Thus have we brought to a conclusion what was proposed in this first part; having seen him from his youth, through the various travels of his soul, the whole process of his conversion, till his heart being at liberty, he began to publish the voice of wisdom to all around him. It remains, to give some account of his labours, trials, and success in the Lord’s work, together with the general tenor of his experience, till God was pleased to call him hence.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
Of his entire application to preaching the gospel.
IT being now, no longer matter of doubt, what the will of God was concerning him; trial having been made, and the fruit answering to the design, he resolved to defer no longer, stirring up the gift of God which was in him. Setting aside therefore every other concern, and employment, he devoted himself entirely to the work of which he believed God had assigned him. He set out with a resolution to give himself up wholly to the dictates of the Holy Ghost, and to be ready to go what way soever the voice of heaven should call him. And that his understanding might not be dissipated, and scattered upon divers objects, and so have less force to enter deep into the things of God, he began his work with applying himself altogether to the study of the holy scriptures, and to prayer. And the proficiency which by those means he made daily, in the wisdom that is from above, quickly appeared. He truly laboured in the word, and faithfully and fervently enforced the divine truths he learned there from. His soul became strangely enlarged in labours of love for the salvation of his neighbour; while he imparted to them abundantly what God had so richly, and so freely bestowed upon him.
The words of our Lord Jesus Christ were in general exceeding precious to him; and from his first acquaintance with them, his whole delight and his counsellors. The whole of his following conduct to his death, seemed influenced by those words of Christ (applicable to all real Christians) Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world. A city set upon an hill cannot be hid: neither do men (much less God) light a candle, to put it under a bushel, that is, hide it; but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all about it.
And now, the divine providence concurring with his convictions and inclination, made his way clear, to put into execution what he had been so long deliberating upon. Conferring therefore no longer with flesh and blood, and resolving to deny himself, and take up his cross to follow Jesus, he bid farewel to his kindred, and to his acquaintance in general. Choosing the Lord for his sole portion, he literally left all, and went out into the wide world, entirely unanxious about what he should eat, or what he should drink, or wherewithal he should be cloathed, being fully persuaded, that an entire reliance on God was all things. He went to spend his life in beseeching sinners to be reconciled to God. Thus,
“By Christ himself ordain’d and sent,
An herald of redeeming grace,