they shall be comforted,” Matt. v. 4, a blessed and a happy state, if considered aright, it is, to be so troubled.  “It is good for me that I have been afflicted,” Psal. cxix. “before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Thy word.”  “Tribulation works patience, patience hope,” Rom. v. 4, and by such like crosses and calamities we are driven from the stake of security.  So that affliction is a school or academy, wherein the best scholars are prepared to the commencements of the Deity.  And though it be most troublesome and grievous for the time, yet know this, it comes by God’s permission and providence; He is a spectator of thy groans and tears, still present with thee, the very hairs of thy head are numbered, not one of them can fall to the ground without the express will of God:  he will not suffer thee to be tempted above measure, he corrects us all, [6809]_numero, pondere, et mensura_, the Lord will not quench the smoking flax, or break the bruised reed, Tentat (saith Austin) non ut obruat, sed ut coronet he suffers thee to be tempted for thy good.  And as a mother doth handle her child sick and weak, not reject it, but with all tenderness observe and keep it, so doth God by us, not forsake us in our miseries, or relinquish us for our imperfections, but with all pity and compassion support and receive us; whom he loves, he loves to the end.  Rom. viii.  “Whom He hath elected, those He hath called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.”  Think not then thou hast lost the Spirit, that thou art forsaken of God, be not overcome with heaviness of heart, but as David said, “I will not fear though I walk in the shadows of death.”  We must all go, non a deliciis ad delicias, [6810]but from the cross to the crown, by hell to heaven, as the old Romans put Virtue’s temple in the way to that of Honour; we must endure sorrow and misery in this life.  ’Tis no new thing this, God’s best servants and dearest children have been so visited and tried.  Christ in the garden cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” His son by nature, as thou art by adoption and grace.  Job, in his anguish, said, “The arrows of the Almighty God were in him,” Job vi. 4.  “His terrors fought against him, the venom drank up his spirit,” cap. xiii. 26.  He saith, “God was his enemy, writ bitter things against him” (xvi. 9.) “hated him.”  His heavy wrath had so seized on his soul.  David complains, “his eyes were eaten up, sunk into his head,” Ps. vi. 7, “his moisture became as the drought in summer, his flesh was consumed, his bones vexed:”  yet neither Job nor David did finally despair.  Job would not leave his hold, but still trust in Him, acknowledging Him to be his good God.  “The Lord gives, the Lord takes, blessed be the name of the Lord,” Job. i. 21.  “Behold I am vile, I abhor myself, repent in dust and ashes,” Job xxxix. 37.  David humbled himself, Psal. xxxi. and upon his confession received mercy.  Faith, hope, repentance, are the sovereign cures and remedies,