ey
were for the Jews of old, and that it is the faithlessness of this day
which prevents men from accepting God's promises in their literal sense
with simple childlike faith.

_Letters and Memories_.

Do not fear the clouds and storm and rain; look at the bow in the cloud,
in the very rain itself. That is a sign that the sun, though you cannot
see it, is shining still--that up above, beyond the cloud, is still
sunlight and warmth and cloudless blue sky. Believe in God's covenant.
Believe that the sun will conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold,
calm will conquer storm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer
darkness, joy will conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer
destruction and the devouring floods; because God is light, God is love,
God is life, God is peace and joy eternal, God is without change, and
labours to give life and joy and peace to man and beast and all created
things. This was the meaning of the rainbow. It is a witness that God,
who made the world, is the friend and preserver of man; that His promises
are like the everlasting sunshine which is above the clouds, without spot
or fading, without variableness or shadow of turning.

_National Sermons_.

If I did not believe in a special Providence, in a perpetual education of
men by evil as well as good, by small things as well as great--if I did
not believe that--I could believe nothing.

_Letters and Memories_.

Let us be content; we do not know what is good for us, and God does.

It is true, and you will find it true (though God knows it is a difficult
lesson enough to learn) that there should be no greater comfort to
Christian people than to be made like Christ by suffering patiently not
only the hard work of every-day life, but sorrows, troubles, and
sicknesses, and all our heavenly Father's corrections, whensoever, by any
manner of adversity, it shall please His gracious goodness to visit them.
For Christ Himself went not up to joy, but first He suffered pain. He
entered not into His glory before He was crucified. Therefore those
words which we read in the Visitation of the Sick about this matter are
not mere kind words, meant to give comfort for the moment. They are
truth and fact and sound philosophy. They are as true for the young lad
in health and spirits as for the old folks crawling towards their graves.
It is true that sickness and all sorts of troubles are sent to correct
and amend in us whatsoever doth offend