cerns. Prepare to meet thy God, whose favour is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and thou perish from the way, while his wrath is kindled but a little.-AMEN.

SERMON XI.

ON THE BENEFITS OF AFFLICTION.

Romans viii. 28.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God

BY THE REV. THOMAS PICTON, A. M.

Pastor of the Presbyterian Congregation of West-Field.

NEW-JERSEY PREACHER.

SERMON XI.

Rom. viii. 28.-" And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God."

So

O numerous and so various are the afflictions of the christian, that he is, sometimes, ready to say, with the good old patriarch Jacob, "All these things are against me." When the hand of poverty presses heavily upon him, when those, whom he once called friends, prove treacherous, when his real friends are torn away, by death, from his arms;—and when he himself is languishing with disease; is it surprising that he should, occasionally, yield to dejection ?

But he is never left to remain without hope and consolation. In the midst of all his darkness, light will arise. Amidst all his sorrows, sources of comfort are still left open to him. Whilst he is assured, that all things work together for his good, he has no reason to repine. Nay, he finds daily cause to bless the sovereign hand, that chastises in mercy.

The sentiment contained in the text has been the support and consolation of many believers, when dangers threatened, and afflictions pressed. In order to afford relief to a distressed heart, you must place hope before it. It is of the utmost importance that this hope be well founded, and the reason of it be perceived. Although the Apostle speaks with the greatest confidence—“ we know that all things work together for good to them