IT requires more grace to bear prosperity in a right spirit than adversity; one is apt to ensnare—the other humbles us, and teaches us self-knowledge. When all is going on smoothly with us, and we are sitting quite at our ease, we scarcely feel that we are pilgrims and strangers upon earth, and are seldom so earnest in seeking a heavenly inheritance. In prosperity we often slide into a spirit of conformity to the world almost imperceptibly. Many a Christian who has stood his ground boldly against the frowns and persecutions of the world, and passed through deep affliction in safety, has been won by its smiles in the time of prosperity, and brought either to deny his Lord, or has sunk into a state of deadness and lukewarmness of soul. Peter, who zealously stood up for Christ in the garden of Gethsemane in the face of the Roman soldiers, denied Him while sitting at ease by the fireside in the palace of the high priest! How pure and unblemished was the character of David during the days when he watched his father’s sheep, and when he suffered from the bitter persecution of Saul! But when he was exalted to the throne of Israel, when he exchanged the shepherd’s crook for the kingly scepter, and the humble tent of Jesse for the princely palace, he fell into those sins which caused him to water his couch with tears, and the remembrance of which embittered his future days. Oh, how much mercy there is in the failings of the saints being recorded! If they were set forth as perfect characters, we might indeed be discouraged, and almost ready to despair, when we feel our corruptions strong and our enemies so numerous and powerful. If we read that the father of the faithful lied—that the man after God’s own heart became an adulterer and murderer—that the bold apostle, who was so ready to go with his Master to prison and to death, yet so shamefully denied Him—what lessons of humility and watchfulness should it teach us! What tenderness towards our backsliding brethren! when we remember that we are liable to the same temptations, and that it is by grace we stand, and by grace alone that any are kept through faith unto salvation.