1713. MR TJ!OMAS BOSTON. 9.27 refpe& to proceeding in writing of the Fourfold State, I applied niyfelf clofely thereto again ; I had perfeed,ed the following part thereof, viz. the fiate of grace, by the 23d of December. Proceeding in writing of the Fourfold State, I finifhed it on the 9th of l arch. -- On the 25..th of January I gave myfelf unto prayer, with new endeavours after perfbnal . holinef. Then I went on ; and, according to my natural difpofitian when once engaged in a work, was to eager. Rifing to it long before day, on the Saturday morning thereafter, that day my body was fore weakened, my fpirits exhaufted, very little was done, and that little very unfàtisfying. At length I was obliged to leave it, with that check,. " It is vain for you to rife up early," &e. Pfal. cxxvii. 2. ; and I refolved through. grace to do fóno more. And now do I biefs God, for that that eagernefs is removed, and it goes better-with me._ However, on the 9th of March the work was finithed :. and for the help ofthe Lord I had therein, I delire to be thankful. Whatever the Lord.m,inds to do with them, I had worth my pains in the work, with refpe& to my own private cafe; for they made me many errands to the throne of grace, and helped.me to keep up a fenfe ofreligion on my fpirit. 'Writ- ing of heaven, I found it no eafy thing tobelieve the greatnefs of that glory which is to be revealed. The copy then written in oétavo,. which is in retentis, was not the copy from which it was afterwards printed. On Friday,-April.3. about eight minutesafter one in the morn- ing,. my youngeft fan Thomas was born ; and was baptized on the 14th, by Mr WilliamMacghie minifter of Selkirk. Coming in view of the facrarnent this year, the impreffian I had of the low Rate of praélical religion in the place, led me toa new ordinary, viz. Hof. xiv. which chapter 1 began May 17. and proceeding therein to the lait claufe of verf. (i. dwelt long on it. I find, that, about this: time,, having feen Crofs's Taghmical Art, I was begun to have fome notion of the accentuation of the Hebrew Bible, according to. the principles of that author. Hav- ing been with Mr Macghie forefaid in his elofet at a time, he happened to fpeak of hisacquaintance with Mr Crofs at London, and of hisgiving him acopy ofhis book above mentioned, which I believe I had never heard of before. I defiled thereupon to fee the book ; and, finding it relate to the facred Hebrew, I borrow- ed it from him. This behoved to be, either in the fpring this year, or elfe in Obtober 1712, what time I was afiifting at the Iacrament there. Had I known then what was in the womb of that Rep of Providence, I had furely marked the day of ray bor- rowing that book, -as one of the happieft days of my life. Great was the Rumbling among the people through the fouth and weit, on the account of the abjuration-oath, taken, in the preceding year, by about two .parts of three of the miniftry in Scotland : and I gained but little in our pariah,, by my refuting
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