Page:Christ the only refuge from the wrath to come.pdf/20

 He acquitted himself in his new place highly to the satisfaction of his employer, and attended public worship as often as he had opportunity. But alas! for poor Ben, Dr. Lancet was little better than an infidel, and cared neither for his own soul, nor for the souls of his servants. The maids in the kitchen, and the young men in the shop, were perpetually sneering at him as a Methodist, so that between the one and the other, he had but a sorry life of it. The clergyman of the parish, however, observing he was a serious steady boy, took notice of him, and frequently gave him good advice, and put some religious books and tracts into his hands.

In this way he went on for more than nine months. If he had lived in a better family, perhaps he might have been a truly pious youth, and if it had not been for the kind care of the minister, and his old school-masters, he had probably been led away from every thing that is good. It is a great blessing indeed for a young person to live in a holy Christian family.

One afternoon, Bob Buck, Dr. Lancet’s apprentice, and Fuddle, the shopman, prevailed upon Benjamin to go with them to a neighbouring fair, determined, as he was a sober moral lad, to make him drunk; and as he was not used to liquor, a small quantity overcame him: while they continued plying him with more, till he was quite intoxicated. ln this situation a recruiting sergeant got hold of him, slipped a shilling into his hand, and enlisted him.

The next morning Ben found himself much indisposed in body, and still more so in mind. His reflections were of the most painful sort—