’_Feb. 24th_, 1822.—Was greatly impressed with Erskine’s talk about realising God every quarter of an hour. O heavenly Father, let me do it, and free me from the sense of guilt towards Thyself, and enable me rightly and rejoicingly to lift up my head, too, in the presence of mine enemies. _25th_.—Disturbed, but feel great alleviation in habitual realisings of God, which I have had all this day. _28th_.—O my Saviour, I can do nothing for Thee! _April 7th_.—It is humiliating amid the busy externals of religion to think how little my soul is taking up or making progress therein. _9th_.—O my God, cause me to hold thee in constant remembrance. Restore energy to me, but let me never lose sight of my creatureship and my worthlessness. May I be pure in heart, and so see God. Loose all my bonds, and may I serve Thee with delight and thankfulness all my days.’ It is obvious to modern readers, though it was not to him, that when he was most depressed, a share of the depression was due to physical exhaustion. The number, the constancy, and the intensity of his labours could not but dull the faculties that soar highest of all, and call as a remedy for physical rest; while, like so many others in the like circumstances, he was laying all the blame on the wickedness or the earthliness of his heart. With the members of his family he maintained the closest fellowship. When he heard of his father having had a paralytic stroke, he hurried to his bedside, and was present at the end. His affection and respect for him were unabated. ’My dear father is lovely in death. There is all the mildness of heaven upon his aged countenance.’ Writing on the following Sunday to his much-loved sister Jane (Mrs. Morton), he says: ’It is truly affecting when the thought of former Sabbaths in Anster presents itself to my mind, and I think of it as the day he loved, and how the ringing of the bells was ever to him the note of joyful invitation to the house of God; the sight of the people going to and from the church—the interval—the everything connected with the Sabbath, bring the whole of my father’s habits in lively recollection before me, and call forth a fresh excitement of tenderness.’ Towards his widowed mother he ever acted with the most tender and respectful affection. His letters to her were both frequent and regular, full of concern for her temporal and spiritual comfort, and manifesting that interest in all the members of the family which is so grateful to a mother’s heart.