sentment.

"Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Your enemy, or his children, will one day come to your door to beg. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink." By making a right use of the Bible, in such experiences, you will find, as I have found, how wonderfully it proves itself to be the Word of God. It knows me altogether. It knows exactly what I want. When my sorrow is supreme, it says, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician there?"

"But people are so ungrateful," you remind me.

Yes; some of them are. But are not some of them grateful? I am always struck with the kindness of people, their love, their sympathy, their patience.

'True; but the people I have done most for are most ungrateful."

Very likely. That has been sadly illustrated in my own experience. But even on that point the Bible gives the best comfort. It would seem, as in the Apostle's case, the more you love some people the less you will be loved,

How wonderfully the Bible meets this very case. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." Now will you think your case over from this point of view? If you will, I am sure you will take heart and begin again. Do not give up your work. Write your letter of resignation, and write it very strongly and even vehemently, and then place it most carefully in the middle of the fire, the devil's post-office for the devil's letters. Why should a

faithful man be faithless? You were not called to the ministry by the will of man, but by the will of God. "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths." A minister must have no self. He must be his Lord's loving slave. In such a case his chain is his liberty. What have you or I suffered in comparison with the Apostle Paul? When I think myself ill-treated or wronged in any way I read Paul's record, and become ashamed of my petulance:

"Are they ministers of Christ? I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths

oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

Yet we are tempted to resign because some man has given up a pew! I am ashamed of myself when I think of this possibility. What did the Apostle do with all his sorrows, disappointments, sufferings, and infirmities? He turned them to good account. He made capital out of them. Oh, listen to this heromartyr:

"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak, then am I strong."

If we are in the apostolic succession we will do the "If I needs must glory, I will glory in the

same.

things which concern mine infirmities."

Paul thus

made failures into successes. They brought him nearer to his Lord. They helped him toward

Gethsemane. He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Our weakness gives Christ an opportunity to show the power of his grace. He does not always save us from trouble; he always saves us in it. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." That we are "not destroyed" is a proof that we shall be saved. With the Lord, a negative may mean a positive. Are you destroyed? Is your root consumed with fire? Is there no remnant of strength? Let us look to our Lord and expect his incoming to our hearts every moment. "Though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God." "If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." Now read the twenty-third Psalm, and tell me if it is not the Word of God uttered from the human side.

ye

You know that the value of all comfort depends upon the right with which we can claim it. It is not meet to take the children's Self-Examination bread and cast it unto the dogs. Personal. We must not be comforted in wrong-doing. "What glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, shall take it patiently?" I must, then, probe my heart before God. I must not spare myself. The hot iron must go right in. Have I been envious of some other man? Have I sought to injure his reputation, or to modify his influence? Have I been secretly pleased when I have heard that he is not quite so popular as he used to be? And yet have I said how sorry I was that he was not maintaining his position? What wonder if God should chide me, and feed me with the bread of rebuke? My soul was indeed mean, and my breath was corrupt in prayer, yea, my holiest words were bathed in pestilence, and my supplications were weighted with deceit. Is it to be wondered at, then, that God stirred up men against me, and rolled rough stones before my feet? It was righteous judgment. I had shut the door of the sanctuary in my own face, and excluded myself from