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Do you ever think, my dear Sarah, of your soul?
Mary Prentice's diary was published by the Religious Tract Society in around 1840. Along with her diary extracts are memoirs of her life based on notes and letters. Mary Prentice was about 14 when she wrote the diary, a couple of years younger than Ellen at the start of her diaries. However, her writing was of a very different tone to either of the Hall sisters. Mary's diary was seen as suitable to be published in the public sphere because it was purely about religious and spiritual matters. The introduction tells us that she wrote a diary because it was something... "...wherein the state of the soul should be recorded, and any particular exercise of mind noted" The tract was published because: "...the minds of many of God's people had been benefitted and exalted afresh by the perusal of God's dealings." Here are a few examples of entries into Mary's diary:
November 1st "This week I have not been so watchful against sin as I ought"
February 6th "God has preserved me through another week, and permitted me to hear of my dear sister that she is a little better." There are also extracts from letters: "My very dear sister, - I shall now write on that subject which I hope is interesting to both of us, - that subject is religion. Do you ever think, my dear Sarah, of your soul? That it can never die, that it will live either in heaven or hell?" Mary Prentice's Diary can be found in The British Library
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