:DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER in our Saviour Jesus Christ, by your short writing I perceive somewhat of that battle which, during the short time ye were with us, I judged you to fight.
:.... if I can not ease any part of your grief—that is only the office of Christ Jesus by his Spirit—yet I praise my God I can lament and mourn with my brother tormented. Nothing I know to be more dolorous to the heart of the faithful, than to lack the sensible feeling of God's mercy and goodness ... and yet as nothing more commonly cometh to God's children, so is there no exercise more profitable for his soldiers than is the same.
:.... [David, Job and Paul sometimes]<ref>"[David, Job and Paul sometimes]" represents the following text of John Knox, to which Bible refs have been added. "In how many places does David complain that God has forgotten him [[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Psalm.13.1&mod=KJV#cv Psalm 13:1]; the Psalmist
[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Psalm.42.9&mod=KJV#cv Psalm 42:9,]
[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Psalm.77.9&mod=KJV#cv Psalm 77:9]],
and soul as a target and mark, whereat he shoots his arrows, tormenting
the body by plagues corporal, and frightening the soul by the terrors of his judgements [[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Job.16.12&mod=KJV#cv Job 16:12-13],
[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Job.6.4&mod=KJV#cv Job 6:4]].]
And Paul, beside the burden of his sin [perhaps
[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=Romans.7.24&mod=KJV#cv Romans 7:24]],
and beside the angel of Satan which was given to buffet him [[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=2Corinthians.12.7&mod=KJV#cv 2 Corinthians 12:7]],]plainly confesses that he had battle without and fear and terrors within [[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=2Corinthians.7.5&mod=KJV#cv 2 Corinthians 7:5],] perhaps [https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=2Corinthians.1.8&mod=KJV#cv 2 Corinthians 1:8],]
[https://crosswire.org/study/passagestudy.jsp?key=1Corinthians.2.3&mod=KJV#cv 1 Corinthians 2:3]]...."</ref> were destitute of the sensible feeling of God's mercy, as I am assured that every member of Christ's body is at a time or other."