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I. THEY AWAKEN US TO SERIOUS THOUGHT. When, by reverse of fortune, we are deprived of the means of pleasures in which we had too profusely indulged; when the companions of our happier years forsake us; when pain and disease unfit us for tasting our wonted comforts, and forewarn us of death; on a sudden, the enchantment is broken; our conduct, to which we had not hitherto attended, rises in review before us; virtue and vice are exhibited in a light in which we had not viewed them before, and our souls, awakened from the dream of dissipation, commune seriously with themselves.

II. THEY SERVE TO MODERATE OUR ATTACHMENT TO WORLDLY OBJECTS.

III. THEY SERVE TO EXERCISE AND DISPLAY OUR VIRTUES. It is the storm that tries the strength of the vessel.

IV. THEY HAVE A NATURAL TENDENCY TO IMPROVE OUR PIOUS AFFECTIONS. When the fabric of our felicity falls, we perceive whose hand it was that supported it, and whose hand it is that alone can rear it anew. We feel our dependence on that Providence which, before, we had neglected to acknowledge, and seek, in communion with God, the consolation which our sufferings require.

V. THEY HAVE A TENDENCY TO ENLIVEN OUR HOPE OF IMMORTALITY. The doctrine of a future existence is no longer regarded as a subject of cold speculation; it addresses itself to the tenderest feelings that can arise in the human breast; your minds are prepared to yield to the evidence by which it is confirmed, and you cherish it as your support under afflictions which admit of no other consolation.

(W. Moodie, D. D.)

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KJV: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

WEB: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.