to get thus entoiled no more. My scruple is not against poetry, but I cannot write it without getting Therefore it is no more than over-possessed by it. a reasonable peace-offering to deny myself of it. And now Lord, what wait I for? * * * * 66 It Enable me to say, "my hope is in Thee." seems as if the path would be a narrow one; but, oh, "make thy way straight before my face;" and, having enabled me, I trust to give some things to "the moles and to the bats," leave me not till I have learnt to count all things but loss, for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord." The following is the unfinished piece just alluded to: TO HER FATHER IN AMERICA. And thus it was, as drew the moments nearer, By how much sooner, thou should'st hence depart. Love wept indeed, though she might seem a sleeper, Long ere descending tears the signs betrayed; And the heart's fountain was but so much deeper, The longer was its overflow delayed. The page my unapt heart has learned so newly, Oh, it were vain to try to utter truly, In the cold language of unapter speech. That hearts, when thus their very depths are burning, But oh, my heart more joys than aches in learning New depths of love, in measure unsuspected, And 'twas to tell thee this that I have taken And not more narrow than the dome of ether, Of Him who loves, not less than rules the whole. And not more slow than was the bark that bore thee, Our heart's affections thither flew before thee, -8th Month, 1845. 10th Mo. 1st. Much struck with the suitability of the expression, "under the yoke," truly subjugated, not merely offering this or that, but being offered "a living sacrifice." Oh, for a thorough work like this. This is "when the yoke is easy and the burden light." I know almost nothing of it by experience, but think it is "now nearer than when I first believed." For a day or two, I have been given to desire it earnestly. 10th Mo. 12th. faith in Christ. essence of it. Evening. Many thoughts about But oh, for the reality, the living We can be Christians, not because we believe that the blood of Christ cleanses from sin; but because we know the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sin. About this date, in the diary of daily affairs, is the following: "A conviction has come upon me that, in all respects, now is the time to reform, if ever, the course I am now pursuing. Religion, the main thing, may it ever more be the main object, and then, as to moral, social, and other duty, oh, be my whole course reformed. * * * From this time forth, may I nightly ask myself these five questions. 1.-Has my employment and economy of time been right? 2. Has my aim been duty-not pleasure? 3.-Have I been quiet and submissive? 4.-Have I looked on the things of others as my own? 5.Have propensities or sentiments ruled? I wish to give an answer, daily, to each; and now say for yesterday. 1.-Some wasted time before dinner. 2. Pretty clear. 3.-No temptation. 4.-Pretty well. 5.-Pretty [well] except at meals." In this concise and simple manner are these questions answered, almost daily, throughout the year, until "finding that daily records of employment are of little use, and that the intellectual and spiritual could not well be longer separated," she discontinued the practice, and recorded in the same book, "anything in either line, that it seemed fit to reserve from oblivion." [Alluding to a religious magazine :]— It is always pulling down error-seldom building up truth. Surely antichrist comes to oppose Christ, not Christ to oppose antichrist. Is there, then, no positive Christian duty? Are we never to rest in principles and practices of actual faith and love; or are we to be always on the offensive and negative side, stigmatizing all who act contrary to our belief of the truth, as doers of the work of antichrist? Antichrist, I fear, cares little for orthodox doctrines, but fights against the Christian spirit. 9th Mo. 13th. Conflicting thoughts again. I long that there may be no building on any sandy foundation. But oh, the fitness that appeared to me this evening, in the blessed Saviour to supply all my need. The one sacrifice he has been, and the one mediator and way to God he ever is. His own spirit, the one leader, teacher, and sanctifier; whereby he consummates in the heart the blessed work of bringing all into subjection to the obedience of Christ. Oh, for a personal experience, a real participation in all this, a knowledge that He is my own and that I am His. 9th Mo. 19th. Rode to Lodge to get ferns. En joyed thoughts of the beauty of nature, imperfect as it is, because one kind of beauty necessarily excludes another. What, then, must be the essence of that glory in which all perfection is beauty united? Thus these things must be described to mortal comprehension under contradictory images; such as "pure gold, like unto transparent glass," &c. 9th Mo. 19th. I think harm is done by considering a society such as Friends," 66 а section of the Christian church," as societies are so often called. It can be true only by considering the "Christian church" to mean professing Christians; but surely its true meaning is the Children of God anywhere. Of this body, there are no sections to be made by man, or it would follow that to unite oneself to either section, is to be united to the body which cannot be. 10th Mo. 1st. I fear I have so long been childish and thoughtless, that I shall hardly ever be childlike and thoughtful. Oh, for a little more care without carefulness. 10th Mo. 2nd. doctrine of Much struck with Krummacher's Once in grace, always in grace." "After the covenant is made," he says, "I can do nothing condemnable. I may do what is sinful or weak, but my sins are all laid on my Surety." True, if my will-spirit humbles itself to bear the reform |