But _by privilege_, as well as by right, are we GOD’S. We are not mere tools in His hand: we are living agents, intelligent to understand His will, free to do it or decline it, capable of loving it. We are, therefore, taken into His counsel, made fellow-workers with Him, treated all along by Him according to our merits, finally rewarded according to our work; not, however, in the way of our own choice, but of His. O if we realised this, and did our part according to the belief, we should never murmur at, or question anything that is appointed us, or befals us. For what does such questioning amount to, but an assertion that GOD does not make the right use of us, or that He does not treat us worthily? And what is that, but to deny His wisdom, His justice, and His love? No man, who is worth a thought, counts it adversity, that he is bound by the conditions, and must accept the trials, and do the work of his chosen earthly calling, that he is obliged, for instance, to serve in his shop, or pore over his books, or risk storms at sea, or face the dangers of war; that, in short, he cannot be and do what he will, but must obey the law of circumstances—why, then, should he reverse all this in his divine mission and heavenly calling, and demand a liberty, an immunity, a choice, which common sense would tell him should not and could not be granted? But there is another, a chief consideration, which should incline us to be sure that the ordering of GOD’S providence is the conferring of True Prosperity. GOD uses us, indeed, as servants, and appoints us our individual work out of the several circumstances around us. But He likewise makes us His friends, and uses the circumstances around us, as ministers to us. It is in them that He speaks to us and visits us; it is by them, that He rewards and punishes us now; it is through them that He disciplines and trains us, and perfects us for heaven. We were not made for them, but they for us. And what shall we be saying of the Artificer and the Superintendent of their use if we question their general fitness, or the special application of them to ourselves? “Sorrow is not good for me.” “I am ruined by that disappointment.” “Through taking that stay from me, I am become helpless.” “Removing me thither is overwhelming me with adversity.” These, my brethren, are not only the expressions of ingratitude, and the reasonings of unbelief, they are the dictations of arrogant presumption dethroning the wisdom of GOD, and putting our folly in its place. We have no right to choose for ourselves: and if we had, how could we do it? Is not GOD wise to know what is best for us? Is not He good to apply it? Should we not fear the fulfilment of any hope, the accomplishment of any purpose of our own, and cry, “O LORD, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Except Thy presence go with me, carry me not up hence”! Should we not accept with full resignation, with heartfelt