with fortitude and even cheerfulness. It is only because they set themselves stubbornly to refuse to accept the inevitable share of discipline by sorrow, because they refuse to be comforted, because they refuse to see or to dwell upon their compensations, and because the mortification of their hopes and the defeat of their will make a wound which neither compensations nor common sense can heal. Still it is right to hear them in self defence; and they always endeavour to defend themselves and to nurse their misery by dwelling upon the unquestionable evils of the opposite extreme. They point out, e.g., the vicious issues to which a blind fatalism will lead; they descant on the criminal laziness of allowing things to take their course and sitting down idle and passive when so many wrongs are waiting to be set right. They reiterate, and with truth, the perils of indifference and the new forms of evil which are engendered by too much patience and forbearance with other peoples' faults, and so or through the whole range of those mistakes which belong to characters the very opposite of their own. Well, we admit all they urge, and on that side of course very much is to be said, but not said to them, since their malady needs a wholly different treatment. We should try to convince them that the excess of their despondency is traceable to themselves and their own resistance. For whenever the effort is made to make the best of circumstances, to make the best and think the best of all around us, we not only do ourselves good and save ourselves incalculable misery, but we at the same time confer the highest benefit on those who need correction and who are far more likely to be improved by kindness and generosity than by perpetual fault-finding and severe judgment. There is a time in all our lives when the choice of two paths is comparatively easy. Before we become wearied and stiffened with life's journey, before our little weaknesses become petrified into disagreeable habits, before our minds have become encrusted with prejudices, we may then resolve henceforth to look if possible on the bright side of life, to make the best of all persons and things, never to meet troubles half way, nor to conjure up terrors and annoyances that may never come. Let the young remember this, and remember too these warning words, that according to their choice in that precious but solemn opportunity their after lives will either be happy or miserable; that, more important still, they will be sources of comfort and joy to all around them or the cause of much discomfort and misery; that to be happy is not only one aim of our life but one of our very important duties for the sake of others as well as for our own healthiness of soul and body. Brooding' is not chargeable upon circumstances or upon others, but in the words of my text, it is our own infirmity' which, if we have been so unfortunate as to contract in our younger days, we should make it our ceaseless struggle with ourselves to get rid of and cast away. The worst part of this infirmity lies in the difficulty of persuading the sufferer to take any healing measures. Reasoning is of little use, and the more the will is thwarted the more difficult to cure is the infirmity. Yet I think there is one remedy worth trying when all others fail and which has been proved to be of wonderful efficacy by countless numbers of the sorrowful. If the pride of self-will cannot be brought into subjection by circumstances or by the resistance of other human wills, it is seldom indeed that it cannot be bent down by a sense of opposition to the will of God. It is only in paroxysms of a frantic despair that the soul of the creature wilfully resists the will of the Creator. Any one, not so affected, and who has the smallest faith in a Holy God, dares not, and cannot, consciously refuse to accept any burden which God has laid upon him. It is not in human nature for the creature to defy its Creator. And if this be so, surely there lies very near at hand a door of hope, a way of escape from needless misery for the most wilful soul. We know, or ought to know, that some sources of trouble are absolutely inevitable. Whatever the future may do for our race, for us to day man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.' We must have trouble in our circumstances, we must suffer through our fellowmen, and we cannot have our own way. Now all that is thus inevitable we might most reasonably look upon as appointed for us by God Himself. We know that He doth not afflict willingly, nor wantonly grieve the children of men, and therefore when He gives to each one his allotted share of trouble, He must do so with the best possible motive and intention, and even the self-willed man will have the good sense not to kick against a power which he well knows to be almighty, and will have the native piety of man not to resent what is ordained by infinite Goodness. I fearlessly declare that if the over miserable ones will but look upon their pet miseries in this new light, as troubles appointed by the loving hand of God, not to torment them, but to chasten; to fulfil some high and. holy purpose which perhaps we cannot sec, they will soon lose their infirmity and begin to take a more cheerful view of themselves and of the world around them, and will certainly cease to aggravate their own misery by querulous and futile resistance. More than one writer in the Psalms seems to have had an attack of this complaint; but blessed be God! not one of them has mentioned or bewailed his lot without adding a cheerful thankful song telling us where and how he found a remedy. One, after lamenting that God had forsaken him, had forgotten to be gracious, had shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure, wakes up out of his morbid dream and says, 'It is mine own infirmity.' It is my own fault that I have been so miserable and desponding, but I will think upon God; I will remember the eternal years, I will call to mind His wondrous works and His marvellous love in days gone by. Another sings, In the multitude of my sorrows that I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul,' and another, Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of all.' I could quote Psalm after Psalm in the same strain, but the testimony they bear to the truth of what I have been urging upon you to-day is quite marvellous. We must come out of our poor weak selves, and find our comfort and consolation in the will of God, which we may be very sure has much more to do with the ordering of our lives than other men have, and circumstances around us. And when we reach that haven, the storms that beat about our heads are hushed in a peaceful silence and there is a great calm. I will give to the sorrowful a paraphrase, by Charles Wesley, of a verse in Isaiah to carry home with ther, ask ing them only to apply its comforting assurances not to a distant world beyond the grave, but to the wants of their hearts at this hour. Hear what God the Lord hath spoken: O my people, faint and few, Shall no more perplex your ways, Ye, no more your suns descending, Find eternal noon in me. God shall rise, and shining o'er you, ERRATA in No, 2 of Vol. V. Page 2 line 17 from bottom for disadvatages 'read' disadvantages.' 6 Upfield GREEN, Printer, Tenter Street, Moorgate Street, E.C. so with the best possible motive and intention, and even the self-willed man will have the good sense not to kick against a power which he well knows to be almighty, and will have the native piety of man not to resent what is ordained by infinite Goodness. I fearlessly declare that if the over miserable ones will but look upon their pet miseries in this new light, as troubles appointed by the loving hand of God, not to torment them, but to chasten; to fulfil some high and holy purpose which perhaps we cannot see, they will soon lose their infirmity and begin to take a more cheerful view of themselves and of the world around them, and will certainly cease to aggravate their own misery by querulous and futile resistance. More than one writer in the Psalms seems to have had an attack of this complaint; but blessed be God! not one of them has mentioned or bewailed his lot without adding a cheerful thankful song telling us where and how he found a remedy. One, after lamenting that God had forsaken him, had forgotten to be gracious, had shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure, wakes up out of his morbid dream and says, 'It is mine own infirmity.' It is my own fault that I have been so miserable and desponding, but I will think upon God; I will remember the eternal years, I will call to mind His wondrous works and His marvellous love in days gone by. Another sings, In the multitude of my sorrows that I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul,' and another, 'Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of all.' I could quote Psalm after Psalm in the same strain, but the testimony they bear to the truth of what I have been urging upon you to-day is quite marvellous. We must come out of our poor weak selves, and find our comfort and consolation in the will of God, which we may be very sure has much more to do with the ordering of our lives than other men have, and circumstances around us. And when we reach that haven, the storms that beat about our heads are hushed in a peaceful silence and there is a great calm. I will give to the sorrowful a paraphrase, by Charles Wesley, of a verse in Isaiah to carry home with ther, ask |