or any other calamity, crosses the threshold of our homes, and invades and despoils the family circle, it is not by accident not by chance for no real accident can happen in the world as long as "the Lord reigneth❞— nor is it without a cause; but it is because Heaven has given His permission, or direction, that such an occurrence shall take place. If poverty comes, God has sent it. If affliction comes, He has laid it on our loins. If bereavement comes, death is sent as His messenger to prepare the way before Him. If the loved

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one is torn from our side, God has done it. If a pet lamb is missing, God has removed it. If a "pleasant picture" is destroyed, to God we must attribute its destruction. 'The Lord

gave, and the Lord hath taken away." It is no enemy-no frightful monster-no accident -no fatality-but a kind Father who hath done all this. "Oh," says the gardener, as he passes down the walks, and is priding himself on the beds and borders which he has so carefully cultivated, "who removed that plant, who gathered that flower?" His fellow-servant says, "the master;" and he is dumb, and opens not his mouth, because he did it.

"The

Lord killeth and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them."—1 SAM II. 6-8.

Many who recognise this great truth, instead of drawing divine consolation from it, "charge God foolishly." They seek not to be comforted. They will go mourning all their days, till their grey hairs come down to the grave in sorrow. They cannot forgive God for wrenching off from the parent stock its branching honours, and eclipsing in the dark tomb so many bright and sunny hopes.

Others simply submit to the divine will: but submission is not resignation. Many submit not because they can from the heart say

"Not my will, but Thine be done," but because they must surrender to Omnipotence. Where there is only submission, the voice of God sounds harshly when He calls away a loved and darling child; and His face is hid

in the clouds. The cup is doubly bitter. The night of sorrow is pitchy black. And the distressed soul feels herself abandoned, and sinks into deep despair, or stoical indifference. But when submission and resignation, like twin sisters, are linked together, the heavy load is lightened off the crushed spirit—the healing balm of divine consolation is applied to the wounded heart-the mysteries of Providence and grace are unfolded-earth seems holier and better, and heaven seems brighter and nearer. Submission is like a conquered foe, who only yields a mechanical acquiescence to the will of his conqueror, just because it is useless to strive against it but resignation is like the halcyon riding fearlessly on the foaming billows, trusting to a Power above the storm, appearing as placid as though the dashing waters were as a sheet of glass, and, like the nightingale, pours out its sweetest and loudest notes when the storm rages the fiercest! When Job's calamities had reached their climax, he exclaimed

-"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." "Are you willing to die?"-was a question once put to a young dying man. "Yes, I suppose I must," he replied. There

was submission without resignation. "I thought I should sleep in Jesus, and awake in heaven," said a dying child to her mother, on awaking from a short slumber. "Is the sun up, and am I here? But the Lord's will be done, not mine." This was resignation as well as submission. If our Heavenly Father appoints the rod, shall we not submit to divine chastisement? If He ordains our afflictions, shall we not be resigned to His sovereign decree? If our best Friend sees fit to remove from us "the delight of the eyes," or the Benjamin of the household, shall we not, from the depth of the heart, say "Let Him do what seemeth good unto Him?" A deaf and dumb boy was once asked, by writing, why he was born deaf and dumb, whilst so many had the free use of all their natural faculties. And, in the same way, he replied in the beautiful and holy language of Jesus," Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight."-MATT. XI. 26. What a noble reply! Would to God that every afflicted and bereaved parent felt and said the same! A God of Love cannot be unkind to the heirs of heaven: Infinite Wisdom cannot err in providential dispensations. The cup is bitter, but

it is full of tonic properties to nourish and strengthen the soul. The storm is fearful; but the Master treads upon its waves. The affliction is heavy; but he will make all our bed in our affliction, and lay beneath the fainting saint the everlasting arms. Who, or what, shall harm us if we are followers of that which

is good? All things are ours, whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are ours; and we are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

"Why should I complain
Of want or distress,
Temptation or pain?

He told me no less;
The heirs of salvation,—
I know from his word,-
Through much tribulation,
Must follow their Lord.

Since all that I meet

Shall work for my good,

The bitter is sweet,

The medicine is food.
Though painful at present,

Twill cease before long;
And then, O how pleasant
The conqueror's song!"

But there are others who cannot look above

inferior agencies and second causes.

Their