arise from grief, which merely softens the ground on which the plough is at work; but when the good seed is sown, if the Sun of Righteousness shine forth, and the dew of God's grace descend, it will grow up, under the divine blessing, to perfection. What comes to others therefore in wrath, is sent to the Christian in mercy; and it is the family peculiarity of God's own people that, while enjoying a peace, so deep and secure that no earthly storm can disturb it, they can even rejoice in tribulation, conscious that whatever a Christian suffers is a necessary part of his education for eternity. The roughness of the way seems of but momentary consequence to a traveller, provided he be cordially welcomed in a friend's house at last ; and there is unspeakable peace of mind to those who look for nothing from day to day, except their daily task and their daily portion in bearing that Cross which is to fit them for a Crown of Glory.

Had Naomi understood that the purpose of God in removing her husband, and in starving her out of Moab, was, in fact, that her daughter should become an ancestress of our divine Saviour, would she have complained that the Lord had dealt very bitterly with her; and would she, with peevish impatience, have changed her name to commemorate this severity? Very different from Naomi's was the more enlightened language of St. Paul, when,

in the midst of all his sufferings, he so eloquently alludes to himself and his brethren, as "Dying, and behold we live; as chastened and not killed; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

These expressions of St. Paul, addressed to the Corinthians, were among the last verses read to the pious Fenelon on his death-bed, who twice roused himself, his pale cheek becoming flushed with hope, and his dim eye once more brightened with intelligence, when he earnestly exclaimed, "Répétez-moi cet endroit là." How similar were the feelings, and how interesting the final words of that accomplished scholar and excellent Christian, Dr. Hope, of whom it is recorded that in the dark valley of death itself, he exclaimed, "Christ is all in all to me. I have no hope except in him. is, indeed, all in all-there is no darkness!"

I do remember, and will ne'er forget
The dying eye! That eye alone was bright,
And brighter grew, as nearer death approached:
As I have seen the gentle little flower
Look fairest in the silver beam which fell,
Reflected from the thunder-cloud that soon
Came down, and o'er the desert scattered far
And wide its loveliness.

He set, as sets the morning star, which goes
Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides
Obscured among the tempests of the sky,
But melts away into the light of heaven.

He

CHAP. XXIII.

PRESENT SUFFERING PURIFIES AND ELEVATES THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.

How bright these glorious spirits shine,

Whence all their white array ?

How come they to the blissful seats

Of everlasting day!

Lo! these are they from suff'rings great,

Who came to realms of light,

And in the blood of Christ have wash'd
Their robes which shine so bright.

THESE lines have long been the solace of many a suffering Christian, and well do they merit to be so; yet we must remember, that they afford no sanction for expecting holiness for certain, to spring up as a necessary fruit of affliction, seeing that sorrow is not like medicine, which may be taken and then forgotten, being able to cure by its own inherent power. It was not because those redeemed souls had suffered, that they were promoted to so high a rank in heaven, but because their garments were purified by the sacrifice of our divine Saviour. That, in truth, and not the affliction, caused the glorification of those blessed spirits, and our improvement by sorrow should be

worked out by our own thoughts, so that however painful it be to meet with grief, we shall not part with it until some benefit be gained.

As surely as the rod attracts lightning from the clouds, so certainly is it our sins which bring down affliction on our heads; and it gives an early intimation of the inseparable affinity between sin and death, that no sooner had our first parents fallen, than the first animals died, not only to furnish their clothing, but also as a sacrifice for their sin. Adam and Eve fell under the only temptation which could apparently reach human beings, in so simple a state as theirs in Paradise. When no rivals existed, no ambition for preeminence could arise; where no luxuries could be purchased, no use could be found for wealth; and those petty jealousies respecting power or celebrity which have since ruined so many of their descendants, had there no foundation on which to

rest.

When our first parnets lived to witness all the after-agonies which their guilt had so calamitously entailed upon their posterity—and sin is the only thing on earth that really belongs to man, being entirely his own-how deeply aggravated their penitence must have been, to think that by yielding to a momentary bait, they had brought desolation and ruin on the beautiful world by which they were surrounded, and involved every living mortal

who was to follow after them, in the same degradation, sorrow, and remorse, as themselves. In that eloquent poem, "The World before the Flood," by J. Montgomery, the feelings which must have haunted Adam in all his subsequent life are thus affectingly imagined: -

But Adam was so humble in the sight of all,
The vilest ne'er reproach'd him with his fall;
Yet as a parent, nought beneath the sky
Touch'd him so quickly as an infant's eye.
Joy from its smile of happiness he caught,
Its flash of rage sent horror through his thought;
His smitten conscience felt as fierce a pain,
As if he fell from innocence again.

No one can doubt, that the sin of our first parents is visited on all their posterity; and in daily life we may trace the analogy to this, from the universal experience or observation of mankind. Every child in this world is liable to suffer for the delinquency of his earthly progenitors. An extravagant father reduces all his sons to beggary; and the shame of a profligate parent is reflected on all his descendants; therefore, while we feel and know that infirmity and death, without the possibility of escape, are our inherited portion on earth, how gratefully may we reflect, that the worst penalty of our perverted nature is removed by Christ's coming, as the brother of mankind, to rescue the race of man