ld certainly be no
reassuring aspect to my adverse fortune. But if I believe that under a
fatherly Providence there can be no suffering without its ministry of
mercy, no loss without its greater gain within my reach and endeavor, no
hardship without its reflex benefit in inward growth and energy, then I
can take and bear the inevitable burdens of this earthly life in the same
spirit in which I often assume burdens not imposed upon me from without,
for the more than preponderant benefit which I hope to derive from them.
But if I have this faith in a benignant Providence which will not afflict
me uselessly, I am under obligation not to let my faith, if real, remain
inactive in my seasons of pain, loss, or grief. I am bound so to ponder on
my assured belief, and on such proofs of it as may lie in my past
experience, that it shall give its hue to my condition, its tone to my
thought, its direction to the whole current of my sentiment and feeling.
Thus may endurance be not only calm, but cheerful, because pervaded by the
conviction that at the heart of all that seems evil there is substantial
good.

Yet, it cannot be denied that there are life-long burdens and
griefs,--incurable illnesses, irretrievable losses, bereavements that will
never cease to be felt, and cannot be replaced. Especially in advanced
years there are infirmities, disabilities, and privations, which cannot by
any possibility have a resultant revenue equivalent to what they take from
us; for in old age the growth of character is too slow to be worth the
sacrifice which in earlier life may be more than compensated by the
consciousness of spiritual enlargement and increase. How shall these
burdens be borne cheerfully? They cannot, unless they be also borne
hopefully. But if there be presented to the faith, beyond the earthly
life, a future, the passage into which is to be made the easier by loss
and sorrow here; if families are there to be reunited, and void places in
the affections filled again; if worthy hopes, seemingly disappointed, are
only postponed for a richer and happier fulfilment,--there is in that
future exhaustless strength for solace and support under what must be
endured here. Earthly trial must seem light and momentary in view of
perfect and eternal happiness; and thus the hope that lays hold on an
infinite domain of being is coined into utilities for the daily needs of
the tried, suffering, afflicted, and age-bowed, supplying to patience an
el