God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when He chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy.

Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs.

Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us.

Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.

Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.”

Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction.

It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honour are distinguished.

But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them, and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

Evil never surrenders its grasp without a tremendous fight. We never arrive at any spiritual inheritance through the enjoyment of a picnic but always through the fierce conflicts of the battlefield.

And it is the same in the deep recesses of the soul. Every human capacity that wins its spiritual freedom does so at the cost of blood.

Satan is not put to flight by our courteous request. He completely blocks our way, and our progress must be recorded in blood and tears.

We need to remember this, or else we will be held responsible for the arrogance of misinterpretation.

When we are born again, it is not into a soft and protected nursery but into the open countryside, where we actually draw our strength from the distress of the storm.

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). JOHN HENRY JOWETT

Faith of our Fathers! living still, In spite of dungeon, fire and sword: Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy Whene’er we hear that glorious word.

Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith! We will be true to Thee till death!

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark, Were still in heart of conscience free; How sweet would be their children’s fate, If they, like them, could die for Thee!

The best things in life are the result of being wounded. Wheat must be crushed before becoming bread, and incense must be burned by fire before its fragrance is set free. The earth must be broken with a sharp plow before being ready to receive the seed. And it is a broken heart that pleases God.

Yes, the sweetest joys of life are the fruits of sorrow. Human nature seems to need suffering to make it fit to be a blessing to the world.

Beside my cottage door it grows, The loveliest, daintiest flower that blows, A sweetbrier rose.

At dewy morn or twilight’s close, The rarest perfume from it flows, This strange wild rose.

But when the raindrops on it beat, Ah, then, its odors grow more sweet, About my feet.

Often with loving tenderness, Its soft green leaves I gently press, In sweet caress.

A still more wondrous fragrance flows The more my fingers close And crush the rose.

Dear Lord, oh, let my life be so Its perfume when strong winds blow, The sweeter flow.

And should it be Your blessed will, With crushing grief my soul to fill, Press harder still.

And while its dying fragrance flows I’ll whisper low, “He loves and knows His crushed brier rose.”

If you aspire to be a person of consolation, if you want to share the priestly gift of sympathy, if you desire to go beyond giving commonplace comfort to a heart that is tempted, and if you long to go through the daily exchanges of life with the kind of tact that never inflicts pain, then you must be prepared to pay the price for a costly education—for like Christ, you must suffer. FREDERICK WILLIAM ROBERTSON

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

I am crucified with Christ.

They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.

The hope which is laid up for you in heaven.—If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.—We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.—Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me cannot be my disciple.—No man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.—The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.—Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.—By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.