'Ah, sirs, let me tell you, there is not such a pleasant history for you to read in all the world as the history of our lives, if you would but sit down and record from the beginning hitherto what God has been to you, and done for you; what signal manifestations and outbreakings of His mercy, faithfulness and love there have been in all the conditions you have passed through. If your hearts do not melt before you have gone half through that history, they are hard hearts indeed.'
John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence, p.118.
