erroneous opinion in the New Testament: I shall select two. In the 13th Chapter of St. Luke we read, "There were present at that season some that told Jesus of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay: but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." The other instance is no less a proof of their habit of arbitrarily connecting cause and effect. It occurs in the memorable story of the blind man in the 9th chapter of St. John-" And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples (men of the Jewish religion) asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Hence, I think, it abundantly appears; and daily experience proves the fact, that all things happen alike to all;" that calamity, as it is generally called, falls, perhaps, equally to

the lot of the righteous and the wicked, for purposes known unto God alone: and therefore secondly, that we can necessarily conclude neither good nor bad of a man's inward state, from seeing him outwardly afflicted and thirdly, that reverence to the great Dispenser of human affairs, and charity to our fellow men, demand of us to hope the best of our afflicted brethren, and to leave them in the hands of God.

II. Having noticed the harsh and injudicious treatment which Job experienced at the hands of his friends, we are in the second place to observe the faith of this holy man. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."

Such is the triumph of faith. The first chapter of his history records a melancholy detail of the unparalleled misfortunes that befel this holy man; not such as generally happen to mankind from the operation of what is called, second causes,' and in the common course of things: but let loose upon him by Satan himself, with the all-wise permission of God. Five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she asses, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, fall in quick

succession by the hand of the destroyer. And last, not least, the blow is brought still nearer home, the feelings of his nature are strained to the utmost possible pitch, by the sudden destruction of his ten children. Yet what is this holy man's conduct: what are his words? Are they those which human nature is so apt to give vent to? Does he qualify his impatience under affliction so sad and complicated, by that common language of apparent submission, though in fact stubborn unsubdued will, by saying, as he very naturally might have said, my sheep and my oxen, my camels and servants I could have submitted to lose; but my children, my olive branches, the prop of my declining years, this is indeed a burthen too heavy for me to bear!' No, my brethren, not a word of the kind escapes his lips: he shows the wonderful faith that inwardly supported him by replying; and let fretfulness and impatience treasure up the memorable words-naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!'

The hardest lesson that man has to learn in this school of his probation, is submission to the will of God. To be beaten by the wave of adversity from one strong hold after another, and

disciples, “rejoice and be exceeding glad what! glad under reproach and persecution? Yes: rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”

My brethren, is your integrity assailed, your religious motives perverted, your piety vilified; if you cannot realise the promises and hopes of the Gospel, to such a degree as to rejoice in tribulation, to take joyfully the spoiling of your good name; "know at least and consider, that in heaven ye have a better and an enduring substance:" that the unequal distribution of things here below, the depression of piety and virtue, the triumph of vice, the abounding of iniquity, the fury of the oppressor, and the troubles of the oppressed-all, all proclaim the necessity of a future judgment, a day of wrath and retribution, when shall be fully revealed the righteous judgment of God; who, we are assured on the authority of the Spirit himself, "will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honour, and immortality, eternal life; but tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." To this tribunal of an all-righteous and all-just God there lies a final and universal appeal. "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great

recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. while, and he that shall come,

will not tarry."

For yet a little

will come, and

"The

"Now the just shall live by faith." life I now live in the flesh," says the Apostle, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved me and given himself for me." Every Christian, vitally united here to Christ by a living faith, has that within him, that title to eternal blessedness, which the breath of slander can never tarnish, the false judgments of fallible mortals can never alter or annul,

It was precisely such a faith, that supported the holy Job, not only under his unparalleled privations, but under a far more galling load, the accusations and suspicions of his friends. In this painful dilemma, unable to vindicate his innocence to them who notwithstanding suspected him guilty, he is borne on the wings of faith, over the head as it were of many intervening ages, to that glorious time when he should stand before God in the imputed righteousness of his Saviour; "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

Thus it is, that in the furnace of affliction, the

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