I have opened my mouth, my brethren, and addrest you with the simplicity of a child, and am very willing to appear mean in your eyes; only despise not the truth, which is not mine, but my Lord’s and Saviour’s. I am not ashamed to acknowledge, that _I count not myself to have apprehended, or to be already perfect_. But this I say, (my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, which also the righteous Judge will testify for me at the great day) that since I have found grace in the eyes of my Lord to perceive my own misery, and the narrow way to escape from it, all my thoughts and endeavours have been bent, in the faithfulness of my heart, to continue therein, to pursue it more eagerly day by day, and, as far as possible, to direct all men to it. I neither despise nor envy any of you that are of the same function with me. Nay, I know many among you to whom I think myself unworthy to do the meanest service. But I know many likewise, whose conversation is not at all conformable to the pattern Christ hath set us. And for these I heartily pray, that God would shew them the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Neither is my heart in the least incensed against them that most unjustly slander and reproach me: but I compassionate them, since we must all one day appear before the same judge. For my part, I cannot call black white; nor take him for a follower of Christ, and a pattern of his flock, in whom I find nothing of the mind that was in Christ. If any thing hath been vouchsafed to me, it is this, (wherein I heartily rejoice) that I have been made, tho’ in a very low degree, partaker of the sufferings of Christ. And it is the greatest comfort to me, that the men of this world speak all manner of evil of me falsly, loading me with censures and accusations, the groundlessness whereof the Lord will discover at that day. *Let us all, my brethren, think of this great day, and so even our accounts against it, that we may then appear with joy and confidence: let us cast away all care, but this only. Let us drop all unprofitable contest; and, with united hands, carry on the work of the Lord, being heartily glad to see his glory advanced, be it by ourselves or others. And I beseech God, from the bottom of my heart, to influence you all with a rich measure of his holy Spirit, to sanctify you to himself, and to pour his transcendent blessing upon all your planting and watering. The spirit of love and of truth keep all your hearts, and lead them into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, who alone is able to give that true peace, which the world cannot give. AUGUST. HERM. FRANCK. _October 26, 1731._ CHAPTER I. _Of the nature and causes of the fear of man._