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we be enabled to trust in the Lord. O Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, and
strengthen us in and for Thy glorious service, through Thy Spirit and grace, for
Christ’s sake. Amen.
14. This morning my dear child is much better and, though still feverish, languid,
and peevish, I bless the Lord for her present ease and the comfortable rest and
sleep of last night. May strength be restored also to poor, feeble me, and all my
family experience a speedy return of the comforts and mercies of the Lord. I
would also pray for others of my friends and acquaintances who are sick and full
of pains. May their lives be spared, and their present afflictions prove a blessing
indeed, to become more sensible of sin and of the necessity of actual Communion
with God in Jesus Christ, and, o Father, prepare and strengthen also poor,
unworthy me, for the service of Thy Day and Sanctuary, and bless Thy ordinances
to my own soul, family, and people. Amen.
16. Blessed be God for His assistance yesterday and strength out of weakness. I
also rejoice in what I heard this morning of Mr. J. H. t E., 315 who told me of his
temptations yesterday night. Who is your God? Answer: the God of Abraham, who
promised that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent, 316 and
that Jesus crucified was their mediator, by which He overcame. May the Lord
pity him and others, and send deliverance from sin, Satan, and death, through our
Lord and only Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
17. This morning I went very imprudently into the garden to get some fruit for the
children, and caught a cold throughout all my limbs, the weather being very raw
and windy, as it is indeed very changeable almost every other day. I desire to
submit to all the will of the Lord, who knows what is best for me, but I lament my
instability and the unquietness of my mind, and oh, may the Father of mercies pity
me in all my distresses and difficulties, and carry me safely through every trial.
May my faith and hope increase from day to day, with patience and activity in the
service and for His glory!
I have read Heidegger’s dissertation 317 tentatively, and thank the Lord that I have
learned something of the utility thereof and how others have been tempted. May
the other dissertation be further blessed, and by reading my sickness be improved.
Restore, Father of mercies, precious health. Preserve our lives, and also the fruits
of the Earth, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
18. Blessed be the Lord, for the comfortable rest last night to my consort and
myself. May our children also recover, and all of my house rejoice in the Lord.
O, Father, keep me in every hour from the powers of darkness, and preserve me
from their whiles and assaults. Have mercy upon my poor, weak, painful bowels,
and spare me yet for my infant family and Thy Church. Restore my impaired
strength, and deliver me from this present feverish cold. I desire to cleave to the
315
Jacob H. ten Eyck had already passed away in 1776, but this was possibly Barent H. ten Eyck
(1722-1796). Merchant, member of the city council.
316
Genesis 3:15.
317
Johann Heinrich Heidegger (1633-1698), Swiss, friend of Coccejus. Possibly here Westerlo meant
his Wonderteekenen in den hemel en op d’aarde ofte, Verhandelingen van de teekenen des hemels.
Alckmaar: Pieter De Wees. 1687. Westerlo had Heidegger’s Enchiridion Biblicum Hiéromnémonikon
[Amsterdam: Ysbrand Haring. 1688] on the shelf in 1771, but he would not refer to this handbook as a
dissertation.
131