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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
God
was 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
conversing
with
Christians
by
hearing
of
God's dealings
vol..
III,
S