inspires, and delightful prospects she opens, human life would be a dull and miserable blank. There is no scene of affliction so deep, no cloud so dark as to be impenetrable to her cheering beams. She supports the soldier under the fatigues and dangers of the campaign; the mariner, amidst the raging billows of a stormy sea; the prisoner, under the weight of his chains; the labourer, in his toils; and the poor man amidst the hardships of poverty and neglect. And she opens to the view of the Christian the gates of heaven, and makes him forget the sufferings of the present state, by fixing his attention on the bright prospects of the world to come." We rejoice," says the apostle —“We in the context," in the hope of the glo66 ry of God; that glory which is yet to "be revealed. And not only so, but we "glory also in tribulation, knowing that “tribulation worketh patience, and pa"tience experience," or an approving knowledge of ourselves, and this " expe"rience worketh hope."

This hope, then, implies in it the two following things:

I. That in due time we shall obtain deliverance from the tribulations under which we at present labour.

II. That they shall be the means of working out for us a glorious immortality.

An illustration of these two particulars, with a practical improvement of the subject, is all which, under the divine blessing, is in this discourse proposed.

I. Experience worketh in us a hope, that in due time we shall obtain deliverance from the tribulations under which we at present labour.

That man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, is the declaration of an inspired writer, and a truth confirmed by daily experience and observation. The righteous and the wicked are alike subjected to the common calamities of life. Nay, the one, from a faithful adherence to duty, is exposed to numberless trials from which the other is exempted. But though this is allowed to be the case, yet there is an essential difference in the principles from which their support is derived. To the un

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godly man, calamities wear a gloomy aspect. To him they are real evils, without any mixture of good. He acknowledges not the hand of a merciful Father in sending them, and he sees no benefit of which they can be productive to his soul. Feeling, therefore, all the evil and pain of suffering, he either sinks into gloom and despondency, or becomes fretful and impatient. He murmurs against God, and blames the conduct of his providence. His afflictions, unsanctified, instead of working patience, experience, hope, and training up the soul unto a meetness for glory, sink him deeper into guilt, estrange him more from God, render him more unlike to him, and more unfit for his presence and society.

Widely different, my brethren, are the effects of affliction upon the mind and character of the real Christian. In him it is an evidence of the parental love of his heavenly Father. For whom the "Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scour"geth every son whom he receiveth. To his soul it is a medicine, nauseous indeed, and unpalatable at the time, but

which he feels by experience to be most salutary and healthful; weaning his heart from all vain and sublunary objects, and leading him to a closer union with his Saviour and his God. He He may be subjected to many personal calamities; he may be reduced to the lowest degree of poverty; his character his character may be falsely aspersed, and cruel enemies may persecute him; he may be deprived of his dearest relatives and friends; nay, he may be called to endure the sharpest spiritual conflicts; the old man of sin, in his nature never to be entirely subdued in this state of being, may cost him many a painful struggle, and even gain a temporary ascendancy over his understanding and best resolutions; he may be forced, with the apostle, in the bitterness of his soul, to exclaim, "I see a law in my mem"bers warring against the law of my "mind. O wretched man that I am! who "shall deliver me from the body of this "death?" But, what is still more severe, he may be subjected to the hidings of his heavenly Father's countenance; he may be deprived of the comforts of religion, which were wont to solace his soul;

instead of joy and delight in the service and worship of God, he may be conscious of nothing but coldness, deadness, and distraction of thought; and he may be constrained to cry with Job, “O that

I knew where I might find him! I go "forward, but he is not there; backward, " but I cannot perceive him; I seek him "on the right hand, and on the left," in public ordinances, and private duties, but cannot behold him. These, my friends, are heavy trials, and hard to be endured, yet still the Christian is not suffered to sink under them. For that God who thus chastens with one hand, with the other strengthens and supports. He sends down his Spirit to enlighten the soul, that he may be enabled to discern the gracious end in view by afflictions, to' teach the proper improvement of them, and to lead him to place unlimited trust and confidence in him for reviving and comforting grace. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart, and he knows that the universe is directed by an almighty benevolent Ruler. He considers, that nothing can escape his notice; for "he counteth the stars, and names them