t of them
will come to you that which is more precious than gold. If you do not
suffer, you can be of little use to those who do suffer. The promise is,
"If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him."

Abraham suffered in that one supreme sacrifice, but his example of
faithfulness in the test has enriched millions of souls. Job suffered not
only physical agony but the keenest and deepest of spiritual agony, yet
that suffering was only an opportunity for God to manifest his mercy and
kindness. How much Job learned of God by enduring through these dark days
and how much the world has learned! If we should take out of the Bible the
record of suffering and its results that are written there, we should take
out of it all that is best and noblest and most helpful and encouraging.
How much poorer we should he if the sacred record told only of joy and
peace and comfort, if it spoke only of victory and achievement, and told
us nothing of the hard road that leads up to them! If the Lord chastises
us, it is "for our profit"; if God smites, it is only to enrich; so bear
with patience, endure as seeing him who is invisible. Be "patient in
tribulation," drink the cup of your Gethsemane, wear your thorny crown
without complaint, endure your Calvary; for unto you is given both to
suffer and to reign with him.

TALK FOURTEEN. PUTTING CLOUDS OVER THE SUN

A little boy was walking down the street rejoicing in the possession of a
bright new penny. He was going to buy some candy with it. He could almost
taste it already, but just then he dropped his penny upon the sidewalk. An
older boy seized it and started off. The little boy began to cry and
demanded his penny, but the other boy only laughed derisively. It was a
mean trick. It spoiled the whole day for the boy, and ever after when he
thinks of the incident, he will have an unpleasant feeling. The older boy
put a dark cloud over the little fellow's sun that day, and the shadow
will be cast upon him through other days.

A number of persons were sitting in a room talking over a matter. During
the conversation one man made a charge against another, comparing him half
contemptuously with a man whose conduct had been quite unbecoming. The
charge was like a dagger in the man's heart. He knew it was both untrue
and unjust. He was conscious of the uprightness of his conduct. He had
always held the other man in high esteem, and to be thus publicly wounded
by him was almost unbe