Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/30

20 elation, and he laboured to keep me humble in my own estimation. "You now, my dear," said he, "think you know every thing; but when you really attain superior information, you will be convinced you know nothing." This assertion appeared to me extremely paradoxical; but I have since learned to appreciate its rationality and its truth. I know not how long I proceeded in this delightful path; nothing from within, or without, interrupted my course, and I well remember, that I fancied myself on the verge of perfection. I saw, or imagined I saw, undeviating rectitude within my grasp. I was conscious of no wishes, but those which I considered the legitimate offspring of the religion I professed. I wondered what had become of my evil propensities; they were however gone, and, I believed, they would no more return: my days, my weeks rolled on, uniformly devoted to pursuits, which created for me unutterable self-complacency. On Sunday morning I arose with the sun, and like our first parent in a state of innocence,

Thus after a night of charmingly refreshing, and undisturbed repose, with spirits innocently gay, I arose, washed my face, and hands, repeating a short supplication, which my father never, on those occasions, omitted: "O, Almighty God, who hath ordained this watery element for the use, and support of nature, by which I am at this time refreshed, and cleansed, O! purify my soul, by the operation of thy blessed spirit, as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." I then retired to my closet, offering the orisons of my gladdened heart, and habited for church. I sat down to my book, until my father made his appearance, when the family being summoned, and the morning prayer ended, we breakfasted, but it was a light repast, and soon dispatched. At eight o'clock, I attended the Methodist meeting; at half past nine, I returned home, and devoted the time to reading, until after ten, when the bell summoned me to church, where the Methodists at that time attended; at church I was remarked for my devotion. From the church I returned to my closet, after which I read the Bible, responding to the interrogations of my father, relative to the sermon, by repeating it nearly verbatim. Dinner over, I again retied to my closet; from which, by my father's desire, I made my appearance, to read for him some devotional book, until the bell again commanded my attendance upon public worship; but, to my great consolation, I had not, when I returned home, as on the Sunday sketched in a former page, to spend