That all the trees that shade the fields may know
He'll raise the meek and bring the lofty low;
Dry up the fruitless; with his verdant screen
Revive the dry, and make the barren green.

This Branch divine on Zion's eminence
Our only shelter is, our sure defence;
Beneath whose shade the saints of God unite,
Whose fruit and shadow give them such delight.

This Tree of Life its monthly fruit shall yield,
And leaves, by which the nations bless'd are heal'd;
Whose verdant shade makes an eternal spring,
And screens the fowls of ev'ry plume and wing.

Since I began to puzzle my head with these few verses of rugged rhyme, by which I intend to puzzle your head as well as my own, I have heard of your being taken ill, which I am sorry for, knowing that no affliction is joyous but grievous. Your gout, Madam, and my ague, will remind us of mortality as long as we live; they are constitutional, like Timothy's bad stomach, or Elisha's sickness, which is called his sickness, whereof he died, 2 Kings xiii. 14. These will prey upon every pin and cord of these earthly tabernacles until the main standards give way; but, blessed be God, they are consecrated; the Lord hath visited and inhabited them, and has given us a pledge to assure us that they shall be raised again, as tabernacles that shall never more be taken down; nor shall one cord be loosed. The Saviour was partaker of

flesh and blood with the predestinated children; he lived and dwelt in our nature, and offered himself up as a sacrifice by death for us; and as his Deity raised up his body, so he is the resurrection of ours; and now appears in heaven for us, as the first fruits of all that sleep in him. He is the Saviour of the body as well as the soul; even our flesh shall rest in this hope, our end will be peace; the Lord is the strength of our heart, and our portion for ever, therefore be of good cheer.

Remember, Madam, that God doth not afflict his saints willingly, nor grieve them without cause; it is sin that he visits with the rod, and iniquities with scourges: we have a body of sin that must be mortified, besides the many things that we all offend in, and these call for stripes; and do we not procure these things to ourselves? Let not living souls complain then, seeing they are thus visited for the punishment of their sin. It is good for the believer to bear the yoke in his youth; frequent afflictions gradually produce resignation to the divine will, which affords a sweetness mingled with stripes, and makes the yoke sit easy and the burden appear light: these bring us to kiss the rod, and submit to the hand that appointed it; and we learn some comfortable lessons from it, as well as get purged from those evils that were the cause of it.

One who has been inured to the cross by a

constant train of lingering afflictions doth not find half that resistance, reluctance, nor perverseness, that many do who, unexperienced in afflictions, are seized in the midst of health and strength; these often start, or fly back, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, and require some violent strokes to ply the iron sinew of the neck; until which is done there is little compliance to the will of God; we go like an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, not considering that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." I have observed some who have long been bowed down under the fear of death, till they have been ready to conclude themselves sick and almost at death's door; such have gone through the whole imagined scene with as much distress as if it had been real; and, when they have come to the trial, the whole sea of sufferings has been waded through before hand; and the soul, having obtained deliverance and strength, has sustained the infirmities of the body; insomuch, that the formidable king of terrors has appeared but a mere shadow; afflictions having bowed them to the sickle before, and they have gone to the grave as a shock of corn fully ripe, coming in its season; or, as a lily gradually blown, and gathered in bloom.

Afflictions excite fear; they lead us to selfexamination; they make us frown on the world,

even though it smile upon us: confidence and hope bestir themselves; confession and prayer become seasonable; and the interest that we have in God will be claimed with all the boldness of faith: " by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit."

Afflictions are the portion of the Lord's people; it is the cup they are to drink of, and is no small proof of their adoption; All that the Lord loves he rebukes and chastens; and scourges every son whom he receiveth: they that are without chastisement are affirmed to be bastards and not sons. God's fatherly stripes humble the heart, and work out the old leaven, and so prepare the way for more grace. "He chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." Under these chastisements we come to the bar of equity, reason matters over with God, get at the cause wherefore he contends with us, plead his promised mercy in Christ Jesus, while his own Spirit fills our mouth with arguments; and so the controversy ends in the chastisements of a covenant God and Father, instead of the killing sentence of an angry Judge; "we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

The whole train of troubles that fall to our share we shall have, but no more; all these things are appointed for me, says Job, and many such things are with him. What we have gone through will be endured no more; that part of our pilgrimage is finished; and God has hitherto helped us,

and brought us through; our strength has been equal to our day; what is yet to come the wheel of time will turn up as it runs: God is the same, his promise is the same, and faith is the same today as yesterday, and will be the same to the end of our race. "God doth deliver, says Paul, and we trust that he will yet deliver us."

As our afflictions are appointed, so there is an exact measure proportioned; "I will correct thee in measure, yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished," Jer. xlvi. 28. This measure is scant, is filled to the brim, shook together, or heaped up and running over, just as our stubborn old man, whose mouth and back both call for strokes, requires it. God does nothing in vain ; if there be no iniquity bound in the heart of the child, there is no need of the rod of correction to drive it out. Here the perfectionist has got the start of us; for we cannot say that we have made our heart clean, nor that we are pure from our sin; therefore we must expect the rod for our parts, unless, like Ephraim, we would sooner run away from our profession than submit to the hand of God: for it is written, that a child left to himself will fall.

The Lord discovers a most tender affection to his afflicted children when in the furnace; he verifies the proverb that speaks of him as a father; "he that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him by times." Yet discovers himself a present help, yea a very present help in time of trouble; the Lord strengthens