'TIS ALL FOR THE BEST*.

Ir is all for the best," said Mrs. Simpson, when_ ever any misfortune befel her. She had got such an habit of vindicating Providence, that instead of weeping and wailing under the most trying dispensations, her chief care was to convince herself and others, that however great might be her sufferings, and however little they could be accounted for at present, yet that the judge of all the earth could not do but right. Instead of trying to clear herself from any possible blame that might attach to her under those misfortunes which, to speak after the manner of men, she might seem not to have deserved; she was always the first to justify Him who had inflicted it. It was not that she superstitiously converted every visitation into a punishment: she entertained more correct ideas of` that God who over-rules all events. She knew that some calamities were sent to exercise her faith, others to purify her heart; some to chastise her rebellious will, and all to remind her that this "was not her rest :" that this world was not the scene for the full and final display of retributive justice. The honour of God was dearer to her than her own credit, and her chief desire was to turn all events to his glory.

* A profligate wit of a neighbouring country having attempted to turn this doctrine into ridicule, under the same Title here assumed, it occurred to the Author that it might not be altogether useless to illustrate the same doctrine on Christian principles.

Though

Though Mrs. Simpson was the daughter of a clergyman, and the widow of a genteel tradesman, she had been reduced, by a succession of misfortunes, to accept of a room in an alms-house. Instead of repining at the change; instead of dwelling on her former gentility, and saying, "How handsomely she had "lived once; and how hard it was to be reduced; "and she little thought ever to end her days in an "alms-house;" which is the common language of those who were never so well off before; she was thankful that such an asylum was provided for want and age; and blessed God that it was to the Christian dispensation alone that such pious institutions owed their birth.

One fine evening, as she was sitting reading her Bible on the little bench shaded with honeysuckles, just before her door, who should come and sit down by her but Mrs. Betty, who bad formerly been lady's maid at the nobleman's house in the village of which Mrs. Simpson's father had been minister. Betty, after a life of vanity, was, by a train of misfortunes, brought to this very alms-house; and though she had taken no care by frugality and prudence to avoid it, she thought it a hardship and disgrace, instead of being thankful, as she ought to have been, for such a retreat. At first she did not know Mrs. Simpson; her large bonnet, cloak, and brown stuff gown (for she always made her appearance conform to her circumstances) being very different from the dress she had been used to wear when Mrs. Betty has seen her dining at the great house; and time and sorrow had much altered her countenance. But when Mrs. Simpson kindly addressed her as an old acquaintance, she screamed with surprise-" What! you, "madam?" cried she: "you in a alms-house, living on charity; you, who used to be so charita"ble yourself, that you never suffered any distress

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in the parish which you could prevent ?"" That may be one reason, Betty," replied Mrs. Simp son, why Providence has provided this refuge for "my old age. And any heart overflows with grati“tude when I look back on his goodness."" No "such great goodness, methinks," said Betty; "why, you were born and bred a lady, and are now reduced to live in an alms-house.". "Betty, "I was born and bred a sinner, undeserving of the " mercies I have received."-" No such great mer"cies," said Betty. "Why, I heard you had been "turned out of doors; that your husband had broke; "and that you had been in danger of starving, though I did not know what was become of you." "It is all true, Betty, glory be to God! it is all "true."

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"Well," said Betty, "you are an odd sort of a "gentlewoman. If from a prosperous condition I "had been made a bankrupt, a widow, and a beg66 gar, I should have thought it no such mighty mat"ter to be thankful for; but there is no accounting "for taste. The neighbours used to say that all your troubles must needs be a judgment upon you; "but I, who knew how good you were, thought it very hard you should suffer so much; but now I "see you reduced to an alms-house, I beg your par“don, madam, but I am afraid the neighbours were "in the right, and that so many misfortunes could "never have happened to you without you had com"mitted a great many sins to deserve them; for I "always thought that God is so just that he punish"es us for all our bad actions, and rewards us for "all our good ones."-" So he does, Betty; but "he does it in his own way, and at his own time, “and not according to our notions of good and evil; "for his ways are not as our ways. God, indeed, "punishes the bad and rewards the good; but he VOL. II. D d "doe

"does not do it fully and finally in this world. In"deed he does not set such a value on outward "things as to make riches, and rank, and beauty, "and health, the rewards of piety; that would be "acting like weak and erring men, and not like a just and holy God. Our belief in a future state of "rewards and punishments is not always so strong "as it ought to be, even now; but how totally would our faith fail, if we regularly saw every thing made "even in this world. We shall lose nothing by hav"ing pay-day put off. The longest voyages make "the best returns. So far am I from thinking that "God is less just, and future happiness less certain, "because I see the wicked sometimes prosper, and "the righteous suffer in this world, that I am rather "led to believe that God is more just and heaven more certain: for, in the first place, God will not

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put off his favourite children with so poor a lot a "the good things of this world; and next, seeing "that the best men here below do not often attain "to the best things: why it only serves to strengthen

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my belief that they are not the best things in His

eye; and He has most assuredly reserved for those "that love Him such good things as eye hath "not seen nor ear heard.' God, by keeping man "in Paradise while he was innocent, and turning "him into this world as soon as he had sinned, gave

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a plain proof that he never intended this world, "even in its happiest state, as a place of reward. "My father gave me good principles and useful

knowledge; and while he taught me by a habit of "constant employment, to be, if I may so say, in

dependant on the world, yet he led me to a con. "stant sense of dependance on God."-" I do not "see, however," interrupted Mrs. Betty, "that "your religion has been of any use to you. It has been so far from preserving you from trouble, that "I think