September 8

"Patient in tribulation."—Romans 12:12.

THE Church grows by tears, and withers by smiles; God's vine thrives the better for pruning. Queen Elizabeth is reported to have said, the skill of a pilot is best known in a storm, the valor of a soldier in the field of battle, and the worth of a Christian in the time of trial. Let us view

THE NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIALS. "Tribulation" is often spoken of as his lot in this world; and it is of two descriptions:—

Common. Man is said to be born to trouble as the sparks fly upward; the world is a wilderness of thorns and briars, and not a garden of beautiful flowers.

Peculiar. I mean trials peculiar to, and inseparable from, the Christian life. It is an easy thing to go with the stream of sinful custom and fashion, but to sail against it exposes us to continual opposition.

THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE TO BE BORNE. We must be "patient in tribulation."

How is this patience to be exercised? So as to bear our trials without murmuring; so as not to despair of deliverance; to remember from whom they come, and for what they are designed; and that this has been the common lot of Christ's followers in every age.

What are its advantages? The discovery of sin; the improvement of grace; the manifestation of our sonship; deliverance from the world's condemnation; and preparation for eternal glory. Thus God gives grace in the day of conversion, and tries it in the period of affliction. We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. By this God separates the sin that he hates from the soul that he loves.