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THE
CHRISTIANS
TREASURE.
[SEAM. XXXVIII.
rejoices. Apollos
entertains
me
with
most,
affectionate
discourses
of
the
grace
of
Christ
and his glory
;
my
faith
rises high,
my
love
is
kindled
to him whom
my eyes have
not
seen;
I
believe
in
him,
I
love
him,
and
my
joy
grows
almost unspeakable.
I
remember the former
in-
structions
of
Cephas,
who
taught
me
the
first principles
of
this divine religion
;
and
I
take ,pleasure
in those
sa-
cred
foundations.
Blessed
be
God, they are unshaken,
and
my
faith
and
hope, which were
begun
under
his mi-
nistry,
stand for ever
firm.
Paul, and
Apollos, and
Cephas are
mine.
"
It
has
pleased
my
heavenly
Father
indeed,
to lay
many sorrows
upon
me
in
this
wilderness;
but
I
have
learned
to
think
and speak
like
a christian, and
say,
Though
I
appear
as dying,
yet
behold
I
live; though I
am chastened, yet
I
am
not
killed
:
Every strokè
of
his
rod
is
given
by
the
hand
of
his love.
His
rod,
like the
rod
of
Aaron,
blossoms with divine blessings,
and
brings
forth
holy fruit.
"
These
very
sorrows
are
sanctified to make me
par-
taker of
his
.
holiness.
These wounds
that
I
feel
let
out
the blood
of
pride,
and cure
the
distempers
of
my
soúl.
Thus the very
sufferings
of,
nature, and
the sorrows
of
life
are
mine
:
I
have
learned
to reckon
my afflictions
among
my
blessings; they work
for
my
profit.
Whether
peace or
pain,
all
are
mine.
"
Besides,
I
solace myself in the midst
of
my
poverty
and
distress with this sweet meditation,
that
the
less
I
en-
joy
of
temporal
comforts, and
the
delights
of
this
world,
if
I
improve
my
sufferings
and
sorrows
well,
there
is
the
more
joy
and
glory laid
up for
me in
the world
to
come
"
"
My light
afflictions,
which
are but for a
moment, are
working for
me a
far more exceeding
and eternal
weight
of
glory," e Cor.
iv.
17.
"
Is
my life
on
earth stretched out
to
a
tiresome
age?
Heaven
will be
much
the
sweeter; and
after
many
toils,
I
shall have the
stronger
relish
of
an
eternal
rest. Or
does
death
make haste toward
me in
younger
years, and
bring
my
body quickly down to
the dust
?
My
soul then
is
but
dismissed the
sooner
to the building on
high
that
is
prepared
for
me
;
for whether
life.
or
death,
all are
mine.
"
When
I
cast
my eyes
around, and
survey
the
present