Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/35

Rh Bishop. What is your business here?

Murray. My lord, when I was baptised, my sponsors promised, in my name, to renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, with all the sinful lusts of the flesh. They engaged also, that so soon as I should have learned the creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments, they would introduce me to this ordinance; as, however, they have neglected so to do, I beg leave to present myself.

Bishop. What idea have you of this ordinance?

Murray. I conceive, my lord, that the engagement entered into at my baptism, cannot be fulfilled without the aid, and operation of the spirit of the Lord; and I am taught to consider this ordinance as a mean of grace, through which I may obtain the aid of the Holy Spirit, so requisite to my well doing.

Bishop. (With a softened voice) Have you ever been at the Communion?

Murray. Yes, my lord, and although I ventured at first with fear, and trembling, yet deriving therefrom real consolation, I have never since absented myself. "You are right," said the Bishop, and immediately laying his hands upon my head, he prayed for me, with the greatest apparent fervour. Turning to a lad, who stood next me, he asked him the same question he had previously addressed to me: he was unprovided with an answer. "This is astonishing," said the bishop; "I should have thought you would at least have learned to answer from the youth who spoke before you;" and he gave my priest a glance, which called the blush of confusion into his face. I was extremely gratified, so were my friends in general, and my pious father in particular. Mr. John Wesley now made us a visit, he paid me the most distinguishing attention, and the regards of such a man were, to a young heart, truly flattering; he cherished the idea, that I should shortly become a useful labourer in the field, which he so sedulously cultivated. One thing, however, gave him anxiety,—the probability that I had imbibed my father's damnable principles, for such he denominated the Calvinistic tenets; yet he hoped better things of me, and things which accompanied salvation. When in my father's house, he manifested toward him the greatest kindness and friendship; but on leaving the country, he charged his followers to keep a strict watch over him, lest, through the influence of his great piety, he should infuse his abominable sentiments into the minds of some of the brethren. Mr. Wesley's