• William Gadsby's Fragments (Complete)

    The Torture Of The Mind

    “What!” say you. “Do you think that a child of God, really called by grace, has anything about him that loves sin?” I am beyond thinking, I know it; and it plagues and tortures his poor mind sometimes till he hardly knows where to look. But when God opens to him a little of Solomon's prayer, he gets into it: “What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, then hear thou in heaven.” There are some people that do not appear to know the meaning of it; they do not feel any heart-plague within them. Well, then, they are not interested in that prayer. But other…

  • William Gadsby's Fragments (Complete)

    Sunday Schools

    Just, before this volume was completed, it was suggested to me that my father's views on Sunday Schools ought not to be omitted. I have, therefore, copied the following from the first number of the Sunday School Visitor, a little magazine published by mc in 1844, and to which my lather was a contributor.—J. G. A Few Thoughts Upon The Utility Of Sunday Schools My Fellow-Mortals,—Allow me to observe that I really do consider that, next to tho preaching of tho glorious gospel of the Messed God, and a spiritual attendance to the order and ordinances of God's house, Sunday Schools are one of the best institutions in the kingdom; and I am sorry to see such a want of zeal for the promoting of…

  • William Gadsby's Fragments (Complete)

    Christ The Believer’s Breakwater

    Being A Few Poetical Remarks, Occasioned By A Visit To The Breakwater, In Plymouth Sound, On The 30th Of January, 1822. “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled."—Psalm 77:16 On Wednesday last, a pleasant day. When winds did not their force display, The sea assumed a gentle form, Nor did the sky denote a storm, The Breakwater I went to view, A bulwark great and useful too. The day began and finish'd bright, And truly 'twas a pleasant sight. Amidst the ocean I could stand, And view the deep on either hand. With friends I spent six hours or more, Who show'd all kindness in their power. Upon the Breakwater we walk'd, Look'd round,…

  • William Gadsby's Fragments (Complete)

    The New Law

    In the Gospel Standard for 1839, amongst the “Gleanings” was one, attributed to Mr. Gadsby: “The old covenant they broke, and the old law they broke, and break; but they cannot break the new covenant, neither can they break the new law.” In reply to this, the next month, Mr. Gadsby wrote: “Messrs. Editors,—In your number for this month (January), page 24, amongst your gleanings, is a remark to which the signature 'W. G.' is put, which I altogether deny as ever falling from my lips, It is that the believer 'cannot break the new law.' I believe that the blessed Lord writes the glorious substance of every divine law in the hearts of his people, and that the covenant of works they have awfully…