Whosoever desires to persevere and increase in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, to live and die in hope that maketh not ashamed, must be diligent in secret prayer; must constantly read God's word, begging him to explain it, and give faith in it; and must walk with those who walk conscientiously before God, who are always aspiring to what they have not obtained; in whose manners, spirit, and discourse, there is what reaches the heart, and tends to humble, quicken, and comfort the soul. In all my reading and acquaintance for forty years with religious people, I never saw an instance of one decaying and coming to nothing, who observed these rules—never saw one who presumed, on any consideration, to give up attention to them, who did not fall away. Let us, then, notwithstanding all obstructions, use these means. Whatever our frames or our complaints, our sins or fears may be, diligence in secret prayer, and cries for knowledge of God's word while we read it, and society with his children, will in due time heal all, sanctify all, till we are taken out of this evil world, and join the armies of the saved, to testify, as we shall each of us do forever, that God—our covenant God—was faithful, and would not suffer us to be tempted above what we were enabled to bear, to the glory of his name, and the honor of our holy profession.