APPENDIX, No. XXVI.

WHAT am I? In sin, or in Christ? Am I effectually called, or am I not? If not, it is dangerous coming. Ask what am I, that if I am not as I should be, I may mend my state. If not alive, then go to God for spiritual life. And when God gives life, then away to the sacrament for the support of the spiritual life. Those mentioned in Acts, ii., as soon as they were converted, were presently in church-fellowship.

What have I done? Here is work for self-examination. To consider our sins; the sin of our nature; the sins of our hearts and lives; the sins of our particular relations; sabbath sins; tongue sins, &c. When we have found out our sins, then we must repent. Repenting includes contrition, hearty sorrow; contrition is the breaking of the heart, pounding it as in a mortar. Confession, telling God what we have done. Conversion, turning from sin. With all these, hearty prayer must be joined.

What do I want? A condemned malefactor wants a pardon; a hungry soul wants bread; a debtor wants a surety; a traveller wants a guide; a guilty person wants a city of refuge; a blind man wants eye-salve; a weak soul wants strength; a graceless heart wants grace; a sinner wants a Saviour. Now all these are to be had with Christ. All these are offered in the sacrament. In one word, Christ and all his benefits. When we are going to a market, we look about the house to see what is wanting. The sacrament is the market. When we have found out our wants, we must represent them to God in prayer.*

P. Henry. From a MS. in Mr. Matthew Henry's hand-writing. 1683-4. See Matthew Henry's Communicant's Companion. Miscellaneous Works. p. 205, &c.

In referenceto this subject he would say ;-Self-examination is required before the communion; and he was urgent in pressing it; he frequently explained the nature of the duty, and pointed out the hinderances of it; such as laziness, self-love, pride, and ignorance of its necessity. Many think, he remarks, every man is bound to believe his sins are pardoned, and that God is his Father;that it is a fault to question it. They are ignorant of the nature and way of the duty; know not how to examine, where to begin, nor what to inquire after. Some are hindered by a desperate resolution To what purpose should they try?-They resolve to continue as they are, come what will; this preciseness will not suit them; they must have liberty. The world is a snare to many. False persuasions, that the work is done already, hinder others.* Many who do examine, yet do it by halves; they go about it in their own strength, and so miscarry.

As motives to it, he would urge, that multitudes perish who thought all was well, Proverbs, xiv. 12; Luke, xiii. 25; xviii. 10, 11; Revelations, iii. 17;—it is an easy and a common thing to be mistaken; there are many bye-ways; the heart is deceitful.

The least despairing are most desperate, Isaiah, xliv. 20. What if death should come before thou hast tried? Thou wilt be lost for ever; there will be no trying in the grave. Shortly, God will try you. Besides, there is great advantage in it. If unconverted, it will be a means to bring thee out of that condition. If in Christ, it will marvellously further consolation; in this way, and no other, thou mayest attain assurance, 2 Peter, i. 10; which will produce admirable sweetness;-sweetness in every condition, let publick troubles be what they may. It will abate the terribleness of death and judgment, and add wings to obedience.

He would say, by way of direction;-Art thou resolved to set about it? Sequester thyself from all other employments. Implore the Spirit's assistance by hearty prayer, Psalm, cxxxix. 20. Pitch upon such a time when you are fittest for the work,-best disposed. Have in readiness some scripture marks of truth and grace, and then try,-Is it thus with me, or is it not? Give not over till it be brought to some issue; let the sentence pass without fear or flattery. When thou knowest thy condition, be affected accordingly. If thou find thou art, to this day, in thy sins, oh, tremble, and make haste! Do not conclude it is in vain to turn. If otherwise, rejoice, and be exceeding glad.

On another occasion he writes;-Are ye passed from death unto life? There is such a thing, and it may be known, and we can have no comfort in living the life of nature, if we are not spiritually alive;

They are fully persuaded that Christ died for them, and that they shall be saved. How they came by this persuasion they cannot tell. But it is suspicious to have goods, and know not how one came by them. The Doctrine of Faith, by John Rogers, p. 32, duod. 1634.

if we do not live the life of grace. Now, one good mark to know it by, is the end that we live to. Is that God, or self? Another, is by the food that we live upon. Is that Christ?-His merit and righteousness for justification; his Spirit and grace for sanctification? Another, is by the rule that we live by. Is that the rule of the new creature, the word of God? Is that the card and compass we sail by,-the light and lamp we walk by? Or, is it something else, the dictates of our own corrupt nature, carnal reason, fleshly appetites, the course and custom of this vain world? Try by this.*

• P. Henry. Orig. MS.

APPENDIX, No. XXVII.

AT this distance of time, any fact is interesting which illustrates the character, and perfumes the memory of such men as Mr. Nevett. The Elegy, composed on his death, by Mr. Henry, being the only additional document that can be found respecting him, will, therefore, form a fit appendage to the narrative; and if it adds no honours to the writer as a poet, it will furnish the reader with a pleasing relick of christian friendship.

Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes
A spring of tears, like melting Jeremy's;
That I might weep, and weep, and weep again
O'er the sad hearse of a dear prophet slain.
Slain by an arrow, darted from above;
Tow'rds us in anger; towards him in love.
A star is fallen, not from God to sin,
But from this lower orb he shined in:
Rather from sin to God from wandering here,
To fix with him in a more holy sphere;
New storms are rising, he's put into shore;
A deluge coming, he is ark't before.*

Oh, earth, earth, earth, hearken what heaven saith;
Each rod a voice, this rod a loud one hath.
The owner thought it much, three years to come
To a barren tree, which hastened its sad doom;
What then can they expect, that ten times three
Had such a dresser, if they barren be?

The evening before the death of the Rev. Daniel Burgess, a friend, who came to see him, speaking of publick affairs, said, it was feared there would be a storm; he answered with cheerfulness,—“ But God will house some of his children first.” Matthew Henry's Miscellaneous Works, p. 833, ut supra.

A faithful, self-denying shepherd, who

Sought not the fleece, but flock; not your's, but you.
Many a time he to the pulpit went,

Pain'd as a gorg'd breast, till he had vent;
And then his zeal so eat him up, that pain
Being strait forgotten, all was well again.
How far unlike those ministers, to whom
A burden 'tis; their only martyrdom.
"Tis hard to say, whether he rather was,
A Boanerges, or a Barnabas.

Not one but both; he did both wound and heal;
Preach law and gospel; sin and Christ reveal.
But his delight was chiefly to distil,
Not from black Sinai, but from Sion's hill,-
Such sweet refreshing showers of holy dew,
As would at once both melt and comfort too.
Great love, rich mercy, and free grace to all
That truly do embrace the gospel call.
This was his text, this was his doctrine, this
The burden was in every song of his;
Ev'n to the last, for when his master came,*
So doing he was found,-found in this frame;
And by his constant breathing in such air,
His spirit, his converse strangely sweeten'd were.
You'd think, sure he had lean'd upon that breast
Where that disciple lean'd, that love so press'd.
Jonathan's love, greater than woman's was,
But his did even Jonathan's surpass.
And one good argument 'tis to prove
Him greatly lov'd, himself that did so love.
Flaming affections, bowels that did stir,
As husband, father, brother, friend, minister;
This was his fiery chariot, in this

Living he rode, as th' dying prophet in his.
'Mongst all his other graces, 'twere most fit
That loving Nevett be his epithet.
Methinks I see him, ever and anon,
Casting up eyes and hands to heaven's throne;
Darting ejaculations thither; where

Heart-words are understood, and silent prayer.
His conversation was above, and he
Hath chang'd his place, but not his company.+

• His last subject was Ephesians, ii. 4, 5.

An allusion, probably, to the death-bed sceue of Dr. Preston. Expressing his belief of a "sudden change," he said,-" Not of my company; for I shall still converse with God and saints, but of my place, and way of doing it." Clark's Lives, appended to the Martyrologie, pp. 112, 113, ut supra.