These resolutions were adopted in the month preceding his admission to the church.
“To grow in grace is the duty of every Christian. Yet it is a most difficult work; at least, I have found it so. There are so many sins to subdue, so many temptations to assail, so many crosses of self-denial to take up, that I find the Christian must ever be on the alert, lest he fall into sin, or at least make no progress in piety.
“In order to meet these failings, it is a good plan for the young Christian to throw as many obstacles as possible in the way of his returning to the world; and I have felt it to be my duty to take some decisive step in relation to these matters. Accordingly, I have determined to adopt a set of resolutions, and also to write down a set of questions to be answered every night, a review of which is to be made every week.
“I have long hesitated as to the expediency, in my case, of the resolutions; for I feared I should not be able to keep them. But at length I have concluded to adopt a set, taken mostly from President Edwards and Dr. Porter; and although it may require much self-inspection to keep them, yet I hope that, through the blessing of God, they will not be wholly in vain. I wish to make them in the strength of the Lord; for my own strength is weakness; and it is my earnest prayer to God that he will enable me to keep them.
“It may be well to notice several encouragements which I find to persevere in these resolutions. As remarked before, I feared I should not be able to keep them even if I adopted them. But what encouragement do I find in the fact that I am not to make them in my own strength, but in God’s. Though weak in myself, yet he can give me grace to persevere in keeping them; and if I look to him in sincerity for help, he will enable me to keep them.
“Also, I have encouragement in the example of others. Though they may not have adopted these resolutions in form, and may not have committed them to paper, they were engraven on their hearts, and they regulated their lives by them. If I fail in living a godly life, it will be my own fault. I possess the same natural abilities to enable me to live a holy life as had Edwards or Payson; and I also meet with the same obstacles to surmount.
“Finally, I have sometimes thought that these and other duties of religion would occupy too large a portion of my time, which I should otherwise devote to the cultivation of my mind. But in regard to this, also, I find encouragement. What if I do break in upon these hours, if I can feel the assurance that I am prepared for heaven! It is of vastly more importance that I should seek first the kingdom of heaven; then I shall have an eternity to spend in expanding my mind, and in drinking in rivers of knowledge.
“Resolved, 1. To study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
“2. To strive every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.