yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better; nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Or this, from the first epistle to the Corinthians: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept." Or this, from the second to Timothy: "For I am now ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." These extracts are taken from letters which the apostle took occasion to address to churches or to individuals. What think you? Does he write like one who doubted or disbelieved a future resurrection? Is all this hesitating, whether to give the preference to this world or the next, or, more properly, this constrained adherence to a life in which he was still called upon to labour in the cause of Christ; this confident reasoning upon the resurrection of Jesus as an established fact; this calm contemplation of death as a departure to a world of glory, a mere delusion?

Remember, my friends, these extracts have not been taken from philosophical treatises, but from letters; letters, too, written from friend to friend, in the midst of realities quite as solid as any in which we are engaged, and much more awful. Death was daily staring the apostle in the face, at the very time when he was thus deliberately estimating its advantages. This was no time for trifling. For my own part, I am utterly at a loss to conceive how any man can attentively peruse the epistles of Paul, and entertain doubts of the truth of Christianity. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, then, is not a fiction. It is a sure, solid, and most glorious truth; and, being so, I ask you once more, is it not a doctrine which serves most clearly to establish the reasonableness of resignation? Seeing, as we do at present, through a glass darkly, must we not be justly chargeable with the most unpardonable presumption, if we venture to arraign the wisdom or equity of proceedings, of the issue of which we know nothing? We may rest assured that, when the day of judgment shall arrive, all apparent obscurities will be cleared up, and the goodness, as well as the wisdom and equity of the divine proceedings, fully vindicated. Till then, my friends, let us learn to wait upon the Lord with full assurance of faith, and in that devout and humble frame of mind which

best suits the condition of dependent beings. Such, then, are the arguments which seem to me to establish clearly the reasonableness of resignation; its evident suitableness to our present condition, as pensioners of an all-powerful, wise, and good God, as followers of a suffering and patient Master, and as expectants of a future state of retribution.

Let it not be supposed, however, that the reasonabless of a resigned temper of mind is its only recommendation. I will venture to affirm, that no man has ever exercised this virtue without finding it its own reward. There is a pure and placid satisfaction, resulting from the consciousness of having thus submitted our own wills to that of our beneficent Heavenly Father, the value of which those who have experienced it alone can understand. How sublime does the character of our blessed Saviour appear when he pronounced the words of the text, and how rich must have been the tribute of self-applause that followed the magnanimous resolution! May we not conceive it to have been the strengthening influence of that consolatory feeling, which contributed, in part, to prepare his mind for passing through the successive trials that awaited him, with that undisturbed dignity and unshaken constancy which have ever since excited the amaze

ment and admiration of the world; and for submitting, in fine, to the excruciating tortures of the cross with unshrinking fortitude? And so must it ever be, in a degree proportioned to the severity of the affliction, with the man who patiently submits to the calamities with which an all-wise Providence may see fit to visit him. He will feel the power of religion enabling him to triumph over the severest sufferings, and when the war of conflicting emotions has in part subsided, he will feel likewise that he has been visited by a portion of that peace of God, which passeth all understanding.

Nor do the blessings, which a resigned and patient temper of mind is capable of conferring, cease with the affliction itself. The house of mourning is the chosen sanctuary of religious feeling, and frequently causes to spring up some of the best affections of the heart, which might otherwise have remained lifeless. The man who has learned the lesson of obedience in the school of adversity, will not be the most likely soon to forget it. The spirit that has been breathed into him in the day of his distress, may continue to animate him till the close of his existence. Had he indulged a fretful and discontented temper, he must have depended on time alone for the restoration of his comfort, and left himself, af

ter all, in a condition so defenceless, that the first adverse blast might have a second time overwhelmed him. As it is, he has acted far more wisely. He has taken religion for his shield and buckler. He has fenced himself in a position that may be pronounced impregnable. He has built his house upon rock, and the rains may descend, and the floods may come, and the winds may blow and beat upon that house, but it shall stand for ever.

Finally, my Christian friends, let us resolve, with the divine assistance, to imitate the example of our honoured Master, and to say with him, under the severest afflictions, "Nevertheless, not as we will, but as thou wilt." That we may be the better able to effect this, let us endeavour, by every means in our power, to strenghen the hold which the great truths of religion have upon our minds. By habitual and devout meditation on the works of creation and providence; by a careful perusal of that sacred volume, which contains a faithful account of the divine dispensations; and, above all, by frequent and fervent prayer, let us labour diligently to acquire and to maintain that heavenly temper of mind which prepared our Lord, and which can alone prepare his followers, for the exercise of a sincere and perfect resignation.