beginning; and after this he lived an hundred and forty years, and died, being old and full of days.

1 Job i, 1, 3, 8-22.

2 Job ii, 3-7, 9, 10. 3 Job xl, 3, 4. 4 Job xlii, 6, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17.

The trials of the righteous appointed by God. 1"The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.-The Lord trieth the righteous. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. God chasteneth us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

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5" God is in one mind, who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. He performeth the thing that is appointed for me. We are the clay, and he the potter; and we all are the work of his hand.-The Lord do that which seemeth him good. He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

1 Ps. xi, 4, 5. 2 Mal. iii, 3. 5 Job xxiii, 13, 14. 6 Is. lxiv, 8.

3 Ps. cxii, 4. 4 Heb. xii, 10.
7 2 Sam. x, 12. 8 Job xxiii, 10.

ILLUSTRATION. The trial of Abraham's faith.

"It came to pass God did tempt Abraham, and said; 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.'

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham saw the place afar off, and said unto his young men, 'Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.' (Accounting that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead.)

"And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake and said, 'My father, behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide himself a lamb.' So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told Abraham of; and he built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And he stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

"And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, 'Abraham, Abraham;' and he said, 'Here am I.' And the angel said, 'Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.'

"And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And he called the name of that place, 'Jehovahjireh.'

"And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee. . . . and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

1 Gen. xxii, 1-5. 2 Heb. xi, 19. 3 Gen. xxii, 6-18.

Exhortation to joyful submission.

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"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Therefore no man should be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.

3"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. -Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their

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souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

4" Now the God of peace, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Jas. i, 12. 21 Thess. iii, 3. 31 Pet. iv, 12, 13, 19. 4 Heb. xiii, 20, 21.

Chapter Fourteenth.

THE CHRISTIAN UNCHARITABLE.

The importance of Christian love.

"THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,-is not puffed up,-doth not behave itself unseemly,seeketh not her own,-is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth. Beareth all things,-believeth all things,-hopeth all things,-endureth all things; charity never faileth. And now abideth faith, hope, charity,—these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

11 Cor. xiii, 1-8, 13.

Exhortation to forgiveness of injuries.

"Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness