.

"I may safely assert," said the Minister, "that the highest and
sweetest of all the blessings God his poured upon me, have rained down
in storms of affliction. That the brightest days have dawned on the
darkest nights. That the roundest and ruddiest rainbows have beamed
from the gloomiest clouds. I have had the profoundest sense of the
love of God, and the nearness of His Spirit, not in days of sunshine
and pleasure, when the waters have flowed in placid, tranquillity, and
there were slumber and rest on the world. But in hours of trial and
trouble, I have felt most of His love, and seemed most lovingly folded
in His Spirit; in hours of sickness, in hours of need, afar from all my
kindred, cut off from the staff and stay of worldly pleasure and joy.
Then, O, then, the Spirit of God has moved on the waters, and spoken
peace! And from afflictions, I have risen to higher faith, and more
strength of character, and broader aims and views of life.

"And this has been the experience of others I have visited and heard.
It has not been amid affluence, it has not been on the smoothly-rolling
current of worldly prosperity, that I have found people most keenly
alive to a sense of God's goodness, or the presence of His Spirit. I
have found great faith and gratitude; I have found warm and devoted
Christians amid affluence; but I think on the whole, I have found the
profoundest sense of the Divine Goodness and Presence among the humble,
among the poor and afflicted; and I am often reminded of an apostle's
words; 'God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith.' * * *

"And this reminds me of Job, and the faith that led him to hear the
voice of the Divine Spirit in the whirlwind, and on the stormy flood;
and from whirlwinds and floods, to get messages of love and peace.

"But with the aid of all these illustrations," said the Minister,
closing his sermon, "what _can_ we conceive of God's providential love?
It is a thought beyond conception, it is a light transcending vision.
There is no object on earth or in heaven, that can well represent the
truth of its wisdom, the touch of its tenderness, or the attraction of
its power. The sun is but a taper, reflecting its glory; the sea is
but a globule, describing its breadth and depth. It runs the circle of
the universe, without interruption, and without end. It is particular
as it is impartial; it is melting and sweet, as it is mighty and
sublime; and it holds you and m