ill desert mean that the complnint is false and the distress n shnm, of course It Is to be ,·isited with contempt or punishment. But suppose, with evil chnmcter, there Is e.180 renl distress. In such a case we should take the distress into consideration. We may not help in t.he same way in which we would assist a deserving case, for perlmps similnr assist.ance would be wasted, or abused, or in some way harmful. But we must remember thnt charity is not limited by merit. Like the mercy of God to sinners, it should flow out to those whose only claim upon it is their want and woe. Great sorrow does not atone for sin, especinlly where it leaves the sufferer impenitent. But it <lo<'s call for pity. WhC'ther she were innocent or guilty, we feel deep compassion for Huch a victim of tort.ure as IlC'atrice Crnci, and even imagine a. certain sacredness about her S(>litary pre-eminence of distress that hushes all harsh judgments. IJ. THE MAN THAT IlAS SEEN AFFLICTION IS IN DANGER OF REGARDING HIS SUFFER• n.Gs AS WITHOUT PARALLEL. He fePls his own trouble more acutely than that of bis neighbour. 'l'hus he comes to regard himself a.s exceptionally distressed. Pain is a good school in which to learn sympathy with others in similar trouble. But the sympathy is commonly attained after one's own agony is lulled. It comes with the recollection of it called up by the sight of the present distress outside us. But while pain is being endured, especially if it is very acute, it tends to make the sufferer selfish for the time being. At least it wraps him up in himself and makes him magnify the severity of his own lot in comparison with that of other people. Let us be on our ;:uard against this illusion, and the unkindness to others and murmuring and despair of ourselves which may come out of it. Ill. THE MAN THAT HAS SEEN AFFLICTION BAS GATh'ED KNOWLEDGE OF SOME OF THE DEEPEST FACTS OF LIFE. We do not know life till we have felt pain. Buddha, while kept from all suffering in his palace, was ignorant of the world and of man. Suffering opens the eyes to the facts of life and breaks up many idle dreams. Mete show and pretence are then felt to be vain and mocking. True friends are discrimi- nated from idle acquaintances. The value of inward things is <liscovered. IV. THE MAN THAT HAS SEEN AFFLICTION BAS EXPERIENCED A VALUABLE DISOI• PLTh"L This is a useful "means of grace." It may be sent to punish sin and check the thoughtless sinner on his road to ruin. Or it may be to remind the careless Chris- tian of his declension. Or it may be like the pruning of the fruitful branch, a stimulus to make the fruitful Christian more fruitful. Various ends may be served. But in all cases the suffering is meant for our good. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of the advan- tage aimed at in the providential arrangement depends on the use we make of our trouble. We may receive this grace in vain. If we harden our heart under it it will be useless to us. Such a result is doubly disappointing, for we do not escape the pain, yet we come out of the ordeal worse instead of better. 1 V. THE MAN THAT HAS SEEN AFFLICTION IS A TYPE OF CHRIST. Like "the Servant of the Eternal,'' in the latter part of "Isaiah,'' this unnamed sufferer of the Lamen- tations seems to foreshadow the unique distress of the Man of sorrows. Christ claims our attention by his suffering, and the more that he suffered for us. He did not simply imacine 0 his distresses to be great. He never posed for pity. But never was sorrow like unto his sorrow. He entered deeply into human experience by his sufferings, and became a High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Made perfect by suffering, he gives to us the fruits of bis cross and passion as more than a "means of grace "-as bread of life and blood vf redemption. Ver. 6.-" Dark p'lacu." The sufferer feels :as though he were in the dark places of the dead, in the e"erlasting house which no tenant ever quits. L GoD SOMETIMES SETS BIS PEOPLE '.IN DARK PLACES. He permits the light of gladness to fade and the vision of truth to be dimmed and the conscious brightness of 'his presence to be lost, so that the soul is plunged in black depths of sorrow, doubt, and loneliness. Then the dismayed sufferer feels himself lost, well-nigh dead. But he is not dead, nor even deserted by God. The very fact that he admits that God ho.s set Lim in the dark place is a confession that the hand of God has been with him. Real cieath aud utter desolation come from the desertion of the soul by God; the chastise- rutnt that he directly imposes evidences his presence and energy, and it therefore 1,~ornbes life. OU, III, 1-66,J 'J.'HE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.
II, WHILE JN THE LIGHT WE SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE DARK PLACE~. WrJ stumble in the d11rk, and are terrified and confounrled by it because we do n0t kn,)w it and are not in readiness for it. Like Adam in ' Para.disc Lost,' we am surprisecl at the first corning on of light. Because we expect the night and know that a. new clay will follow, we can contemplate the deepening gloom of evening without apprehension. The miner, prepared for the darkness of his subterranean work, takes his lamp with him. Every soul should be warned that it is likely some day to be plunged into spiritual darkness. If ready with the quiet inward light of faith, it need fear nothing. While we know that God's rod and staff are with us to comfort us, we shall not be dismayed, though we shall be saddened, at being called to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. III. SOULS LEARN LESSONS OF LIGHT IN DARK PLACES. In a. deep well the stars above are visible at noon. In deep humiliation heavenly light is seen that is lost in the garish show of earthly commonplace life as well a.s on the heights of prirle and pre- sumption, Tears of sorrow purge the vision of the soul. It is well sometimes to be alone in the dark with God. IV. THERE ABE DARK PLACES OF SPIRITUAL DEATH THAT ARE MORE AWFUL THAN THE ABODE OF DEPARTED SPIRITS. To the old-world view Hades wa.s a. realm of sinless gloom. But worse than the darkness of this Hades is the darkness of those who are dead in trespasses and sin. Such men carry hell within their own breasts. The blackness of death broods over their spiritual natures so that they feel no qualms of conscience, and are awake to no voices from heaven. These darkest places are never assigned by God to his creatures. If they are found in them it is because they have plunged into them of their own will.