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the relinquishment of some greater good; and, at all events, the calm voice of a contemplative philosophy penetrating from its academic retirement into the midst of the fierce warfare of opinion which now agitates England, may induce some to consider under a new point of view-a subject of the greatest importance, and which every one who has reflected on it with impartiality, must acknowledge to have far more extended and complicated relations with the whole form and system of moral civilization, than men of extreme views on either side are willing to admit, or than he himself, perhaps, was aware of, till circumstances had compelled him to bring it down from the airy region of metaphysical abstraction, and to place it distinctly before him as a practical question connected by a thousand ties with the living world of action and suffering around him.

T.

PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERING.

THE one thing which all mankind seek is happiness. The selfish desire it for themselves, the benevolent for every living creature. Strongly opposed to this object of general interest is suffering of every kind and degree. To what mean artifice and base criminality will the weak descend in the expectation of avoiding it. To what vigorous efforts and patient exertions are the virtuous stimulated by the same hope.

To look into the world with an intention of computing the pains and sorrows of its inhabitants, would be indeed a melancholy task, yet such a view would be very far from yielding a just estimate of human woe.

Excessive labour, hunger, and disease, may leave their traces upon the brow of their victims, yet these indications show but a small proportion of the actual amount of suffering. Even the ravages of death itself create only a minor part of it. • Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets,' for the most part, with stricken or broken spirits; yet they are not the most numerous, nor always the most inconsolable class of the afflicted.

How many bereavements are there for which there is no mourning but that of the heart! How many who sorrow mentally over the grave of past enjoyments, without purchasing for themselves, by wearing sable garments, a short exemption from painful allusions and unwelcome jests. How many would not, if they could, proclaim their misery by sackcloth and ashes, but welcome the sacredness of silence, and would never be suspected to grieve, if it were not that a sudden start, or an involuntary shudder, sometimes betrays that a spring has been

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touched which opens upon them the flood-gates of sorrow. The anguish of parents for erring and ungrateful children; the secret mourning of the loving and the faithful over the desertion, harshness, or indifference of early friends; the dreary loneliness of those who, having once had numerous and cheerful families around them, are left solitary in their latter years, living, as the world calls it, very comfortably,' upon a fortune which is almost worthless, because it is unshared; the painfulness of long separations, the price of pecuniary gains which have been thought a great, perhaps enviable, advantage; the powerless remorse for deeds long repented, but never to be recalled; the fear of a destitution which seems always approaching; the writhings of sensitive dependants under a chilling look or a contemptuous expression-these are things which are little noticed, but which, if they could be known, would make the agonies inflicted by hunger and disease appear slight by comparison, inasmuch as the sufferings of the mind are incalculably greater than those of the body. In contemplating this long catalogue of evils, the heart of the philanthropist must sink, if it were not for the prevailing trust, that misery itself, in the hands of the benevolent Ruler of all things, is a powerful engine for working out good for his rational offspring. It became Him, by whom are all things, and from whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering: the humble and faithful disciple, who desires to be conformed to the moral image of his Lord, will surely be not only resigned, but thankful to attain something of His spirit, though it be by a painful and mysterious discipline.

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Ignorant as we are of the working of other minds, or even of our own, we may be little aware how many of the truly virtuous have been made, in a degree, perfect through sufferings,' or how many of our best feelings have been strengthened and purified by the same means.

Regarding misery only as an evil, we may have been slow to perceive its beneficial effects. We are frequently called upon to remark the obtuseness or irritability of feeling, the moroseness or despondency of temper, which have evidently been produced by hardship and sorrow, while we hesitate to assign any kindly feeling to the same cause. We observe how the mind is harrowed up by calamity, and think not of the seeds of beauty and holiness which may flourish in a soil thus prepared.

Will it not be worth while to inquire of ourselves, how much of what is good in our characters has been formed by sorrow? If our confidence in the good Providence of God be strong and abiding, did it not become so in the times of temptation and trial-times when we felt our own weakness, and turned for

support and comfort to Him who is willing and able to save? If we are thankful for daily bread and nightly rest-for health of body and peace of mind, have we not been made so by privation and pain? If we have not that overweening attachment to the things of this world, which makes the thought of leaving it insupportable, is it not, that we have been reminded by misfortune that this is not our rest? If we are eager to assist and cherish the young and the helpless, it may be that we have learned the lesson of love from the affection which has been lavished upon ourselves; yet there will mingle with the reminiscences of our mother-time, some remembrance of the feebleness, the timidity, and the yearning for attention, which, though in themselves painful, gave that affection its peculiar worth. If we are full of compassion for the afflicted and bereaved, is it not that we have endured affliction? If we have a kindly feeling for our brethren of mankind, is it not because we have felt how much all stand in need of kindness? If it be so, suffering has contributed not only to our virtue, but to our happiness. Richly are we repaid for deprivation and sorrow-for anxious toils by day and weary watchings by night, if these have given to us to carry through the world a patient and loving spirit, willing to endure, quick to sympathize, ready to communicate a spirit which, having been tempted to murmur and to distrust, is able, in imitation of our Divine Exemplar, to feel for those who are tempted, to be tender to their weaknesses, to forgive their errors, and rejoice over their virtues and their pleasures.

Happiness has its salutary effects, as well as sorrow. There is a buoyancy and freshness of spirit-a child-like trustfulness and exuberance of joy, which perhaps nothing else can bestow. To contemplate the bounties of Providence as they are displayed in the fields of nature, with those happy feelings which

'Are brightness to the sunshine, and music to the winds,'

to look upon our fellow-creatures through the medium of that gladness which makes everything instinct with itself, fills the heart with the love of God and man. But the benefit of prosperous circumstances few would be inclined to question. It is to the sweet uses of adversity' that we require to be reconciled. Let us not then forget that much of the moral greatness which we reverence, much of the kindness which makes the summer of our homes, is, like our own improvement, the precious fruit of sorrow. Oh, how beautiful is the sympathy of the longsuffering, how tender the compassion of the often-afflicted! How strong the attachments of those who have found that the bonds of affection may be broken! How fraught with blended gentleness and strength is the mind that has risen above many trials, and how powerful to persuade us, that though in this world we

must have tribulation,' we are able to overcome the world, through Him, who has bid us, Be of good cheer!'

An abiding faith, that, to our minds, suffering is beneficial, can scarcely produce any feeling but cheerful resignation-the conviction that it is salutary to the minds of others may lead to some momentous errors. The power of inflicting suffering, which, under the direction of an All-seeing and All-merciful God, is a safe and efficacious instrument, is, in the hands of fallible man, a very dangerous weapon.

An exception must, indeed, be made in the cases of young children, and offenders against the laws of a community. In these instances, the greatest care is needful that the punishment inflicted be calculated to correct, not to avenge, and be divested as much as possible of any mixture of personal enmity. In the common intercourse and relations of society occasions will arise when it is impossible to avoid wounding by a repulse and mortifying by a denial; but such occasions would be found to be very few, if we would persuade ourselves to judge of them without our angry passions. A stern or satirical manner may produce an appearance of submission, but it is most commonly the appearance only, while resentment and moroseness are growing strong to evince, that if one evil have been lessened, another has been created in its place. We know so little of the peculiar structure of individual minds, it is seldom that, in inflicting mental pain, we can have a reasonable hope of conferring a benefit. Strong in theory may be the belief that every event comes immediately from the hand of Providence; but when distress is brought so obviously by the instrumentality of a fellow-mortal, occasion is given for personal hatred, distrust of human kindness, a questioning of human wisdom, andexcept when these feelings are concealed through timidity— they will generally be sufficiently apparent to prove that it is not by such suffering that perfection cometh.

There is a very deceptive tendency in the authority which is tacitly yielded to the violent and the overbearing. The dominion which is obtained by bitter invective or keen satire is the more coveted, as each one is ready to flatter himself that could he attain a like influence, he should be willing to exert it in every good cause, thereby satisfying his conscience and compensating society for the means by which such influence became his own. In this, as in all other cases, it is impolitic as well as unlawful to do evil that good may come.' The gentle and the peaceable, who, while they deprecate the temper of the individual, almost envy his ability to lead the minds of men, know little the price at which it has been purchased. If they could form an idea of the pride, anger, and all uncharitableness which must harrass and degrade the mind which seeks to govern mind

by violence; if they could look into the heart, into which, with the consciousness of power, came the certainty of being dreaded -the suspicion of being abhorred; they would feel that they would not barter for such a consciousness the affection of the meanest individual who called them friend, or even of the dumb animal which only felt them to be friendly. The moment when the dominant spirit reached the acme of its triumph-when the thoughtless and the timid succumbed to its authority, would be the moment when they would confess, with the warmest enthusiasm, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love.'

In the domestic intercourses of life a delusion of the same kind is visible. The individual who would decry the thought of becoming the tyrant of society, adapts in his family relations a conduct which he as falsely persuades himself is for the benefit of others. He too is ready to descant upon the utility of suffering. He can point out the exactions he has limited, the murmurs he has stifled, the concessions he has obtained by the inflexible sternness of his character, but can he tell how frequently he has been deceived-how often unwillingly served? Those who look with an impartial eye on him and his connexions, who render the kind offices which would never be asked at his hands, who soothe the griefs of which he would never be told, and lighten the burdens he imposes, know how to measure the extent of that good which he fancies he has achieved. They compare it with the evils he has created ;contempt in the strong-minded, dissimulation in the weak, distrust in all. They perceive that it is not the wrath of man which worketh righteousness, and thank God, in the fulness of gratitude, that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love.'

In admitting the efficacy of affliction, we should be careful not to fall into the error of supposing that it is right to nurture and encourage feelings of sorrow. Our duty to God and to ourselves is to be happy. We can never be really resigned to suffering till we feel that it is intended to make us so, and the sooner we permit it to have that effect the better. If we would analyze the effects of the trials which have been so long past that we can bear to recall them without overwhelming emotions, we should find that it was not from the deprivation we suffered, but from the after-compensation we enjoyed, that benefit has arisen. We should discover that the afflictions which we allowed to prey upon our minds are those which have the least improved them, that the deprivations which we look back to without perceiving their utility, are the very ones concerning which we refused to be comforted. It is not by the closing of a source of happiness that the heart is made better, but by the opening of many other sources which could not have been unsealed by any other means.

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