Christ in Suffering

Heist is with yon in — suffering. Himself a sufferer; oh, suffering never looked so lovely, martyrdom never wore a crown so resplendent, as when the Son of God bowed His head and drank the cup of woe for us! Himself a sufferer, is there a being in the universe who could take His place at your side in all the scenes of mental, spiritual, and bodily suffering through which your Heavenly Father leads you, comparable to Christ? What are your sufferings contrasted with His? And what was there in the unparalleled greatness and intensity of His to dis-

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qualify Him from entering with the warmest love and deepest sympathy into yours? Suffering for His sake, or suffering His will. He is with you to sustain, to mitigate, to sanctify. It is given to you not only to believe, but also to suffer for Christ. Removed from the active sphere of your Christianity; the sphere and the service which, perhaps, you too fondly idolized; He has placed you in the school of passive endurance, a position to you the most irksome and trying. Look into the burning, fiery furnace of the three children of Israel: “Z(9, 1 see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is nice the Son of God,’’ (Dan. 3: 25). So is Christ with you in suffering. You shall pass through the furnace, the flames but destroying your bonds and setting you free from some dominant sin, some potent spell, some slavish fear, bringing you more fully into the happy, holy realization of your adoption, pardon, and acceptance of God. Treading that furnace at your side, controlling its flames, tempering its heat, is the same Son of God who trod it with them, and who says to you, “Z(9, / am with you alway”

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The blessed Saviour is never more with His people than in suffering. He himself has been a sufferer and He knows how to pity His people when they suffer, and if best for them, He can send them quick relief.

An old sea captain, with great emphasis, exhorted men to have faith in God, as a hearer and answerer of prayer. He urged faith as certain of a blessing in some form or other, and often in the very form in which it was looked for. He mentioned an illustration in his own history. After he became pious, and while he yet commanded a ship, he was blown off from the coast of America, ont to sea, in a gale. He had his wife and two children on board. All hands, passengers, officers and crew, were put on short allowance, and very short at that, a mere morsel of meat to each. When they had been out thirty days, and had not seen a sail he brought up all the provision he had, and spread it on a cotton bale, and fell down on his knees by the side of it, and prayed God that He would make that like the widow’s cruise of oil and barrel of meal, that He would not allow it to be spent, that He would vindicate His own name as the hearer of prayer, and send them quick relief. He cast himself implicitly upon the promise of God. And while he was yet on his knees, he felt such a sweet assurance that his prayer was heard and already answered, that he went down into the cabin and told his wife that they should have succor, and that speedily. She could scarcely believe it. They had been now thirty-four days, and had not seen a sail, and no prospect of seeing one. His wife stood in a state of incredulous amazement.

“What makes you think we are to have succor?” said she.

‘’Because I have been asking, and God has assured me that it is coming, and close at hand.”

“While I was yet speaking, there was a cry on deck, and from the lookout, aloft, ‘’Sail ho,” “Sail ho.” I ran on deck; “Where away?” said I, and was answered; and within ten minutes from the time I arose from my knees in prayer, there was a ship under full sail, bearing down for us, and when it came near, I saw them lower the “boat, and put into it four barrels. The boat was cast off aDd pulled away for my ship. You would hardly have expected that such a little cockle shell of a boat could live in such a sea. But she rode like an egg. When the officer came on deck, I enquired of him what he had in his boat.

“Two barrels of meat, and two barrels of bread,” he answered.

“What made you bring them here?”
said I.

“God put it into my heart. I. thought you must be short of provisions, sir, and so I brought them along.”

So within an hour from the time I was praying for food, I had two barrels of meat and two barrels of bread added to my stores, and we were all saved.

He said that he could give many like examples from his own history, but the five minutes rule would forbid.