speaking unprofitably; a great favour, "not of works but of grace," which teacheth to deny all ungodliness. O! may the fruits of the spirit be daily experienced; " that instead of the thorn, may come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar, the myrtle tree;" " and that the fruits of righteousness may be sown in peace," as a testimony to that "righteousness which is of God by faith," even the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, who himself was "meek and lowly in heart;" "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.” Being lame, and the weather wet, I was much within, and perused the journal of our deceased friend John Churchman, of North America. I had read it when it was first published; but on a fresh investigation of the contents, I was impressed with a savour of some inward experiences therein contained. In page 222, I find the following passage, very necessary to be noticed by all who may have any concern in a public ministry. "In attending the meetings as they came in course, I felt a gradual opening and strength to declare those things which before had been sealed up; being now made sensible, that every vision and opening, which the Lord is pleased to manifest to his servants, are not for immediate utterance. But the Lord who gives judgment, should be carefully waited upon; who only can shew, by the manifestation of his light, the time when."

18. Walking in the fields, my mind was measurably comfortable and luminous; the desire of

my soul was to the Lord, and the remembrance of his name. Afterwards a cloud overspread my horizon; the cause not unknown.

19. I thought of leaving off my diary, but remembered him "who, against hope, believed in hope." I am at times favored with some sensations of "the comforts of love", and of "the meekness and gentleness of Christ:" but, alas, they are soon suspended. The immediate forerunner of the High Priest of our profession, "saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." He was not only our propitiation, but example; and as he was, so ought we to be, in this present world. Nevertheless, as in our "flesh there dwelleth no good thing," I am persuaded those visitations of divine good, come from above, and therefore ought not to be despised; but rather received with thanksgiving, and a desire after the increase, which is of God.

21. I went with my wife to visit John Allis; concerning whom, as well as myself, it may be remarked, Our days are declining swiftly as a shadow; we are withering, as grass; great poverty, and distress also, attends within, but not without some lookings towards the source of all good. Some fresh attacks of pain likewise prevail, and mementos to follow the Lord more fully, at the eleventh hour of the day.

23. After having sat a short time in the forenoon meeting, these words were mentally formed. May good arise for the help of the poor. I

thought the waiting to have them more powerfully impressed within, might be more profitable to the assembly, than the uttering them by words; but there was no increase of power. I believe deep poverty continued to be the portion of the poor.

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29. This week, I have been under strong apprehensions of death; symptoms of acute disease having been attendant. They now are measurably suspended, thanks to the Preserver of men; to whom belong the issues from death." May I, for the very short space, the few sands which yet remain, no longer live unto myself; but die daily, by the power of Christ; "who both died, rose, and revived, that he might be Lord, both of the Jiving and the dead."

TWELFTH MONTH, 1783.

I. As I walked in the fields, the following aspirations were formed within me-May I be for ever with the Lord, and behold his glory. The day was passed peaceably, and free from condemnation.

8. The wounds of seventh-day were alleviated, but not healed.

10. By reason of a letter concerning the dangerous illness of my brother John Scott, and his continued solicitude to see me, in great distress and anxiety of spirit, excited by various consider

ations, I went from Hartford, and the same evening I visited him at his house at Radcliff. To my great satisfaction, I beheld in him the pride and glory of all flesh abased; and the Saviour, who was clothed in the seamless robe, "whose hands and feet were pierced," and whose head was crowned with thorns, exalted as the only rock in the valley of death. How wonderful are the works of Jehovah; "who maketh the city an heap, the defenced city a ruin," "the palace of strangers to be no city ;" and who causeth "the branch of the terrible to be brought low."

II.

After a sleepless night, I was four times over London Bridge, distressed in mind; but in the evening, I experienced some access in spirit to the throne of grace, through the Mediator.

16. In the week-day meeting, at Horslydown, heaviness and darkness were the covering of my spirit; however, some perceptions were attendant, that the Lord seeth through the thick darkness, and that the clouds cover not from him; they were rather suspended before the meeting closed. At night, walking over London Bridge, I was comforted with some feeling of the preciousness of Christ; both with respect to his meritorious transactions without, and the internal operations of his power, as "the hope of glory."

17. We visited my sister Scott, to whom I shewed some memoirs respecting what passed betwixt myself and my deceased brother, at our last interview; she allowed their authenticity. A

low day, much" in the valley of the shadow of death."

18. I attended the funeral of my brother, at Radcliff. When I reached my own apartments, in Tooley-street, I found divers letters from my friends, which afforded some consolation to my poor disconsolate spirit.

21. In the forenoon meeting, at Hartford, some solemnity attended, with desires for sparing and forbearing mercy; that I might yet praise the Lord in the land of the living, and the assemblies of the people.

23. A pretty comfortable day; not without some lookings towards the land which is on the other side of Jordan.

25. A cold snowy day, and tempestuous as to weather, but rather peaceable within. O! that I may yet, as in the latest periods of human life, experience the cross of Christ inwardly prevailing, with a sense of his pardoning love for the manifold errors of my past life: his love, indeed, "passeth knowledge," and is unsearchable as the deep.

27. In the course of nature, the messenger on the pale horse must be near; perhaps, as on the very threshhold of the door: may I experience death to be abolished, and life and immortality to be brought to light, through the gospel, which is power of God unto salvation.

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31. In the week-day meeting, I was exercised in mental prayer and meditation; I hope measu