266 



SABBATH. 



the desire of the people to hear the preaching 

 of divine truth, that a considerable number 

 were collected from the neighbourhood, and 

 some walked the distance of ten miles. A 

 Sabbath spent like this was a source of true 

 enjoyment, and afforded encouragement in my 

 ministry ; from the hope that a divine blessing 

 rested upon the assembling of ourselves to- 

 gether in the solitary places of the earth. The 

 delight of the good old man with whom I 

 sojourned, was to seek good and to do good ; 

 and in the quiet walk of every day usefulness, 

 he was blessed of God and a blessing to others 

 around him. There are some professed Chris- 

 tians, who cease to do good that they may 

 cease to be opposed, and rest in a middle state 

 of neutrality ; but he went about in the retired 

 circuit of his own immediate neighbourhood, 

 visiting the sick, praying with the afflicted, and 

 often (when solicited) attending the burial of 

 the dead. Nor did he forget the apostolic in- 

 junction to Christians, " to forsake not the 

 assembling of themselves together," but each 

 returning Sabbath witnessed a small assembly 

 of his friends and neighbours under his roof, 

 with whom he would join in prayer and praise, 

 and whom he would sometimes exhort. He 

 had seen days of heavy affliction, particularly 



