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The believer grows downward into his root (Chriſt,) in the winter ſtate of affliction, when his buds and bloſſoms ſeem to be all beaten off by the bleak winds and falling rains: Buried thus in the root in winter, he ſhall yet ſpring up in ſummer, and the good favour of the Redeemer's ointments ſhall breath ambroſial fragrance all around him; and when once he hath learned to glorify Chriſt, by living entirely upen him, Chriſt will glorify him with the beauteous and ornamental fruits of thus believing.
4tbly, As I would fain reach the caſe of the moſt diſtreſſed of God's afflicted children, as their brother and fellow in tribulation, and the kingdom of patience, I would obſerve, that it hath been ſaid afflictions are always ſanctified, when they bring you nearer to a throne of grace. It is certainly true: But will it follow, that theſe afflictions, in which the ſoul is quite overwhelmed, the enemy comes in as a flood, and bears down all before him, the reaſoning powers of the mind not excepted, and in which the tongue cleaves to the roof of the mouth for thirſt, are not to be reckoned ſanctified afflictions?
Some know, if my reader does not, that afllictions may be ſo complicated and ſo intenſe, as to incapacitare the foul, for a ſeaſon, for both prayer and praiſe, and the party ſhall yet emerge out of them with renewed ſtrength and luſtre, like the morning ſun; and ſhall thoſe afflictions be deemed judgements, or unſanctified afflictions? I know no medium betwixt judgements and unſanctified afflictions; and am inclined, therefore, to number this most diſtreſſing of all caſes among ſanctified afflictions, which are to the believer's advantage. "When the poor and needy ſeek water, and find none, and their tongues cleave to the roof of their
