messengers of the Lord, compelled to subserve the execution of His purposes of love; and as Luther says, "Well does the Lord know how to make one knave apply the rod to the back of another." What room, then, is there for hatred or malice in the breast of a Christian who looks upon even bitter enemies as messengers sent to him from God with a menace or a blow? In the second place, it instructs us to turn our eye away from the thoughts and intentions of all adversaries, and direct it to the thoughts of love cherished towards us by the Lord, according as David sings: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; my cup runneth over." While they rage and storm, I am of good cheer, and say,

Full well I know that God's intent

St Peter's self cannot prevent.

Oh what a world of vexation are they spared who, under every cross which they suffer from the hands of men, think more of what the Lord than of what men intend to do!

Ye foes of mine, why take such pains to wound me and annoy?
What are ye all but officers in our great God's employ?
Bitter, indeed, would be my grief, unless full well I knew
That God the surgeon is, and His mere instruments are you.
O happy he who sees the threads of all that's said and done
By man on earth meet in the hand of the Almighty One!

It would appear, then, that for man here upon earth the only misfortune is sin. Tell me, dear reader, what would it matter though sickness and poverty, the mockery and contempt of adversaries, and even death itself, were to assail thee, if thy heart were armed with the faith and patience of the saints, and if thou hadst learned quietly to wait, and trustfully and hopefully to humble thyself under the mighty hand of God? What is it but sin that blackens affliction, or what is a misfortune to any man unless he regard it as such? Is not our bearing towards affliction that which makes it affliction at all? "Wherefore doth a living man complain?" Let him complain of his sin. Thou art poor, my brother, but why murmur at

thy poverty, and not rather at thy discontented heart, which can never have enough? Thy talents are few and small, but why wilt thou murmur at that, and not much more at the devil of pride, which cannot brook being numbered among those who are not "noble after the flesh"? Thine enemies sorely vex thee, but why murmur against them, and not rather against thine own unbelieving heart, which will not be persuaded that they can do nothing to thee but what the Lord bids them? In short, among all the calamities of earth, only one is real, and that is sin.

O Holy Spirit of the Lord, teach me the fear of sin. Thy will is that all Thy children should fear it more than suffering. When, however, I inquire at my inmost heart which of the two I dread the most, I find that I incline to be exempt from the assaults of affliction more than from the wiles of sin; and, O Lord, so long as this is the case, I am not wholly Thine. Spirit of might! subdue the infirmity of my flesh; arm me with the strength which enabled the prophets of old to stand fast even when the floods overwhelmed their souls. O God, Thou art very rich-even now as rich as Thou wert in those days. All the many millions to whose penury Thou hast since been ministering with gift upon gift have not exhausted Thy treasures; and well I know that if I supplicate Thee in earnest, Thou wilt not send me away empty.

29.

Count it Joy when ye fall into Temptations.

Thou didst taste the cross,

And find it bitter. Next time ponder well;

Perhaps 'twas not the KERNEL, but the SHELL.

JAMES, i. 1, 2. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord

Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered.

abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations."

How

OW profitable it is to read the words of one who was connected by birth with the Lord of glory, and who afterwards became His spiritual brother and servant! Not until after long resistance were James and John brought to acknowledge in Him who was brother to them after the flesh, their Lord and Master after the Spirit. Now, however, James can find for himself no nobler title than "servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." The "greeting" means in the original, "Be of good cheer!" and was the customary form of salutation among the members of the infant Church. We find them using it towards each other under all circumstances, not even excepting temptations; for the apostle here says, that when they fell into divers temptations, they were to count it all joy. Have I advanced so far? True it is—and it is to Thee, O Grace Eternal! that I am indebted for it-that I can often, in the midst of temptation, exult in the prospect of the time when "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy." And who has ever been able, in some blissful moments when the veil of the sanctuary was withdrawn, to catch a glimpse of the crown of life" which the Lord has promised to them that love Him," without exulting?

How rich and full the banquet is,

When to the soul is given

To draw the curtain that divides
This lower world from heaven!

Then in the bosom all is calm,

No cares or passions move;
While drops of the eternal light
Fall gently from above.

But to do what the apostle here requires-viz., to praise the Lord for the temptation itself-alas! that is very hard. The medicine is still bitter to the taste, although we may know that it is the only effectual cure. To Thee, therefore, O crucified

Love, who didst willingly undergo so bitter sufferings on my account, I address my prayer, that Thou wouldst help me to overcome the antipathy to the cross which is so deeply seated in my flesh. At the same time I also know, that having Thyself, in the days of Thy flesh, prayed that the cup might pass from Thee, Thou wilt be to me a merciful High Priest, and have compassion on my infirmity. In the garden of Paradise, when man was in innocence, there grew no thorns to wound, and no wood of which to make a cross. These were prepared for him only when he had fallen; and oh,

Blame not the tears of those who pant to be
Quit of the cross and all earth's misery.

Verses 3, 4. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

In truth, from no scrutiny of the heart, however deep it may go, can we ascertain that we do believe. It is only trial that can teach us this. In the parable of the sower we are told that not "till the sun was up' "1 was it discovered that the seed had no root; and it is even so with faith. No man can know whether that noble plant has struck its roots in the better world, until the sun of tribulation has risen and shot down its scorching rays upon his head. Patience must have had her perfect work, must have endured unto the end, before all the fair virtues, which James calls fruits of the wisdom from above, can appear in the Christian's character, making him "pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."2 I find in all Christians who have passed through much tribulation a certain quality of ripeness, which I am of opinion can be acquired in no other school. Just as a certain degree of solar heat is necessary to bring the finest sorts of fruit to perfection, so is the fiery trial3 indispensable for ripening the ' James, iii. 17.

1 Matt. xiii. 6.

31 Pet. iv. 12.

inner man.
Claudius calls the Christian who has been sub-
jected to it "the man with the moonbeam on his face." It is
night that gives their brilliancy to the stars; and, in like
manner, the night of adversity spreads over the countenance
of the Christian who has endured it a strange cast, which
bespeaks itself to be of the other world and enforces reverence.
All this I well know, and there are times when the little cross
upon my shoulder really does appear as if it were a wing given
me by God to help me to soar aloft. But in other hours,
when faith fails, it also seems to me as a heavy weight that
bends me still nearer to the earth. Oh that on such occasions
I could but rivet my eye upon the experience which Thou, O
Heavenly Wisdom, hast enabled me to gather from the past;
for when didst Thou ever present me with a bitter fruit which
was not at least sweet at the core? When didst Thou ever
lead me into the wilderness without showing me a treasure
there? No, Lord, I must bear testimony that that Thou hast
never done. And am I not then a weak and foolish child
when I still distrust Thee?

Oh let the noble thought my heart elate,
That all things ripen towards a perfect state,
And that to quarrel with Heaven's high decree
Is but to aggravate our misery.

Come, teach me resignation; though the worst
To learn of all man's duties, 'tis the first.

Verse 5. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men with simplicity,1 and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

No doubt even tribulation, in and of itself, makes no man wise and good. He is not a Christian who merely wears the thorny crown. We must, on our own part, wisely improve tribulation, if by its means we are to acquire wisdom and advance to ripeness. To this end we need to pray to God for correct insight and a right deportment. And how unspeak

1 Luther's vers.