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dence and many a crusliing sorrow ? The afflictions of this present time are preparing us for service here and for glory hereafter.^
Without, as I heard the wild winds roar, And saw the black clouds their floods outpour,
As the lightnings flashed,
And the thunders crashed, And the hurricane's force waxed more and more,
I said, as I looked from my window warm,
" Heav'n never on me send such a storm ! "
Then came a dark day, when fierce and fast, Down fell on my head the blinding blast !
Yet tho' sore assailed,
I nor shrank nor quailed, For tho' loud the gale raged, as 'twould rage its last,
The struggle I waged, as I journeyed on.
Awoke in me powers before unknown !
I felt my hot blood a-tingling flow;
With thrill of the fight my soul did glow;
And when, braced and pure,
I emerged secure From the strife that had tried my courage so,
I said, "Let Heav'n send me or sun or rain,
I'll never know flinching fear again ! " ^
3. It is Christ who makes affliction work out such glorious results. He has transformed pain and sorrow into beneficent angels. We cannot tell how it happened, but grief, through her acquaintanceship and familiarity with the Son of Man, became like a new creature ; in her were seen a certain softness and pensiveness which she never had before ; her form became altered and her footsteps light, until she seemed to take the air of a Sister of Mercy, and to breathe forth a wondrous benediction while she walked with Him. Doubtless it was His influence that worked the change ; it was He who turned into a cross that scourge of small cords which she had carried from time im- memorial, and gave to her eyes that tender look which seems to say, " I do not willingly afflict nor grieve you, 0 children of men."
* E. W. Moore, Life Transfigured, 122. ' T. Crawford, Horae Serenae, 17. 2 COR. & GAL. — 8
114 AN ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY
Thus they went through the world hand in hand, until He went out of it by the gate of the grave, tasting death for every man. And grief has been acting ever since as one of His ministers, and representing Him, and doing the works of mercy in His Kingdom. She has given to men in these latter days more than she ever took away ; she is a dispenser and not a spoiler ; her hands are full of goodly gifts, and though her discipline be painful, yet it is ever merciful, and as a gentle almoner she offers and bestows, wherever faith and love dispose the heart to receive them, sure and perfect pledges of eternal blessing and glory.
^ I stand in one of our harbours, and see beyond its shelter the waves lift themselves mountains high ; my ears are filled with the roar of the angry wind. Ignorant of vessels and of naviga- tion, I observe a goodly ship putting forth to sea, and the con- viction steals over me that she will be engulfed in the waters or cast by the wind upon the shore ; but I do not know the power of the engines that propel the vessel or the skill of the captain who is in command of her. Did I realize these I should be assured that she would force her way through the waves, and in due time reach the desired port in safety. It is thus with the world. We see, we realize, the misery, the strife, the confusion that prevail ; but we do not see, we cannot realize, the wisdom, the love, the power in the nature of Him who, in spite of all these, reigneth King for ever, or we should be assured that, though " the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed," yet " there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early." ^
^ " Open the door and let in more of that music," the dying man said to his weeping son. Behmen was already hearing the harpers harping with their harps, he was already taking his part in the song they sing in Heaven " to him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood."
Some one will enter the pearly gate
By-and-by, by-and-by; Taste of the glories that there await,
Shall you ? Shall I ?
If we are to be there, we must, like the saintly Behmen, " wash
1 W. G. Horder.
2 COR. IV. 17 115
our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb." Everlasting life begins on this side the grave, and our Heaven, like his, must begin on earth. The Life Eternal, the life in which time is as eternity and eternity as time, is the life hid with Christ in God. In the measure in which we experience it, we shall rise above earth's changing scenes. Our sorrows will not crush us; our successes will not elate us ; our difficulties will not daunt us ; death itself will not appal us, because, taught by the great Apostle, we are beginning to appraise the events of life at their true value, we are learning, through many a painful experience, slowly but surely to look " not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen," and we find that the things which are unseen are eternal, for " Eternity is the Diamond in the Ring."i