MAY 22
Look up, and wait for happy days!
Letter, 26th October, 1778
When I was about twenty-two, my father pressed me to enter into holy orders. … I began to alter the whole form of my conversation, and to set in earnest upon a new life. I set apart an hour or two a day for religious retirement. I communicated every week, I watched against all sin, whether in word or deed. I began to aim at, and pray for, inward holiness. So that now, doing so much, and living so good a life, I doubted not but I was a good Christian. …
I began to see more and more the value of time. I applied myself closer to study … I advised others to be religious. … The light flowed in so mightily upon my soul, that everything appeared in a new view.
Journal, 24th May, 1738
