to magnify it a hundred fold. The manifestation of a temper the reverse of this, will put a person to shame and silence, when a truth-loving God shall thus interrogate him, "What dost thou here, Elijah?"

4.-We cannot avoid urging this pointed question upon the Christian in affliction. That is the time that tries the graces which men pretend to be possessed of. It is then, that God brings us to the test. He kindles and heats the furnace, he puts the metals that appear precious in it, he watches the process of the operation, and decides on the qualities and character of the sufferer.

Then the real gold comes ultimately out more brilliant than ever it before appeared; the dross that disfigured and defiled it, is dissolved. Those metals, which were only base materials, melt utterly away. 'Tis then the question is put, "What dost thou here, Elijah?" and the conduct manifested, gives the answer to the question. Whatever struggles between remaining corruption, and reigning grace, the genuine believer may at first be conscious of, by and by they are over. His conduct in the trying scene, becomes a living lecture on the petition he has often offered, " thy will be done." " It is my will," says he, to whom the prayer is offered, "that this your "substance should be destroyed that this your child, "should die-that this, your bosom friend, the desire of "your eyes, should be taken away with a stroke-that "this body should be pained with acute, or tried by " lingering disease."

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Thy will be done," says the affliction tries and proves the children of Jehovah. To this point they all ultimately come; but with some, there is so much more dross, and it is so much more intimately mixed with the gold, than is the case with others, that the time employed in effecting this end, and the severity of the means for bringing it about, are different with different persons. For a long time, the feelings of nature maintain so obstinate a contest with the principles of grace; and self-will so vigorously opposes the will of Jehovah, that victory seems uncertain on which side to plant her standard. In this distressing stage of the business, how pertinently and properly may we expostulate with the sufferer, and say, "What dost thou here, " Elijah?" Are these rebellious tempers, these murmuring exclamations, these unhumbled feelings, the dispositions which become a creature towards a Creator, a sinner towards a long-suffering God, a Christian towards a loving Saviour? Severe as this affliction seems, is it not still far less than iniquity deserves,--far less than the Saviour underwent for you? Do not remaining mercies call for a sufficient measure of gratitude to overbalance these repining sighs, these implicit accusations of the Deity? Or do not the greater sufferings of your neighbour amply prove that God's strokes on you, are of lighter weight than those by which others are oppressed? Then what dost thou here, inactive and desponding, incapable of relishing remaining mercies, undervaluing what thou hast, because of the removal of what once was, but is now no longer thine ? Why is duty neglected ?

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feel, the severity of the stroke. For Jesus wept, and sighed, and groaned, upon similar occasions. But yet, sorrow not as those that have no hope; be not so extravagantly disconsolate, as to make others think, or to believe yourselves, that all is gone. Much as you recoil from the bitter cup, earnestly as you prayin the language of your Lord-" Father, if it be possible, let this cup " pass from me;" yet, close your petition, like him, with this submissive clause, " If this cup may not pass from "me, except I drink it, thy will be done." In a waiting posture, at the Saviour's feet, pray that grace may help you to perform a duty which nature shudders to accomplish. Then, when asked, "What dost thou here, Elijah?" you may reply, "Doing as my Lord has bid me do, when he says, " it is good for a man to hope, and quietly wait "for the salvation of God;" doing what a creature, what

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a sinner, what a Christian ought to do-" hearing the "rod, and him who appointed it." Happy frame of mind! Blessed tendency of affliction! Right and wise improvement of the visitations of the Lord! "Blessed is the

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man, that thus endureth temptation, for when he is tried " he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath " promised to them that love him."

5.-With the expostulation, "What dost thou here, " Elijah," the Christian may properly be addressed, who has left his first love, in whom the things that remain are ready to die. When spiritual life is first infused into the soul, starting from his long sleep of death, and from the delusive dreams that have amused him, while his faculties were thus enchanted and enchained, the awakened of fervour and elevation, pass away. The Christian, acquiring greater light and knowledge, and being of longer standing, in the courts of the Lord, is apt to lose a considerable measure of the relish, which he once had for spiritual things. There is, indeed, an injudiciousness, and an immaturity, in his first views and exercises, which he finds it expedient afterwards to dispense with. But in exchanging warmth for solidity, and fancy for reason, we become in danger of growing entirely formal. Our religion assumes a more guarded form, in some respects, but it is apt to be attended with, or followed by, a lukewarm state of mind, peculiarly odious to the head of the Church. Instead of being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, we become neither one thing, nor another; we regard Religion, so far as to own it, externally to perform its duties, and engage in its exercises-but our hearts are so inanimate, our conduct so indecisive, that, partaking of the Laodicean character, of being neither cold nor hot, we are in danger of meeting the Laodicean sentence: "I would thou wert cold or hot; so, then, because thou " art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will reject "thee with loathing and abhorrence." It is observed, in the parable of the Virgins, that the wise as well as the foolish, slumbered and slept. In this, they were to be blamed; though their sleep was not the sleep of death. If we are not watchful, the subtle enemy, who is ever vigilant to discern and malicious to improve advantages against us, will ensnare us e're we are aware. Against gradual declension in the spiritual life, we should pray what dost thou here, Elijah ? Instead of watching, " and praying that thou enter not into temptation, thou "art already far gone in delusion and in danger, and the " strong man armed, threatens to keep thy heart as his " palace, and his own goods there in peace. Awake thou "that sleepest-trim the lamps that burn so dimly" seek the unction of the Holy Spirit, whose influence, " like oil, will re-kindle if extinct, or render brilliant, if it " be dim, the flame, that should shed a light on every " surrounding object." The question, "What dost thou " here," not only carries in it a censure of a state of indifference, but conveys an exhortation to the instant adoption of means, for bringing back our wandering souls to the fold, whence they have, perhaps inadvertently strayed. Keep no longer at such an inauspicious and unhappy distance from the fountain of living waters, at which it seemed once your delight to drink; but repair thither, for the revival of your dying graces, for the re-kindling of your half-extinguished light. The same Sun of righteousness, which both illumined and warmed the soul, when it lay in the darkness of spiritual night, and was bound in the icy fetters of sin, must disperse those clouds that have since enveloped it with gloom, and thus invigorate it with those energies which have been long suspended, or withheld. Instead of remaining where you are, drooping or declining Christians, betake yourselves speedily to him, who, notwithstanding your departure, is still waiting to be gracious, is still exalted that he may have mercy.

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