: saith in another place,) is inestimable. And if a man could comprehend the great excellency of this matter, that he is the son and heir of God, and with a constant faith believe the same, this man would esteem all the power and riches of all the kingdoms of the world but as filthy dung, in comparison of his eternal inheritance. He would abhor whatsoever is high and glorious in the world; yea, the greater the pomp and glory of the world is, the more would he hate it. To conclude whatsoever the world most highly esteemeth and magnifieth, that should be, in his eyes, most vile and abominable. For what is all the world, with all its power, riches, and glory, in comparison of God, whose son and heir he is? Furthermore, he would heartily desire, with Paul (Phil. i, 23), to be loosed and to be with Christ; and nothing could be more welcome unto him than speedy death, which he would embrace as a most joyful peace, knowing that it should be the end of all his miseries, and that through it he should attain to his everlasting inheritance. Yea, a man that could perfectly believe this, should not long remain alive, but should be swallowed up incontinent with excessive joy.”— Luther. "We have three unchangeables to oppose to all other mutabilities an unchangeable covenant, an unchangeable God, and an unchangeable heaven; and while these three remain the same, yesterday, to day, and for ever, welcome the will of our heavenly Father, in all events that may happen to us; come what will, nothing can come amiss to us." -P. Henry. 296 AFFLICTIONS. "Consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee: " DEUTERONOMY VIII, 5. "ACCORDING to Psalm cxliv, these several ingredients go towards establishing a national prosperity; the young educated (v. 12); plenty abounding (v. 13); peace established (v. 14); contentment dwelling in all breasts: but the greatest and most peculiar blessing remains to be told-God's favour; 'Happy is that people that is in such case; yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.' "I will feed them,' says the Good Shepherd, 'with the rod.' Strange food to reason and sense, but rendered truly nourishing to faith; He who at Cana of Galilee changed the water into wine, is as able now to change the rod into a blessing. "Christian friends, learn to calculate losses as God calculates them; learn the arithmetic of heaven; then will you count every loss a blessing from God."-From Howels' Remains. "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it' (Micah vi, 9). "Strive to discern and perceive what the end of God is in sending it; for the rod hath His voice and His message. Learn the message of the cross, and improve it to that end for which He sent it. It may be to bring into remembrance some sin past unrepented of, and so it bids thee "look backward." It may be to prevent thee from some sin, and so it bids thee "look forward." It may be God is pleased to use this cross to stir thee up to dependence upon Him, to seek Him by prayer, and so it bids thee "look above." It may be thy heart begins to settle upon her lees, and grow proud and wanton, and so it bids thee "look within thee." Learn, therefore, the message of the cross, and by this means thou shalt be delivered from the evil of the evil.'"-Sir M. Hale. 'Oh, poor and infirm Christian! willingly endure the rod of the Lord, for the purification of thy soul, and for the forgiveness of thy sins through the faith of Christ. Be glad if thou seemest sometime forsaken, that so, with the poor and despised Lazarus, thou mayest be made meet to rest in Abraham's bosom !"-Thomas à Kempis's Rules. "Behold! the Lord a balm provides Yes, when a bitter cup we meet, 'Tis but to show a Father's care, And bid us taste how pure and sweet The honey-drop He mingles here!”—Phelan. "Wonder not at your trials, be they ever so strange, and grievous, and distressing. All is well.' Some secret end is to be answered, which you see not. and love of a father are there. God is in all; the hand They are to purge from sin— to wean from the world-to bring you to the footstool of God-to show you that your rest is not here that it lies beyond the grave. What though they make you smart, they do you the more good. This argues your sensibleness under the rod; that is not a rod which does not cause smart. There is not one of our many trials which we could well spare. Do not think any trial sanctified till you have a suitable frame to the trial, whatever it be. Are you humbled? Are you prayerful? Are you submissive? Have you looked inward and confessed your sins, saying, ‘Take away all iniquity?' If affliction has not brought you to this, it has done you no good. For all you may have borne, 'his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.' Do not think of other means whereby God's end in visiting you might have been as well answered; that is, in fact, to quarrel with God in what He has done, or is doing. Have a care of your thoughts; uusubmission slips in at that door before one is aware. 'It is well,' is the only soulquickening and God-glorifying frame. God, that has appointed the end, has settled, and He will order the means; rest there, and all is well.'"-Hill. "God schooleth and nurtureth His people, that through many tribulations they may enter into their rest. Frankincense, when it is put into the fire, giveth the greater perfume; spice, if it be pounded, smelleth the sweeter; the earth, when it is torn up with the plough, becometh more fruitful; the seed in the ground, after frost, and snow, and winter storms, springeth the ranker; the nigher the vine is pruned to the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, maketh the sweeter wine; fine gold is better when it is cast in the fire; rough stones, with hewing, are squared and made fit for building; cloth is rent and cut, that it may be made a garment; linen is washed, and wrung, and beaten, and is the fairer. These are familiar examples to show the benefit and commodity which the children of God receive by persecution. By it God washeth and scoureth His congregation. We rejoice,' saith St. Paul, in tribulations; knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.' The power of God is made perfect in weakness, and all things turn unto good to them that fear the Lord."-Bp. Jewel. "The river bottom cannot be tested as long as it is covered by the stream. It may be of sand or it may be of rich alluvial deposit, but what it is of cannot be known until its watery raiment is swept away. So the heart covered with prosperity may or may not be in a right state, but whether it is cannot be told until some distress comes. When the hand of the Almighty, however, cleaves the flood so as to let His flying hosts pass, and thus opens the water in a seam to its bottom, we can tell what our foundation is. The Lord then says to the heart that He has cut into the very quick,'Dost thou love me?' Then alone can the true answer come, 'Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest I love thee.'"-Episcopalian Recorder. "God's children provoke Him to anger by their back slidings, their grieving and quenching of His Spirit; and, in consequence, He hides His face from them, and chastens them by inward or outward trials, making their way dark. and sorrowful. He hedges them up on every side, disappoints them of their expectations from the creature, and so constrains them to say, 'I will return unto my first husband, for then was it better with me than now' (Hosea ii, 6, 7.) Thus He departs not from that sure mercy of the covenant, 'They shall be to me a people.' You have this method of His dealing with His covenant people distinctly pointed out (Psalm lxxxix): 'If,' God says, (speaking of Christ and His believing children,) If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes and |