And can you not do this? Have you experienced no mercies from God's hand? Yes, you are gloomy now, but can you really forget that blessed hour when Jesus found you and said, "Come to me"? Can you not remember that rapturous moment when he snapped your chains, dashed them to the earth, and declared, "I came to break your bonds and set you free"?

Or if the love of your first salvation days is forgotten, there must surely be some precious milestone along the road of life not quite grown over with moss, where you can still read a happy memorial of his mercy toward you. What! Did you never have a sickness like this one, and did he not restore you? Were you never poor before, and did he not supply your needs? Were you never in desperate straits before, and did he not deliver you?

Arise! Go to the river of your experience and pull up a few bulrushes. Weave them into an ark where your infant faith can float safely on the stream. Do not forget what your God has done for you! Turn over the book of your remembrance and consider the days of old.

Can you not remember the hill Mizar? Did the Lord never meet with you at Hermon? Have you never climbed the Delectable Mountains? Have you never been helped in time of need?

No—I know you have!

Go back, then, a little way to the choice mercies of yesterday. Though all may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past—they shall glitter through the darkness, and you shall trust in the Lord till the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

"Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your lovingkindnesses, for they have been ever of old."