one another, as it is written, " and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who are indebted to us. The meeting was chiefly held in silence, M. P. only appearing in a short, but very acceptable, testimony.

SECOND MONTH, 1782.

4. I attended the meeting of ministers and elders at Gracechurch-street, which was to me a season of humiliation and of treading down in the valley of vision. I remembered the humiliating language of one formerly, who was ordained a prophet to the nations; "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.” Such a sense of natural and creaturely impotence (notwithstanding any gifts or qualifications which may have been possessed) ought to be the frequent experience of every one concerned in the work of the ministry. Towards the close of the sitting, our ancient friend, Thomas Corbyn, delivered a pertinent exhortation.

"The

6. Unprofitable discourse prevailed. tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, which no man can tame."

II. As my fathers were, so am I, a sojourner here, and my days are passing over more swiftly than a weaver's shuttle; "this is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High," his wonders which have been of old; " and him who is an high priest for

ever, after the order of Melchisedeck;" in whom "death is swallowed up in victory." May my desire and hope of salvation be in him, although I am a dwarf in Israel, and far short of having attained a proper growth, in the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

12. This day, being commonly called Shrove Tuesday, I considered those seasons which were set apart by the church of Rome for peculiar purposes of devotion, and in commemoration of certain signal events, relative to the redemption of the human race: many of that communion very conscientiously and piously adhered to them, not only in respect to the outward observance, but also to what passed within; the latter ought also to be our concern at all times, that we might experience, indeed, a holy day to the Lord, and an acceptable fast, in ceasing from sin, from anger and wrath, clamour, envy and evil speaking; as likewise from an inordinate gratification of our palates, in meats and drinks, and whatsoever else is inconsistent with the gospel of Christ.

17. In the afternoon meeting I perceived a disposition to catch at sundry passages of holy writ, which passed as it were the surface of my mind in such a transient superficial succession, as not only to be unprofitable but painful; however, I was preserved in silence, with some desires after the living substance.

THIRD MONTH, 1782.

10. I sat down in the forenoon meeting in lowness; but in silent waiting, matter was presented relative to my own state, which afterwards seemed to extend to others; but other ministers being present, I was loth to break in upon their silent waiting, or what might be upon their minds to offer to the people. We are not to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons, nor the exercise of our ministry according to our own time and will. Yet "the Lord is a God of order;" and there is justly a preferring one another in love, wherein the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." Reduced and small as the number of ministers in our society now is, if a similar care was at all times prevalent, the dignity and decorum of our religious society would be better maintained. Two friends afterwards delivered acceptable testimonies.

11. I attended a meeting of the Watton trust; the matter under consideration was, the dismission of the toll-gatherers for a supposed breach of trust; one of them appearing, made but a poor defence, nay out of his own mouth he was condemned. If the Judge of the whole earth should mark iniquities with severity in the day of a righteous retribution, who could stand before him "whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and his voice

as the sound of many waters?" This remark is not intended to annul the distinctions betwixt right and wrong, the praise which is due to moral virtue, or the censure which may be properly applied to the breach thereof. In my own conscience I stand justified from infidelity in the unrighteous mammon; but being at the same time convicted of how much I am indebted to the Lord, for want of a due improvement of his manifold grace, my soul was humbled within me; and I withdrew without annexing my signature to the order for his dismission.

20. This day was closed the 63d year of my age; a period I never expected to have passed; it hath been a year of various distresses and desolations; I have been brought down to the sides of the pit, and lifted up. How wonderful are the works of God, who maketh all; "his ways are

past finding out."

31. This day is observed by the churches of Rome and England, in commemoration of the Lord Christ, "who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." It is written in the scripture, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity." How few among the various sects in Christendom are concerned in heart so to do! Notwithstanding their appointed fasts and feasts, their loud boastings of justification by Christ, and pompous praises of virtue and moral rectitude, in their hearts they regard iniquity.

5.

FOURTH MONTH, 1782.

Walking in the Grange, and parts adjacent, and reviewing scenes and places with which I had been acquainted in early youth, I became profitably recollected in spirit, in a sense of the promised seed, by whose mediatorial influence I have been preserved to this day, when many of my cotemporaries are unalterably stationed in regions unexplorable by us who are on this side Jordan. May I, together with many brethren, be concerned, as at the eleventh hour of the day, with much spiritual travail and great searchings of heart, to seek as treasure hid in a field, "Christ in us the hope of glory," "who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification;" being according to the flesh of the seed of David; but who is God over all, blessed for ever. And as our ancient friend, George Fox, used to testify concerning him, "Christ Jesus the true seed, both in the male and the female! the head of the body! the church!"

7. I was under some difficulty respecting what meetings I should attend, or whether any, being low in mind and indisposed in body. I looked towards divers, but there was a giant in the way. I was in some degree peaceably recollected at Gracechurch-street, in the forenoon, and Westminster, in the afternoon; but silent in both: by accident, this evening, hearing one speak of that

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