however small the gift given: whereas some great gift may be given harshly, or a lecture about want of prudence and economy may be given with it, which may take from the gift all its value, and make them feel only, how little the rich know of the wants of the poor, and how little they sympathize with them. You, especially, who have had the discipline of sickness and its privations, should show them tenderness and sympathy. If you cannot visit them yourself, or even see them when they come to your house, you will interest your servants in them, and make them your almoners. It will do them much good also, and will be a link between them and the poor, and between yourself and them. All your attempts to help the poor you will offer to God as your "sacrifice of thanksgiving; "a and will do all "as unto the Lord, and not as unto men.”b In the same way, you will endeavour to aid every one who comes near you in their "work of faith and labour of love." You will help them by any assistance of money, work, or advice, you have it in your power to give; nor will you do this the less although your work should be wholly hidden, and it should appear to be theirs alone. You will see how good this is for you; and will gladly and thankfully see others working, and

a Ps. cxvi. 17.

• Heb. vi. 10.

b Col. iii. 23.

cheer them on their way, even though at times you may suffer from the pain of the contrast. You will seek also to interest yourself in all works of mercy; in those societies and institutions, which are really trying to do the work of God, in an orderly and humble manner. Every thing in which you can interest yourself, will open to you a fresh and a wider field of enjoyment. Every thing that belongs to God, and is furthering His work on earth, should have the deepest interest for you; and you should seek to let it become increasingly a part of your self, of your thoughts, your prayers, and your labours.

22*

PART IV.

The Blessings of Sickness.

them apart

THE Blessings of Sickness are so inseparably connected with its trials, and the danger of trying to look upon from each other is so great, that throughout this volume they have been blended, and this chapter is intended merely to "gather up some of the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost." "O how great is the sum of them! if I should count them, they are more in number than the sand." "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”

I.

THE BLESSINGS OF SICKNESS.

It was a strange answer, you think, which came at last; you had prayed for work, and He has sent you sickness, and laid you aside. He has seemed to "read all your prayers backwards," and to answer you by contraries. "Doubt not, but earnestly believe," that your sickness is the

very best answer to your prayers; that it meets them, and includes them all. In it, and by it, your works will be purified; and strange truth! you will surely, if you use it aright, learn in sickness to "love life and see good days.”a You will learn to "joy in the gifts Heaven's bounty sends:" to see every thing shining out in the brightness which the love of God sheds upon all things. You will learn so to love His will, that you will desire nothing but what He gives. Even now, there are great blessings to you, in being thus laid aside. Have you ever thought from how many evil things you have been kept by it? how many extravagancies you not only might, but certainly would have followed, which, by the mercy of God in sending sickness, have been put out of your reach? how greatly your zest for controversy was misleading you? but sickness has taught you to feel its lovelessness and its restlessness, and how much it is apt to engross the thoughts, and draw them away from vital truths. Sick persons want real living truths; they want food, not husks; the simpler the truth, the better for them. You know that God is love, and you wish to be like Him; you do not want to be tempted to "bite and devour one another." You were "feeding on husks;" The Voice might have said, "Let him alone;"c but It said, "return unto Me." "I will allure • Luke xiii. 8.

Ps. xxxiv. 12.

b Gal. v. 15.

her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."a

you

It may be that had begun to care more for the "outward visible sign," than for the "thing signified."

You are taken by sickness from your idolatry of forms, only that you may see them at a little distance, and see how much had been added by men, and by your own earthliness of heart; and how very much in those forms was living and true and holy.

You are taken from hearing of penitence, that you may learn to be penitent. From hearing that Christians should love each other, to dwell more alone with Him who is love, in order that you may be changed into His image.

You are but taken aside, that you may learn. what is truth with less confusion than you could learn it whilst you were in Babel; for you are brought into the presence of "The Truth;" where all glosses are by degrees removed, and the soul becomes more and more alone with God. Perhaps you had thought to make some great sacrifice or dedication; to render some great service; or to separate yourself from the world; you despised domestic duties, thought them poor and worldly, and not containing enough in them of sacrifice. You overlooked the hourly and continual calls in them for real

Hos. ii. 14.