and he shall lift you up1." I say, To all, without exception, would I give this advice ; for it is by a conformity to it, under the Gospel dispensation, that every child of God shall be known : " In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going, and weeping : they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward ; saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten"1."]
2. How reconciled we should be to trials —
[To the Christian there may be many storms and tempests, or a long-protracted season of distress, which may threaten the destruction of all his prospects : but as, in relation to the wheat, the frost is even desirable to destroy the vermin, so are diversities of seasons beneficial to the spiritual seed : as St. Peter has said ; " The trial of our faith, which is much more precious than of gold, which, though it stand the trial of fire, will perish at last, will be to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ"." It is remarkable that our blessed Lord, speaking of himself as the true vine, and of his people as the branches, says of " every branch that beareth fruit, the hus- bandman purge th it, that it may bring forth more fruit0." It might be hoped, that, since it was already fruitful, it might escape the wounds inflicted by the pruning-knife : but that is not consistent with the will of the great Husbandman, who consults its ultimate benefit in proportion to the prospect which it affords of progressive fruitfulness. So are God's dearest people often most severely tried ; and they whose sheaves shall hereafter be found most abundant, are often made to apprehend an entire failure of all their prospects. Consider, thou tempted Believer, how profitable thy trials have been to thee ; how they have tended to humble thy pride, to weaken thine attachment to earthly things, to make thee feel thy need of God's continual help, and to quicken thee in thy way to the heavenly Zion : and learn to say, " It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; and it is in love and faithfulness that thou hast afflicted me."]
3. How sweet to the Christian should be the
thoughts of death —
[Death is as the waggons that are about to carry home the produce of the field, or as those which were sent to bear the afflicted Jacob to his beloved Joseph. The sight of these made Jacob forget all his troubles, and become indifferent to all that he possessed in this world : " He regarded not his stuff, because all the good of the land of Egypt was his1'." So then,
1 Jam. iv. 9, 10. m Jer. 1. 4, 5. » 1 Pet. i. 7.
0 John xv. 2. P Gen. xlv. 19, 20.
722.1 god's mercy an encouragement to frayer. 411
Brethren, let it be with you. Behold the waggons sent to bear you home, whither you shall " go rejoicing, bearing your sheaves with you" Yes, the tears that you have shed have been treasured up by God in his vialq ; and they shall be re- compensed into your bosom a hundred and a thousand fold. Hear the declaration of God himself to this effect: " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord : even so saith the Spirit : for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them*." Only view death aright, and you will account it amongst your most valued treasures: you will even "be looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ." If it " be unto you Christ to live," doubt not a moment but that " to die will be gains." For this is the irreversible decree of God, that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting4."]