subsequent dispensations of God's providence; and however mysterious these dispensations may at times appear, they will still have, in their own experience, a proof which they can neither question nor forget, that "God afflicteth not willingly, nor grieveth the children of men."

It is not necessary, we conceive, to pursue these remarks to a greater length, in the way either of proof or of illustration; inasmuch as they will be readily assented to by all who can trace their first serious impressions of divine truth to a season of personal or family affliction. It is not, however, to such persons alone, that the wisdom of God is manifested, in employing afflictive dispensations as the means of promoting the spiritual welfare of his people; for we need not hesitate to lay it down as a proposition universally applicable to the case of believers, that by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The truth of this remark is too obvious to require any proof, in those cases where Christians have been in a state of backsliding -where there has been a very palpable decline in the divine life, or a very wide departure from the path of Christian obedience—and where some worldly object had long, and but too successfully, disputed with God the sovereignty of their affections. Chastisement at such times is not only seasonable, but indispensably necessary, in the same sense as we have already endeavoured to demonstrate the necessity of affliction in general; and when that chastisement, however painful it may have been, is so blessed as to awaken believers to a sense of their delin

quency, and to bring them back to God, it cannot fail, not only to command their resigned acquiescence, but to leave on their minds a deeper impression, than they ever before felt, of the care and unceasing watchfulness of their heavenly Father. But even

in those cases where there has been no such visible backsliding or decline, affliction may not be less seasonable in itself, or less salutary in its consequences. Such a decline is not always accompanied with very obvious or palpable indications of a decay of Christian principle in the heart, or departure from Christian obedience in the life. No very powerful temptation may have occurred to draw believers into any flagrant act of inconsistency, or to interrupt, to any great degree, their observance of religious dutiestheir seasons of spiritual exercises may be as regular, and the outward tenor of their life as uniform, as ever they were in the eye of their fellow-Christians, every thing may wear a promising aspect-and there may be nothing to awaken in their own minds, any suspicion or doubt as to their progressive advancement in the Christian life. But the world, notwithstanding, may have been silently, though not less surely, making inroads on their spirituality of mind; a series of successful enterprizes in the business of life, and the undisturbed enjoyment of accumulating comforts, may have imperceptibly stolen away their hearts from God; their affections may have been so entangled with sensible objects, as to have lost not a little of their attachment to spiritual things; and though they might still continue to travel their former round of religious observances, their views of

ness.

divine truth might be all the while degenerating into something like cold speculative opinions, and their spiritual exercises partaking more of the show and form, than of the power and practice of vital godliAn approach, at least, to a state like this, is, we fear, no uncommon thing, even among Christians; and how frequently does it happen that the delusion is dissipated only by some disappointment or affliction, in which they are experimentally taught, that they had again begun to spend their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not. And is it not obvious, from the very constitution of our nature, that in no conceivable way could this earthly tendency of the affections be so effectually arrested and counteracted, as by the salutary discipline of affliction; removing the object that had occupied the place which God alone ought to have held; entailing disappointment on the pursuits and enjoyments by which the heart was in the way of being brought into bondage; and giving us to feel, that vanity and vexation of spirit are all that the world has, wherewith to repay the toil and the labour of those who would make it their portion. It is possible, indeed, that the Christian, when overtaken by an unexpected calamity, may, at the moment, give way to the rebellious suggestion, that the chastisement is more severe than can be accounted for on the ground of any peculiar delinquency on his part, and that something less painful might have been sufficient to correct the worldly influence that had been gradually stealing upon him. Were it competent for him, however,

to comprehend at one view all the circumstances of his condition, as they appear to the eye of Infinite Wisdom-could he estimate, as God does, the strength of the unsanctified influence that required to be subdued, the extent to which that influence had already operated upon him, and the source from which its chief strength was derived-and were he able to appreciate the full amount of the salutary ef fects by which his affliction is to be followed; he would find that this affliction was nothing more than what was indispensably necessary that it had been dealt out to him in just such a measure as his spiritual welfare required—and that any other, of a less painful nature, would have fallen short of the object which it was designed to effect. And, in point of fact, the experience of Christians does frequently bear witness that it is so. The first practical effect of affliction, and the first token of its being sanctified to the believer, is, in many cases, a returning sensibility of conscience, whereby he is awakened, as if from a dream, to a lively recollection of many things which before cost him no uneasiness, but on a review of which he now feels humbled and abased -and when he thinks of the mercy which interposed so to awaken him, and contemplates the danger from which he has thus been rescued, he will be ready to say, with all gratitude and sincerity, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."

-Such is the view that we are naturally led to take of affliction, considered in the light of chastisement; and every Christian must acknowledge, that

"though for the present it seemeth not to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." There is, however, another view, which we conceive the believer is warranted to take of the subject, and from which he may derive abundant consolation. Independently altogether of any thing in the past or present condition of the Christian, on account of which he may stand in need of chastening, there may be temptations awaiting him which he is but ill prepared to encounter, and circumstances about to occur, which, with a previous course of worldly prosperity and comfort, might prove injurious to his Christian character, and bring his spiritual interests into jeopardy. Affliction, therefore, may have a view to the future, as well as a reference to the past; it may be the preparation which God in his infinite wisdom sees necessary, because he sees it the best, for putting his people into a posture of defence; it may be that which brings them into such a state of mind as renders them less accessible to the allurements by which their spiritual adversary is preparing to entangle them; and as the means of strengthening their attachment to the truth, may prove to them the intimation of a coming danger, a signal for them, so to speak, to take to themselves the whole armour of God, that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We are persuaded that there are many who must have had this view of the subject verified in their own experience;-many who can connect spiritual deliverances with former afflic