Recording regular entries in his personal journal, Woolman reveals his intimate thoughts as well as noteworthy experiences throughout the years. At the start of the journey, he is a merchant, quite a successful one actually. As a Quaker, he is recognized as a religious man but often hated by Puritans, a rival and less open-minded sect of Christianity. Woolman recalls one day being asked to write up a bill of sale of a slave for a friend who was also a Quaker. Because he of his religious beliefs about love and tolerance, Woolman was extremely disturbed by the experience and even writes about encouraging his friend not to complete the sale.
Woolman becomes a tailor a little later in life. Continually he leans into his relationship with God. He remembers that when he was a child he experienced his first encounter with the love of God which stirred something in him which had never left since. He describes his relationship to God as a kind of sweetness and tenderness which he, in turn, tries to extend to his fellow man.
Eventually, Woolman's conscience becomes so consumed by his religious convictions that he makes significant life changes. First, he becomes a devout abolitionist and even published the tract Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes. He also abandons his career for fear of becoming too caught up in material possession. He especially notes a kind of distraction by wealth from his relationship with God. At this point, Woolman pursues a career as a preacher among the Quakers and enjoys increasing popularity, although the life is a simple one.
