Untitled - Electric Scotland

1856] THE DAYS OF PREPARATION 203
Holy Communion at Mr. Henry Elliott s church. The calm
time during that long Communion enabled me to call up in
prayer the long succession of the many friends whom I feel a
desire to remember now before the Throne of Grace. This quiet
time of waiting till the day of my consecration comes is a great
privilege. O Lord, give me strength and spirituality to use it as
I ought. . . . Give me strength to conquer my temptations.
How difficult do I find it to secure proper time in the morning !
This really is one of my great difficulties. Lord, give me energy
for this, or the most precious time for my soul s improvement-
for bracing it to meet the trials of the day will be frittered
away. And now at the close of another week let me dedicate
myself afresh, O Lord, to Thee. ... In this new sphere give
me more than ever
The spirit of prayer,
The spirit of holy meditation,
The spirit of holy zeal,
The spirit of right judgment,
The spirit of Christian boldness,
The spirit of Christian meekness. . . .
Grant that the insidious temptations of the trappings of worldly
greatness may not impede my heavenward course. I feel the
danger. Raise my soul heavenwards through Jesus
Lord. . . .
"
Christ our
Sunday Evening, November gt/i. ... I have to-day read a
very striking sermon of F. Robertson s Sleep on now, and take
your rest. The thought is how opportunities lost cannot be
recalled especially opportunities of prayer, and thus a man
enters unprepared on the temptations before him. Lord, enable
me so to use this quiet time that I may be braced by prayer for the
great work before me and its many trials. ... I have been read
ing some more of Blunt s Duties of the Parish Priest. In what
I have read to-day, on the reading of the parish priest, there is
too much of the old via media Scripture, tradition, fathers,
reformers sort of theology ; but the advice to consult original
sources is good, and no doubt it is very useful for young men to
have pointed out to them how great and interesting a field of
reading their profession opens up.
"
Monday, November 17. Yesterday I heard the Bishop of
Rupertsland preach twice. Strange that he and his three boys