li. 15.) shall burst out into a cheerful song, which shall display before those whom my present dejections may have discouraged, the pleasures and supports of religion.

"Yet, Lord, on the whole, I submit to thy will. If it is thus that my faith must be exercised, by walking in darkness for days, and months, and years to come, how long soever they may seem, how long soever they may be, I will submit. Still will I adore thee, as the God of Israel and the Saviour, though thou art a God that hidest thyself: (Isaiah xlv. 15.) still will I trust in the name of the Lord, and stay myself upon my God; (Isaiah l. 10.) "trusting in thee, though thou slay me:" (Job xiii. 15.) and "waiting for thee, more than they that watch for the morning, yea, more than they that watch for the morning." (Psalm cxxx. 6.) Peradventure "in the evening time it may be light." (Zech. xiv. 7.) I know that thou hast sometimes manifested thy compassion to thy dying servants, and given them, in the lowest ebb of their natural spirits, a full tide of thy divine glory, thus turning darkness into light before them. (Isaiah xlii. 16.) So may it please thee to gild the valley of the shadow of death with the light of thy presence, when I am passing through it, and to stretch forth thy rod and thy staff to comfort me, (Psalm xxiii. 4.) that my tremblings may cease, and the gloom may echo with songs of praise. But if it be thy sovereign pleasure, that distress and darkness should still continue to the last motion of my pulse, and the last gasp of my breath, O let it cease with the parting struggle, and bring me to that light which is sown for the righteous, and to that gladness which is reserved for the upright in heart; (Psalm xcvii. 11.) to the unclouded regions of everlasting splendour and joy, where the full anointings of thy Spirit shall be poured out on all thy people, and thou wilt no more hide thy face from any of them. (Ezek. xxxix. 29.)

66 This, Lord, is "thy salvation for which I am waiting;" (Gen xlix. 18.) and whilst I feel the desires of my soul drawn out after it, I will never despair of obtaining it. Continue and increase those desires, and at length satisfy and exceed them all, through the riches of thy grace in Christ Jesus. Amen."

CHAPTER XXV.

THE CHRISTIAN STRUGGLING UNDER GREAT AND

HEAVY AFFLICTIONS.

SINCE "man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward;" (Job v. 7.) and Adam has entailed on all his race the sad inheritance of calamity in their way to death, it will certainly be prudent and necessary, that we should all expect to meet with trials and afflictions; and that you, reader, whoever you are, should be endeavouring to gird on your armour, and put yourself into a posture to encounter those trials, which will fall to your lot, as a man and a Christian. Prepare yourself to receive your afflictions, and to endure them in a manner agreeable to both those characters. In this view, when you see others under the burden, consider how possible it is that you may be called out to the very same difficulties, or to others equal to them. Put your soul, as in the place of theirs. Think, how you could endure the load, under which they lie: and endeavour at once to comfort them, and to strengthen your own heart; or rather pray, that Goa would do it And observing how liable mortal life is to such sorrows, moderate your expectations from it; raise your thoughts above it; and form your schemes of happiness, only for that world, where they cannot be disappointed in the mean time, blessing God that your prosperity is lengthened out thus far, and ascribing it to his special providence, that you continue so long unwounded, when so many showers of arrows are flying around you, and so many are falling by them, on the right hand and on the left.

When at length your turn comes, as it certainly will, from the first hour in which an affliction seizes you, realize to yourself the hand of God in it, and lose not the view of him in any second cause, which may have proved the immediate occasion. Let it be your first care, to "humble yourself under the mighty hand of GOD, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter v. 6.) Own that "he is just in all that is brought upon you," (Neh. ix. 33.) and that in all these things "he punishes you less than your iniquities deserve." (Ezra ix. 13.) Compose yourself to bear his hand with patience, to glo

rify his name by a submission to his will, and to fall in with the gracious design of this visitation, as well as to wait the issue of it quietly, whatsoever the event may be.

Now, that "patience may have its perfect work,” (James i. 4.) reflect frequently, and deeply, upon your own meanness and sinfulness. Consider, how often every mercy has been forfeited, and every judgment deserved. And consider too, how long the patience of God has borne with you, and how wonderfully it is still exerted towards you; and indeed, not only his patience, but his bounty too. Afflicted as you are, for I speak to you now as actually under the pressure, look round and survey your remaining mercies, and be gratefully sensible of them. Make the supposition of their being removed : what if God should stretch out his hand against you, and add poverty to pain, or pain to poverty, or the loss of friends to both; or the death of surviving friends to that of those whom you are now mourning over; would not the wound be more grievous? Adore his goodness, that this is not the case; and take heed, lest your unthankfulness should provoke him to multiply your sorrows. Consider also, the need you have of discipline: how wholesome it may prove to your souls, and what merciful designs our heavenly Father has, in all the corrections he sends upon his children.

Nay, I will add, that in consequence of all these considerations, it may well be expected, not only that you should submit to your afflictions as what you cannot avoid, but that you should sweetly acquiesce in them, and approve them; that you should not only justify, but glorify God in sending them; that you should glorify him with your heart, and with your lips too. Think not praise unsuitable on such an occasion; nor that praise alone to be suitable, which takes its rise from remaining comforts: but know that it is your duty, not only to be thankful in your afflictions, but to be thankful on account of them.

66

God himself has said, "In every thing give thanks;" (1 Thess. v. 18.) and he has taught his servants to say, Yea, also we glory in tribulation." (Rom. v. 3.) And most certain it is, that to true believers they are instances of divine mercy; for whom the Lord loveth he

chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth with peculiar and distinguished endearment. (Heb. xii. 6.) View your present afflictions in this light, as chastisements of love; and then let your own heart say, whether love does not demand praise. Think with yourself, "It is thus that God is making me conformable to his own Son. It is thus that he is training me up for complete glory. Thus he kills my corruptions; thus he strengthens my graces; thus he is wisely contriving to bring me nearer to himself, and to ripen me for the honours of his heavenly kingdom. It is if need be, that "I am in heaviness;" (1 Peter i. 6.) and he surely knows what that need is, better than I can pretend to teach him; and knows what peculiar propriety there is in this affliction, to answer my present necessity, and to do me that peculiar good which he is graciously intending me by it. This tribulation shall work patience, and patience expe rience, and experience a more assured hope; even a hope which shall not make ashamed, while "the love of GOD is shed abroad in my heart," (Rom. v. 3-5.) and shines through my affliction, like the sun through a gentle descending cloud, darting in light upon the shade, and mingling fruitfulness with weeping.

Let it be then your earnest care, while you thus look on your affliction, whatever it may be, as coming from the hand of God, to improve it to the purposes for which it was sent. And that you may so improve it, let it be your first concern to know what those purposes are. Summon up all the attention of your soul, to "hear the rod, and him who hath appointed it;" (Micah vi. 9.) and pray earnestly, that you may understand its voice. Examine your life, your words, and your heart; and pray, that God would so guide your inquiries, that you may return unto the Lord that smiteth you." (Isaiah ix. 13.) To assist you in this, call in the help of pious friends, and particularly of your ministers: intreat, not only their prayers, but their advice too, as to the probable design of Providence and encourage them freely to tell you any thing which occurs to their minds upon this head. And if such an occasion should lead them to touch upon some of the imperfections of your character

and conduct, look upon it as a great token of their friendship, and take it, not only patiently, but thankfully. It does but ill become a Christian, at any time, to resent reproofs and admonitions; and least of all does it be come him, when the rebukes of his heavenly Father are upon him. He ought rather to seek admonitions at such a time as this, and voluntarily offer his wounds to be searched by a faithful and skilful hand.

And when by one means or another, you have got a ray of light to direct you in the meaning and language of such dispensations, take heed that you do not, in any degree, “harden yourself against GOD, and walk contrary to him." (Lev. xxvi. 27.) Obstinate reluctance to the apprehended design of any providential stroke, is inexpressibly provoking to him. Set yourself therefore to an immediate reformation of whatever you discover amiss; and labour to learn the general lessons of greater submission to God's will, of a more calm indifference to the world, and of a closer attachment to divine converse, and to the views of an approaching invisible state. And whatever particular proportion or correspondence you may observe, between this or that circumstance in your affliction, and your former transgressions, be especially careful to act according to that more peculiar and express voice of the rod. Then you may perhaps have speedy and remarkable reason to say, that "it hath been good for you that you have been afflicted;" (Psalm cxix. 71.) and with a multitude of others, may learn to number the times of your sharpest trials, among the sweetest and the most exalted moments of your life. For this purpose, let prayer be your frequent employment; and let such sentiments as these, if not in the very same terms, be often and affectionately poured out before God.

A humble ADDRESS to GOD, under the Pressure of heavy Affliction.

O THOU Supreme, yet all righteous and gracious Governor of the whole universe! Mean and inconsiderable as this little province of thy spacious empire may appear, thou dost not disregard the earth and its inhabitants; but attendest to its concerns with the most condescending and gracious regards. Thou reignest, and I rejoice in it, as