' A miserable world, if he could not say with full belief;
'"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when
thou art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Thou knowest not now why
thou art afflicted; perhaps thou wilt never know in this life. But a
day will come when thou wilt know: when thou wilt find that this
sickness came to thee at the exact right time, in the exact right
way; when thou wilt find that God has been keeping thee in the secret
place of His presence from the provoking of men, and hiding thee
privately in His tabernacle from the spite of tongues; when thou wilt
discover that thou hast been learning precious lessons for thy
immortal spirit, while thou didst seem to thyself merely tossing with
clouded intellect on a bed of useless pain; when thou wilt find that
God was nearest to thee, at the very moment when He seemed to have
left thee most utterly.'
Thank God, we can say that, and more; and we will say it. But we
must bear in mind, that the Gospels, which are the very parts of
Scripture which speak most concerning disease, omit almost entirely
that cheering and comforting view of it.
And why? Only to force upon our attention, I believe, a view even
more cheering and comforting: a view deeper and wider, because
supplied not merely to the pious sufferer, but to all sufferers; not
merely to the Christian, but to all mankind.
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