A Brief Memoir with Portions of the Diary, Letters, and Other Remains, - of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England by Eliza Southall
page 81 of 177 (45%)
page 81 of 177 (45%)
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her strength in strenuous idleness!
_8th Mo. 16th_. Very busy making things tidy, and resolved, almost religiously, to keep them so. I think I would not, for any consideration, die with all my things in disorder. Disorder must be the result of a disordered mind, and not only so, it reacts on the mind and makes it worse in turn. _8th Mo. 18th_. People do not say enough of the need of _consistency_, when they speak of trusting in Providence instead of arms. It was consistent in William Penn, but it would not have been consistent in his contemporaries, who took the Indians' land for nought. Providence is not to be made a protector of injustice, of which arms are the fitting shield. Oh that consistency, earnestness of character, were more valued! _8th Mo. 23d_. Some true wish, may I say prayer, that Christ may now, _now_, blot out as a cloud my sins, even on his own terms, which, I am more convinced, do not consist of things required of us to give in exchange for his mercy, but are a part of that mercy, a part of that redemption. Yes, when sin becomes thoroughly a burden, as sin, then we see that grace would be indeed imperfect, if it was not to be a deliverance from the _power_, as well as the punishment, of sin; and if we ask for grace, and yet cherish sin, truly we know not what spirit we are |
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