THE TOILS AND TROUBLES OF PIL

have to bless the Lord that when he

HAPPY CLOSE OF ALL THEIR SORROWS; AND

HIRELINGS WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE AND FOUND WANTING.

"Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward."—Job v. 6, 7.

"The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."— John x. 3.

TROUBLE is the common lot of all mankind, and our short lives are variegated with disagreeable changes, disappointments, and vexations of Man that is born of every colour. a woman is of few days and full of trouble," Job xiv. 1. And yet it is a melancholy reflection, few as his days are he is so wedded to the earth, that he seeks for happiness from it with as much eagerness as if God had intended it for his everlasting habitation. Where is the man know ing his own heart, that does not feel the weight of this observation! Oh, the anxiety that the cares of this world create in our restless minds! Cares, which are so many murderers to soul comfort. Notwithstanding we March, 1843.]

unavoidable will, in all our afflictions we can sing,

"Our lives thro' various scenes are drawn,
And vexed with trifling cares;
While thine eternal thoughts move on
Thine undisturbed affairs."

But the saints of God not only participate with the rest of mankind in the common afflictions attending human life, they also have to encounter those peculiar to the christian warfare, which are exceedingly more afflictive and insupportable. These are the afflictions intended by David, where he says of the wicked, "They are not in trouble as other men," Ps. lxxiii. 3, 5. They are unacquainted with soul trouble. But many are the afflictions of the righteous," for the Lord trieth the righteous, and maketh them partakers of the afflic tiens of the gospel, according to the power of God (2 Tim. i. 8). And when they are enabled to view them as afflictions peculiar to the children of God, painful and disagreeable as they are, they possess a secret and satisfactory joy amidst all, that God hath counted them worthy to suffer in his cause, and given them a portion

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with his people. Looking up to the Redeemer for support and guidance, it is theirs to say,

"How harsh soe'er the way,

Dear Saviour, still lead on;
Nor leave us till we say

Father, thy will be done."

But how often is it, on the other hand, when they have forgotten their resting-place, and lost every proper view of their afflictions, that they are ready to sink under their complicated pressure. The sins of their nature, the treachery of a deceitful heart, the wiles of the devil, the darkness that their souls pass through, the want of an heart to cry unto the Lord; and, added to all this, a variety of outward sorrows and reproaches, is enough to sink them totally, so as to be able to rise no more. Especially from the persecuting spirit, pride and haughtiness of men of corrupt minds, men destitute of the saving knowledge of the truth. Yet a persecuting spirit, pride and haughtiness toward the poor and distrest of Christ's flock, is unseemly in any who look for mercy themselves. It shews that they are strangers to that wisdom which is from above, which maketh men humble, kind, gentle, peaceable, and ready to shew that mercy that they have felt before. Distress and misery ought to be a load-stone for mercy, not a footstool for pride to trample upon. So, when God lays his hand upon his people, the strong are no more than the weak. Yet they need not fear, his hand guides the storm; he knows how to protect, support, and deliver them. His sheep feed in the midst of wolves, yet they are preserved safe; for though they see him not, his eyes and his heart are upon them. Adversity is a school in which the children of God through his grace are taught wisdom. The evil of sin, the vanities of earth, the feebleness and uncertainties of an arm of flesh, these are all matters of which we may learn something by the hearing of the ear,

It is

but it is through the medium of adversity that we feel and see them. We may speak about sickness, or poverty, or slander, or bereavements; but it is when these things come to us that we understand them. Then, not a few scriptures, which scarcely attracted notice before, become under the Spirit's teaching fraught with meaning and power. All our burdens are adjusted by him who alone knows what we can bear. The nature, the extent, and the duration of our present afflictions, all are regulated by him who hath said, As thy day, so shall thy strength be; My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength shall be made perfect in thy weakness." Our enemies are all his enemies; and our ultimate triumph must, in consequence, be his glory. It is a fatal error to suppose that adversity will prove a school for heaven, apart from the operations of God's grace. his grace which savingly quickens and enlightens; it is this which comforts; it is this alone which gives peace and patience in the path of the afflicted. It is manifest, then, that adversity is inevitable; and that its occurrence in many forms, is so far probable, as to be on the very line of certainty. Sickness, poverty, reproach, bereavement, and many a secret sorrow, to all these we are exposed, under most of these we shall unquestionably suffer. But what shall the issue be? Every thread of our present existence is interwoven by its consequences with the future: and what shall that future be? The results of our present sufferings are all strictly dependent on our character. If we are believers in Jesus, the grace which has made us such, will render whatsoever is afflictive in our lot on earth conducive to the ultimate benefit of our souls. But if this grace be wanting, the element of all good is wanting, and dying in that state we must perish for ever. The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are not understood spiritually but by the

heirs of the kingdom, and are revealed unto them " according to the measure of the gift of Christ." But to unregenerate persons the things of God are insipid, flat, dull as the foot of a rock, and are to them like music to a stone. God's work in his people descends like rain falling in uninhabited vallies, where no eye observes showers, yet the valleys laugh and sing to God in their refreshment. All that is spiritually known is revealed by the Holy Ghost, effected by his grace, promoted by his gifts, encouraged by special promises applied, and is begun, carried on, and finished without any creature help. God dispenses his mercies that they may run over our thoughts and expectations, and they are given in no proportion to us, but according to God's measures; he considering not what we are worthy of, but what is fit for him to give. The more incompetent the means is, the greater is the glory of God, who hath produced waters from a rock, and fire from the collision of a sponge and wool; and it is certain the end does not take its estimate from the external means. For all power and all wisdom is from above," and in spiritual ministrations is a direct emanation from the Holy Spirit: for God having sown the incorruptible seed in their hearts, it takes root downwards, and springs out into the verdure of a leaf, he still waters it with the gentle rain of the Holy Spirit, for it is under his renewings alone they bring forth fruit unto God.

Not one thing under heaven, says a late servant of God, will ever bring peace into the soul but faith in the blood of Christ; no breast-plate but his righteousness, no rest but in his dying love shed abroad in the heart, no assurance of heaven but under the Spirit's seal, no joy but in the light of the King's countenance, no escaping the reign of sin but by being under grace, no fruit but by union with the living vine, no escaping the

fulfilling the lusts of the flesh but by walking in the Spirit, no usefulness in the ministry but by the Spirit's testimony. How true, yet how many there are in the visible church who are nothing but hirelings, great gifts but no grace, every one looking for gain instead of watching for souls, for they care not for the sheep. "He is an hireling that flies when the wolf cometh, and careth not for the sheep," (says Christ.) Gain to them is godliness; and religion is but a trade of life, to fill his belly with luxuries, keep the body warm, and have a great name amongst men. He seeks those things which are his own, and not the things which are Jesus Christ's; he is the hireling and attends to nothing but his belly and the mammon of this world, and God shall destroy both it and him. In this world unregenerate professors thrive by villany; and lying and deceiving is accounted just; and to be rich is to be wise and tyranny is honourable; and to such the bread of gain and flattery is sweet. If we look round about us, and see how the greater part of mankind watch to devour one another: and they that are devoured are generally the poor, and the harmless, the gentle and uncrafty, the simple and spiritual; and then how many ways all godly men are exposed to danger; it must be confessed that this is a place of wasps and insects, of vipers and dragons, of tigers and bears; for the sheep are eaten by men, or devoured by wolves in sheep's clothing, and deceived by cunning foxes that spoil the tender vines, or die unpitied or unrelieved. The Psalmist in one short verse of his experience has given the experience of the greater part of the tried family of God: "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top," Psalm cii. 7. The sparrow watches against the snare of the fowler, and the arrow of the archer; and also the hand that is to supply his wants. He was alone, and therefore had no one