164 THE BRUISED REED Discourage1nent, arising from unbelief and ill report brought on the good land of Canaan by the spies, moved God to swear in his wrath that the Israelites should not enter into his rest, Let us take heed lest a spirit of faint-heartedness, arising from seeming difficulties and disgrace cast on God's ways, do not provoke him to keep us out of heaven. We see here what we may look for from heaven. My beloved, it is a comfortable thing to conceive of Christ aright; to know what love, me1!cy, and strength, we have laid up for us in him. A good opinion of the physician, we say, is half the cure ; let us not suffer Satan to transform Christ unto us, to be otherwise than he is, to those who are his. Let us make use of this his mercy and power, every day, in our daily combats. Christ will not leave us, till he hath made us like himself, " all-glorious within and without," and "presented us blameless ·before his Father." What a comfort is this, in our conflicts with our unruly hearts, that it shall not be always thus. Let us strive a little while, and we shall be happy for : ever. Let us think, when we are troubled
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