there is no comfort nor help in man, when
he has no place to flee unto, and no man careth for his soul, then the
most awful, if most blessed of all questions is, But is there no One
higher than man to whom I can flee? No One higher than man who cares for
my soul, and for the souls of those who are dearer to me than my own
soul? No friend? No helper? No deliverer? No counsellor? Even no
judge? No punisher? No God, even though He be a consuming fire? Am I
in my misery alone in the universe? Is my misery without any meaning and
without hope? If there be no God, then all that is left for me is
despair and death. But if there be, then I can hope that there is a
meaning in my misery; that it comes to me not without cause, even though
that cause be my own fault. Then I can plead with God, even though in
wild words like Job; and ask, What is the meaning of this sorrow? What
have I done? What should I do? I will say unto God, "Do not condemn me;
show me wherefore Thou contendest with me. Surely I would speak unto the
Almighty; I desire to reason with God." Oh, my friends, a man, I
believe, can gain courage and wisdom to say that only by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God. But when once he has said that from his heart, he
begins to be justified by faith; for he has had faith in God. He has
trusted God--and more--he has justified God. He has confessed that God
is not a mere force or law of Nature; nor a mere tyrant and tormentor;
but a Reasonable Being who will hear reason, and a Just Being who will do
justice by the creatures He has made.

_Westminster Sermons_.

The deeper, the bitterer your loneliness, the more you are like Him who
cried upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" He
knows what that grief, too, is like. _He_ feels for thee at least.
Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still, and if He be with thee,
what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed are those that
weep now, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth; and because He loves
the poor, He brings them low. All things are blessed now but sin; for
all things excepting sin are redeemed by the life and death of the Son of
God. Blessed are wisdom and courage, joy and health, and beauty and love
and marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers;
for Christ redeemed them by His life. And blessed, too, are tears and
shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness