Well, but the Lord whom thou fearest will not leave thee to thy
ignorance, nor yet to thine enemies' power or subtlety, but will
take it upon himself to be thy teacher and thy guide, and that in
the way that thou hast chosen. Hear, then, and beliold thy
privilege, O thou that fearest the Lord; and--whoever wanders, turns
aside, and swerveth from the way of salvation, whoever is benighted
and lost in the midst of darkness--thou shalt find the way to heaven
and the glory that thou hast chosen.
There is between those that have taken sanctuary in Christ, and the
bottomless pit, an invincible and mighty wall of grace and heavenly
power, and of the merits of Christ to save to the utmost all and
every one that are thus fled to him for safety.
Oh, how my soul did at this time [while in spiritual darkness] prize
the preservation that God did set about his people. Ah, how safely
did I see them walk whom God had hedged in. Now did those blessed
places that spake of God's keeping his people, shine like the sun
before me, though not to comfort me, yet to show me the blessed
state and heritage of those whom the Lord had blessed. Now I saw
that as God had his hand in all the providences and dispensations
that overtake his elect, so he had his hand in all the temptations
that they had to sin against him; not to animate them in wickedness,
but to choose their temptations and troubles for them, and also to
leave them for a time to such things only as might not destroy, but
humble them--as might not put them beyond, but lay them in the way
of the renewing of his mercy.
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