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mean before the correcting hand of the Almighty was upon you-you went wrong. There are plenty

of troubles for the flesh; for "man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards:" and there are many sinners grievously afflicted by reason of their sins who have no fear of God before their eyes, and the very day they are made whole and recover, return again to their iniquities. These men are not corrected by God. Satan afflicts their flesh, and when they have got well they are still his servants. I speak not of such if they enjoy any satisfaction it can only be of a temporal and temporary nature-" But happy is the man whom God correcteth."

This happiness is in the conversion of his soul from sin. He has been made to see-aye, and to kiss the rod of God which corrects him. Such a man knows the value of God's mercy. He is made to behold himself as a brand snatched from the fire; and in the very depths of his soul he searches for the Spirit of God. He is made to see himself in sin, and how hateful he is to the Almighty. He is made to cry aloud-" Woe is me, I am undone," for the gates of hell seemed open to receive him; but the hand of love drew him out of the depths, set him up upon a rock, and ordered his goings. There

is joy in heaven over his repentance. Happy is the

man who is thus corrected of the Lord! Now, ask yourselves, in what his happiness consists? He will tell you that "before he was afflicted he went wrong" he was afflicted, thinking, perhaps, to be a great man by his own wisdom-seeking to be an upright, honest man of integrity-striving to be perfect in righteousness; and, at the very time, perhaps, before God corrected him, he seemed to himself to

be one of the best men in the world, almost without a fault-conscious at least that no man could lay anything to his charge, and that his intentions were honest and he might call himself a happy man. It does appear that Job was such before God corrected him. He could combat with Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and say " Miserable comforters are ye all," and they could not make him repent, for he was unconscious of offence before them; but his last words to the Lord his God are these "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Then the Lord turned the captivity of Job, accepted his prayers for his friends, and after his severe correction made him happier than he ever was before. May the Lord God do the same by us all-may He make us see the error of our ways and turn us unto Himself!-accept the atonement of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and so increase our faith in Him that we may see Him as our Saviour, and say with solemn truth" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes hath seen thy salvation."

Believe me, your affectionate friend,

THE COMFORTER.

ADDRESS VI.

ALMIGHTY GOD, who alone canst deliver us out of the enemy's power and redeem us out of the hand of the mighty, teach us to place full confidence only in thy help; that, trusting not to the arm of the flesh or the word of man, but to the Holy Spirit and the word of God, we may subdue all our foes through faith in our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Deliver me from the enemy's hand, or redeem me from the hand of the mighty.-JOB vi. 23.

MY DEAR FRIENDS-To use this language of Job to any human being in the hour of suffering would be language unbecoming a Christian, for "no man can deliver his brother nor make agreement unto God for him; for it cost more to redeem their souls, so that he must let that alone for ever

(Psalm xlix. 7, 8). "Put not your trust in princes nor any son of man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of ?-but put your trust in the Lord God, for He is a very present help in time of trouble." The pious Job was visited with affliction-with such deep affliction as it was not in the power of man to relieve. He was touched by the hand of God, and the hand of God could alone relieve him. As when the Christian is cast down, and worldly friends visit him, and cannot possibly

many

tell the agonies he endures, because their hearts are not open to spiritual wisdom and consolation, they increase rather than diminish the agonies of the soul. Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, were kind-hearted good-intentioned men, not void of natural affection nor of a certain degree of wisdom, prudence, knowledge, speech, and language. They were also learned men-men of education-men who understood the great comparisons of things and of the works and ways of the Almighty: especially in His providential governance of the earth and His general dispensations of good things to the upright and evil things to the wicked; but they certainly understood not the affliction of Job, and how God was working in him during that severe visitation. They tried to appease the sufferings of the patriarch by such wisdom as appeared to them just and proper, but they could not heal a wounded spirit! The Spirit of Love only can do this, for the suffering of the soul is beyond the reach of human medicine!—no human physician can heal it. The word of God, the messenger of God, the minister of the Lord appointed by Him for the purpose, is the only friend who can apply the sovereign remedy of the Great Physician to the troubled soul. Even the language I now write cannot be understood by any but Christians-by those who regard the soul as of infinitely more value than the body. If our bodies are afflicted we send for the physician to ask his advice his skill and knowledge beneath the blessing of God may relieve our bodily pains; and hence it is we are anxious to possess the best advice and assistance we can obtain. His remedies may be effective and we may revive from our malady; yet

all this while our souls may not be touched. We may be actually counting, during our bodily sufferings, of returning again to those habits, those very pursuits, those very sins, which may have been the cause of our bodily complaint; but the soul, touched as Job's was, at the same time that the body was also, required a far more skilful physician than his well-intentioned friends. I will for a moment suppose any soul here present in that state in which Job was placed; and believe me, my Christian friends, you will be so in spirit, if not in flesh, before you can be perfected in spirit: you will have your soul touched with grace-perhaps your bodies afflicted also; for the body is but a very insecure building, always falling to decay, and wanting very much repair even for the inhabitant therein. But suppose any of you, like Job, should have your soul and body afflicted. Judge, I entreat you, of the intensity of his sufferings by the words which he uttered-"Oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together, for now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up; for the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." Now, can any language more forcibly depict the sinner's sufferings when he is brought to see that he is wounded for the sake of his soul? The heaviness which the Christian endures-the heaviness of his soul's burthen-appears to him more weighty than the sand of the sea-a burthen which cannot be borne. So great does a man's guilt appear to him when God visits him that there is no language I

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