except perhaps the self-devotion, the self-renunciation, and the
profound humility which distinguished him in the world, and in his
conversation amongst men. "_The companion of the wise shall be wise_." I
observed my benefactor, and listened to his eloquence; I pondered on his
habitual piety, until, roused to enthusiasm by the contemplation of the
matchless being, I burned to follow in his glorious course, to revolve
in the same celestial orbit, the most distant and the meanest of his
satellites. The hand of Providence was traceable in every act, which, in
due course, and step by step, had brought me to the minister. It could
not be without a lofty purpose that I had been plucked a brand, as it
were, from the burning; it was not an aimless love that snatched me from
death to life--from darkness to mid-day light--from the depths of
despondency to the heights of serenity and joy. It was that I might
glorify the hand that had been outstretched on my behalf, that I might
carry His name abroad, proclaim His wondrous works, sing aloud His
praises, and in the face of men, give honour to the everlasting Giver of
all good. It was for this and these that I had been selected from
mankind, and made the especial object of a Father's grace. I believed it
in all the simplicity and ingenuousness of a mind awakened to a sense of
religion and human responsibility. I could not do otherwise. From the
moment that I was convinced of the obligation under which I had been
brought, that I could feel the force of the silent compact which had
been effected between the unseen Power and my own soul, it would have
been as easy for me to annihilate thought, to prevent its miraculous
presence in the mind, as to withstand the urgent prickings of my
conscience. I believed in my divine summons, and I was at once ready,
vehement, and impatient to obey it. Had I followed the dictates of my
will, I would have walked through the land, and preached aloud the
wonderful mercies of God, imploring my fellow-creatures to repentance,
and directing them to the fount of all their blessings and all their