become of us after death, than how or when we shall die; and more desirous to be told how we may carry ourselves well in our sickness, and get good to our souls by it, than whether we shall recover from it or not.M. HENRY. If light attends the course I run, Yet I would not be much concern'd, The volume of his deep decrees, When he reveals the book of life, The followers of the Lamb!-DR. WATTS. 2 CHRON. XVI. 12.—And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty; but trusting to them, and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only, was his sin and folly. The help of creatures must always be used with an eye to the Creator, and in dependance upon Him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, and without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of no value.-M. HENRY. My flesh is hastening to decay, Soon shall the world have passed away; But what can mortal friends avail When heart, and strength, and life shall fail? But, oh! be thou, my Saviour, nigh, And I will triumph while I die; My strength, my portion, is Divine, 2 CHRON. Xxxii. 24, 25.-In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign. But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. : It is justly expected that they that have received mercy from God, should study to make some suitable returns for the mercies they have received; and if they do not, their ingratitude will certainly be charged upon them. Though we cannot render an equivalent or the payment of a debt, we must render the acknowledgment of a favour. What shall I render, that may be so accepted? Psalm cxvi. 12.-M. HENRY. "Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him." On this conduct of the king of Judah, Mr. JAY remarks: "Lord, what is man! Who is beyond the danger of falling while he is in this world? On what can we safely rely? He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And he is not much better that trusts in his own grace. It is not our grace, but his grace, that is sufficient for us. Let us, there fore, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." JOB i. 22. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. When God charges many men home, then they presently charge God foolishly, they put B him to bear the brunt and blame of all; but this will be bitterness in the end. When thou art under affliction, thou mayest humbly tell God that thou feelest his hand heavy; but thou must not blame him because his hand is heavy. No man hath ever been able to make good a charge against God: and wilt thou be able? Surely, no. By charging God foolishly in the day of thy calamity, thou dost but provoke the Lord to charge thee through and through, more fiercely and furiously, with his most deadly darts of renewed misery. It is thy greatest wisdom to blame thy sins, and lay thy hand upon thy mouth; for why should folly charge innocence? That man is far enough off from being mute and silent under the hand of God, who dares charge God himself for laying his hand upon him.-BROOKS. It is a good remark of GURNALL, the author of "The Christian Armour," that "a soul impatient under affliction, is like the devil in his chains, who rages against God while he is fettered by him." And another of his remarks may be inserted in this place: "The Spirit of Christ sweetly calms the soul of a suffering believer, not by taking away all sense of pain, but by overcoming it with the sense of his love." JOB ii. 3.-Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth. Unparalleled saint! who endured such a succession of tragical events with humility and submission! The active holiness of his prosperous life is not recorded with such a note of eminency and admiration as his patient sufferings, for which he is universally crowned with the praises of the saints in all ages. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job!" He is a spectacle that draws the regard of all, more famous for his patience than his misery.Take away from Job the Chaldean and Sabean robbers, the shower of fire that consumed his estate, the whirlwind, raised by infernal spirits, that destroyed his children, his diseases, and his cruel wife, then the exercises of his insuperable patience, and the honourable remembrance of Job is lost. If the prince of darkness had not tried all his arts |