me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our abode with him." These promises of the Son of
God, which can not be shaken, we must confidently appropriate to
ourselves. Nor shouldst thou, by thy doubts, exclude thyself from this
blest flock, which originates in the righteousness of the gospel. They
do not rightly distinguish between the law and the gospel, who, because
they are unworthy, reckon not themselves among the sheep. Rather is this
consolation afforded us, that we are accepted "for the Son of God's
sake," truly, without merit, not on account of our own righteousness,
but through faith, because we are unworthy, and impure, and far from
having fulfilled the law of God. That is, moreover, a universal promise,
in which the Son of God saith: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

The eternal Father earnestly commands that we should hear the Son, and
it is the greatest of all transgressions if we despise Him and do not
approve His voice. This is what every one should often and diligently
consider, and in this disposition of the Father, revealed through the
Son, find grace.

Altho, amid so great disturbances, many a sorrowful spectacle meets
thine eye, and the Church is rent by discord and hate, and manifold and
domestic public necessity is added thereto, still let not despair
overcome thee, but know thou that thou hast the Son of God for a keeper
and protector, who will not suffer either the Church, or thee, or thy
family, to be plucked out of His hand by the fury of the devil.

With all my heart, therefore, do I supplicate the Son of God, our Lord
Jesus Christ, who, having been crucified for us, and raised again, sits
at the right hand of the Father, to bless men with His gifts, and to Him
I pray that He would protect and govern this little church and me
therein. Other sure trust, in this great flame when the whole world is
on fire, I discern nowhere. Each one has his separate hopes, and each
one with his understanding seeks to repose in something else; but
however good that may all be, it is still a far better, and
unquestionably a more effectual, consolation to flee to the Son of God
and expect help and deliverances from Him.

Such wishes will not be in vain. For to this end are we laden with such
a crowd of dangers, that in events and occurrences which to human
prudence are an inexplicable enigma, we may recognize the inf