Do you want to believe the Word, but your faith is weak and you are troubled with doubts, and do you fear you might be cast out? Learn here that a weak faith is nevertheless a true faith. When the Lord says: "I have not found so great faith," His words imply that there are degrees of faith. A weak faith is also a faith and it saves as well as a strong faith. It is the merit of Christ which justifies before God, and that is saving faith which grasps and holds Christ's merits. The treasure remains the same, whether the vessel holding it is strong or weak. Christ remains the same Savior, whether He is held with a strong or a weak hand.

But a weak vessel is more easily broken than the strong. Therefore we should not rest satisfied to remain children in faith, but we should strive for a faith like that of the centurion. And to grow in faith we should diligently occupy ourselves with the Word of God; for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. 10, 17. And here is a word. peculiarly adapted to draw us unto faith. This centurion was a Gentile from a far country, and the Lord says, "that many shall come from the west, and shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven." We too are descendants of a people which went to worship dumb idols, and we dwell in a far western land. But this shall be no hindrance to our entering the kingdom. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," says the Lord. Is. 45, 22. From whatsoever place we come, if we do but continue in His Word, the door shall not be shut against us, we shall surely inherit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Amen.

IV. SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! Matt. 8, 23-27.

In His last discourse with His disciples, in the night in which He was betrayed, the Lord said unto them: "The world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful." The world lives in mirth and gladness, the Christians are sorrowful. The ungodly are prosperous, the Christians are plagued. So it has been ever since the fall of the first man. Cain exulted to shed the blood of his brother: Abel had to yield up his soul under the blows of Cain. Jacob had to depart from home and to flee for his life with nothing but a staff: Esau was prosperous and became a mighty chieftain. Joseph languished in a pit and was sold into slavery: his wicked brothers sat down to eat and to drink. The Egyptians reveled in luxury: the children of Israel had to serve. That rich man clothed himself in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day: Lazarus lay at his door starving and full of sores. Caiaphas and the Pharisees were successful in accomplishing their design: Christ was nailed to the cross. So it is unto this day. The wicked rejoice; they walk in pride, in highmindedness; they gratify their desires; they live in the enjoyment of sin: the pious are plagued every morning, if not outwardly, yet spiritually.

This fact that the wicked are prosperous while the pious are plagued, often becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense both to the world and to the Christians. It is a stone of

stumbling to the world; for seeing the afflictions of the pious, the wicked exult over them and say in their hearts: Behold, they imagined to possess the favor of God, but how are they plagued! If they be the beloved of God, why does not God make them great in the world, prosperous and happy? And the wicked will conclude that the pious are deluded people. When the Christian is afflicted and sees the wicked fare prosperously he too is tempted to say with Asaph in the 73d Psalm: "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men." When a Christian, being in troubles and afflictions, sees the wicked successful and prosperous, he is tempted to ask whether God be a just God and truly his Father. To natural reason it does frequently appear as though the wicked were the favorites of God, because they are prosperous, and the pious were accursed of God, because they are afflicted. When the high priests and Pharisees succeeded in putting Jesus to death, it certainly did appear, as though they were the sons of God and Christ the rejected.

But we should always remember that, in the very nature of things, it can not be otherwise than the Lord says: "The world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful." The wicked do not care what is right and what wrong before God, they live after the desires of their own heart; they aim to make as much of life and the world as possible, and when their wishes are realized and their desires gratified, they rejoice; but the Christian sets himself against all that is against God, and because the flesh, the devil and the world are against God, no one can be a Christian without oppositions to meet and self-denials to undergo. In the second place, we should always consider the end. To Asaph the prosperity of the wicked was "painful, until," he says, "I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." The children of the world travel in a broad way, and the prince of this world provides them pleasures to keep them in that way, but it ends in destruction; the pious travel in a narrow way, but it ends in eternal life. It is as Abraham said to that rich man in hell: "Son, remember that thou in thy life

time receivedest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Luke 16, 25. When the wicked enjoy pleasures and heap up treasures the evil one is only securing their souls in his net; but to His Christians the Lord sends afflictions and trials to keep them in the narrow way of faith. It is better to meditate on the usefulness of affliction than to be offended at the prosperity of the wicked. Let me therefore speak of

I.

THE GREAT BENEFITS WHICH AFFLICTION

BRINGS THE CHRISTIAN.

Affliction uncovers to the Christian his weaknesses and the dangers besetting him;

II. It draws him closer to the right Helper.

I.

A few verses before this Gospel we read of a scribe who said. unto the Lord: "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." The words of this man sound well enough, but his heart was not right. When Jesus began to preach and to perform miracles His fame was sounded abroad, and this man thought, if he would associate himself with Christ, he might win honors and great advantages. But the Lord knew that his heart was set on worldly things and He answered accordingly: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." The Lord tells him, in this world he could not expect an easy life, honors and emoluments by following him, he must rather be prepared to endure hardships and privations. On another occasion the Lord expressed the same in clear words saying: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Matt. 16, 24.

Why is it that Christians can not be carried to heaven on beds. of ease? Why can we not enter the kingdom except "through much tribulation?" Why does God not turn all affliction, temptation, misfortune and whatever may cause distress, away from Iis children on earth? Why does God lead His children

so that they must say with Asaph: "All the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning"? I answer: Because we must be saved through faith. Every one that would be saved must be saved through faith in Christ alone. Christ alone is the Savior, and only that man is in Christ who looks to Him alone, who depends on Christ for everything pertaining to his salvation. Hence a false faith, or a trust on anything besides Christ, does not only not save, it tends to destroy the true faith in Christ. Therefore the Lord leads those believing in Him through many tribulations, that they may learn the more to know their weaknesses and to look to nothing else than to Him alone. This is one great benefit of affliction, it manifests to the Christian whether there is any false trust in him, and it teaches him the right trust. This is here exemplified in the disciples. First we read of them: “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him." Unlike the scribe spoken of before, the disciples made no mental reservations. They followed the Lord, and that was right. If they had not followed Him, they could not have been His disciples at all. But they did not regard their following the Lord altogether in the right manner. They laid too much store by what they were doing; for later they once said unto the Lord: "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" Matt. 19, 27. The disciples thought they had earned a reward by forsaking all and following Christ. The Lord, loving and kind as He is, on that occasion answered them: "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," but that was promising a reward of grace and not a reward of merit; for how should they have earned this high honor in heaven by following Him on earth? And on another occasion He said to them: "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Luke 17, 10. Laying too much store by what they were doing in following the Lord, the disciples stepped into that ship; but now this storm arose, and not a common storm, but such a whirlwind against which all their experience in boating could help them nothing.