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I glory in infirmities o,

Yet daily am afham'd of these p:
Yea, all my pride gives up the ghoft,
When once I but begin to boaft q.

My chemistry is most exact,
Heav'n out of hell I do extract r:

fhall die; but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of
the body, ye shall live.
2 Cor. xii. 10. See letter i.

• 2 Cor. xii. 9. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Chrift may reft upon me.

p Pfalm lxxii. 15, 16. If1 fay, I will speak thus; behold, I fhould offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. And Ixxvii. 8, 9, 10. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promife fail for evermore; hath God forgotten to be gracious; hath he in anger fhut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I faid this is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

Ifa. xlv. 24, 25. Surely, fhall one fay, In the Lord have I righteoufnefs and ftrength: even to him fhall men come, and all that are incenfed against him, shall be ashamed. In the Lord fhall all the feed of Ifrael be justified, and shall glory. Pfalm xliv. 6. 1 will not trust in my bow, neither fhall my fword fave me. v. 8. In God we boaft all the day long: and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

r Jonah ii. 1, 2. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and faid, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardft my voice. v. 3. Then I faid, I am caft out of thy fight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Matth. xv. 26, 27, 28. But Jefus anfwered and faid [unto the woman of Canaan], It is not meet to take the childrens bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their mafter's table. Then Jefus anfwered and faid unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Pfal. xlii. 6, 7, 8. Q my God, my foul is caft down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonises, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto

This art to me a tribute brings
Of ufeful out of hurtful things f
I learn to draw well out of woe,
And thus to disappoint the foes;
The thorns that in my flesh abide,
Do prick the tympany of pride t.
By wounding foils the field I win,
And fin itself destroys my fin u:
My lufts break one another's pate,
And each corruption kills its mate v.

deep, at the noise of thy water spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day-time, and in the night his fong shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Rom. v. 3, 4, 5. See letter i.

Mic. vii. 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I fhall arife; when I fit in darkness, the Lord fhall be a light unto me.

t 2 Cor. xii. 7. And left I should be exalted above meafure, thro' the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the meffenger of Satan to buffet me, left I fhould be exalted above measure.

u Rom. viii. 35, 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Chrift? fhall tribulation, or diftrefs, or perfecution, or fa mine, or nakedness, or peril, or fword? Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. Pfalm lxv. 3. Iniquities prevail againft me; as for our tranfgreffions, theu fhalt purge them away. 2 Chron. xxxii. 24, 25, 26. In those days Hezekiah was fick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he fpake unto him, and he gave him a fign. But Hezekiah rendered not again, according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerufa. lem. Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, (both he and the inhabitants of Jerufalem), fo that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

Rom. vii. 7, 8, 9. What shall we fay then? Is the law fin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known fin, but by the law:

I smell the bait, I feel the harm

Of corrupt ways, and take th' alarm.
I taste the bitterness of fin,

And then to relish grace begin w.

for I had not known luft, except the law had faid, Thou shalt not covet. But fin taking occafion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupifcence. For without the law fin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, fin revived, and I died. v. 11. For fin taking occafion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it flew me. v. 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But fin that it might appear fin, working death in me by that which is good; that fin by the commandment might become exceeding finful. Where you fee the fight and feeling of fin killed felf. John ix 39, 40, 41. And Jefus faid, For judgment I am come into this world: that they which fee not, might fee; and that they which fee, might be made blind. And fome of the Pharifees which were with him, heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind alfo? Jefus faid unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no fin: but now ye fay, We fee; therefore your fin remaineth. Pfalm lix. . Slay them not, left my people forget: fcatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, our fhield. Matth. xxvi. 33, 34. Peter anfwered and faid unto him, Though all men fhall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jefus faid unto him, Verily I fay unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt de By me thrice. v. 75. And Peter remembered the words of Jefus, which he faid unto him, Before the cock crow, thou fhalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

w Rom. vi, 21. What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now afhamed? for the end of thofe things is death. Pfalm xix. 11. Moreover by them (the judgments of the Lord) is thy fervant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. And lxxiii. 17, 18, 19. Until I went into the fanctuary of God: then understood I their end. Sure. ly thou didst fet them in flippery places: thou caftedst them down into deftruction. How are they brought into defolation as in a moment! they are utterly confumed with terrors. Jer. ii. to. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backfliding shall reprove thee: : know therefore and fee, that it

I hear the fools profanely talk,

Thence wisdom learn in word and walk :
1 fee them throng the paffage broad,
And learn to take the narrow road y.

SECT. XIII.

The mystery of the Saints adverfaries and adverfities. LUMP of woe affliction is,

A

Yet thence I borrow lumps of blifs a:

is an evil thing and bitter, that thou haft forfaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, faith; the Lord God of hofts

x Job xxi. 13, 14, 15. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave, Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us: for we defire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should (erve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him? Eph. iv. 20, 21, 22. But ye have not fo learned Chrift; if fo be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jefus that ye put off concerning the former converfation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the de ceitful lufts. And v. 6, 7, 8. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of difobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were fometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. v. 11.. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

y Matth. vii. 13, 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruc tion, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

a Heb. xii. 11. Now no chaftening for the prefent feemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteoufnefs, unto them which are exercised thereby. James i. 2. Blessed is the man that endur

Though few can fee a bleffing in't,
It is my furnace and my mint b.

Its fharpnefs does my lufts difpatch c;
Its fuddennefs alarms my watch d,
Its bitterness refines my tafte,

And weans me from the creature's breaft e.

Its weightinefs doth try my back,
That faith and patience be not flack ƒ:
It is a fanning wind, whereby

I am unchaff'd of vanity g.

A furnace to refine my grace b,
A wing to lift my foul apace i;

eth temptation: for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

6 Ifa. xxxi. 9. And he [the Affyrian] fhall pafs over to his ftrong hold for fear, and his princes fhall be afraid of the enfign, faith the Lord, whofe fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerufalem.

c Pfalm xlv. 5. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

d Mark xiii. 35, 36. 37. Watch ye therefore, (for ye know not when the master of the house cometh : at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning), left coming fuddenly, he find you fleeping. And what I fay unto you, I fay unto all, Watch.

e Jer. ii. 19. See letter w forecited. And iv. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee, this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto

thine heart.

f James i. 2, 3, 4. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations: knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

g Ifa xxvii. 8, 9. In meafure when it fhooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it; he ftayeth his rough wind in the day of his eaft wind. By this therefore fhall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his fin.

Mal. iii. 3. And he [the meffenger of the covenant] fhall

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