children of God there spoken of were called to suffer, and that these afflictions were made to bring about the most blessed spiritual results.

Look at Abraham's most fearful affliction, when he was called to sacrifice his son. What a great temporal affliction was it!-the very breaking of his heart. Yet he went forth, believing that he should receive him out of the ashes. Believing that, as it was the Lord's will, he would ultimately make it clear that the affliction came from himself, and that it would be the means of establishing him in his faith.

Again. If we look at Moses, his was a temporal trouble, when he slew the Egyptian; and being terrified at the thought of its being known, he fled from Pharaoh. But what glorious spiritual things were brought to pass from this circumstance. Look at him in his wonderful career. He had learned great things in Egypt, but he must go a forty years' journey into the wilderness. He was to meet the Lord in "the bush," and to be sent forth by the Lord himself as the deliverer of his people. How wonderfully do we see, in the experience of Moses, temporal trials working out the designs of God in spiritual things! all of which were laid up in that glorious covenant which is ordered in all things, and made eternally sure.

What, then, should we learn from these things? That when we are brought into circumstances of

trouble, whether it be personal or relative, whether it be in mind, body, or estate, we should be on the look-out immediately for the teaching which the Lord intends to bring out of it: that blessed spiritual teaching which brings us nearer to himself-nearer to his heart. We learn some of the sweetest lessons when we are thus "perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed."

Again. Look at what our precious Lord Jesus Christ himself has left us as a legacy: "In the world ye shall have tribulation." Whether it be temporal or spiritual it matters not. But "tribulation worketh patience," that patience which is wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Therefore, dear brother, "despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Heb. xii. 5, 6.) He intends, when you have been exercised and tried in the furnace for a season, that you shall come forth as gold out of the fire; that you shall 66 run "the Lord's way, "and not be weary; walk, and not faint."

That we must have tribulation in the world is quite certain, for we know that there are three great powers combined against the child of God: THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL. As one remarks, they are three serpents: the world we

carry in our hand; the devil exercises his power against us in his infernal malice; but the greatest enemy of all is that serpent self, which we carry in our own bosoms. It is these three powers in combination that bring tribulation into the heart. But who knows anything of all this? Is it the mere nominal professor of religion? No. I heard of a person not long ago, a man of good property, and who had enjoyed very good health all his life, a very strict churchman, supposing that all was right if he went to his church on the Sunday, and attended to the mere letter of the service, He said to his wife, when he came on his death-bed, "When I look back over my whole life, I feel that if I had it to go over again, I would do exactly the very things I have done; for I have had one of the happiest lives that any man ever had upon the face of the earth."

This poor man knew nothing of having tribulation in the world. Who are they that do know it? It is those who are spoken of in the sermon on the mount, "Blessed are ye poor." It is those who are distressed sometimes because they cannot find their tokens, who have many a doubt and many a fear that after all "their spot is not the spot of God's children." It is those who know what it is to pass through "great tribulation."

Do you know what these things are, dear brother?

Then I say to you, "ALL HAIL!" for it is just such who have reason, in the midst of all their tribulations, to take the course of David-"to encourage themselves in the Lord their God." It is when we feel that we have no strength shut up or left, when we feel that we are empty of all that is good, and sometimes full of all that is evil, that we may take encouragement; for it is just such poor, needy creatures that the Lord will seek and save. It is those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" that shall be filled. It is those who "mourn in Zion" that shall "be comforted," and that shall at last be set up

far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." (Eph. i. 21.)

There are but two states in the world-LIFE and DEATH. The man who is alive from the dead knows what these spiritual tribulations are; but the man who is dead in sin, though he may have his temporal trials, yet they never lead him to any spiritual enquiries. They never do with him as they did with Hezekiah, cause him to "turn to the Lord."

The Lord help you, then, my dear brother-whatever the exercise may be that brings you down thus, yet that cannot destroy you to gather consolation from these very features in your experience, and to "ENCOURAGE YOURSELF IN THE LORD YOUR GOD."

SERMON XXIV.

"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."-ROMANS Viii. 14.

IN the present day, the Spirit's work appears, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, to be altogether cast overboard. When we look round upon dear old England, and think of her as she once was, the centre from whence the Word of God, in its simplicity and purity, emanated, what a contrast do we now behold! The Lord, in his judgments, seems to be permitting things to arise among us, which I cannot but look upon as springing from that most fearful act whereby Roman Catholics were admitted into our Parliament.

I shall never forget the words of good Lord Eldon, which I know were scoffed at by thousands in that day. When he knew that the act was passed, he said, with tears, "THE SUN OF OLD ENGLAND IS SET." And from day to day, and from week to week, we see springing up amongst us things which, to my mind, seem sometimes almost terrific.