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scattered by the hand of Love, guided by the order of infinite Wisdom; and although it may now appear to you as the dreary" ashes to ashes" of the Burial Service, yet it is a precious thing put forth for your "hereafter" and your good.

Here is consolation for you from God: "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground." Whence then does it come? O sorrowing believer! O weeping child of God! it comes from none other than Him who doth "not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." The same kind hand that scatters the hoar-frost sends down this affliction upon you, perhaps for correction, but certainly for mercy. Does the word "correction" alarm you, suggesting the idea of disobedience ? Nay, had the earth a voice to complain, it might as well say the beautiful preserving frost is a covering of shame, a badge of punishment, as you that the trouble now upon you is a sign of your heavenly Father's anger.

Listen to His own reading of your case: "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son" (mark that word!), "despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him." Now listen to the sweet and comforting for that is given as the reason why you should neither despise nor faint under His dealings with you: "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."2

The snow comes down from heaven to make the earth bring forth and bud;3 just so affliction is sent by God to make us yield, hereafter, the peaceable fruit of righteousness-this fruit being one of the precious things put forth by the night of affliction, even as the prophet Isaiah says, " 5 Quietness and assurance for ever."

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Dear reader, is this token of sonship upon you now? and do you feel it grievous? Remember it is only "for the present;" it comes to you for a purpose, to make you bring

1 Lam. iii. 33.

2 Heb. xii. 5, 6.

↑ Heb. xii. II.

3 Isa. lv. 10. 5 Isa. xxxii. 17.

forth more fruit. Oh! see that this gracious purpose is answered; for it is for your profit alone, and not for His pleasure, that God corrects you. Oh! see that when He

comes looking for fruit you may have your full measure to offer, whether that measure be large or small, for God requires according to what a man hath, and not to that he hath not.2

You may be sure that this present dispensation of frost and ashes will ere long be over; the diamonds which perhaps you might choose, if a choice were granted you, are all for by-and-by; you could not be trusted with them now: you might string them with adornments for your souls (as the silly little child would have strung the hoar-frost for a necklace), and so puff yourself up with vain conceits and spiritual pride, if you now possessed these brilliants. You will have them in God's good time if you are faithful unto death. They glitter in the crown of life which the Lord Jesus Christ will one day give you as part of the inheritance purchased by His death for His dear children.

Now you are called to join the grand "Te Deum" of nature, and praise God for the frost and ice-praise Him for the cold and snow.3 Then you will praise Him, joining with the redeemed multitude, for the afflictions, sorrows, pains, and trials, which were your Father's seal of love, set upon you to preserve your choicest treasure in His safe keeping until the winter of this life is over and gone, and the sweet strains of the "New Song" proclaim that the eternal summer of glory has set in. During this waiting time let us, dear reader, remember Old John's words: “God Almighty never puts diamonds where ashes ought to be, nor ashes where diamonds ought to be." In other words, "No cross, no crown." The cross first-then the crown! Bear the cross if you would wear the crown.

1 Heb. xii. 10.

3 See Psa. cxlviii. and the Liturgy.

2 2 Cor. viii. 12.

"Benedicite Omnia Opera" of the

Let patience have her perfect work, ere praise sings her perfect song.

I would not have you, dear reader, seek for affliction ; but if affliction is sent by your loving Father to seek you out, then receive it cheerfully, endure it patiently, look out from it hopefully, and you shall emerge from it triumphantly. Not here perhaps, but at that glorious time when that which is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption: when that which is sown in dishonour is raised in glory.1

In bidding farewell to my beautiful frost I would just remark that not without significance is the fact that the text, "He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes," precedes that in which the cold and snow is called on to praise God; the former a type of the present, the latter of the hereafter of the believing child of God. And in bidding farewell to you, my reader, I would say, if you have not already committed your precious soul to the safe keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the most valuable treasure you have, do so without delay, lest the frosty night, finding it unprotected and not stowed away, as our choice plants are stowed, beyond the reach of the nipping cold, should injure if not destroy, should harden if not preserve-which it surely must do if you leave it uncared for and exposed to the baleful influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Remember, where frost does not seal up and preserve, it blights and kills. Remember, where affliction does not soften, sanctify, and bless, it hardens, irritates, and destroys.

If it does not make you say with David, " Before I was afflicted I went astray," it will make you cry with one of old, "My punishment is greater than I can bear."3

If it does not make you say with David, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning," it will make you cry, with those who understand not their Lord's dealings with them, "My way is hid!" "He hath hedged

me about, that I cannot get out !"5

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3 Gen. iv. 13.

Lam. iii. 7.

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Prophecies and Fulfilments

CONCERNING

THE FIRST COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

"To Him give all the prophets witness."-Acts x. 43.

Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me."-Malachi iii. 1.

"This (John) is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee."-Matthew xi. 10.

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."--Isaiah xl. 3.

"This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ?"

"He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias."-John 1. 9 and 23.

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."-Isaiah vii. 14.

"The angel Gabriel was sent from God.

to a virgin

and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee. . . . . And the angel said unto her .. thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive . . . and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus."-Luke i. 26–28, 30, 31.

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"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled

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Behold, a virgin shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."-Matthew i. 22, 23.

"Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel."-- Micah v. 2.

"Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king. . . . When Herod. . . . had heard these things, he was troubled . . . and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel."-Matthew ii. 1, 3-6.

"The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising."-Isai h lx. 3.

"There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."-Matthew ii. 1, 2.

"There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots."—Isaiah xi, 1.

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Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch.”—Jeremiah xxiii. 5.

"Of this man's seed hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus."—Acts xiii. 23.

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