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that he must learn to consider himself in the great school of moral discipline-that he is to feel this present scene not to be the place of his rest, of his tranquillity, of his perfect happiness but the scene of trial, in which his virtues and his faith are to be put to the test. Amidst the smooth current of human life even the best men permit themselves, at times, to glide along in a pleasing forgetfulness. They are too ready to suppose, that the works of God are already completed in them, that their discipline is at an end, that nothing more is expected from them than to enjoy the gifts of Heaven with cheerfulness and thankfulness. Therefore it is that the best men are often tried the most severely. They are, in truth, the most worthy to be tried-and those upon whom the trial may be productive of the noblest influences. It is in their souls that the fruits of sublime piety, of submissive resignation, of unmurmuring patience, are reared to their greatest perfection; theirs are the minds that gain most from the school of discipline; and "they now therefore have sorrow"-not because God is offended with them, but because he loves them :-because he destines them for higher

things than this world can give them, therefore he seeks to exalt them above the world: and he does so, by taking away from them, on many occasions, even "the desire of their eyes," what they love most on earth, and what is most worthy of their love. The discipline may seem to be severe, but it points to high and lofty things,-it shews the importance and grandeur of the soul of man, which is destined, and is able, to pass through such fiery trials, and which rises only the brighter and the more glorious from their agony,—and it indicates some distant and indescribable reward, some "weight of exceeding glory," which, in the merciful retribution of Heaven, will be far more than commensurate to the afflictions which must be sustained in advancing forward to it.

It is, in this temper, my brethren, that we ought to regard afflictions in others, not as punishments, but, it may be, as distinctions,-as calls to those who have already done well to advance farther in the course of "honour, and glory, and immortality;" nor, when we are ourselves oppressed with sorrow, ought we to permit our spirits to sink into despondency, as if we were the marked objects of the divine dis

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pleasure. Whatever sins or infirmities we may be conscious of, these, indeed, we ought, in such circumstances, to be more than usually eager to root out, they stand materially in the way of every advancement which we can make in the great race which is "set before us;" but the affliction under which we labour is not a summons to the weakness of despair, but to the energy of duty,-it is the voice of God himself, calling us to "gird up the loins of our minds," and to throw off every weight which may hinder us, in the very chastisement which He inflicts, assuring us, that He has not deserted us, but that He is calling us to himself,-and that He still thinks us worthy to be chastised as

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III. It is thus, that, if we will follow out the meditations even of unassisted nature upon this great subject, we shall be led into the paths of peace and of wisdom. The benevolence of the Deity is the great truth which the general course of nature loudly proclaims, and which cannot really be obscured by the occasional severities that seem to chequer his administration. Nor are these to be regarded in the gloomy

y light of the punishments of sin, so as either to dgive us uncharitable conceptions of others, or to odepressy and overwhelm ourselves; they often 1fall, we see, on the most innocent and the most virtuous heads; why ? but still farther to puriefy and to elevated to call the spirit which came -from God, and which is accounted worthy to return to Him, to higher and more divine affections, to break it loose from ties which, although perhaps the best that earth can supply, -yet cannot but participate in the earthy dross, and to refine even these into the purity of Heaven. Therefore" it is, the voice of mere mortal wisdom may tell us, that " we now have sorrow;" yet he who spake these words, spake with more than the voice of man; and we must, in the third place, look to Him, and to the revelations which He has made, if we would see the full radiance which may be thrown upon the miseries of our nature.

94 Do we then, in the hours of affliction, my brethren, call into question the benevolence of God, or fancy that we are no longer the objects of His love, because we are made to drink deep of the cup of sorrow?Let us look to the history of our Redeemer! Was He not an object

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of the divine love? Was He not declared to be the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased? Yet was there ever sorrow like unto His sorrow, and were there not moments in which even He was heard to exclaim, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Even the course of that beloved Son was any thing, then, but a course of tranquil enjoyment! May we not, therefore, read in it most distinctly pourtrayed, that there are purposes, (secret and mysterious they no doubt may be,) yet purposes for the deepest sufferings of our nature consistent with the utmost benevolence of the Deity,-nay, that His love is blazing most intensely at the very moment when man is passing through the fiercest furnace of affliction?

Are we prone, in another view, to look upon suffering as punishment, and as the mark of divine vengeance on the head of the sufferer? Yet, in the person of our Saviour, it fell in its heaviest form on one who had no sin; but he, too, was, in one aspect of His nature, a Man, and in that character it became even Him to be 'perfected by suffering!" There is, in truth, it would seem, something in this earthly pollution which must be purified and refined away,

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