religious and missionary institutions, but also to display an especial regard to every one whom he esteemed as a minister of Christ. His house and his heart were ever open to them, and his face radiant with smiles. His christian and intelligent conversation ever made them feel delighted in his society.

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He was one of an interesting number of men, members of the same church of whom the late Mr. Felkin, of Kegworth, once said, I know of no church which contains an equal number of good men, whose christianity is so primitive, and whose lives are so exemplary. They are the excellent of the earth."

Mr. Jackson was a warm friend of the sabbath school, of which for some forty years he was a regular teacher. He also displayed a generous interest in all such institutions in the region round about, and either attended their anniversaries, or sent some of his family to bear his contributions.

In his family Mr. Jackson was ever kind and indulgent. The gentleness of his temper sometimes prevented him from exercising so strict a supervision over his children and domestics as might have been desired; and the easiness of his disposition perhaps rendered it impossible that he should display as much energy and enterprize as many of his neighbours in relation to his secular interests. His heart was set on heaven, rather than on earth. In 1829, he was bereaved of his youngest daughter Catherine, and in 1839, his beloved wife was called into a better world. These bereavements greatly afflicted him. His tender spirit was broken and bowed down. A year or two after the latter bereavement, as his family were for the most part settled in life, he retired from business and went to reside at Congerstone. Here after the lapse of a few years he was afflicted with paralysis, and though he retained his faculties in a good measure, he ever afterwards appeared but the wreck of what he once was.

The kind, gentle, hale, and hearty man, became imbecile, fitful, and at times fretful, and presented to his friends a melancholy procf of the instability of all earthly good. He who had lived to be more than seventy-two without a day's illness, now was ever feeble and ailing. At times, however, when some kind friend or relative called on him and reminded him of the promises of God, of his past experience of divine goodness, and of the certainty of a future and blessed life, his tears would fall, and his heart full of emotion too strong for his shattered frame, would overflow with the language of gratitude and joyful hope.

In this feeble state, with little variation, he passed the last thirteen years of his mortal life, but a feeble representation of his former self; so that when his end came, as it did suddenly and without pain, his most attached friends and relatives felt that it was to him a happy deliverance. How gloriously would his emancipated and happy spirit realize the sentiment, even in his best days delightful to his thoughts :

"Welcome sweet hour of full discharge,
That sets our longing souls at large,
Unbinds our chains, breaks up our cell,
And gives us with our God to dwell."

Two sons and two daughters survive him; of the sons the eldest resides at Loughborough, and of the daughters the eldest is the wife of the Editor of this periodical, the third daughter resides at Barton.

Loughborough.

DIVINE CONSOLATIONS UNDERVALUED.

WE are constrained to respect the trio of tender-hearted men who, on hearing of all the evil that was come upon Job, "made an appointment to mourn with him, and to comfort him." We commend them for their tears and their silence on beholding him afar off, and seeing "that his grief was very great." But we begin to doubt their fitness for their office on finding that the natural expression of his sorrow curdled their pity, and turned them into chiders and accusers. When his roarings were poured out like waters" they would fain have stemmed the sluicy outflow and as they overheard his intense maledictions they began to suspect that his calamities were judicial and his sufferings penal.

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:

"The bitter soul, bruised with adversity,
We bid be silent if we hear it cry."

Yet where is the woe that has no wildness in it? and when was anguish, of body or of mind, placid and uncomplaining?

While these three friends condemned the sufferer whom they went to condole, their communings with him contained much that was true, and wise, and useful. Many of their questions were most pertinent, and indicated a desire to lead him to a correct sense of his state and conduct. Among these is one relating to the cordials which divine compassion administers to all who "turn unto Him that smiteth them." "Are the consolations of God small with thee?" There are two senses in which this in quiry might be understood to be proposed, and two classes of views and feelings which might prompt its proposal. It might be understood as having reference to the degree of comfort which the person interrogated was enjoying. And then it would seem to be dictated by warm affection, and by a sincere desire for the happiness of the individual. If visits to the afflicted were as frequent as occasions call for them, and as hallowed as pure religion could make them, we should do more than ask concerning the condition of the body. Our solicitude would be to ascertain the state of the mind; whether God's candle was shedding any light in the darkness of the sick chamber; and whether any strength was derived from above to sustain on the bed of languishing. With this view we might employ the question of the Temanite. "Are the consolations of God small with thee?"

But this would be an accomodated use of the inquiry: for such was not its original drift and design. Its primal purpose was to learn the estimation in which divine comforts were held; and it plainly insinuated a belief that Job estimated them at a very low rate. It was therefore more likely to irritate than to soothe the anguish of his spirit; and to aggravate than to alleviate a grief which, if throughly weighed, "would be heavier than the sand of the sea!"

For

Yet this vexing interrogative is not uncalled for in many cases. just as divine corrections may be refused, and divine chastenings despised, so may divine consolations be undervalued, counted "small."

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Our God is called the God of consolation. "I, even I, am He that doth comfort you." And He is familiarly known by the saints as God, who comforteth those that are cast down.' All created beings, all earthly objects, and all human things are to us what he makes them-or permits them to become. If they afford us any pleasure or profit, they are but instruments

which he employs-but channels which he cuts out, and fills with the streams which have their fountain in himself.

Providential blessings are entitled to rank among the consolations of God. His providence is both large and kind. While it extends over all creatures rational and irrational, the saints of the Most High are objects of its special regard. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; so upon them as if he had no regard to anything else. "Other things," says Charnock, "are the objects of his providence, but a good man is the end of it: for his eyes run to and fro throughout the earth that he may show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him." Do we not experience and enjoy this peculiar care? We are guarded in our helplessness by night, and guided in our active courses by day. Our table is furnished. Our cup is filled. Our mouth is satisfied with good things. We are comforted on every side. If our store be scanty, the little we have is better than the riches of many wicked. And if our supplies are more plentiful, they give the greater occasion for the acknowledgement, that the Lord hath dealt bountifully with us.

But the best consolations of God are spiritual in their nature-such as come from him in his gracious dispensations We realize these when he brings near his righteousness, and suffers not his salvation to tarry; when he forgives our iniquities and heals our diseases; when he bestows beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. No sooner is the contrite sinner brought to Christ the Saviour than he his filled with joy and peace in believing. And then for the first time in his life he obtains the consolations of God. But ever after this, when any fresh discovery is made to us of the grace that is in Christ Jesus; when fleshly lusts have been mortified, and outward temptations resisted, and our adversary the devil overcome, these consolations are renewed to us. We rejoice in the Lord. We sing in his ways. "Our consolation aboundeth by Christ." Private devotion is delightful to us. good for us to draw near unto God. The tabernacles of Jehova amiable, for as one whom his mother comforteth, so does he comfort us, and we are comforted in Jerusalem." Christian intercourse is attractivefor we take sweet counsel together, and walk to the house of God in company.

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It is

are

The consolations of God are conveyed to his people in specific modes, and by established agencies. He selects and commissions some of his servants to speak in his name, and to declare his counsel. His priests were consecrated to bless in his name. His prophets were sent to comfort his people. And now under the new economy, "he that speaketh unto men speaketh to exhortation, and edification, and comfort." The apostles were comforted in all their tribulation, that they might be able to comfort them that were in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they themselves were comforted of God. Timothy was sent to Thessalonica "to establish them, and to comfort them concerning their faith." And no modern minister must fail to supply the need that still exists of acting the part of a gentle nurse and of an affectionate parent. Let him, as pastor and ruler of a church, choose out their way: let him "sit chief; " let him "dwell as a king in the army:" but let him also be as one that comforteth the mourners.” Divine consolations are not, in their conveyance, made entirely contingent on the possession of an appropriate public ministry. that inspired word which liveth and abideth for ever.

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19

They are contained in
The statutes of the

Lord rejoice the heart. His words are sweet to our taste-yea sweeter than honey to our mouths.. Their power to assuage grief-to dispel groundless fears to enliven righteous hope-to confirm filial confidence in God, and to restore spiritual peace, has been tested so often, that we resort to them, in our times of sanctified sorrow, almost as a matter of course. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, when wilt thou comfort me? They prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word."

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And what is the appellation of that almighty agent whom the Father sent in the name of the Son, to abide for ever with his people? Is it not emphatically the Comforter? Were not the disciples who first received him filled with joy. even amidst much outward affliction? And when their circumstances were less distressing, did they not walk in the fear of the Lord, and in "the comforts of the Holy Ghost?"

"He is the Comforter, the light

Of those who in his truth believe;

In weakness he can clothe with might,

In sorrow consolations give."

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God, who didst

We therefore concur in the prayer so widely employed: teach the hearts of thy faithful people by sending them the light of thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort."

There is

But this, as an actual attainment, belongs to comparatively few. The things of God are seldom estimated at their real worth; and these consolations form no exception to the rule. There is a propensity in us to undervalue them, and in many instances they are slighted and unsought. We treat them as small when we fail thankfully to enjoy the good things of the present world. Our affection is to be set on things above, not on things on the earth. Yet the latter must not be despised and contemned. a medium between sensuality and asceticism, which enlightened piety is well able to discern. "It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him; for it is his portion." Health, food, clothing, friends, profitable avocations, and periodical recreations, the fair scenes that delight our eyes, and the sweet sounds that charm our ears, are God's bestowments. They are conferred in mercy, and are meant to promote our enjoyment. They are his comforts, and we must not call them contemptible. We must enjoy our health, though very imperfect; and our food and raiment though plain and simple; and our friends, though poor and lowly; and our occupations, though not very lucrative; and our relaxations, though they occur but seldom; and all the objects with which God has furnished and beautified this lower world. To enjoy is to obey."

But the enjoyment we take in these things may be of a merely rational and fleshly nature. There may be nothing gracious or religious in it. Care is therefore needed that, while grateful to the Father of mercies for those things which give a relish to the life that now is, we attach a supreme importance to spiritual things. "There be many who say, who will show us any good? And in the time that their corn and their wine are increased, their hearts are full of gladness. But the satisfaction of saints requires that the Lord should lift the light of his countenance upon them. Believing that the soul is the chief part of our nature, we ought to esteem the blessings which God has provided for it as vastly superior to all bodily comforts.

The bread that perisheth may be valuable to us now; but the bread of life is a thing of eternal worth. Human friends and earthly homes demand our daily gratitude; but we should be incomparably more thankful for Christ, the friend of sinners, and for the promise of a perpetual home with him in his Father's house. A sense of divine forgiveness-the witness of the Holy Spirit to our filial relation to God-the possession of peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ--a confidence that all things will cooperate for our welfare-a lively hope of eternal life, these and other things are matters of christian experience. But they are not realized without attention, desire, and effort on our part. And here lies our faultiness and failure. The mind, during long intervals, is diverted from these blessings. The heart feels no yearning after them. The spirit does not stir up itself to obtain them. Now what can be more evident, from this frequent indifference to the consolations of God, than that they are regarded as small things with us?

But our demeanour in times of trial and suffering demonstrates this even more plainly. The Lord puts forth his hand to touch our bone and our flesh. Pining sickness and loathsome disease ensue. Our days flee away and see no good—and the night of our pleasure is turned into fear to us. "We remember God, and are troubled. We complain, and our spirit is overwhelmed." But what is our comfort in our affliction? Is his law our delights? Do we pray to him, and make him our hope, our trust, our refuge and our fortress? Or do we turn our spirits against God, and refuse to be comforted? It may be that we seek mainly to the physicians—that our chief reliance is on the sympathy and assiduity of friends and attendants-that we try to mitigate our wretchedness by human expedients-and overlook the dispensation as a divine discipline. Happy are they who can truly say, when their bodies are prostrated by sickness, and their minds are filled with pensive reflections: In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul."

The Lord trieth the righteous in other ways than by laying affliction on their persons. He touches their possessions. Their hope is removed like a tree. Their resources are curtailed or exhausted. Their brethren are put far from them, and their acquaintance are verily estranged. Those whom they love are turned against them. Or should there be no alienation of friends and kindred they are, one after another, put into darkness. They become the prey of disease and the spoil of death. The grave is their house, and we go to it to weep there. Lamentation and bitter weeping are made for our lost ones, because they are not. The sympathy of the living is so far from being invoked that it is hardly accepted, when spontaneously tendered. And as for pouring out tears unto God, and appealing to his compassion, we are more inclined to murmur against him for dealing so bitterly with us. We know that he woundeth, but we scarcely entertain the thought that "his hands make whole.' And thus, for some time at least, his consolations are small with us.

If this paper should be perused by the dejected and disconsolate, such readers are affectionately advised to guard against the infirmity here descanted upon, and to remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. When men's hearts are depressed, it is hard," says an old divine, to fasten any pulleys to draw them up." But Job's interrogator prescribes what ought to be done in such a case: "When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up." Another of the ancients reminds us

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