s and
afflictions. If God is their Father and loves them, what can these
severe trials and afflictions mean?

"One adequate support
For the calamities of mortal life
Exists, one only,--an assured belief
That the procession of our fate, however
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a being
Of Infinite benevolence and power,
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them into good."

Wordsworth.

God Himself hath said it, "All things work together for good to those
that love God, to those who are the called according to his
purpose."--Rom. 8:28. Had God said, "Some things," what confusion
would have come to many of God's children! What enigmas would many
things in the lives of many of the redeemed have been! But when God
said "All things," He placed a key in the hands of every redeemed man,
every real child of His, with which to unlock the door of every
mystery; that every trial, every disaster, every accident, every
burden, every humiliation, every disappointment, every affliction,
every sorrow,--"All things work together for good to those that love
God, to those who are the called according to his purpose";--"that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise,
and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ."--1 Peter 1:7.

Muscles are developed by trials; minds are developed by trials; God's
redeemed people are developed by trials. To murmur against one's
trials after being redeemed, means to murmur against being developed
for one's eternal destiny. To give the muscles no trials, means for
the body never to be developed; to give the mind no trials, means for
the mind never to be developed; to give the redeemed man no trials,
means for his character never to be developed. Two children are born
into the world. The father and mother of one decide that he shall
never be required to do any unpleasant things; that he shall never
have any hardships. The father and mother of the other decide to give
their child every unpleasant thing to do, every hardship and burden to
bear, that will best develop him in body and mind. Often the redeemed
plead with their Father in Heaven to give them only pleasant things,
and He, the All-wise, All-powerful, in love gives them--trials.

The trials of life for the redeemed are so various. If the muscles
have only one trial, the body will never