 
 
 Occurrat. Claudian. J. P. 
 
1 32 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 
 
 not enough that your friend possesses such a 
 thing : we stand and fall to our own Master." 
 
 On Visiting Death-beds. 
 
 I HAVE found it, in many cases, a difficult thing 
 to deal with a DEATH-BED. We are called in 
 to death-beds of various kinds :~ 
 
 The true pilgrim sends for us to set before 
 him the food on which he has fed throughout 
 his journe}'. He has a keen appetite. He 
 wants strength and vigor for the last effort ; 
 and, then, all is for ever well ! He is gone 
 home, and is at rest! 
 
 Another man sends for us because it is de- 
 tent ; or his friends importune him ; or his 
 conscience is alarmed : but he is ignorant of 
 sin and of salvation : he is either indifferent 
 about both, or he has made up his mind in his 
 own way : he wants the minister to confirm 
 him in his own views, and smooth over the 
 wound. I have seen such men mad with rage, 
 while I have been beating down their refuges 
 of lies , and setting forth to them God's refuge. 
 There is a wise and holy medium to be obser- 
 ved in treating such cases ; u I atn not come 
 to daub you over with untempered mortar : 1 am 
 not come to send you to the bar of God with a 
 lie in your right-hand. But neither am I come 
 to mortify you, to put you to unnecessary pain, 
 to embitter you, orto exasperate you." There 
 is a kindness, affection, tenderness, meekness, 
 and patience, which a man's feelings and con- 
 science will condemn him while he opposes ! 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 133 
 
 I have found it a very effectual method to be- 
 gin with myself:, it awakens attention, concili- 
 ates the mind, and insinuates conviction : 
 
 "Whatever others think of themselves, I stand 
 condemned before God : rny heart is so despe- 
 rately wicked, that, if God had not showed me 
 in his word a remedy in Jesus Christ, I should 
 be in despair : I can only tell you what 1 am, 
 and what I have found. If you believe your- 
 selves to be what God has told me I am and all 
 men are, then I can tell you where and how- 
 to find mercy and eternal life : if you will not 
 believe that you are this sort of man, 1 have 
 nothing to offer you. I know of nothing else 
 for man beside that which God has showed 
 me." My descriptions of my own fallen na- 
 ture have excited perfect astonishment : some- 
 times my patients have seemed scarcely able 
 to credit me, but I have found that God has 
 fastened, by this means, conviction on the con- 
 science. In some cases, an indirect method of 
 addressing the conscience may apparently be, 
 in truth, the most direct; but we are to use 
 this method wisely and sparingly. It seems to 
 me to be on.e of the characteristics of the day, 
 in the religious world, to err on this subject. 
 We have found out a CIRCUITOUS way of exhib- 
 iting truth. The plain, direct, simple exhi- 
 bition of it is often abandoned, even where no 
 circumstances justify and require a more in- 
 sinuating manner. There isdexterity indeed, 
 and address in this; but too little of the simple 
 declaration of the testimony of God, which St. 
 Paul opposes to excellency of speech or of wis- 
 
134 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 dom, and to enticing words of man's wisdom. 
 We have done very little when we have 
 merely persuaded men to think as we do. 
 
 But we have to deal with a worse death-bed 
 character, than with the man who opposes the 
 truth. Some men assent to every thing, which 
 we propose. They will even anticipate us. 
 And yet we see that they mean nothing. I 
 have often felt when with such persons : " I 
 would they could be brought to contradict and 
 oppose ! That would lead to discussion. God 
 might, peradventure, dash the stony heart in 
 pieces. But this heart is like water. The 
 impression dies as fast as it is made." I have 
 sought for such views as might rouse and stir 
 up opposition. 1 have tried to irritate the 
 torpid mind. But all in vain. I once visited 
 a young clergyman of this character, who was 
 seized with a dangerous illness at a Coffee- 
 house in town, whither some business had 
 brought him : the first time I saw him, we con- 
 versed very closely together ; and, in the pros- 
 pect of death, he seemed solicitous to prepare 
 for it. But I could make no sort of impression 
 upon him : all I could possibly say met his en- 
 tire approbation, though I saw his heart felt 
 no interest in it. When I visited him a second 
 time, the fear of death was gone : and, with it, 
 all solicitude about religion. He was still 
 civil and grateful, but he tried to parry off the 
 business on which he knew I came. u I will 
 show you, Sir, some little things with which I 
 have worn away the hours of my confinement 
 and solitude." He brought out a quantity of 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 135 
 
 pretty and tasty drawings. I was at a loss how 
 to express, with suitable force and delicacy, 
 the high sense I felt of his indecorum and insi- 
 pidity, and to leave a deep impression on his 
 conscience I rose, however, instantly said 
 my time was expired wished him well, and 
 withdrew. 
 
 Sometimes we have a painful part to act 
 with sincere men, who have been carried too 
 much into the world. I was called in to visit 
 such a man. " I find no comfort,' ? he said. 
 u God veils his face from me. Every thing 
 round me is dark and uncertain. I did not 
 dare to act the flattereri I said " Let us look 
 faithfully into the state of things. I should 
 have been surprised if you had not felt thus. 
 I believe you to be sincere. Your state of 
 feelings evinces your sincerity. Had I found 
 you exulting in God, I should have concluded 
 that you were either deceived or a deceiver : 
 for, while God acts in his usual order, how 
 could you expect to feel otherwise on the ap- 
 proach of death, than you do feel ? You have 
 'driven hard after the world. Your spirit has 
 been absorbed in its cares. Your sentiment 
 your conversation have been in the spirit of 
 the world. And have you any reason to expect 
 the response of conscience, and the clear ev- 
 idence which await the man who has walked 
 and lived in the close friendship with God ! 
 You know that what I say is true." His wife 
 interrupted me, by assuring me that he had 
 been an excellent man. u Silence !" said the 
 dying penitent, " it is all true !" 
 
136 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 Soon after I came to St. John's I was called 
 on to visit a ctying lady, whom 1 saw many 
 times hefore her death. I found that she had 
 taken God for her portion and rest. She ap- 
 proached him with the penitence of a sinner 
 grateful for his provision of mercy in Christ. 
 She told me she had found religion in her Com- 
 mon Prayer Book. She blessed God that she 
 had u always heen kept steady to her church; 
 and that she had never followed the people 
 called Methodists, who were seducing so many 
 on all sides." I thought it would be unadvise- 
 able to attempt the removal of prejudices, 
 which, in her dying case, were harmless, and 
 which would soon be removed by the light 
 which would beam in on her glorified soul. 
 We had more interesting subjects of conversa- 
 tion, from which this would have led us away. 
 Some persons may tax her with a want of 
 charity: but, alas ! I fear they are persons, 
 who, knowing more than she did of the doc- 
 trines of the gospel, have so little of its divine 
 charity in their hearts, that, as they cannot al- 
 low for her prejudices, neither would they 
 have been the last to stigmatize her as a dead 
 formalist and a pharisee. God knoweth fhem 
 that are his ; and they are often seen by him, 
 where we see them not. Were a benighted 
 inhabitant of Otaheite to feel the wretchedness 
 of his present life, and lift up his soul to the 
 God he worshipped as a Supreme Being for 
 happiness, no doubt God would hear such a 
 prayer. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 137 
 
 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Christian Ministry. 
 
 EVERY book really worth a minister's studying 
 he ought if possible, to have in his own library. 
 I have used large libraries, but I soon left them. 
 Time was frittered away : my mind was un- 
 concentrated. Besides, the habit which it be- 
 gets of turning over a multitude of books, is a 
 pernicious habit. And the usual contents of 
 such libraries are injurious to a spiritual man, 
 whose business it is to transact with men's 
 minds. They have a dry, cold/ deadening 
 effect. It may suit dead men to walk among' 
 the dead ; but send not a living man to be 
 chilled among the ruins of Tadmor in the, wild- 
 erness ! 
 
 CHRISTIANITY is so great and surprising in its 
 nature, that, in preaching it to others, I have 
 no encouragement but the belief of a continued 
 divine operation. It is no difficult thing to 
 change a man's opinions. It is no difficult 
 thing to attach a man to my person and no- 
 tions. It is no difficult thing to convert a 
 proud man to spiritual pride, or a passionate 
 man to passionate zeal for some religious party. 
 But, to bring a man to love God to love the 
 law of God, while it condemns him to loath 
 himself before God to tread the earth under 
 his feet to hunger and thirst after God in 
 Christ, and after the mind that was in Christ 
 with man this is impossible I But God has 
 said it shall be done : and bids me go forth and 
 preach, that by me as his instrument, he may 
 
138 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 effect these great ends ; and therefore I go. 
 Yet I am obliged continually to call rny mind 
 back to my principles. I feel angry, perhaps, 
 with a man, because he will not let me convert 
 him : in spite of all I can say, he will still love 
 the world. 
 
 ST. Paul admonishes Timothy to endure hard- 
 ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. It some- 
 times falls to the lot of a minister to endure 
 the hard labor of a nurse, in a greater meas- 
 ure than that of a soldier. He has to encoun- 
 ter the difficulties of a peculiar situation : he is 
 the parent of a family of children, of various 
 tempers, manners, habits, and prejudices: if 
 he does not continually mortify himself, he 
 will hear hardly upon some of his children. 
 He has, however, to endure the hardness of 
 calling his child his friend to an account ; 
 of being thought a <*evere, jealous, legal man. 
 If a man will let matters take theirchance, he 
 may live smoothly and quietly enough ; but if 
 he will stir among the servants, and sift things 
 to the bottom, he must bear the consequences. 
 He must account himself a Man of Strife. His 
 language must he " It is not enough that you 
 feed me, or fill rnv pocket there is something 
 between me and thee." The most tender and 
 delicate of his flock have their failings. His 
 warmest and most zealous supporters break 
 down some where. A sun-shiny day breeds 
 most reptiles. It is not enough, therefore, 
 that the sun shines out in his church. It is not 
 enough that numbers shout applause. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 139 
 
 A minister may be placed in a discouraging 
 situation. He may not suit the popular taste. 
 He may not be able to fall into the fashionable 
 style. He may not play well on an instrument. 
 Though an effective man, and a man of energy, 
 he may be under a cloud. The door may be 
 shut against him. Yet it is a dangerous thing 
 for such a man to force open the door. He 
 should rather say "I have a lesson to learn 
 here. If I teach the people nothing, perhaps 
 they may teach me." The work of winter is 
 to be done, as well as the work of summer. 
 
 The hardness which I have to endure is this 
 Here are a number of families, which show 
 me every kind of regard. But I see that they 
 are not right. They somehow so combine the 
 things which they hear, with the things which 
 they do, that I am afraid they will at last lie 
 down in sorrow ! Here is my difficulty. I must 
 meet them with gentleness ; but I must detect 
 and uncover the evil. I shall want real kind- 
 ness and common honesty, if I do not. 
 Ephraim hath grey hairs ; yet he knoweth it not. 
 Ephraini is a cake not turned. But, if I tell him 
 these things, he and I shall become two per- 
 sons. He must however be so touched in pri- 
 vate ; for he will not be touched in the pulpit. 
 He will say, 1 am not the man." 
 
 A MINISTER must keep under his body and bring 
 it into subjection. A Newmarket groom will 
 sweat himself thin, that he may be fit for his 
 office : JVbw they do it to obtain a corruptible 
 crown ; bui we, an incorruptible ! 
 
140 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 is come from college. He has a refined, 
 
 accurate, sensible mind. Some of our friends 
 wished to get him a -station at Calcutta. They 
 think him just adapted for that sphere. I dif- 
 fer widely in my view of the matter. A new 
 man, with his college accuracy about him, is 
 not the man for the dissipated and fashionable 
 court at Calcutta. Such a congregation will 
 bid nothing for his acuteness and reasoning. 
 He, who is to talk to them with any effect, 
 must have seen life and the world. He must 
 be able to treat with them on their own ground. 
 And he must be able to do it with the author- 
 ity of a messenger from God, not with the arts 
 and shifts of human eloquence and reasonings. 
 Dr. Patten said admirably well, in a sermon 
 which I heard him preach at Oxford: "Be- 
 ware how you suffer the infidel to draw you 
 upon metaphysical ground. If he get you 
 there, he will have something to say. The 
 evidences and the declarations of God's word 
 are the weapon with which he must be com- 
 batted, and before which he must fall." 
 
 LONDON is very peculiar as a ministerial walk. 
 Almost all a minister can do, is by the pulpit 
 and the pen. His hearers are so occupied in 
 the world, that if he visit them, every minute 
 perhaps brings in some interruption. 
 
 IT is a serious question Whether a minister 
 ought to preach at ail beyond his experience.-' 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 141 
 
 He is to stand forth as a witness but a wit- 
 ness of what he KNOWS, not of what he has been 
 TOLD. He must preach as he feels. If he 
 feels not as he might and ought, he must pray 
 for such feelings ; but, till he has them, ought 
 he to pretend to them ? Going faster than the 
 experience led, has been the bane of many. 
 Men have preached in certain terms and 
 phrases according to the tone given by others, 
 while the thing has never been made out even 
 to their conviction, much less in their expe- 
 rience. 
 
 IT is a most important point of duty, in a min- 
 ister, TO REDEKM TIME. A young minister has 
 sometimes called an old one out of his study, 
 only to ask him how he did : there is a tone to 
 be observed toward such an idler : an intima- 
 tion may be given, which he will understand, 
 " This is not the house !" In order to redeem 
 time, he must refuse to engage in secular af- 
 fairs : c/Vo man, that warreth, entangleth himself 
 with the affairs of this life, that he may please 
 Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. He 
 must watch, too, against a dozing away of time : 
 the clock-weight goes down slowly, yet it draws 
 all the works with it. 
 
 OWEN remarks that it is not sufficiently consid- 
 ered how much a minister's personal religion 
 is exposed to danger, from the very circum- 
 stance of religion being his profession and em- 
 ployment. He must go through the acts of re- 
 ligion : he must put on the appearances of re- 
 13 
 
142 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ligion : he must utter the language and display 
 the feelings of religion. It requires double 
 diligence and vigilance,' to maintain, under such 
 circumstances, the spirit of religion. I have 
 prayed : I have talked : I have preached: but 
 now I should perish, after all, if 1 did not feed 
 on the bread which I have broken to others. 
 
 A MINISTER mUSt CULTIVATE a TENDER SPIRIT. 
 
 If he does this so as to carry a savor and unc- 
 tion into his work, he will have far more 
 weight than other men. This is the result of 
 a devotional habit. To affect feeling is nause- 
 ous and soon detected : but to feel, is the read- 
 iest way to the hearts of others. 
 
 THE leading defect in Christian ministers is 
 want of a DEVOTIONAL HABIT. The church of 
 Rome made much of this habit. The contests 
 accompanying and following the Reformation, 
 with something of an indiscriminate enmity 
 against some of the good of that church as well 
 as the evil, combined to repress this spirit in 
 the Protestant writings ; whereas the mind of 
 Christ seems, in fact, to be the grand end of 
 Christianity in its operation upon man. 
 
 THERE is a manifest want of spiritual influence 
 on the ministry of the present day. I feel it in 
 my own case, and I see it in that of others. I 
 am afraid that there is too much of a low, man- 
 aging, contriving, maneuvering temper of mind 
 among us. We are laying ourselves out, more 
 f han is expedient, to meet one man's taste, and 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 143 
 
 another man's prejudices. The ministry is a 
 grand and holy affair, and it should find in us a 
 simple habit of spirit, and a holy but humble 
 indifference to all consequences. 
 
 A MAN of the world will hear to hear me read 
 in the desk that awful passage : Wide is the 
 gate, and broad is the way that leadeih to destruc- 
 tion y and many there be which go in thereat : Be- 
 cause strait is the gate, and narrow is the way 
 which leadeth unto life ; and few there be that 
 find it. Nay, he will approve it : u The min- 
 ister is in the desk : he is reading the lesson 
 of the day." But this very man were I to 
 go home with him, and tell him in his pa/lour 
 that most of those whom he knows and loves 
 are going on in that road to eternal destruc- 
 tion this very man would brand the sentiment 
 as harsh and uncharitable. Though uttered 
 by Christ himself, it is a declaration as fanati- 
 cal and uncandid, in the judgment of the world, 
 as could be put together in language. 
 
 MANY hearers cannot enter into the REASONS of 
 the Cross. They adopt what I think is Butler's 
 grand defect on this subject. He speaks of 
 the Cross as an appointment of God, and THERE- 
 FORE to be submitted to : but God has said 
 much in his word of the reasons of this appoint- 
 ment : that he might be just, and the justifier of 
 him that believeth. 
 
 SEVERAL things are required, to enable a minis- 
 ter to attain a proper variety in his manner. 
 
144 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 He must be in continual practice: if I were to 
 preach but once a month, I should lose the abil- 
 ity of preaching. He must know that his hear- 
 ers are attached to him that they will grant 
 him indulgences and liberties. He must, m 
 some measure, feel himself above his congre- 
 gation. The presence of a certain brother 
 chills me ; because I feel that I can talk on no 
 one subject in the pulpit, with which he is not 
 far better acquainted than I am. 
 
 THE first duty of a minister, is, To call on his 
 hearers to turn to the Lord. u We have much 
 to speak to you upon. We have many duties 
 to ur^e on you. We have much instruction to 
 give you but all will be thrown away, till you 
 have turned to the Lord" Let me illustrate 
 this by a familiar comparison. You see your 
 child sinking in the water : his education lies 
 near your heart : you are anxious to train him 
 up so, that he may occupy well the post as- 
 signed to him in life. But, when you see him 
 drowning, the first thoughts are not how you 
 may educate him, but how you may save him. 
 Restore him to life, and then call that life into 
 action. 
 
 A DISINTERESTED regard to truth should be, 
 what it very seldom is, the most striking char- 
 acter in a Christian minister. His purpose 
 should be to make proselytes to truth, and not 
 to any thing which may be particular in his 
 views of it. u Read my books," says one. 
 " No ! " says another, u read mine." And 
 thus religion is taken up by piece-meal ; and 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 45 
 
 the mind is diverted from its true nature by 
 false associations. If the teacher whom this 
 man has chosen for his oracle, disgrace religion 
 by irreligious conduct, he stumbles. He stum- 
 bles, because he has not been fixed upon the 
 sole and immoveable basis of the religion of 
 the Bible. The mind, well instructed in the 
 Scriptures, can bear to see even its spiritual 
 father make shipwreck of the faith and scan- 
 dalize the gospel ; but will remain itself un- 
 moved. The man is in possession of a treas- 
 ure, which, if others are foolish enough to 
 abandon, yet they cannot detract any thing 
 from the value attached to it in his esteem. 
 
 THAT a minister may learn how to magnify his 
 office, let him study the character, the spirit, 
 and the history of St. Paul. His life and death 
 were one magnifying of his office : mark his 
 object to win souls! to execute the will of 
 God ! As the man rises in his own esteem, 
 his office sinks ; but, as the office rises in his 
 view, the man falls. He must be in constant 
 hostility with himself, if he would magnify his 
 office. He must hold himself in readiness to 
 make sacrifices, when called to do so : he will 
 not barter his office, like Balaam ; but will re- 
 fuse to sell his service, like Micaiah. Like 
 Ezra and Nehemiah, he will refuse to come 
 down ftvm the great work which he has to do. 
 He may be calumniated ; but he will avoid 
 hasty vindications of his character : it does 
 not appear that Elisha sent after Naaman to 
 vindicate himself from the falsehoods of Ge- 
 13* 
 
146 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 hazi : there appears to me much true dignity 
 in this conduct : I fear I should have wanted 
 patience to act thus. 
 
 SOME young ministers have been greatly injur- 
 ed, by taking up their creed from a sort of 
 second or third rate writers. Toplady, per- 
 hapi, has said that he has found his preaching 
 most successful, when it has turned on the 
 grand doctrines of Calvinism. A young man 
 admires Toplady, and adopts the same notion 
 concerning his own ministry. But let him turn 
 to a master on the subject. He will find such a 
 man as Traill handling the sovereignty of God, 
 and such high points of doctrine with a holy 
 and heavenly sweetness; which, while it ren- 
 ders it almost impossible not to receive his sen- 
 timents, leaves nothing on the mind but a reli- 
 gious eavor. 
 
 THE grand aim of a minister must be THE EX- 
 HIBITION OF GOSPEL TRUTH. Statesmen may 
 make the greatest blunders in the world, but 
 that is not HIS affair. Like a King's Messenger, 
 he must not stop to take care of a person fal- 
 len down : if he can render any kindness con- 
 sistently with his duty, he will do it j if not, 
 he will prefer his office. 
 
 OUR method of preaching is not that\y which 
 Christianity was propagated : yet the genius of 
 Christianity is not changed. There was noth- 
 ing in the'primitive method set or formal. The 
 primitive bishop stood up, and read the gos- 
 pel, or some other portion of Scripture, and 
 
pressed on t 
 
 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 147 
 
 ssed on the hearers, with great earnestness* 
 and affection, a few plain and forcible truths 
 evidently resulting from that portion of the 
 Divine Word: we take a text, and make an 
 oration. Edification was then the object of 
 both speaker and hearers ; and, while this con- 
 tinues (o be the object, no better method can 
 be found. A parable, or history, or passage 
 of Scripture, thus illustrated and enforced, is 
 the best method of introducing truth to any 
 people who are ignorant of it, and of setting 
 it hoine with power ou those who know it ; 
 and not formal, doctrinal, argumentative dis- 
 courses. TRUTH and SIMPLICITY are the soul 
 of an efficacious ministry. 
 
 The Puritans were still farther removed from 
 the primitive method of preaching : they would 
 preach fifteen or sixteen sermons on a text. 
 A primitive bishop would have been shocked 
 with one of our sermons ; and, such is our taste, 
 we should be shocked with his. They brought 
 forward Scripture : we bring forward our state- 
 ments. They directed all their observations 
 to throw light on Scripture : we quote Scrip- 
 ture to throw light on our observations. More 
 faith and more grace would make us better 
 preachers, for out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh. Chrysostonrs was the right 
 method. Leighton's Lectures on Peter ap- 
 proach vry near to this methed. 
 
 IN acting on matter, the art of man is mighty. 
 The steam-engine is a mighty machine. But, 
 in religion, the art of man is mere feebleness. 
 
148 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 The armor of Saul is armor in the camp of (he 
 Israelites, or in the camp of the Philistines - 
 but we want the sling- and the stone. I hon- 
 or Metaphysicians, Logicians, Critics, and His- 
 torians in their places. Look at facts. Men, 
 who lay out their strength in statements, preach 
 churches empty. Few men have a wisdom so 
 large, as to see that the way which they can- 
 not attain may yet be the best way. I dare 
 not tell most academical, logical, frigid men 
 how little 1 account of their opinion, concern- 
 ing the true method of preaching to the pop- 
 ular ear. I hear them talk, as utterly incom-. 
 petent judges. Such men would have said St. 
 Paul was fit only for the Tabernacle. What 
 he would have said they were fit for, I cannot 
 tell. The}' are often great men first-rate 
 men unequalled men in their class and sphere: 
 but it is not THEIR sphere to manage the world. 
 
 h? a minister could work miracles, he would 
 do little more than interest the curiosity of 
 
 men " I want to eat, and I want to drink, 
 
 and I do it, I get on with difficulty enough, as 
 things are ; and you talk about treating with 
 heaven ! I know nothing of the matter, and I 
 want no such thing" 1 ' This is the language of 
 man's heart. A FUTURE thing ! An INDEFIN- 
 ITELY FUTUKE thing ! No! if a man could even 
 authoritatively declare, that the day of jurfg- 
 ni^nt would he this day seven years, he would 
 have little influence on mankind. Very few 
 would be driven from the play-house very 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 149 
 
 few from the gaming-table very few from the 
 brothel. The dm on 'Change would be very 
 little diminished. 1 frequently look back on 
 the early periods of my life, and imagine my- 
 self treating with such a character as 1 know 
 I then was. I say to myself, " What now can 
 I possibly say, that will affect and interest that 
 'young fellow of eighteen?" 
 
 SOME Christian ministers fail in their effect on 
 their hearers, by not entering as Philosophers 
 into the state of human nature. They do not 
 consider how low the patient is reduced that 
 he is to be treated more as a child that he is 
 to have milk administered to him, instead of 
 strong meat. They set themselves to plant 
 principles and prove points, when they should 
 labor to interest the heart But, after all, men 
 will carry their natural character into their 
 ministry. If a man has a dry, logical, scholas- 
 tic turn of mmd, we shall rarely find him an 
 interesting preacher. One in a thousand may 
 meet him, but not more. 
 
 THE Christian will sometimes be brought to 
 walk in a solitary path. God seems to cut 
 away his props, That he may reduce him to 
 himself. His religion is to be felt as a person- 
 al, particular, appropriate possession. He is 
 to feel, that, as there is but one Jehovah to 
 bless, so there seems to him as though there 
 were but one penitent in the universe to be 
 blessed by Him. Mary Magdelene at the sepul- 
 chre was brought to this state. She might 
 
150 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 have said, u I know not where Peter is : he is 
 gone away perhaps into the world perhaps 
 to weep over his fall. 1 know not where John 
 is. What are the feelings and states of my 
 brethren, I know not. I am left here alone. 
 No one accompanies and strengthens me. But 
 if none other will seek my Lord, yet will I 
 seek him !" There is a commanding 1 energy 
 in religious sympathy. A minister, for exam- 
 ple, while his preaching seems effective, and 
 life and feeling shew themselves around him, 
 moves on with ease and pleasure. But there 
 is much of the man here. If God change the 
 scene if discouragements meet him if he 
 seem to be laid by, in any measure, as an in- 
 strument if the love of his hearers to his per- 
 son and ministry decay this is a severe trial : 
 yet most of us need this trial, that we may be 
 reduced simply to God, and may feel that the 
 whole affair is between Him and ourselves. 
 A dead fish will swim with the stream, what- 
 ever he its direction : But a living one will not 
 only resist the stream : but, if it chooses, it 
 can swim against it. The soul, that lives from 
 God, will seek God, and follow God more 
 easily and pleasantly, indeed, if the stream 
 flow toward the point whither God leads ; hut, 
 still, it will follow God as its sole rest and cen- 
 tre, though the stream of men and opinions 
 would hurry it away from him. 
 
 GRAVITY is, doubtless, obligatory on ministers. 
 The apostle connects it with simplicity. Yet 
 
I 
 
 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 151 
 
 must be natural not affected. Some men 
 give every thing in an oracular style : this 
 looks like affectation, and will disgust others: 
 they will attribute it to religion : but this is 
 not a sanctified gravity. Other men are always 
 disposed to levity : not that a man of original 
 fancy is to be condemned, for thinking in his 
 own way : but the minister must consider that 
 he is a man of a consecrated character: if it 
 should not be difficult to himself to make trans- 
 itions from levity to gravity, it will be difficult 
 to carry others with him therein. Who has 
 not felt, if God brings him into a trying situa- 
 tion, in which he sees that it is an awful thing 
 to suffer or to die, that gravity is then natural ? 
 every thing else is offensive ! That, too, is 
 evil, which lets clown the tone of a company: 
 when a minister loses his gravity, the company 
 will take liberties with him. Yet, with a right 
 principle, we must not play the fool. Gravity 
 must be natural and simple. There must be 
 urbanity and tenderness in it. A man must not 
 formalize on every thing. He, who formal- 
 izes on every thing, is a fool : and a grave 
 fool is perhaps more injurious than a light 
 fool. 
 
 WE are called to build a spiritual house. One 
 workman is not to busy himself in telling anoth- 
 er his duty. We are placed in different circum- 
 stances, with various talents : and each is call- 
 ed to do what he can. Two men, equally ac- 
 cepted of God, may be exceedingly distinct in 
 the account which they will give of their em- 
 ploy. 
 
152 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 A REGULAR clergyman can do no more in the 
 discharge of his duty, than our church requires 
 f him. He may fall far short of her require- 
 ments ; but he cannot exceed, by the most de- 
 voted life, the duties which he has prescribed. 
 What man on earth is so pernicious a drone, 
 as an idle clergyman! a man, engaged in the 
 most serious profession in the world : who rises 
 to eat, and drink, and lounge, and trifle : and 
 goes to bed ; and then rises again, to do the 
 same ! Our office is the most laborious in the 
 world. The mind must be always on the stretch, 
 to acquire wisdom and grace, and to communi- 
 cate them to all who come near. It is well, 
 indeed, when a clergyman of genius and learn- 
 ing devotes himself to the publication of clas- 
 sics and works of literature, if he cannot be 
 prevailed on to turn his genius and learning 
 to a more important end. Enter into this kind 
 of society, what do you hear? u Have, you 
 seen the new edition of Sophocles?" " No! 
 is anew edition of Sophocles undertaken?" 
 and this makes up the conversation, and these 
 are the ends of men who, by profession, should 
 win souls ! I received a most useful hint from 
 Dr. Bacon, then Father of the University, when 
 I was at College. I used frequently to visit 
 him at his Living near Oxford : he would say 
 to me, " What are you doing ? What are your 
 studies ?" " 1 am reading so and so." u You 
 are quite wrong. When I was young I could 
 turn any piece of Hebrew into Greek verse 
 with ease. But, when I came into this parish, 
 and had to teach ignorant people, I was wholly 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 53 
 
 at a loss; I had no furniture. They thought 
 me a great man, but that was their ignorance ; 
 for I knew as little as they did, of what it was 
 most important to them to know. Study chief- 
 ly what you can turn to good account in your 
 future life." And yet this wise man had not 
 just views of serious religion : he was one of 
 
 those who are for reforming the parish 
 
 making the maids industrious, and the men 
 sober and honest but when I ventured to ask, 
 " Sir, must not all this be effected by the infu- 
 sion of* a divine principle into the mind? a 
 union of the soul with the great head of influ- 
 ence ?" "No more of that; no more of that 
 I pray !" 
 
 A WISE minister stands between practical Athe- 
 ism and Religious enthusiasm. 
 
 A SERMON, that has more head infused into it than 
 heart, will not come home with efficacy to the 
 hearers. " You must do so and so : such and 
 such consequences will follow if you do not: 
 such and such advantages will result from do- 
 ing it :" this is cold, dead, and spiritless, when 
 it stands alone ; or even when it is most prom- 
 inent. Let the preacher's head be stored with 
 wisdom ; but, above all, let his heart so feel 
 his subject, that he may infuse life and interest 
 into it, by speaking like one who actually pos- 
 sesses and feels what he says. 
 
 FAITH is the master-spring of a minister. " Hell 
 is before me, and thousands of souls shut up 
 14 
 
154 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 there in everlasting agonies Jesus Christ 
 stands forth to save men from rushing into this 
 bottomless abyss He sends me to proclaim his 
 ability and his love : I want no fourth idea ! 
 every fourth idea is contemptible! every fourth 
 idea is a grand impertinence !" 
 
 THE meanness of the earthen vessel, which 
 conveys to others the Gospel treasure, takes 
 nothing' from the value of the treasure. A dy- 
 ing hand may sign a deed of gift of incalculable 
 value. A shepherd's boy may point out the 
 way to a philosopher. A beggar may be the 
 bearer of an invaluable present. 
 
 A WRITER of Sermons has often no idea how 
 many words he uses, to which the common 
 people affix either no meaning, or a false one. 
 He speaks, perhaps, of u relation to God;'" 
 but the people, who hear him, affix no other 
 idea to the word, than that of father, or broth- 
 er, or relative. The preacher must converse 
 with the people, that he may acquire Iheir 
 words and phrases. 
 
 IT sometimes pleases God to disqualify ministers 
 for their work, before he takes them to their 
 reward. Where he gives them wisdom to per- 
 ceive this, and grace to acquiesce in the dis- 
 pensation such a close of an honorable life, 
 where the desire to be publicly useful survives 
 the power, is a loud AMEN to all former labors. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 155 
 
 On Infidelity and Popery. 
 
 INFIDEL writing's are ultimately productive of 
 little or no clanger to the church of God. Nay 
 we are less at a loss in judging- of the wisdom 
 of Providence in permitting them, than we are 
 in judging- of many other of its designs. They 
 may shake the simple, humble, spiritual mind ; 
 but they are, in the end, the means of enlight- 
 ening and settling it. 
 
 There are but two sorts of people in the 
 world. Some walk by the Light of the Lord, and 
 all others lie in the wicked one in darkness and 
 in the shadow of death. Where there is not an 
 enlightened, simple, humble, spiritual mind, 
 notions and opinions are of little consequence. 
 The impudent and refuted misrepresentations 
 of infidels may turn a dark mind to some other 
 notions and way of thinking ; but it is in the 
 dark still. Till a man sees by the light of the 
 Lord, every change of opinions is only putting 
 a new dress on a dead carcase, and calling it 
 alive. 
 
 The grace of God must give simplicity. 
 Wherever that is, it is a security against dan- 
 gerous error: wherever it is not, erroneous 
 opinions may perhaps less predispose the mind 
 against the truth of God in its lively power on 
 the soul, than true notions destitute of all life 
 and influence do. 
 
 Yet the writings of infidels must be rpad 
 with caution and fear. There are cold, intel- 
 lectual, speculative, malignant foes to Chris- 
 tianity. I dare not tamper with such, when I 
 am in my right mind. 1 have received serious 
 
156 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 injury, for a time, even when my duty has cal- 
 led me to read what they have to say. The 
 daring impiety of Belsham's answer to Wilber- 
 force ruffled the calm of my spirit. I read it 
 over while at Bath, in the Autumn, of 1798. 
 I waked in pain, about two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. I tried to cheer myself by an exercise of 
 faith on Jesus Christ. 1 lifted up my heart to 
 Him, as sympathizing with me and engaged to 
 support me. Many times have 1 thus obtained 
 qui<h and repose : but now 1 could lay no hold 
 on him : 1 had given the enemy an advantage 
 over me : my habit had imbibed poison : my 
 nerves trembled ! my strength was gone ! 
 u Jesus Christ sympathize with you, and relieve 
 you! It is all enthusiasm ! It is idolatry ! Jesus 
 Christ has preached his sermons, and done his 
 duty, and is gone to heaven ! And there he is. as 
 other good men are ! Address your prayers to 
 the Supreme Being !" I obtain relief in such 
 cases, by dismissing from my thoughts all that 
 enemies or friends can -say. I will have nothing 
 to do with Belsham or with Wilberforce. I come 
 to Christ Himself. 1 hear what He says. I turn 
 over the gospels. I read his conversations. I 
 dwell especially on his farewell discourse with 
 his disciples, in St. John's Gospel. If there be 
 meaning in words, and if Christ were not a de- 
 ceiver or deceived, the reality of the Chris- 
 tian's life, in Him and from Him by faith, is 
 written there as with a sun-beam. 
 
 This temptation besets me to this day, and 
 I know not that I have any other which is so 
 particular in its attacks upon me. I am some- 
 times restless in bed ; and, when I find myself 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 57 
 
 so, I generally think that the parenthesis can- 
 not be so well employed as in prayer. While 
 my mind is thus ascending to Christ and com- 
 muning with him, it often comes across me 
 " What a fool art thou, to imagine these men- 
 tal effusions can be known to any other Being ! 
 what a senseless enthusiast, to imagine that the 
 man who was nailed to a cross can have any 
 knowledge of these secrets of thy soul !" On 
 one of these occasions it struck me with great 
 and commanding evidence. " Why might not 
 St. John, in the Isle of Patmos imprisoned 
 perhaps in a cave why might not he have 
 said so? Why might not he have doubted wheth- 
 er Christ the crucified could have knowledge 
 of his feelings, when he was in the Spirit on the 
 Lord's day ? He had no doubt communion with 
 Christ in the Spirit, before he had those palpa- 
 ble evidences of his presence which immediate- 
 ly followed." 
 
 IN the pernv^sion of certain bold infidel char- 
 acters and writings, we may discern plain evi- 
 dences of that awful system of judicial govern- 
 ment, with which God has been pleased to rule 
 the world. Where there is a moral indisposi- 
 tion, where men are inclined to be deceived, 
 where they are waiting as it were for a leader 
 there he sends such men or such writings, as 
 harden them in their impiety : while a teach- 
 able and humble mind will discern the true 
 character of such men or writings, and escape 
 the danger. 
 
 I can conceive a character much more per- 
 14* 
 
158 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 nicious in its influence, than the daring 1 and im- 
 pudent infidel. A man in the estimation of 
 all the world modest, amiable, benevolent 
 who should, with deep concern, lament the 
 obligation under which he feels himself to de- 
 part from he religion of Europe, the religion 
 of his country, the religion of his family ; and 
 should profess his unfeigned desire to find this 
 religion true, but that he cannot possibly bring 
 his mind to believe it, and that for such and 
 such reasons: when he should thus introduce 
 all the strongest points that can be urged on 
 the subject. 
 
 But God governs the world. It is not in his 
 design to permit such men to arise. The in- 
 fidel has always had something about him, 
 which has ascertained his obliquity to the eye, 
 that has not been dimmed by the moral indis- 
 position of the heart. 
 
 THE low and scurrilous writers against Reve- 
 lation carry their own condemnation with them. 
 They are like an ill-looking fellow, who comes 
 into a Court of Justice to give evidence, but 
 carries the aspect, on the first glance, of a 
 town- bully, ready to swear whatever shall be 
 suggested to him. 
 
 BURKE has painted the spirit of Democracy to 
 the life. I have fallen in with some Demo- 
 crats, who knew nothing of me. They have 
 been subjects of great curiosity; when 1 could 
 forget the horrid display of sin that was before 
 rae. I saw a malignant eye a ferocity an 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 159 
 
 intensity of mind on their point. Viewed in its 
 temper and tendencies, Jacobinism is Devilism 
 Belialism. It takes the yoke of God and 
 man puts it on the ground and stamps on it. 
 Every man is called out into exertion against 
 it. It is an inveterate, malignant, blaspheming, 
 atheistical, fierce spirit. It seems a toss up 
 with these men, whether Satan himself shall 
 govern the world. Before such men, I say not 
 a word. Our Master has commanded us not to 
 cast pearls before swine. I am vastly delighted 
 with character true and original character : 
 but this is an awful and affecting display of it. 
 
 THE church has endured a PAGAN and a PAPAL 
 persecution. There remains for her an INFI- 
 DEL persecution general, bitter, purifying, ce- 
 menting. 
 
 IT is, perhaps, impossible, in the very nature 
 of things, that such another scheme as Popery 
 could be invented. It is in truth, the mystery 
 of iniquity ; that it should be able to work it- 
 self into the simple, grand, sublime, holy insti- 
 tution of Christianity, and so to interweave its 
 abominations with the truth, as to occupy the 
 strongest passions of the soul, and to control 
 the strongest understandings! While Pascal 
 can speak of Popery as he does, its inlluence 
 over the mass of the people can excite no sur- 
 prise. Those two master principles That we 
 must believe as the church ordains, and That 
 (here is no salvation out of this church oppose, 
 
160 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 in the ignorance and fear which they beget, an 
 almost insuperable barrier against the truth. 
 
 I HAVE not such expectations of a Millennium 
 as many entertain: yet I believe that the fig- 
 ures and expressions of prophecy have never 
 received their accomplishment. They are too 
 grand and ample, to have been fulfilled by any 
 state, which the church has hitherto seen. 
 Christianity has yet had no face suitable to its 
 dignity. It has savored hitherto too much of 
 man of his institutions of his prejudices of 
 his follies of his sin. It must be drawn out 
 depicted exhibited demonstrated to the 
 world. Its chief enemies have been the men 
 by whom, under the professions of Hail, Mas- 
 ter ! it has been distorted, abused, and vilified. 
 
 Popery was the master-piece of Satan. I 
 believe him utterly incapable of such another 
 contrivance. It was a systematic and infallible 
 plan, for forming manacles and mufflers for the 
 human mind. It was a well laid design to ren- 
 der Christianity contemptible, by the abuse of 
 its principles and its institutions. It was form- 
 ed to overwhelm to enchant to sit as the 
 great whore^ making the earth drunk with her 
 fornications. 
 
 The infidel conspiracy approaches nearest 
 to Popery. But infidelity is a suicide. It dies 
 by its own malignity. It is known and read of 
 all men. No man was ever injured essentially 
 by it, who was fortified with a small portion of 
 the genuine spirit of Christianit}' its contrition 
 and its docility. Nor is it one in its efforts : 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 161 
 
 end is one ; but its means are disjointed, 
 various, and often clashing. Popery debases 
 and alloys Christianity ; bat infidelity is a fur- 
 nace, wherein it is purified and refined. The 
 injuries done to it by Popery, will be repaired 
 by the very attacks of infidelity. 
 
 In the mean time, Christianity wears an en- 
 chanting form to all, who can penetrate through 
 the mists thrown round it by its false friends 
 and its avowed foes. The exiled French Priest 
 raises the pity and indignation of all Christians, 
 while he describes the infernal plots of the 
 infidel canspirators against Christianity, and 
 shews th^m in successful operation against his 
 church.* We seem, for a while, to forget her 
 errors : and we view her, for the moment, 
 only so far a* she possesses Christianity in com- 
 mon with ourselves. But when he charges 
 the origin of this infidel conspiracy on the prin- 
 ciples asserted by the Waldenses or the church 
 of Geneva, the enchantment dissolves. We 
 see that he is under the influence of a sophism : 
 by which, having imposed upon himself, he 
 would impose upon others. With him, Chris- 
 tianity and his church mean one and the same 
 thing. A separation from his church, is a sep- 
 aration from Christianity ; and proceeds on 
 principles which lead necessarily, if pursued 
 to their issues, to every abomination of infidel- 
 ity. But let him know that the church of 
 Geneva protested against the false friend of 
 Christianity ; and that, if the avowed enemy of 
 Chrsitianity had then elevated himself, she 
 
 * Alluding to BarruePs Memoirs of Jacobinism, J. P, 
 
162 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 would have protested with equal zeal against 
 HIM. Let him know, that, if his church had 
 listened to the voice of the reformer, the enemy 
 of Christianity would have wanted ground for 
 footing to his attacks. The Papist falsely 
 charges the Reformer as the father of infidel- 
 ity : the infidel maliciously confounds Popery 
 and Christianity : but the true Christian is as 
 far from the licentiousness of the infidel, as he 
 is from the corruption of the Papist. 
 
 I am not inclined to view things in a gloomy 
 aspect. Christianity must undergo a renova- 
 tion. If God has sent his Son, and has declar- 
 ed that he will exalt him on his throne the 
 earth and all that it inherits are contemptible 
 in the view of such a plan ! If this be God's 
 design proceed it does, and proceed it will. 
 Christianity is such a holy and spiritual affair, 
 that perhaps all human institutions are to be 
 destroyed to make way for it. Men may fash- 
 ion things as they will ; but, if there is no effu- 
 sion of the Spirit of God on their institutions, 
 they will remain barren and lifeless. Many 
 Christians appear to have forgotten this. 
 
 On a Christianas duty in these eventful times. 
 
 OURS is a period of no common kind. The path 
 of duty to a Christian is now unusually difficult. 
 It seems to me, however, to be comprehended 
 in two words BE QUIET and USEFUL. The pre- 
 cept is short ; but the application of it requires 
 much grace and wisdom. Take not a single 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 163 
 
 out of a quiet obscurity, to which you arc 
 not compelled by a sense of utility. 
 
 Two parties, have divided the world. 
 
 The JACOBINS are desperadoes : the earth's 
 torment and plague. Bishop Horsley said well 
 of them, lately from the pulpit " These are 
 they, who have poisoned Watts's Hymns for 
 Children. These are they, who are making 
 efforts to contaminate every means of access 
 to the public mind. And what is their aim ? 
 What are their pretensions? That they will 
 have neither Lord nor King over them. But, 
 verily, one is their King: whose name, in the 
 Hebrew tongue is Maddon ; but, in the Greek 
 tongue, he is called Apollyon ; and in plain Eng- 
 lish fc The Devil? My soul, come not thou 
 near the tents of these wicked men !" 
 
 " But the ANTIJACOBINS ?" Their project, as 
 a body, leaves God out of the question. Their 
 proposal is unholy. I cannot be insensible to 
 the security, order, and liberty, with which 
 these kingdoms are favoured above all other 
 nations; but 1 cannot go forth with these men, 
 as one of their party. I cannot throw up my 
 hat, and shout " Huzza 1" Woe to the world, 
 if even THEY prevail ! 
 
 The world is a lying, empty pageant ; and 
 these men are ensnared with the show. My 
 part in it, as a Christian, is to act with simplic- 
 ity as the servant of God. What does God bid 
 me do ? What, in this minute of time, which 
 will be gone and carry me with it into eterni- 
 ty what is my path of duty ? While enemies 
 blaspheme, and friends are beguiled, let me 
 
164 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 stand on my watch-tower with the Prophet, /w- 
 tening what the Lord God shall say to me. Jn 
 any scheme of man I dare not be drunken. 
 We, who are of the day, must be sober. Church- 
 man or Dissenter, if 1 am a true Christian, I 
 shall talk thus to my connexions. The sen- 
 timent of the multitude is ensnaring: but the 
 multitude is generally wrong. 1 must beware 
 of the contagion. Not that I am to push my- 
 self into consequence. The matter is between 
 me arid my God Not* one step out of a holy 
 quiet and obscurity, but in order to utility. 
 
 Yet we must be active and bold, whenever 
 duty calls us to be so. My own conduct, with 
 respect to the religious world, is too much form- 
 ed on my feelings. I see it in what I deem a 
 lamentable state ; but I seem to say u Well ! 
 go on talking, and mistaking, and making a 
 noise : only make not a noise here :" and then 
 I retire into my closet, and shrink within my- 
 self. But, had I more faith, and simplicity, 
 and love, and self-denial, 1 might do all I do in 
 my present sphere, but I should throw myself 
 in the midst of them, and intreat and argue and 
 remonstrate. 
 
 But then such a man must give himself up 
 as a sacrifice. He would be misrepresented 
 and calumniated from many quarters. But he 
 would make up his account for such treatment. 
 How would St. Paul have acted in such a state 
 of the church? Would he not have displayed 
 that warm spirit, which made him say O fool- 
 ish Galatians i who hath bewitched you ? and that 
 holy self-denial, which dictated 1 will-very glad- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 165 
 
 ly spend and be spent for you, though the more ex- 
 ceedingly I love you the less I be loved ? 
 
 It is not to be calculated, how much a single 
 man may effect, who throws his whole powers 
 into a thing. Who, for instance, can estimate 
 the influence of VOLTAIRE ? He shed an influ- 
 ence of a peculiar sort over Europe. His 
 powers were those of a gay buffoon far dif- 
 ferent from those of HUME, and others of his 
 class but he threw himself wholly into them. 
 It is true these men meet the wickedness or 
 the imbecility of the human mind; but there 
 are many right hearted people, who hang a 
 long time on the side of pure, silent, simple 
 religion. Let a man, who sees things as I do, 
 throw himself out with all his powers, to res- 
 cue and guide such persons. 
 
 On. Fortifying Youth against Infidel Principles. 
 I NEVER gathered from infidel writers, when an 
 avowed infidel mysolf, any solid difficulties, 
 which were not brought to my mind by a very 
 young child of my own. u Why was sin per- 
 mitted ?" u What an insignificant world is this 
 to be redeemed by the incarnation and death 
 of the Son of God'!" " Who can believe that 
 so few will be saved ?" Objections of this kind, 
 in the mind of reasoning young persons, prove 
 to me that they are the growth of fallen nature. 
 The nurse of infidelity is sensuality. Youth 
 are sensual. The Bible stands in their way. 
 It prohibits the indulgence of the lust of theflesli, 
 the lust of the eye t and the pride of life. But the 
 young mind loves these things^ and therefore, 
 15 
 
166 REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 
 
 it hates the Bible which prohibits them. It is 
 prepared to say, u If any man will bring me 
 arguments against the Bible, I will thank him ; 
 if not, I will invent them." 
 
 As to infidel arguments, there is no weight 
 in them. They are jejune and refuted. In- 
 fidels are not themselves convinced by them. 
 
 In combatting this evil in youth, we must re- 
 collect the proverb, that u a man may bring 
 his horse to the water, but cannot make him 
 drink." The minds of the young are pre-oc- 
 cupied. They will not listen. Yet a crisis may 
 come. They will stop, and bethink themselves. 
 
 One promising method with them, is, TO AP- 
 PEAL TO FACTS. What sort of men are infidels ? 
 They are loose fierce overbearing men. 
 There is nothing in them like sober and seri- 
 ous inquiry. They are the wildest fanatics on 
 earth. Nor have they agreed among them- 
 selves on any scheme of truth and felicity. 
 Contrast with the character of infidels that of 
 real Christians. 
 
 It is advantageous to dwell, with youth, on 
 
 THE NEED AND NECESSITIES OF MAN. ifc Every pang 
 
 and grief tells a man that he needs a helper: 
 but infidelity provides none. And what can its 
 schemes do for you in death?" 
 
 Impress them with A SENSE OF THEIR IGNO- 
 RANCE. I silence myself, many times a day, 
 by a sense of my own ignorance. 
 
 APPEAL TO THEIR CONSCIENCES. u Why is it 
 that you listen to infidelity? Is not infidelity a 
 low, carnal, wicked game ? Is it not the very 
 picture of the Prodigal Father, give me ike 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 167 
 
 i of goods that falleth to me ? " The 
 question why infidelity is received, exposes it, 
 and shows it to the light. WHY WHY will a 
 man be an infidel ? Your children may urge 
 difficulties : but tell them that inexplicable dif- 
 ficulties surround you : you are compelled to 
 believe, in ninety nine cases out of a hundred, 
 whether you will or no ; and shall you not be 
 a believer in the hundreth instance from choice ? 
 
 DRAW OUT A MAP OF THE ROAD OF INFIDELI- 
 TY. It will lead them to such stages, at length, 
 as they never could suspect. Is thy servant a 
 dog* that he should do this thing ? 
 
 The SPIRIT AND TONE OF YOUR HOUSE will have 
 great influence on your children. If it is what 
 it ought to be, it will often fasten conviction 
 on their mind-?, however wicked they may be- 
 come. I have felt the truth of this in my own 
 case : I said " My father is right, and I am 
 wrong ! Oh, let me die the death of the righteous, 
 and let my last end be like his /"" The bye-con- 
 versations in a family are, in this view, of un- 
 speakable importance. 
 
 On the whole, arguments addressed to the 
 heart press more forcibly than those address- 
 ed to the head. When I was a child, and a 
 very wicked one too, one of Dr. Watt's Hymns 
 sent me to weep in a corner. The lives in 
 Jane way's Token had the same effect. I felt 
 the influence of faith in suffering Christians. 
 The. character of young Samuel came home to 
 me, when nothing else had any hold on my 
 mind. 
 
168 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. , 
 
 On the Management of Children. 
 
 GREAT wisdom is requisite in correcting the 
 evils of children. A child is bashful perhaps : 
 but, in stimulating this child, we are too apt to 
 forget future consequences. " Hold up your 
 head. Don't be vulgar." At length they hold 
 up their heads ; and acquire such airs, that, too 
 late, we discover our error. We forgot that 
 we were giving gold, to purchase dross. We 
 forgot that we were sacrificing modesty and 
 humility, to make them .young actors and old 
 tyrants*. 
 
 * The reader cannot but admire the sentiments, 
 which Bishop Hurd has, on this subject, put into the 
 mouth of Mr. Locke, one of his supposed interlocutors 
 in the Dialogue on Foreign Travels. 
 
 u Bashfulness is not so much the eifect of an ill ed- 
 ucation, as the proper gift and provision of wise na- 
 ture. Every stage of life has its own set of manners, 
 that is suited to it, and best becomes it. Each is beau- 
 tiful in its season ; and you might as well quarrel 
 with the child's rattle, and advance him directly to 
 the boy's top and span- farthing, as expect from diffi- 
 dent youth the manly confidence of riper age. 
 
 " Lamentable in the mean time, I am sensible, is 
 the condition of my good lady : who, especially if she 
 be a mighty, well bred one, is perfectly shocked at 
 the boy's awkwardness, and calls out on the tailor, the 
 dancing-master, the player, the travelled tutor, any 
 body and every body, to relieve her from the pain of 
 so disgraceful an object. 
 
 " She should however, be told, if a proper season 
 anU words soft enough could be found to convey the 
 information, that the odious thing which disturbs her 
 so much, is one of nature's signatures impressed on 
 that age ; that bashfulness is but the passage from one 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 16'J 
 
 CHRISTIANS are imbibing 1 so much of the cast 
 und temper of the age, that they seem to be 
 anxiously tutoring their children, and prepar- 
 ing them by ail manner of means, not for a 
 better world, but for the present. Yet in noth- 
 ing should the simplicity of faith be more un- 
 reservedly exercised, than with regard to chil- 
 dren. Their appointments and stations, yea 
 even their present and eternal happiness or 
 misery, so far as they are influenced by their 
 states and conditions in life, may be decided 
 by the most minute and trivial events, all of 
 which are in God's hand, and not in ours. An 
 unbelieving spirit pervades, in this respect, 
 too intimately the Christian world. 
 
 WHEN I meet children to instruct them, I do 
 not suffer one grown person to be present. 
 The Moravians pursue a different method. 
 Some of their elder brethren even sit among 
 the children, to sanction and encourage the 
 work. This is well, provided children are to 
 be addressed in the usual manner. But that 
 will effect little good. Nothing is easier than 
 to talk to children ; but, to talk to them as 
 
 season of life to another ; and that as the body is then 
 the least graceful, when the limbs are making their 
 last efforts and hastening to their just proportion, so 
 the manners are least easy and disengaged, when the 
 mind, conscious and impatient of its perfections, is 
 stretching all its faculties to their full growth." 
 
 See Bishop Kurd's Moral and Political Dialogue^ 
 ed. 6th. 
 
 Lond. 1788. vol. 3d. pp. 99, 100, 101. J. P. 
 15* 
 
170 REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 
 
 they ought to be talked to, is the very last ef- 
 fort of ability. A man must have a vigorous 
 imagination. He must have extensive knowl- 
 edge, to call in illustrations from the four 
 corners of the earth; for he will make little 
 progress, but by illustration. It requires great 
 genius, to throw the mind into the habit of 
 children's minds. I aim at this, but I 6nd it 
 the utmost effort of ability. No sermon ever 
 put my mind half so much on the stretch. The 
 effort is such, that, were one person present, 
 who was capable of weighing the propriety of 
 what 1 said, it would be impossible for me to 
 proceed : the mind must, in such a case, be 
 perfectly at its ease : it must not have to exert 
 itself under cramps and fetters. I am surprised 
 at nothing which Dr. Watts did, but his Hymns 
 for Children. Other men could have written 
 as well as he, in his other works : but how he 
 wrote these hymns, I know not. Stories fix 
 children's attention. The moment I begin to 
 talk in any thing like an abstract manner, the 
 attention subsides. The simplest manner in 
 the world will not make way to children's 
 minds for abstract truths. With stories I find 
 I could rivet their attention for two or three 
 hours. 
 
 CHILDREN are very early capable of impres- 
 sion. I imprinted on my daughter the idea of 
 faith, at a very early age. She was playing 
 one day with a few beads, which seemed to de- 
 Jight her wonderfully. Her whole soul was 
 absorbed in her beads. I said "My dear, 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 171 
 
 you have some pretty beads there." u Yes, 
 Papa !" u And you seem to be vastly pleased 
 with them," " Yes, Papa !"- " Weil now, 
 throw 5 em behind the fire." The tears started 
 into her eyes. She looked earnestly at me, 
 as though she ought to have a reason for such 
 a cruel sacrifice. " Well, my dear, do as you 
 please : but you know I never told you to do 
 any thing-, which I did not think would be good 
 for you." She looked at me a few moments 
 longer, and then summoning up all her for- 
 titude her breast heaving with the effort 
 she dashed them into the fire. " Well," said 
 I; "there let them lie, you .shall hear more 
 about them another time ; but say no more 
 about them now." Some days after, I bought 
 her a box full of larger beads, and toys of the 
 same kind. When 1 returned home, I opened 
 the treasure and set it before her: she burst 
 into tears with ecstacy. u Those, my child," 
 said I, u are yours : because you believed me, 
 when I told you it would be better for you to 
 throw those two or three paltry beads behind 
 the fire. Now that has brought you this treas- 
 ure. But now, my dear, remember, as long 
 as you live, what FAITH is. I did all this to 
 teach you the meaning of FAITH. You threw 
 your beads away when I bid you, because you 
 had faith in me, that I never advised you but 
 for your good. Put the same confidence in 
 God. Believe every thing that he says in his 
 word. Whether you understand it or not, 
 have faith in him that he means your good." 
 
172 REMAINS OF MR. CECl'lA 
 
 On Family Worship. 
 
 FAMILY religion is of unspeakable importance. 
 Its effect will greatlj depend on the sincerity 
 of the head of the family, and on his mode of 
 conducting the worship of his household. If 
 his children and servants do not see his prayers 
 exemplified in his tempers and manners they 
 will be disgusted with religion. Tediousness 
 will weary them. Fine language will shoot 
 about them. Formality of connexion or com- 
 position in prayer they will not comprehend. 
 Gloominess or austerity of devotion will make 
 them dread religion as a hard service. Let 
 them be met with smiles. Let them be met 
 as for the most delightful service in which 
 they can be engaged. Let them find it short, 
 savory, simple, plain, tender, heavenly. Wor- 
 ship, thus conducted, may be used as an engine 
 of vast power in a family. It diffuses a sym- 
 pathy through the members. It calls off the 
 mind from the deadening effect of worldly af- 
 fairs. It arrests every member, with a morn- 
 ing and evening sermon, in the midst of all the 
 hurries and cares of life. It says, u There is 
 a u God" u There is a spiritual world !" 
 " There is a life to come !" It fixes the idea of 
 responsibility in the mind. It furnishes a ten- 
 der and judicious father or master with an op- 
 portunity of gently glancing at faults, where a 
 direct admonition might be inexpedient. It 
 enables him to relieve the weight with which 
 subordination or service often sits on the minds 
 of inferiors. 
 
 In my family-worship I am not the reader. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 173 
 
 but employ one of my children. I make no 
 formal comment on the Scripture : but, when 
 any striking event or sentiment arises, 1 say 
 " Mark that !" u See how God judges of that 
 thing !" Sometimes 1 ask what they think of 
 the matter, and how such a thing strikes them. 
 I generally receive very strange, and some- 
 times ridiculous answers ; but I am pleased 
 with them: attention is all alive, while 1 am 
 explaining wherein they err, and what is the 
 truth. In this manner I endeavor to impress 
 the spirit and scope of the passage on the fam- 
 ily- 
 
 I particularly aim at the eradication of a 
 
 false principle, wonderfully interwoven with 
 the minds of children and servants they take 
 their standard from the neighborhood and their 
 acquaintance, and by this they judge of every 
 thing. I endeavor to raise them to a persua- 
 sion, that God's will in Scripture is the stand- 
 ard; and that this standard is perpetually in 
 opposition to that corrupt one around and be- 
 fore them. 
 
 The younger children of the family will 
 soon have discernment enough to perceive that 
 the Bible has a holiness about it, that runs di- 
 rectly contrary to the stream of opinion. And 
 then because this character is so evident, and 
 so inseparable from the Scripture, the heart 
 will distaste and reject it. Yet the standard 
 must be preserved. If a man should lower it, 
 they would soon detect him ; and he must after 
 all, raise them up to the right standard again. 
 Much may be effected by manner, as to im- 
 
174 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 pressing truth ; but, still truth will remain irk- 
 some, till God touch the heart. 
 
 1 read the Scriptures to my family in some 
 regular order: and am pleased to have thus a 
 lesson found for me. I look on the chapter 
 of the day as a lesson sent for that day ; and so 
 I regard it as coming from God for the use of 
 that day, and not of my own seeking. 
 
 I find it easy to keep up the attention of a 
 congregation, in comparison of that of my 
 family. I have found the attention best gain- 
 ed, by bringing the truths of Scripture into 
 comparison with the facts which are before 
 our eyes. It puts more stimuli into family-ex- 
 positions. I never found a fact lost, or the 
 current news of the day fail of arresting the 
 attention. " How does the Bible account for 
 that fact? That man murdered his Father 
 This or that thing happened in our house to- 
 day What does the Scripture say of such 
 things ?" 
 
 It is difficult to fix and quiet your family. 
 The servants are eager to be gone, to do some- 
 thing in hand. There has been some disagree- 
 ment, perhaps between 'them and their mis- 
 tress. We must seize opportunities. We must 
 not drive hard at such times as these. Reg 
 ularity, however, must be enforced. If a cer- 
 tain hour is not fixed and adhered to, the fam- 
 ily will inevitably be found in confusion. 
 
 Religion should be prudently brought before 
 a family. The old Dissenters wearied their 
 families. Jacob reasoned well with Esau, 
 about the tenderness of his children and his 
 
. 
 
 flocks and h 
 
 REMAINS OF MR* CECIL. 175 
 
 locks and herds. Something gentle, quiet, 
 moderate, should be our aim. There should 
 be no scolding: it should be mild and pleasant. 
 
 I avoid absolute uniformity : the mind revolts 
 at it : though I would shun eccentricity, for 
 that is still worse. At one time 1 would say 
 something on what is read : but, at another 
 time, nothing, I make it as NATURAL as possi- 
 ble : " I am a religious man : you are my chil- 
 dren and my servants : it is NATURAL that we 
 should do so and so." 
 
 Nothing of superstition should attach to fam- 
 ily duty. It is not absolutely and in all cases 
 indispensable. If unavoidably interrupted, we 
 omit it : it is well. If I were peremptorily or- 
 dered, as the Jews were, to bring a lamb, I 
 must be absolute. But this service is my lib- 
 erty, not my task. I do not, however, mean 
 in any degree to relax the proper obligation. 
 
 Children and servants should see us acting 
 on the Psalmist's declaration, / will speak of 
 thy testimony before Kings. !f a great man hap- 
 pen to be present, let them see that I deem 
 him nothing before the word of God ! 
 
 On the Influence of the Parental Character. 
 
 THE influence of the parental character on 
 children is not to be calculated. Every thing 
 around has an influence on us. Indeed, the 
 influence of things is so great, that, by famil- 
 iarity with them, they insensibly urge us on 
 principles and feelings which we before ab- 
 horred. I knew a man who took ID a demo- 
 
176 REMAINS, OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 cratical paper, only to laugh at it. But at length, 
 he had read the same things again and again, 
 so often, that he began to think there must be 
 some truth in them, and that men and meas- 
 ures were really such as they were so often 
 said to be. A drop of water seems to have no 
 influence on the stone ; but it will in the end, 
 wear its way through. If there be therefore, 
 such a mighty influence in every thing around 
 us, the parental influence must be great indeed. 
 
 Consistency is the great character, in good 
 parents, which impresses children. They may 
 witness much temper ; but if they see their 
 Father u keep the even tenor of his way," his 
 imperfections will be understood and allowed 
 for as reason opens. The child will see and 
 reflect on his parent's intention : and this will 
 have great influence on his mind. This influ- 
 ence mav, indeed, be afterwards counteracted : 
 but that only proves that contrary currents 
 may arise, and carry the child another way. 
 Old Adam may be too strong for young Me- 
 lancthon. 
 
 The implantation of principles is of unspeak- 
 able importance, especially when culled from 
 time to time out of the Bible. The child feels 
 his parent's authority supported by the Bible, 
 and the authority of the Bible supported by his 
 parent's weight and influence. Here are data 
 fixed data. A man can very seldom get rid 
 of these principles. They stand in his way. 
 He wishes to forget them, perhaps ; but it is 
 impossible. 
 
 Where parental influence does not convert 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 77 
 
 it hampers. It hangs on the wheels of evil. 
 1 had a pious mother, who dropped things in 
 my way. I could never rid myself of them, 
 I was a professed infidel : but then I liked to 
 be an infidel in company, rather than when 
 alone. 1 was wretched when by myself. These 
 principles, and maxims, and data spoiled my 
 jollity. With my companions I could some- 
 times stifle them: like embers we kept one 
 another warm. Besides, I was here a sort of 
 hero. I had beguiled several of my associates 
 into my own opinions, and I had to maintain a 
 character before them. But I could not divest 
 myself of my better principles. I went with 
 one of my companions to see " The Minor." 
 He could laugh heartily at mother Cole I 
 could not. He saw in her the picture of all 
 who talked about religion I knew better. The 
 ridicule on regeneration was high sport to hirn 
 to me, it was none : it could not move my 
 features. He knew no difference between 
 regeneration and transubstantiation I did. I 
 knew there was such a thing. I was afraid 
 and ashamed to laugh at it. Parental influence 
 thus cleaves to a man : it harasses him it 
 throws itself continually in his way. 
 
 I find in myself another evidence 'of the 
 greatness of parental influence. I detect myself 
 to this day, in laying down maxims in my fam- 
 ily, which I took up at three or four years of 
 age, before I could possibly know the reason 
 of the thing. 
 
 It is of incalculable importance to obtain a 
 hold on the conscience. Children have a con- 
 16 
 
178 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 science ; and it is not seared, though it is evil. 
 Bringing the eternal world into their view 
 planning and acting with that world before us 
 this gains at length, such a hold on them, 
 that, with all the infidel poison whicti they may 
 afterward imbibe, there are few children who, 
 at night in their chamber in the dark in 
 a storm of thunder will not feel. They can- 
 not cheat like other men. They recollect that 
 ETERNITY, which stands in their way. It rises 
 up before them, like the ghost of Banquo to 
 Macbeth. It goads them : it thunders in their 
 ears. After all, they are obliged to compound 
 the matter with conscience, if they cannot be 
 prevailed on to return to God without delay : 
 " I MUST be religious, one time or other. That 
 is clear. I cannot get rid of this thing. Well ! I 
 will begin at such a time. I will finish such a 
 scheme, and then ?" 
 
 The opinions the spirit the conversation 
 the manners of the parent, influence the 
 child. Whatever sort of man he is, such in a 
 great degree, will be the child ; unless consti- 
 tution or accident give him another turn. If 
 the parent is a fantastic man if he is a gene- 
 alogist, knows nothing but who married such 
 an one, and who married such an one if he is 
 a sensualist, a low wretch his children will 
 usually catch these tastes. If he is a literary 
 man his very girls will talk learnedly. If he 
 is a griping, hard, miserly man such will be 
 his children. This I speak of as GENERALLY 
 the case. It may happen, that the parent's 
 disposition may have no ground to work on in 
 
that of the 
 
 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 17$ 
 
 that of the child. It may happen, that the 
 child may be driven into disgust : the miser, for 
 instance, often implants disgust, and his son be- 
 comes a spendthrift. 
 
 After all, in some cases, perhaps, every 
 thing- seems to have been done and exhibited 
 by the pious parent in vain. Yet he casts his 
 bread upon the waters. And, perhaps, after he 
 has been in his grave twenty years, his son 
 remembers what his father told him. 
 
 Besides, parental influence must be great, 
 because God has said that it shall be so. The 
 parent is not to stand reasoning and calculat- 
 ing. God has said that his character shall 
 have influence. 
 
 And this appointment of Providence becomes 
 often the punishment of a wicked man. Such 
 a man is a complete SELFIST. I am weary of 
 hearing such men talk about their u family" 
 and their "family" they u must provide for 
 their family." Their family has no place in 
 their REAL REGARD. They push for themselves. 
 But God says u No! You think j^our children 
 shall be so and so. But they shall be rods for 
 your own backs. They shall be your curse. 
 They shall rise up against you." The most 
 common of all human complaints is Parents 
 groaning under the vices of their children ! 
 This is all the effect of parental influence. 
 
 In the exercise of this influence there are 
 two leading dangers to be avoided. 
 
 Excess of SEVERITY is one danger. My moth- 
 er on the contrary, would talk to me, and weep 
 as she talked. I flung out of the house with an 
 
180 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 oath. but wept too when I got into the street. 
 Sympathy is the powerful engine of a mother. 
 1 was desperate I would go on board a priva- 
 teer. But there are soft moments to such 
 desperadoes. God does not, at once, abandon 
 them to themselves. There are times when 
 the man says u I should be glad to return, but 
 I should not like to meet that face !" if he has 
 been treated with severity. 
 
 Yet excess of LAXITY is another danger. The 
 case of Eli affords a serious warning on this 
 subject. Instead of his mild expostulation on 
 the flagrant wickedness of his sons Nay, my 
 sons, it is no good report that I hear he ought 
 to have exercised his authority as a parent 
 and magistrate in punishing and restraining 1 
 their crimes. 
 
 Remarks on Authors. 
 
 WHEN I look at the mind of LORD BACON it 
 seems vast, original, penetrating, analogical, 
 beyond ail competition. When I look at his 
 character it is wavering, shuffling, mean. In 
 the closing scene, and in that only, he appears 
 in true dignity, as a man of profound contrition. 
 
 BAXTER surpasses, perhaps, all others, in the 
 grand, impressive, and persuasive style. But 
 he is not to be named with Owen as to furnish- 
 ing the student's mind. He is, however, mul- 
 tifarious, complex, practical. 
 
 CLARKE has, above all other men, the faculty 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 lowering 1 the life and spiritual sense of Scrip- 
 re to such perfection, as to leave it like dry 
 bones, divested of every particle of marrow or 
 oil. SOUTH is nearer the truth. He tells more 
 of it; but he tells it with the tongue of a vi- 
 per, for he was most bitterly set against the 
 Puritans. But there is a spirit and life about 
 him. He must and will be heard. And now 
 and then, he darts on us with an unexpected 
 and incomparable stroke. 
 
 THE MODERN GERMAN WRITERS, and the whole 
 school formed after them, systematically and 
 intentionally confound vice and virtue, and ar- 
 gue for the passions against the morals and 
 institutions of society. There never was a 
 more dangerous book written, than one that 
 Mrs. WOLSTONECRAFT left imperfect, but which 
 GODWIN published after her death. Her 
 " Wrongs of Women" is an artful apology for 
 adulter}' : she labours to interest the feelings 
 in favor of an adulteress, by making her crime 
 the consequence of the barbarous conduct of a 
 despicable husband, while she is painted all 
 softness and sensibility. Nothing like this was 
 ever attempted before the modern school. 
 
 " SOME men," said Dr. Patten to me, " are al- 
 ways crying fire ! fire !" To be sure where 
 there is danger, there ought to be affectionate 
 earnestness. Who would remonstrate, coldty 
 and with indifference, with a man about to pre- 
 cipitate himself from Dover Cliff, and not rath- 
 er snatch him forcibly from destruction ? Truth, 
 16* 
 
182 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 in its living influence on the heart, will shew 
 itself in consecratedness and holy zeal. When 
 teachers of religion are destitute of these qual- 
 ities, the world readily infers that religion it- 
 self is a farce. Let us do the world justice. It 
 has very seldom found a considerate, accom- 
 modating, and gentle, but withal earnest, heav- 
 enly, and enlightened teacher. When it has 
 found such, truth has received a very general 
 attention. Such a man was HERVEY, and his 
 works have met their reward. 
 
 HOMER approaches nearest of all the heathen 
 poets to the grandeur of Hebrew poetry. With 
 the theological light of Scripture, he would 
 have wonderfully resembled it. 
 
 HOOKER is incomparable in strength and sanc- 
 tity. His first books are wonderful. 1 do not 
 so perfectly meet him, as he advances toward 
 the close. 
 
 LOSKIEL'S " Account of the Moravian Missions 
 among the North American Indians" has taught 
 me two things. I have found in it a striking 
 illustration of the uniformity with which the 
 grace of God operates on men. Crantz, in his 
 "Account of the Missions in Greenland," had 
 shewn the grace of God working on a man- 
 fish : on a stupid sottish senseless creature 
 scarcely a remove from the fish on which 
 he lived. Loskiel shews the same grace work- 
 ing on a man-devil: a fierce bloody revenge* 
 ful warrior dancing his infernal war-dance 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 183 
 
 \vith the mind of a fury. Divine grace brings 
 these men to the same point. It quickens, stim- 
 ulates, and elevates the Greenlander: it rais- 
 es him to a sort of new life : it seems almost 
 to hestow on him new senses : it opens his eye, 
 and bends his ear, and rouses his heart : and 
 what it adds it sanctifies. The same grace 
 tames the high spirit of the Indian : it reduces 
 him to the meekness, and docility, and simplic- 
 ity of a child. The evidence arising to Chris- 
 tianity from these facts is, perhaps, seldom suf- 
 ficient, by itself, to convince the gainsayer : but, 
 to a man who already believes, it greatly 
 strengthens the reasons of his belief. 1 have 
 seen also in these books, that the fish boat, 
 and the oil, and the tomahawk, and the cap of 
 feathers excepted a Christian minister has to 
 deal with just the same sort of creatures, as the 
 Greenlander and the Indian among civilized na- 
 tions. 
 
 OWEN stands at the head of his class of divines. 
 His scholars will be more profound and enlarg- 
 ed, and better furnished, than those of most 
 other writers. His work on the Spirit ha$ 
 been my treasure-house and one of my very 
 first-rate books. Such writers as RICOALTOUN 
 rather disqualify than prepare a minister for 
 the immediate business of the pulpit. Origi- 
 nal and profound thinkers enlarge his views, 
 and bring into exercise the powers and ener- 
 gies of his own mind, and should therefore be 
 his daily companions. Their matter must, 
 however, be ground down before it will be fit 
 
184 REMAINS OF MR. CfiCIL. 
 
 for the pulpit. Such writers as Chven, who 
 though less original, have united detail with 
 wisdom, are copious in proper topics, and in' 
 matter better prepared for immediate use, and 
 in furniture read}' finished, as it were, for 
 the mind. 
 
 PALEY is an unsound casuist, and is likely to do 
 great injury to morals. His extenuation of 
 the crimes committed by an intoxicated man, 
 for instance, is fallacious and dangerous. Mul- 
 tiply the crime of intoxication into the conse- 
 quences that follow from it, and you have the 
 sum total of the guilt of a drunken man. 
 
 RUTHERFORD'S betters is one of my classics. 
 Were truth the beam, 1 have no doubt, that if 
 Homer and Virgil and Horace and all that the 
 world has agreed to idolize were weighed a- 
 gainst that book, they would be lighter than 
 vanity. He is a real original. There are in 
 his letters some inexpressibly forcible and ar- 
 resting remonstrances with unconverted men. 
 
 I SHOULD not recommend a young minister to 
 pav much deference to the SCOTCH DIVINES. 
 The Erskines, who were the best of them, are 
 dry, and labored, and prolix, arid wearisome. 
 He mav find incomparable matter in them, but 
 he should beware of forming his taste and man- 
 ner after their model. 1 want a more kind- 
 hearted and liberal sort of divinity. He had 
 much better take up Bishop Hall. There is a 
 set of excellent, but wrong-headed men, who 
 
;form the London preachers on a more 
 elaborate plan. They are not philosophers 
 who talk thus. If Owen himself were to rise 
 from the grave, unless it were for the influence 
 of the great name which he would bring with 
 him, he might close his days with a small con- 
 gregation, in some little meeting-house. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE had a low and licentious taste- 
 When he^ chose to imagine a virtuous and ex- 
 alted character, he would completelj' throw 
 his mind into it, and give the perfect picture 
 of such a character. But he is at home in Fal- 
 staff. No high, grand, virtuous, religious aim 
 beams forth in him. A man, whose heart and 
 taste are modelled on the Bible, nauseates him 
 in the mass, while he is enraptured and aston- 
 ished by the flashes of his pre-eminent genius. 
 
 u Have you read my Key to the Romans ?" 
 said Dr. TAYLOR, of Norwich, to Mr. NEWTON. 
 u I have turned it over.*" u You have turn- 
 ed it over! And is this the treatment a book 
 must meet with, which has cost me many years 
 of hard study ? Mut I be toid, at last, that 
 you have 4 turned it over,' and then thrown it 
 aside ? You ought to have read it carefully and 
 weighed deliberately what comes forward on 
 so serious a subject. 1 " u Hold ! You have 
 cut me out full employment, if my life were to 
 be as long as Methuselah's. I have somewhat 
 else to do in the short day allotted me, than to 
 read whatever any one may think it his duty 
 to write. When I read, I wish to read to good 
 
186 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 purpose ; and there are some books, which 
 contradict on the very face of them what ap- 
 pear to me to be first principles. You surely 
 will not say I am bound to read such books. 
 If a man tells me he has a very elaborate ar- 
 g:jment to prove that two and two make five, 
 I have something else to do than to attend to 
 this argument. If I find the first mouthful of 
 meat which I take from a fine-looking joint oa 
 my table is tainted, I need not eat through it 
 to be convinced 1 ought to send it away." 
 
 I NEVER read any sermons so much like WHITE- 
 FIELD'S manner of preaching as LATIMER'S 
 You see a simple mind uttering all its feelings ; 
 and putting forth every thing as it comes, with- 
 out any reference to books or men, with a 
 naivete seldom equalled. 
 
 I ADMIRED WITSIUS'S u Economy of the Cove- 
 nants," but not so much as many persons. 
 There is too much system. J used to study 
 commentators and systems; but I am come al- 
 most wholly, at length, to- the Bible. Com- 
 mentators are excellent in general, where 
 there are but few difficulties ; but they leave 
 the harder knots still untied. I find in the Bi- 
 ble, the more I read, a grand peculiarity, that 
 seems to say to all who attempt to systematize 
 it u I am not of your kind. I am not amena- 
 ble to your methods of thinking. I am untract- 
 able in your hands. 1 stand alone. The great 
 and wise shall never exhaust my treasures. 
 By figures and parables I will come down to 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 187 
 
 the feelings and understandings of the ignorant. 
 Leave me as I am, but study me incessantly." 
 CALVIN'S Institutes are, to be sure, great and 
 admirable, and so are his Commentaries ; but 
 after all, if we must have commentators as 
 we certainly must POOLE is incomparable, 
 and I had almost said abundant of himself. 
 
 YOUNG is, of all other men, one of the most 
 striking examples of the disunion of piety from 
 truth. If we read his most true, impassioned, 
 and impressive estimate of the world and of 
 religion, we shall think it impossible that he 
 was uninfluenced by his subject. It is how- 
 ever, a melancholy fact, that he was hunting 
 after preferment at eighty years old; and felt 
 and spoke like a disappointed man. The truth 
 was pictured on his mind in most vivid colors. 
 He felt it, while he was writing. He felt 
 himself on a retired spot: and he saw death, 
 the mighty hunter, pursuing the unthinking 
 world. He saw redemption its necessity and 
 its grandeur ; and while he looked on it, he 
 spoke as a man would speak whose mind and 
 heart are deeply engaged. Notwithstanding 
 all this, the view did not reach his heart. Had 
 I preached in his pulpit with the fervor and in- 
 erest that his " Night Thoughts" discover, he 
 would have been terrified. He told a friend 
 of mine, who went to him under religious fears, 
 that he must GO MORE INTO THE WORLD ! 
 
188 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 / 
 
 ON THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Scriptures. 
 
 I AM an entire disciple of Butler. He calls his 
 book u Analogy ;" but the great subject, from 
 beginning to end, is HUMAN IGNORANCE, Berke- 
 ley has done much to reduce man to a right 
 view of his attainments in real knowledge 
 but he goes too far : he requires a demonstra- 
 tion of self-evident truths: he requires me to 
 demonstrate that that table is before me. Beat- 
 tie has well replied to this error, in his u Im- 
 mutability of Truth ;" though it pleased Mr. 
 Hume to call that book u Philosophy for the 
 Ladies," 
 
 Metaphysicians seem born to puzzle and 
 confound mankind. I am surprised to hear 
 men talk of their having demonstrated such 
 and such points. Even Andrew Baxter, one 
 of the best of these metaphysicians, though he 
 reasons and speculates well, has not demon- 
 strated to my mind one single point by his 
 reasonings. They know nothing at all on the 
 subject of moral and religious truth, beyond 
 what God has revealed. I am so deeply con- 
 vinced of this, that I can sit by and smile at the 
 fancies of these men ; and especially when 
 they fancy they have found out DEMONSTRATIONS. 
 Why there are demonstrators, who will carry 
 the world before them ; till another man rises, 
 who demonstrates the very opposite, and then, 
 of course, the world follows him ! 
 
 We are mere mites creeping on the earth, 
 
REMAINS OP MR. CECIL. 189 
 
 and oftentimes conceited mites too. If any su- 
 perior being will condescend to visit us and 
 teach us, something" may be known. u Has 
 God spoken to man ?" This is the most impor- 
 tant question that can be asked. All ministers 
 should examine this matter to the foundation^ 
 Many are culpably negligent herein. But, 
 when this has been done, let there be no more 
 questionings and surmises. My son is not, per- 
 haps, convinced that I am entitled to be his 
 teacher. Let us try. If he finds that he knows 
 more than I do well : if he finds that he knows 
 nothing and submits I am not to renew this 
 conviction in his mind every time he chooses 
 to require me to do so. 
 
 If any honest and benevolent man felt scru- 
 ples in his breast concerning Revelation, he 
 would hide them there ; and would not move 
 wretched men from the only support, which 
 they can have in this world. I am thoroughly 
 convinced of the want of real integrity and be- 
 nevolence in all infidels. And I am as thor- 
 oughly convinced of the want of real belief of 
 the Scriptures, in most of those who profess to 
 believe them. 
 
 Metaphysicians can unsettle things, but they 
 can erect nothing. They can pull down a church, 
 but they cannot build a hovel. The Hutch- 
 insonians have said the best things about the 
 metaphysicians. I am no Hutchinsonian; yet 
 1 see that they have data, and that there is 
 something worth proving in what they assert. 
 
 PRINCIPLE is to be distinguished from PREJUDICE. 
 17 
 
I )0 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 The man who should endeavour to weaken 
 my beiief of the truth of the Bible, and of the 
 fair deduction from it of the leading doctrines 
 of religion, under the notion of their being 
 prejudices, should be regarded by me as an as- 
 sassin. He stabs me in my dearest hopes : he 
 robs me of my solid happiness ; and he has no 
 equivalent to offer. This species of evidence 
 of the truth and value of Scripture is within 
 the reach of all men. It is my strongest. It 
 assures me as full}' as a voice could from heav- 
 en, that my principles are riot prejudices. I 
 see in the Bible my heart and the world paint- 
 ed to the life ; and 1 see just that provision 
 made, which is competent'to the highest ends 
 and effects on this heart and this world. 
 
 THE Bible resembles an extensive and highly 
 cultivated garden, where there is a vast vari- 
 ety and profusion of fruits and flowers: some 
 of which are more essential or more splendid 
 than others ; but there is not a blade suffered 
 to groiv in it, which has not its use and beauty 
 in the system. Salvation for sinners, is the 
 grand truth presented every where, and in all 
 -points of light; but the pure in heart sees a 
 thousand traits of the divine character, of him- 
 self, and of the world some striking and bold, 
 others cast as it were into the shade, and de- 
 signed to be searched for and examined some 
 direct, others by way of intimation or infer- 
 ence. 
 
 HE, who reads the Scripture, only in the trays- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 191 
 
 lation, is meanly prepared as a public teach- 
 er. The habit of reading the Scriptures in 
 the original throws a new light and sense over 
 numberless passages. The original has, in- 
 deed, been obtruded so frequently, and some- 
 times so absurdly, on the hearers, that their 
 confidence in the translation has been shaken. 
 The judicious line of conduct herein, is To 
 think with the wise, and talk with the vulgar 
 to attain, as far as possible and by all means, 
 the true sense and force of every passage ; 
 and, wherever that differs from the received 
 translation, work it in imperceptibly, that the 
 hearers may be instructed while they receive no 
 prejudice against that form in which they en- 
 joy the Scriptures. 
 
 No man will preach the Gospel so FREELY as 
 the Scriptures preach it, unless he will submit 
 to talk like an Antinomian, in the estimation of 
 a great body of Christians; nor will any man 
 preach it so PRACTICALLY as the Scriptures, un- 
 less he will submit to be called, by as large a 
 body, an Arminian. Many think that they find 
 a middle path: which is, in fact, neither one 
 thing nor another; since it is not the incom- 
 prehensible, but grand plan of the Bible. It is 
 somewhat of human contrivance. It savors of 
 human poverty and littleness. 
 
 WERE the Scriptures required to supply a di- 
 rect answer to every question which even a 
 sincere inquirer might ask, it would be imprac- 
 ticable. They form, even now, a large volume. 
 
102 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 The method of instruction adopted in them is, 
 therefore, this : The rule is given : the doc- 
 trine is stated : examples are brought forward 
 cases in point, which illustrate the rule and 
 the doctrine : and this is found sufficient for 
 every upright and humble mind. 
 
 THE simple and unprejudiced study of the Bi- 
 ble is the death of religious extravagance. 
 Many read it under a particular bias of mind. 
 They read books, written by others under the 
 same views. Their preaching and conversation 
 run in the same channel. If they could awaken 
 themselves from this state, and come to read 
 the whole Scripture for every thing which they 
 could find there, they would start as from a 
 dream amazed at the humble, meek, forbear- 
 ing, holy, heavenly character of the simple 
 religion of the Scriptures, to which, in a great- 
 er or less degree, their eyes had been blinded. 
 
 THE right way of interpreting Scripture, is, to 
 take it as we find it, without any attempt to 
 force it into any particular system. Whatev- 
 er may be fairly inferred from Scripture, we 
 need not fear to inist on. Many passages 
 speak the language of what is called Calvinism, 
 and that in almost the strongest terms : I would 
 not have a man clip and curtail these passages, 
 to bring them down to some system : let him 
 go with them in their free and full sense; for 
 otherwise, if he do not absolutely pervert 
 them, he will attenuate their enegy. But, let 
 him look at as many more, which speak the 
 language of Arminianism, and let him go all 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 1 93 
 
 the way with these also. God has been pleas- 
 ed thus to state and to leave the thing ; and 
 all our attempts to distort it, one way or the 
 other, are puny and contemptible. 
 
 A MAN may find much amusement in the Bible 
 variety of prudential instruction abundance 
 of sublimity and poetry: but, if he stops there, 
 he stops short of its great end ; for, the testimo- 
 ny of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The grand 
 secret in the study of the Scriptures, is, to dis- 
 cover Jesut Christ therein, the way, the truth 
 and the life. 
 
 IN reading the Scriptures, we are apt to think 
 God farther removed from us, than from the 
 persons to whom He spake therein : the knowl- 
 edge of God will rectify this error; as if God 
 COULD BE farther from us than from them. In 
 reading the Old Testament especially, we are 
 apt to think that the things spoken there, in 
 the prophet Hosea for instance, have little re- 
 lation to us : the knowledge taught by Chris- 
 tian experience will rectify this error : as if 
 religion were not always the SAME SORT of trans- 
 action between God and the soul. 
 
 THERE are two different ways of treating the 
 truths of the Gospel the SCIENTIFIC and the 
 SIMPLE. It was seriously given me in charge, 
 when 1 first entered into the ministry, by a fe- 
 male who attended my church, that 1 should 
 study Baxter's " Catholic Theology." I did 
 so : but the best idea that I acquired from this 
 17* 
 
194 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 labor was, that the most sagacious and subtle 
 men can make out little beyond the plain, ob- 
 vious, and broad statement of truth in the 
 Scriptures. I should think it a very proper 
 and suitable punishment for a conceited and 
 pragmatical dogmatist, to oblige him to digest 
 that book. Another great truth, indeed, we 
 may gather from it : and that is, that the in- 
 temperate men, on either side, are very little 
 aware of the consequences, which may be 
 legitimately drawn from their principles. 
 Even Dr. Owen has erred. 1 would not com- 
 pare him in this respect, with Baxter; for he 
 has handled his points with far greater wisdom 
 and simplicity : yet he errs ex abundanti. He 
 attempts to make out things with more accura- 
 cy, and clearness, and system, than the Bible 
 will warrant. The Bible scorns to be treated 
 scientifically. After all your accurate state- 
 ments, it will leave you aground. The Bible 
 does not corne round, and ask our opinion of 
 its contents. It proposes to us a constitution 
 of grace, which we are to receive, though we 
 do not wholly comprehend it. Numberless 
 questions may be started on the various parts 
 of this constitution. Much of it I cannot un- 
 derstand, even of what respects myself; bul I 
 am called to act on it. And this is agreeable 
 to analogy. My child will ask me questions 
 on the fitness or unfitness.of what I enjoin : but- 
 1 silence him r u You are not yet able to com- 
 prehend this : your business is, to believe me 
 and obey me." But the schoolmen will not be 
 satisfied with this view of thing; 5 : yet they can 
 make nothing out satisfactorily. They have 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 195 
 
 their de re, and their de nomine ; but nothing- 
 is gained by these attempts at clearness and 
 nice distinctions. These very accurate men, 
 who think they adjust every thing with precis- 
 ion, cannot agree among one another, and do 
 little else than puzzle plainer minds. 
 
 WHATEVER definitions men have given of relig- 
 ion, I can tind none so accuratly descriptive of 
 it as this that it is such a belief of the Bible 
 as maintains a living influence on the heart. 
 Men may speculate, criticise, admire, dispute 
 about, doubt, or believe the Bible : but the 
 RELIGIOUS MAN is such, because he so believes 
 it, as to carry habitually a practical sense of 
 its truths on his mind. 
 
 THE fears of the general class of Christians 
 are concerned about the superstructure of re- 
 ligion ; but those of speculative minds chiefly 
 relate to the foundation. The less thinking 
 man doubts whether he is on the foundation : 
 he whose mind is of a more intellectual turn 
 doubts concerning the foundation itself. I 
 have met with many of these speculative ca- 
 ses. Attacks of this nature are generally sud- 
 den. A suspicion will, by surprise, damp the 
 heart ; and, for a time, will paint the Bible as 
 a fable. 1 have found it useful on such occa- 
 sions, to glance over the whole thread of Scrip- 
 ture, The whole presented in such a view, 
 brings hack the mind to its proper tone: the 
 indelible characters of simplicity and truth im- 
 press with irresistible effect that heart, which 
 can discern them as having once felt them. 
 
196 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 On the Old and New Dispensations. 
 
 THE Old and New Testaments contain but one 
 scheme of religion. Neither part of this 
 scheme can be understood without the other; 
 and, therefore great errors have arisen from 
 separating them. They are like the rolls on 
 which they were anciently written, before 
 books of the present form were invented. It 
 is but one subject and one system, from begin- 
 ning to end ; but the view which we obtain of 
 it grows clearer and clearer, as we unwind the 
 roll that contains it. 
 
 THERE is one grand and striking feature of 
 distinction between the spirit of the Old Tes- 
 tament dispensation and that of the New. 
 
 The Old Dispensation was a dispensation of 
 limits, waymarks, forms, and fashions : every 
 thing was weighed and measured : if a man 
 did but gather sticks on the Sabbath, he was 
 to be stoned without mercy; if a Jew brought 
 an offering, it was of no avail if not presented 
 at the door of the tabernacle : the manner, the 
 time, the circumstances were all minutely in- 
 stituted; and no devotion or piety of spirit 
 could exempt a man from the yoke of all these 
 observances, for God had appointed these as 
 the way in which he chose that a devout Jew 
 should express his state of mind. 
 
 But the New Dispensation changed the 
 whole system. Religion was now to become 
 more peculiarly a spiritual transaction between 
 God and the soul 5 and independent, in a higher 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 197 
 
 measure than ever before, of all positive insti- 
 tutions. Us few simple institutions had no fur- 
 ther object, than the preservation of the uni- 
 ty, order, soundness, and purity of the church 
 in regard to doctrine, government and dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 Nor had these appointments that character 
 of unaccommodating inflexibility, which mark- 
 ed the institutions of the Old Dispensation. 
 All nations, men of all habits and manners, are 
 to drink life from the beneficent stream as it 
 flows. It is to throw down no obstructions, 
 that are not absolutely incompatible with its 
 progress. But it is appointed to pervade eve- 
 ry place which it visits. Some, it enters with- 
 out obstruction, and passes directly through. 
 In some, it meets with fuounds and obstacles ; 
 yet rises till it finds an entrance. Others are 
 so fenced and fortified, that it winds round 
 them and flows forward: continuing to do so, 
 till it, at length, finds some method of insinuat- 
 ing itself. 
 
 And thus the dispensation of grace in the 
 church accommodates itself to the various tem- 
 pers and habits which it finds indifferent ages, 
 nations, and bodies of men : it leaves in exist- 
 ence numberless opinions and prejudices, if 
 they are not inconsistent with its main design, 
 and mingles and insinuates itself among them. 
 It has not limited Christianity to any one form 
 ci' church polity, ordained and perfected in all 
 its parts by divine authority: but Christians 
 are left to act herein according to circumstan- 
 ces, and to the exercise of sound discretion un- 
 der those circumstances. 
 
198 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 On Typical and Allegorical Explanations of 
 Scripture. 
 
 IT might be expected, that, when God had de- 
 termined to send his Son into the world, there 
 would be a train and concatenation of circum- 
 stances preparatory to his coming- that the 
 history, which declared that he was to come, 
 should exhibit many persons and things, which 
 should form a grand preparation for the 
 event, though not so many as an absurd fancy 
 might imagine. 
 
 There is a certain class of persons who wish 
 to rid themselves of the types. Sykes insists 
 that even the brazen serpent is called in by 
 our Lord by way of illustration or.Iy, and not 
 as a designed type. Robinson, of Cambridge, 
 when he began to verge toward Socinianisra, 
 began to ridicule the types; and to find matter 
 of sport in the pomegrnntes and the bells of 
 the high priest's garment. At all events, the 
 subject should not be treated with levity and 
 irreverence : it deserves serious reflection. 
 
 With respect to the expediency of employ- 
 ing the types much in the pulpit, that is anoth- 
 er question. I seldom employ them. I am 
 jealous for truth and its sanctions. The Old 
 Dispensation was a typical dispensation: but 
 the New is a dispensation unrolled. When 
 speaking of the typical dispensation, we must 
 admire a master, like St. Paul. But to u* 7 
 modesty becomes a duty in treating such sub- 
 jects in our ministry. Remember, " This is 
 none other but the house of God ! and this is the 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 199 
 
 gate of heaven ! How dreadful if I lead thou- 
 sands with nonsense ! if I lose the opportuni- 
 ty of impressing solid truths! if I waste their 
 precious time T 1 
 
 A minister should say to himself: " I would 
 labor to cut off occasions of objecting- to the 
 truth. I would labor to grapple with men's 
 consciences. I would shew them that there is 
 no strange twist in our view of religion. I 
 must avoid, as much as possible, having my 
 judgment called in question: many watch for 
 this, and will avail themselves of any advan- 
 tage. Some who hear me, are thus contin- 
 ually seeking excuses for not listening to the 
 warnings and invitations of the word : they are 
 endeavoring to get out of our reach ; but I 
 would hold them fast by such passages as, 
 What shall a man give in exchange for his soul !" 
 
 Many men labor to make the Bible THEIR 
 Bible. This is one way of getting its yoke off 
 their necks. The MEANING, however, of the 
 Bible is the Bible. If I preach, then, on im- 
 puted righteousness, for instance, why should 
 I preach from, the skies pour down righteousness, 
 and then anathematize men for not believing 
 the doctrine, when it is not declared in the pas- 
 sage, and there are hundreds of places so ex- 
 pressly to the point ? 
 
 Most of the folly on this subject of allegor- 
 ical interpretation, has arisen from a want of 
 holy awe on the mind. An evil fashion may 
 lead some men into it ; and, so far, the case is 
 somewhat extenuated. We should ever re- 
 member, however, that it is a very different 
 
200 REMAINS OF MR.CEC1L, 
 
 thing to allegorize the New Dispensation from 
 allegorizing 1 the Old : the New is a dispensa- 
 tion of substance and realities. 
 
 When a careless young man, I remember to 
 have felt alarms in my conscience from some 
 preachers : while others, from this method of 
 treating their subjects, let me off easily. 1 
 heard the man as a weak allegorizer : I despis- 
 ed him as a foolish preacher : till I met with 
 some plain, simple, solid man who seized and 
 urged the obvious meaning. I shall, therefore, 
 carry to my grave a deep conviction of the 
 danger of entering far into typical and allegor- 
 ical interpretations. 
 
 Accommodation of Scripture, if sober, will 
 give variety. The apostles do this so far as 
 to shew that it may have its use and advantage. 
 It should, however, never be taken as a ground- 
 work, but emploj^ed only in the way of allu- 
 sion. I may use the passage, There is a friend 
 that sticketh closer than a brother, by way of al- 
 lusion to Christ ; but I cannot employ it as 
 the ground-work of a discourse on him. 
 
 On the Diversity of Character in Christians, and 
 on Correcting the Defects in our Character. 
 
 IN DISCOVERING AND COUNTERACTING THE DEFECTS 
 
 OF OUR OWN CHARACTER, it is of chief importance 
 that we really intend to ascertain the truth. 
 
 The INTENTION is extremely defective in us 
 all. The man, who thinks he has such honest 
 intention, yet has it very imperfectly. He 
 says u Touch me : but touch me like a gen- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 201 
 
 tleman. Do not intrude on the delicacies of 
 society." The real meaning of which is, that 
 he has no intention of hearing the truth from 
 you. A man, who has a wound to be healed, 
 'comes to the surgeon with such an intention to 
 get it healed, that if he suspected his skill or 
 his fidelity he would seek another. 
 
 Intention, or a man's really desiring to know 
 the truth concerning himself, would produce 
 ATTENTION. He would soon find, that there is 
 little close business in a man, who does not 
 withdraw from the world. 
 
 He will begin with self-suspicion. "Per- 
 haps I am such or such a man. 1 see defects 
 in all my friends, and I must be a madman not 
 to suppose that 1 also have mine. I see de- 
 fects in my friends, which they not only do not 
 themselves see: but they will not suffer oth- 
 ers to shew these defects to them. 1 must, 
 therefore, take it for granted that 1 am a more 
 foolish and pragmatical fellow than I can con- 
 ceive." 
 
 If he begin thus, then he will be willing to 
 proceed a step further : u Let me try if I can- 
 not reach these defects." I have found out 
 myself by seeing my picture in another man. 
 I would choose men of my own constitution : 
 other men would give me no proper picture 
 of myself. In such men, I can see actions to 
 be ridiculous or absurd, when I could not have 
 seen them to he so in myself. We may learn 
 some features of our portrait from enemies : 
 an enemy gives a hard feature probably, but 
 it is often a truer likeness than can be obtain- 
 18 
 
202 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ed from a friend. What with your friend's 
 tenderness for you, and your own tenderness 
 for yourself, you cannot get at the true feature. 
 We should, moreover, encourage our friends. 
 You cannot, in one case in ten, go to a man on 
 a business of this nature, without offending him. 
 He will allege such and such excuses for the 
 defect, and fritter it away to nothing. This 
 shews the hypocrisy the falsehood the self- 
 love and the flattery of the heart. This en- 
 deavour to conceal or palliate defects, instead 
 of a desire to discover them, grows up with 
 us from infancy. There is something so de- 
 ceitful in sin ! A man is brought to believe his 
 own lie ! He is so accustomed to hide himself 
 from himself, that he is surprised when anoth- 
 er detects and unmasks him. Hazael verily 
 believed himself incapable of becoming what 
 the prophet foretold. 
 
 Many motives urge us to attempt a rectifica- 
 tion of our defects. Consider the importance 
 of character : he, who says he cares not what 
 men think of him, is on a very low form in the 
 school of experience and wisdom : character 
 and money effect almost every thing. It should 
 be considered, too, how much we have smart- 
 ed for want of attending to our defects : nine- 
 teen out of twenty of our smarting times, arise 
 from this cause. 
 
 In counteracting our defects, however, we 
 should be cautious not to blunder by imitation 
 of others. There are such men in the world 
 as sairit-errants. One of these men takes up 
 the history of Ignatius Loyola ; and nothing 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 203 
 
 seems worthy of his endeavor, but to be just 
 such a man in all the extravagancies of his 
 character and conduct. We should search till 
 wo find where our character fails, and then 
 amend it not attempt to become another man. 
 
 A WISE man, who is seriously concerned to 
 learn the truth respecting himself, will not 
 spurn it even from a fool. The great men, 
 who kept fools in their retinue, learnt more 
 truth from them than from their companions. 
 A real self-observer will ask whether there is 
 any truth in what the fool saj r s of him. Nay, 
 a truth, that may be uttered in envy or anger, 
 will not lose its weight with him. The man, 
 who is determined to find happiness, must bear 
 to have it even beaten into him. No man ever 
 found it by chance, or " yawned it into being 
 with a wish." When I was young, my moth- 
 er had a servant whose conduct I thought tru- 
 ly wise. A man was hired to brew; and this 
 servant was to watch his method, in order to 
 learn his art. In the course of the process, 
 something was done which she did not under- 
 stand. She asked him, and he abused her with 
 the vilest epithets for her ignorance and stu- 
 pidity. My mother asked her when she rela- 
 ted it, how she bore such abuse. " I would 
 be called," said she, " worse names a thousand 
 times, for the sake of the information which I 
 got out of him." 
 
 If a man would seriously set himself to this 
 work, he must retire from the crowd. He 
 must not live in a bustle. If he is always driv- 
 ing through the business of the day, he will 
 
2@4 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 be so in harness as not to observe the road he 
 is going. 
 
 He must place perfect standards before his 
 eyes. Every -man has his favorite notions ; 
 and, therefore no man is a proper standard. 
 The perfect standard is only to found in Scrip- 
 ture. Elijah meets Ahab, and holds up the 
 perfect standard before his eyes, till he shrinks 
 into himself.* 1 have found great benefit in 
 being sickened and disgusted with the false 
 standards of men. I turn, with stronger con- 
 victions, to the perfect standard of God's 
 Word. 
 
 He should also commune with his own heart 
 upon his bed u How did I fall, at such or such 
 a time, into my peculiar humours ! Had any 
 other man done so, I should have lost my pa- 
 tience with him." 
 
 Above all, he must make his defects matter 
 of constant prayer Search me, O Got/, and 
 know my heart : try me, and know my thoughts : 
 and see if there be any wicked way in me, and 
 lead me in the way everlasting. 
 
 MEN are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by 
 the MASS OF CHARACTER. A block of tin may 
 have a grain of silver, but still it is tin ; and a 
 block of silver may have an alloy of tin, but 
 still it is silver. The mass of Elijah's charac- 
 ter was excellence ; yet he was not without 
 the alloy. The mass of Jehu's character was 
 base ; yet he had a portion of zeal which was di- 
 rected by God to great ends. Bad men are made 
 * 1 Kings xviii. 17, c. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 205 
 
 the same use of as scaffolds : they are employed 
 as means to erect a building, and then are ta- 
 ken down and destroyed. 
 
 WE must make great allowance for constitu- 
 tion. I could name a man, who, though a good 
 man, is more unguarded in his tongue than 
 many immoral persons : shall 1 condemn him ? 
 he breaks down here, and almost here only. 
 On the other hand, many are so mild and gen- 
 tle, as to make one wonder how such a char- 
 acter could be formed without true grace en- 
 tering into its composition. 
 
 GOD has given to every man a peculiar consti- 
 tution. No man is to say " I am such or such 
 a man, and I can be no other such or such is 
 my way, and I am what God made me." This 
 is true, in a sound sense : but, in an unsound 
 sense, it has led men foolishly and wickedly to 
 charge their eccentricities and even theircrimes 
 on God. It is every man's duty to understand 
 his own constitution; and to apply to it the 
 rein or the spur, as it may need. All men can- 
 not do, nor ought they to do, all things in the 
 same way, nor even the same things. But there 
 are common points of duty, on which all men 
 of all habits are to meet. The free horse is 
 to be checked, perhaps, up-hill, and the slug- 
 gish one to be urged ; but the same spirit,which 
 would have exhausted itself before, shews it- 
 self probably in resistance down-hill, when he 
 feels the breeching press upon himbehind but 
 he must LJ whipped out of his resistance. 
 13* 
 
206 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 THERE is a large class of Christians, who want 
 discrimination in religion. They are sound 
 and excellent men, but they are not men of 
 deep experience. They are not men of Owen's, 
 Gilpin's, Rutherford's, Adams's, or Brainerd's 
 school. They have a general, but not a mi- 
 nute acquaintance, with the combat between 
 sin and grace in the heart. I have learnt not 
 to bring deeply experimental subjects before 
 such persons. They cannot understand them, 
 but are likely to be distressed by them. This 
 difference between persons of genuine piety 
 arises from constitution or from the manner in 
 which the grace of God tirst met them or from, 
 the nature and degree of temptation through 
 which God has led them. A mind finely con- 
 stituted, or of strong passions a mind roused 
 in its sins, rather than one drawn insensibly 
 a mind trained in a severe school for high ser- 
 vices is generally the subject of this deeply 
 interior aquaintance with religion. 
 
 THERE is a great diversity of character among 
 real Christians. Education, constitution, and 
 circumstances will fully explain this diversity. 
 
 He has seen but little of life, who does not 
 discern every where the effects of EDUCATION 
 on men's opinions and habits of thinking. Two 
 children bring out of the nursery that, which 
 displays itself throughout their lives. And who 
 is the man that can rise above his dispensation, 
 and can say, " You have been teaching me 
 nonsense ?" 
 
 As to CONSTITUTION look at Martin Luther : 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 207 
 
 we may see the man every day : his eyes, and 
 nose, and mouth attest his character. Look 
 at Melancthon : he is like a snail with his coup- 
 le of horns : he puts out his horns and feels 
 and feels and feels. No education could have 
 rendered these two men alike. Their differ- 
 ence began in the womb. Luther dashes in 
 saying his things : Melancthon must go round 
 about he must consider what the Greek says, 
 and what the Syriac says. Some men are born 
 minute men lexicographers of a German 
 character : they will hunt through libraries to 
 rectify a syllable. Other men are born keen 
 as a razor : they have a sharp, severe, strong 
 acumen : they cut every thing to pieces : their 
 minds are like a case of instruments; touch 
 which you will, it wounds : they crucify a mod- 
 est man. Such men should aim at a right 
 knowledge of character. If they attained this, 
 they would find out the sin that easily besets 
 them. The greater the capacity of such men, 
 the greater their cruelty. They ought to 
 blunt their instruments. They ought to keep 
 them in a case. Other men are ambitious 
 fond of power: pride and power give a velo- 
 city to their motions. Others are born with 
 a quiet, retiring mind. Some are naturally 
 fierce, and others naturally mild and placable. 
 Men often take, to themselves great credit for 
 what they owe entirely to nature. If we 
 would judge rightly, we should see that nar- 
 rowness or expansion of mind, niggardliness or 
 generosity, delicacy or boldness, have less of 
 merit or demerit than we commonly assign to 
 them. 
 
208 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES, also, are not sufficiently ta- 
 ken into the account, when we estimate char- 
 acter. For example we generally censure 
 the Reformers and Puritans as dogmatical, mo- 
 rose, systematic men. But, it is easier to walk 
 on a road, than to form that road. Other men 
 labored^ and we have entered into their labors. 
 In a fine day, I can walk abroad ; but, in a rough 
 and stormy day, I should find it another thing 
 to turn coachman and dare all weathers. These 
 men had to bear the burden and heat of the 
 day : they had to fight against hard times : 
 they had to stand up against learning and pow- 
 er. Their times were not like ours : a man 
 may now think what he will, and nobody cares 
 what he thinks. A man of that school was, of 
 course, stiff, rigid, unyielding. Tuckney was 
 such a man : Whichcot was for smoothing things, 
 and walking abroad. We see circumstances 
 operating in many other ways. A minister 
 unmarried, and the same man married, are 
 very different men. A minister in a small par- 
 ish, and the same man in a large sphere where 
 his sides are spurred and goaded, are very dif- 
 ferent men. A minister on tenter-hooks 
 harassed schooled, and the same man nursed 
 cherished put into a hot-house, are very dif- 
 ferent men. Some of us are hot-house plants. 
 We grow tall : not better not stronger. Tal- 
 ents are among the circumstances which form 
 the diversity of character. A man of talents 
 feels his own powers, and throws himself into 
 that line which he can pursue with most suc- 
 cess. Saurin felt that he could flourish light- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 209 
 
 en thunder enchant, like a magician. Ev- 
 ery one should seriouly consider, how far his 
 talents and turn of mind and circumstances 
 drive him out of the right road. It is an easy 
 thing for a man of vigor to bring a quiet one 
 before his bar: and it is easy for this quiet man 
 to condemn the other : yet both may be real- 
 ly pious men serving God with their best 
 powers. Every man has his peculiar gift of 
 God ; one after this manner, and the other after 
 that. 
 
 On the Fallen Nature of Man. 
 
 I SEEM to acquire little new knowledge on 
 any subject, compared to that which I acquire 
 concerning man. This subject is inexhaustible. 
 I have lately read Colquhoun's Treatise on 
 the u Police of the Metropolis," and Barruel's 
 u Memoirs of Jacobinism.'' When we preach- 
 ers draw pictures of human nature in the pul- 
 pit, we are told that we calumniate it. Ca- 
 lumniate it ! Let such ccnsurers read these 
 writers, and confess that we are novices in 
 painting the vices of the heart. All of us 
 live to make discoveries of the evils of the 
 heart not of its virtues. All our new knowl- 
 edge of human nature is occupied with its evil. 
 
 BARTHOLEMEW Fair is one of the most perfect 
 exhibitions of unrestrained human nature in 
 the whole world. The monkey, the tiger, 
 the wolf, the hog, and the goat, are not only 
 to be found in their own, but in human form; 
 
210 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 with all their savageness, brutality, and filthi- 
 ness. It displays human nature in its most de- 
 graded, ridiculous, and absurd conditions. The 
 tiger may be seen in a quiescent state, if we 
 pass through Dyot street : he couches there : 
 he blinks. But, at Bartholomew fair, he is 
 rampant vigorous fierce. Passing through 
 a fair in a country town, I witnessed a most 
 instructive scene. Two withered, weather- 
 beaten wretches were standing at the door of 
 a show-cart, and receiving two-pences from 
 sweet, innocent, ruddy country girls, who paid 
 their money, and dropped their curtsies ; while 
 these wretches smiled at their simplicity, and 
 clapped them on the back as they entered the 
 door. What a picture this of Satan ! He sets 
 off his shows, and draws in heedless creatures, 
 and takes from them every thing they hare 
 good about them ! There was a fellow dres- 
 sed out as a zany, with a hump back and a 
 hump belly, a lengthened nose, and a length- 
 ened chin. To what a depth of degradation 
 must human nature be sunk, to seek such re- 
 sources! I derived more instruction from this 
 scene, than I could have done from many elab- 
 orate theological treatises. 
 
 VIEW man on whatever side we can in his 
 sensualities, or in his ferocities in the sins of 
 his flesh, or in the sins of his spirit: catch him 
 when and where you will his condition is de- 
 plorable. While he is sunk in the mass him- 
 self, he has no perception of his state : but, 
 when he begins to emerge, he looks down 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 211 
 
 with amazement. He sees but little, howev- 
 er, of its abomination ; because he has still an 
 affinity with the evil. 
 
 HUMAN nature is like the sea, which gains by 
 the flow of the tide in one place, what it has 
 lost by the ebb in another. A man may acqui- 
 esce in the method which God takes to morti- 
 fy his pride ; but he is in danger of growing 
 proud of the mortification : and so in other ca- 
 ses. 
 
 On the Need of Grace. 
 
 THERE is something so remarkable in the genius 
 and spirit of the Gospel, that it is not to be un- 
 derstood by any force of speculation and inves- 
 tigation ! Baxter attempted this method, and 
 found it vain. The state of the heart has the 
 chief influence, in the search after truth. Hu- 
 mility, contrition, simplicity, sanctity these 
 are the handmaids of the understanding in the 
 investigation of religion. 
 
 How is it that some men labor in divine things 
 night and day, but labor in vain ? How is it 
 that men can turn over the Bible from end to 
 end, to support errors and heresies absurdities 
 and blasphemies ? They take not the SPIRIT 
 with the WORD. A spiritual understanding must 
 be given a gracious perception a right taste. 
 
 " A VERY extraordinary thing," said one, " if I, 
 who have read the Bible over and over in the 
 
212 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 original languages have studied it day and 
 night and have written criticisms and com- 
 ments on it : a very extraordinary thing that I 
 should not be able to discover that meaning in 
 the Scriptures, which is said to be so plain that 
 a way-faring man though a fool shall not err in dis- 
 covering it !" And so it is extraordinary till we 
 open this Bible ; and there we see the fact ex- 
 plained. The man who approaches the word 
 of God in his own wisdom, shall not find what 
 the fool shall discover under the teaching of 
 divine wisdom: For it is written, I will destroy 
 the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing 
 the understanding of the prudent and God hath 
 chosen the foolish things of the world to confound 
 the wise. 
 
 GOD, in his providence, seems to make little 
 account of the measures and contrivances of 
 men, in accomplishing his designs. He will do 
 the work, and his hand will be seen in the do- 
 ing of it. We are obliged to wait for the tide. 
 When that flows, and the wind sets in fair, let 
 us hoist the sails. When the tide has left a 
 ship on the beach, an army may attempt to 
 move it in vain ; but when she is floated by 
 the water, a small force moves her. We must 
 wait for openings in Providence. In this light 
 I view the darkness of the heathen world. Let 
 us follow every apparent leading of Provi- 
 dence, in our endeavors to communicte light 
 to the heathen ; but, still, the opening and the 
 whole work must be of God. Thousands, in- 
 dead, hear the Gospel, who are no more im- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 213 
 
 led by it than though they were heathens. 
 The minds of some men will stand, as it were, 
 a regular blockade, and yet yield to a side-blow 
 sit unchanged under a searching ministry, 
 and yet fall beneath a casual word. I know 
 such cases. We might account, indeed, for 
 them, in some measure, as philosophers. The 
 mind, which plants itself against and repels.the 
 formal and avowed attacks of the preacher, 
 may be surprised by a hint addressed, perhaps, 
 to another: yet, after all, the whole work is 
 of God. We may make very little, therefore, 
 of the vehicle. The gospel the wants of men 
 the indisposition of the heart and the 
 mighty power of God are always and univer- 
 sally the same. By whatever vehicle God con- 
 veys that mighty energy, which disposes man 
 to find the relief of his wants in the Gospel, HE 
 still is the worker. It is a, divine operation of 
 God's Holy Spirit. If God would raise up hea- 
 then princes with the spirit of Peter the Great, 
 or Kouli Khan, and send them forth under the 
 the powerful influence of Christianity to pros- 
 elyte their subjects, we might expect the end 
 to be accomplished : but this is a scheme suit- 
 ed to our littleness and not to Him, whose 
 thoughts are not ns our thoughts, and whose ways 
 are not as our ways. 
 
 A LADY proposed to me a case, which seemed 
 to her to decide against those views of religion 
 called evangelical. She knew a most amiable 
 girl, who was respectful and attentive to her 
 parents, and engaging and lovely to all connect- 
 19 
 
214 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ed with her: who had, however, no objection 
 to seeing a play ; and had certainly nothing of 
 that, which she knew I should call religion: 
 but she asked if I could believe that God would 
 condemn such a character to everlasting mis- 
 ery. Many persons view things in this way. 
 They set themselves up to dictate to God what 
 should be done, on points which he only can 
 determine. If these persons are ever cured 
 of this evil, it must probably be in some such 
 way as that by which it pleased God to teach 
 Job. Job could assert his integrity and his 
 character against the arguments of his friends ; 
 but, when God asked Where wast thou^ when I 
 laid the foundations of the earth ? Job prostrates 
 his soul with this declaration / have heard of 
 thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye 
 seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself \ and repent 
 in dust and ashes. 
 
 EVERY thinking man will look round him, when 
 he reflects on his situation in this world ; and 
 will ask, " What will meet my case ? What is 
 it that I want? What will satisfy me ? 1 look 
 at the RICH and I see Ahab, in the midst of all 
 his riches, sick at heart for a garden of herbs ! 
 I see Dives, after all his wealth, lifting up his 
 eyes in hell, and begging for a drop of water 
 to cool the rage of his sufferings ! I see the 
 rich fool summoned away, in the very moment 
 when he was exulting in his hoards ! If I look 
 at the WISE I see Solomon, with all his wis- 
 dom, acting like a fool ; and I know, that, if I 
 possessed all his wisdom, were I left to myself 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 215 
 
 I should act as he did. I see Ahithophel, with 
 all his policy, hanging himself for vexation ! If 
 I turn to men of PLEASURE I see that the very 
 sum of all pleasure is, that it is Satan's bed in- 
 to which he casts his slaves ! 1 see Esau selling 
 his birth-right for a mess of pottage ! 1 see Sol- 
 omon, after all his enjoyments, leaving his name 
 a scandal to the church to the latest age ! If I 
 think of HONOR take a walk in Westminster 
 Abbey there is an end of all inquiry. There 
 I walk among the mighty dead! There is the 
 winding up of human glory ! And what remains 
 of the greatest man of my country? A boast- 
 ing epitaph! None of these things, then, can 
 satisfy me ! I must meet death I must meet 
 judgment I must meet God I must meet 
 eternity !" 
 
 On the Occasions of Enmity against Christianity. 
 
 THE cause of enmity against real Christianity 
 is in the heart. The angel Gabriel might ex- 
 hibit the truth, but the heart would rise in en- 
 mity. To suppose that there is any way of 
 preaching the cross so as not to offend the 
 world, is to know nothing of the subject. 
 
 There are many occasions, however, of cal- 
 ling forth this enmity. Any man, who should 
 bleed me, would put me to pain ; but he would 
 greatly aggravate my pain, if he rudely tore 
 my skin. Occasions may render the reception 
 of that truth morally impossible, which, under 
 the most favorable circumstances, is received 
 with difficulty. 
 
 IGNORANCE, in ministers, is an occasion of ex- 
 
216 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 
 
 citing- enmity against Christianity. A man may 
 betray ignorance on almost every subject, ex- 
 cept the way of salvation. But if others see 
 him to be a fool off his own ground, they will 
 think him a fool on that ground. It is a great 
 error to rail against human learning, so as to 
 imply an undervaluing of knowledge. A man 
 may have little of what is called learning, 
 but he must have knowledge. Bunyan was 
 such a man. 
 
 Religious profession was, at first a CONFLICT 
 a SACRIFICE : now it is become a TRADE. The 
 world sees this spirit pervade many men : and 
 it is a great occasion of enmity. Men of learn- 
 ing and character have confirmed this impres- 
 sion : they have brought out this mischief, and 
 exhibited it to the world. Let any man look 
 into Warburton's u Doctrine of Grace," and he 
 may sit down and wonder that God should 
 suffer such occasions of enmity to arise. 
 
 FANATICAL TIMES furnish another occasion. 
 The days of Cromwell, for instance. The 
 great enemy of godliness will never want in- 
 struments to make the best of such subjects of 
 ridicule. As long as such a book as Butler's 
 Hudibras is in the world, it will supply occa- 
 sions of enmity against real religion. 
 
 An UNHOLY, INSOLENT PROFESSOR OF RELIGION 
 
 occasions enmity. He scorns and insults man- 
 kind. His spirit is such as to give them occa- 
 sion of contemning the truth which he pro- 
 fesses. The world will allow some men to call 
 it to account: they will feel a weight of char- 
 acter in a holy and just man. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 217 
 
 ECCENTRICITY, in religious men, is another 
 occasion of enmity. Ask an eccentric man, a 
 question : he will stare in your face, and look 
 very spiritual. I knew one of these men who 
 called oat to a farmer as he was passing 1 , " Far- 
 mer ! what do you know of Jesus Christ ?" 
 Much spiritual pride lurks under this conduct. 
 There is want of breeding 1 and good sense. 
 The world is led to form wrong associations 
 by such characters : " Religion makes a man 
 a fool, or mad : therefore 1 will not become 
 religious." 
 
 INJUDICIOUS PREACHING increases the offence 
 of the cross. Strange interpretations of Scrip- 
 ture ludicrous comparisons silly stories 
 talking without thinking : these are occasions 
 of enmity. 
 
 The LOOSE AND INDISCREET CONDUCT of profeSS- 
 
 ing Christians, particularly of ministers, is a- 
 nother occasion. The world looks at ministers 
 out of the pulpit, to know what they mean 
 when in it. 
 
 An OSTENTATIOUS SPIRIT in a professor of reli- 
 gion does great injury that giving out that he 
 is some great one. Even a child will often de- 
 tect this spirit, when we think no one discov- 
 ers it. 
 
 The MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE DEVOTIONAL 
 
 PART OF PUBLIC SERVICE is sometimes offensive. 
 It is as much as to sa}', " we mean nothing by 
 this service.* Have patience, and you shall 
 hear me !" 
 
 SLIGHTING THE OFFENCE OF IRREGULARITY has 
 * Exodus xii. 26. 
 19* 
 
218 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 done much harm. It was a wise reply of a 
 Spanish minister to his king : " Omit this af- 
 fair : it is but a ceremony !" u A ceremony ! 
 Why the King is a ceremony !" 
 
 Good men have given occasion of offence by 
 MAINTAINING SUSPICIOUS CONNEXIONS. There is a 
 wide difference between my not harassing and 
 exposing a doubtful character, and my indors- 
 ing and authenticating him. 
 
 CONTEMPT OF MEN'S PREJUDICES OF EDUCATION 
 will offend. It was not thus with St. Paul : / 
 am made all things to all men, that I might by all 
 means save some. 
 
 A WANT OF THE SPIRIT OF THE CROSS IN ITS PRO- 
 FESSORS increases the offence of the cross 
 that humility, patience, and love to souls, which 
 animated Christ when he offered himself on 
 the cross for the sins of the world. 
 
 These are some of the stumbling-blocks in 
 the way of the world. And wo unto the world) 
 says our Lord, because of offences ! for it must 
 needs be that offences come, but wo unto him by 
 whom the offence cometh ! Every man, who is 
 zealous for the diffusion of true religion, should 
 keep his eye on all occasions of offence, since 
 religion, of itself and in its own native beauty, 
 has to encounter the natural enmity of the de- 
 generate heart. 
 
 On Religious Retirement. 
 
 IT is difficult to speak on the subject of RELI- 
 GIOUS RETIREMENT. I am fully persuaded that 
 most religious tradesmen are defective in this 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 219 
 
 duty, those especially in this great city. I tell 
 every one of them so with whom 1 am inti- 
 mately acquainted, and they all contest the 
 point with me. 
 
 Yet there are some considerations, which, 
 in my own private judgment concerning the 
 thing, lead me to think that the religion of a 
 great city is to he viewed in an aspect of its own. 
 I say not this to those men whom I see endan- 
 gered by the spirit of such "a place. Give tuem 
 an inch, and they will take an ell. But I learn 
 from it to aim at possibilities, and not to bend 
 the bow till it breaks. 
 
 I say, every where and to all u You must 
 hold intercourse With God, or your soul will 
 die. You must walk with God, or Satan will 
 walk with you. You must grow in grace, or 
 you will lose it: and you cannot do this, but 
 by appropriating to this object a due portion 
 of your time, and diligently employing suitable 
 means." But, having said this, I leave it. I 
 cannot limit and define to such men the exact 
 way in which they must apply these principles, 
 but the principles themselves I insist on. What 
 I ought to do myself under my circumstances, 
 I know : and what I ought to do were J in trade, 
 I seem now to know : but what I really should 
 do were 1 in trade, I know not: and, because 
 I know it not, 1 am afraid, in telling another 
 man precisely how he ought to apply this prin- 
 ciple, that 1 should act hypocritically and phar- 
 isaically. Stated seasons of retirement ought 
 to be appointed and religiously observed, but 
 the time and the measure of this retirement 
 
220 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 must be left to a man's own judgment and con- 
 science. 
 
 1 am restrained from dogmatizing on this 
 subject, by reflecting on the sort of religion 
 which seems in fact to be best suited to human 
 nature itself, and especially to human nature 
 harassed, worried, loaded, and urged as it is in 
 this great city. 
 
 But 1 am restrained also by another consid- 
 eration. Difference of character seems to 
 stamp a holy variety on the operation of re- 
 ligious principle. Some men live in a spirit 
 of prayer, who are scarcely able to fix them- 
 selves steadily to the solemn act of prayer. 
 Our characters are so much our own, that if a 
 man were to come into my family in order to 
 form himself on my model, and to imitate me 
 for a month, it might seriously injure him. I 
 have a favorite walk of twenty steps in my 
 study and chamber : that walk is my oratory : 
 but, if another man were obliged to walk as 
 be prayed, it is very probable he could not 
 pray at all. 
 
 In defining the operation of religious princi- 
 ple, I am afraid of becoming an Albert Durer. 
 Albert Durer gave rules for forming the per- 
 fect figure of a man. He marked and defined 
 all the relations and proportions. Albert Du- 
 rer's man became the model of perfection in 
 every Academy in Europe : and now every 
 Academy in Europe has abandoned it, because 
 no such figure was ever found in nature. 1 am 
 afraid of reducing the variety, which, to a cer- 
 tain degree, may be of God's own forming, to 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 221 
 
 my notion of perfection. " You must maintain 
 and cultivate a spirit of devotion" I say to all : 
 u but be ye judges, as conscientious men, of 
 the particular means suited to your circumstan- 
 ces." 
 
 The SPIRIT of devotion should be our great 
 aim. We are, indeed, buried in sense, and 
 cannot possibly attain or improve this spirit, 
 but by proper means : yet these means are 
 to be adapted and varied to character and sit- 
 uation. 
 
 " I MUST walk with God. In some way or 
 other, whatever be my character or profes- 
 sion, 1 MUST acquire the holy habit of connect- 
 ing every thing that passes in my house and 
 affairs, with God. If sickness or health visit 
 my family, my eye must see and my heart must 
 acknowledge the hand of God therein. Wheth- 
 er my affairs move on smoothly or ruggedly, 
 God must be acknowledged in them. If I go 
 out of my house or come in to it, I must go out 
 and come in as under the eye of God. If I am 
 occupied in business all day long, I must still 
 have the glory of God in my view. If I have 
 any affair to transact with another, I must pray 
 that God would be with us in that affair, lest 
 we should blunder, and injure and ruin each 
 other." 
 
 This is the language of a real Christian. But 
 instead of such a spirit as this among the great 
 body of tradesmen professing themselves reli- 
 gious what do we see but a driving, impetu- 
 ous pursuit of the world ! and, in this pur- 
 suit, not seldom mean, low, suspicious, yea f 
 immoral practices! 
 
222 REMAINS OF MR. 
 
 Yet I once went to a friend for the express 
 purpose of calling him out into the world. I 
 said to him u It is your duty to accept the 
 loan often thousand pounds, and to push your-* 
 self forward into an ampler sphere." But he 
 was a rare character : and his case was rare. 
 His employers had said, "We are ashamed 
 you should remain so long a servant in our 
 house, with the whole weight of affairs on you. 
 We wish you to enter as a principal with us, 
 and will advance you ten thousand pounds. It 
 is the custom ofthe city it isyourdue we are 
 dissatisfied to see you in your present sphere." 
 I assured him that it appeared to me to be his 
 duty to accede to the proposal. But I did not 
 prevail. He said u Sir, 1 have often heard 
 from 3 r ou that it is no easy thing to get to heav- 
 en. I have often heard from you that it is no 
 easy thing to master the world. I have every 
 thing I wish. More would cucumber me-~ 
 increase my difficulties and endanger me." 
 
 SOLITUDE shews us what we should he : Socie- 
 ty shews us what we are. Yet, in the theory, 
 solitude shews us our true character better 
 than Society. A man in his closet will find 
 nature putting herself forth in actings, which 
 the presence of others would restrain him from 
 bringing into real effect. She schemes and she 
 wishes, here, without reserve. She is pure 
 nature. An enlightened and vigilant self-ob- 
 server is surprised and alarmed. He puts him- 
 self on his guard. He goes forth armed into 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 223 
 
 the world. But society shews him that nature 
 is practically evil. The circumstances of the 
 day as they arise carry him away. If he could 
 abstract himself, and follow the actings of his 
 own mind with an impartial eye, he could not 
 believe himself to be the man who had enter- 
 ed into the world with such holy resolutions. 
 
 RECOLLECTION is the life of religion. The 
 Christian wants to know no new thing, but to 
 have his heart elevated more above the world 
 by secluding himself from it as much as his 
 duties will allow, that religion may effect this 
 its great end by bringing its sublime hopes and 
 prospects into more steady action on the mind. 
 
 I KNOW not how it is, that some Christians can. 
 make so little of recollection and retirement, 
 I find the spirit of the world a strong assimila- 
 ting principle. I find it hurrying my mind 
 away in its vortex, and sinking me among the 
 dregs and filth of carnal nature. Even my min- 
 isterial employments would degenerate into a 
 mere following of my trade and crying of my 
 wares. I am obliged to withdraw myself reg- 
 ularly, and to say to my heart " What are you 
 doing ? Where are you ?" 
 
 On a Spiritual Mind. 
 
 DR. OWEN says, if a man of a carnal mind is 
 brought into a large company, he will have 
 much to do : if into a company of Christians, 
 he will feel little interest : if into a smaller 
 
224 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 company engaged in reiigious exercises^ he 
 will reel still less: but if taken into a closet 
 and forced to meditate on God and eternity, 
 this will be insupportable ! 
 
 The spiritual man is born, as it were, into a 
 new world. He has a new taste. He savors 
 the things of the Spirit. He turns to God, as 
 the needle to the pole. 
 
 This is a subject of which many can under- 
 stand but little. They want spiritual taste. 
 Nay they account it enthusiasm. Bishop Hors- 
 ley will go all the way with Christians into 
 their principles : but he thinks the feelings 
 and desires of a spiritual mind enthusiastical. 
 
 There are various CHARACTERISTICS 
 of a spiritual mind. 
 
 SELF LOATHING is a characterestic of such a 
 mind. The axe is laid to the root of a vain- 
 glorious spirit. 
 
 It maintains, too, A WALK AND CONVERSE WITH 
 GUD Enoch walked with, God. There is a 
 transaction between God and the spiritual 
 mind : if the man feels dead and heartless, that 
 is matter of complaint to God. He looks to God 
 for wisdom for the day for the hour for the 
 business in hand. 
 
 A spiritual mind REFERS ITS AFFAIRS TO GOD ! 
 u Let God's will be obeyed by me in this af- 
 fair. His way may differ from that which 1 
 should choose ! but let it be so: Surely, I have 
 behaved and quieted myself as a child that is wean- 
 ed of his mother : my soul is even as a weaned 
 
 ditto." 
 
 A spiritual mind has something of the mi- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 225 
 
 ture of the SENSITIVE PLANT. u I shall smart if 
 I touch this or that." There is a holy shrink- 
 ing away from evil. 
 
 A spiritual mind enjoys, at times, the INFLUX 
 
 OF A HOLY JOY AND SATISFACTION, which SUrpHS- 
 
 es even itself. When bereaved of creature 
 comforts, it can sometimes find such a repose 
 in Christ and his promises, that the man can 
 say, " Well ! it is enough : let God take from 
 me what else he pleases !" 
 
 A spiritual mind is a MORTIFIED mind. The 
 church of Rome talks much of mortification, 
 but her mortification is not radical and spirit- 
 ual. Simon Stylites will willingly mortify him- 
 self on his pillar, if he can bring people around 
 him to pray to him to pray for them. But 
 the spiritual mind must mortify itself in what- 
 ever would retard its ascent toward heaven: 
 it must rise on the wings of faith, and hope, 
 and love. 
 
 A spiritual mind is an INGENUOUS mind. There 
 is a sort of hypocrisy in us all. We are not 
 quite stripped of all disguise. One man wraps 
 round him a covering of one kind, and another 
 of another. They, who think they do not this, 
 yet do it though they know it not. 
 
 Yet this spiritual mind is a SUBLIME mind. It 
 has a vast and extended view. It has seen the 
 glory and beauty of Christ, and cannot there- 
 fore admire the goodly buildings of the temple : 
 as Christ, says Fenelon, had seen his Father's 
 House, and could not therefore be taken with 
 the glory of the earthly structure ! 
 
 I would urge young persons, when they are 
 20 
 
226 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 staggered by the conversation of people of the 
 world, to dwell on the characteristics of a 
 spiritual mind. u If you cannot answer their 
 arguments, yet mark their spirit : and mark 
 what a contrary spirit that is which you are 
 called to cultivate." 
 
 There are various MEANS of maintaining 
 and promoting a spiritual mind. Beware of 
 saying concerning this or that evil. Is it not a 
 lit tie one ? Much depends on mortifying the 
 bodj r . There are silent marches which the 
 flesh will steal on us: the temper is too apt 
 to rise : the tongue will let itself loose : the 
 imagination, if liberty is given to it, will hurry 
 us away. Vain company will injure the mind : 
 carnal professors of religion especially will 
 lower its tone : we catch a contagion from 
 such men. Misemployment of time is injurious 
 to the mind : when reflecting, in illness, on my 
 past years, I have looked back with self-re- 
 proach on days spent in my study : I was wad- 
 ing through history, .and poetry, and monthly 
 journals; but I was in my study! Another 
 man's trifling is notorious to all observers : but 
 what am / doing? Nothing, perhaps, that has 
 a reference to the spiritual good of my con- 
 gregation ! 1 do not speak against a chastized 
 attention to literature, but the abuse of it. 
 Avoid all idleness: exercise thyself unto godli- 
 ness: plan for God. Beware of temptation: 
 the mind, which has dwelt on sinful objects, 
 will be in darkness for days. Associate with 
 spiritually-minded men : the very sight of a 
 good man, though he says nothing, will re- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 227 
 
 fresh the soul. Contemplate Christ : be much 
 in retirement and prayer: study the hanor and 
 glory of your Master. 
 
 On Declension in Religion. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN may decline far* in religion, with- 
 out being suspected. He may maintain ap- 
 pearances. Every thing seems to others to go 
 on well. He suspects himself: for it requires 
 great labor to maintain appearances : especial- 
 ly in a minister. Discerning hearers will, 
 however, often detect such declensions. He 
 talks over his old matters. He says his things, 
 but in a cold and unfeeling manner. He is 
 sound, indeed, in doctrine ; perhaps more sound 
 than before ; for there is a great tendency to 
 soundness of doctrine, when appearances are 
 to be kept up in a declining state of the heart. 
 
 Where a man has real grace, it may be part 
 of a dispensation toward him that he is suffered 
 to decline. He walked carelessly. He was 
 left to decline, that he might be brought to 
 feel his need of vigilance. If he is indulging 
 a besetting sin, it may please God to expose 
 him, especially if he is a high spirited man, 
 that he may hang down his head as long as he 
 lives. He acted thus toward David and Heze- 
 kiah. But this is pulling down, in order to 
 build up again. 
 
 The CAUSES of a decline in religion should 
 be remarked. 
 
 The world has always much to do in relig- 
 >us declension. A minister is tempted, per- 
 
 ~ 
 
228 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 haps, to sacrifice every thing to a name. If 
 any APPETITE is suffered to prevail, it will stu- 
 pify the mind : religion is an abstract and ele- 
 vated affair : The way of life is above to ike wise, 
 to depart from hell beneath. KEEPING ON GOOD 
 TERMS WITH THOSE WHO RESPECT us, is a snare. 
 A SPECULATIVE TURN OF MIND is a snare : it 
 leads to that evil heart of unbelief, which de- 
 parts from the living God. VAIN CONFIDENCE 
 thinks himself in no danger: he knows the 
 truth: he can dispute for the truth: u What 
 should we fear?" Why. that we have no fear. 
 TRIFLING WITH CONSCIENCE, is a snare : no man 
 indulges himself in any thing which his con- 
 science tells him ought not to be dene, but it 
 will at length wear away his spirituality of 
 mind. 
 
 The SYMPTOMS of a religious decline are 
 many : 
 
 When a minister begins to depart from God, 
 and to lose a spiritual mind, HE BECOMES FOND 
 SOMETIMES OF GENTEEL COMPANY, who can enter- 
 tain him, and who know how to respect his 
 character! This genteel spirit is suspicious: 
 it is associated with pride and delicacy, and a 
 love of ease: in short, it is the spirit of the 
 world. It is the reverse of condescending to 
 mean things : it is the reverse of the spirit of 
 our Master. 
 
 It is a symptom of decline, when a man will 
 
 UNNECESSARILY EXPOSE THE IMPERFECTIONS OF THE 
 
 RELIGIOUS WORLD. " Such a man," he will say, 
 u is fond of praying ; but he is fond of money." 
 This is the very opposite spirit to that of St. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 229 
 
 Paul, who speaks even weeping of those who 
 mind earthly things. 
 
 A VIOLENT SECTARIAN SPIRIT is a sign of relig 1 - 
 ious declension. Honest men stand firm for 
 the vitals of religion. If the mind were right, 
 the circumstantials of religion would 1 not be 
 made matters of fierce contention. The spirit 
 of St. Paul was of another kind. If meat make 
 my brother to offend, I -will eat no meat while the 
 world standeth, lest I make my brother to ojftnd 
 One believeth that he may eat all things : an- 
 other, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him, 
 that eateth, despise him that eateth not ; and let 
 not him, which eateth not, judge him that eateth. 
 
 AVERSION FROM REPROOF marks a state of re- 
 ligious decline. The man cannot bear to have 
 his state depicted, even in the pulpit. He 
 calls the preaching, which searches and detects 
 him, Arminian and legal. Hast thou found me, 
 O mine enemy ? Why should he quarrel with 
 the truth? If that truth is delivered in its just 
 proportions, his quarrel is with God ! 
 
 STUPIDITY UNDER CHASTISEMENT proves a man 
 to be under declension. He is not disposed to 
 ask, Wherefore dost thou contend with me ? He 
 is kicking against the pricks. He is stricken, 
 but has not grieved. He is chastised, as a bul- 
 lock unaccustomed to the yoke. 
 
 Such a man, too, has often a HIGH MIND. He 
 is unhumbled boastingstout-hearted. He 
 is ready to censure every one but himself. 
 
 UNNECESSARY OCCUPATION is another evidence 
 of declension. Some men are unavoidably 
 
 ich engaged in the world: to such men God 
 20* 
 
230 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 will give especial grace, if they seek it ; and 
 they shall maintain a spirit of devotion even in 
 the bustle and occupation of their affairs. But 
 some men will be rich, and therefore fall into 
 temptation and a snare; they will have shops 
 in different parts of the town : they say they 
 do not feel this affect their religious state ; but 
 I cannot believe them : a man is declined from 
 God before he enters on such schemes : a spir- 
 itual and devout man will generally find the 
 business in which he is already engaged a suffi- 
 cient snare, 
 
 In short, the symptoms may be this or that, 
 but the disease is a dead palsy. Ephraim ! 
 he hath mixed himself among the people : Rphraiin 
 is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured 
 his strength, o,nd he knoweth it not : yea grey 
 hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoi- 
 eth it not. 
 
 On a Christianas associating with Irreligious 
 Persons for their Good. 
 
 CHRIST is an example to us of entering into 
 mixed society. But our imitation of him here- 
 in must admit of restrictions. A feeble man 
 must avoid danger. If any one could go into 
 society as Christ did, then let him go ; let him 
 attend marriage-feasts and Pharisees' houses. 
 Much depends on a Christian's observing his 
 call the openings which Providence may 
 make before him. It is not enough to say that 
 he frequents public company in order to retard 
 the progress of evil. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 231 
 
 But, when in company of people of the world, 
 we should treat them kindly and tenderly 
 with feeling* and compassion. They should be 
 assisted, if they are inclined to receive assist- 
 ance. But if a Christian falls into the society 
 of a mere worldling, it must be like the meet- 
 ing of two persons in rain they will part as 
 soon as possible. If a man loves such com- 
 pany, it is an evil symptom. 
 
 It is a Christian's duty to maintain a kind in- 
 tercourse, if practicable, with his relatives. And 
 he must DULY APPRECIATE THEIR STATE : if not 
 religious, they cannot see and feel and taste 
 his enjoyments : they accommodate themselves 
 to him, and he accommodates himself to them. 
 It is much a matter of accommodation on both 
 sides. 
 
 AVOID DISGUSTING SUCH FRIENDS UNNECESSARILY. 
 
 A precise man, for instance, must be humored. 
 Your friends set down your religion, perhaps, 
 as a case of humor. 
 
 CULTIVATE GOOD SENSE. If your friends per- 
 ceive you weak in any part of your views and 
 conduct, they will think you weak in your 
 religion. 
 
 AVOID VAIN JANGLING. There is a disposition 
 in such friends to avoid important and pinching 
 truth. If you WILL converse with them on the 
 subject of religion, they will often endeavor to 
 draw you on to such points as predestination. 
 They will ask you what you think of the sal- 
 vation of infants and of the heathen. All this 
 is meant to throw out the great question. 
 
 SEIZE FAVORABLE occASioxs not only the 
 
32 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 u mollia tempora fandd ;" bnt when public 
 characters and public events furnish occasions 
 of profitable reflection. 
 
 Bring- before your friends THE EXTREME CHILD- 
 ISHNESS OF A SINFUL STATE. Treat worldly 
 amusements as puerile things. People of the 
 world are sick at heart of their very pleas- 
 ures. 
 
 On the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 IT belongs to our very relation to God, to set 
 apart a portion of our time for his service : 
 but) as it might have been difficult for con- 
 science to determine what that portion should 
 , be, God has prescribed it : and the ground of 
 the observance remains the same, whether the 
 remembrance of God's resting from his work, 
 or any other reason, be assigned as the more 
 immediate cause. 
 
 The Jewish Sabbath was partly of political 
 institution, and partly of moral obligation. So 
 far as it was a political appointment, designed 
 to preserve the Jews distinct from other na- 
 tions, it is abrogated : so far as it was of moral 
 obligation, it remains in force. 
 
 Our Lord evidently designed to relax the 
 strictness of the observance. Christianity is 
 not a hedge placed round a peculiar people. 
 A slave might enter into the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, though obliged to work as a slave on 
 the sabbath : he might be in the Spirit on the 
 Lord^s Day, thong a in the mines of Patmos. 
 
 Difficulties often arise in respect to the ob- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 233 
 
 servance of the Sabbath. I tell conscientious 
 persons, " If you have the spirit of Christian- 
 ity, and are in an employment contrary to 
 Christianity, you will labor to escape from it, 
 and God will open your way." Ifsuch a man's 
 heart be right, he will not throw himself out 
 of his employment the first day he suspects 
 himself to be wrong, but he will pray and wait 
 till his way shall be opened before him. 
 
 Christ came not to abolish the Sabbath, but 
 to explain and enforce it, as he did the rest of 
 the Law. Its observance was no where posi- 
 tively enjoined by him, because Christianity 
 was to be practicable, and was to go into all 
 nations : and it goes thither stripped of its 
 precise and various circumstances. I was in 
 the Spirit on the Lord's Day, seems to be the 
 soul of the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 In this view of the day, a thousand frivolous 
 questions concerning its observance would be 
 answered. u What CAN I DO?" says one : I an- 
 swer, u Do what true servants of God WILL do. 
 Bend not to what is wrong. Be in the Spirit. 
 God will help you." 
 
 In short, we are going to spend a Sabbath 
 in Eternity. The Christian will acquire as 
 much of the Sabbath-spirit as he can. And, in 
 proportion to a man's real piety in every age 
 of the church, he will be found to have been, 
 a diligent observer of the Sabbath day. 
 
234 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 On Judging Justly. 
 
 A PERFECTLY just and sound mind is a rare and 
 invaluable gift. But it is still much more un- 
 usual to see such a mind unbiassed in all its act- 
 ings. God has given this soundness of mind 
 but to few ; and a very small number of those 
 few escape the bias of some predilection, per- 
 haps habitually operating ; and none are, at 
 all times and perfectly, free. 1 once saw this 
 subject forcibly illustrated. A watchmaker toM 
 me that a gentleman had put an exquisite watch 
 into his hands, that went irregularly. It was 
 as perfect a piece of work as was ever made. 
 He took it to pieces and put it together again 
 twenty times* No manner of defect was to be 
 discovered, and yet the watch went intolera- 
 bly. At last it struck him, that, possibly, the 
 balance-wheel might have been near a mag- 
 net. On applying a needle to it, he found his 
 suspicions true. Here was all the mischief. 
 The steel work in the other parts of the watch 
 had a perpetual influence on its motions ; and 
 the watch went as well as possible with a new 
 wheel. If the soundest mind be MAGNETIZED 
 by any predilection, it must act irregularly. 
 
 PREJUDICE is often the result of such strong as- 
 sociations, that it acts involuntarily, in spite of 
 conviction and resolution. The first step to- 
 ward its eradication, is the persevering habit 
 of presenting it to the mind in its true colors. 
 
 IF a man will look at most of his prejudices, 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 235 
 
 he will find that they arise from his field of 
 view being necessarily narrow like the eye of 
 the fly. He can have but little better notions 
 of the whole scheme of things, as has been well 
 said, than a fly on the pavement of St. Paul's 
 cathedral can have of the whole structure. He 
 is offended, therefore, by inequalities which 
 are lost in the grand design. This persuasion 
 will fortify him against many injurious and trou- 
 blesome prejudices. 
 
 JUST judgment depends on the simplicity and 
 the strength of the mind. The eye which 
 conveys a perfect idea of the scene to the 
 mind, must be unclouded and strong, if the 
 mental eye be not single, the judgment will 
 be warped by some little, mean and selfish in- 
 terests ; and, if it be not capable of a wide and 
 distant range, the decision will be partial and 
 imperfect. For example : a man, with either 
 of these failings, will be likely to blind his eyes 
 from the conviction, that would dart on him, 
 when he places a son or a friend in any sphere 
 of influence, BECAUSE he is his son or his friend ; 
 when 'a single or a strong eye would shew him 
 that the interests of religion and truth requir- 
 ed him to prefer some other person. The 
 mind must be raised above the petty interests 
 and affairs of life, and pursue supremely the 
 glory of God and the church. 
 
 SOME minds are so diseased, that they can see 
 an affair only in that light, in which passion 
 or predilection first presented it, or as it ap- 
 
236 REMAINS OF MR. CECII,. 
 
 pears on the surface. The essence, the truth 
 of the thing, which must give character to the 
 whole, and on which all just decision must de- 
 pend, may lie beneath the surface, and may be 
 a nice affair. But such minds cannot enter in- 
 to it. It is as though I should try to convince 
 such persons allowing me that the pineal 
 gland is the seat of the soul that, however 
 fair and perfect the form, the man wanted the 
 essence of his being, in wanting that apparent- 
 ly insignificant part of his body. Such men 
 would say, " here is a striking and perfect form 
 all parts are harmonious life animates the 
 frame the machine plays admirably what 
 has this little insignificant member to do with 
 it ?" And yet this is the essential and charac- 
 terizing part of the man. 
 
 EVERY man has a peculiar turn of mind, which 
 gives a coloring and tinge to his thoughts. I 
 have particularly detected this in myself with 
 respect to public affairs. I have such an im- 
 mediate view of God acting in them, that all 
 the great men, who make such a noise and bus- 
 tle on the scene, seem to me like so many 
 mere puppets. God is moving them all, to ef- 
 fect His own designs. They cannot advance 
 a step, whither Pie does not lead : nor stand a 
 moment, where he does not place them. Now 
 this is a view of things, which it is my privi- 
 lege to take as a Christian. But the evil lies 
 here. I dwell so much on the view of the 
 matter, to which the turn of my mind leads me, 
 that I forget sometimes the natural tendencies 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 237 
 
 of things. God uses all things, but not so as to 
 destroy their natural tendencies. They are 
 good or evil, according to their own nature ; 
 not according to the use which He makes of 
 them. 
 
 THE mind has a constant tendency to conform 
 itself to the sentiments and cast of thinking with 
 which it is chiefly conversant, either among 
 books or men. If the influence remain unde- 
 tected, it grows soon into an inveterate habit 
 of obliquity. Even if it be detected, it is the 
 most difficult thing in the world to bring back 
 the mind to the standard, especially if there 
 be any thing in its constitution which assimi- 
 lates itself to the error. I was once much in 
 the habit of reading the mystical writers : a 
 book of Dr. Owen's clearly convinced me that 
 they erred : yet I found my mind ever inclin- 
 ing toward them, and winding round like the 
 biassed bowl, i saw clearly the absurdity of 
 the notions in their view of them, and yet I 
 was ever talking of u self annihilation" &c : 
 and am not even now rid of the thing. 
 
 I_ 'M r -^ 
 On the Character of St. Paul. 
 I DELIGHT to contemplate St. Paul as an appoint- 
 ed pattern. Men might have questioned the 
 propriety of urging on them the example of 
 Christ they might have said that we are ne- 
 cessarily in dissimilar circumstances. But St. 
 Paul stands up in like case with ourselves a 
 model of ministerial virtues. 
 
 We consider him, perhaps, in point of char- 
 
238 REMAINS OF MR. CECLL. 
 
 acter, more the immediate subject of extraor- 
 dinary inspiration, than he was in reality. And 
 this mistake affects our view of him in two dif- 
 ferent ways. 
 
 We suppose, at one time, that his virtues 
 were so much the effect of extraordinary com- 
 munications, that he is no proper model for us ; 
 whereas he was no farther fitted to his circum- 
 stances than every Christian has warrant to ex- 
 pect to be, so far as his circumstaces are similar. 
 
 At another time, perhaps, though we ac- 
 knowledge and revere his distinguished charac- 
 ter, yet our view of his virtues is exalted be- 
 yond due measure. We should remember, that, 
 as he was fitted for his circumstances ; so he 
 was, in a great degree, made by them. Many 
 men are doubtless, executing their appointed 
 task in retirement and silence, who would un- 
 fold a character beyond all expectation, if 
 Providence were to lead them into a scene 
 where the world rose up in arms and they were 
 sent forth into it under a clear conviction of an 
 especial mission. The history of the church 
 seems to shew us that the effects of grace, or- 
 dinary or extraordinary, have been the same 
 in all ages. 
 
 I.\ speaking of St. Paul, it has been usual to 
 magnify his learning, among the many other 
 great qualities which he possessed. That point 
 seems never to have been satisfactorily made 
 out. He was an educated Pharisee ; but, far- 
 ther than this, 1 think we cannot go. Misquo- 
 tations from the Greek Poets are not evidences 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 239 
 
 of even a school-boy^s learning in our day : 
 for we forget, when we talk of them, that he 
 was a Roman quoting Greek. Nor do I see any 
 thing more in his famous speech in the Areo- 
 pagus, so often produced as evidence on this 
 subject, than the line of argument to which a 
 strong and energetic mind would lead him. If 
 we talk of his talents, indeed, he rises almost 
 beyond admiration : but they were talents of 
 a certain order; and the very display which 
 we have of them seems a strong corroborative 
 proof, that he is not to be considered as a pro- 
 foundly learned man of his day. For instance, 
 had he studied Aristotle, it would have been 
 almost impossible but he must have caught 
 some influence, which we should have seen in 
 his writings. But there is nothing like the dry, 
 logical, metaphysical character of that school; 
 which yet had then given the law to the seats 
 of science and philosophy. Instead of this, we 
 see every where the copious, diffusive, de- 
 claiming, discursive ; but sublime, and wise, 
 and effective mind. 
 
 THERE is a true apostolicism in the character 
 of St. Paul. It is a combination of ZEAL and 
 LOVE. 
 
 The zeal of some men is of a haughty, un- 
 bending, ferocious character. They have the 
 letter of truth, but they mount the pulpit like 
 prize-fighters. It is with them a perpetual scold. 
 This spirit is a reproach to the Gospel. It is 
 not the spirit of Jesus Christ. HE seems to 
 have labored to win men. 
 
240 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 But there is an opposite extreme. The love 
 of some men is all milk and mildness ! There 
 is so much delicacy, and so much fastidiousness ! 
 They touch with such tenderness ! and, if the 
 patient shrinks, they will touch no more ! The 
 times are too flagrant for such a disposition. 
 The Gospel is sometimes preached in this way, 
 till all the people agree with the preacher. 
 He gives no offence, and he does no good! 
 
 But St. Paul united and blended love and 
 zeal. He MUST win souls : but he will labor 
 to do this by all possible lawful contrivances. 
 / am made all things to all men, that 1 might by 
 all means save some. Zeal, alone, may degen- 
 erate into ferociousness and brutality ; and love, 
 alone, into fastidiousness and delicacy : but the 
 apostle combined both qualities ; and, more 
 perfectly than other men, realized the union 
 of the fortiter in re with the suaviter in modo. 
 
 Miscellanies. 
 
 THE Moravians seem to have very nearly hit 
 on Christianity. They appear to have found 
 out what sort of a thing it is its quietness 
 meekness-patiencespirituality heavenliness 
 and order. But they want fire. A very su- 
 perior woman among them once said to me 
 that there wanted another body, the character 
 of which should be combined from the Mora- 
 vians and the Methodists. The Moravians 
 have failed in making too little of preaching; 
 as the Methodists have done, in making too 
 much of it. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 241 
 
 THE grandest operations, both in nature and in 
 grnce, are the most silent and imperceptible. 
 The shallow brook babbles in its passage, and 
 is heard by every one : but the coming on of 
 the seasons is silent and unseen. The storm 
 rages and alarms; but its fury is soon exhaust- 
 ed, and its effects are partial and soon reme- 
 died : but the dew, though gentle and unheard, 
 is immense in quantity, and the very life of 
 large portions of the earth. And these are 
 pictures of the operations of grace, in the 
 church and in the soul. 
 
 ATHEISM is a characteristic of our day. On the 
 sentiments, manners, pursuits, amusements, and 
 dealings of the great body of mankind, there is 
 written in broad characters without God in the 
 world ! 
 
 I HAVE often had occasion to observe, that a 
 warm blundering man does more for the world 
 than a frigid wise man. A man, who gets in- 
 to a habit of inquiring about proprieties and 
 expediencies and occasions, often spends his 
 life without doing anything to purpose. The 
 state of the world is such, and so much depends 
 on action, that every thing seems to say loudly 
 to every man, u Do something" " do it" 
 " do it." 
 
 PROVIDENCE is a greater mysterj' than religion. 
 The state of the world is more humiliating to 
 our reason, than the doctrines of the Gospel, 
 reflecting Christian sees more to excite his 
 
 4 
 
242 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 astonishment and to exercise his faith in the 
 state of things between Temple Bar and St. 
 Paul's, than in what he reads from Genesis to 
 Revelation. See the description of the work- 
 ing of God's Providence, in the account of the 
 cherubims in the 1st and tenth chapters of 
 Ezekiel. 
 
 THE scheme and machinery of redemption may 
 be illustrated by the water-works at Marly. 
 We consider a part of that complicated machin- 
 ery, and we cannot calculate on the effects ; but 
 we see that they are produced. We cannot 
 explain to a philosopher the system of redemp- 
 tion, and the mode of conducting and commu- 
 nicating its benefits to the human soul; but we 
 know that it yields the water of life civiliza- 
 tion, to a barbarian direction, to a wanderer 
 support, to those that are ready to perish. 
 
 IT is manifest that God designed to promote 
 intercourse and commerce among men, by giv- 
 ing to each climate its appropriate productions. 
 It is, in itself, not only innocent, but laudable. 
 All trade, however, which is founded in em- 
 bellishment, is founded in depravity. So also 
 is that Spirit of trade, which pushes men on 
 dangerous competitions. Many tradesmen, 
 professedly religious, seem to look on their 
 trade as a vast engine, which will be worked 
 to no good effect, if it be not worked with the 
 whole vigor of the soul. This is an intoxicat- 
 ing and ruinous mistake. So far as they live 
 under the power of religion, they will pursue 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 243 
 
 their trade for sustenance and provision ; but 
 riot even that, with unseasonable attention and 
 with eagerness : much less will religion suffer 
 them to bury themselves in it, when its objects 
 are some thing beyond these : and, least of all 
 will it leave them to deceive themselves with 
 certain commercial maxims, so far removed 
 from simplicity and integrity that 1 have been 
 often shocked beyond measure, at hearing 
 them countenanced and adopted by some reli- 
 gious professors. 
 
 EVERY man should aim to do one thing well. 
 If he dissipates his attention on several objects 
 he may have excellent talents entrusted to 
 him, but they will be entrusted to no good end. 
 Concentrated on his proper object, they might 
 have a vast energy ; but, dissipated on several 
 they will have none. Let other objects be 
 pursued, indeed ; but only so far as they may 
 subserve the main purpose. By neglecting 
 this rule, I have seen frivolity, and futility 
 written on minds of great power ; and, by re- 
 garding it, i have seen very limited minds act- 
 ing in the first rank of their profession I have 
 seen a large capital and a great stock dissipat- 
 ed, and the man reduced to beggary ; and 
 I have seen a small capital and stock improved 
 to great riches. 
 
 To effect any purpose, in study, the mind must 
 be concentrated. If any other subject plays on 
 the fancy, than that which ought to be exclu- 
 sively before it, the mind is divided ; and both 
 
244 REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 
 
 are neutralized, so as to lose their effect. Just 
 as when I learnt two systems of short-hand. I 
 was familiar with Gurney's method and wrote 
 it with ease ; but, when I took it into my head 
 to learn Byrom's, they destroyed each other, 
 and 1 could write neither. 
 
 THERE should be something obvious, determin- 
 ate, and positive, in a man's reasons for taking 
 a journey ; especially if he be a minister. 
 Such events and consequences may be connect- 
 ed with it in every step, that he ought, in no 
 case, to be more simply dependent on the 
 great Appointer of means and occasions. Sever- 
 al journies which I thought myself called on 
 to take, 1 have since had reason to think I 
 should not have taken. Negative, and even 
 doubtful reasons, may justify him in choosing 
 the safer side of staying at home ; but there 
 ought to be something more in the reasons 
 which put him out of his way, to meet the 
 unknown consequences of a voluntary change 
 of station. Let there always be a u because" 
 to meet the " why ?" 
 
 I SOMETIMES see, as I sit in my pew at St. John's 
 during the service, an idle fellow saunter into 
 the chapel. He gapes about him for a few min- 
 utes : finds nothing to interest and arrest him ; 
 seerns scarcely to understand what is going for- 
 ward ; and, after a lounge or two, goes out a- 
 gain. I look at him, and think, " Thou art a 
 wonderful creature ! A perfect miracle ! What 
 a machine is that body ! curiously, fearfully, 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 245 
 
 Wonderfully framed ! An intricate delicate 
 but harmonious and perfect structure ! And, 
 then, to ascend to thy soul ! its nature ! its 
 capacities ! its actual state ! its designation ! 
 its eternal condition ! I am lost in amaze- 
 ment ! While he seems to have no more con- 
 sciousness of all this than the brutes which per- 
 ish !" 
 
 SIN, pursued to its tendencies, would pull God 
 from his throne. Though I have a deep con- 
 viction of its exceeding sinfulness, I live not a 
 week without seeing some exhibition of its ma- 
 lignity which draws from me " Well ! who 
 could have imagined this !" Sin would subju- 
 gate heaven, earth, and hell to itself. It would 
 make the universe the minion of its lusts, and 
 all beings bow down and worship. 
 
 IT is one of the most awful points of view in 
 which we can consider God, that, as a right- 
 eous governor of the world, concerned to vin- 
 dicate his own glory, he has laid himself under 
 a kind of holy necessity to purify the unclean, 
 or to sink him into perdition. 
 
 IT is one of the curses of error, that the man, 
 who is the subject of it, if he has had the op- 
 portunity of being better informed, cannot pos- 
 sibly do right, so far as he is under it. He has 
 brought himself into an utter incapacity of act- 
 ing virtuously : since it is vicious to obey an ill- 
 informed conscience, if that conscience might 
 have been better informed j and certainly vi- 
 
246 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 cious to disobey conscience, whether it be well 
 or ill-informed. 
 
 THE approaches of sin are like the conduct of 
 Jael. It brings butter in a lordly dish. It bids 
 high for the soul. But when it has fascinated 
 and lulled the victim, the nail and the hammer 
 are behind. 
 
 I HAVE met with one case in my ministry, very 
 frequent and very distressing. A man says to 
 me " I approve all you say. I SEE things to be 
 just as you state them. I see a necessity, a 
 propriety, a beauty in the religion of Christ. 
 I see it to be interesting and important. But 
 I do not FEEL it. I cannot feel it. I have no 
 spirit of prayer. My heart belies my head : 
 its affections refuse to follow my convictions." 
 If this complaint be ingenuous, it is an evidence 
 of grace ; and I sny u Wait for God, and he 
 will appear." But, too often, it is not ingenu- 
 ous : the heart is actually indisposed : some 
 tyrant holds it in bondage. The complaint is 
 a mockery because there is no sincerity of 
 endeavor to obtain the object of which it pre- 
 tends to lament the want there is no sincere 
 desire and prayer for the quickening .and 
 breathing of God's Holy Spirit on the torpid 
 soul. 
 
 THE man who labors to please his neighbor for 
 his good to edification^ has the mind that was in 
 Christ. It is a sinner trying to help a sinner. 
 How different the face of things if this spirit 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 247 
 
 prevailed! If Dissenters were like Henry, 
 and Watts, and Doddridge ; and churchmen 
 like Leighton ! The man who comes promi- 
 nently forward in any way may expect to he 
 found fault with: one will call him harsh, and 
 another a trimmer. A hard man may be rev- 
 erenced, but men will like him best at a dis- 
 tance : he is an iron man : he is not like Je- 
 sus Christ: Christ might have driven Thomas 
 from his presence for his unreasonable incre- 
 dulity but not so ! It is as though he had said, 
 u I will come down to thy weakness: if thou 
 canst not believe without thrusting thy hand 
 into my side, then thrust in thy hand." Even 
 a feeble, but kind and tender man, will effect 
 more than a genius, who is rough or artificial. 
 There is danger, doubtless, of humoring others, 
 and against this we must be on our guard. It 
 is a kind and accommodating spirit at which 
 we must aim. When the two goats met on 
 the bridge which was too narrow to allow them 
 either to pass each other, or to return, the 
 goat which lay down that the other might walk 
 over him was a finer gentleman than Lord 
 Chesterfield. 
 
 To expect disease wherever he goes, and to 
 lay himself out in the application of remedies, 
 is that habit of mind which is best suited to a 
 Christian while he passes through the world, 
 if he would be most effectually useful. 
 
 THE Papists and Puritans erred, in opposite 
 extremes, in their treatment of mankind. The 
 
248 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 PAPISTS, almost to a man, considered the mass 
 of men as mere animals, and to be led by the 
 senses. Even Fenelon fell into this way of 
 thinking. Some few fine spirits were to be 
 found, which were capable of other treatment : 
 but the herd they thought capable of nothing 
 but seeing and hearing. The PURITANS, on the 
 contrary, treated man as though he had noth- 
 ing of the animal about him. There was 
 among them a total excision of all amusement 
 and recreation. Every thing was effort. Ev- 
 ery thing was severe. I have heard a man of 
 this school preach on the distinction between 
 justifying and saving faith. He tried to make 
 his hearers enter into these niceties: whereas, 
 faith in its bold and leading features, should 
 have been presented to them, if any effect was 
 expected. The bulk of mankind are capable 
 of much more than the Papist allows, but are 
 incapable of that which the Puritan supposes. 
 They should be treated, in opposition to both, 
 as rational and feeling creatures, but upon a 
 bold and palpable ground. 
 
 I HAVE seen such sin in the church, that I have 
 been often brought by it to a sickly state of 
 mind. But, when I have turned to the world, 
 I have seen sin working there in such meas- 
 ures and forms, that I have turned back again 
 to the church with more wisdom of mind and 
 more affection to it tainted as it is. I see 
 sin, however, no where put on such an odious 
 appearance as in the church. It mixes itself 
 with the most holy things, and debases them, 
 and turns them to its own purposes. It builds 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 249 
 
 its nest in the very pinnacles of the temple. 
 The history of the primitive ages of the chivjh 
 has also checked the disgust which would arise 
 from seeing the impure state of things before 
 our eyes. Folly and wickedness sported them- 
 selves even then, in almost all possible forms. 
 I turn, in such states of mind, to two portraits 
 in my study John Bradford and Abp. Leigh- 
 ton. These never fail, in such cases, to speak 
 forcibly to my heart, that, in the midst of all, 
 there is pure religion, and to tell me what that 
 religion is. 
 
 THE joy of religion is an exorcist to the mind. 
 It expels the demons of carnal mirth and mad- 
 
 THE union of Christians to Christ, their com- 
 mon head ; and, by means of the influence 
 which they derive from Him, one to another ; 
 may be illustrated by the loadstone. It not 
 only attracts the particles of iron to itself, by 
 the magnetic virtue ; but, by this virtue, it 
 unites them one among another. 
 
 Some considerable defect is always visible, in 
 the greatest men, to a discerning eye. We 
 idolize the best characters, because we see 
 them partially. Let us acknowledge excel- 
 lence, and ascribe the glory where it is due, 
 while we honor the possessor ; but let us re- 
 member that God has, by leaving his greatest 
 servants to the natural operation of human 
 frailty in some point or 5ther of their charac- 
 22 
 
250 REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 
 
 ter, written on the face of the Christian Church, 
 Cease ye from man! He does, by perfection in 
 character, as he tiid by the body of Moses he 
 hides it, that it may not be idolized. Our af- 
 fections, our prejudices or our ignorance cov- 
 er the creature with a dazzling veil : but he 
 lifts it up ; and seems to say, " see the crea- 
 ture vou admire !" 
 
 A MAN, who thinks himself to have attained 
 Christian perfection, in the sense in which it 
 has been insisted on by some persons, either 
 deceives himself, by calling sin, infirmity or 
 Satan leaves him undisturbed in false security 
 or the demon of pride overcomes the demon 
 of lust. 
 
 THE trials of the tempted Christian are often 
 sent for the use of others, and are made the 
 riches of all around him. 
 
 IF I were not penetrated with a conviction of 
 the truth of the Bible, and the reality of my 
 own experience, I should be confounded on all 
 sides from within, and from without in the 
 world, and in the church. 
 
 IF a good man cannot prevent evil, he will 
 hang heavy on its wings, and retard its pro- 
 gress. 
 
 WE are too much disposed to look at the out- 
 side of things. The face of every affair chief- 
 Iv affects us. Were God to draw aside the 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 251 
 
 veil, and to shew us but a little of the reality, 
 and the relations of the most apparently mys- 
 terious and complicated dispensations, we 
 should acquiesce with reverence and admira- 
 tion. A minister, for example, may be taken 
 away in the beginning of a promising career, 
 or in the midst of great usefulness. If we 
 cannot perceive any direct reason for this 
 Providence, we stand amazed. But, if we 
 could look forward into the farther life of such 
 men, we should probably see that they were 
 taken away in mercy to themselves to the 
 church or to the world. 
 
 I HAVE seen too much of life, to have any thing 
 to do in the troubled waters of my friends, by 
 way of giving advice ; unless they will allow 
 me to remain in secret. This especially ap- 
 plies to some Christians of more sincerity than 
 prudence. An opinion given on difficult and 
 controverted cases, in confidence of its being 
 used only as a private principle of action, has 
 been quoted as authority in defence of the con- 
 duct founded on it. 
 
 MANY duties are involved on the very nature 
 of religion, concerning which there is perhaps 
 not one express precept to be found in the 
 Scriptures. Private, family, or public devo- 
 tions are no where enjoined ; as to the time, 
 or frequency, or manner of performing them. 
 Yet they are so strongly implied in the very 
 nature of religion, and they are supposed so 
 necessarily to flow from the divine principle 
 
252 REMAINS OF MR, CECIL. 
 
 of spiritual life in the soul, that those men 
 greatly err, who think themselves not obliged 
 by their religion to the most diligent use of 
 them that circumstances will allow. And, 
 surely, we may trace here the footsteps of di- 
 vine wisdom. If it had been said " Thou shalt 
 do this or that, at such and such times," this 
 would have brought a yoke on the neck of 
 the Christian ; and, even when absolutely un- 
 avoidable circumstances prevented him from 
 complying with the injunction, would have left 
 sin on his conscience. While the way in which 
 the duty is enforced leaves him a Christian 
 liberty, that is abundantly guarded against all li- 
 centiousness. He sees the duty implied and ex- 
 emplified in a thousand instances throughout the 
 Scripture. The sa,me principle is applicable 
 to certain pursuits, which occupy the men of 
 the world ; the general unlawfulness of which 
 is fully implied, though they neither are nor 
 could have been forbidden by name.* , 
 
 NOTHING seems important to me but so far as 
 it is connected with morals. The end the 
 cui bono ? enters into my view of every thing. 
 Even the highest acts of the intellect become 
 criminal trifling, when they occupy much of 
 the time of a moral creature, and especially 
 of a minister. If the mind cannot feel and 
 treat mathematics and music and every thing 
 
 * See this idea illustrated with regard to Articles of 
 Faith in Jones's u Short view of the argument between 
 the church of England and Dissenters," in the u , Schol- 
 ar Armed." Vol ii. p. 59. J. P. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 253 
 
 else as a trifle, it has been seduced and enslav- 
 ed. Brainerd, arid Grimshaw, and Fletcher 
 were men. Most of us are dwarfs. 
 
 IN imitating examples, there are two rules to 
 be regarded : we must not stretch ours beyond 
 our measure : nor must we despise that in an- 
 other, which is unsuitable to ourselves. 
 
 A PIECE has been written to prove that the 
 Gospel is preached to sinners, only in the 
 lowest state of misery and imbecility. Some 
 men get hold of an opinion, and push it so far 
 that it meets and contradicts other opinions, 
 fairly deducible from Scripture. And it is no 
 uncommon thing with them to suppose, that 
 nobody else holds the same opinion ; when, it 
 they would look into the minds of other men, 
 they would find themselves deceived. We 
 preach the Gospel to sinners in the lowest con- 
 dition ; and the only reason I do not preach it 
 to devils, is, that 1 find no gospel provided for 
 devils. As to the Roman Catholic notion of a 
 grace of congruity, in their sense of it i utter- 
 ly disclaim it. Some of the best of them taught 
 that God prepared the heart for himself in 
 various unseen ways. And who can deny this ? 
 but this is far different from the notion, that 
 some minds have a natural congruity or suita- 
 bleness to the Gospel. The fallow-ground of 
 the heart may be broken-up, ploughed, and 
 prepared by unseen and most circuitous means. 
 1 have gone from hearing a man preach incom- 
 parable nonsense who knew spiritual religion, 
 22* 
 
254 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 to hearing a man of a carnal mind and habits 
 who knew nothing of spiritual religion preach 
 incomparable sense, and I thought the carnal 
 preacher much most likely to call men to some 
 feeling of religion. 
 
 THE imagination is the grand organ, whereby 
 truth can make successful approaches to the 
 mind. Some preachers deal much with the 
 passions : they attack the hopes and fears of 
 men. But this is a very different thing from 
 the right use of the imagination, as the medium 
 of impressing truth. Jesus Christ has left per- 
 fect patterns of this way of managing men. 
 But it is a distinct talent, and a talent commit- 
 ted to very few. It is an easy thing to move 
 the passions : a rude, blunt, illiterate attack 
 may do this. But, to form one new figure for 
 the conveyance of truth to the mind, is a diffi- 
 cult thing. The world is under no small ob- 
 ligation to the man who forms such a figure. 
 The French strain this point so far, that the 
 effort is continually seen. To be effective 
 there must be about it a naivete an ease a 
 self-evidence. The figures of the French wri- 
 ters vanish from the mind, like the flourish of 
 a musical band. The figures of Jesus Christ 
 sink into the mind, and leave there the indeli- 
 ble impress of the truth which they convey. 
 
 THE religious world has a great momentum. 7 
 Money and power, in almost any quantity, are 
 brought forth into action, when any fair object 
 is set before it. It is a pendulum, that swings 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 255 
 
 with prodigious force. But it wants a regula- 
 tor. If there is no regulating force on it of 
 sufficient power, its motions will be so violent 
 and eccentric, that it will tear the machine to 
 pieces. And, therefore, when I have any in- 
 fluence in its designs and schemes, I cannot help 
 watching them with extreme jealousy, to 
 throw in every directing and regulating power 
 whichxan be obtained from any quarter. 
 
 NOTHING can be proposed so wild or so absurd, 
 as not to find a party and often a very large 
 party ready to espouse it. It is a sad reflec- 
 tion on human nature, but it is too true. Every 
 day's experience and history confirm it. It 
 would have argued gross ignorance of mankind 
 to expect even Swedenborgianism to be reject- 
 ed at once by the common sense of men. He, 
 who laid the snare, knew that if a few charac- 
 ters of some learning and respectibility could be 
 brought to espouse it, there would be soon a 
 silly multitude ready to follow. 
 
 THE religious world has many features, which 
 are distressing to a holy man. He sees in it 
 much proposal and ostentation, covering much 
 surface. But Christianity is deep and substan- 
 tial. A man is soon enlisted ; but he is not 
 soon made a soldier. He is easily put into the 
 ranks, to make a show there ; but he is not so 
 easily brought to do the duties of the ranks. 
 We are too much like an army of Asiatics ; they 
 count well, and cut a good figure ; but when 
 they come into action, one has no flint, anoth- 
 
256 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 er has no cartridge the arms of one are rusty, 
 and another has not learnt to handle them. 
 This was not the complaint equally at all times. 
 It belongs too peculiarly to the present day. 
 The fault lies in the muster. We are like 
 Falstaff. He took the king's money to press 
 good men and true, but got together such rag- 
 amuffins that he was ashamed to muster them. 
 What is the consequence ? People groan under 
 their connexions. Respectable persons tell me 
 such stories of their servants, who profess re- 
 ligion, as to shame and distress me. High pre- 
 tensions to spirituality ! Warm zeal for certain 
 sentiments! Priding themselves in Mr. Such-a- 
 one's ministry ! But what becomes of their du- 
 ties? Oh these are u beggarly elements" in- 
 deed ! Such persons are alive to religious TALK ; 
 but, if you speak to them on religious TEMPERS, 
 the subject grows irksome. 
 
 ADMIRATION and feeling are very distinct from 
 each other. Some music and oratory enchant 
 and astonish, but they speak not to the heart. 
 I have been overwhelmed by Handel's music : 
 the Dettingen Te Deum is perhaps, the great- 
 est composition in the world : yet I never, in 
 my life, heard Handel, but 1 could think of 
 something else at the same time. There is a 
 kind of music that will not allow this. Dr. 
 Worgan has so touched the organ at St. John's, 
 that I have been turning backward and forward 
 over the Prayer Book for the first lesson in 
 Isaiah, and wondered that I could not find Isai- 
 ah there ! The musician and the orator fall 
 
REMAINS OF MR, CECIL. 257 
 
 short of the full power of their science, if the 
 hearer is left in possession of himself. 
 
 THE church of England is not fitted, in its pre- 
 sent state, for a general church. Its seculari- 
 ty must be purged away. We shall hasten 
 that day when Christians shall be of one heart 
 and one mind, if we inculcate the spirit of char- 
 ity on our respective circles. I have aimed much 
 at this point, and shall push it farther. The 
 rest must be left to Providence. He only can, 
 by unknown means, heal the schisms of the 
 church, and unite it together as one external 
 body : and that this will be done as some think, 
 by persecution, appears highly probable. I 
 see no other means adequate to the end. 
 
 HYPOCRISY is folly. It is much easier, safer, and 
 pleasanter* to be the thing which a man aims to 
 appear, than to keep up the appearance of be- 
 ing what he is not. When a Christian is truly 
 such, he acts from a nature a new nature 
 and all the actings of that nature have the ease 
 and pleasantness of nature in them. 
 
 HUMILIATION is the spirit of our dispensation- 
 not a creeping, servile, canting humility : but 
 an entire self-renunciation. The Mystics of- 
 ten talk admirably on the subject. Pride is 
 the most universal and inveterate of all vices. 
 Every man is a proud man, though all are not 
 equally proud. No sin harasses the Christian 
 so much, nor accompanies him so unweariiedly. 
 Its forms ofexhibitingttself are infinitely varied, 
 
253 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 and none are more common than the affecta- 
 tion of humility. The assumption of the' garb 
 of humility, in all its shades, is generally but 
 an expression of a proud mind. Pride is the mas- 
 ter-sin of the spirit; and the grace of God, in 
 the whole tenor of our dispensation, is direct- 
 ed against it. 
 
 I EXTEND the circle of real religion very widety. 
 Many men fear God, and love God, and have a 
 sincere desire to serve Him, whose views of 
 religious truth are very imperfect, and in some 
 points perhaps utterly false. But I doubt not 
 that many such persons have a state of heart 
 acceptable before God. 
 
 MAN is a creature of extremes. The middle 
 path is generally the wise path ; but there are 
 few wise enough to find it. Because Papists 
 have made too much of some things, Protes- 
 tants have made too little of them. The Pa- 
 pists treat man as all sense ; and, therefore, 
 some Protestants would treat him as all spirit. 
 Because one party has exalted the virgin Mary 
 to a divinity, the other can scarcely think of that 
 most highly favored among women with common 
 respect. The Papist puts the Apocrypha into 
 his canon the Protestant will scarcel}' regard 
 it as an ancient record. The Popish heresy of 
 human merit in justification, drove Luther on 
 the other side into most unwarrantable and un- 
 scriptual statements of that doctrine. The Pa- 
 pists consider grace as inseparable from the 
 participation of the sacraments the Protes- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 259 
 
 tants too often lose sight of them as instituted 
 means of conveying grace. 
 
 THE language of irreligion in the heart, is, 
 " give give now now whatever the flesh 
 and the eye lust after, and whatever gratifies 
 the pride of life. Give it now for, as to any 
 reversion, I will not sacrifice a single lust for it ; 
 or if I must have a religion, it shall be any thing 
 rather than that demeaning system which 
 makes every thing a mere boon." 
 
 INSTEAD of attempting any logical and meta- 
 physical explanation of JUSTIFICATION by the 
 imputed righteousness of Christ, all which at- 
 tempts have human infirmity stamped upon 
 them, I would look at the subject in the great 
 and impressive light in which scripture places 
 it before me. It teaches me to regard the in- 
 tervention of Christ for me, as the sole ground 
 of all expectation toward God. In considera- 
 tion of his sufferings, my guilt is remitted, and 
 I am restored, to that which I had lost by sin. 
 Let us add to this, that the sufferings of Christ 
 were in our stead, and we shall see the point 
 of view in which Scripture sets him forth as 
 the deserver and procurer to us of all pardon 
 and grace. The thing is declared not ex- 
 plained. Let us not therefore darken a sub- 
 ject which is held forth in a prominent light, 
 by our idle endeavors to make it better under- 
 stood. 
 
 REGENERATION and CONVERSION may be distin- 
 
260 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 guished from each other, though they cannol 
 be separated. They may be distinguished ; as 
 a man's being disposed to go in a certain road, 
 and his actually going in that road, may he dis- 
 tinguished : for regeneration is God's disposing 
 the heart to himself; but conversion is the ac- 
 tual turning of the heart to God. 
 
 THERE is an immeasurable distance between 
 the genuine and the spurious Christian. The 
 genuine Christian may be weak, wild, eccen- 
 tric, fanatical, faulty ; but he is right-hearted : 
 you find the root of the matter in him. The 
 spurious Christian is the most dangerous of 
 men, and one of the most difficult to deal with. 
 You see what he is, but you find it almost im- 
 possible to keep clear of him. He will seek 
 your acquaintance, in order to authenticate his 
 own character to indorse his own reputation. 
 But avoid him. His errors and vices will be 
 assigned to the church, by an indiscriminating 
 world. There is less clanger in associating 
 with worldly people by profession, and more 
 tenderness to be exercised toward them. St. 
 Paul teaches us the distinction, 1 Cor. v. 9-11. 
 
 I FEEL disposed to treat carnal men and car- 
 nal ministers with tenderness, not to shew them 
 that I am a spiritually proud man. Let them 
 see that you have some secret in possession, 
 which keeps you quiet, humble, patient, holy, 
 meek, and affectionate, in a turbulent and 
 passionate world. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 261 
 
 THE character of Balaam is not uncommon in 
 the church. I have been amazed to see relig- 
 ious professors, whose ungodly character has 
 been known and read of all men, who have 
 nevertheless entertained a good opinion of 
 themselves. I have accounted for it, by sup- 
 posing that they build entirely'on the distinc- 
 tion of their views of truth from those of other 
 men. They " know the points : they see the 
 distinctions : and, moreover, they approve what 
 they know, and desire to die the death of the 
 righteous and be where they are and, cer- 
 tainly, they must be the men of God's coun- 
 cil, and the men who stand on his side against 
 the world !" 
 
 I HAVE long adopted an expedient, which I have 
 found of singular service. I have a shelf in 
 my study, for tried authors; and one in my 
 mind, for tried principles and characters. 
 
 When an AUTHOR has stood a thorough ex- 
 amination, and will bear to be taken as a guide, 
 I put him on the shelf! 
 
 When I have more fully made up my mind 
 on a PRINCIPLE, I put it on the shelf! A hun- 
 dred subtle objections may be brought against 
 this principle: 1 may meet with some of them, 
 perhaps : but my principle is on the shelf! 
 Generally, I may be able to recall the reasons 
 which weighed with me to put it there : but, 
 if not, I am not to be sent out to sea again. 
 Time was, when I saw through and detected 
 all the subtleties that could be brought against 
 it. I have past evidence of having beea 
 23 
 
262 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 fully convinced : and there on the shelf it shall 
 lie! 
 
 When I have turned a CHARACTER over and 
 over on all sides, and seen it through and 
 through in all situations, 1 put it on the shelf. 
 There may be conduct in the person, which 
 may stumble others : there may be great in- 
 consistencies: there may be strange and unac- 
 countable turns but 1 have put that charac- 
 ter on the shelf: difficulties will all be cleared 
 up : every thing will come round again. I 
 should be much chagrined, indeed, to be oblig- 
 ed to take a character down which I had once 
 put up ; but that has never been the case with 
 me yet ; and the best guard against it, is not 
 to be too hasty in putting them there. 
 
 INFLUENCE, whether derived from money, tal- 
 ents or connexions, is power : there is no per- 
 son so insignificant, but he has mucb of this 
 power: the little Israelite maid, in Naaman's 
 family, is an instance : some, indeed, suppose 
 that they have more power than they really 
 have ; but we generally think we have less 
 than we in reality have. Whoever neglects 
 or misapplies this power, is an unprofitable 
 servant; unbelief, timidity, and delicacy often 
 cramp its exertion ; but it is our duty to call 
 ourselves out to the exertion of this power, 
 as Mordecai called out Esther (ch. iv :) it is 
 our duty to watch against every thing that 
 might hinder or pervert our influence : for 
 mere regard to reputation will often carry 
 many into error : who would not follow Aaron 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. , 263 
 
 in worshipping the golden calf? Even men of 
 feeble public talents may acquire much influ- 
 ence by kindness and consistency of character: 
 ministers are defective in resting their person- 
 al influence too much on their public ministry : 
 time will give weight to a man's character ; 
 and it is one advantage to a man to be cast early 
 into his situation, that he may earn a charac- 
 ter. 
 
 THE instances of ARTIFICE which occur in scrip- 
 ture are not to be imitated, but avoided : if 
 Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob equivocate in or- 
 der to obtain their ends, this is no warrant to 
 me to do so : David's falsehood concerning 
 Goliath's sword argued distrust of God. If any 
 part of the truth which I am bound to com- 
 municate be concealed, this is sinful artifice : 
 the Jesuits in China, in order to remove the 
 offence "of the cross, declared that it was a 
 falsehood invented by the Jews that Christ was 
 crucified ; but they were expelled from the 
 empire : and this was designed, perhaps, to be 
 held up as a warning to all missionaries, that 
 no good end is to be carried by artifice. 
 
 But ADDRESS is of a different nature. There 
 is no falsehood, deception, or equivocation in 
 address. St. Paul, for instance, employed law- 
 ful Address, and not artifice, when he set the 
 Sadducees and Pharisees at variance : he em- 
 ployed a lawful argument to interest the Phar- 
 isees in his favor: this was great address, but 
 it had nothing of criminal artifice. In Joshua's 
 ambushes for the men of Ai there was nothing 
 
264 REMAINS F MR. CECIL. 
 
 sinful: it was a lawful stratagem of war: it 
 would have been unlawful to tell the men of 
 Ai there was no ambush : but they knew that 
 they came out of their city liable to such am- 
 bushes. Christ's conduct at Emmaus, and that 
 of the Angels of Sodom, were meant as trials 
 of the regard of those with whom they were 
 conversing. 
 
 PRECIPITATION is acting without sufficient 
 grounds of action. Youth is the peculiar sea- 
 son of precipitation : the young man's motto is 
 u onward !" There is no such effectual cure of 
 this evil, as experience; when a man is made 
 to feel the effects of his precipitation, both in 
 body and mind : and God alone can thus bring 
 a man acquainted with himself. There is a 
 self-blindness in precipitation: a precipitate 
 man is, at the time, a blind man : That be far 
 from thee ! said St Peter: this shall 'not hap- 
 pen to thee. As the Lord livelh, said David, the 
 man that hath done this thing shall surely die I 
 
 There is great criminality in precipitation. 
 A man under its influence is continually tempt- 
 ed to take God's work out of his hands. It is 
 not a state of dependance. It betrays want of 
 patience with respect to God; and want of 
 faith : / shall one day perish by the hand of 
 Saul. It discovers a wnnt of charity : in a rash 
 moment we may do an injury to our neighbor, 
 which we can never repair. 
 
 There are few, who do not feel that they 
 are suffering through life the effects of their 
 own precipitation. He, then, that tnistelh his 
 own heart, is a fool. In precipitate moments 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 265 
 
 we should learn to say, u I am not now the 
 man to give an opinion, or to take a single 
 step !" 
 
 METHOD, as Mrs. More says, is the very hinge 
 of business : and there is no method without 
 PUNCTUALITY. Punctuality is important, be- 
 cause it subserves the peace and good-temper 
 of a family: the want of it not only infringes 
 on necessary duty, but sometimes excludes this 
 duty. Punctuality is important as it gains 
 time : it is like packing things in a box : a 
 good packer will get in half as much more as 
 a bad one. The calmness of mind which it 
 produces, is another advantage of punctuality : 
 a disorderly man is always in a hurry : he has 
 no time to speak with you, because he is going 
 elsewhere ; and when he gets there, he is too 
 late for his business, or he must hurry away 
 to another before he can finish it. It was a 
 wise maxim of the Duke of Newcastle " I do 
 one thing at a time." Punctuality gives weight 
 to character. u Such a man has made an ap- 
 pointment : then 1 know he will keep it." And 
 this generates punctuality in you : for like 
 other virtues, it propagates itself: servants 
 and children must be punctual, where their 
 leader is so. Appointments, indeed, become 
 debts : I owe you punctuality, if I have made 
 an appointment with you ; and have no right 
 to throw away your time if 1 do my own. 
 
 IT is a difficult question in casuistry HOTV FAR 
 
 A MAN IS BOUND TO BETRAY CONFIDENCE FOR GEN- 
 
 23* 
 
266 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 ERAL GOOD. Let it be considered what conse- 
 quences would follow from a man's disclosing 
 all the evil he knows. The world would be- 
 come a nest of scorpions. He must often mis- 
 take, and of course calumniate. Such is his 
 incapacity to determine what is really evil in 
 his neighbor, and such are the mischiefs fre- 
 quently arising* from the disclosure of even 
 what should Jbe in truth evil, that he seems 
 rather called on to be silent, till circumstances 
 render it a case of duty to remain silent no lon- 
 ger. But, if this be his GENERAL RULE, it will 
 be his duty to observe silence much oftener in 
 cases of CONFIDENCE. Professional men a min- 
 ister - rl lawyer a medical man have an 
 official secrecy imposed on them. If this were 
 not the case a distrest conscience could never 
 imburthen itself to its confessor. Incalcula- 
 ble injuries to health and property must be 
 sustained, for want of proper advisers. This 
 applies in a very high sense to a minister, con- 
 sidered as a confessor a director of the con- 
 science. An alarmed conscience will unfold 
 its most interior recesses before him. It is said 
 Dr, Owen advised a man, who under religious 
 convictions confessed to him a murder which 
 he bad perpetrated some years before, to sur- 
 render himself up to justice. The man did so, 
 and was executed. I think Dr. Owen erred 
 in his advice. I thought myself right, in urg- 
 ing on persons, who have opened their hearts 
 to me, deep humiliation before God for crimes 
 committed in an unconverted stale : but, as it 
 had pleased Him to give a thorough hatred of 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 267 
 
 those crimes to the mind, and a consequent 
 self-loathing and humiliation, arid yet to allow 
 .in His providence that they should have re- 
 mained undiscovered, I judged that the matter 
 might be safely left with Him. Yet there may 
 be cases in which general consequences require 
 that confidence should be betrayed. Such 
 cases usually relate to EVIL IN PROGRESS. To 
 prevent or counteract such evil, it may be nec- 
 essary to disclose what has been intrusted in 
 confidence. Yet the party should be honestly 
 warned, if its purposes are not changed, what 
 duty your conscience will require. 
 
 I HAVE felt twice in my life very extraordinary 
 impressions under sermons, and that from men 
 least calculated to affect me. A man of great 
 powers, but so dissipated on every thing that 
 he knew nothing a frivolous, futile babbler, 
 whom I was ready almost to despise surprised 
 and chained me so, in my own church at Lewes, 
 that I was thunderstruck: I think it was concern- 
 ing the dove not finding rest for the sole of her 
 foot : he felt the subject strongly himself; and 
 in spite of all my prejudices against him and 
 my real knowledge of his character, he made 
 me feel it as I have scarcely ever done before 
 or since. In the other instance, 1 had to do 
 with a very different character : he was a sim- 
 ple, but weak man : it pleased God, however, 
 to shoot an arrow by his hand into my heart : 
 1 had been some time in a dry, fruitless frame, 
 and was persuading myself that all was going 
 on well : he said one day, at Lewes, with an 
 
268 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 indescribable simplicity, that " men might 
 cheer themselves in the morning, and they 
 might pass on tolerably well perhaps without 
 God at noon ; but the cool of the day was com- 
 ing, when God would come down to talk with 
 them." It was a message from God to me : i 
 felt as though God had descended into the 
 church: and was about to call me to my account ! 
 In the former instance, I was more surprised and 
 astonished than aifected religiously ; but, in 
 this, I was unspeakably moved. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL bias is a suspicious interpreter 
 of PROVIDENTIAL LEADINGS. A man's besetting 
 sin lies in that to which his nature is most in- 
 clined ; and, therefore, to walk wisely and ho- 
 lily, he should be very jealous of such supposed 
 leadings in Providence as draw with his constitu- 
 tional propensity. He is never safe, unless he 
 is in the act of collaring his nature as a rebel, 
 and forcing it into submission. A sanguine man 
 sees a sign and token in every thing : in every 
 ordinary occurrence, his imagination hears a 
 call : his pious fancy is the source and food of 
 an eager, disquieted, and restless habit of mind. 
 An enterprising man has great facility in finding 
 God in whatever seems to open to honor, or 
 influence, or power. But he has lost the right 
 estimate of things : if God seem to draw with 
 an enterprising mind, the man should stand and 
 tremble. Providence may really lead some 
 retired and humble men into situations which 
 the ambitious man would covet ; but, even in 
 that case, it is not to be regarded as an evi- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 269 
 
 dence of favor, so much as an increase of trial 
 and responsibility : but he can never open be- 
 fore an enterprising and ambitious character, 
 unless in judgment, or in such imminence of 
 trial as should call the man to self-suspicion 
 and humility. A pleasurable man easily discerns 
 God's hand in every thing, which seems to put 
 his favorite indulgences within his power: such 
 a thing was a great providence ! and he is vastly 
 grateful! while he sees not that he is led 
 away to broken cisterns. An idle man has a 
 constant tendency to torpidity. He has adopted 
 the Indian maxim that it is better to walk 
 than to run, and better to stand, than to walk, 
 and better to sit than to stand, and better to 
 lie than to sit. He hugs himself into the no- 
 tion, that God calls him to be quiet: that HE 
 is not made for bustling and noise ! that such 
 and such a thing plainly shew him he ought to 
 retire and sit still ! A busy man is never at 
 rest: he sees himself called so often into ac- 
 tion, that he digs too much to suffer any thing 
 to grow, and waters so profusely that he drowns. 
 The danger in all these cases is, lest a man 
 should bless himself in his SNARES! 
 
 ADAM well observes : u A poor country parson, 
 fighting against the Devil in his parish, has no- 
 bler ideas than Alexander had." Men of the 
 world know nothing of true glory : they know 
 nothing of the grandeur of that sentiment 
 Thou, O Goc/, art the thing that I long for! You 
 may, perhaps, find this sentiment in the corner 
 of some monastery, where a poor ignorant 
 creature is mumbling over his prayers: or, it 
 
270 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 may even be found to exist with the nonsense 
 and fanaticism of a Swedenborgian ; but, where- 
 ever it is, it is true dignity. 
 
 Look at the bravery of the world ! Go into 
 the Park. Who is the object of admiration 
 there? The captain swelling and strutting at 
 the head of his corps ! And what is there at 
 the court ? " Make way ! Make way !" And 
 who is this? A bit of clay, with a ribbon tied 
 round it ! Now it makes nothing against the 
 comparative emptiness and littleness of these 
 things, that I or any man should be ensnared 
 by them, and play the fool with the rest of the 
 species. Truth is truth, and dignity is dignity 
 in spite of the errors and folly of any man liv- 
 ing. 
 
 But this is the outside. What are the great- 
 est minds, and the noblest projects of the world, 
 compared with a Christian ! Take Mr. Pitt for 
 an instance : and contrast him with the most 
 insignificant old woman in the church of Christ ! 
 If the Bible be not true, you have no standard : 
 all your reasonings, and science, and philosophy, 
 and metaphysics, are gross absurdity and folly. 
 But, if the Bible be true, Mr. Pitt, great and 
 noble as he is, yet, considered as a mere politi- 
 cian, even Mr. Pitt has a little, contracted, 
 mean mind! a driveller! an earth-worm! 
 Compared with his projects and schemes, the 
 old woman, who rises at two o'clock in the 
 morning, lights her farthing candle, stands all 
 day over her wash-tub, at night puts on her 
 red cloak, steals out to some place of worship, 
 hears the truths of the gospel mangled per- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 271 
 
 haps with ignorant yet honest zeal, but draws 
 in good into an honest and prepared heart 
 why, this woman is a heroine a noble mind 
 compared with the greatest of men, consider- 
 ed as a mere man of this world ! 
 
 Bishop Wilkins has said admirably, That 
 nothing in man is great, but, so far as it is con- 
 nected with God. The only wise thing record- 
 ed of Xerxes, is his reflection on the sight of his 
 army That not one of that immense multitude 
 would survive a hundred years : it seems to 
 have been a momentary gleam of true light 
 and feeling. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. CECIL, COMMUNICATED TO 
 THE EDITOR BY SOME FRIENDS. 
 
 A HIDING-PLACE implies secrecy. He, who can 
 say unto God, Thou art my hiding-place, may 
 go abroad about his affairs, and may pass 
 through a thousand dangers, and yet at the 
 same time, have such a hiding place, in the 
 favor and protection of God, that, when he 
 seems to be exposed on every side, still he is 
 secured and hidden from every evil. 
 
 A GREAT man, however high his office and tal- 
 ents, is dependent on little things. Jonah was 
 exceeding glad of his gourd. However splendid 
 and towering, man is crushed beneath the moth, 
 if God does not uphold him : so that, while we 
 are admiring the great man as he is called, and 
 however he may be disposed to admire him- 
 self and to speak great swelling words of vanity, 
 facts will show that he is a poor, dependent 
 creature, who cannot live a moment without 
 God. If the Holy Spirit opens his eyes, he 
 will perceive that he cannot stand alone ; but 
 can only support himself and climb, like the 
 ivy, by clasping one stronger than himself. 
 
 DREAMS are common to sleeping. No man be- 
 gins to slumber in religion, but he falls into 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 273 
 
 some golden dream. It is a device of Satan to 
 seduce men into a drowsy state, and then to 
 beguile them with some dream. When the 
 duties of religion become irksome, then he pre- 
 sents some novelty which allures and deceives 
 us : whereas, had we been in life and vigor, 
 we should have detected the deceit. 
 
 THERE are no greater objects of pity in the 
 world, than men who are admired by all around 
 for their nice discernment and fine taste in ev- 
 ery thing of a worldly nature, but have no taste 
 for the riches that endure for ever no love 
 for God or his word no love for Christ or 
 their souls. In such a state, however admired 
 or respected, they cannot see the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 A SPIRITUAL man is a character that rises far 
 above all worldly wisdom and science. He is 
 described by our Lord as born of the Spirit. 
 Spiritual senses are given to him. He has a 
 spiritual TASTE, that rejects whatever is injuri- 
 ous, and gladly receives whatever is salutary 
 to the spiritual life : he desires the sincere milk 
 of the word, that he may grow thereby. He has 
 a spiritual SIGHT : he looks not at the things which 
 are seen, but at the things which are not seen. He 
 SMELLS a sweet savor in the things of God : His 
 name is as ointment poured forth. He has a 
 quick FEELING. And he has a spiritual EAR : 
 My sheep hear my voice. He lives in a world of 
 his own : he is tried by spiritual conflicts, and 
 supported by spiritual comforts. If the things 
 24 
 
274 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 of God do not afford him consolation he droops, 
 and nothing in this world can lift up his head : 
 he will say to every other object, Miserable 
 comforters are ye all ! He is pursuing a spiritu- 
 al end, and while others hoast and are puffed 
 up with their great attainments, he is humbled 
 in the dust, and gives all glory to God. 
 
 THERE are critical circumstances, under which 
 a man who is in general on his guard, is called 
 to redouble his Christian vigilance. If he is 
 about to encounter imminent danger, for in- 
 stance, he will take care to secure himself by 
 every possible means. A house may be well 
 guarded and secured, but, if there is any fear 
 and expectation of thieves, every place will 
 be doubly barred and watched. Good care 
 may be taken, in the general habits of a fami- 
 ly, to guard against fire; but if it be known 
 that a spark has fallen among any combusti- 
 bles, every possible search is made to discover 
 it and to prevent its ravages. Thus should 
 every servant of Christ redouble his guard in 
 critical circumstances. He should remember, 
 that, while awful providences seem to be 
 threatening us, and while we are surrounded 
 with dangers on every side, and while the en- 
 emy of our souls is going about as a roaring li- 
 on seeking whom he may devour, it ill becomes 
 us to trifle. Let us stir up ourselves, and at- 
 tend to our Master's admonition, Let your loins 
 be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye 
 yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 275 
 
 IF St. Paul had not been an entire character, 
 he would not have spoken so ingenuously of 
 himself as he does in the 7th to the Romans. 
 He would have acted as many others have done : 
 he would have put the best aspect on things. 
 He would not have opened the chambers of im- 
 agery ; and have shewed, while all the church 
 was admiring him, what was passing within. 
 Here were real simplicity and humility no- 
 thing of that Pharisee which he once was. 
 The Pharisee is become a Publican : the real- 
 ity is coming forward ; and he seems to say, u Is 
 any man groaning under a body of sin and 
 death ? on searching his heart, does he find 
 that therein dwelleth no good thing ? This is 
 my case also ; and if I have any thing where- 
 in to glory, it is in Christ and not in myself." 
 
 CHARITY should teach us to exercise hope and 
 love toward all men hope toward those who 
 are without, and love toward those who are 
 within, the walls of the city of God. Of those 
 without, we are apt to despair too soon, and to 
 say, There is no hope; when we should labor 
 to allure them into the church of God, and to 
 impress them with a sense of its glory and its 
 privileges. Toward those within the walls, 
 we sometimes fail in the exercise of love : we 
 are too much influenced in our feelings toward 
 them by a difference of education, taste, or 
 disposition ; while the great question ought to 
 be, " Are they really fellow- citizens with the 
 saints, and of the household of God ?" and if so, 
 whatever their defects may be, we ought to 
 
276 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 honor and love them as the temples of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 WHEN Christians are Delivered from trouble, 
 they are apt soon to forget it ; and to lose sight 
 of the holy resolutions formed while under af- 
 fliction: the strong impressions soon decay. 
 Whereas if we were enabled to glory in tribu- 
 lation if our conscience were made tender 
 if more reality were put into our prayers we 
 should take heed how we give way to an evil 
 heart of unbelief: we should remember, too, 
 how our troubles were brought on us, and the 
 benefits which we received while they contin- 
 ued : we should watch that we might not esti- 
 mate them falsely : and at all times, we should 
 bear it in our mind, that it is not suffering 
 which hurts us, but sin. 
 
 SOME men will follow Christ on certain condi- 
 tions if he will not lead them through rough 
 roads if he will not enjoin them any painful 
 tasks if the sun and wind do not annoy them 
 if he will remit a part of his plan and order. 
 But the true Christian, who has the spirit of 
 Jesus, will say, as Ruth said to Naomi, tfc Whith- 
 er thou goest, I will go ! whatever difficulties, 
 and dangers may be in the way. 
 
 IT is our happiness, as Christians, that, howev- 
 er we may change our place, we shall never 
 change our object. Whatever we lose, we 
 shall not lose that which we esteem better 
 ihan life. God has made to us this gra- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CKCJL. 277 
 
 cious promise / will dwell in them, and walk 
 in them. And though we may endure much af- 
 fliction, and pass through many deep waters, 
 yet this is our honour and comfort, THE LORD 
 is WITH us ! and then what is difficulty ? 
 what is tribulation ? what is death ! Death 
 to a Christian is but an entrance into the city 
 of God! it is but joining a more blessed com- 
 pany, and singing in a more exalted strain, than 
 he can do in this world. 
 
 THE WAY of every man is declarative of the 
 END of that man. 
 
 How difficult is it to show those who are in the 
 house of mourning, that God is teaching them, 
 that, if they had not leaned so much on their 
 creature-supports, they had not been so brok- 
 en ! Still they are crying, O Absalom, my son, 
 my son ! Why is it that we are shocked to see 
 the world falling to pieces around us, when we 
 shall leave it ourselves to-morrow perhaps 
 to-day? We forget that it is the design of God 
 to dash every thing to pieces. It is by these 
 trials that we begin to learn we have been 
 walking by sense rather than by faith- and 
 looking at our children and our possessions as 
 though we were never to lose them. 
 
 IT is by FAITH that we are relieved under the 
 difficulties of SENSE. Sense revolts, when it 
 views our great high Priest on the cross 
 Faith glories in this object ! Sense talks like 
 the Jews : He saved others : himself he cannot 
 24* 
 
278 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 save : if he be now the King of Israel, let him 
 come down from the cross, and we will believe 
 him. Faith lays hold on him as the Savior of 
 the world, and cries, Lord! remember me when 
 thou comest into thy kingdom! Sense envies the 
 prosperous worlding, and calls him happy 
 Faith goes into the sanctuary, to see what his 
 end will be. When the waves run high, Sense 
 clamors Faith says " Speak hut the word, and 
 the winds and waves shall obey thee." When 
 we feel our earthly house of this tabernacle tak- 
 ing down, Sense sinks but Faith says,fFe know, 
 that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dis- 
 solved, we have a building of God, a house not 
 made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
 
 WISDOM prepares for the worst : but folly leaves 
 the worst for that day when it comes. 
 
 ABRAHAM teaches us the right way of convers- 
 ing with God : And Abraham fell on his face, 
 and God talked with him ! When we plead 
 with Him our faces should be in the dust : we 
 shall not then speak lightly of him, nor com- 
 plain ; nor will there be any more boasting. 
 We shall abase ourselves and exalt God ! 
 
 THE Christian's secret intercourse with God 
 will make itself manifest to the world. We may 
 not see the husbandman cast the seed into the 
 ground, yet when the corn grows and ripens 
 we know that it was sown. The mere profes- 
 sor, who may be found every where but in his 
 secret chamber, may think that with care he 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 279 
 
 shall pass for a good Christian : but he mis- 
 takes, for the spirit WILL discover itself, of 
 what sort it is. He, who would walk snfely 
 and honorably, must walk closely with God in 
 secret. 
 
 A VARIETY of circumstances render the sinner's 
 first approaches to Christ difficult. They, 
 who tind an EASY access, will find an easy de- 
 parture when troubles arise. 
 
 THE most likely method we can take to hasten 
 the removal of what we love, is, to value it 
 too much to think on it with endless anxiety 
 to LIVE on its favor with solicitude. It shall 
 soon either become a thorn in our side, or be 
 taken away. 
 
 BE ye not unequally yoked. If a believer mar- 
 ries an unbeliever, the miseries which ensue 
 are endless. Were they determined, in kind- 
 ness, to grant all thej could to each other; 
 yet they live as in two separate worlds'. There 
 is a great gulf between them, which cannot 
 be passed without the grace of God ; on which, 
 while all should hope and pray for it, none 
 should presume. They cannot taste the same 
 pleasures, nor share the same sorrows, nor 
 pursue the same objects, nor walk in the same 
 path. What hope, then, can there be of com- 
 fort? Every Christian finds the corruptions of 
 his own heart, the snares of the world, and the 
 devices of Satan, together with innumerable 
 secret anxieties, quite enough to struggle with 
 
280 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 in his journey to heaven, without adding anoth- 
 er to his difficulties. 
 
 IN studying the word of God, digest it under 
 these two heads : either as removing obstruc- 
 tions, which keep God and thee asunder ; or 
 as supplying some uniting power to hring God 
 and thee together. 
 
 PERHAPS it is a greater energy of Divine Pow- 
 er, which keeps the Christian from day to day, 
 from year to year praying, hoping, running, 
 believing against all hindrances which main- 
 tains him as a LIVING martyr : than that which 
 bears him up for an hour in sacrificing himself 
 at the stake. 
 
 BY the course of his Providence, God will as- 
 sert the liberty of his council. 
 
 LET me ask, every day, what reference it has 
 to the Day of judgment; and cultivate a dis- 
 position to be reminded of that day. 
 
 INDULGE not a gloomy contempt of any thing 
 which is in itself good : only let it keep its place. 
 
 GOD has called us to meet his best gift to man 
 his only-begotten Son not in a splendid 
 court, but in a manger ! in the wilderness ! 
 in Gethsemane ! before the high priest, 
 when they spat in his face and buffeted him, 
 and smote him ! at the cross ! and at the 
 sepulchre ! Thus it is that he corrects the 
 pride and ambition of the human heart ! 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 281 
 
 THERE is in sin, not only an infinite mischief 
 done to the man, but it is accompanied by an 
 infatuation that surpasses all description. When 
 the heart declines from God, and loses com- 
 munion with Christ, the man resembles one in 
 a consumption, who is on the brink of the grave 
 and yet talks of a speedy recovery ! A death 
 will come on the spirit, which will be perceiv- 
 ed and felt by all around: yel, when the most 
 affectionate friends of such a man attempt to 
 expostulate, they often find him not only in- 
 sensible, but obstinate and stout-hearted. He 
 who, like Samson, the champion of Israel, lays 
 his head in the lap of temptation, will rarely 
 rise again as he lay down : he may say, / will 
 go out, as at other times before, and shake my- 
 self: but he wists not that the Lord is departed 
 from him ! Strangers have devoured his strength^ 
 and he knoweth it not ! 
 
 THE whole life of Christ was one continued ex- 
 pression of the same desire. u Let me lay a- 
 side my glory let me expire on the cross so 
 that thy kingdom may come !" And the blood 
 of every martyr, who ever suffered in the 
 cause of God, cried u Let thy Kingdom come !" 
 
 GROWTH in grace manifests ilsolf by a simplici- 
 ty that is, a greater naturalness of character. 
 There will be more usefulness, and less noise; 
 more tenderness of conscience, and less scru- 
 pulosity : there will be more peace, more 
 humility : when the full corn is in the ear, it 
 bends down because it is full. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 THE history of all the great characters of the 
 Bible is summed up in this one sentence : 
 they acquainted themselves with God, and ac- 
 quiesced in his will in all things. 
 
 GOD'S way of answering the Christian's prayer 
 for an increase of patience, experience, hope, 
 and love usually is to put him into the fur- 
 nace of tribulation. St. James therefore says, 
 Count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempta- 
 tions. People of the world count it all joy when 
 they are in ease and affluence ; but a Chris- 
 tian is taught to count it all joy when he is tried 
 as gold in the fire. 
 
 IN Christ we see the most perfect exhibition 
 of every grace, to which we, as his followers, 
 are called. Let there be but in us that pover- 
 ty of spirit that disposition to bear with pro- 
 vocations, and to forgive injuries that obe- 
 dience to God and acquisescence in his will 
 that perseverance in doing good that love 
 which overcometh all difficulties that meek- 
 ness, humility, patience, compassion, and gen- 
 tleness which were found in Christ ; and if any 
 man should be so ignorant and debased as to 
 imagine that this is not TRUE DIGNITY OF CHARAC- 
 TER, let it be remembered that this was the 
 mind which was also in Christ Jesus ! 
 
 LOOKING back is more than we can sustain with- 
 out going back ! 
 
 WHEN the multitudes followed our Lord on a 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 283 
 
 particular occasion, although he wished for re- 
 tirement and had gone purposely to seek it, 
 yet he gave up his design and attended to them. 
 Mark the condescension and tenderness of 
 such conduct, in opposition to a sour, monastic, 
 morose temper. We are too fond of our own 
 will. We want to be doing what we fancy 
 mighty things; but the great point is, to do 
 small things, when called to them, in a right 
 spirit. 
 
 THE world will allow of a vehemence approach- 
 ing to ecstasy, on almost any occasion but that, 
 which, above all others, will justify it. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN will find his parenthesis for prayer, 
 even through his busiest hours. 
 
 WE treat sensible and present things as reali- 
 ties, and future and eternal things as fables : 
 whereas the reverse should be our habit. 
 
 AN Enthusiast will COURT trouble, and that for 
 ITSELF: but a Christian, while he does not 
 COURT it, yet rejoices in it : not for its own 
 sake, but because he knows that tribulation 
 toorketk patience^ and patience experience, and ex- 
 perience hope a hope that maketh not ashamed. 
 While patience is the fruit of his conflicts and 
 trials, he gains experience by them : he ac- 
 quires the knowledge which a traveller ob- 
 tains in performing a long journey : he is in 
 possession of a bundle of choice maxims and 
 observations, gathered with much pains : he is 
 
284 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 taught by them to know his own heart : he is 
 brought acquainted with the faithfulness and 
 mercy of God, in holding him up in the deep 
 waters, and accompanying him through the 
 tire of affliction. And this experience produ- 
 ces hope a hope that he is savingly united to 
 Christ a hope that he is in the church of God 
 a hope of the glory of God a hope that 
 maketh not ashamed, keeping us steady at an- 
 chor through every storm, and when every 
 other support fails. 
 
 THERE are but two states in the world which 
 may be pronounced happy either that of the 
 man who rejoices in the light of God's coun- 
 tenance, or that of him who mourns after it. 
 
 LET the warm-hearted Christian be careful of 
 receiving a wrong bias in religion. When a 
 ball is in motion, almost any thing presented to 
 it obliquely will turn it wholly out of its course. 
 Beware, therefore of a wrong direction in 
 Christianity. Fix your attention ever on such 
 examples as St. John and St. Paul, and hear 
 how they speak : If any man love not the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha ! 
 
 GOD denies a Christian nothing, but with a de- 
 sign to give him something better. 
 
 GOD teaches some of his best lessons in the 
 school of affliction. It is said that St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Ephesians has quite the spirit 
 and air of a prison, That school must be truly 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 285 
 
 excellent, which produces such experience and 
 wisdom. 
 
 WE cannot build too confidently on the merits 
 of Christ, as our only hope ; nor can we think 
 too much of the mind that was in Christ, as our 
 great example. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN does not glory in tribulation, as he 
 does in the cross of Christ. The Cro^s of Christ 
 is the OBJECT in which he glories : but he glories 
 in tribulation as an appointed MEANS and INSTRU- 
 MENT in the hand of God, of accomplishing his 
 own pleasure and promoting our real good. 
 
 NEVER was there a man of deep piety, who 
 has not been brought into extremities who 
 has not been put into the fire who has not 
 been taught to say, Though he slay me yet will I 
 trust in him ! 
 
 A CHRISTIANAS steps are not only safe, but steady: 
 He, that believeth, shall not make haste. When 
 DANGER approaches, he shall not be thrown 
 into confusion from his alarm, so as to be rea- 
 dy to say " Whither shall I run ?" but, finding 
 himself on safe ground, he shall be quiet. Be- 
 ing built on the sure foundation and stablished 
 in Christ, he shall not make haste in his EXPEC- 
 TATIONS : he shall not make haste with respect 
 to the promises, as though they were long in 
 their accomplishment, knowing that all the pro- 
 mises of God are Yea, and, in Christ, Jlmen ! In 
 AFFLICTION, he shall not make haste in running 
 25 
 
286 REMAINS OP MR. CECIL. 
 
 to broken cisterns ; as Asa did, when, in his 
 disease, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physi- 
 cians : he shall not be alarmed, or driven about, 
 as one who has not a strong-hold to enter; but 
 shall say, None of these things move me ! neither 
 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
 Jinish my course with joy ! With respect to his 
 CHARACTER, the Christian shall not make haste : 
 if a cloud come over his reputation, and men 
 will suspect his integrity without grounds, he 
 will commit himself to God, and wait his oppor- 
 tunity, and not make rash haste to justify and 
 clear his character. 
 
 WHEN a man can say, " My God !" if he can 
 add no more, that is sufficient : for my God is 
 all-wise in appointing, and almighty to uphold 
 and to deliver. My God is a Father to me in 
 Christ : yea he is a Father who hid his face 
 from Christ for my good. If, then, 1 am in 
 darkness, let me remember that God never had 
 a Son that was not sometimes in the dark ; for 
 even Christ, his only-begotten Son, cried out 
 .My God i My God! why hast thou forsaken me ? 
 
 FEW Christians, if any, sufficiently honor Christ, 
 as governing their concerns. They do not 
 say, " Now, while I am praying on earth, my 
 Saviour is working for me in heaven. He is 
 saying to one, c Do this !' and to another, ' Do 
 that ! and all for my good !" While Jeremiah 
 was, doubtless, crying to God out of the dun- 
 geon, Ebed-melech was interceding for him 
 with the king, and they were preparing the 
 means of his deliverance. See Jer. xxxviii. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 287 
 
 LET the restless, comfortless state of a backsli- 
 der, distinguish him from an apostate. 
 
 IF you have set out in the ways f God, do not 
 stumble at present difficulties. Go forward. 
 Look not behind. 
 
 SOMETHING must be left as a test of the loyalty 
 of the heart in Paradise, the Tree : in Israel, 
 a Canaanite : in us, Temptation. 
 
 RELIGIOUS joy, is a holy, a delicate deposit. It 
 is a pledge of something greater, and must not 
 be thought lightly of: for let it be withdrawn 
 only for a little, and, notwithstanding the ex- 
 perience we may have had of it, we shall find no 
 living creature can restore it to us, and we can 
 only, with David, cry, Restore unto me^ O Lore?, 
 the joy of thy salvation. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN should beware of that temptaion, 
 Why should I wait for the Lord any longer ? He 
 should remember, if it is a time of extremity, 
 that is the very reason why he should wait. 
 If his way is so hedged up that he cannot go 
 forward, he should say, "Now is the time for 
 me to stand still, and wait till God opens my 
 way." When my spirit was overwhelmed with" 
 in me, then thou knewest my path. 
 
 HUMAN nature is always putting forth its fears 
 and unbelief, in anxious questions concerning to- 
 morrow^ or some threatening calamity : but 
 Christ says to every Christian, " Let not your 
 
288 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid : I go to 
 prepare a place for you; and I will protect and 
 guide yon throughout the journey thither." 
 
 God with us4.s the traveller's security. Jacob 
 was destitute : he had a long and dreary jour- 
 ney, but God said, Behold I a in with thee, and 
 will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. 
 
 GOD calls not for thousands of rams nor ten thou- 
 sands of rivers of oil: he calls not his creatures 
 to live in sackcloth and ashes, nor sets (hem to 
 perform long pilgrimages, nor to inflict pains on 
 their bodies. No ! the rigors of superstition 
 are from MAN. The voice of God is, u Be hap- 
 py, here and for ever! Fly that which will 
 make you miserable every where ! Come unto 
 me< all that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will 
 give you rest i 
 
 THE voice of Christ is, My Son, give me thy 
 heart ! and to him, who obeys, he will say. u Go 
 in peace ! go into the grave ! go to Judgment ! 
 go into Eternity ! go in peace !" 
 t 
 
 A CHRISTIAN must stand in a posture to receive 
 every message which God shall send. He must 
 be so prepared, as to be like one who is called 
 to set off on a sudden journey, and has nothing 
 to do but to set out at a moment's notice : or 
 like a merchant who has goods to send abroad, 
 and has them all packed up and in readiness 
 for the first sail. 
 
 How many people go out of their sphere under 
 good pretences ! 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 289 
 
 A PERSON who objects to tell a friend of his 
 faults, because he has faults of his own, acts as 
 a surgeon would who should refuse to dress 
 another person's wound because he had a dan- 
 gerous one himself. 
 
 WHEN the most insignificant person tells us we 
 are wrong, we ought to listen. Let us believe 
 it possible we may be wrong, when any one 
 supposes we are ; and enter into the true little- 
 ness which consists in receiving correction like 
 a child. 
 
 No man rejects a minister of God who faith- 
 fully performs his office, till he has rejected 
 God. 
 
 THE plainest declarations of God's favor, and 
 the strongest encouragements, are generally 
 manifested in the darkest night of trial. Who 
 could be more destitute than Jacob, when he 
 lay down in the desert with a stone for his 
 pillow ? See also Acts xxvii. 2024. 2 Cor. 
 i. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 THE pride of Israel testifieth to his face; and 
 they do not return to the Lord their God. This 
 is the worst symptom in a sinner when he is 
 too proud to go to God. Whatever be our 
 condition, if there is contrition of spirit under 
 it, there is hope of that man. There is no 
 room for despair, to whatever lengths a man 
 may have gone in sin, if he can smite on his 
 breast, and say u O Lord ! though my sins tes- 
 25* 
 
290 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 tify against me, yet thou art a God of compas- 
 sion. Do thou it, for thy name's sake." 
 
 A CHRISTIAN should never attempt to try his state 
 while under a temptation: he might as well 
 attempt so examine the face of the moon while 
 she is under an eclipse. But, when he finds 
 corrupt nature setting in with a temptation 
 and who has not felt this? let him rememher 
 his Great Physician. This is the glory of the 
 Son of God, that no case, either of the hody or 
 of the soul, was ever found too hard for Him ! 
 Blessed be God, that we have in Him a hiding- 
 place a covert from the storm a refuge from 
 all our enemies ! 
 
 THE great care of the man who is content with 
 the form of godliness without the power, is, 
 that every thing should be right without ; while 
 the true Christian is most careful that every 
 thing should be right within. It would be 
 nothing to him to be applauded by the whole 
 world, if he had not the approbation of God and 
 his own conscience. Real religion is, therefore, 
 a living principle. Any one may make a show, 
 and be called a Christian, and unite himself to 
 a sect, and be admired, but, for a man to enter 
 into the sanctuary ; to hold secret communion 
 with God ; to retire into his closet, and trans- 
 act all his affairs with an unseen Savior; to 
 walk with God like Enoch, and yet to smite on 
 his breast with the Publican, having no confi- 
 dence in the flesh, and triumphing only in Christ 
 Jesus these are the life and acts of a new 
 creature ? 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 291 
 
 O LORD ! let me have ANY THING but thy frown ; 
 and ANY THING, with thy smile !* 
 
 WHATEVER, below God, is the object of our 
 love, will, at some time or other, be the mat- 
 ter of our sorrow. 
 
 TAKE care, Christian ! whatever you meet with 
 in your way, that you forget not your FATHER! ' 
 When the proud and wealthy rush by in tri- 
 umph, while you are poor and in sorrow, hear 
 the voice of your Father saying, u My son ! 
 had I loved them, 1 should have corrected 
 THEM too. I give them up to the ways of their 
 own hearts : but to my children, if 1 give sor- 
 row, it is that 1 may lead them to a crown of 
 glory that fadeth not away !" 
 
 IT is by faith that we contemplate unseen 
 things. To the eye of a clowo, a planet ap- 
 pears hut a twinkling star: but, if he looked 
 through a telescope, and were able to calcu- 
 late, he- would perceive that it was a great 
 world, and would be astonished at its distance 
 and magnitude. While the gay and the busy 
 are moving on their little mole-hills full of anx- 
 iety, faith thus reaches beyond the world : 
 it views death as at hand : it looks at heaven, 
 and catches a glimpse of its glory : it looks at 
 hell and sees the torments of the condemned: 
 it looks at judgment and realizes that awful 
 
 * u Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor ! 
 And with Thee rich, take what thou wilt away." 
 Cowper, Task. V. J. P. 
 
292 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 day : it looks at eternity, and says, Our light af- 
 Jliction, which is but for a moment, workethfor 
 us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory : while we look not at the things which are 
 seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for 
 the things which are seen, are temporal, but the 
 things which are not seen are eternal. 
 
 WHERE there is a real character, JSL man will 
 not sit down in the Christian conflict, and say, 
 u If I must carry about with me this body oi" 
 death, I must submit. I must bear these ene- 
 mies as quietly as I can." No ! he will say, as 
 St. Paul seems to say, *' I will be on no terms 
 with sin ! I will raise an outcry against the cor- 
 rupt nature ! I will triumph in my Physican ! 
 His grace is sufficient for me : I will wait for 
 a cure, and wait for it in the appointed way. 
 I see light and hope, and liberty; and I thank 
 God, that, If I am a sinner, yet I am a saved 
 sinner I" 
 
 GOD hath set the day of prosperity and the day of 
 adversity, the one over against the other as the 
 clouds are gathered, for rain, by the shining 
 of the sun: and, if for a moment they are 
 blown aside, we must expect their return. 
 Where, in our sky, should we look for clouds? 
 where it is brightest : where our expecta- 
 tions are highest. Our sharpest sorrows arise 
 out of our sweetest comforts. Rachel said, 
 Give me children, or else. I die : and, in obtain- 
 ing what she esteemed her highest comfort 
 what she would have at any rate was hidden 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 293 
 
 the cause of her sharpest grief. God gave 
 her children ; and, in hearing her second child, 
 it came to pass, as her soul was in departing (for 
 she died.) that she Called his name Ben-oni the 
 son of my sorrow. 
 
 WHO is the most miserable man on earth? 
 and whither shall we go to seek him? Noi to 
 the tavern ! not to the theatre ! not even to a 
 brothel! but to the church! That man who 
 has sat Sabbath after Sabbath under the awak- 
 ening and affecting calls of the gospel, and has 
 hardened his heart against these calls HE is 
 the man whose condition is the most desperate 
 of all others. Woe unto thee, Ckoruzin ! woe tw- 
 to thee, Bethsaida ! and thou, Capernaum, which 
 art exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. 
 
 GIVE every kind of knowledge its due atten- 
 tion and respect : but what science is to be 
 compared to the knowledge of Christ crucifi- 
 ed? Had a traveller lost his way in some des- 
 ert, where he had wandered till he was faint- 
 ing with hunger and thirst, for what would he 
 first ask? for music? for paintings? No! 
 he would ask for bread for water! Any 
 thing else offered him would be a mocking of 
 his misery. 
 
 WHAT an oppressive burden is taken off a 
 Christian's shoulders, by his privilege of leav- 
 ing all consequences, while in the path of duty 
 to God ! He has done with ' how shall /bear 
 this trouble !" u How shall / remove this dif- 
 
294 REMAINS OP MR. CECIL. 
 
 ficulty ?" u How shall / get through this deep 
 water?" but leaves himself in the hands of 
 God. 
 
 WE may form some idea of the joys of heaven, 
 by the innocent pleasures which God grants us 
 on earth. Here is a fine situation, with won- 
 derful prospects every thing to delight the 
 senses : yet all this we find in a world which 
 is under a curse ! what then may we not ex- 
 .pect in a heavenly world, where God exerci- 
 ses all his power for our blessedness ? 
 
 HOWEVER ill men may treat us, we should nev- 
 er give them a handle to say that we misbe- 
 haved ourselves. Were I to meet my most 
 bitter adversary, and know that he was come 
 with the most malicious intentions, 1 should en- 
 deavour to be so on my guard, that he could 
 not lay his finger, with truth, on any part of 
 my conduct. 
 
 THE MOTIVE determines the quality of ac- 
 tions. One man may do a penurious act, be- 
 cause he knows he shall be put to difficulties 
 if he does not : another may do the same from 
 mere avarice. The king of Edom offered up 
 his son on the wall, and his abominable cruel- 
 ty excited just indignation : but Abraham, hav- 
 ing in intention offered up his son, is held forth 
 to all generations for this act as the father of 
 the faithful. 
 
 IT is always a sign of poverty of mind, where 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 295 
 
 men are ever aiming to appear great : for 
 they, who are really great, never see;.i to 
 know it. 
 
 WHAT the world calls the best company is such, 
 as a pious mechanic would not condescend to 
 keep : he would rather say, Turn away mine 
 eyes from beholding vanity ! 
 
 ONE way of reading the Bible with advantage 
 is, to pay it great homage : so that, when we 
 come to any part which we cannot connect 
 with other passages, we must conclude that 
 this arises from our ignorance, but that the 
 seeming contrarieties are in themselves quite 
 reconcilable. 
 
 YOUNG Christians, on setting out in life, often 
 mistake greatly in not sufficiently attributing 
 events to the immediate providence of God. 
 They are not reluctant, at the end, to acknowl- 
 edge that their way has been directed ; but 
 they do not enough mark it as they go on. 
 There is a habit of saying " Such a thing may 
 TURN UP," as if it depended on chance; where- 
 as nothing will turn up, but what was ordered 
 long before. One cause of this evil is, that 
 the divinity of our day deals too much in com- 
 mon-place : certain fundamental truths are set 
 forth : and if a man professes these truths, too 
 little account is made of the faith, dependence, 
 and other graces of a Christian. When a man 
 becomes a Christian he is written upon, as it 
 were, " TO BE PROVIDED FOR !" and he ought, 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 therefore, to notice, as he goes on, how Provi- 
 dence does provide for him. 
 
 mistake in nothing- so much, as. when they 
 res^t their dispensation : for, while God shut- 
 teth up a man, there can be no opening. Re- 
 sistance does hut make the dispensation harder 
 to he home. Joh says. He teareth himself in. 
 his anger : but -shall the Rock be removed because 
 of the e ! The man is, as it were in a labyrinth : 
 and the hand, which brought him in, must be 
 the hand to conduct him out. 
 
 WE require the same hand to protect us in ap- 
 parent safety, as in the most imminent and pal- 
 pable danger. One of the most wicked men 
 in my neighborhood was riding near a preci- 
 pice, and fell over: his horse was killed, but 
 he escaped without injury : instead of thanking 
 God for his deliverance, he refused to acknowl- 
 edge the hand of God therein : but attributed 
 his escape to chance. The same man was af- 
 terward riding on a very smooth road: his 
 horse suddenly tripped and fell, and threw his 
 rider over his head, and killed him on the spot, 
 while the horse escaped unhurt. 
 
 IF a man is dead in sin, our attempting to cor- 
 rect his false notions is like laying a dead man 
 straight, who before was lying crooked. The 
 man is dead, and will remain so; though, be- 
 fore, he was lying crooked, and is now lying 
 straight. It matters little what right notions 
 we may have, while we are dead in sin j for 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 297 
 
 we shall never act up to them, till God awak- 
 ens our hearts. 
 
 To have too much forethought, is the part of 
 a WRETCH ; to have too little, is the part of a 
 FOOL. 
 
 SELF-WILL is so ardent and active, that it will 
 break a world to pieces, to make a stool to sit 
 on. 
 
 WE are too little acquainted with the sacred 
 character of God. Jl certain man sold a pos- 
 session, and brought a certain part of the price. 
 We should have thought this a generous act : 
 but God saw that there wanted a right estima- 
 tion of his character. Many sins are suffered 
 to pass, to be punished hereafter: but God 
 sometimes breaks out, and strikes an offender 
 dead in vindication of his own glory. 
 
 REMEMBER always to mix good sense with good 
 things, or they will become disgusting. 
 
 THINGS are not to be done by the effort of the 
 moment, but by the preparation of past mo- 
 ments. 
 
 __ there is any person to whom you feel dis- 
 like, that is the person of whom you ought 
 ver to speak. 
 
 EIRITABILITY urges us to take a step as much 
 too soon, as sloth does too late. 
 
 26 
 
293 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 WHEN we read the Bible we must always re- 
 member, thai, like the holy waters seen by 
 Ezekiel,* it is in some places, up to the ancles ; 
 in others, up to the knees ; in others, up Jo the 
 loins ; and, in some a river too deep to be fath- 
 omed, and that cannot be passed over. There 
 is light enough to guide the humble and teach- 
 able to heaven, and obscurity enough to con- 
 found the unbeliever. 
 
 TRUE religion, as revealed in the Scriptures, 
 may be compared to a plum on the tree, cov- 
 ered with its bloom. Men gather the plum, 
 and handle it, and turn and twist it about, till 
 it is deprived of all its native bloom and beau- 
 ty : the fairest hand would as much rob the 
 plum of its bloom, as any other. Now all that 
 little party-spirit, which so much prevails a- 
 mong men, and which leads them to say / am 
 of Paul and I of Jlpollos is but handling the 
 plum till it loses its bloom. 
 
 THERE are but two classes of the wise : the 
 men who serve God, because thev have found 
 him : and the men who seek him, because they 
 have found him not. All others may say, Is 
 there not a lie in my right hand ? 
 
 PHILOSOPHY is a proud, sullen detecter of the 
 poverty and misery of man. It may turn him 
 from the world with a proud, sturdy contempt : 
 but it cannot come forward, and say u Here 
 
 * Ezek, ch. xlvii. 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 299 
 
 are rest grace peace strength consola- 
 tion !" 
 
 WE hear much of a DECENT pride a BECOMING 
 pride a NOBLE pride a LAUDABLE pride ! Can 
 that be DECENT, of which we ought to be a- 
 shamed ? Can that he BECOMING, of which God 
 has set forth the deformity^ Can that be NO- 
 BLE, which God resists, and is determined to 
 debase ? Can that be LAUDABLE, which God 
 calls abominable ? 
 
 MANY things are spoken of. in the Scriptures, 
 as good : but there is not one thing emphat- 
 ically called GOOD, which does not relate to 
 Christ or his coming. 
 
 SAY the strongest things you can, with candor 
 and kindness, to a man's face ; and make the 
 best excuse you can for him, with truth and 
 justice, behind his back. 
 
 MANY people labor to make the narrow way 
 wider. They may dig a path into the broad 
 way ; but the way to life must remain a nar- 
 row way to the end. 
 
 ALL extremes are error. The reverse of er- 
 ror is not truth, but error. Truth lies between 
 these extremes. 
 
 I HAVE no doubt, but that there are persons of 
 every description, under every possible cir- 
 cumstance, in every lawful calling among 
 
300 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL, 
 
 Christians, who will go to heaven that all the 
 world may see, that neither their circumstan- 
 ces nor calling prevented their being among 
 the number of the blessed. 
 
 GOD has given us four books : the Book of 
 Grace ; the Book of Nature ; the Book of the 
 World ; and the Book of Providence. Every 
 occurrence is a leaf in one of these books: it 
 does not become us to be negligent in the use 
 of any of them. 
 
 ELOQUENCE is vehement simplicity. 
 
 GOD is omniscient as well as omnipotent : and 
 omniscience may see reason to withhold what 
 omnipotence could bestow. 
 
 ATTEND to the presence of God : this will dig- 
 nify a small congregation, and annihilate a 
 large one. 
 
 HAVING some business to transact with a gen- 
 tleman in the city, I called one day at his coun- 
 ting house : he begged 1 would call again, as 
 1 had so much more time to spare than he had, 
 who was a man of business. " An hour is 
 nothing to you," said he "An hour nothing 
 to a clergyman !" said I : "you seem little to 
 understand the nature of our profession. One 
 hour of a Clergyman's time rightly employed, 
 Sir, is worth more to him than all the gains of 
 your merchandize." 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 301 
 
 IF a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him 
 alone. The world will soon find him employ- 
 ment. He will soon meet with some one 
 stronger than himself, who will repay him bet- 
 ter than you can. A man may fight duels all 
 his life, if he is disposed to quarrel. 
 
 ONE day I got off my horse to kill a rat, which 
 1 found on the road only half killed. I am 
 shocked at the thoughtless cruelty of many 
 people, yet I did a thing soon after, that has 
 given me considerable uneasiness, ' and for 
 which I reproach myself bitterly. As I was 
 riding homeward, I saw a wagon standing at 
 a door, with three horses : the two foremost 
 were eating their corn from bags at their no- 
 ses; but I observed the third had dropt his on 
 the ground, and could not stoop to get any 
 food. However I rode on, in absence, without 
 assisting him. But when I had got nearly 
 home, I remembered what I had observed in 
 my absence of mind, and felt extremely hurt 
 at my neglect ; and would have ridden back 
 had I not thought the wagoner might have 
 corne out of the house and relieved the horse. 
 A man could not have had a better demand for 
 getting off his horse, than for such an act of 
 humanity. It is by absence of mind, that we 
 omit many duties. 
 
 A wrcKED man is a candidate for nothing but 
 hell ! However he may live, if his conscience 
 were awake he would turn pale at this question 
 What shall I do in the end thereof? 
 26* 
 
302 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 THERE is a great defect in Gray's Elegy. You 
 cannot read it without feeling a melancholj r : 
 there is no sunshine no hope after death : it 
 shews the dark side only of mortality. But 
 a man refined as he was, and speculating on 
 the bankruptcy of human nature, if he brought 
 not evangelical views into the estimate, COULD 
 describe human nature only as HOPELESS and 
 FORLORN : whereas what HE felt a subject of 
 melancholy, is with me included in the calcu- 
 lation. I know it MUST be so, and, according 
 to my views, should he disappointed if it were 
 not so My kingdom, said our Lord, is not of 
 this world. 
 
 REVELATION never staggers me. There may 
 be a tertium quid, though we are not yet in 
 possession of it, which would put an end to all 
 our present doubts and questions. I was one 
 day riding with a friend : we were discussing 
 a subject, and I expressed myself surprised 
 that such a measure was not adopted. u lfl 
 were to tell you one thing," said he, u it would 
 make all clear." I gave him credit that there 
 did exist something, which would entirely dis- 
 pel my objections. Now if this be the case, 
 in many instances, between man and man, is 
 it an unreasonable conclusion, that all the un- 
 accountable points, which we may observe in 
 the providence and government of God, should 
 be all perfection in the Divine mind ? Take the 
 growth of a seed I cannot possibly say what 
 first produces the progress of growth in the 
 grain. Take voluntary motion 1 cannot pos- 
 
REMAINS OE MR. CECIL. 303 
 
 sibly say where action begins and thought 
 ends-. The proportion between a fly's mind 
 and a man's is no adequate illustration of the 
 state of man with respect to God; because there 
 is some proportion between the minds or facul- 
 ties of two finite creatures, but there can be 
 none between finite man and the Infinite God. 
 
 ONE little preacher will endeavor to prove, 
 with a great deal of warmth, the truth of Cal- 
 vinistic principles : -and another little preach- 
 er will clearly demonstrate the truth of the 
 Arminian scheme. Good sense will go be- 
 tween them, and say, " There are certain 
 things written on these subjects Thus saitk 
 the Lord:" good sense will hesitate to push 
 what is said to all its apparent conclusions, for 
 It is written again. Here ends all dogma- 
 tism with a wise man. 
 
 A MOUSE that had lived all his life in a chest, 
 says the fable, chanced one day to creep up 
 to the edge, and, peeping out, exclaimed with 
 wonder " I did not think the world was so 
 large." 
 
 The first step to knowledge, is to know that 
 we are ignorant. It is a great point to know 
 our place : for want of this, a man in private 
 life, instead of attending to the affairs in his 
 u chest," is ever peeping out, and then he be- 
 comes a PHILOSOPHER ! he must then know ev- 
 ery thing, and presumptuously pry into the 
 deep and secret councils of God not consider- 
 ing that man is finite, and has no faculties to 
 
304 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 comprehend and judge of the great scheme of 
 things. We can form no other idea of the dis- 
 pensations of God, nor can have any knowl- 
 edge of spiritual things, except what God has 
 taught us in his word ; and, where he stops, 
 we must stop. He has not told us why he per- 
 mitted the angels to fall why he created Ad- 
 am why he suffered sin to enter into the 
 world why Christ came in the latter ages 
 when he will come to judgment what will be 
 the doom of the Heathen nations nor why 
 our state throughout eternity was made to de- 
 pend on such a moment as man^s life : all 
 these are secrets of his council. Where wast 
 thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 
 God urges it on us again and again, that sin HAS 
 entered and that we must flee from the wrath 
 to come. Christ, in the days of his flesh, nev- 
 er gratified curiosity : he answered every in- 
 quiry according to the SPIRIT of the inquirer, 
 not according to the letter of the inquiry : if 
 any man came in humility for instruction, he 
 always instructed ; but, when any came to 
 gratify a vain curiosity, he answered, as when 
 one said Lore?, are there few that be saved ? 
 
 STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE ! Or, aS 
 
 when another inquired, Lord, and what shall 
 this man do ? What is that to thee ? FOLLOW 
 
 THOU ME. 
 
 WE are too ready to say, in trouble, Ml these 
 things are against me! but a Christian should 
 say, u This or that may seem against me ! but 
 there is mercy for me : there is a Savior : 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 305 
 
 there is God's word : and there are his ordi- 
 nances." He should be more careful to enu- 
 merate what is FOR him, than what is AGAINST 
 him. He should look over the list of his spir- 
 itual and temporal mercies, as well as that of 
 his sorrows ; and remember, that what things 
 are AGAINST him are so on account of his sin. 
 Our pilgrimage is but short : let us make use 
 of our helps and means. God has given us a 
 guide, and a support to lean on : when the 
 clouds gather, we have only to look to Jesus. 
 We are not to expect the joys of heaven while 
 on earth : let us be content that there is a 
 highway for us to walk in, and a leader to con- 
 duct us in that way. 
 
 IT is a Christian's business, as much as possi- 
 ble, consistently with his duty, to lessen his 
 cares and occupations in the world. It is very 
 common to hear Christians complain what a 
 hindrance business is, while they are, perhaps, 
 at the very time, too anxious to increase it ! 
 There is some fallacy, too, in the complaint : 
 for, where there is a principle of grace, it will 
 prevail even in a multitude of engagements. 
 There is much difference between SEEKING bu- 
 sy situations, and BEING FOUND in them. 
 
 WHAT we call " taking steps in life," are most 
 serious occurrences; especially if there be, 
 in the motive, any mixture of ambition. Where- 
 fore gaddest thou about to change thy way ? 
 
 THE dispensation of grace to some, is little 
 
306 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 more than a continual combat with corrup- 
 tions : so that, instead of advancing, a man 
 seems to be but just able to preserve himself 
 from sinking. A boat, with the tide full 
 against it, does well if it can keep from driving 
 back, and must have strong force indeed to get 
 forward. We must estimate grace by the op- 
 position which it meets with. 
 
 How blessed is the Christian, in the midst of 
 his greatest troubles ! It is true we cannot 
 say he is perfect in holiness that he has nev- 
 er any doubts that his peace of mind is never 
 interrupted that he never mistakes Provi- 
 dence : but, after all, his is a blessed condi- 
 tion ; for he is supported under his trials, and 
 instructed by the discipline : and, as to his 
 fears, the evil under the apprehension of which 
 he is ready to sink, frequently does not come 
 or it does not continue or it is turned into 
 a blessing. 
 
 ONE of the greatest impositions of Satan on 
 the mind, is that of quieting a man in the pur- 
 suit or possession of what is lawful. So that 
 it is not murder, or adulter}', or theft which he 
 is committing, all is well ! Because a man's 
 bed is his own, he may idle away in it his in- 
 estimable time ! Because his business is law- 
 ful, a man may intoxicate his mind with the 
 pursuit of it! 
 
 THE very heart and root of sin, is an indepen- 
 dent spirit. We erect the idol SELF ; and not 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 307 
 
 only wish others to worship, but worship it 
 ourselves. 
 
 WE must take care when we draw parallel ca- 
 ses, not to take such as are not or cannot be 
 made parallel. For instance we may ask, 
 before we act, u What would Jesus Christ do 
 in this case ? or what would St. Paul ?" but 
 we cannot be guided by this rule in every 
 thing-, because Christ's mission was peculiar : 
 it was an unparalleled event : it was for three 
 years only : and, like a great fire, he was al- 
 ways burning always intent on one point. St. 
 Paul also was in peculiar circumstances: he 
 was sent on an especial errand. In every 
 thing which is in any degree sinful, we should 
 turn to these examples ; but, in the conduct 
 peculiar to our station, our application of these 
 examples must be governed by circumstan- 
 ces. 
 
 MANY inexperienced Christians are apt to look 
 for wrong kinds of evidences, and so distress 
 themselves about their state. The questions 
 which we should put to ourselves, in seeking 
 the best evidences, are : " Do I hate sin ! Is 
 it my grand fear ? Is it my grief, that, while 
 1 have a good hope of pardon, I yet should 
 make such ill returns ? Have I brokenness of 
 spirit ?" Godliness is analogous to the princi- 
 ple of gravitation, in that it reduces every 
 thing to its proper centre. 
 
 THE difference between what is called FATE, 
 
308 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 and PREDESTINATION, is something like that of a 
 house without a governor, and a house, with a 
 governor. The Fatalist says, a Every thing 
 must, of necessity be as it is as a stone must 
 fall to the ground, fire must ascend, &c. The 
 Predestinarian says, that every thing is deter- 
 mined by a wise Governor, who inspects, or- 
 ders, and superintends the whole machine ; so 
 that a sparrow does not fall to the ground, or 
 a hair of the head perish, without permis- 
 sion. 
 
 WE are so accustomed to see sin within and 
 without us, that we seldom deeply feel it, or 
 are so shocked at it, as we should be were it 
 less frequent. If an inhabitant of the court 
 were to walk through some of the filthy streets 
 and alleys of the Metropolis, how would he be 
 disgusted and terrified ! while the poor wretch- 
 es, who live in them, think nothing of the mat- 
 ter. Thus a clearer view of sin and of the 
 holiness of God, made the prophet cry out, 
 Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a 
 man of unclean lips^ and I dwell in the midst of 
 a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen 
 the King, the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 IT is much easier to SETTLE a point, than to ACT 
 on it. 
 
 I ONCE said to myself, in the foolishness of my 
 heart. " What sort of Sermon must that have 
 been which was preached by St. Peter, when 
 three thousand souls were converted AT ONCE?" 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 309 
 
 - what sort of Sermon ! such as other sermons. 
 There is nothing to be found in it extraordin- 
 ary. The effect was not produced by St. Pe- 
 ter's eloquence : but by the mighty power of 
 God, present with his word. It is in vain to 
 attend one Minister after another, and to hear 
 Sermon after Sermon, unless we pray that the 
 Holy Spirit accompany his word. Neither is 
 he that pianteth any thing, neither he that wuter- 
 eth ; but God that giveth the increase. 
 
 THAT humility which courts notice, is not FIRST- 
 RATE. It maybe sincere, but it is sullied. Do 
 not sound a trumpet, nor say ;t Come and see 
 how humble I am !" 
 
 WE should be careful never to discourage any 
 one who is but searching after God. If a man 
 begins in earnest to feel after him if haply he 
 may find him, let us be aware how we stop him, 
 by rashly telling him he is not seeking in the 
 right way. This would be like setting fire to 
 the first round of the ladder, by which one was 
 attempting to escape. We must wait for a fit 
 season to communicate light. Had any one 
 told me, when I first began to think religious- 
 ly, that I was not seeking God in the right 
 way, I might have been discouraged from seek- 
 ing him at all. I was much indebted to my 
 mother, for her truly wise and judicious con- 
 duct toward me when I first turned from my 
 vanity and sin. 
 
 WE should always record our thoughts in afflic- 
 27 
 
310 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 tion set up way-marks set up our Bethels 
 erect our Ehenezers ; that we may recur to them 
 in health ; for then we are in other circumstan- 
 ces, and can never recover our sick-bed views. 
 
 A CONTEMPLATIVE life has more the APPEARANCE 
 of a life of piety than anv other: but it is the 
 divine plan to bring faith into ACTIVITY and EX- 
 ERCISE. We choose that sort of walk, which 
 we like best: if we love quiet, we are for se- 
 dentary piety ; but the design of God is to root 
 us out of every thing, and bring us into more 
 useful stations. 
 
 A WRETCHED prisoner, chained to the floor for a 
 length of time, would deem it a high privilege 
 to be allowed to walk across the room. Anoth- 
 er, confined to lie on his back till it had be- 
 come sore, would think it a great favor if he 
 might be permitted to turn on his side for a 
 few minutes. In a course of habitual pain, I 
 am thankful for five minutes freedom from suf- 
 fering : how forgetful have I been of fifty 
 years of tolerable ease ! How unmindful are 
 we of what we call common mercies ! 
 
 IN order to read the Bible with profit, we must 
 begin by denying ourselves every step of the 
 way ; for, every step of the way^ it will be 
 found to oppose our corrupt nature. 
 
 CHRISTIANS resemble travellers in a stage-coach. 
 We are full of our plans and schemes, but the 
 coach is moving rapidly forward : it passes one 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 311 
 
 mile-stone, and then another ; and no regard is 
 paid to the plots and plans of the passengers. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN has advanced but a little way in 
 religion when he has overcome the love of the 
 world ; for he has still more powerful and im- 
 portunate enemies : self evil tempers pride 
 undue affections a stubborn will it is by 
 the subduing of these adversaries, that we 
 must chiefly judge of our growth in grace. 
 
 A FRIEND called on me when I was ill, to set- 
 tle some business. My head was too much 
 confused by my indisposition to . understand 
 fully what he said; but I had such unlimited 
 confidence in him, that I did whatever he bid 
 me, in the fullest assurance that it was right. 
 How simply I can trust in man, and how little 
 in God ! How unreasonable is a pure act of 
 faith in one like ourselves, if we cannot repose 
 the same faith in God. 
 
 Some negative rules, given to a Young Minister 
 going into a situation of peculiar difficulty. 
 
 As I know you have received much good ad- 
 vice, I would suggest to you a few hints of a 
 negative kind ; with a view of admonishing 
 you to be careful, while you are doing your 
 work, not by any mistakes of your own to hin- 
 der your success 
 
 1. By forgetting that your success with others is 
 very much connected with your personal char- 
 acter. 
 
312 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 Herod heard John gladly, and he did many 
 things ; because he knew the preacher to be a 
 just and holy man. Words uttered from the 
 heart find their way to the heart, by a holy 
 sympathy. Character is power : 
 u A good man seen, though silent, counsel gives. 1 ' 
 If you would make deep impressions on oth- 
 ers, you must use all means to have them first 
 formed on your own mind. Avoid, at the same 
 time, all appearances of evil as a covetous or 
 worldly, a vain or assuming, careless or inde- 
 vout deportment. Never suffer jesting with 
 sacred persons or things. Satan will employ 
 such antidotes as these, to counteract the op- 
 eration of that which is effective and gracious 
 in a minister's character. 
 
 II. By placing your dependance on any means^ 
 qualities, or circumstances^ however excellent 
 in themselves. 
 
 The direct way to render a thing weak, is 
 to lean on it as strong. God is a jealous God ; 
 and will utterly abolish idols as means of success. 
 He designs to demonstrate that men and crea- 
 tures are what he makes them, and that only. 
 This also should be your encouragement: 
 looking, in the diligent and humble use of 
 means, to that Spirit of life and power without 
 whose influence all your endeavors will be to 
 no purpose, you have reason to expect help 
 suited and adequate to all your difficulties. 
 
 III. By unnecessarily appearing in dangerous or 
 improper situations. 
 
 It is one thing to be humble and condescend- 
 ing; it is another to render yourself common> 
 
'REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 313 
 
 cheap, and contemptible. The men of the 
 world know when a minister is out of his place 
 when they can oppress him by numbers or 
 circumstances when they can make him laugh, 
 while his office frowns. Well will it be for 
 him, if he is only rendered ABSURD in his future 
 public admonitions, by his former compliances ; 
 well if, being found like St. Peter on danger- 
 ous ground, he is not seduced, virtually at least, 
 to deny his Master. 
 
 IV. By suspicious appearances in his family. 
 
 As the head of your household you are re- 
 sponsible for its appearances. Its pride, sloth, 
 and disorder will be yours. You are accoun- 
 table for you wife's conduct, dress,and manners, 
 as well as those of your children, whose edu- 
 cation must be peculiarly exemplary. Your 
 family is to be a picture of what you wish oth- 
 er families to be : and, without the most deter- 
 mined resolution, in reliance on God, to finish 
 this picture COST WHAT IT WILL, your recom- 
 mending family religion to others will but cre- 
 ate a smile. Your unfriendly hearers will re- 
 collect enough of Scripture to tell you that 
 you ought, like the primitive Bishop, to be 
 one, that ruletk well his own house, having his 
 children in subjection with all gravity : for if a 
 man know not how to rule his own house, how 
 shall he take care of the church of God ? 
 V. By meddling beyond your sphere in temporals. 
 
 Your aim and conversation, like your sacred 
 
 call, are to be altogether heavenly. As a man 
 
 of God, you have no concern with politics and 
 
 parties and schemes of interest, but you are to 
 
 27* 
 
314 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 live above them. There is a sublime spirit in 
 a. devoted minister, which, as one says of Chris- 
 tianity itself, pays no more regard to these 
 things, than to the battles of rooks, the indus- 
 try of ants, or the policy of bees. 
 
 VI. By venturing off general and acknowledged 
 ground in spirituals. 
 
 By giving strong meat, instead of milk, to 
 those who are yet but bab^s by giving heed to 
 fables, which minister questions rather than godly 
 edifying ; amusing the mind, but not affecting 
 the heart: often disturbing and bewildering, 
 seldom convincing; frequently raising a smile, 
 never drawing a tear. 
 
 VII. By maintaining acknowledged truth in 
 your own spirit. 
 
 Both food and medicines are injurious, if ad- 
 ministered scalding hot. The spirit of a teacher 
 often effects more than his matter. Benevo- 
 lence is a universal language : and it will apol- 
 ogize for a multitude of defects, in the man 
 who speaks it; while neither talents nor truth 
 will apologize for pride, illiberality, or bitter- 
 ness. Avoid, therefore, irritating occasions 
 and persons, particularly disputes and disput-^ 
 ants, by which a minister often loses his tem- 
 per and his character. 
 
 VIII. By being too sharp- sighted, too quick-ear- 
 ed, or too ready- to ngued. 
 
 Some evils are irremediable : they are best 
 neither seen nor heard : by SEEING and HEARING 
 things which you cannot remove, you will cre- 
 ate implacable adversaries ; who, being guilty 
 aggressors, never forgive. Avoid SPEAKING 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 315 
 
 meanly or harshly of any one : not only because 
 this is forbidden to Christians, but because it is 
 to declare war as by a thousand heralds. 
 
 IX. By the temptations arising from the female 
 sex. 
 
 I need not mention what havoc Satan has 
 made in the church, by this means, from the fall 
 to this day. Your safety, when in danger from 
 this quarter, lies in flight to parley, is to fall. 
 Take the first hint from conscience, or from 
 friends. 
 
 In fine, Watch thou in all things ; endure afflic- 
 tions : do the work of an evangelist : make full 
 proof of thy ministry : and then, whether those 
 around you acknowledge your real character 
 or not now, they shall one day know that there 
 hath been a prophet among them ! 
 
 FRAGMENT. 
 A Dying Ministers Farewell. 
 
 WHEN a Christian minister feels the springs of 
 life giving way : his faculties decaying his 
 voice failing his spirit sinking though he 
 may not have it in his power to say, as the 
 apostle did to his friends, / know that ye all, 
 among whom I have preached the kingdom of 
 God, shall see my face no more yet he should 
 stand ready to part from his flock, and every 
 sermon should be felt by him as if it were his 
 last. 
 
 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I 
 am pure from the blood of all men : for / have 
 
316 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 not shunned to declare unto you ALL THE COUNSEL 
 OF GOD. And what have I declared that coun- 
 sel of God to be ? All the curious distinctions of 
 the schools ? All the peculiarities insisted on 
 so strongly by different sects ? No such thing 1 
 I have followed the great apostle in testifying 
 REPENTANCE toward God and FAITH toward our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 There has been a slander brought against 
 religion that we are NOT AGREED, as to the 
 truths we should set before men. I say, It is 
 false ! We ARE agreed. All, who know any 
 thing of real religion, are agreed, that the 
 SUBSTANCE of the matter is contained in REPEN- 
 TANCE toward God, and FAITH toward our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 If a man, like the prodigal, feels that he has 
 left his father's house turned his back on God 
 and is become a fool and a madman for so 
 doing and that there is no hope but in his re- 
 turning again : if such a change of mind is 
 wrought in him by the Holy Spirit, as he 
 wrought in David, when he cried, Wash me 
 thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from 
 my sin : if, like Peter, he goes forth weeping 
 bitterly feeling that he has acted foolishly 
 and wickedly, and that his only hope is in the 
 mercy of God through the Saviour then the 
 man enters so far into the spirit of religion 
 
 REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD. 
 
 But does he rest in this ? Nay, he knows that 
 if he could offer thousands of rams, and ten 
 thousand rivers of oil he could make no satisfac- 
 tion for the sin of his soul. He looks to the a- 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 317 
 
 tenement ! to Him, whom God hath set forth 
 to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. 
 
 Repentance toward God must be accompani- 
 ed by faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 He came unto his own, and his own received 
 him not. But as many as received him, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God, even to 
 them that believe on his na*ne : which were born 
 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God. These men are 
 enabled to say, with St. Paul, "I count all things 
 but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. I have no refuge but 
 in him no other hope no other plea. All 
 my confidence before God is grounded on this 
 that He suffered, the just for the unjust, that he 
 might bring us te God" 
 
 If a minister testifies these things if he 
 speaks plainly and simply these grand essen- 
 tial truths of God's word though he die be- 
 fore another Sabbath return, HE MAY REST IN 
 PEACE leaving the issue in God's hand. 
 
 The ground of a minister's own solid satis- 
 faction cannot be POPULARITY : for, even to Si- 
 mon Magus all gave heed, from the least to the 
 greatest, saying, This man is the great power of 
 God ! neither can he ground his satisfaction 
 on the exercise of strong and enlarged TALENTS: 
 for even Balaam was a man of extraordinary 
 endowments nor can it be on his SUCCESS : 
 for many, saith our Lord, shall come to me, and 
 say, Have we not done many wonderful works in 
 thy name, and in thy name cast out devils ? Then 
 will I profess unto them, I never knew you / As 
 
318 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 though he had said, " I deny not the works, 
 but ye are evil men !" 
 
 But a minister's satisfaction must be ground- 
 ed on the faithful discharge of his office in THE 
 DELIVERY OF HIS MESSAGE. A Prince sends a 
 special messenger to his rebellious subjects, 
 with offers of pardon : in examining his con- 
 duct, he will not inquire whether they re- 
 ceived and approved him or not : the question 
 will be "Did you deliver my message? did 
 you deliver it as one that believed it your- 
 self? as one IN EARNEST?" If a man should 
 come and tell you, with a cheerful countenance 
 and careless air, that your house was on fire, 
 and that you and your children would be burnt 
 in the flames if you did not make haste to 
 escape, you would not believe him. You 
 would say, u He does not believe it himself, * 
 or he would not be so unfeeling as to speak 
 of it in such a manner." 
 
 If a minister delivers his message, then no 
 scorn, no reproach that may be cast upon him, 
 can take away his rest he has done his duty. 
 When the king sent out his servants to invite 
 men to his feast, they excused themselves on 
 various pretences : but the servant might say, 
 u No matter ! I have declared the message 
 I may rest in having done my part, though no 
 success seems to attend my pressing invita- 
 tions." 
 
 1 would lodge, therefore, my appeal in your 
 consciences / take YOU to record I appeal to 
 conscience : for there is a conscience in man ; 
 and, in serious moments, it will speak out. It 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 319 
 
 wrung from Joseph's brethren that confession, 
 We are verily guilty concerning our brother ! It 
 forced Balaam himself to cry out, Let me die the 
 death of the righteous ! and let my last end be like 
 his ! It tormented the traitor Judas into that 
 self-accusation, I have sinned, in that I have be- 
 trayed the innocent blood ! 
 
 When a young person has been talked to 
 by his parents when they have represented 
 to him the misery and ruin of a wicked course, 
 and of bad habits he might affect to brave it 
 out at the time ; but he has gone afterward 
 weeping through the streets because CON- 
 SCIENCE WOULD SPEAK ! 
 
 But when the Spirit of God softens a man's 
 heart when he is made to FEEL what an evil 
 and bitter thing it is to sin against God then a 
 faithful minister's appeal to that man is like 
 that of St. Paul to the Thessalonians : Ye are 
 witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, 
 and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you 
 that believe. As you know how we exhorted, and 
 comforted, and charged every one of you (as a fa- 
 ther doth his children) that ye would walk worthy 
 of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and 
 glory. For this cause also thank we God without 
 ceasing, because, when ye received the word of 
 God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as 
 the* word of men, but, (as it is in truth) the word 
 of God which effectually worketh also in you that 
 believe: 1 Thess. ii. 10 13. 
 
 It is most affecting to see to what miserable 
 shifts men will have recourse, in order to e- 
 vade the truth. 
 
320 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 " It is IRRATIONAL," SHJS One, " to insist SQ 
 
 much on certain peculiarities of doctrine !" 
 But whose reason shall be the judge ? For the 
 preaching of the cross is to them that perish fool- 
 ishness : but, It is written^ 1 will destroy the wis- 
 dom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the un- 
 derstanding of the prudent. 
 
 " It is UNNECESSARY," says another But has 
 God commanded and do we pronounce his 
 commands unnecessary ? 
 
 " It is DISREPUTABLE" Did Christ regard 
 reputation ?-^ Nay, he made himself of no repu- ' 
 tation. 
 
 " It is a NARROW way" Ah ! there, indeed, 
 you pronounce truly ! The way to heaven is a 
 narrow way! But what says the judge ? Wide 
 is the gate^ and broad is the way that leadeth to 
 destruction, and many there be which go in there- 
 at ; because strait is the gate^ and narrow is the 
 way which leadethunto life, and few there be that 
 find it. 
 
 Oh how distressing is it to observe many, to 
 whom we cannot but fear, the Gospel which 
 they hear preached from Sunday to Sunday, is 
 but the, savor of death I If God has made a dif- 
 ference in any of us, let us not forget to whom 
 we are indebted. 
 
 Brethren ! YOU are my witnesses. I take 
 you to record, that you have had the whole 
 counsel of God declared unto you that all cu- 
 rious and metaphysical inquiries, all critical 
 and conjectural points, have been carefully a- 
 voided for your sake. I have attempted to 
 clear my ministry of ail disputable subjects, in 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 321 
 
 order to set before you the plain fact of the 
 death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of 
 salvation through him. 
 
 But consider ! YOU also must give an ac- 
 count ! I must give an account, whether 1 plain- 
 ly and simply declared the truth, as one who 
 felt its importance, and was in earnest. You 
 must give an account, whether you have gone 
 away from this place, as if you had heard no- 
 thing to the purpose, and immediately dissipat- 
 ed your thoughts with some trifling subject 
 some mere secular concern : or whether 
 what you heard brought you to your knees be- 
 fore God, beseeching him to seal and impress 
 his truth upon your hearts. 
 
 Oh consider the satisfaction you will find, in 
 really embracing all the counsel of God. Con- 
 sider how soon the time will come, in which 
 it must be your ONLY SATISFACTION, that you 
 have embraced it ! Let it be your prayer, as 
 you go hence - u O God give me grace 'to re- 
 pent with that repentance which is unto life ! 
 Make me serious ! Teach me what I must do 
 to be saved ! Help me to believe the record 
 which thou hast given of thy Son. Give me 
 faith to receive the atonement to set to my 
 seal that there is none other name wider heaven 
 given among men whereby we must be saved^ but 
 the name of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Come to your Savior, with HUMILITY as a 
 sinner : come with GRATITUDE and LOVE. " For 
 ye are not come unto the mount that might be 
 touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto 
 blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the 
 
322 REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 
 
 sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words :" 
 when, " so terrible was the sight, that Moses 
 said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are 
 come unto mount Sion ; and unto the city of the 
 living God the heavenly Jerusalem ; and to an 
 innumerable company of angels ; and to the 
 general assembly and church of the first-born, 
 which are written in heaven ; and to God, the 
 Judge of all : and to the spirits of just men 
 made perfect ; and to Jesus the Mediator of 
 the new covenant; and to the blood of sprink- 
 ling, that speaketh better things than that of 
 Abel. See, then, that ye refuse not him that 
 speaketh ! but receiving a kingdom which 
 cannot be moved, let us hold fast grace, where- 
 by we may serve God acceptably, with rever- 
 ence and godly fear." Heb. xii. 18 28. 
 
 LINES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 DEATH OP A CHILD AT DAY-BREAK* 
 
 BY THE REV. RICHARD CECIL. 
 
 " Let me go, for the day breaketh." Genesis 32: 36. 
 
 CEASE here longer to detain me, 
 Kindest mother, drown'd in woe, 
 
 Now thy kind caresses pain me ; 
 Morn advances let me go. 
 
 See yon orient streak appearing ! 
 
 Harbinger of endless day ; 
 Hark ! a voice the darkness cheering 1 . 
 
 Calls my new-born soul away ! 
 
REMAINS OF MR. CECIL. 323 
 
 Lately launched a trembling stranger, 
 On this world's wild boisterous flood, 
 
 Pierc'd with sorrows, toss'd with danger, 
 Gladly I return to God. 
 
 Now my cries shall cease to grieve thee. 
 
 Now my trembling heart find rest ; 
 Kinder arms than thine receive me, 
 
 Softer pillow than thy breast. 
 
 Weep not o'er these eyes that languish, 
 Upward turning toward their home ; 
 
 Raptur'd they'll forget all anguish, 
 While they wait to see thee come. 
 
 There, my mother, pleasures centre 
 
 Weeping, parting, care or woe 
 Ne'er our Father's house shall enter 
 
 Morn advanceslet me go. 
 
 As through this calm and holy dawning, 
 
 Silent glides my parting breath, 
 To an EVERLASTING MORNING 
 
 Gently close my eyes in death. 
 
 Blessings, endless, richest blessings, 
 
 Pour their streams upon thy heart ! 
 (Though no language yet possessing) 
 
 Breathes my spirit ere we part. 
 
 Yet to leave thee sorrowing rends me, - 
 
 Now again his voice I hear ; 
 Rise ! may every grace attend thee, 
 
 Rise, and seek to meet me there ! 
 
 TJBHE END. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY