ways? Are you humbled to the dust at the recollection of your past life, your neglect of mercies, your forgetfulness of God? Do you bear with submission the affliction which hath been sent; and so far from considering it more than you deserve, do you feel that " it is of the Lord's mercies that you are not consumed, because his compassions fail not??" Have you turned unto the Lord with all your heart, acknowledging your sins, and saying with penitent David :

Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore mine heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

Hear me, O Lord, for thy loving kindness is good : turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble ?."

If you have done this with sincerity, you will, I doubt not, derive consolation from the following divine promises : - The Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies." Lord is good, a strong-hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him 4. Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me 5." “ His anger endureth but for a moment: in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted ?.”

“ No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby 8.'

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But when I speak to you of this Fountain of consolation ; when I say to you, in the words of Eliphaz, “ If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles';" you are perhaps ready to answer in the language of despondency: " Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments”.” Behold, then, He is nigh you~" He is about your bed, and around your path, and spieth out all your ways.” Look to Him with the eye of faith, and seek Him in earnest and importunate prayer. Are you unable thus to feel that God is present with you? Do you feel that your faith is wavering, that utterance fails, and that you cannot plead your cause before Him? Be not dismayed; there is still an Advocate, through whom you can have access to the “ throne of grace, and obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need 3.” Look to the Man of sorrows, and take courage. As Man he knows and feels for you in your griefs : " for we have not a Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” As God, He can at once remove the malady under which you are labouring, and bid you to be loosed from your infirmity. Look then, unto Him, as the wounded and dying Israelites did to the brazen serpent, and you shall live. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee 5." Though your “ iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear," only look unto the Saviour with the eye of faith, and you will no longer be afar off; through the blood of the atonement you can approach to a reconciled Father; for “ Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God'." Coming to His footstool in the name of His beloved Son, you will “ in no wise be cast out,” neither will He turn His ear from you, or refuse to lift up the light of His countenance. The name of Jesus, is to the penitent believer, a sure passport to the throne of mercy. They who thus approach their Almighty Father are the very persons to whom the encouraging declaration of the Psalmist is most applicable : “ The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him; to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them ?."

Happy will it be for you, afflicted Reader, if you are led, even through much tribulation and anguish, to the knowledge of a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus ! Then, however, your sickness may end, your mind will still be at peace, for you know that you are in the hands of One who “ doeth all things well.” He can raise you up, even when man is ready to say to you: “ Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound grievous; thou hast no healing medicines ? ;” or, if it is not agreeable to His will to do this, what matters it, if you only possess that spiritual health which is far more valuable than the health of the body? Without the former, they who rejoice in health and strength are " dead while they live." But if you are possessed of this blessed gift, you will still live when heart and flesh have failed; for God will be “ the strength of your heart and your portion for ever." You may perhaps say: “ I shall go to the gates of the grave-I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent%;" but this consideration will not disquiet you. For though your “outward man perish,"

yet the inward man being renewed day by day, you will be strong in the power of your heavenly supporter, and will rejoice in the hope of beholding his * face in righteousness.” Thus living unto the Lord, thus resigned to His will, and His strength being made perfect in your weakness', you will be able to say: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen?.” The things which are seen you know and feel to be worthless—" altogether lighter than vanity itself;" but the things not seen, and in this world to be realized only by the power of faith-the glorious perfections of Him whose presence is life and light,—the refreshments and consolations of the Holy Spirit,—the light of His countenance, which cheers and enlivens you when you have walked in His ways, and not received His grace in vain,--the peace and joy experienced by the believer, though sometimes succeeded by sorrow and disquietude :-these things, though seen so imperfectly, and enjoyed so transiently, must cause you to desire to know more, and to see face to face that Divine Being from whom they proceed. The hope of seeing in unclouded glory the Author and Finisher of your faith-of being in His presence who formed you by His power, redeemed you by His mercy, and sustained you in the narrow path of life by His grace-of beholding that great mystery revealed, a Trinity in Unity; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom you owe your creation, redemption, and sanctification, must surely make you feel that to “ depart and to be with Christ is far better” than a continuance in this world of sin and sorrow. So far from desponding or repining at the decay of your body, you will rather rejoice, that “mortality must speedily be swallowed up of life;" because, knowing in WHOM

you have believed, you are persuaded “ that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, you have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens 1."

And now, my friend, I bid you farewell. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble: the name of the God of Jacob defend thee: send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion?” “ The Lord bless thee and keep thee! The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee! The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, now and evermore !”