who witness them, and can hardly be thought entirely consistent with perfect submission and resignation to God. Many of the heathen were able to acquire a great degree of superiority over any sufferings of the body, and a good soldier of Jesus Christ ought to be able to endure hardship, and meekly and quietly to suffer pain. Under such circumstances we should call to our recollection the severe torments that have been endured by many of the servants of God, by the prophets for instance of the Old Testament, or the apostles and martyrs of the New. "Take, my brethren," says St. James, "the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.-Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lorde."

e James v. 10, 11.

We have heard of-perhaps have wit nessed the sufferings of some of our neighbours and acquaintance, and the patience with which they have often been endured. Above all, we should fix our minds on the bitter agony both of body and soul, which for our sakes was endured by the Son of God, and should let the thought of his sufferings calm us into quiet submission. We should say like him, Lord," not my will, but thine be done." And we should bear in mind, that he had" done nothing amiss," while we for our manifold transgressions richly deserve whatever sufferings we may happen to undergo. We cannot indeed in any instance positively pronounce sickness to be the punishment of any particular sin, yet an humble sense of our sins and unworthiness in general, may well contribute to make us endure pain and disease with meekness and patience. "Wherefore

should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins f?" or who shall dare to murmur against God," who punishes less than our iniquities deserve?"

And our resignation and submission towards God should be accompanied with patience of manner, with meekness and gentleness towards those about us. Those who minister to us in our sickness, who wait upon us, and endeavour to supply our many wants, and, so far as they can, to relieve and assuage our uneasiness and pain, perform an office of great kindness, an office which is often attended with much trouble and irksomeness. We must be careful not unnecessarily to add to their trouble, or to give them additional uneasiness, by any impatience, any hastiness or fretfulness of manner, or by any

f Lament. iii. 39.

vehement expressions of pain which we are at all able to control. We should shew ourselves to be sensible of their attentions, and thankful for them. And if our friends or our attendants should fall into any little neglect or inadvertency, we should make every fair allowance for it, and never distress them by angry complaints and upbraiding.

At the same time, although we consider sickness as well as other afflictions as being the dispensations of God's providence, dispensations of Him who saith, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evils," yet they are by no means to be regarded as tokens of his displeasure. On the contrary, the Scriptures teach us to consider them as instances of his fatherly love and providential care. "As many as I love I re

Isaiah xlv. 7.

buke and chastenh."

"My son, despise

not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If

ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth noti." We are not to be insensible to sufferings; we are not to seem to brave, to make light of them, as if we despised the chastening of the Lord; neither, on the other hand, must we faint and weakly sink under them; but must bear them with manly fortitude, and with meek patience and resignation. We should consider the design or intention of God in visiting us with sickness. We should "hear the rod," should attend to the lesson which the chastening rod is designed to teach us. We should say, "Shew

me wherefore thou contendest with me,'

i

b Rev. iii. 19. 1 Heb. xii. 5-7.

* Job x. 2.