ly prayer, forthwith commence forming plans for
the day. When he was well, nothing seemed to afford him such true
delight as to have his hands full of work. Indeed, it was often
remarked that in him you found--what you rarely meet with--a man of
high poetic imagination and deep devotion, who nevertheless was
engaged unceasingly in the busiest and most laborious activities of
his office.

His friends could observe how much his soul was engrossed during his
times of study of devotion. If interrupted on such occasions, though
he never seemed ruffled, yet there was a kind of gravity and silence
that implied--"I wish to be alone." But he further aimed at enjoying
God _all the day_. And referring on one occasion to those blank hours
which so often are a believer's burden,--hours during which the soul
is dry and barren,--he observed, "They are proofs of how little we are
_filled_ with the presence of God, how little we are _branchlike_[8]
in our faith."

[8] Compare Zechariah 4:12 with John 15:5.

This careful attention to the frame of his spirit did not hinder his
preparation for his people; on the contrary, it kept alive his deep
conscientiousness, and kept his warm compassion ever yearning. When
asked to observe a Saturday as a day of fasting and prayer, along with
some others who had a special object in view, he replied, "Saturday is
an awkward day for ministers; for though I love to seek help from on
high, I love also diligently to set my thoughts in order for the
Sabbath. I sometimes fear that you fail in this latter duty."

During his first years in Dundee, he often rode out in an afternoon to
the ruined church of Invergowrie, to enjoy an hour's perfect solitude;
for he felt meditation and prayer to be the very sinews of his work.
Such notices, also, as the following, show his systematic pursuit of
personal holiness:--

"_April 9, 1837_, Evening.--A very pleasant quietness. Study of the
Epistle to the Hebrews. Came to a more intelligent view of the first
six chapters than ever before. Much refreshed by John Newton;
instructed by Edwards. Help and freedom in prayer. Lord, what a happy
season is a Sabbath evening! What will heaven be!"

"_April 16_, Sabbath evening.--Much prayer and peace. Reading the
Bible only."

"_June 2._--Much peace and rest to-night. Much broken under a sense of
my exceeding wickedness, which no eye can see but thine. Much
persuasion of the sufficiency of Christ, and of the constancy o