CHR. And what said Faithful to you then?
HOPE. He bid me go to Him and see. Then I said it was presumption; but he said, No, for I was invited to come (Matt. 11:28). Then he gave me a book of Jesus, His inditing, to encourage me the more freely to come; and he said, concerning that book, that every jot and tittle thereof stood firmer than Heaven and earth (Matt. 24:35). Then I asked him, What I must do when I came; and he told me, I must entreat upon my knees, with all my heart and soul, the Father to reveal Him to me (Psa. 95:6; Dan. 6:10; Jer. 29:12, 13). Then I asked him further, how I must make my supplication to Him? And he said, Go, and thou shalt find Him upon a mercy-seat, where He sits all the year long, to give pardon and forgiveness to them that come. I told him that I knew not what to say when I came. And he bid me say to this effect, God be merciful to me a sinner, and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ; for I see, that if His righteousness had not been, or I have not faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away.[278] Lord, I have heard that Thou art a merciful God, and hast ordained that Thy Son Jesus Christ should be the Saviour of the world; and moreover, that thou art willing to bestow Him upon such a poor sinner as I am (and I am a sinner indeed), Lord, take therefore this opportunity, and magnify Thy grace in the salvation of my soul, through Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen. (Exo. 25:22; Lev. 16:2; Num. 7:89; Heb. 4:16).
CHR. And did you do as you were bidden?
HOPE. Yes; over, and over, and over.
CHR. And did the Father reveal His Son to you?
HOPE. Not at the first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor fifth; no, nor at the sixth time neither.
CHR. What did you do then?
HOPE. What! why I could not tell what to do.
CHR. Had you not thoughts of leaving off praying?
HOPE. Yes, a hundred times twice told.