now we are to behold him in a yet higher character, and giving the most exalted proofs of faith and love.

God, who has appointed different orders and degrees in his Church, and who assigns to all the members of it their respective stations, was at this time pleased, by the almighty and gracious influence of his Spirit, to call the subject of this Memoir to a work, demanding the most painful sacrifices and the most arduous exertions,-that of a Christian Missionary. The immediate cause of his determination to undertake this office, was hearing the Rev. Mr. Simeon remark on the benefit which had resulted from the services of a Missionary* in India: his attention was thus arrested, and his thoughts occupied with the vast importance of the subject. Soon after which, perusing the life of David Brainerd, who preached with apostolical zeal and success to the North American Indians, and who finished a course of self-denying labors for his Redeemer, with unspeakable joy, at the early age of thirty-two, his soul was filled with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man; and, after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example. Nor let it be conceived that he could adopt this resolution without the severest conflict in his mind: for he was endued with the truest sensibility of heart, and was susceptible of the warmest and tenderest at

* Dr. Carey.

tachments. No one could exceed him in love for his country, or in affection for his friends; and few could surpass him in au exquisite relish for the various and refined enjoyments of a social and literary life. How then could it fail of being a moment of extreme anguish, when he came to the deliberate resolution of leaving for ever all he held dear upon earth. But he was fully satisfied that the glory of that Savior, who loved him, and gave himself for him, would be promoted by his going forth to preach to the Heathen: he considered their pitiable and perilous condition: he thought on the value of their immortal souls: he remembered the last solemn injunction of his Lord, "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"-an injunction never revoked, and commensurate with that most encouraging promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Actuated by these motives, he offered himself in the capacity of a Missionary* to the Society for Missions to Africa and the East; and from that time stood prepared, with a child-like simplicity of spirit, and an unshaken constancy of soul, to go to any part of the world, whither it might be deemed expedient to send him.

The following letter, to his youngest sister, written not long after he had taken this resolution to de

* It is now called "The Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East," and eminently deserves the cordial support of every member of the Church of England.

vote himself to the life of a Missionary, and more particularly some passages copiously extracted from his private Journal, will strikingly exhibit the varied exercises of his mind at this interesting and most trying juncture.-From thence it will be seen, that he steadily contemplated the sacrifices he must make, and the difficulties he might encounter-that though sometimes cast down, he was yet upheld in the prospect of his great work, by him who had called him to it-that his notions of the character of a Missionary were elevated-his supplications for grace and mercy incessant-his examination of his own heart, deep and sober and searching-in one word that he was a man of God, eminently endued with the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

"I received your letter yesterday, and thank God for the concern you manifest for my spiritual welfare. O that we may love each other more and more in the Lord. The passages you bring from the word of God, were appropriate to my case, particularly those from the first Epistle of St. Peter and that to the Ephesians, though I do not seem to have given you a right view of my state. The dejection I sometimes labor under, seems not to arise from doubts of my acceptance with God, though it tends to produce them; nor from desponding views of my own backwardness in the divine life, for I am more prone to self-dependence and conceit; but from the prospect of the diffi

culties I have to encounter in the whole of my fu ture life. The thought that I must be unceasingly employed in the same kind of work amongst poor ignorant people, is what my proud spirit revolts at. To be obliged to submit to a thousand uncomfortable things that must happen to me, whether as a minister or a missionary, is what the flesh cannot endure. At these times I feel neither love to God or man, and in proportion as these graces of the Spirit languish, my besetting sinspride and discontent and unwillingness for every duty, make me miserable. You will best enter into my views by considering those texts, which serve to recal me to a right aspect of things. I have not that coldness in prayer you would expect, but generally find myself strengthened in faith and humility and love after it: but the impression is so short. I am at this time enabled to give myself, body, soul, and spirit, to God, and perceive it to be my most reasonable service. How it may be when the trial comes I know not, yet I will trust and not be afraid. In order to do his will cheerfully, I want love for the souls of men to suffer it: I want humility: let these be the subjects of your supplications for me. I am thankful to God that you are so free from anxiety and care: we cannot but with praise acknowledge his goodness. What does it signify whether we be rich or poor, if we are sons of God? How unconscious are they of their real greatness, and will be so till they find them

selves in glory! When we contemplate our everlasting inheritance, it seems too good to be true; yet it is no more than is due to the blood of God manifest in the flesh.

"A journey I took last week into Norfolk, seems to have contributed greatly to my health. The attention and admiration shewn me are great and very dangerous. The praises of men do not now indeed flatter my vanity as they formerly did; I rather feel pain through anticipation of their consequences; but they tend to produce imperceptibly a self-esteem and hardness of heart. How awful and awakening a consideration is it, that God judgeth not as man judgeth! Our character before him is precisely as it was before or after any change of external circumstances. Men may applaud or revile, and make a man think differently of himself; but he judgeth of a man according to his secret walk. How difficult is the work of self-examination! Even to state to you imperfectly my own mind, I found to be no easy matter. Nay, St. Paul says, 'I judge not mine own self, for he that judgeth me is the Lord.' That is, though he was not conscious of allowed sin, yet he was not hereby justified, for God might perceive something of which he was not aware. How needful then the prayer of the Psalmist, 'Search me, O God, and try my heart, and see if there be any evil way in me.' May God be with you and bless you, and uphold you with the right hand of his righteousness: and let us seek to

any