ported it only to make it miserable? God has chastised me with rods: but what are those scorpions with which he might have scourged me, and have been righteous in doing it! Hast thou not, O my soul! by numberless provocations, most righteously exposed thyself to his everlasting vengeance? What if thou hadst, even now, been in the abodes of the damned, surrounded with eternal darkness and despair! would he have been unjust in speaking, and unrighteous in judging thus? Be silent then, O my heart! before him; and let not God hear the lightest murmur: but rather let me fall down upon my knees, and adore his sovereign goodness that he has yet spared me; and, much more, that he gives me any hope that he will save me."

4. Let the Christian consider what God is now doing in a wider extent of the prospect than can arise merely from the view of any present affliction.

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Thou, Lord, hast done this. Thou hast afflicted my body; thou hast disappointed my prospects; thou hast blasted my hopes; thou hast slain my friends. But this is not all that thou art now doing: thou still continuest thy goodness to me; thou causest thy sun to arise, and thy rain to descend upon me; thou feedest and clothest me daily; thou sparest to me many dear and valuable friends, whom it were base and barbarous ingratitude to slight because some are taken away. Thou art still continuing to me the liberty of access to the throne of grace; encouraging and inviting me, if I have not this or that remaining comfort in the creature, to come to

thee; to tell thee my sorrows and my complaints; tc seek in thee what I have lost elsewhere, and more than I have lost. Yea, thou art continuing to me the liberty of thine house, and the privileges of thine ordinances. I am not banished from the solemn assembly by the violence of my enemies, who would gladly long ere this have introduced universal confusion and desolation, and have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land. I am not his prisoner at home, as many of my Christian brethren are, in this land of liberty. Blessed be his name! I can come up to his house, as it is this day. Yea, he spreads his own table for me. As if all the blessings of mine were not, as indeed they are not, sufficient, he sets before me the body and blood of his own Son; gives him to me as the bread of life that comes down from heaven. It is the blessing of this day and of this hour. And is this a day and hour in which to be complaining of him? as if it were not enough that I am here, unless it were with such and such a fellow creature; possessed of so much silver and gold; arrayed in such or such apparel; with such and such degrees of health and strength and spirits! Oh! surely it may be enough that I am here as a member of Christ, as a child of God! especially when with that is connected this further thought, as an heir of glory." Which leads me to add,

5. Let the Christian further consider what God will further and hereafter do for him, and it must surely silence him under whatever God has now done.

And if you ask, what? Let the Jewish Psalmist answer in these emphatical words, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory." "Has God forsaken me, that I should murmur and complain? Is he now doing the last office of kindness and love that he ever intends? No; he will never leave me nor forsake me. This is still his language, Fear not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God.' He will choose my inheritance for me. He will watch over me for good, and cause all things to work together for my truest advantage. He will subdue my iniquity; he will strengthen my graces; and, having begun the good work in me, he will carry it on till the day of the Lord. In a little while, perhaps, a very little, he will do what to an eye of sense indeed. looks like a dreadful work, but to faith wears a most cheerful aspect. He will, by his Providence, say to me, as to Moses, Go up and die. But that act of his, which consigns this mortal sinful body to the dust and worms, will be the most gracious act that he ever exerted since he regenerated my soul by the power of his Spirit. Then farewell to all my pains and my fears, my disappointments and my sorrows at once. Farewell, for a little while, to all my surviving friends; and welcome more perfect and glorious friends. Welcome the dear deceased Christians, over whom I have so often wept. Welcome, above all, the bosom of my Saviour, in which I also shall rest with them. O abyss of joy and delight! and yet not all that I hope. The resurrection

of the body shall complete the plan of my perfect happiness, with all the chosen in the everlasting enjoyment of God, of Christ, of one another, in forms of devotion and glory; of glory and felicity which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man. And shall not all be taken well from a hand which will do all this? a hand which, even while it afflicts, has this great end of all in view, that the light afflictions, which are but for a moment, may work out a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory."

Whatever it may please God to work, there is something not only quieting but elevating in these considerations something which may not only silence a Christian's complaint, but engage him to break out into a song of praise.

SCRIPTURAL SELECTIONS.

SEEING then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed intc the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.—Heb. iv. 14—16.

Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.-Is. xl. 10, 11.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.-Is. xl. 28--31.