duced without it. The vast and special importance of affliction in this respect, may be partly understood from the cold and deaf ear which those who are in trouble are apt to turn to all exhortations and comforts addressed to them by persons whom they suppose to have had little or no experience in similar trials and afflictions. "Ah!" say they, "you have never been tried in this way; you know not what it is to suffer as I am doing." It is to those who have been exercised like themselves that they approach with pleasure, and whose counsels they listen to with confidence. Let any one sit down by their side, and say, "Ah! my friend, I know what sorrow is; I have tasted of the same bitter cup as yourself;" and instantly the heart is opened to him, from a conviction that here is one who can sympathise and afford assistance-one who can enter into their views, feel their sensations, and weep with them. Thus, by obtaining access to the heart of the afflicted, you are enabled the more effectually to impart instruction, reproof, or comfort, as the case may require. Affliction also renders us objects of observation. When does a christian most powerfully engage attention to himself? is it when moving onward uniformly in prosperity, and health, and honour; or in suffering, privation, and bereavement ? Undoubtedly the latter. Take the histories of Job, and Joseph, and David, and Daniel, and Paul: what is it that gives to them their great and peculiar interest? is it not chiefly that they place their heroes before us in circumstances of severe trial, of heavy calamity, or of sudden and extraor dinary reverses of fortune? and is it not this which renders them so instructive and useful? But for this, how insipid would have been the narrative of their lives. Without these shades the picture would have had neither beauty nor effect. How uninteresting too would have been the character of these saints. Some of the most prominent beauties would have been hid from us, and we should have lost all the advantages arising from the contemplation of their faith and patience, their resignation, meekness, and constancy, and of the efficacy and abundance of the grace of God. Thus the christian often derives his principal glory from the sufferings he endures. Nothing renders his character more impressive and useful. It recommends religion, and it carries along with it a peculiar conviction. When, in a season of distressing calamity, he is seen setting the stamp of sincerity on his former professions, and exhibiting a touching and triumphant display of the faithfulness of his Redeemer, and of the power of his religion in supporting and comforting the soul in every time of trouble ;-when in his whole deportment he is seen to wear the aspect of cheerful submission, equally removed from stoical insensibility, and gloomy despondency;-when all around see that he can as cordially delight in the service of Christ when bereaved and disappointed, as when indulged and prospered; when they see that under the pressure of trials such as might bear down the strongest spirit, he can rise above the wave where others sink, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation ;oh! must they not be constrained, by such an exhibition of the power of the gospel, to believe in its divine reality? must they not see that no earth-born principle could produce such consolations and supports? By the contemplation of such scenes, infidels have been convinced, the wicked have been reclaimed, the weak have been strengthened, and the timid encouraged. I appeal to your own feelings. When you have seen a christian thus suffering, in all the composure and majesty of submission, has not a voice addressed you, "Now see the man immortal; him I mean Who lives as such: whose heart, full bent on heaven, The world's dark shades in contrast set, shall raise Observe his awful portrait, and admire, E 100 BLESSED RESULTS OF SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION. And oh! should not this consideration constrain believers rejoicingly and thankfully to embrace the opportunity which affliction affords them of glorifying God and benefitting man? And if, through the testimony you have been enabled to bear in your sufferings, but one sinner has been reclaimed from the error of his ways-but one wanderer has been led to the possession of the peace of God on earth, and the glory of God in heaven, should you not rejoice in your sufferings, whatever they may have been? Seeing then that affliction is so useful to the christian character, the remedy of so many evils, and the occasion of such invaluable benefits, nothing can be more unreasonable than to be displeased when we are visited with it. This is nothing less than being displeased with that which is most needful and convenient for us ;-displeased with a deliverance from the greatest danger;-displeased with the peace and prosperity of our souls. To be dissatisfied with divine providence for sending affliction is as inconsistent as to be angry with the physician because his medicines are nauseous, when he is assiduously promoting our recovery to health; or with our surgeon for probing a wound which might otherwise prove fatal to life;-or with the friend who rouses us from a reverie by a blow, in order to save us from a precipice. A slight acquaintance with human affairs will be sufficient to shew that while many have bitter cause to lament that they have been rich, and prosperous, and applauded, and have received their consolation here; so many have had equal reason to be thankful that they have been impoverished, bereaved, disappointed, and afflicted, since their temporal poverty has added to their spiritual treasures,-their earthly bereavements have led to the formation of more exalted associations, their worldly disappointments have caused them to cherish their most exalted hopes, and their present afflictions have contributed to the enlargement of their future and eternal joys. THE ABUSE OF AFFLICTION. Man is responsible for ills received! Stands this the foremost, "That my heart has bled." 66 THOU HAST STRICKEN THEM, BUT THEY HAVE NOT GRIEVED; THOU HAST CONSUMED THEM, BUT THEY HAVE REFUSED TO RECEIVE CORRECTION: THEY HAVE MADE THEIR FACES HARDER THAN A ROCK; THEY HAVE REFUSED TO RETURN." JEREMIAH V., III. It is a lamentable fact, that in many cases the operation of affliction is directly contrary to its intended design. The mind is brought into a worse state by its sufferings than before-the heart is hardened-the spirit is exasperated. Instead of submitting to God, the sinner rushes upon the thick bosses of his buckler, and fights against him. Like Ahaz, of whom it is said, "in his afflictions he sinned yet more and more against God." It was an awful appeal that Jeremiah made to God concerning many of his hearers, "O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return." In these E 1 cases we see both the crime and calamity of sinners. They abuse to the most awful purposes what was capable of producing the greatest advantages; the gracious design of heaven is frustrated; and their situation is rendered the more desperate by the very means employed for their salvation. This abuse of affliction is to be traced to various causes. It arises from inconsideration-from a disregard of divine agency. Many walk all through life and never meet with God. Whatever occurs, it never leads their minds to him, whether it be pleasing or painful. When they experience a distressing event, they stop at second causes. They are kept from God by the very instrumentality he employs. Is the affliction disease of body? it is ascribed to the influence of heat or cold. Is it loss of property? it is viewed as the result of carelessness, chance, or injustice. Is it loss of reputation ? O! they exclaim, it was that false servant,—that perfidious friend, that malicious enemy. They have no solemn recognition of God's all-disposing government and superintendence, -no thought of the course of events, but as regulated by something which they call general laws, and then blended with chance; or of the afflictions by which they are exercised, but as the exclusive results of what is merely subordinate agency. Thus God is far off-he is not in all their thoughts. They feel none of the dispositions which his dispensations ought to inspire. They remain strangers to all the considerations which tend either to induce repentance and humiliation, or to inspire encouragement and hope. The only circumstances which engage their attention are such as excite angry and bitter passions. The instrument by which they suffer being only seen, it awakens their resentment and provokes their revenge; or, if beyond their reach, their minds sink into a gloomy and sullen despondency. This inconsideration also regards the design of affliction. The evils which God inflicts are as real a part of his provi |