All the saints have trodden it. We can trace their footprints there. It is comforting, nay, it is cheering to keep this in mind. Such is the solace we may extract from all suffering, for the furnace into which we are cast has been consecrated by many a saint already. All things work together for our good.
Nothing is unsuitable, unseasonable or unprofitable.
Each pang, sharp or slight, is doing its work the very work which God designs, the very work which we could not do without. The forces of earth, unless they all bear in one line, or nearly so, tend to counteract each other and arrest the common impulse. But the forces which God brings to bear upon us in affliction are all directly and necessarily impulsive. Come from what quarter they may, or from opposite quarters all at once, they still bear us successfully forward. There is special grace for every trial.