GODS METHOD Or REALFNG, 65 God their centre. Thus I might instance in all the affections of the soul, for all of them have backslidden, alike. VI. I will heal him ; that is, I will strengthen his . powers to duty. I taught Ephraim to go, taking hire by the arms, though now he has trodden the path of sin too long, and has forgotten his duty. And I will heal his infirmities, and restore.strength to him again : he has brought forth no fruit for a long season, and hence- forthshall no fruit grow upon thee for ever, might God say.: but on the other hand, though we have been long, fruitless, and cumberers of the ground, yet, saith the Lord, I am. as the dew to Ephraim, and of me shall he receive power to bring forth fruit. The Fifth thing I intend to speak to is, what means God uses to this end. Sometimes it is an unexpected word of grace and joy impressed upon their spirits in an.im- mediate manner. This is given sometimes in reading, sometimes in hearing the word read or preached, some- times in prayer, or in divine conference ; or, it may be, sometiìes in the affairs of this life ; then all the soul melts while its Beloved speaks, and there is a great turn wrought upon the spirit. God might say, ye are not my people, and I will not be your God, but he rather chuses to say, I am the Lord that heals you. God works sometimes a lively faith in the soul by a meditation on some single word, and that purifies the soul. I said, saith the Lord, that thou hast backslidden far, that it will be hardly honourable for me to recover thee again ; well, thou shalt call me thÿ father, arid shalt not go' away from me ; I will be thy God, I will be a father to thee; then shall thy heart answer by echo, Thou art my God, thou art my Lord, my eternal, compassionate father. , Sometimes, by a sweet revival of old experiences of divine love, when the soul thus gues with himself Surely Godwas with me at such a ,and I was with God, and I committed myself into his ds for healing grace : surely then I loved the Lord, I had some intima- tions of his love to me ; it is-the same God still, his love is unchangeable, I will again return and put my trust in him. Sometimes by hearing the experiences of others, by conversingwith Christians by hearing of God's dealings vol.. III, S
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