Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman (SRSC 12)

Chapter 6: The Reform of Church and State (1763–1768)

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proceeding from an evil spirit have any place in me? Attend then, O my soul, to this pure wisdom as your sure conductor through the manifold dangers of this world. “Does pride lead to vanity?* Does vanity* form imaginary lacks? Do these lacks prompt men to exert their power in requiring more from others than they would be willing to perform themselves, were the same required of them? Do these proceedings beget hard thoughts? Do hard thoughts, when ripe, become malice? Does malice, when ripe, become revengeful, and in the end inflict terrible pains on our fellow creatures and spread desolations in the world? “Do human beings, walking in uprightness, delight in each other’s happiness? And do those who are capable of this attainment, by giving way to an evil spirit, employ their skill and strength to inflict and destroy one another? Remember then, O my soul, the quietude of those in whom Christ governs, and in all your proceedings feel after it. “Does He condescend to bless you with His presence? To move and influence you to action? To dwell and to walk in you? Remember then your place in life as being sacred to God. Accept of the strength freely offered to you, and take heed that no weakness in conforming to unwise, expensive, and hard-hearted customs, leading to discord and strife, be given way to. Does He claim my body as His temple, and graciously require that I may be sacred to Him? Oh that I may prize this favor, and that my whole life may be conformable to this character! Remember, O my soul, that the Prince of Peace is your Lord; that He communicates His unmixed wisdom to His family, that they, living in perfect