as the soul's happiness depends on going out from itself, so its elevation depends on its going up-depends on its setting its affections on something higher than itself; something nobler, or holier, or more engaging. Dr. J. Hamilton.

AFFECTIONS Governing the.

He that rideth a fierce horse, let the horse keep what pace he will, so long as the rider commands him by the bridle, we say he rides strongly; but if the horse get the bit in his mouth, and run away, the faster his pace the weaker the rider, because he cannot check him. Our affections are just like that fierce horse, and our reason should be as a strong bridle, stir they never so much if reason command, we are strong; but if reason have no power and our affections run loose, then certainly the more violent they are the more weak Spencer.

we are.

AFFECTIONS-Harmony of the.

A curious musician never leaves tampering with his instrument till it be in tune; and so the Christian ceases not to compose his affections till they agree among themselves in an harmonious peace. J. Drexelius.

AFFECTIONS-Heavenly.

The eagle, a princely bird, of piercing sight, a swift and lofty flight, mounts upwards, setting light by the things that are below, never condescending to any of those inferior things but when necessity compels, not when superfluity doth allure: such an eagle was Zaccheus, that left his extortion; Matthew his toll-gathering; Peter his all; such as used this world as if they used it not, wherewith to supply their necessary wants, and no further. O happy change! when they leave all for Him that is worth more than all; though riches increase, yet they set not their hearts upon them; though their estates be changed, yet they are not changed; their desire is not to be rich unto this world, but unto God; their bodies are below, but their hearts are above; their lives here, but their conversation is in heaven. Spencer. AFFECTIONS-Right bestowment of the. The main part of true religion is the right bestowment of the affections. When these are set on things above-on God, and on Jesus who sitteth at God's right handthey are set as high as a seraph can set his. They are set so high that they cannot fail to lift the character along with them, and make his a peculiar life whose ends in living are so lofty. A self-forgetting devotion to some noble earthly character has exerted a refining and elevating influence on many. Veneration for some illustrious sage has sometimes quickened a sluggard

In a journal of a tour through Scotland by the Rev. C. Simeon, of Cambridge, we have the following passage :-" Went to see Lady Ross's grounds. Here also I saw blind men weaving. May I never forget the following fact. One of the blind men, on being interrogated with respect to his knowledge of spiritual things, answered, I never saw till I was blind; nor did I ever know contentment when I had my eyesight, as I do now that I have lost it: 1 can truly affirm, though few know how to credit me, that I would on no account change my present situation and circum. stances with any that I ever enjoyed before I was blind.' He had enjoyed eyesight till twenty-five, and had been blind now about three years. My soul,” Mr. Simeon adds, "was much affected and comforted with his declaration. Surely there is a reality in religion!"

Affliction is a thorn, but still it is from God, by which He pierces through the leaves of pride. Many trees grow better in the shade than in the sunshine. Oh! if God is only with us, the furnace is changed into a fire of joy, a prison into a pleasure. ground, an earthquake into a cheerful dance. Even the rod of His anger, like Aaron's rod, blossoms and bears almonds, like the staff of Jonathan's, with honey. comb on its point. Dr. Krummacher.

Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue;
Where patience, honour, sweet humility,
Calm fortitude, take root and strongly
flourish.
D. Mallet.

The good are better made by ill,
As odours crush'd are better still. S. Rogers.
AFFLICTION—Blessedness of.

"Why should I murmur?" said Henry Martin in his last sickness; "weakness, peril, and pain, are but the ministering angels whose office it is to conduct me to glory." The holiest weep, but their tears, as rain-drops in the spring-time, are shot through with sunbeams; "they sorrow not as those without hope." S. Coley.

AFFLICTION-Comfort in.

There will be no Christian but what will have a Gethsemane, but every praying

Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel. T. Binney.

The apostle, speaking of persecuted saints, saith, They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." And thus David (as once his Jonathan) tastes honey from the top of the rod: "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me;" not only God's staff to support him, but even His rod to chastise and correct him, were sweet and comfortable to him. Bp. Hopkins.

AFFLICTION-Design of.

Each care, each ill of mortal birth,
Is sent in pitying love,

To lift the lingering heart from earth,
And speed its flight above.
And every pang that wrings the breast,
And every joy that dies,
Tell us to seek a purer rest,
And trust to holier ties.

J. Montgomery.

When God visits us in affliction, it is as a man when he goes to try a vessel to see whether there be wine or water in it, and of what quality. H. W. Beecher.

When God afflicts the saints, it is to try their "precious faith." Afflictions are His spade and mattock, by which He digs into His people's hearts to find out the gold of faith; and in Hebrews xi He commends the old worthies, not for their love and patience, but for their faith. Gurnall.

AFFLICTION-Discipline of.

As they lay copper in aquafortis before they begin to engrave it, so the Lord usually prepares us by the searching, softening discipline of affliction for making a deep, lasting impression of Himself upon our hearts. Nottidge.

AFFLICTION-Duration of.

The Scriptures use several figures to show the short continuance of affliction :"for a season"-"a day of adversity""a night of weeping"-"the hour of temptation"- "our light affliction, which is but for a moment." John Bate. AFFLICTION-Fearless in.

God, of Thine Israel's faithful three
Who braved the tyrant's ire,
Who nobly scorn'd to bow the knee,
And walk'd unhurt in fire:-
O breathe their faith into my breast,
In every trying hour;
And stand, O Son of Man, confess'd
In all Thy saving power!
While Thou, Almighty Lord, art nigh,
My soul disdains to fear;

When Mr. Cecil was walking in the Botanical Gardens of Oxford, his attention was arrested by a fine pomegranate tree, cut almost through the stem near the root. On asking the gardener the reason of this, Sir," said he, "this tree used to shoot so strong that it bore nothing but leaves; I was therefore obliged to cut it in this manner; and when it was almost cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit." The reply afforded this inquisitive student a general practical lesson, which was of considerable use to him in after life, when severely exercised by personal and domestic afflictions. Alas! in many cases, it is not enough that the useless branches of the tree be lopped off, but the stock itself must be cut-and cut nearly through -before it can become extensively fruitful And sometimes the finer the tree, and the more luxuriant its growth, the deeper must J. A. James.

be the incision.

AFFLICTION—as a Furnace.

1. A furnace is prepared for gold: "The refining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold;" so afflictions are appointed for the saints, who are compared to gold.

2. A furnace refines gold, and makes it much purer than before; so afflictions re. fine and make more holy : "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

3. A furnace is made sometimes very hot, according to the kind and condition of the metal; so are afflictions, sometimes very grievons, heavy, and trying, as the case requires.

4. A furnace melts the gold, and makes it soft before it is refined; so afflictions those whom they mean to purify.

5. A furnace will destroy tin, lead, &c., and also the drossy part of gold; so afflictions burn up the loose and hypocritical, and purges from His people all their corruptions.

6. The metal, when it comes forth from the furnace, is more prepared for its proper use; so are the people of God when they come forth from afflictions. B. Keach.

AFFLICTION-Future Good of.

To a person unacquainted with the process, the pruning of the tree, the clearing of the ground with the ploughshare, the operation of the chisel on the stone, would look like an effort to destroy. But look at the things afterwards. Behold the vine,

adorned with purple clusters; survey the field, enriched with its golden crops; examine the sculptor's labours, when he has finished his design: then it is we discover that, out of apparent injury, arises this happy result; it is intended by God that we should lose nothing by our afflictions but our sins. Anon.

AFFLICTION-Good in.

The cloud which appeared to the prophet Ezekiel carried with it winds and storms, but it was environed with a golden circle, to teach us that the storms of affliction, which happen to God's children, are encompassed with brightness and smiling felicity. N. Caussin.

AFFLICTION-Goodness of God in.

We beat back the flame, not with a pur pose to suppress it, but to raise it higher,

and diffuse it more.

These afflictions and repulses which seem to be discouragements, are indeed the merciful incitements of grace. If God did mean judgment to my soul, He would either withdraw the fuel, or pour water upon the fire, or suffer it to languish for want of new motions; but now that He continues to me the means, and opportunities, and desires of good, I shall mis

construe the intentions of my God, if I shall think His crosses sent rather to damp than to quicken His Spirit in me. Bp. Hall.

AFFLICTION-The Good Man in.
Affliction is the good man's shining scene;
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray;
As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man.
Young.

AFFLICTION-Graces multiply by.

Graces multiply by afflictions, as the saints did by persecutions. "The more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied." These terrors may affront us; they shall not affright us. Crosses be rough and smarting; but we look to the unction of comfort, that makes them portable and easy. In all conditions we bless His providence who, according to His own wisdom, not ours, disposeth things; which, if they be harsh to a state that must suffer, are good for an estate that shall be blessed for T. Adams.

ever.

AFFLICTION—followed by Heaven. When the Christian's last pit is digged, when he is descended into his grave, and

finished his state of sorrows and suffering, then God opens the river of abundance, the rivers of life and never ceasing felicities. As much as moments are exceeded by eternity, and the sighing of a man by the joy of an angel, and a salutary frown by the light of God's countenance, a few groans by the infinite and eternal hallelujahs: so much are the sorrows of the saints to be undervalued, in respect of what is deposited for them in the treasures of eternity. Their sorrows can die, but so cannot their joys.... Every chain is a ray of light, and every prison is a palace, and every loss is the purchase of a kingdom, and every affront in the cause of God is an eternal honour, and every day of sorrow is a thousand years of comfort, multiplied with a neverceasing numeration: days without night, charity without stain, possession without joys without sorrow, sanctity without sin, fear, society without envying, communica tion of joys without lessening; and they shall dwell in a blessed country, where an enemy never entered, and from whence a Bp. Taylor. friend never went away. AFFLICTION-Heavier.

potion which he hath given his patient will The physician, when he findeth that the not work, he seconds it with one more violent; but if he perceive the disease to be settled, then he puts him into a course of physic, so that he shall have at present but

small comfort of his life. And thus doth the surgeon, too: if a gentle plaister will not serve, then he applies that which is more corroding; and to prevent a gangrene, he makes use of his cauterizing knife, and takes off the joint or member that is so illaffected. Even so God, when men profit not by such crosses as He hath formerly exercised them with, when they are not bettered by lighter afflictions, then He sends heavier, and proceeds from milder to sharper crosses. If the dross of their sins will not come off, He will throw them into the melting pot again and again, crush them harder in the press, and lay on such irons as shall enter more deep into their souls. If He strikes and they grieve not, if they be so foolish that they will not know the judgment of their God, He will bring seven times more plagues upon them, cross upon cross, loss upon loss, trouble upon trouble, one sorrow on the neck of another, till they are in a manner wasted and consumed.

AFFLICTION—Hope in.

Spencer.

What though my harp and viol be
Both hung upon the willow tree?
What though my bed be now my grave,
And for my house I darkness have?
What though my healthful days are fled,
And I lie numbered with the dead?