_24th: Cambridge._—I dined here yesterday. Inquired for that great
and good man, Simeon, but he was not to be in town till the evening.
I walked behind Trinity and John’s, &c., twice—a delightful day.
Wrote and left a letter for him; at nine he came, and will certainly
meet Fry at Bradfield. Thank God! I shall hear him twice to-day and
Mr. Thomason once, for I shall go thrice to Trinity Church. I
mentioned Fry’s calculation of three millions of Christians; but he
very properly thought it very erroneous. He thinks Cambridge a fair
average, and in 10,000 people knows but of 110 certainly vital
Christians—more than 150 can scarcely be from a seventy-fifth to a
hundredth part therefore! There are, I am rejoiced to hear it, many
very pious young men in the colleges.
_Night._—I have been at Trinity Church thrice to-day. In the morning
a very good sermon by Simeon, a decent one by Thomason, and in the
evening to a crowded congregation a superlative discourse by Simeon
on the twelfth verse of chapter iv. of the Acts: ‘There is no other
name under heaven,’ &c. Vital, evangelical, powerful, and impressive
in his animated manner.
_Sunday, July 8: Bradfield._—This day se’nnight took the Sacrament
with Jane at Bury, suddenly, and therefore without any preparation,
and got there in the Lessons. The week has been vile and miserable.
Fry cannot come, but had a letter from Simeon, he will be here
to-morrow! O Lord, of Thy mercy give a blessing to his presence,
that conversation and prayer with him may give a turn to my mind!
Were it not for what I think a firm faith in the Cross of my
Redeemer, I should think that I was almost in the jaws of hell. But
if I perish it shall be looking at the brazen serpent. Fiery
serpents innumerable bite; let me turn instantly to the Cross, and
there see and trust to the blood of sprinkling. What should I have
thought of this before my conversion? Is it true and saving faith
now to think and feel it—or rather to know it in my understanding
than feel it in my heart? I am full of apprehensions, and the only
sign of spiritual life in me is some sense and feeling of my own
iniquity and the plague of my carnal thoughts; but if they were
truly a load to me, would not the Lord ease me of the burden?
_10th._—Yesterday, Simeon came. His character singular. His
piety—his strong expressions—his fervency in prayer—a powerful mind!
_13th._—Simeon went this morning. I have been horribly negligent in
not writing down many of his conversations. What he thinks of me I
know not, but he spoke to Jane with great freedom and candour, and
as became a good Christian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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