t«e ivy, 319 



tnd know how to abound ; everywhere, and in all 

 things, they were instructed, both to be full and to 

 be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

 Yea, they can do all things through Christ 

 which strengtheneth them. It is by close 

 communion with Him that his afflicted servants 

 are enabled thus to glorify God in the day of visi- 

 tation — to glorify him in the fires. He has taught 

 -them that he careth for them: and they, unreserv- 

 edly, cast every care upon him ; yet like Paul, to 

 the beloved Philippians, they will say unto us, 

 "Notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye did 

 communicate with my affliction." Oh that we 

 could rightly appreciate the value of such an ex- 

 ample at our very doors, of suffering according to 

 the will of God ! But all cannot realize the 

 scenes now enacting in poor Ireland ; and few 

 there are whom I could invite to weep with me 

 beneath the storm-beaten Ivy. 



But what a -spectacle does it present in the sight 

 of that great cloud of witnessess who encompass 

 it ! They, who through faith and patience, have 

 already inherited the promises, how mast they re- 

 joice over their militant brethren, marching on- 

 ward, through much tribulation, to swell the army 

 of that church triumphant ? Bodily anguish, 

 cold, hunger, and the yet more grievous pain of 

 beholding those dependent on them sharing in 

 their privations — mental inquietude, as to the 



