The Life and Letters of the Rev. George Mortimer, M.A. John Armstrong

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СКАЧАТЬ is no knowledge but serves either positively as it is, or else to illustrate some other knowledge: he condescends even to the knowledge of tillage and pasturage, and makes great use of them in teaching, because people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not.” As one means of preparing me for the great charge which lies before me, I have begun a regular course of the lives of eminently pious characters. The good I received from this kind of reading some years ago, makes me indulge the hope that it may be equally serviceable now; but I would not rest here—it is a real baptism of the Holy Spirit alone which can properly qualify me for usefulness in the pulpit, and a consistent course out of it.

TO THE REV. J. ARMSTRONG.

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      Q. C. Camb. Feb. 26, 1811.

      My very dear Friend,

      * * * * * * *

      Since I last wrote to you I have been spending a few days at Islington; but my stay being very short, I was obliged to confine myself wholly to home. I visited but one person all this time. I had hoped, however, to have returned again soon, and to have done myself the pleasure of calling on my several friends; but a very unpleasant circumstance has hindered me—the bishop has refused me ordination at present: and I am under the necessity of waiting till it shall please my gracious God to show my path. My vicar is a notorious character, and my friends have all along been apprehensive lest I should find some difficulty in getting ordained to his curacy. I must say, I shall not be a little disappointed should I be obliged to relinquish all thought of Wellington; but the matter is in the Lord’s hands, and I would willingly leave it to his all-wise disposal. If I have learned anything by my past experience, it is this, to feel fully persuaded that all our concerns, however unpleasant they may be at the present, will, either in this world or in the world to come, terminate in our good. In affairs of this kind it is better to make as little fuss as possible: I must therefore beg you will not mention it to any one. I shall wait quietly for the present, in hope that the bishop may relent; but should not this be the case, I must content myself with some other situation. Poor G. is similarly circumstanced with myself; he has been refused three times, and that, too, in spite of the interest of the Master; he wishes to be ordained on his Coll. Fellowship, and that lover of the truth, the good Bishop of Ely, has every time put a spoke in his wheel. But what a mercy it is that, notwithstanding all the opposition which serious candidates meet with, still they are not, cannot be, entirely hindered and excluded! * * * * * *

      And believe me to remain,

      Your ever faithful and affectionate

      Mortimer.

TO HIS SISTER.

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      Cambridge, March 2, 1811.

      I had imagined, some months ago, that the exercise of mind I was under when preparing for the Senate House, was the greatest I should ever experience; I was greatly mistaken. O my sister, did you know how much I have felt lately, you would truly sympathise with me; but I now enjoy comparative rest; my feelings, indeed, have been strongly mixed, but the better have generally, though not without considerable struggle, predominated. I have enjoyed more of the power of vital religion, and that has been my support and stay; and would it but please my God to indulge me with more communion with himself, He might do with me and my poor concerns whatever might please Him. He alone is truly and absolutely necessary for my comfort, and would He but say, in my subsequent career, “My presence shall go with thee,” I should feel that enough. I could ask nothing more.

      The clouds which overcast his prospect of ordination for the curacy of Wellington, were after a time dispersed, and he was admitted to deacon’s orders at Eccleshall, on the 26th of May, 1811, and on the following day he went to reside at Wellington. He not long after wrote to his sister, in reference to his new situation, as follows:—

      “Through mercy I am going on pretty comfortably in parochial matters, and have reason to believe I am in the situation which God designed me to fill. My employment is my delight—my heart is in it—a circumstance I could seldom boast of when toiling through the drudgery of mathematics. Mr. E. and I go on in perfect harmony. I feel very much attached to him; and from the marks I am daily receiving of his kindness, I may conclude he looks with a favourable eye on my endeavours to help him in his important work.”

TO HIS SISTER.

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      Wellington, 12th November, 1811.

      In my last I promised an account of my parochial proceedings: though I have nothing brilliant to communicate, yet I hope I may say, after nearly six months’ residence, that I have good ground to believe I have not mistaken my path in entering the ministry. The increase of congregation, both among the poorer as well as the richer sort, afford me some encouragement, and I have frequently observed persons manifestly affected under the word delivered. I am not so sanguine as to expect great things should be done by so feeble a labourer as myself. “The honest and good hearted” among the congregation have already gladly received and profited by the word under my most excellent vicar, and, consequently, it is not to be expected that any remarkable change should be effected; but, as I have observed before, I have perceived that the Spirit of God is among us to apply the word, and so long as persons are not completely hardened, we may indulge some hope concerning them.

      A few Sundays ago I supplied the church of a neighbouring minister who has not been long in these parts. I preached from these words, “The Lord turned and looked on Peter.” I had taken another sermon with me, but some how or other could not make up my mind to preach it, and it will appear by the sequel that the Lord had some gracious purpose to answer by it. A poor woman, a former hearer of Mr. — happened to come into this part of the country, and she mentioned to her daughter that she should like to go and hear her old minister, but related at the same time a dream that she had the night before, that a strange minister at Mr. C—‘s church was the means of doing her good and recovering her from her backsliding state. She accordingly came, and no sooner did I enter the desk than she said to her daughter, “That is the clergyman I dreamed of who recovered me to God.” The subject by the Divine blessing was suitable to her case, and Mr. —, who related the anecdote to me, stated, that she began with fresh earnestness to devote herself to the service of God, and gave manifest tokens of the work being from above.

TO THE REV. J. ARMSTRONG.

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      Wellington, September 17th, 1811.

      My very dear Armstrong,

      I have been regaling myself this afternoon with a perusal of a large packet of your letters, forwarded to me from time to time. They present my much esteemed friend under a great variety of feelings and circumstances: but they uniformly exhibit him as the sincere and devoted Christian, and as the warm and substantial friend. Oh, how do I pity that poor soul who has never experienced the exquisite delights of friendship! Believe me, Armstrong, I would not exchange the feelings which at present animate my soul for all the wealth in the universe. It would be bauble when contrasted with the inestimable blessing of a friend, whose heart, whose sentiments, СКАЧАТЬ