happy emotion. It enables the soul to sit undisturbed amid the fluctuations of this changeful scene. It has a smile as bright in the cloudy as in the clear day; and can sing its grateful song as well in a lowly, as in a lofty situation. The Christian surely need not deprive himself of this joy. What to him should be the ephemeral distinctions of earth, when he is expecting, after a few revolving suns, to wear a crown brighter than the jeweled toy that rests upon an earthly brow; and to inherit a kingdom richer in its resources than all the kingdoms of the world!

CHAPTER XXIV.

SUBMISSION.

Does piety make her disciples only contented? Is this the extent of her triumphs? Does she not make them submissive and resigned, under the deepest afflictions of life? Her power to counteract the evils of this fallen state, appears most conspicuous amid the darkest scenes which Providence gathers around her path. Then does she come to illustrate that promise which-in view of every possible gradation of mortal suffering-declares, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

There are but few Christians who live, for any length of time, without some trials; so few indeed as only to form rare exceptions to that general inheritance of tribulation, which our Lord decreed should be the portion of his followers. "In the world ye shall have tribula

tion." These afflictions are various in kind and in degree. In particular cases, they are wholly of a spiritual kind, and have reference to the inward conflicts of the soul. Sometimes this species of suffering is the most intense and insupportable which can be conceived. But more generally they have reference to the peculiar outward state, temporal or social, in which God places His children, with a view to the cultivation of the passive virtues, such as gentleness, patience, and submission. Poverty, and persecution; disappointed earthly expectations; alienated friendship; sickness and bereavement; are among the principal burdens which are laid upon the soul and body, to serve as the occasion of eliciting the lovely grace of submission. The Christian's perfection; that is, the completeness of his character, cannot be attained without this suffering in some form; nor without its effect in the developement of patience and submission. How else could he "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ ?" Where else, or under

what other circumstances could he know the

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fellowship of Christ's sufferings?" Nature we know shrinks from the ordeal. The fiery furnace is intimidating, and we dread to enter it even though we have the assurance that we shall come forth unharmed--yea, even like gold purified and brightened by the process. But an invisible hand will arrange all these circumstances of trial, and introduce us to them in such a way, as to give them their happiest effect upon the soul. God will adjust the burden to the back, and give the staff of His promise, and enable us to hold on our way, even over a dark and rugged path.

Let us contemplate the sufferer. There is a man who has labored hard and long to acquire the means of temporal support; but one adverse blast after another has swept away his property, until he begins to look around upon his loved ones, with actual solicitude. Another. glance at life's moving panorama shows us the lone widow with her orphans at her knee, looking up into her anxious and sorrow-shroud

ed face, to ask why that tear is there! Here is one nailed to the sick couch, and week after week inquiring for some slight indication of a favorable change. The physician's eye speaks no encouragement. Another is bending over the short-breathing child, and kissing its burning brow. It is her earthly all. A husband stands petrified over the cold remains of her whom he loved in youth. O'death, thou hast dipped thine arrows in the deadliest venom ! Yonder sits one leaning mournfully forward and brooding over violated vows. Alas, credulous heart! Those vows were but the im

pulse of passion, whose flame was kindled at no pure altar. The domestic circle-that promised elysium-is not always the heaven that was anticipated. The friends who, in sun-shine, wore such complacent smiles, can pass on with averted eye, now that life wears a dreary aspect. How diversified and deep are the afflictions which meet us in our passage through this vale of tears!

But there is one thing, and one only, which