I do not think it such a difficult time to the simple-hearted. Faith in one sense is a difficulty only solved by God's grace. It is a difficult time if we seek to mingle the world-church and the path of faith; but the path of faith itself is always the same, and the word to guide, and the Lord to give strength. it may be an evil time, the days evil, but that is not a difficult time; it was an evil time when the blessed Lord was born, but I do not know that the Simeons, the Annas, and Marys and Elizabeths found it a difficult time. Such will be sorrowful times, and they require the patience which separates the precious from the vile; but following the word is always simple for the simple, and humble, and always happy, because the Lord will be with us. 565