"Through long days did Anguish, And sad nights did Pain, Forge my shield, Endurance, Bright &Iid free from et.a.in I "Doubt, in misty caverns, 'Mid dark horrors sought, fTill my peerless jewel, Faifl,,, to me she brought. • S<YrTow that I wearied Should remain so long, Wreathed my starry glory The bright crown of &ng, "Strife that raoked my spirit Without hope or rest, Left the blooming flower, Patience, in my breast." (Miss Prooter's 'Legends and Lyrics.') Now, when we look at what is paid and what is bought, we must admit that the bargain is a good one, for the glory of sanctification is weighty and eternal. "'l'he light a.filiction," says the apostle elsewhere, "which is but for a moment, worketh for m a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory " (2 Cor. iv. 17). IL lB S17FF'EBIXG WE ABE IN 1"ELLOWBBIP WITH THE WHOLE OBEATION. (Vers. 1~22.) When we look into the Book of Job we see that the man. of God is a special sufferer. But God points out in the sequel of the book that the perplexity in Job's experience is matched by the perplexity which pervades all nature. So is it with suffering. We may see it all through nature. Suffering human nature is only in line mth suffering nature. And here we have to remark that : 1. TM study of nature shows lung progreu through sujf6'1'ing towards h(!Jher forms. This is the lesson of evolution sc, far as it is a truth. The "strnggle for existence" is painful progress towards more perfect forms. It may seem t.o our philosophic laureate a mystery that nature should be "so careful of the type," and "so careless of the single life ; " nay, he goes on to see that she lets "a thousand types" go, and 11eems to care for nothing.• But if we take the great procellllion as a whole, we may see that it embodies progress through pain to 'ITW'f"e perfect form. The groaning creation thus sheds light on sanctification through suffering and pa.in. 2. Out of the present is to be born a new stute of things in which f'LO,tivre shall bhare in the reswration of the sc,ns of God. The very word " nature," which signifies "something about to be born," is a prophecy similar to what the ~i,c,,t:e here give!!. If Nature, without any moral fault, has been subjeoteq. to vanity; if 1 Bir Henry Taylor's' Notes from Life.' p. 10¾ 1 • Cf. l'lln1Jyson'r; 'In Memoriam,' liv., lv, cu. vm. 1-39.] THE EPISTJ,E OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 259
H. ~oe, without consent on her part, b~on made the ~ainfal illustration of moral and epmtual trq.th; then we ma.y expect a Just Governor, like God to give Nature compen- sation, and allow her to share in the glorious liberty of his children.1 It is surely significant that that manly Christian, Frank Buckland, when he was dying said, " I am going a long journey where I think I shall see a great many cnrious anim~ls. This journey I must go alone." 1 As animals were saved in the ark with Noah, and in Nineveh with the penitent Ninevites, is it not reasonable to suppose that they sball have some share in the regeneration of all things? Ill. MAN AS THE SOUL OJI' THE WOnLD INTERPRETS THE TRAVAIL OJ' THE CREATIO!l'. (Vera. 23-27.) And here we cannot do better than take up the points a.a St. Paul gives them. I. Man's aspiratim about the body. (Ver. 23.) For the body is to be redeemed, not discarded. It is this "hope" which saves us in our present distresses (ver. 24).3 If we had not this hope, we should inevitably despair. And along with hope comes patience, so that "the patience of hope" becomes the attitude or all faithful souls.' Then: 2. The ·Holy Spirit e:ndorses o-ur groaning after the better bodies. (Ver. 26.) Prayer is not all articulate. A groan. a sigh, a tear, may have. all the elements of prayer addressed to the heart of the Most High. Now, some saints have had such suffering communicated to them as compelled them to groan with desire after a better, because promised condition. These groans, that are too deep to be articulate, are Spirit-prompted. He pressed from tried spirits these unutterable longings. 3. God, the Beart--searcher, responds to these unutterable groans. (Ver. 27.) We have here the whole philosophy of prayer. It is the inspired expression, articulately or otherwise, of what is agreeable to the Divine will, and the Heart-searcher recognizes in the prompted prayer the return to him of his own will, and so can answer it.Ii IV. Tms •IS THE BEST POSSIBLE WORLD FOR ONE WHO LOVES Gon. (Ver. 28.) There is a certain idealism which inspires us all. According to our inward state is our outward world. '"Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus." Consequently, if we have learned to love God, we take all things as animated by a Divine purpose of good to us. . ~uffetjng may come, but it comes to sanctify. Faith thus becomes optimistic. It lifts up its head, knowing that its redemption draweth nigh. It refuses to be pessimistic. In spite of all drawbacks, the glory of sanctification is on its way. And so those who have been called by a loving God to the exercise of love, find as they look about them that all things are co-operating for God's holy end of ma.king his children holier and fitter for his fellowship. We could not be better situated th:i.n we are for sanctification. A poet on the subject "It is well" has thus written- " So they said, who saw the wonders Of Messiah's power and love: So they sing, who see his glory In the Father's house above: Ever reading in each record Of the strangely varied put, • All was well which God appointed, All has wrought for good at last.'