my weakness give me meekness and humility, and add strength to my faith; grant me comfort and sure confidence in Thee, knowing that through Thee alone can I look for acceptance with God; let thy grace illuminate my understanding, purify my heart, direct my will, and sanctify my spirit, that I may have Thee and thy law always in my mind, and may think and do always as in thy sight, that in all temptations and afflictions, and at the hour of death, I may be supported by faith in thy word and promises; and grant by the mercy which Thou hast purchased for us, that as Thou wert partaker of our sufferings and infirmities, so we by thy death and resurrection, and by thy infinite gracious intercession, may be made partakers of thy holiness and glory in thy heavenly kingdom. Amen. FRIDAY. On Resignation. THE duties of examination, of repentance, and of faith, may be said to have their chief reference to a future state of existence; for we examine and repent of our sins, that we may endeavour to remove every obstacle to our attainment of eternal happiness, and our faith leads us to depend upon that reward which is promised to every penitent sinner. Resignation has its most immediate concern with this life: man is born to trouble; the trials of affliction and disappointment are around him everywhere, and are sent to correct and purify his heart; no person is exempt from suffering, either bodily or mental; none of us can be sure that our ease and happiness are secure for one hour; the very next moment may overwhelm the seemingly fair fabric, and those who have multiplied their enjoyments by increasing their stores, or extending their connections, have proportionably multiplied the avenues of sorrow, and extended a broader mark for the shafts of disappointment. But afflictions come not by accident; they either come immediately from God, or are the consequences of human actions, by the permission of God in his government of the world; and in whatever manner we receive them, their purpose is the same; they are trials of christian virtue, and warnings against evil; and they are dispensed in such differing measure to different persons, that we may conclude such a trial is sent to each, as God in his infinite wisdom sees to be best adapted to the proposed end, that all sinners may awake to righteousness, and from being children of this world, may become children of light. To some, therefore, bodily pain is sent, to others mental afflic tions; some are tried by distresses peculiarly their own, and some through the misfortunes of their friends; but all proceed from the same source, and all may be supported by the same means. Resignation is, however, not easy of attainment in that meaIsure which becomes a follower of Christ: the acuteness of pain, the gnawings of disease, and the weariness of debility, are trials which, perhaps more than any others, have a tendency to sour the temper, to produce selfishness and discontent, and render us insensible of pleasure from any brighter part of our lot: neither are they confined to the body, which cannot be powerfully affected without the mind suffering also; and the powers of reason and reflection being oppressed by the sufferings of the body, lose their elasticity and force at the very time when their best energies are wanting. Others have their greatest trials in the sensations of the mind; trials beyond the reach of medi cine to alleviate, and deeper than any human aid can remove, though offered by the kindest sympathy and affection. In this train of afflictive dispensations, are the distractions and fears of doubt and distrust; disappointments in projects that seemed praiseworthy; and in hopes apparently well-founded, transitions from affluence to poverty, the anxiety of watching the slow, but sure progress of disease in those we best love, and the snapping asunder, by death, of those ties upon which every earthly happiness seemed to depend. Such, in a greater or less degree, are the trials allotted to every human being in this probationary state, although they do not act with equal force upon all. External evils are more easily borne by some than by others, owing to less sensibility of feeling; and where pain is little felt, little strength of mind, and consequently little virtue is required to bear |