Afflictions operating on our unsubdued hearts, have a natural tendency to excite a murmuring spirit; but as the mind is steadily turned in submission towards its Creator, the pain of the chastisement gradually diminishes, the disposition to murmur gently subsides, and the grace of resignation is confirmed in the soul. A provocation received from a fellow-creature tempts us to impatience and anger; but if, under the influence of Christian love, our minds are kept unruffled, and we are enabled to return good for evil, the next circumstance of the kind which occurs to us, is felt in a less degree, the third still less, the fourth scarcely at all. The passive impression becomes more and more evanescent, and almost imperceptibly to ourselves, the character is formed in us of meekness and forbearance.

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