that thy heart beginneth to preach and say, Behold, here thou livest
in sickness, thou art poor and forsaken of every one, &c.

Oh! how true, how affectingly true is this! And when too Satan, the
tempter, becomes Satan the accuser, saying in thy heart:--"This sickness
is the consequence of sin, or sinful infirmity, and thou hast brought
thyself into a fearful dilemma; thou canst not hope for salvation as
long as thou continuest in any sinful practice, and yet thou canst not
abandon thy daily dose of this or that poison without suicide. For the
sin of thy soul has become the necessity of thy body, daily tormenting
thee, without yielding thee any the least pleasurable sensation, but
goading thee on by terror without hope. Under such evidence of God's
wrath how canst thou expect to be saved?" Well may the heart cry out,
"Who shall deliver me from the 'body of this death',--from this death
that lives and tyrannizes in my body?" But the Gospel answers--"There is
a redemption from the body promised; only cling to Christ. Call on him
continually with all thy heart, and all thy soul, to give thee strength,
and be strong in thy weakness; and what Christ doth not see good to
relieve thee from, suffer in hope. It may be better for thee to be kept
humble and in self-abasement. The thorn in the flesh may remain and yet
the grace of God through Christ prove sufficient for thee. Only cling to
Christ, and do thy best. In all love and well-doing gird thyself up to
improve and use aright what remains free in thee, and if thou doest
ought aright, say and thankfully believe that Christ hath done it for
thee." O what a miserable despairing wretch should I become, if I
believed the doctrines of Bishop Jeremy Taylor in his Treatise on
Repentance, or those I heard preached by Dr.----; if I gave up the
faith, that the life of Christ would precipitate the remaining dregs of
sin in the crisis of death, and that I shall rise in purer capacity of
Christ; blind to be irradiated by his light, empty to be possessed by