In a third, that "for a small moment we are forsaken." So, and no more is it in the estimation of faith, and compared with eternity. That end is blessed and glorious. No power of description or thought can do it justice. It will bring a full development of all the trying dispensations through which you have passed. You shall no longer walk by faith, but by sight. You shall see that his work is perfect, and his ways judgment. You shall see how the most adverse providences were essential to your welfare; and not only feeling satisfied, but filled with wonder and gratitude, you will be able to say, "Amidst my list of blessings infinite, What was Canaan to the Jews, after all the bondage of Egypt, and the travels and privations of the desert; what was that land flowing with milk and honey, that rest which the Lord their God gave them, compared with the rest that remains for the people of God that better, that heavenly country! What a complete, what an eternal discharge! Of all your sufferings, nothing will remain but the remembrance, and this will enhance the deliverance; and "the greater the sorrow, the louder you'll sing." The shadow of care, of sorrow, of fear, shall never flit over those regions of repose and blessedness. "Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." I could go on repeating Scripture, for it loves to dwell upon this subject; but I will conclude this reference with two passages. The one is, the testimony of the Apostle Paul. He spoke from experience. No one had suffered more; and he had been in the third heaven. But hear him: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." The other is the address of the angel to John in the Revelation; words which Burns the poet says he could never from a child read without tearsso allied is the tenderness of genius to the sentiments of piety. "He said unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, or any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Men and brethren, you have often heard it said, "The end crowns the action." "All is well, that ends well." Now religion has this recommendation. We are far from denying its present advantages; for we know from Scripture and observation and experience, that it is profitable unto all things, and has promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. But allowing that it were all gloom, and self-denial, and sacrifice, and suffering here; yet" mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." The happiness in which it terminates, infinitely more than indemnifies and recompenses all the hardships and trials of the passage. Even Balaam confessed this; and prayed, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." What a difference between the Christian and others. Both are advancing towards the close of life: but they are leaving their good things, and he his evil ones. Both will soon bid eternal farewell: but they to their joys, and he to his sorrows. They at death will plunge into "the blackness of darkness for ever;" while he will reach "the inheritance of the saints in light." -So reasonable is the Christian's resignation; and so well founded is the Christian's hope, with regard to afflic tion. -"But what has such a subject as this to do with me? I am not in trouble." Then I tremble for you. We know of whom David speaks, when he says, "They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men." And we know who has said, "Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God." But if you are not afflicted, you soon may. Every thing here is uncertain. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out. Truth whispers, "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity." Is it not therefore wise to provide against what is possible, what is probable; yea, I will add, unavoidable? "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished." But are you sure you are not afflicted even now? In the midst of your sufficiency are you not in straits? In all your successes, do you not feel a cold aching void within, still urging you to ask, "Who will show us any good?" While you walk according to the course of the world, do you not complain of the poverty of its pleasures, and the falseness of its resources? Are you not dissatisfied with all creature enjoyments? Is there not a constant war between your inclinations and convictions? Does not conscience often condemn you? Have you not your forebodings of the future? Do you never think of the infirmities of approaching years; of the house appointed for all living; of the judgment-seat of Christ? Perhaps at this very moment you are not strangers to a wish that you had never been born. Colonel Gardiner tells us, "that while he was keeping up every gay appearance, and was envied as the happiest of mortals, he would gladly have exchanged conditions with a dog." "There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked." -But here are some, here are many before me who are in trouble. For the days are evil; and the cup is going round; and what family, what individual is not called to taste the bitterness, if not to drink the very dregs? I do not ask you what your trials are; but I must inquire, what are you doing under them? Are you despising the chastening of the Lord, or are you fainting now you are rebuked of him?-Unsanctified trouble always produces one of these; it always hardens the sufferer against God, or sinks him into despondency. Is the former of these your case? Are you one of those, who, when he arrays himself against them, instead of submitting, "rush upon the thick bosses of his buckler;" and "fight against God?" Are you like Ahaz, of whom it is said, " In his affliction he sinned yet more and more against God-This is that Ahaz!" It was an awful appeal that Jeremiah made to God, concerning many of his hearers. Must your preacher prefer the same? "O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return." If this be the case, faithfulness requires me to tell you, that one of these two consequences will be sure to follow. That is, either God, provoked by your contempt of his correction, will cease to disturb you, and recalling the instruments of his discipline, will say, "They are joined to idols, let them alone." Or he will turn the rod into a scorpion, and fulfil the threatening, "If ye walk contrary to me, I also will walk contrary to you, and punish you seven times for your iniquity." Thus the blow first affects the man's property. Then it strikes a remoter relation. Then it takes away the desire of his eyes. Then it invades his own person, and shakes him by disorder over the pit-and he recovers-and turns again to folly. At length, having been often reproved, and hardening his neck, he is suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. Are none of you in danger of this? Are there not some of you, who have not only been addressed by him, and frequently addressed; but also have been smitten by him, and awfully too; so that it would have seemed impossible for you to stand out? "I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." But canst thou stand before him? Can thy heart endure, or thy hand be strong when he shall deal with thee? How much better to be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live! Then will his repentings be kindled together. Then will he say, "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. Surely after that I was turned, I repented: and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." There is another extreme. Instead of despising, perhaps you are fainting. You are desponding. You are at your wits' end. You are tempted to curse the day of your birth. Life has lost all its charm-it is a burden too heavy for you to bear. You turn to solitude; but there grief preys upon itself. You think of intoxication; this is drowning misery in madness. You glance at infidelity; but annihilation may be a fiction, and the present only the beginning of sorrows. You resolve on suicide; but you cannot destroy yourself. You take the pistol, and shatter to pieces the tabernacle, and your friends are aghast at the ruins; but the inhabitant has escaped, and the spirit feels itself still in the grasp of God. I am far from insulting your grief. I sympathize with you; and rejoice that I can show unto you a more excellent way. "There is One standing among you whom ye know not." Let me introduce him in all the fulness of his pity and power. He is equally able and willing to relieve you. He is the enemy of sin, but he is the friend of sinners. Cast thy burden upon the Lord: and say, Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. He will not, he cannot refuse thy application. For he has said, and is now saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." See Manasseh. He was stripped of all, and carried away captive. But his salvation sprang not from his prosperity, but his adversity. "When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God." Think of the Prodigal. Plenty had ruined him. The famine, and the husks which the swine did eat, made him think of home-" How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise, and go to my father." And that father, while he was yet "a great way off, saw him, and had compassion upon him, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him :" and not only clothed and fed, but adorned and feasted him; and said, "Let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." Despair not; but follow these examples, and you will be able to say, with the famous Athenian, " I should have been lost, had I not been lost:" and to sing with many a sufferer before you, |