ADVERSITY. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”- "ADVERSITY," says an ancient possessions and enjoyments, and writer, "borrows its sharpest sting feel the full consolation of that from our impatience." refuge of which they may always avail themselves, in order that they may seek, like some battered bark, broken and tempestworn, some haven, secure from the storms which sweep over the open ocean.Robert Hall. ADVERSITY interposes to prevent our passing on from lesser sins to greater. Vaughan. As adversity leads us to think properly of our state, it is most beneficial to us.-Dr. Johnson. ALL trials are sent for two ends -that we may be better acquainted with the Lord Jesus, and with our own wicked hearts.-Whitefield. THE Latin poet Horace lays down the axiom that "adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." SIR WALTER SCOTT compares adversity to the period of the former and of the latter rain,-cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and to animal; yet from that season have their birth the flower and the fruit, the date, the rose, and the pomegranate. A WISE and virtuous man, when in adversity, may, like a dark lanthorn in the night, seem dull and dark to those who are about him; but within he is full of light and brightness; and when he chooses to open the door, he can show it. Owen Feltham. Bearing Adversity. In a fair gale every fool may sail, but wise behaviour in a storm commends the wisdom of a pilot. To bear adversign and glory of a brave spirit. sity with an equal mind is both the As there is no worldly gain without some loss, so there is no worldly loss without some gain. If thou hast lost thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble with it; if thou art degraded of thy honour, thou art likewise freed from the stroke of envy; if sickness hath blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered thee from pride. Set thy allowance against thy loss, and thou shalt find no great loss. He loseth little or nothing who keepeth the favour of his God and the peace and freedom of his conscience. trasted.- Bacon asserts that adAdversity and Prosperity Conversity is fortitude, which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old God's Dealings with Men.-God, Testament; adversity is the blessin His moral government of the ing of the New, which carrieth world, has various methods and the greater benediction, and the complicated machinery by which clearer revelation of God's favour. He excites the heart, the constitu- Yet even in the Old Testament, if tion of which none can know so you listen to David's harp, you well as He. Some He terrifies by shall hear as many hearse-like airs His frowns, some He wins by His as carols; and the pencil of the smiles; to some He throws in rich Holy Ghost hath laboured more in profusion all the bounties of His describing the afflictions of Job than providence, to excite their grati- the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity tude; some He bereaves of their is not without many fears and disall, and tracks their footsteps with tastes; and adversity is not withmisfortune and desolation, in order out comforts and hopes. We see that they may know the vanity and in needleworks and embroideries, eal worthlessness of all earthly it is more pleasing to have a lively A gaol He work upon a sad and solemn ground, parish than in my old one. than to have a dark and melan- is a paradise in comparison of the choly work upon a lightsome ground. life I led before I came hither. Judge, therefore, of the pleasure of I hope to rise again, as I have althe heart by the pleasure of the eye. ways done when at the lowest, and Uses of Adversity. It is good I think I could not be much lower for man to suffer the adversity of now.... I am getting acquainted this earthly life, for it brings him with my brother gaol-birds as fast back to the sacred retirement of as I can, and I shall write to Lonthe heart, where only he finds he don next post to the Society for is an exile from his native home, Propagating Christian Knowledge, and ought not to place his trust in who, I hope, will send some books any worldly enjoyment. It is good to distribute among them." for him also to meet with contra- volunteered to be chaplain to the diction and reproach, and to be prisoners, and was very useful to evil thought of, and evil spoken of, them. Daily he read prayers, and even when his intentions are up- on the Sabbath preached to them right and his actions blameless, the perfect law of liberty. After for this keeps him humble, and is remaining three months in Lincoln a powerful antidote to the poison Castle, he was released. of vain-glory: and then chiefly it Adversity and Grace. The nais that we have recourse to the ture, the extent, and the duration witness within us, which is God, of our present afflictions are all when we are outwardly despised, regulated by Him who has said, and held in no degree of esteem "As thy day is, thy strength shall and favour among men. Our de- be. My grace shall be sufficient pendence upon God ought to be so for thee. My strength shall be entire and absolute that we should never think it necessary, in any kind of distress, to have recourse to human consolation.-De Imitatione Christi. perfect in thy weakness." Our enemies are all His enemies; and our ultimate triumph must, in consequence, be His glory. It is a fatal error to suppose that adversity will Samuel Wesley and his Perse- prove a school for heaven, apart cutors. Samuel Wesley used to from the sufficiencies of that grace preach at Epworth with great which was procured for men by the plainness of speech. His politics great sacrifice which has blotted also gave great offence, and much out our transgressions. It is this persecution followed. His oppo- grace which savingly enlightens; nents injured his cattle, burnt his it is this which soothes; it is this house to the ground, and had him alone which gives sanctity to the imprisoned for debt in Lincoln path of the afflicted. Castle. Wesley was very poor, and had only ten shillings when he went to prison, and his wife had less. She sent him her gold rings to relieve him, but he returned them. His noble soul was free even in the prison. One cannot but admire the way in which he faces the storm. While in bonds, he wrote a characteristic letter to the Archbishop of York, in which he says, "I am come to the haven where I have long expected to be; but I do not despair of doing good here; it may be more in this new It is manifest that adversity, in some of its modifications, is inevitable, and that its occurrence in many forms is so far probable as to be on the very line of certainty. Sickness, poverty, reproach, bereavement, and many a secret sorrow-to all these we are exposed; under most of these we shall unquestionably suffer. But what shall the issue be? Every thread of our present existence is interwoven, by its consequences, with the future: and what shall that future be? The results of present suffering are all strictly dependent on our present character. If we are Christians, the grace which has made us such can render whatever is afflictive in our lot on earth conducive to the ultimate perfectness of our Christianity. But if this character be wanting, the element of all good is wanting.-Vaughan. True Servants under Adversity. -"Constantius, the father of Constantine," relates Caryl, quoting from Church History, "to the end he might try the hearts of his courtiers, proclaimed that all they who would not forsake the worship of the true God should be banished from the court, and should have heavy penalties and fines laid upon them. Presently upon this (saith the story) all that were base, and came to serve him only for ends, went away, forsook the true God, and worshipped idols. By this means he found out who were the true servants of God, and whom he meant to make his own: such as he found faithful to God, he thought would prove faithful to him. What this exploratory decree of Constantius effected in his court, the same did that which the apostate Julian set forth in good earnest against the Christians. He no sooner caused it to be proclaimed that whosoever would not renounce the faith should be discarded his service, and forfeit both life and estate to his high displeasure, but presently, upon the publication of that decree, they who were indeed Christians, and others who only had the title of Christians, presented themselves, as it were, on a common stage to the view of all men. Such as these are willows, not oaks. While religion and prosperity go together, it is hard to say which a man follows; but when once they are forced to a separation, where the heart was will soon be manifest. The upright in heart are like Ruth: whatsoever becometh of the Gospel, they will be sharers with it in the same condition: be it affliction, or be it prosperity; be it comfort, or be it sorrow; be it fair weather, or be it foul; be it light, or be it darkness-they will take their lot with it." Scripture and Adversity. "Scripture history (which has a didactic intent throughout)," remarks Grindon, " is one continuous detail of misfortune and success, trouble and consolation-the narrative, for instance, of the pilgrimage of the Israelites, universally acknowledged to be typical of the way of regeneration. In this every one is beset by hindrances and temptations, which, though sorely oppressive while they last, nevertheless give place in turn to triumph. "It is a happy thing for a man to feel famished, and that the waters are bitter, for it is the sign of an amending nature, and leads him to cry to God for help. If we are not often so impelled, it is a proof that we are but little advanced upon our journey. There can be no virtue or gladness without trial and suffering in the first place. There is no buying corn of Joseph till there has been a famine in the land; nor can any man know what are the green pastures and the still waters till he has been in the valley of the shadow of death. God cannot lead him thither till he has felt how weak he is in himself. Until this experience shall have been gone through, they are a mere mirage of the imagination. must needs be that the Son of man suffer before He enter into His glory.' In its aptitude for grievances, temptations, and perplexities, conjoined with its free will, the spirit of man is constituted in the very best manner possible for urging him on towards Heaven. Though they are painful to him, they are privileges. That was a deep insight into the economy of Providence which saw that 'It 'Sweet are the uses of adversity.' Had Flavius Boethius never been imprisoned by Theodoris, he had never written his 'Consolations of Philosophy.' To a prison, also, we owe 'The Pilgrim's Progress.'' ADVICE. "With the well-advised is wisdom."-Prov. xiii. 10. WE ask advice, but we mean good spiritual surgeon, and yet approbation. Colton. ADVICE is not compulsion.-German Proverb. SOLOMON hath pronounced that in counsel is stability. ADVISE not what is most pleasant, but what is most useful.-Solon. GOD Himself is not without counsel, but hath made it one of the great names of His blessed Son -the Counsellor.-Bacon. He who is wise enough in youth to take the advice of his seniors, unites the vivacity and enterprise of early with the wisdom and gravity of later life.-Andrews. The Greatest Trust.-The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel; for in other confidences men commit the parts of life, their lands, their goods, their children, their credit, some particular affair; but to such as they make their counsellors, they commit the whole, by how much the more they are obliged to all faith and integrity.-Bacon. How to Tender Advice." Our advice," says Seed, "must not fall like a violent storm, bearing down and making those to droop whom it is meant to cherish and refresh. It must descend as the dew upon the tender herb, or like melting flakes of snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon and the deeper it sinks into the mind. If there are few who have the humility to receive advice as they ought, it is often because there are few who have the discretion to convey it in a proper vehicle, and to qualify the harshiness and bitterness of reproof, against which corrupt nature is apt to revolt, by an artful mixture of sweetening and agreeable ingredients. To probe the wound to the bottom with all the boldness and resolution of a with all the delicacy and tenderness of a friend, requires a very dexterous and masterly hand. An affable deportment and a complacency of behaviour will disarm the of calmly pointing out their mismost obstinate; whereas if, instead take, we break out into unseemly sallies of passion, we cease to have influence." any The Dervise's Advice.-Lady Mary Wortley Montague relates the following:-"One day, as an ancient king of Tartary was riding with his officers of state, they met a dervise crying aloud, To him I will give a piece of good advice.' that will give me a hundred dinars, The king, attracted by this strange declaration, stopped, and said to that you offer for a hundred dinars?' the dervise, What advice is this 6 be most thankful to tell you as Sire,' replied the dervise, I shall soon as you order the money to be hear something extraordinary, orpaid me.' The king, expecting to dered the money to be given to the dervise at once; on receiving which, he said, 'Sire, my advice is, Begin nothing without considering what the end may be.' "The officers of state, smiling at what they thought ridiculous advice, looked at the king, who they expected would be so enraged at this insult as to order the dervise to be severely punished. The king, seeing the amusement and surprise which this advice had occasioned, said, 'I see nothing to laugh at in the advice of this dervise; but, on the contrary, I am persuaded that if it were more frequently practised, men would escape many calamities. Indeed, so convinced am I of the wisdom of this maxim, that I shall have it engraved on my plate and written on the walls of my palace, so that it may be ever before me.' The in himself, If I bleed the king king, having thanked the dervise with this lancet he will die, and I for his advice, proceeded towards shall be seized and put to a cruel his palace; and on his arrival he death. Then of what use will all ordered the chief Bey to see that the gold in the world be to me?' the maxim was engraved on his Then, returning the lancet to his plate and on the walls of his palace. pocket, he drew forth another. The "Some time after this occurrence, king, observing this, and perceiving one of the nobles of the court, a that he was much embarrassed, proud, ambitious man, resolved to asked why he changed his lancet destroy the king_and place himself so suddenly. He stated that the on the throne. In order to accomplish his diabolical purpose, he secured the confidence of one of the king's surgeons, to whom he gave a poisoned lancet, saying, 'If you will bleed the king with this lancet, I will give you ten thousand pieces of gold, and when I ascend the throne you shall be my vizier.' This base surgeon, dazzled by such brilliant prospects, wickedly as sented to the proposal. "An opportunity of effecting his evil design soon occurred. The king sent for this man to bleed him. He put the poisoned lancet into a side pocket, and hastened into the king's presence. The arm was tied, and the fatal lancet was about to be plunged into the vein, when suddenly the surgeon's eye read this maxim at the bottom of the basin, 'Begin nothing without considering what the end may be.' He immediately paused, as he thought with point was broken; but the king, doubting his statement, commanded him to show it. This so agitated him, that the king felt assured all was not right. He said,There is treachery in this! Tell me instantly what it means, or your head shall be severed from your body!' The surgeon, trembling with fear, promised to relate all to the king, if he would only pardon his guilt. The king assented, and the surgeon related the whole matter, and acknowledged that had it not been for the words in the basin, he should have used the fatal lancet. "The king summoned his court, and ordered the traitor to be executed. Then, turning to his officers of state, he said, 'You now see that the advice of the dervise, at which you laughed, is most valuable: it has saved my life. Search out this dervise, that I may amply reward him for his wise maxim." AFFLICTION. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."-2 Cor. iv. 17. A GREAT deal of rust requires a rough file.-M. Browne. AFFLICTIONS are called by some the mother of virtue.-Brooks. GOD uses not the rod where He means to use the sword.-Bishop Hall. DAVID'S pen never wrote more sweetly than when dipped in the ink of affliction.-Mason. HUMAN misery is to Divine mercy as a black soil to a sparkling diamond, or as a sable cloud to the sunbeams.-Secker. THERE will be no Christian but what will have a Gethsemane, but every praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel.—Binney. As the sea, if it were not tossed with the winds, would stink; even so the godly man, if he were not exercised with troubles and afflictions, would be the worse. As a spark which falls into the sea hurts not the sea, but is itself extinguished, so let any evil befall the loving soul, and it will soon be |