He then enters most into the life of his Saviour, who encountered all the billows of adversity; who, that he might bring many sons unto glory, was made perfect through sufferings. In seasons of trial, the believer realizes more than ever his relation to his Father as a child, to his Saviour as a disciple. His affliction brings him to God in more earnest, heartfelt prayer. It brings him to Christ with a deeper consciousness of his weakness, unworthiness, and dependence. Thus he finds that peace which the world cannot give. As the objects of this world's affection are withdrawn, the presence of God is more felt and more precious. The heart becomes more fixed upon Him, as the source of all consolation and strength. Thus trial, instead of destroying the peace of the Christian, lays for it a surer foundation. As the presence of God was revealed in the flame of fire to Moses, so is it to the believer, in the furnace of affliction; and because of that presence especially felt at such times, it does not consume the sufferer. Divine strength is made perfect in weakness. By this the afflicted soul is sustained.

Then, too, the heart is open to hear the words of Divine truth and love. In the ordinary course of life, as its blessings constantly attend our path, we fail to realize the treasures prepared for us in the Word of God. Our eyes are heavy, our ears dull, and the words of infinite wisdom leave little impression. But in the hour of affliction, when the presence of God is felt, reverence for Him, like

that shown by Moses when told that the place whereon he stood was holy ground, will cause the words of God to sink more deeply into our hearts, and more entirely to claim all our thoughts. We read with new impressions, and find in the sacred page sources of comfort which we had ever before passed over without thought. The statutes of God become our songs in the house of our pilgrimage. Experience of suffering interprets and applies the spirit of the Word. We perceive that it is for us. We find the truth meeting our own wants, as if it had been designed especially for ourselves. And thus, while we suffer, we learn; while we feel our weakness, we are gaining strength, and so are not consumed.

And at such seasons, too, faith and hope in the great realities of the eternal world are confirmed. The more we learn the vanity and frailty of every earthly support, the more does the heart look forward to that better life where all is unchanging and imperishable. By trial the believer is trained to live as in the unseen world. The heavenly Canaan becomes the permanent object of his hopes. His faith in all its blessings grows more perfect. And though he knows that a long wilderness is still before him, yet hope imparts courage, and, like a pillar of fire by night, irradiates his path. Assured by the promises of God, he looks to the end, and this cheers his way. It is this foretaste of a heavenly existence, this laying hold by faith upon eternal life, and the glo

rious inheritance of the righteous, that sustains many a sufferer as he meets the changes of earth. But for this hope he would be utterly cast down, -his strength consumed within him. But hope, like faith, ever points him to the gates of the celestial city. Visions of glory in the church of the redeemed pass before his eyes, and the words of the Apostle become his own: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." And faith, moreover, explains the "great sight," why the suffering believer, amidst afflictions, is still "rejoicing in hope." If the future of this life occasion disquietude, the eternal future, on which faith is fixed, inspires the most sublime and cheering hopes. But he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure. The presence of Christ will be realized only by those who seek in Him their strength. His gracious will sustains only the humble believer. The faith of His gospel will lift up the heart only of the contrite. Such may hear Him speaking unto them in these consoling words: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour."

Thus in the fires of affliction shall His people glorify God, purified by trial from the corruption of sin, the dross of worldliness consumed, the fine gold of holy affections shining with increasing lustre. In His Church and in its individual mem

bers this work goes on. And blessed are they who, being subject to this trial here, are saved even as by fire. For the day shall come when the Church and all its members shall be tried in the final judgment. And who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? He alone who on earth has looked in faith to Him who spake unto Moses out of the burning bush, who led His people through the wilderness and through the sea, and who sent His only Son to die for us, and to be "the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

XXV.

THE STILL SMALL VOICE.

"And after the fire a still small voice.". 1 KINGS xix. 12.

THE prophet stood upon Horeb, a despairing man, amidst the awful solitudes of that mountain. on which the Law was given with thunderings and flames of fire. He had fled into the wilderness of Sinai in terror, and there his heart sank within him. Hopeless to withstand alone the floods of impious idolatry which had overwhelmed his country, he had yielded to despair and had fled for his life.

He who but lately had boldly confronted Ahab face to face, at the peril of immediate death, and fearlessly charged home upon the wicked but powerful and enraged king the guilt of a nation's. idolatry; he who, by the moral power of such commanding firmness, even compelled that monarch to summon his people to Carmel, and with them the eight hundred prophets of Baal, his own most bitter enemies, and then, before this vast assembly, made that calm and sublime appeal to a righteous God, which Jehovah answered by fire from heaven, thereby exalting His servant before the nation, so that the people fell on their faces, crying, "The