o strength, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to do,
what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling
under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up.

When that day comes, let him think of God's covenant and take heart. Is
the sun's warmth perished out of the sky because the storm is cold with
hail and bitter winds? Is God's love changed because we cannot feel it
in our trouble? Is the sun's light perished out of the sky because the
world is black with cloud and mist? Has God forgotten to give light to
suffering souls, because we cannot see our way for a few short days of
perplexity?

No. God's message to every sad and desolate heart on earth, is that God
is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all; that God is Love, and in Him
there is no cruelty at all; that God is One, and in Him there is no
change at all. And therefore we can pray boldly to Him, and ask Him to
deliver us in the time of our tribulation and misery; in the hour of
death, whether of our own death or the death of those we love; in the day
of judgment, whereof it is written--"It is God who justifieth us; who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea, rather who is risen
again, who even now maketh intercession for us." To that boundless love
of God, which He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that
perfect and utter will to deliver us which God showed forth in the death
of Christ Jesus, when the Father spared not His own Son, but gave Him
freely for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves, our
fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, and the bodies and souls
of those we love.

_National Sermons_.

To all, sooner or later, Christ comes to baptise them with fire. But do
not think that the baptism of fire comes once for all to a man, in some
one terrible affliction, some one awful conviction of his own sinfulness
and nothingness. No; with many--and those perhaps the best people--it
goes on month after month, year after year. By secret trials,
chastenings, which none but they and God can understand, the Lord is
cleansing them from their secret faults, and making them to understand
wisdom secretly; burning out of them the chaff of self-will, and self-
conceit, and vanity, and leaving only the pure gold of righteousness. How
many sweet and holy souls, who look cheerful enough before the eyes of
man, yet have their secret sorrows. They carry their cross unseen all
d