. vii. 25.

7. And hereby he cleareth up to the poor soul a possibility of help and
relief; and thus rebuketh despair or preventeth it.

8. He manifesteth himself to be the marrow and substance of the gospel:
and this maketh every line thereof pleasant and beautiful to the soul,
and so freeth them from the prejudices that they had at it.

9. So in manifesting himself in the gospel, he revealeth the Father,
that the soul cometh to "the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face
of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6. And this saveth the soul from atheism.

10. When the soul cannot grip him, nor look to him, yet he can look to
the soul, and by his love quicken and revive the soul, and warm the
heart with love to him, and at length move and incline it sweetly to
open to him; and thus grip and hold fast a lost sheep, yea, and bring it
home again.

But what should a soul do in such a case? To this, (which is the
_fourth_ particular to be spoken to), I answer,

1. That they should strive against those evils formerly mentioned, which
procured or occasioned this distemper. A stop should be put to those
malignant humours.

2. They should be careful to lay again the foundation of solid knowledge
of God, and of his glorious truths revealed in the gospel, and labour
for the faith of God's truth and veracity; for till this be, nothing can
be right in the soul.

3. They should be thoroughly convinced of the treachery, deceitfulness,
and wickedness of their hearts, that they may see it is not worthy to be
trusted, and that they may be jealous of it, and not hearken so readily
to it as they have done, especially seeing Satan can prompt it to speak
for his advantage.

4. They should remember also, that it is divine help that can recover
them, and cause them grip to the promises, and lay hold on them of new
again, as well as at first, and that of themselves they can do nothing.

5. In using of the means for the recovery of life, they should eye
Christ, and because this eyeing of Christ is faith, and their disease
lieth most there, they should do as the Israelites did who were stung in
the eye with the serpents,--they looked to the brazen serpent with the
wounded and stung eye: so should they do with a sickly and almost dead
faith, grip him, and with an eye almost put out and made blind, look to
him, knowing how ready he is to help, and what a tender heart he hath.

6. And to confirm them in this resolution, they should take a new vie