ive statement of the apostle: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba! Father! The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." If so be that we suffer with him! Is it not clear from this that suffering is one of the established ordinances of God, with specific reference to our spiritual discipline and exaltation? intended as a means for building up character, and developing our higher nature— in a word, as one of the conditions of our heirship with Christ, "that we may also be glorified together ?"

And what a remarkable testimony of the Holy Spirit is that which says, "It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation

perfect through sufferings." And if it were necessary that Christ should suffer in order to become perfectly fitted for the work to which the Father appointed him, can you expect, my afflicted friend, to be perfect in all things without suffering? Can you spare the lessons of sorrow which it was needful the Son of God should learn, preparatory to his complete consecration? Are you already so trained and strong in spirit that you can spring at once to the loftiest height of heavenly exaltation, without passing through the dark valley marked by the bleeding feet of Jesus? Ah, no-you, and all of us, need the discipline of sorrow and suffering to fit us for the great work of life; to shape into symmetrical proportions the moral and spiritual elements which make up a truly divine character.

And it is one of the first lessons which sorrow teaches, that life is not merely happiness, in the material definition of the term, but virtue, usefulness, character in its largest and best meaning; character as it appears in

Christ; as the symbol of all that is gentle, generous, self-sacrificing and divine. This is the great end of our being; and it is for this that evil is mixed with good, that the shadow of disappointment so often falls athwart the pathway of our enjoyments, that our smiles are sometimes so swiftly veiled in the mist of tears. Afflictions, losses, bereavements, death, are the Lord's angels in disguise, leading us up the heights of celestial perfection and glory. Through them we learn to conquer our weaknesses, to lift our hopes and desires out of the dust of our earthly life, and to set the spirit and its aspirations above the passions and demands of the flesh; till at last we come to feel with the apostles that, "though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day — For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen

are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

O child of sorrow! O sad and weary sufferer! what are all your transient griefs compared with this glorious issue? And why should you faint, or murmur, that you must for a little sow the seed in tears, if this be the heavenly fruitage they bear? Why should you accuse the Father, and think that discipline severe which it is in your power to turn into faith and holiness and spirituality?

If always on the thorns my feet must tread,
And heavy clouds hang darkly o'er my head;
If all the sunshine from my life depart,
And cold, gray ashes be upon my heart;

If all my hopes, like swift-winged birds, must fly,
And every flower of promise droop and die;
If always through a mist of gathering tears

My eyes watch sadly for the coming years;
Oh, Father, when Death's river I've passed o'er,
And my feet stand upon the further shore,
Shall not Thy seal upon my forehead be,

"Perfect through suffering," purified by Thee?

II.

The Soul's Hunger and the Bread of Heaven.

T

Wilt thou not visit me?

The plant beside me feels thy gentle dew;
Each blade of grass I see,

From thy deep earth its quickening moisture drew.

O Lord! I need thy love

More than the flower the dew, or grass the rain;

Come like thy Holy Dove,

And let me in thy sight rejoice to live again.

HERE is no experience so dreary and

desolate, and none so full of promise

and hope, as that which, for the first time, reveals to us our spiritual poverty, and the need we have of the bread of God, the heavenly manna which the Gospel provides for the hungry soul. Who has not at times felt weary with himself, dissatisfied with his