186 KEFLECTIONS* 



way that seemeth ri^ht unto a man, but the 

 end thereof are the ways of death." 



Many more instructive analogies might be 

 adduced. We may recollect that not a single 

 devastator of our bread-corn; not a single 

 insect to which attention has been called ; not 

 a fungus that preys upon and accelerates the 

 decay of the most useful plants, but in its 

 nature has a tendency to remove, as well as to 

 inflict, some evil. We have seen how it is 

 their province to hasten decay, limit putrefac- 

 tion, and thus to promote health. And ought 

 we not to mark the effect of trials on the 

 Christian ? What is the tendency of every- 

 thing which causes the man of the world to 

 despair when overwhelmed by adversities ? 

 It is to purify the pious mind, to promote 

 its health, to wean it from all that is preju- 

 dicial to its real welfare. So our afflictions 

 " work out for us a far more exceeding and 

 eternal weight of glory." Hereby Christian 

 graces are called into exercise ; patience has Its 

 perfect work ; and it becomes actually good for 

 us to have been afflicted. Is there not in these 

 dealings of the supreme Governor of the uni- 

 verse with the natural and spiritual, the mark 



