But with this personal Saviour you have to do just as really and truly now as any of His disciples who had followed Him when on earth; and so I beseech you to be fellow-labourers with Him in His own holy and living work within your own soul.  Let your prayer then be:  “Thy will be done!  Let Thy holy and loving will, my Father, be done in me!  I believe in Thy forgiveness, and am at peace with Thee, according to that will, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  And as this is also Thy will, even my sanctification, and Thy revealed purpose, that I should be made conformable to the image of Thy Son, so let Thy grace, which is sufficient for the chief of sinners, daily bring this salvation into me, by teaching me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; that so learning Christ, taking up His cross daily, following Him and being disciplined by Him, I may be taught to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of my mind; and, as Thine own workmanship, be created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works.  Amen!”

Let us consider for a little longer God’s work in us, by His providential dealings towards us.  A moment’s reflection will suffice to remind you that God, in His providence, is constantly working with you.  He is, for instance, a wonderful Giver.  “He gives us all things richly to enjoy.”  “He openeth His hand liberally.”  His mercies are more than can be numbered; though as a father He also chastises His children.  “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.”  Now, in whatever way God deals with us, whether He gives or takes, there is a purpose which He wishes accomplished.  He has a work to do in us by every joy and every sorrow.  There is a voice for us in the rod of darkness, and in the ray of sunshine; and it is our duty, our strength, our peace, to hear that voice, and to know that work of providence so as to be fellow-labourers with God in it.  Perhaps you are disposed to excuse yourselves for want of sober inquiry into God’s dealings with you, by saying, that it is very hard to know, and often impossible to discover, what object or purpose He has in view when sending to us this gift or that grief.  In some cases it may be so; but it is much to know and to remember what God’s purpose is not, and what He can never wish to have accomplished, either by what He gives to us or takes from us.  Never can it be the purpose of God, in any case, to advance the work of Satan in our souls, or to retard within us the coming of His own glorious kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  Never can He send us a gift to make us proud, vain, indolent, covetous, earthly-minded, sensual, devilish, or in any degree to alienate us from Himself as our chief good.  For whatever purpose He fashioned our body with such exquisite care, providing so rich a supply for all its senses, it was not, assuredly,