SUFFERING.

If faith were left untried,

How could the might, that lurks within her, then

Be shown? Her glorious excellence-that ranks

Among the first of Powers and Virtues proved?—Wordsworth.

Yet I argue not

Against heaven's hand or will; nor bate one jot

Of heart or hope; but still bear up, and steer
Right onward.-MILTON.

The oyster sickens, while the pearl doth substance win;
Thank God for pains, that prove a nobler growth within.

TRENCH,

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who ran bear?

How no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble kners; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

IT is good that we have sometimes troubles and crosses; for they often make a man enter into himself, and consider that he ought not to place his trust in any worldly thing.

It is good that we be sometimes contradicted; and that men think ill of us; and this, although we do and intend well.

For then we more diligently seek God for our inward witness; when, outwardly, we are contemned by

men.

In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our enemies, in the cross is heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is the height of virtue, in the cross is the perfection of holiness.

If thou bear the cross willingly, it will bear thee. If thou bear it unwillingly, thou increasest thy load, and yet thou must bear it. If thou cast away one cross, thou shalt find another and perhaps a more heavy one.

If anything had been more profitable to the salvation of man than suffering, Christ surely would have shown it by word and example.

But he plainly exhorteth all that follow him to the bearing of the cross; and saith, 'If any man will come after me, let him renounce himself, and take up his cross

and follow me.'

So that, when we have read and searched all, let this be the last conclusion, that by many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.-Thomas à Kempis.

Ir ought, in some measure, to reconcile us to our lot, that, in feeling distress, we strike chords in unison with the whole universe. Adversity is capricious in its times and seasons; but its visitations, sooner or later, never fail. In some, it overwhelms the first hopes of

life, so that they no sooner begin to taste felicity in prospect than they are crossed with hopeless disappointment: others, it permits to advance farther, waits till they spread the foundations of happiness deep and wide, that just when they have nearly finished the superstructure, it may overwhelm them with a more extensive desolation. Some are racked with pains and agonies of body; and others are preys to disappointed passions and blasted hopes; wasted with devouring regrets, and sick at heart with melancholy retrospects, wishing in vain they could arrest the wings of time, and put the current of life back. Of all these classes, every individual thinks his misfortunes the greatest. For the same reason, we are never at a loss to hear our own voice, be it ever so slender: the cry of a pierced heart sounds shrill in the solitary ear of the sufferer. Since we cannot essentially meliorate, let us endeavour to allay our anguish, by moderating our expectations. I am persuaded all we can reasonably hope for, on this side the grave, is tranquillity; not the insensibility of a statue, but the placidity of a well-informed mind, relying on the promises and the cheering prospects of immortality.-Robert Hall.

He who gave us the Gospel was the Man of Sorrows; and the glad tidings of great joy were pronounced by a voice mellowed by many a sadness. And not otherwise is it with the messenger-spirit of our private hearts; which does not become the Christ, the consecrated revealer of what is holy, unless it be much acquainted with

grief. Heaven and God are best discerned through tears; scarcely perhaps discerned at all without them. I do not mean that a man must be outwardly afflicted, and lose his comforts or his friends, before he can become devout. Many a Christian maintains the truest heart of piety without such dispensations, and more, alas! remain as hard and cold as ever in spite of them. That there is felt to be a general tendency however, in the blow of calamity and in the sense of loss, to awaken the latent thought of God, and persuade us to seek His refuge, the current language of devotion in every age, the constant association of prayer with the hour of bereavement and the scenes of death, serve to show. Yet is this effect of external distress only a particular instance of a general truth, viz. that religion springs up in the mind, wherever any of the infinite affections and desires press severely against the finite conditions of our existence.-Martineau.

It is a rare soul that hath not some notable disease; only crosses are thy remedies What if they be unpleasant? They are physic: it is enough if they be wholesome. Not pleasant taste, but the secret virtue commends medicines. If they cure thee, they shall please thee, even in displeasing, or else thou lovest thy palate above thy soul. What madness is this? When thou complainest of a bodily disease, thou sendest to the physician, that he may send thee, not savory, but wholesome potions: thou receivest them in spite of thine abhorring stomach, and

withal both thankest and rewardest the physician. Thy soul is sick: thy heavenly Physician sees and pities thee ere thou thyself, and unsent to, sends thee not a plausible but a sovereign remedy: thou loathest the savour, and rather wilt hazard thy life, than offend thy palate; and, instead of thanks, repinest at, revilest the Physician. How comes it that we love ourselves so little (if at least we count our souls the best, or any part), as that we had rather undergo death than pain, choosing rather wilful sickness than a harsh remedy? Surely we men are mere fools in the estimation of our own good; like children, our choice is led altogether by show; no whit by substance. We cry after every well-seeming toy, and put from us solid proffers of good things. The wise Arbitrator of all things sees our folly, and corrects it, withholding our idle desires, and forcing upon us the sound good we refuse. It is second folly in us if we thank Him not. The foolish babe cries for his father's bright knife and gilded pills. The wiser father knows that they can but hurt him, and therefore withholds them after all his tears. The child thinks he is used but unkindly. Every wise man, and himself at more years, can say it was but childish folly in desiring it, in complaining that he missed it. The loss of wealth, friends, health is sometimes gain to us. Thy body, thy estate is worse; thy soul is better, why complainest thou?-Bishop Hall.

Not only knowledge, but also every other gift which we call the gifts of fortune, are apt to puff up earth;