the floor, and
"wrestle with the Lord." He kept, usually, one day of each week in such
fasting, sometimes two. In his vigils, very protracted, he would, in
this prostrate position, be bathed in tears. By such exhausting
processes, continued through days and nights, without food or rest, his
nature failed; he grew faint; physical weakness laid him open to
delusions of the imagination; and his nervous system became deranged.
Sometimes, heaven seemed to approach him, and he was hardly able to bear
the ecstasies of divine love; at other times, his soul would be tossed
in the opposite direction: and often, the two states would follow each
other in the same exercise, as described by him in his Diary:[2]--"Was
ever man more tempted than the miserable Mather? Should I tell in how
many forms the Devil has assaulted me, and with what subtlety and energy
his assaults have been carried on, it would strike my friends with
horror. Sometimes, temptations to vice, to blasphemy, and atheism, and
the abandonment of all religion as a mere delusion, and sometimes to
self-destruction itself. These, even these, do follow thee, O miserable
Mather, with astonishing fury. But I fall down into the dust, on my
study floor, with tears, before the Lord, and then they quickly vanish,
and it is fair weather again. Lord what wilt thou do with me?"

His prayers and vigils, which often led to such high wrought and intense
experiences, were, not infrequently, brought down to the level of
ordinary sublunary affairs. In his Diary, he says, on one occasion: "I
set apart the day for fasting with prayer, and the special intention of
the day was to obtain deliverance and protection from my enemies. I
mentioned their names unto the Lord, who has promised to be my shield."
The enemies, here referred to, were political opponents--Governor Dudley
and the supporters of his administration.

At another time, he fixed his heart upon some books offered for sale.
Not having the means to procure them in the ordinary way, he resorted to
prayer: "I could not forbear mentioning my wishes in my prayers, before
the Lord, that, in case it might be of service to his interests, he
would enable me, in his good Providence, to purchase the treasure now
before me. But I left the matter before him, with the profoundest
resignation."

The following entry is of a similar character: "This evening, I met with
an experience, which it may not be unprofitable for me to remember. I
had be