Untitled - Electric Scotland

204 LIFE OF ARCH 1USI 101 TA1T [CH. ix.
and sister should have been kept safe during these seven years
in the wilderness and on the great ocean, and that five little
weeks should have made such a change in our little home
society ! O Lord, keep me from the hurry of business. The
solemn time of my consecration is fast approaching. I would
be much in prayer. . . .
"
2oth November, 37 Lowndes Square.- -Y\\\s day my election
was confirmed in Bow Church. The empty
forms have this
reality connected with them First, that we began with the
Litany ; secondly, that oaths were taken full of meaning. O
Lord, grant, I humbly beseech Thee, that this day s solemnities
may not have been in vairf though they have been mixed up
with unmeaning forms. 1 To me at least it is a great reality, as
the third step in placing me in this great post, great from the
boundless influence it may exercise for good or evil on so many
thousands. . . . Let me resolve to live in prayer. As in old
days at Balliol let me have regular intervals of prayer, however
short, in the midst of the business of the day, as each hour
passes, when I can be disengaged for a few moments.
"November 22. I sit down to-day, in the quiet time secured,
to think of the great duties which are to devolve upon me, and
of the solemn vows by which I am to be bound. O Lord, my
God and Saviour, who hast watched over me from my earliest
years till now, who hast brought me through great prosperity,
and in the midst of sad suffering to this hour, be with me, I
beseech Thee. Lord, solemnise my mind, through Jesus Christ.
... I have re-read the Service of Consecration, having read it
many times before during the last two months. To be diligent
in the study of the Scriptures ; zealous in the attempt to practise
what they teach ; to be careful to drive away strange doctrine ;
to be kind to the poor ; to be very careful in giving Holy Orders ;
to rule my own household well r.bove ; all, to live in prayer O
God, give me grace, for Jesus Christ s sake.
"
1 1.30 P.M. I have now looked through the Office for Order
ing Priests and Deacons. Twenty years have passed since I was
ordained deacon on Trinity Sunday 1836. How eventful a time !
that
Balliol, Rugby, Carlisle, and now London. . . . Grant
what remains of my life may be dedicated entirely
to Thee.
1 In later years he was accustomed, as Archbishop, to impress upon others,
who thus criticised the old Confirmation ceremonial,
question were full of meaning, historical and practical.
that the forms in