He will not always chide; And, when His strokes are felt, Those strokes are fewer than our sins, And lighter than our guilt. The pity of the Lord, To those that fear His name Is such as tender parents feel; He knows our feeble frame. He knows we are but dust Scattered with every breath; His anger, like a rising wind, Can send us swift to death. Our days are as the grass, If one sharp blast sweep o'er the field, But Thy compassions, Lord, To endless years endure; And children's children ever find Thy word of promise sure. And let me come, as a poor sinner, to the Cross. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John i. 8-10; ii. 1, 2. [It is only at the foot of the Cross that any child of fallen Adam can reasonably expect to find consolation and peace. There it becomes you to lie; and there the streams of mercy will be sure to descend into your soul in due time. Observe too the order of these thoughts, which I have thus put first, because I have learned from my own experience, and seen it confirmed by that of others,-that, if we would have true and abiding instruction and comfort in our afflictions, we must begin with acknowledging our sinfulness, submitting to the rod (which does not chastise without just cause) and magnifying the Righteousness of God. Then, and not till then, we shall be prepared, even in the midst of the severest trials, to marvel at His forbearance. And when we can do this humbly and thankfully, we shall soon begin to taste and rejoice in the riches of His mercy, and even to glory in tribulation.] What shall the dying sinner do, In vain we search, in vain we try, How much more did Jesus endure for me! "Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Heb. xii. 3, 4. "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 3-5. [It will often be useful to consider the afflictions of some of the most eminent servants of God, as recorded in the Scriptures, and the submission which they showed under them: Aaron, (Levit. x. 1-7.); Job, (ch. i. and às ii.); David, (2 Sam. xvi. 5-14.); Ezekiel (ch. xxiv. 5-18). Are our trials equal to theirs? But that He, who knew no sin, should have endured so much more for us sinners,-for us, when we were rebels and His enemies,-than ever He calls us to endure for Him, should surely stop our mouths and silence every murmur.] How bitter that cup no heart can conceive, Which He drank quite up, that sinners might live! His way was much rougher and darker than mine: Did Jesus thus suffer, and shall I repine? Is He not immutably God to help, and Man to sympathize? "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt |