Sometimes, we may believe, pain is sent to us for other purposes than correction, viz. as a blessing in disguise, to raise, refine, and dignify our characters ;-as a small passing loss which brings us a great and lasting gain.

It has been said with truth "that the men of sorrows are ever the men of influence." If you will think of the great men in the Bible, Moses, David, Elijah, St. Paul, for instance, you will remember what affliction did for them, and our Blessed Lord Himself was a "Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." Pain brings out often our hidden good qualities in a way that nothing else. can, and so we learn at last that we really gain rather than lose by what at first sight seems so hard to bear.

"Full many a soul has found in sorrow peace,

And blessing in the guise of seeming pain."

These things are the experience of many. They are not far-fetched theories but proved facts.

"Enter the dim sanctuary of sorrow

through the shadow of the Cross, abide there, and as your eyes grow accustomed to the darkness, the strange lines upon its walls, which seemed at first so meaningless, will group themselves into shapes and forms of purposeful design."

*Mr. Illingworth in "Lux Mundi," whose article has suggested many of these thoughts

44

On Taking up the Cross.

Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”— St. LUKE xiv, 27.

THESE are plain words. We all want to be disciples of Christ, to live near Him here, to live with Him hereafter. One condition for that is that we shall take up our cross and bear it steadfastly, and patiently as He did. There are many sorts of crosses. Jesus bore them all. We are at one time. or another called to bear one. We can perhaps escape it, or we can bear it unwillingly and fretfully, or we can bear it patiently and trustfully; and even find rest for our souls in bearing it. Surely it must be a comfort to us in trouble to remember

that the bearing of a cross is the sign-the necessary sign, of a true follower of Jesus Christ. This throws a new light on troubles, and may teach us even to welcome them, for the untroubled life, though in a worldly sense a happy one, is not the blessed life. What we must look for in answer to prayer is, not so much the removal of our Cross as strength to bear it, and wisdom to profit by it; and if we ask for these earnestly they will never be denied to us.

Note.

THE following texts all breathe the spirit of comfort. The circumstances under which they were spoken were, of course, various. Some are the words of Christ Himselfsome of men in different ages who were inspired by God the Holy Spirit. We may not be in the same, or even in very similar circumstances; but for all that we can apply the words to our own case because they express the general love and tenderness of God to the repentant sinner and the afflicted. And it will often happen that we are passing through a precisely similar trial to that which produced these words of comfort. The texts under the heading "General" are those which seem to apply to all sorts of