you be purified of remaining imperfections? would you be trained for immortality? would you be fitted for the marriage supper? would you be sanctified in your spiritual nature? would you be encircled in the bow of promise, or adorned with the halo of glory? You must needs suffer affliction; for "it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God."

O SAVIOUR, whose mercy, severe in its kindness,
Has chastened my wanderings, and guided my way,
Adored be the power, which illumined my blindness,
And weaned me from phantoms which smiled to betray.

Enchanted with all that was dazzling and fair,

I followed the rainbow, I caught at the toy, And still in displeasure thy goodness was there, Disappointing the hope and defeating the joy.

The blossom blushed bright, but a worm was below;

The moonlight shone fair, there was blight in the beam; Sweet whispered the breeze, but it whispered of woe, And bitterness flowed in the soft flowing stream.

So cured of my folly, yet cured but in part,
I turned to the refuge thy pity displayed;

And still did this eager and credulous heart,

Weave visions of promise that bloomed but to fade.

I thought that the course of the pilgrim to heaven

Would be bright as the summer and glad as the morn: Thou showed'st me the path; it was dark and uneven, All ragged with rock, and all tangled with thorn.

I dreamed of celestial rewards and renown,

I grasped at the triumph which blesses the brave;
I asked for the palm-branch, the robe, and the crown :
I asked, and thou showed'st me a cross and a grave.

Subdued and instructed at length to thy will,

My hopes and my longings I fain would resign; O give me the heart that can wait and be still, Nor know of a wish or a pleasure but thine!

There are mansions exempted from sin and from woe,
But they stand in a region by mortals untrod;
There are rivers of joy, but they roll not below;
There is rest, but it dwells in the presence of God.

[A form of prayer is of no other use than to suggest proper thoughts for devotion. It is not intended that the following should supersede the place of prayer, or meditation, but merely become aids to the patient, or to those friends who may desire thus to express their sympathy. The pronouns I and We, and the verbs following, must be accommodated according to circumstances. A little ingenuity, a prayerful spirit, and a loving heart, will aid us more than volumes of instruction.]

O LORD our God, to whom belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against thee; we are proofs ourselves that thy compassions fail not: hence though corrected, we are not consumed; and though guilty, we are yet allowed and invited to enter thy pre

sence.

With deep humiliation, not unmingled with hope, help me to approach the throne of thy grace at this time of need. O be merciful unto me, and bless me, and cause thy face to shine upon me, that I may be saved. For the sake of thy dear Son, who died the just for the unjust, by whose name we are called, behold thy servant prostrate at thy footstool, and hear my voice.

Let it please thee to remove the blow of thine hand, by which I am being consumed. Oh give me deliverance from this calamity, and help me, that I may break thy commandments no more. Or, if thou hast determined to continue the correction, correct me, but with judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

Thou hast said, Is any afflicted? let him pray. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Fulfil the word unto thy servant, upon which thou

hast caused him to hope; and Oh let not the affliction be removed only, but, above all, sanctify it.

I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me; but thou, O Lord, save thy servant who trusteth in thee; let the blood of Jesus Christ, thy Son, cleanse me from all sin, and for his sake renew a right spirit within me; and grant that I may come forth out of this affliction more fitted to serve thee on earth, or better prepared for the fellowship of heaven; for my Redeemer's sake. Amen.

2.

ON MURMURING AT AFFLICTION.

MARSHALL.

To murmur at affliction is to charge God foolishly, inasmuch as it impeaches his justice. Never must it be forgotten that we are sinful creatures; that we have rebelled against the great God, our Maker; that we have forfeited every claim to his favour; that it is solely of his mercies that we are not consumed. Shall we, then, presume to complain of severity? Shall we fret when his hand is lifted up, as if an injury were done us? Shall we imagine to ourselves that we do well to

be angry, or to harbour the irritable feelings of a proud and unhallowed heart? Shall we not rather be dumb; not opening our mouth, remembering who does it? Shall we not confess that we are punished less than our iniquities deserve? Shall we not acknowledge that to the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us shame and confusion of face?

To murmur at affliction is to charge God foolishly, inasmuch as it impeaches his goodness. The trials sent to us may, for aught we know, be sent for our profit. They may be productive of advantages greater far, and more various, than we can calculate. Though not for the present joyous, but grievous, they may be the breaking-up of that soil which shall be crowned in due time with the fruits of righteousness. As many as God loves he rebukes and chastens.

To murmur at affliction is to charge God foolishly, inasmuch as it is to impeach his wisdom. If correction be for our profit, who shall determine the mode or the degree of it? Who shall say, at what time, or in what form it shall be administered? Shall we presume to decide this question ourselves? or shall it be left to the decision of Him who alone is competent to decide it? Is our wisdom to be set in opposition to the wisdom of God? Can we tell what is necessary to subdue our perverseness, or to humble our pride, or to work out of us the leaven of malice and wickedness, or to beget in our breasts, the meek, the lowly, the teachable disposition of a little child? Let us acknowledge our own ignorance. Let us learn to submit our judgment to his, and to say, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good."