“This week I also commenced the plan of having a stated object for which to pray during every day in the week, which I have continued to this day, and think it a very good plan. Here is a specimen:—
“July 13th, Monday, for Friends; 14th, Tuesday, Revival; 15th, Wednesday, Missions; 16th, Thursday, Growth in Grace; 17th, Friday, Church; 18th, Saturday, Sabbath School.
“On Thursday, the nineteenth of March, in the year 1840, a meeting of the examining committee of the church was held, at which I was present.
“On Sabbath morning, July 5th, 1840, at the age of seventeen years and eight months, through the abounding but unmerited goodness of the Lord, I was permitted to unite with the Bowdoin-Street Church. It was the day to which I had been looking forward from my earliest years; for I always intended to become a Christian and unite with the church.
“Rev. Mr. Winslow preached an excellent discourse from the text, ‘Being confident of this one thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.’ Phil. i. 6.
“After the sermon, about fifteen were admitted into the church. It was the happiest day of my life, and I almost wished to be baptized and received into the church again on the next Sabbath.”
Oh happy youth! Oh genuine gladness! Earth yet has spots where the violets of Paradise bloom; time yet has moments that lie serene in the eternal sunshine of heaven.
CHAPTER V.
RESOLUTIONS.
I do not know as the next following extracts will strike the reader as anything very brilliant or very novel; but I cannot forbear transcribing them, because they were plucked so near the secret pavilion of his soul, so near the hidden sources of his spiritual strength. To my mind, they are like mosses damp with the moisture of fountains.