They contain selections from English and American writers, whose names are familiar in this community,-Price, Cappe, Channing, Dewey, Palfrey, Parker, Colman and others. Many of the pieces here printed will be recognised as of recent publication. The idea of preparing the present volume arose out of the belief that these materials if brought together would constitute a valuable book of consolation. Other extracts of a similar character have been added; and upon whatever page the reader may open, it is believed that he will find "words of comfort." That they may soothe the grief of bereavement, and lighten the load of trouble under which the heart even of the Christian is often ready to faint, is the hope and prayer of the compiler.

BOSTON, MARCH, 1836.

E. S. G.

1

THE GOOD OF AFFLICTION.

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted:"-happy would it be for us if this were our sentiment, and if our hearts thus reposed in Providence. How tranquil would our soul be, if, persuaded that God, while he has disposed all events for the greatest good of his creatures, retains them under his ceaseless control, we were able to confide in him in all the circumstances of our life, and to see in the dispensations which appear at first the most. inauspicious, the advantages which will subsequently result. Unhappily, these are not our thoughts, this is not our language. Not that our doubt extends to the dealings of Providence in general: we are not blind enough for that. We believe that God conducts the whole of the world,

that he has regulated and arranged every thing with the deepest wisdom; and we place the most entire confidence in him as long as our lot is happy: but does it change, are our plans traversed, are we visited by affliction, and exposed to the storms of life,-then our confidence in Providence wavers; we see no longer that wisdom and that goodness which we used to admire in his ways; we can no longer harmonize with his tenderness the evils he permits us to experience; God appears to have abandoned us, and murmurs are ready to escape from our lips. "How unhappy I am: my fortune has received a check, from which it will never recover!" "He is gone, my husband, the sole support of my children, and I am undone!" "That calumny has dishonored me forever; the idea of it will be the torment of my life!" Foolish complaints, unjustifiable distrust! God is ever a tender Father to us, even when he exposes us to the blows of adversity; and those afflictions, through which he leads us, ma,

prove to us of incalculable advantage. This is what I now propose to show.

We are exposed consequently to sufferings. Many of us perhaps groan now under the weight of some calamity. Those who are in prosperity may be on the point of falling. Evil, ever present or at hand, threatens us all. Come, then, all of us, and let us arm ourselves against its blows, and draw consoling thoughts from religion: come, and learn from it to what an extent the very evils of which we complain may, if we knew how to profit by them, produce the happiest consequences.

When we are well convinced that God has each of us constantly under his notice; that he wishes the happiness of us all, and that he has in his power a thousand means to lead us to it, we are naturally induced to ask why, this being the case, he often leaves us in, yea exposes us to, misfortune; and we can find no other reason, except that our afflictions have their uses, seen of God, but unknown

to us, and that what we call evil is really good. This conclusion is confirmed by the Holy Scriptures in many places. They often represent the different troubles of life as benefits from God; they tell us that he chastens those whom he loves, and that our transient sufferings produce an infinite weight of glory. What, then, is that happiness which we buy so dearly, that, to lead us to acquire it, He who is our Father exposes us sometimes to many and long calamities? He tells us himself. It is through much tribulation that we may be fitted for entering on the happiness of heaven; that we may be rendered partakers of his holiness. "It

is good," said David, after having learnt by experience, "it is good for me to have been afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes before I went astray, but now I keep thy word." It is, then, to perfect our characters, to render us worthy of the happiness which God has in reserve for the righteous, that he subjects us to the reverses of which we complain; that he