life, and " proved him to be indeed the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the deadu." This was in strict accord- ance with what David had foretold : " The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed ; saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. But He that sitteth in heaven laughed; the Lord had them in derision x." In a word, " He doeth according to his will, in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth ; nor can any stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thouy?"]
Has any kind of evil then occurred to us ? Let us
1. Submission to God's will —
[God says to us, " Be still ; and know that I am Godz." And if once we learn to see the hand of God in every tiling, what peace will it bring into the soul, even in the midst of the heaviest trials a! You will not find anywhere a greater suf- ferer than Job : men, devils, elements, all conspired against him. But in all his trials he saw the hand of a gracious God ; and that composed his mind : " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord ! Shall we receive good at the Lord's hands, and shall we not receive evilb?" Let us then, in all our trials, the smaller which occur in social or domestic life, as well as in those of a more over- whelming nature, habituate ourselves to see the Lord's hand: and to say, " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him goodc." This would greatly tranquillize our minds; and take out the sting from ten thousand little occurrences, which wound our feelings, and often pain us far more than heavier afflic- tions. Let us reply to the revilings of a malignant enemy, " The Lord hath bidden him curse med;" and there will be an end of all the anguish that his hostility has for a moment occasioned us.]
2. Inquiry into the design of God in the trial sent
us —
[" Trouble springs not out of the duste:" " nor does God afflict us without a cause f." " Every rod," which he sends, has a voice, which we ought most attentively to " hearg." Peradventure there is some sin which God designs to correct; some corruption to mortify; some grace to improve; or, at all events, some important lesson which he intends to teach us
u Rom. i. 4. x Ps. ii. 2 — 4. y Dan. iv. 35.
z Ps. xlvi. 10. a Ps. xxix. 8. b Job. i. 21. and ii. 10.
c 1 Sam. iii. 18. d 2 Sam. xvi. 10, 11. e Job v. 6.
f Lam. iii. 33. * Mic. vi. 9.