ay long, and lie down to sleep on it at night; and they will carry it
perhaps for years and years, and to their graves, and to the throne of
Christ before they lay it down; and none but they and Christ will ever
know what it was; what was the secret chastisement which God sent to make
that soul better which seemed to us already too good for earth. So does
the Lord watch His people, and tries them with fire, as the refiner of
silver sits by his furnaces watching the melted metal till he knows that
it is purged from all its dross by seeing the image of his own face
reflected on it.

_Town and Country Sermons_.

By sufferings was Christ made perfect; and what was the best path for
Jesus Christ is surely good enough for us, even though it be a rough and
thorny one. Let us lie still beneath God's hand; for though His hand be
heavy upon us, it is strong and safe beneath us too; and none can pluck
us out of His hand, for in Him we live and move and have our being. He
waits for us year after year, with patience which cannot tire; therefore,
let us wait awhile for Him. With Him is plenteous redemption, and
therefore redemption enough for us and for those likewise whom we love.
And though we go down into hell with David, with David we shall find God
there (Ps. cxxxix. 8; Ps. xvi. 10), and find that He does not leave our
souls in hell, nor suffer His holy ones to see corruption. Yes, have
faith in God. Nothing in thee which He has made shall see corruption;
for it is a thought of God's, and no thought of His can perish. Nothing
shall be purged out of thee, but thy disease; nothing shall be burnt out
of thee but thy dross; and that in thee of which God said in the
beginning, "Let us make man in our own image," shall be saved and live to
all eternity. Yes, have faith in God, and cry to Him out of the deep,
"Though Thou slay me, yet will I love Thee, for Thou lovedst me in Jesus
Christ before the foundation of the world."

_Sermons_--_Good News of God_.

Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! Look to the cross
of Christ. There hung your King! The King of sorrowing souls, and more,
the King of Sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and desertion, death
and hell--He has faced them one and all, and tried their strength, and
taught them His, and conquered them right royally. And since He hung
upon that torturing cross, sorrow is divine, godlike, as joy itself. All
that man's fallen nature dreads and despise