sickness and affliction is upon men, they will mourn and complain. I know also that it is promised to those who mourn that they shall be comforted: show me where this comfort is to be found, and how this sickness may be made a blessing to me." It is for this very purpose that I have given these examples from the Bible: and if you attend to the instruction which they convey, I have no doubt but you will in the end experience the blessedness of mourning. You must, however, observe, that something more than mere sorrow and complaining for mental and bodily suffering was felt and expressed by these eminent men. In the day of adversity they were led to consider. They sorrowed also for sin, they prayed for forgiveness, and were brought humbly and penitently to their heavenly Father. When sorrow is thus felt, it leads to repentance and life: when the afflicted thus mourn, they shall surely be comforted and blessed.

How remarkable an effect did affliction assist to produce in the mind of Job! He was, at first, eager to justify himself against the unseasonable accusations of his three friends, and he appealed to God in testimony of his integrity. He was then “righteous in his own eyes ?." But when he had endured his afflictions some time, and the Almighty had condescended to reason with him, he no longer pleaded his rigbteousness. “Behold,” says he, “ I am vile: what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. I know, that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me which I knew not. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes?

This humility is ever the result of the true know

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ledge of God. The thought of his exceeding purity and holiness must lead the most righteous and holy among men to feel how immense is their distance from the perfection at which they are commanded to aim, and how utterly unworthy they are of standing in his sight. Behold, even the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm ? and the son of man which is a worm 1 ?" The more we know ourselves, and perceive our ignorance, blindness, and weakness, the more ready shall we be to hearken to the words of instruction whether that instruction is communicated to us by God's word, or by any dispensation of his Providence. And afflictions greatly tend to produce this self-knowledge, and dispose the heart to receive that seed of divine truth, which being sown, will increase and flourish, and yield abundantly the fruits of righteousness. “Lo, all these things" (such as sickness, sorrows, losses, &c.) “worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living ?.

Afflicted reader ! has the chastisement which, by God's permission you have fallen under, had this effect on your mind ? Has it brought you humbly to your heavenly Father, in sorrow for your past transgressions, in sincere confession of your unworthiness, in earnest supplication for pardon, and for grace and strength to enable you, for the future, to live and walk as becometh a child of God? “Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more : that which I see not, teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more," Do not suppose that it is of no consequence how you bear affliction, and that God does not observe whether you are patient, humble, and resigned to His will, or full of murmuring, pride, and impenitence. His eye is upon you, even as a father regards the child whom he is correcting; and when the object of the chastisement is attained, the stroke is suspended, he heals the wounds which have been inflicted, and pours the balm of consolation into the broken and contrite heart. " He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's; he shall return to the days of his youth 1." This was the happy experience of Job. His night of sorrow was at length succeeded by a morning of joy. He had long mourned, but was now to be comforted : he had been humbled even to the dust, and now was to be exalted : for “ The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning."

The royal Psalmist also, you find, was in this way (that is by undergoing affliction) brought to a knowledge of his sinfulness, to confess his offences, and to pray for help, that he might run in the path of holiness with diligence. And now he could joyfully appeal to his own experience as to the benefit of affliction, and could direct others to the only fountain of comfort under similar dispensations. “Before I was afflicted," said he," I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word. Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid : I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sino." Hence he could with confidence exhort others to seek Him, whom he had found to be “a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” “ Čast thy burden” therefore, he says, “ upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” For "like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him: for he knoweth 1 Job xxxiii. 25 27, 28.

our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust ?.'' “O taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed is the man that trusteth in him ?."

May you, afflicted Reader, be thus brought to God, and may you experience his “ loving-kindness, which is better than life !" May you remember Him upon your bed, and meditate on Him in the night watches, and be enabled to “rejoice in the shadow of his wings May you say, with the devout Psalmist, “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for thou hast been a shelter for

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The sickness of Hezekiah was also sanctified to him, and therefore proved a blessing. It brought him humbly and penitently to his Almighty Father; and he found how gracious and ready to forgive, and to bestow His favours on the contrite and praying child, our heavenly Father is. Ere long his prayer for help was turned into a song of thanksgiving." Thou hast," he cries, “in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption : for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord 5."

Let me next show you, from the prophet Jeremiah, what are the benefits of affliction. He speaks as the representative of the people of Jerusalem, and I have already quoted some of his language while he was under this character : observe now what effect was produced by the divine chastisement, and what testimony he affords to the mercy and goodness of God.

The good effects of trouble, when it is sanctified by the Spirit of God, are lasting. They do not cease with the complainings of the sufferer. There are, indeed, too many who bewail their sins, while the hand of pain and sorrow is upon them ; but the moment it is taken off, they return to their former ways, and ungratefully forget their heavenly Father. They so harden their hearts, that neither his goodness nor his severity brings them to repentance. It is not thus with the faithful servant of God, to whom afflictions have been sanctified and blessed. “My soul," says he," hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me ?." Happy are they in whom trouble hath produced a constant humility! they are happy, because this state of mind renders them far less subject to the anxieties, cares, and vexations, which fill the hearts of the proud and self-exalted. The humble are indeed chastened, but it is with the golden sceptre of his grace, and therefore they are purified and blessed by such a correction.

Instead of thinking that God's chastisements were greater than the sufferer deserved, the Prophet asks: "wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins!” And, knowing that it was impossible to bear the full weight of divine wrath, he prays, not to be free from correction, for such an exemption would be any thing rather than a privilege o; but, O Lord, correct me but with judgment; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing *. And, as reformation is the object of chastisement, he recommends that self-examination which is a necessary step towards improvement: “Let us search and try our ways; and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the Heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled 5.”

Have you, Reader, followed this profitable course? Has sickness caused you to “search and try' your