wn salvation with fear and trembling, with
this consolation, that God worketh in them both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. This is not their home, here they have no
continuing city; they are travelling through the wilderness, to the
city and mansions purchased and prepared for them by their Saviour,
and must be made holy before they can enter in. They have many
corruptions to be mortified, and many errors in their estimation of
men and things to be corrected. Their hearts require to be made
spiritual, humble, tender, resigned, and loving. 'Who fed thee in the
wilderness with manna--that he might humble thee, and that he might
prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.'

"Besides, all suffering is not the immediate punishment of sin in
the individual sufferer, nor for his exclusive profit; it is evident
from Scripture, there is suffering for the benefit of the body of
Christ, _his church_, of which, I think, all have some share. God
has wise ends to answer by all the suffering of his creatures, and
especially of the members of his body. The apostles rejoiced in this,
and so ought we. 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with
him.' Paul says, 'I fill up in my flesh that which is behind of the
sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which is the church.'

"Now, my dear friend, look at your real situation, as a suffering
member of a suffering body. Take a view of the saints of God in
history, sacred or profane, and compare your own individual suffering
with theirs: I am apt to think that, great as it is, it will not rise
to mediocrity. I could expatiate on this subject, from what comes
every day within my own knowledge. The Lord is working in this way all
around me; but of that another time. In your own case, try for a
moment to shut out of view every thing without your own family, what
you once were, what you once possessed and enjoyed; also what your
friends possess and enjoy at this present time; detach yourself from
all. What was yours is gone; what you calculated upon is also gone;
set all aside, and consider yourself a sinner saved from destruction
by grace; in a state of purgation and preparation for happiness; on a
pilgrimage with thousands of others your fellow-saved sinners, through
the wilderness, to that inheritance which was purchased for you at
_such a price_. Your Saviour is your leader, protector, provider;
also your physician, and the physician of the whole body, perfectly