But, perhaps, my dear friend, while reading this, is particularly tried _in_ the way; _for as vinegar upon nitre_, _so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart_. Well, then, I must pay you a visit in Achor’s vale, where I know you are truly safe, though miserable; reflecting on the days that are past, and contrasting them with what you now feel and fear—once feeling light, joy, peace, comfort, love, zeal, activity, and diligence; but now you feel darkness, insensibility, lowness the workings of inbred sin, and too often have to lament the out-breakings of them. This may be succeeded by legal bondage, unbelief, fretfulness, enmity, and a sad distance between God and the soul; and instead of activity and diligence, a general stupor; calling all in question, because you cannot act as you have formerly done—quite forgetting him that has said, and who is now making good his promise, _Even the youths shall faint and be weary_, _and the young men shall utterly fail_, _but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength_. Permit me, my brother, just to intimate, that there is nothing singular in your trials; it appears to be the very path the Redeemer went, and the very footsteps of the flock. Hence we read, directly after the Baptism of our dear Lord, when his soul was filled with all the fulness of God; when the Father, with an audible voice, proclaimed from above, _This is my beloved Son_!—and the Holy Spirit was seen hovering over his head, in a body of light, just like a Dove in its descent—the Redeemer rising from the watery tomb, and the gazing spectators astonished at the solemn scene—immediately after this transaction we find him led into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil; and he was with the wild beasts, and evil angels came to him; and upon the back of this, Satan, the head, the chief Devil, most daringly tempted him to presumption, to doubt his Sonship, and to commit suicide!—and can my brother wonder that he is a subject of temptation—_that_ he has forty days of mourning, without a spiritual entertainment, or the manifestative presence of Christ—_that_ he is among the wild beasts of his inbred sins—that evil thoughts stirred up by evil angels, should ever trouble or visit him? And can you wonder that you should be tempted to doubt your sonship—tempted to presume—that is, forbear to use the scripture means in time of trouble, or even tempted to suicide? You think some strange thing has happened to you, but this is the path the Redeemer trod, in his measure—and, recollect, the servant is not greater than his Lord—it is enough to be as he was, that we may be as he _is_. This part of your experience was strikingly exhibited in the case of the Israelites, who came through the Red Sea with joy and praise—shouted victory, through the mercy of Jehovah—and felt happy that they were delivered. But their felicity was soon abated, for they were ordered to encamp at Marah, in the Wilderness. So you find