you shall find that your mercies will wonderfully outweigh your

brazen serpent which is lifted up—than the fiery serpent which bites

and stings. [2 Cor. 4:16-18; Heb. 10:34, 11:24-26, 35, and 12:1-3.]

Basil speaks of some martyrs who were cast out all night naked in a

frigid time, and were to be burned the next day, how they comforted

themselves in this manner: "The winter is sharp—but paradise is

sweet; here we shiver for cold—but the bosom of Abraham will make

amends for all." Galen writes of a fish called Uranoscopos, which has

but one eye—and yet looks continually up to heaven. A Christian

under the cross should always have an eye looking up to heaven, so

that his soul may not faint, and he may give glory to God in the day

of visitation. It is recorded of Lazarus, that after his resurrection

from the dead he was never seen to laugh; his thoughts and

affections were so fixed in heaven, though his body was on earth, that

he could not but slight temporal things, his heart being set upon

eternal things. [Let heaven be a man's object—and the earth will be

his abject.] "A man," says Chrysostom, "who would dwell in the

contemplation of heaven, would be loath to come out of it." "Nay,

says Augustine, "a man might age himself in the contemplation of

heaven, and sooner grow old than weary."

3. Thirdly, Compare your mercies and your losses together, and

you shall find that your mercies will wonderfully outweigh your

losses. You have lost one mercy, you enjoy many mercies. What is the

loss of a wife, a child, or any other temporal mercy, compared to a

soul's enjoyment of the favor of God, pardon of sin, peace of