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THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST,

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THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE,

THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST,

CHRIST'S LAST PRAYER FOR HIS DISCIPLES,

JESUS WASHING HIS DISCIPLES' FEET,

THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN,

THE GRAND OBJECT OF FAITH,

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ORIGINAL THOUGHTS, ETC.

THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY.

So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi ? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: Why then call ye mne Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?— RUTH i. 19-21.

[1807.]

LIFE has been, by some, compared to a journey, in which wisdom is found watching on the way, and careful where she arrives at the end. This is a great abuse of the truest wisdom: he only is wise who is made wise from above; that is the truly wise man! But how shall this wisdom be produced? and that in such a trifling, careless, inconsiderate creature as man? God prepares a school of affliction to this end. There is more real wisdom to be gathered from sanctified affliction than all the world can furnish. The text exhibits the effects of becoming instructed in that school.

A pious woman, who was called Naomi, i. e. blessed, was driven by famine into the country of Moab, together with her husband and two sons. Her husband was taken from her by death; and next, her two sons, who had each of them married wives of the daughters of Moab. "And the woman was left of her two sons

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and her husband. in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." "So they went till they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is not this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi," q. d. that name does not suit my state and condition now-call me not "blessed :" I have passed a trying path since I have been from home! "Call me Mara," i. e. bitter; the Lord, in his providence, has called me so: "I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty." Call me, then, as the Lord has called me by this dispensation and seeing he has called me to possess bitter things, I would remain as he has appointed. This subject was chosen in order to SHOW THE BENEFIT OF AN AFFLICTIVE DISPENSATION. Let us look at it in two or three points of view.

Then she arose with her daughters

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1st. This is God's mode of carrying on a heavenly education. It is his mode of curing the idolatry of the heart. We are all idolaters by nature. It is mere trifling to say, we do not worship idols of wood and stone. If our heart departs from the Lord, and fixes upon any creature whatever, we must be cured of this idolatry. Ephraim shall be made to say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" It must not be my wife, or my children, which I call my property, nor my reputation; but it must be my God. It is a miracle of grace where the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of man. Whenever this is brought about, the Lord himself tells us how this is done. "I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms." Hosea xi. 3. I drew my Church "with the cords of a man,

with bands of love:" you teach your children to walk; you do not teach them difficult things at first I taught Ephraim-I softened his hard heart-I taught him to weep over his stiff neck—I taught him to wear the yoke-I educated him, in order to make him humble and teachable, like a little child. What can you do with your children while they are stubborn? what can you do with the best seal, while the wax is hard? You must soften the wax, before you can make an impression. Without this discipline and education, they would have said, Our tongues are our own; who is Lord over us?" But "I taught Ephraim"-I softened his spirit,-I taught him that a proud reptile is a complete wretch. If the will be not broken, selfwill will become the ruin of that heart. A heathen may call a proud spirit a virtue: the Bible calls it sin.

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A young heedless child, whipping a top upon the edge of a precipice, is a complete picture of the levity and inconsideration of man by nature. He He says, Let me be amused; let me not go to school and be instructed; let me not wear any yoke. But what says the Lord? "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit:" I have ordained that this shall be the first lesson in my school; and when there begins to be some proficiency in this lesson, there will be a new manner of speaking: "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." Then, the Lord says, "Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child?" Now, he is taught to go; his education is somewhat advanced. This is the school into which God brought Naomi.

The Scriptures not only set before us precepts, and

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