Diary Extract 4 March 24 1760

March 24, 1760. Ætatis 20. - A COVENANT WITH GOD.-Incomprehensible Being! 'who searchest the heart, and triest the reins of the children of men': thou knowest my sincerity, -my thoughts are all unveiled to thee: I am surrounded by thine immensity: thou art a present though invisible witness of what I am now engaged in;-I am taking hold of thy strength that I may be at peace with thee.'

I here bind myself, O Lord, to be thine, by a sacred and everlasting obligation; I devote myself to be thy servant, to perform the work which thou assignest to me; I renounce the glories and vanities of this present evil world, and choose thee as the source of my happiness, my supreme felicity, and everlasting portion. This is my deliberate, my free and sincere determination,-a determination, which by thy grace, I will never retract.

Oh! thou, by whose power alone I shall be able to stand, put thy fear in my heart that I may never depart from thee.-Let not the world with all its flatteries, nor death, nor hell with all its terrors, induce me to violate this sacred judgment. Oh! let me never live to abandon thee, nor draw the impious breath that would deny thee.

And now, let surrounding angels witness, ye saints witness, that I solemnly devote the powers and faculties of my soul to the service of God; and should I presumptuously employ any of the advantages thou hast given me to thy dishonour, or forsake thee, let them testify against me, and let my own words condemn me.

JOHN FAWCETT.

Thus have I subscribed myself to be the Lord's. God is my Father and Friend. Christ is my all-sufficient Saviour; and the Spirit of God will, I trust, be my Sanctifier and my Comforter.

God is my all-sufficient good,

My portion and my choice;

In him my vast desires are fill'd,

And all my powers rejoice.