Painful as this portion is to flesh and blood, none need to fear it, if only they attend to
II. The Apostle's directions in relation to it —
God graciously appoints to his people this portion, in order to promote their spiritual welfare, and pro- gressively to transform them into the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness. Hence St. James exhorts his afflicted brethren to regard their trials as means to an end ; and,
1. To welcome the means —
[The proper tendency of trials is to work patience in our souls. At first indeed they operate to the production of impatience, or, rather I should say, to the eliciting of those evil dispositions which lurk in our hearts. Till we have had our pride in some measure subdued, we know not how to bear the unkindness which we meet with : we fret under it, and rage even as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke : but when we discover our weakness, we are ashamed of it, and humble our- selves before God on account of it, and implore grace from him to support us, and thus gradually become instructed by the discipline, and are at last " strengthened with all might by his Spirit unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father," who has wrought in us that very change of heart and life which has exposed us to the enmity of the ungodly world f.
Now when we see what good our God designs us by these trials, we should not only be reconciled to them, but be thank- ful for them, and " count them just occasions for exalted joy." For, what price can be too great for so valuable an acquisition as that of a meek, submissive, and patient spirit ? We submit with readiness to many things which are displeasing to flesh and blood for the advancement of our bodily health : and shall we not thankfully take the prescriptions of our heavenly Physician for the health of our souls ? What, if they be un- palatable to our taste? We should regard the affliction as good, when we know what benefits will ultimately result from itg; assured, that " the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in ush." When therefore we see the clouds gathering around us, we should not be alarmed, but should say rather, like the countryman whose fields are burnt up with drought, Now God is about to refresh and fructify my barren heart, and his clouds shall drop fatness on my soul. What if your enemies
f Col. i. 11, 12. g Isai. xxvii. 9. h Rom. viii. 18.