ever, that Jehovah was mindful of him; that his Lord not only knew, but directed his path, even when his "spirit was overwhelmed within him;" that if he held fast his integrity, light would arise to him in the midst of darkness, and that whether deliverance came "from the east or the west, from the north or the south," come it assuredly would, in God's own manner, and in God's own time. The deepness of God's thoughts he could not fathom, but he knew their ultimate purpose and design; that his thoughts were " thoughts of peace, and not of evil," to give His servant "an expected end." With the Lord, he said, when at the worst, "with the Lord is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption;" for while "clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." Precisely the same confidence is that which the Apostle expresses, in language, if possible, more cheering and consolatory, because more circum

stantial, when he says, "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation, also make a way to escape.” And in like manner, the Apostle Peter testifies to the faithful, "though now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, it is only that the trial of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." However" deep" then, God's thoughts and judgments in our own case may be, we may rest assured that "all things are working together for good to them that love Him." Had the sore trial of Job been broken off abruptly in the midst-had he gone down to the grave, which seemed already yawning to receive him, we might have been bewildered and perplexed; but we know "the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord,

that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." I remembered thy judgments of old, said the Psalmist, and have comforted myself; and is not that comfort, in far more abundant measure, the privilege of the disciples of Christ? O then let not our souls be cast down and disquieted within us; let us still hope in the Lord, and let us read a lesson of hope from the Book of Creation itself. When we cannot find out by reading the deepness of God's thoughts, let us be encouraged by beholding the greatness of His works. The glorious sun in his noonday chariot of flame; the moon that walks in silent majesty through the firmament of heaven; the stars that light up the sky, as though it were the city inhabited by angels; the waves that dash upon the shore, yet respect it as their eternal boundary; the stately hills, that seem to swell into the skies; the valleys that "stand so thick with corn that they do laugh and sing;' nay, the most minute, as well as the

most insignificant objects in creation, all speak one language to the believing soul, and it is this," Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished." And as this is said to all, so is it said to each; “The mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee; neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee!"

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VIII.

The Blessing of God regarded as the
Happiness of Man.

UR times are in the hand of God. The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." No strength of man can resist, nor any skill of man avert, nor any subtlety of man evade, the summons of his appointed minister, the King of Terrors; whether he smite secretly, by the "pestilence that walketh in darkness," or openly, by the "destruction that wasteth at noon-day." Death may come like a conqueror rolling his chariotwheels over a field of blood; he may come in the earthquake or the tempest, in the swelling of the angry wave, or

H