that terrible chastisement which has been allowed to fall upon us all. The Lord has been righteous in all His ways, and none can separate himself from others, whose sins he deplores and whose pride he deprecates, as if their sin and shame were not his to bear in humble confession before the Lord. None can take a place of independency as if he had nothing to do with another’s fall, but all are called to realize that if one member suffer, all suffer, and if one sin all need to confess; let the faithful, therefore, amidst their sorrows and their tears, think of and pray for those who occupy so sorrowful a place in the church of God, and unfeignedly thank God, that the evil he saw as a secret poison working within, he has brought to light, in which the church shall know that He searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins.
It is ever needful to be on our guard, that God’s truth be not discarded, because the human medium through which it is presented, proves itself unworthy of the treasure committed to its trust. Rather must it be remembered that God has put His treasures into earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of His people. And what, if ever and again the earthen vessel is broken in pieces? It can but show of what the vessel is made, and while looking at the broken fragments, the people of God may mourn, they rejoice to be assured that that which is of God abideth for ever. To some these years may appear fraught with evil, but when looked at from within the veil, in the higher light of God’s wisdom and mercy, and when over the havoc and the storm the guiding star of infinite love is seen, the clouds are found big with blessing, even though human pretensions have been unmasked, high sounding words sifted, and lofty claims brought down. For all this God is unfeignedly to be praised, though many have proved themselves guilty, the measure and degree of which we leave Him to decide, who makes no mistakes, and who shows no partiality.
This period has, however, been marked with the busy handiwork of Satan. Roots of bitterness have been matured into trees of unrighteousness, seeds of discord have sprung up into a luxuriant harvest of unholy weeds, that have marred and choked much of the good seed of the kingdom; dormant evils have ripened into active agencies of Satan, and much that in the sowing was thought to be of God, has been proved in its fruits, to have been of the flesh, and confusion and corruption have been the result. But is this manifestation of evil, an evil? Is it a misfortune that what has been working amongst the Lord’s people has been seen, that the poisonous berries are no longer hidden, and rejoiced in as precious fruits of
