vourite child now suffers! O my cruel brethren, how could you serve me thus?" What thick darkness surrounded this blessed man! But still the Lord had his eye upon him, and in due time not only brought him out of prison with honour, and exalted him to be ruler over Egypt; but what was far greater, he made him the happy instrument of saving that and the neighbouring nations; yea, and all his father's house, from perishing by famine, How astonishing are the providential dispensations of God! Behold Joseph, one day a prisoner in the dungeon! See him again riding in the second chariot of the king of Egypt: and the proper officer crying to the people, Bow the knee!

We may see something of the same kind in the case of his father, good old Jacob. For a time the providence and promises of God, seemed to run counter to each other. The promise made to Abraham, was renewed to Isaac and Jacob, That their seed should increase and multiply as the stars of heaven for multitude: For a considerable time Jacob beheld the promise fulfilling; but in his old age he saw what he had no expectation of; a decrease of his family: In the bitterness of his soul, he cried out, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin also; all these things are against me!" How little did he then know of the wise and gracious dispensations of God towards him and his family? And how would the good old man be astonished at the mercy of God, and ashamed of his own unbelief, when he saw his beloved Joseph the second man in the kingdom of Egypt, and the wonderful deliverance which the Lord had wrought by him!

The same thing appears in the conduct of God towards the Israelites, many years after. The Lord engaged to bring them out of Egypt with an high hand, and an out-stretched arm, and to put them in possession of a land flowing with milk and honey, They believed his promise, and marched out of Egypt in full expectation of its speedy accomplishment. But what a dark providence came over them, when being pursued by their enemies to the brink of the Red Sea, where they could see no way to escape; here they walked in darkness and had no light. For in what way was the promise to be fulfilled? It could never enter their minds, to suppose the Lord would divide the waters of the great deep, to make way for them. Such a thing had not been heard of, from the foundation of the world. However in their distress they cried unto the Lord, and Moses his servant said unto them in; his name, "Stand still, and see the salvation of God." They

presently saw a glorious salvation indeed! and sung praises to the great Deliverer.

Similar instances occur in the New Testament, Our Lord had said, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." For a considerable time the christians saw this promise remarkably fulfilled. The word of the Lord mightily prevailed: thousands upon thousands, were added to the church; and in all probability they expected the whole world would soon be converted, But af ter a season, a very gloomy cloud overspread them, and their brightest prospects were darkened. The great dragon poured out a flood of water upon the woman. He raised a violent persecution against the church, and the people were scattered abroad through the neighbouring country; and perhaps, hardly any two of them were left together, except the Apostles: Would they not be ready to fear the gates of hell were prevailing, and the works of God was overturned and ruined for ever? But the Lord knoweth how to defeat the designs of the devil. These scattered people, went every where and preached the word, and the Gospel by this means, had a general spread in a very short time. Here light shone upon the promise again.

Though we may not meet with cross providences exactly similar to these, yet we may meet with those which may have the same effect upon our minds. Our way may be hedged up, clouds and thick darkness may overshadow us, so that for the present we cannot see into the designs of God, or understand the nature of his dispensations towards us, but we walk in darkness, having no light.

We may also meet with dark and heavy afflictions. There is a great difference between one and another in this respect. We see some persons, who walk humbly and closely with God, blest with uninterrupted health and strength, for a long succession of years; and we see others of equal or even superior piety, for any thing we know, who seldom enjoy a state of ease or health for a week together; but have almost one continued affliction. And affliction is only to be known by experience; no one can possibly say how his mind will be affected by it, till he is called to bear the trial. It is say, in the time of health and strength, What, if I should be afflicted, surely the Lord would fulfi his premise, and give me strength according to my day; and therefore, why should I fear? Such words as these (however scriptural) may be spoken in a very wrong spirit, and therefore we may say to such persons, "Be not high-minded, but fear." Do not make

easy to

light of affliction, as if it was a little thing; but rather pray constantly in the time of health, that the Lord may prepare you for every event of his providence: that when affliction comes upon you, it may be sanctified, and you may bear it in a proper spirit. When it shall please the Lord to permit us to be exercised with violent pain, or pining sickness; when we have no rest in our bones by reason of the chastening hand of God upon us; when in the morning we shall be ready to say, "Would to God it were evening," and in the evening, "Would to God it were morning." And at the same time Satan, who always loves to fish in troubled waters, and delights in adding affliction to the afflicted, is permitted to suggest evil reasonings to our minds; tempting us to think the Lord deals hardly with us, and to call in question his tender mercy, his pitying love, his truth and faithfulness; urging us to say, "If I am a child of God, why am I thus? If the Lord is in finitely kind and gracious, why hath he suffered this heavy affliction to befal nie? What wise or gracious end can he have in view in permitting his poor creature to be thus tor-. tured with pain day and night? What good end can it serve to me to be thus tormented, when my mind is, so exercised, I scarcely can think of God or heaven, or of spiritual and everlasting things?" Thus we may walk in darkness, having no light into the present dispensations of God.

The Lord may also suffer us to be afflicted in the person of our dearest friend, a tender-hearted parent, or a beloved child: An affectionate husband, or a faithful wife, may lay under the chastising hand of God. We see them in strong pain, in deep distress, but are unable to relieve them. We see them pining away with sickness, and can afford them no effectual help. We tenderly sympathize with them, and feel their sorrows; we would gladly suffer in their stead, if we could; but alas! we can only weep and pray, and mix our sighs and tears with theirs, till the Lord shall mercifully interpose, and bring them out of darkness and the shadow of death; till he shall speak the word, and heal them, and save them out of all their distresses.

The Lord may see it good to try us further, and we may behold the dearest friend, or the nearest relation we have upon earth, a dead corpse. The desire of our eyes, the delight of our soul, may be cut off at a stroke: The wife of our bosom, who shared our joys and griefs, with whom we took sweet counsel on all occasions, is no more! The child, that was dear to us as our own soul; our only child, who was the hope of our family, and whom we trusted wou'd be a comfort

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to us in our declining years, is gone hence, and we see him no more! Here again we walk in darkness and have no light. Some indeed may say, "Ought we not to be resigned to the will of God on all these occasions? Ought we not patiently to submit to his will, who undoubtedly has an absolute right to deal with us and ours as he sees good?" Most assuredly we ought. Yet at the same time it should be remembered; that religion does not turn us into stocks and stones. But on the contrary, it renders the mind more susceptible than ever of the tenderest impressions. St. Paul, no doubt, would have been resigned to the will of God, if his friend had died, of whom he says, "He was sick and nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." From hence it appears, Paul himself, eminent as he was for holiness, would have been deeply affected, had his beloved friend died. But we have a greater example than even that of Paul: Our blessed Redeemer himself wept at the grave of his friend; "When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also weeping who came with her, he groaned in spirit and was troubled;" And it is added, "Jesus wept!" Here we see tears of tenderest pity and love: tears of softest, sweetest sympathy, flowing down the cheeks of our blessed Redeemer ! And this appears the more extraordinary, because he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead; Why then did he weep? Surely as an example for us, that we might learn of him, to bear a part in the sorrows of our friends, and “ weep with them who weep, as well as rejoice with them who rejoice." We may also learn this very useful lesson; That it is possible to be deeply affected on many occasions, and yet be resigned to the will of God; we may be painfully patient under his afflicting hand, and sorrowfully resigned to his holy and blessed will.

We may be also exercised with dark and distressing tempta tions: Some meet with a larger share of these than others; and how far our minds may be bowed down under the weight of them, we know not, till experience teach us. It may be said to us, "Why should you fear temptation? Satan can do nothing against you or proceed any farther than God will permit him. Besides, you will always find strength according to your day." This is all very true: But nevertheless, we should be exceeding careful we do not make light of tempta tion. We may be too much of Peter's spirit when he said, Though I should die with thee, I will rot deny thee." Peter spoke nobly, but how far was he from making good his resolution?

It may often be said to such persons, "Let not him that girdeth on his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off." When it shall please God to permit us to be exercised with Jong and painful temptations, we may be as much at a loss to account for his dealings with us, as Job was; and we may walk in darkness with respect to the advantages intend ed for us by these trials. The distressing nature, and power of temptation, is only to be known by experience; and it is well for us, when we can say upon good ground, "He knoweth the way that I take, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

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A person who is brought into the favour of God, may undoubtedly bold fast the beginning of his confidence stedfast to the end: But it must be allowed, until he obtains the abiding witness of the Spirit, he will be molested with doubts and fears respecting his interest in Christ, And therefore it is the duty and privilege of every believer, to obtain this invaluable blessing. We must likewise acknowledge, when the Lord deepens his work in the soul, discovering the remains of corruption and the necessity of entire sanctification of body, soul, and spirit; this discovery being quite a new thing, and perhaps unexpected, the believer, till he is better instructed, will be ready to conclude, he has lost ground, has grieved the Holy Spirit, and is now in darkness. But this is a great mistake; for we well know, the Lord only designs to lead him to higher degrees of holiness,

When a clear and full discovery is made of the various in the heart,

evils, the roots of bitterness, which still residee various

we need, not wonder such a person is exceedingly pained, and deeply laments the want of entire conformity to the image and will of God; he will be ashamed to think he is still so unlike his blessed Redeemer!. It is true, there are too many who deem it but a little thing to be governed by their own will, to be under the power of anger, fretfulness, and other bad tempers, and to be carried away with unholy desires. But he who retains that tenderness of conscience and genuine simplicity which the Lord gave him when he was first brought into christian liberty, will be of another mind. And although he is not overcome by any of those evils which he feels in his heart, yet he will walk mournfully before the Lord, because he is thoroughly sensible they are there.

The blessed God is well acquainted with human nature he knows we are liable to abuse those blessings which we