176 General' directions for a eons...OM It is , as it were, the amiable fpendour and fparkle of that white Stone in the Revelation.Chap, .17. whichonely fhines upon heavenly hearts, with delight vnfpeakeable and glori- ous : For feate and certainety ; It is engravenby the Finger of God with anheavenly Sun-beanie, as it were, fhining from the face of Chrift in the very center of the heart ; which not all the powers ofdarkeneffe or hellifh milts can finally dimme or difpell ; the world neither give nor take from us, neither man, nor dive'', nor fhadow ofdeath ever raze or root out. It is honoured with that fupernaturall fingularity and facred temper, that utterlyagainit nature andall naturall poffibility, it extra6ls fweetneffe and lifeout of ordinary caufes of de- je6tion and finking.Troubles,perfecutions, and reproaches,do fortifie it, and ferve as fuell to enlarge its lightfomeneff;. See Aa 5.41. & 16.25 .A6ts and Monum. pag. 2003. where the glorious Martyr Woodmanfpeakes thus: When Ihavebeen inprsfan, wearing otherwhilebelts, otberwhiles /hackles, other- while lying on the bareground, [ometimesfitting in the _gockes, fometimes boundwith cords, that all my body bath beetle fwolne; much like to be overcomefor the pause that bath bin in myflelh ; femetime fame to lie without in the woods and fields, wandering to and fro; few, IPI, that dull to keepe my company,for feare etheRulers : fometimes brought before the lisflices,Sherifes , Lords ,`7)otiors , andBilhops ; fometimes called Dogge ,firnetisne Devill, Herstike, Whoremonger , Traytor, Thief e, Deceiver, with divers other fleck like : yea and even they that dideaseof my bread,thatAmidhavebeene moll myfriendsby nature,haue betrayedme : Yet for all this, Ipraife my LordGod, that loath feparatedmee frommy mothers wombe ; all this that bath bap. ?ma to me, bathbeene eage , light, and moll deleaable and ieyy full ofany treafure that ever I polled. For duration, It is a veryglimpfe ofheavenly glory, which fpringing up in a fan., aified heart, out of thewells offalvation : and carried along withaddition ofthe frefhcomforts, fromthe Word and Sa4 craments, thorow a fruitful' current and courfe of a Chriftiart life, is at laft entertained into the boundleffeand bottomele0 Ocean of the enleffe joyes ofheaven. 4.01
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