4th Month, 18th. “Monthly Meeting one of perplexity and fear, Oh! for dwelling deep and
lying low! and waiting in quietness for the ‘little cloud!’ but it seems as if my faith were to be tried by things coming unexpectedly upon me, and to be humbled by feeling ill prepared.”
From this time she went on advancing rapidly in the work of the ministry: her truly catholic spirit expanded in love to her fellow-creatures; the inmates of the palace as well as those of the prison, shared alike her Christian zeal and interest. Her naturally powerful and refined mind, deeply instructed in the things of God, rendered her peculiarly fitted to labour amongst those, who being invested with wealth and influence, she regarded as stewards, deeply responsible for the right occupation of their various gifts: with many of these, in the upper classes of society, she sought and obtained opportunities for conveying religious counsel; and in not a few instances there was a deep response in the hearts of her hearers, to the truths which she had to proclaim.
The public meetings which she held were very numerous,—many of them very remarkable. Her fervour in seeking to arouse to a sense of their condition, those who were “dead in trespasses and sins,”—her sound and convincing arguments,
in controverting the views of the infidel,—her zeal against the lukewarm professor, and her earnest affectionate invitations to the humble believer in Jesus, to “lay aside every weight,” and partake, in all their fulness, of the blessings purchased for them by the dear Son of God; will long be remembered by those who felt the truth and unction of her appeals. She dwelt upon the glorious scheme of redemption, through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ Jesus upon the cross, for the sins of the whole world; and of the absolute necessity of sanctification of spirit, through the effectual operation of divine grace on the heart, as one, who had herself largely participated, in the blessings and mercies of her God. She was, however, no stranger to deep mental conflicts, both in the prosecution of her religious labours, and in the more retired sphere of domestic life, as some of her memoranda show.
In 1827, after visiting with her husband, the counties of Devon and Cornwall, an engagement which occupied them nearly two months, and included a visit to the Scilly Isles, she writes:—
7th Month, 1827. “I felt it a day of favour when we gave in our account at the Monthly Meeting,
the third day after our arrival at home, but in returning from this journey, I have been made remarkably sensible, that the business of religion is the business of the day, and that the exercises and strength of any past day, are but as nothing for the day that is passing over us; and many of these days have been passed in much mental conflict, and much bodily weakness and languor.”
1828. “Many, and many have been my fears, lest the good things that others may see us surrounded with, should be as a stumbling block leading to covetousness; how hardly shall they that have riches lead the life of a humble follower of the dear Redeemer! These thoughts often beset me, and sometimes make me fear, if ever I have a right to open my mouth to advocate His cause.”
“I could wish I had a heart, a head, and a mind fit for all I could embrace, but that may never be: however, altogether my mind has been of late, less covered with clouds than it used to be, and my health revives with it. ‘What shall I render for all thy benefits?’ may well be the language of my soul.”