November Fifth.
ALL THE DISPENSATIONS OF PROVIDENCE GROUNDED IN PERFECT LOVE.
"Thy will be done"—Matt. vi. 10.
BEFORE a man is brought to spiritual obedience, so as to be enabled to say from the heart, "Thy will be done!" he must be led to perceive that all the dispensations of the Lord are grounded in perfect love. The providential dispensations of the Most High are frequently dark and mysterious, and many are the permissions of desolation, and even of apparent destruction, visited on man before he is able to withdraw his confidence from the arm of flesh. The natural man sees in these providences the bare arm of a powerful God, and while he continues froward and conceited, the Lord appears to him a froward God. But when these providential dispensations have accomplished the purpose for which they were designed, a change is wrought in the mind, which becomes humble, and the merciful Lord is seen as a father; who, pitying His children, uses every means to reclaim them from suffering to peace.
Through a medium like this may we view the great king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; first contemplating his character as it is portrayed in the third chapter of Daniel's prophecy, and then contrasting it with the humility recorded in Dan. iv. 37: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those that walk in pride He is able to
