’Besides, O my Mansoul, thou seest what I have done, and how I have taken thee out of the hands of thine enemies:  unto whom thou hadst deeply revolted from my Father, and by whom thou wast content to be possessed, and also to be destroyed.  I came to thee first by my law, then by my gospel, to awaken thee, and show thee my glory.  And thou knowest what thou wast, what thou saidst, what thou didst, and how many times thou rebelledst against my Father and me; yet I left thee not as thou seest this day, but came to thee, have borne thy manners, have waited upon thee, and, after all, accepted of thee, even of my mere grace and favour; and would not suffer thee to be lost, as thou most willingly wouldst have been.  I also compassed thee about, and afflicted thee on every side, that I might make thee weary of thy ways, and bring down thy heart with molestation to a willingness to close with thy good and happiness.  And when I had gotten a complete conquest over thee, I turned it to thy advantage.

’Thou seest, also, what a company of my Father’s host I have lodged within thy borders:  captains and rulers, soldiers and men of war, engines and excellent devices to subdue and bring down thy foes; thou knowest my meaning, O Mansoul.  And they are my servants, and thine, too, Mansoul.  Yea, my design of possessing of thee with them, and the natural tendency of each of them is to defend, purge, strengthen, and sweeten thee for myself, O Mansoul, and to make thee meet for my Father’s presence, blessing, and glory; for thou, my Mansoul, art created to be prepared unto these.

’Thou seest, moreover, my Mansoul, how I have passed by thy backslidings, and have healed thee.  Indeed I was angry with thee, but I have turned mine anger away from thee, because I loved thee still, and mine anger and mine indignation is ceased in the destruction of thine enemies, O Mansoul.  Nor did thy goodness fetch me again unto thee, after that I for thy transgressions have hid my face, and withdrawn my presence from thee.  The way of backsliding was thine, but the way and means of thy recovery was mine.  I invented the means of thy return; it was I that made an hedge and a wall, when thou wast beginning to turn to things in which I delighted not.  It was I that made thy sweet bitter, thy day night, thy smooth way thorny, and that also confounded all that sought thy destruction.  It was I that set Mr. Godly-Fear to work in Mansoul.  It was I that stirred up thy conscience and understanding, thy will and thy affections, after thy great and woful decay.  It was I that put life into thee, O Mansoul, to seek me, that thou mightest find me, and in thy finding find thine own health, happiness, and salvation.  It was I that fetched the second time the Diabolonians out of Mansoul; and it was I that overcame them, and that destroyed them before thy face.

’And now, my Mansoul, I am returned to thee in peace, and thy transgressions against me are as if they had not been.  Nor shall it be with thee as in former days, but I will do better for thee than at thy beginning.