way more solemn and impressive than they could be by any other means, short of the actual experience of similar afflictions in their own person; and that, in this way, the sufferings of an individual may be made to exercise a most wholesome influence, even upon multitudes who are themselves exempted from the severity of such discipline, and who, amidst the uninterrupted enjoyment of worldly prosperity, might be in danger of forgetting their mortality and frailty.

We have thus endeavoured to suggest to the believer some considerations calculated to illustrate the Scripture declaration, that "God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men;" and to point out some of the happy effects of affliction, considered as a salutary discipline. In attempting, however, to do so, we would not have the Christian suppose, that our object has been to point out special reasons for any particular case of tribulation, as if the discovery of such reasons were necessary to command his resigned acquiescence in the divine appointments. Whether such reasons can be assigned or not, there is one truth from which the considerations now stated derive all their force, and the belief of which can never fail to secure this resignation on the part of the Christian. If he believes and recollects that God so loved the world, guilty and apostate as it was, that he spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up to the death for us all, he can require no other argument to convince him that there is mercy in affliction, and no farther explanation of the divine procedure to reconcile him to any of God's dispensations. It is this truth indeed, and this alone, that

can call forth unreserved submission to the divine will; and it is to this, therefore, that the believer betakes himself in every season of perplexity and trouble. He sees in the death of Christ the surest, because infinitely the most valuable pledge that God himself could give, that no affliction will be employed but such as infinite love dictates, and infinite wisdom approves; and persuaded as he is, that his salvation, even the perfection and blessedness of his nature, is the end of all God's dealings with him, and the object on which God looks with complacency, he cannot but be also persuaded that his happiness is the ultimate design of every afflictive visitation. To the worldly mind, it may appear a paradox, or absolute contradiction, to say, that suffering is inflicted for the purpose of securing the happiness and the well-being of the sufferer; and the resignation, therefore, of such a mind will never be any thing more than a sullen and constrained submission to stern necessity. But it is because that mind has never seen the glory of that effulgence with which the death of Christ illuminates the divine government, and the character of love and mercy which it impresses on every act of his administration towards the children of men; for the man who has learned to contemplate the divine procedure by the aid of this light, will believe not only that God afflicteth not willingly, but that he does so with reluctancereluctance in this sense, and to this extent, that he pities while he afflicts, and looks upon the sufferings of his people with an infinitely more profound compassion, than ever affectionate father did on the child

whom he loves, and whom that very love constrains him to chasten. It is the Christian's consolation to

believe that his once tempted, and suffering, and crucified Redeemer is now exalted to the sovereignty of the world; that to Him has been committed the administration of all things that concern the wellbeing of his followers; that his supremacy is unceasingly exercised in providing for their security and comfort; and that no affliction can befall them, but with his knowledge, and by his appointment. He is, moreover, assured, and he believes, however difficult and hard the saying may appear to others, that this compassionate Saviour sympathizes in the very sufferings which he himself appoints; for it is expressly said, that "we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." And with this assurance, can he doubt, that in such hands he is secure from every affliction that is not essential to his well-being? can he desire any other pledge on this point, than that it is the appointment of Him who loved his people even unto the death? or can he require any thing more to soothe and to support him, than the reflection, that he has the sympathy and affectionate commiseration of the Lord of life? Let the believer seek to realize this truth, and it will give a meaning and a force to the subject of these remarks, which no illustration can impart to it-let him labour habitually to recollect it, and he will need no argument to convince him, that "God afflicteth not willingly, nor grieveth the children of men."

They

With these general remarks on the subject of affliction, we would refer our readers to the following Treatises, where they will find the considerations at which we have but just hinted, fully illustrated, and most powerfully enforced. We do not, indeed, know any works better fitted to be a companion to the afflicted; nor can the Christian, we think, rise from the perusal of them, without some salutary impressions, calculated to soothe him under present suffering, or fit him for meeting future trials with devout acquiescence in the divine appointment. are the works of men who knew human nature well, because they were well acquainted with their own heart; and we cannot conceive any form which dissatisfaction with the dispensations of God's providence can assume, that they have not examined and exposed. This observation is particularly applicable to the treatise by FLAVEL, who, with great spiritual skill, has laid open those secret feelings of discontentment with the divine procedure, of which Christians are at times hardly conscious perhaps, but which too frequently lie at the foundation of immoderate and unbecoming sorrow in seasons of affliction.

In

CECIL'S "Visit to the House of Mourning," the Christian will find set forth, in a very impressive light, the abundant consolation which the gospel provides for him in the time of trouble, and such an exhibition of the divine perfections, as is admirably fitted to strengthen the conviction, that even in the severest of his chastisements, God is still faithful to his character as a compassionate Father. But, if we might venture to single out one, among works that

are all so excellent, we would especially recommend to the notice of our readers, the first of the treatises by SHAW. Independent of its general excellence, as containing a large portion of truth, condensed into a small compass, it derives a peculiar interest from the circumstances in which it was written, as embodying the experience of a man of eminent piety and spirituality of mind, while under the pressure of a very painful and trying visitation of providence. We know scarcely any thing more impressive than his prefatory address to the reader, when he "solemnly and sincerely professes before God, and angels, and men, that he was never so much as inclined to think hardly of God, or his good and holy ways, because of his afflictive dispensation ;" and while this declaration, we doubt not, will remind many of the hard thoughts, and unworthy suspicions, to which they have sometimes given way in seasons of affliction, it furnishes also an encouraging example of the maturity of strength to which the believer's faith may be brought, and after which it is alike the privilege and the duty of every Christian to aspire. But whatever may be our predilection for Shaw's work, we trust that our readers will find the whole worthy of a repeated perusal; and we may venture to apply to each of them the words of the excellent preface to this edition of Cecil:-" The value of this work has been already well tried by the test of extended experiment; and it has found a warm friend in many a distracted heart which it has soothed, and in many an afflicted family whom it has visited with the balm of heavenly consolation. The blessing of the Great