'Twas he who taught me thus to pray,
And he, I trust, has answered prayer;
But it has been in such a way

As almost drove me to despair.

Sometimes a man is called to endure temptation in a succession of little things, that are more difficult to be borne than great things. It is the rarest of all grace which is carried into daily, hourly exercise in the common-place business and intercourse of life; we are so disposed to put off the exercise of grace to great occasions, and to let nature and not grace have its perfect work on all common ones. But it is a most wise remark of one of the Apocryphal books, He that despiseth little things, by little and little shall he fall. Our piety will be destroyed by small temptations, if we do not call it into exercise on small occasions. Let this be remembered in the common walks of life. Let it be remembered in the daily occupations of the household, and in all our intercourse one with another.

Christian communion and sympathy are of great value and comfort to a tempted soul. It is especially in spiritual things that as iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. But there are cases in which a man hardly dares believe that ever any other person experienced such assaults and evils as his own soul has to pass through. There are cases in

which he is very unwilling to repose confidence in any human being, and can go to none but God. And sometimes the more exclusively he is shut up to God, the better.

There is an affecting and instructive delineation in the picture drawn by Bunyan of Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. When Christian had travelled in this disconsolate condition some considerable time, he thought he heard the voice of a man going before him, saying, Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no ill, for thou art with me. Then was he glad, and that for these reasons. First, because he gathered from thence that some who feared God were in this valley as well as himself. Secondly, for that he perceived God was with them, though in that dark and dismal state; and why not, thought he, with me; though by reason of the impediment that attends this place I cannot perceive it. Thirdly, for that he hoped, could he overtake them, to have company by and by. So he went on, and called to him that was before; but he knew not what to answer for that he also thought himself to be alone. And by and by the day broke. Then said Christian, "He hath turned the shadow of death into the morning." And thus is God able at any time to turn the shadow of death into the morning. When he giveth peace, who then can make trouble? But until he be pleased to

give peace, the soul must trust submissively to him, even in the darkness. Because there seems to be no light, but only darkness, that may not be any positive proof that God is not with the soul. The soul may not be able to perceive it, by reason, as Bunyan expresses it, of the impediment that attends the place; and yet God may be guiding and blessing the soul, even in such thick darkness. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, said David in such a case, then THOU knewest my path.

God of my life, to thee I call,
Afflicted at thy feet I fall,
When the great water-floods prevail,
Leave not my trembling heart to fail.
Friend of the friendless and the faint!
Where should I lodge my deep complaint?
Where but with thee, whose open door
Invites the helpless and the poor!

Did ever mourner plead with thee
And thou refuse that mourner's plea ?
Does not the word still fixed remain
That none shall seek thy face in vain?
That were a grief I could not bear,
Didst thou not hear and answer prayer;
But a prayer-hearing, answering God
Supports me under every load.

Fair is the lot that's cast for me;
I have an advocate with thee;
They whom the world caresses most
Have no such privilege to boast.
Poor though I am, despised, forgot,
Yet God, my God, forgets me not,
And he is safe, and must succeed,
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead.

IV.

Faith still put to the test-Is it faith in sight, or faith in God?— Three days in the wilderness-Light out of darkness, strength out of weakness-The discovery of God in self-disappointment and abasement.

Ir is a great thing to learn to trust God. And a man does not learn it, ordinarily, till he passes through afflic tion, and oftentimes he has to experience much affliction in order to learn. He has to be stripped of his self-reliance, and the props and crutches, on which he has supported himself and his virtues, have to be taken away, together with the dear things in which he trusted for comfort and happiness; and then it is to be seen whether his soul relies on God. A man may have the principle of reliance, but habits of reliance are not to be formed at once; and so a man may have the principle of submission, but the habit of submission, the grace of resignation, is a thing of time and discipline and gradual formation. It is easy to trust God in prosperity, and a man may think he has formed the habit of trust