1721. 1IR THOMAS BOSTON. 297 it, while I live, and when I am gone ; and that it might be ac- cepted. And indeedI think God hath heard thefe prayers : and oft-times, when I have confidered the, acceptance that bookmet with, notwithftanding the difádvantages wherewith it was at- tended, I could not but impute it to an over-ruling hand of kind Providence, that would needs have it fo*. On the Tuefday I fent my fon to Edinburgh, to wind up that whole bufinefs. He returned on Monday the 14th, with the good account of the bufinefs comfortably brought to au end, and that the book was going off well ; which fent me to God with for his holy conduce of that affair, and hiswife and merciful dealing in it. Now after fome time I received from Mr Ralph Eríkine minifter. of Dunfermline, and fon to the worthy MrHenry Erfkine above mentioned, an anfwer of the letter aforefaid fent to Mr James Hog ; and then a return from Mr Hog himfelf, bearing their readinefs to concur in feeking redrefs of the injury done to truth by the aét of afl'embly forefaid. And I did, on Jan. 2. 1721, fpend force time in prayer, for my own private cafe, per- ceiving the danger of my health and life in the enfuing fpring; for divine diredtion with refpeót to thefe motions about the fail act of the aífembly 1720 ; and for the divine allìftance in the effay on the accentuation, which I was now engaged in. There- after, on the 8th, 1h entered, for my ordinary, on preaching of Chrift direly, from Prov. viii. 35, 36. " For whofo findeth me, findeth life, and (hall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that finneth againft me, wrongeth his own foul ; all they that hateme love death:" Upon whichI infifted for a confiderable time*. In purfuanceof the motions forefaid relating to the a fembly's a&, there was fent from the brethren above mentioned, adraught of a reprefentation to the affembly : with which draught my two friends and I not being fatisfied, I at their delire made another. This was conveyed to the brethren aforefaid ; and.a meeting was appointed to be at Edinburgh, in the latter end of February, to confider of that important matter. Both thefe draughts are to be found among my papers ; the one indorfed, Copy ofa reprefentation to begiven in to the ofembly 1721 ; the other, The original draught of thereprefentation given in to the affembly 1721. On Feb. 1. I fpent force time in prayer, for the fame caufes as before, and the divine guidance,t©, my fon at Edinburgh : in which I had much ado to fix my feet ; for at this time there is fuch a current carrying the young generation to fully, as, I think, I never obferved before, and feems to be ominous. As " That book has now undergone betwixt twenty and thirty impreffiona The fermons on this text begin the volume lately published, entitled, The Chri. tian Life delineated. 0 o2
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