March 26

Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. - Isaiah 27:7-8.

THE afflictions of the Lord’s people are never unalloyed. However severe the trial or painful the affliction, there are many alleviations. Let us take our condition, however trying, and we shall see whether there is nothing in the time, the place, the manner, or the nature of the affliction that is not calculated to alleviate the suffering, or lessen its pressure. Let candour, let gratitude, let truth, examine into the circumstances of the case, and we shall discover that it might have been much worse, much more painful, and more difficult to bear. If we take our case and lay it by the side of our desert, what should we have suffered had he “dealt with us after our sins, or rewarded us according to our iniquities”? And, if we place our trouble by the side of the condition of others, we shall find that, though we may have lost much of our substance, they have nothing left.

Some may have buried one of their children, but the grave has written others childless in the earth. Some walk upon crutches, but others are bedridden. Some have months of vanity, but others have wearisome nights, and the multitude of their bones is filled with strong pain. But, oh, let us think of the sufferings of Jesus,-think of his dignity, of his pre-existent state, of his innocency. We suffer justly, for we suffer the due reward of our deeds; but he did no evil. He could say to his most inveterate foes, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” Yet see him. We suffer partially, but he suffered in every part that was capable of pain. We suffer occasionally, and for hours and days of pain we have weeks and months of ease and pleasure. His sufferings extended from the manger to the cross. He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

Our sufferings are unforeseen by us; his were known from the beginning, and he bore them in prospect before he endured them in reality; and what tongue can express-whose imagination can conceive-what he endured when “he began to be sore amazed, and very heavy”? when his “soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death”? when “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground”? when he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

“Now let our pains be all forgot,

Our hearts no more repine;

Our sufferings are not worth a thought

When, Lord, compared with thine.”