Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/121

Rh a fellow creature. The lady was extremely affected, and her aid was instantaneous. The next day, Sunday, I again visited the poor penitent, whom I found relieved and comforted. She requested me, with many tears, to put up a note for her in the tabernacle. There happened, on that day, to preach in the tabernacle, a Mr. Edwards, whom I had formerly known, in connexion with Mr. Wesley. I presented a note in the following words: The prayers of this congregation are requested in behalf of a widow indeed, confined to a bed of sickness, without property, and encompassed by the dying and the dead. I attended again in the tabernacle in the evening, and when the sermon closed, Mr. Edwards said: "If the person be here, who put up the note this morning, in behalf of a widow indeed, I should be glad to speak with him in the vestry." Accordingly presenting myself, I was very cordially received by Mr. Edwards, who observed, he was happy I was the person; that his feelings had been greatly affected by the note; that he had read it to a lady, at whose house he had dined, who, putting two guineas into his hand, requested him, if possible, to find out the widow indeed, and bestow them upon her. I conveyed this little sum to the sorrowing woman, with feelings, which those who know how to sympathize with the unfortunate will easily understand; and I assured the poor mourner, that the God, who gives and forgives, had sent her another proof of his favour. Arise, said I, forlorn sufferer, and sin no more. I had the charge of the child's funeral; the other recovered. The mother was soon abroad, and continued, ever after, to conduct with exemplary propriety. This instance, among a thousand others, proves, that faith in the promises is the best stimulus to that pure, and undefiled religion, which consists in relieving the oppressed of every description: and with gratitude I confess, that this pure and undefiled religion was, to me, a never-failing source of consolation. I was full of the gospel; gladly would I have sacrificed my life, if I might thus have brought all men acquainted with the riches of the grace of the gospel of God our Saviour; and my soul was often wrought up to a degree of ecstacy, by the views, exhibited to my understanding, in the pages of divine revelation. Yes, I have experienced, that a belief of the truth disposes the mind to love God, and to do good to man; and so greatly was my heart affected by the plan of redemption, that I have, in the midst of the streets of London, been so entranced in contemplating its glories, that I have only been awakened to recollection, by the jostling crowd, who wondered as they passed; yet, while in the fulness of my heart, I embraced every opportunity of expatiating upon the great salvation; every thing beside had lost the