Do not yield to the temptation of looking at every thing at once, as if every thing would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour. Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you; then regard the next in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do, that you need strength to do it. You will find it a very great blessing to you, as much as possible, to do every thing at stated hours; to do each thing at the same hour every day: : or, if it is a thing of but weekly occurrence, to do it on the same day of the week, and at the same hour: it makes things come naturally and easily, and with far less effort; you know what you have to do, and can arrange accordingly; moreover, habit makes all things so much easier and less burdensome; and prevents the considering what you have to do, and what you ought to do next. Often, when you have almost fainted in spirit, the thought comes, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, what shalt thou do with the horsemen ?" a Put it from you, it is a faithless thought; if you need more strength you will have it, be sure of that; or Jer. xii. 5. the call to greater exertion may never come to you. Your business is with the present; leave the future in His hands who will be sure to do the best, the very best for you. XIII. DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS. Do not expect to be wholly freed from sickly thoughts whilst a sickly body is pressing you down, and causing you "to groan, being burdened." a Friends may tell you that your state is surely very wrong, for that it should be, that as "the outward man decays, the inward is renewed day by day." They repeat true words, but they are mistaken in their application of them; for "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." c "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him." "It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power."e "My b 2 Cor. iv. 16. • John xii. 24. ⚫ 1 Cor. xv. 43. 2 Cor. v. 4. substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect; and in Thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them." a So it is with the spiritual body-how it is moulded and fashioned is hidden from our sight. We cannot see how this severe frost, which seems for the present only to harden the ground, and even prevent it from receiving the dews of heaven, can be of any benefit; but wait a little, and the spring time will come, and when "the flowers appear on the earth" again, and "the time of the singing of birds is come," b then we shall see how needful the frost has been, and how it preserved the precious seed. Doubtless "the inward man is renewed," but "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." c He knows it, and knows how it is. Do not be out of heart when your friends offer you these deep and harrowing discouragements; say only, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me." "I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." e "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."f d a Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16. d Job xix. 21. b Cant. ii. 11. e Ps. xliii. 11. Ps. xxv. 14. f Job xiii. 15. Do not afterwards revolve the question until it ends with your saying, "There is no hope." a Just simply tell it all to "Our Father," or rather say that you cannot tell Him, but that He knows your trouble. Ask Him, if it please Him, to help you to "let your light shine before men, that they seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in Heaven;" b but if it must be otherwise, then to help you to say, "Thy will be done."c Friends will say also that you have so much leisure time, that they envy you your leisure; that they sometimes long to be ill that they may have more uninterrupted time to serve God; and that they think that illness is such a time for communion with God, and for growing in grace. Do not be discouraged by this. Do not fancy that because you find it otherwise, therefore you are wholly in a wrong state; and that all the past has been but delusion. It is "afterward that it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who are exercised thereby."d Leave it all to His righteous judg ment-leave yourself in His hands. He knows your circumstances, your pain, and every thing that belongs to you; and He will judge you according to those circumstances, and not according to your estimate of yourself, or of them. "Fret not thyself" in this matter; but as you a Jer. ii. 25. b Matt. v. 16. Matt. xxvi. 42. d Heb. xii. 11. "suffer according to the will of God," so "commit yourself into the hands of Him your faithful Creator." a XIV. POVERTY. ONE thing more must be mentioned as a fruitful source of trial, and it is a mercy if it be not of discontent also. At all times poverty is truly hard to bear; but when it is united with sickness, it is indeed so sore a trial, that only He who bore it all, who "humbled Himself," "took on Him the form of a servant," "had not where to lay His head;" who passed through the extreme of hunger and thirst for our sakes, can fully understand it, or know its exceeding bitterness-its exceeding fulness of temptationits sorrows, anxieties, and sufferings. He knows it all; He not only tasted it, but drank the whole cup to the very dregs. He knows how very difficult it is for you to procure actual necessaries; how many things which seem to others quite necessary you must forego; how often you must take food which you can scarcely swallow, because you can get nothing else; how 1 Pet. iv. 19. • Phil. ii. 7. b Phil. ii. 8. d Matt. viii. 20. |