17e MEMOIRS or PERIOD VIII. cafe is a good help to thejudgment, for undeiftanding the fcrip- ture ; 2. It is a noble help to the memory : no doubt I have of- ten read that word, but I think 1 will not fo eafily forget it again. [Nata, The narration in this paragraph has been too fuperficially fet down, and I find filch impreffions may much wear offthrough time. I think the cafe has been this : That after prayer I fome- what recovered the fenfe of my call to Etterick which increaf ing, did comfort a 4, tho' I walked halting under a fenfe of the mifc'arriages the night before : and thus meeting with that fcrip- ture, I underftood it thus, (fo far as I can remember), Thattrou- ble had taken hold on him, and alfo anguifh of fpirit, becaufe of mifmanagements in his way ; but even under both outward trou- ble and anguifh of fpirit, it was the delight and comfort of his foul, that he was, in the main, found in the way of commanded duty. And this Teems no improbable interpretation, being con- firmed by ver. 144. where he fays, " Give me underftanding," viz: a praaical underflanding of them, that I may both know duty, and get the way of duty kept, " and I Mail live," to wit, comfortably, though he knew he could manage no duty fo, but fome blots would be in his condu&d, Jan. 26. 1710.] March 13. As I was walking through the town, that word was comforting and fupporting to me, " He that believeth, íhall " not make balk," compared with that, He that believeth, " thall not be afhamed." I knew I was helped to believe, and not to make hafte ; and therefore I concluded, I (hall not be a- ihamed. At night I met with a trial. R. A. talking with me of what had happened at the fynod, told me, that Mr Ker faid, with the tear in his eye, to him, Sir, ye are unaccountably rob.4 bed ofyour minifter. This did fting me to the very heart. So walking up and down, with the dart in my liver, that word, Ads xxi. 13. " What /bean ye to weep, and to break my " heart ?" &c. came into mymind : and atfirft it appeared very clear to me, and gave me eafe ; but the lifeand light of it after- wards wore away. On the morrow I gave myfelf to prayer, 1. For the more lively revival of the fenfe 'of my call to Etterick ; e. To knowwhether I Mould go to fee Sir Francis Scot, who was patron of that parifh, till patronages were abolifhed by law ; 3. Concerning the time of my admifíion ; and, 4. My wife's cafe. As to the firft, the Lord was pleafed to clear that pottage, Aéts xxi.'again to me with additions, ver. 4. Difciples,who: " faid to Paul through the Spirit, that he fhould not goup to Je- " rufalem." Ver. 12. "We and theybefought hím'not to " go up to Jerufalem. Then Paul anfwered, What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart ? for I am ready not to he bound f4 only, but alfa to die at Jerufalem for the name of the Lord Je- fus." And it was feafonably fuggefted to me, that when I was going to fettle at Simprin, it was very perplexing to me,, to think, that I had been, and might be more ufeful as a probationer, than as minifter of Simprin ; and yet I have -feen . caufe to biefs God
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