The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-08-11
THE VALUE OF SORROW.

THE VALUE OF SORROW.
We none of US like to anticipate grief, yet
who that has known sorrow, and has borne it
in the true spirit of resignation, would part
with the experience which can only be OBJ
tanned in the furnace?
The richest tokens of Saviour's love have
been felt when the heart was bursting with
grief.
"When in the hour of lonely woe,
We gave our sorrows leave to flow,
And anxious fear and dark distrust
Weighed down our spirits to the dust;
When not een friendships gentle aid
Could heal the wounds the world had made"
what has brought, what else could bring, our
tempest tossed souls back to quiet and repose
but the thought,
My Saviour is for ever nigh?"
Gods ways are very wonderful; but be.
cause we cannot understand them, we should
not therefore murmur He is never displeased
that we grieve; only is he displeased when
we allow spirit of rebellion. Jesus wept
at the grave of Lazarus. And when, after
encountering the terrible opposition of the
Scribes and Pharisees, he at length drew
near the close of his life, and, in the garden,
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood; when
at last forsaken by all, he was led to the
cross alone, who can imagine his agony, as
he lifted up his voice, and cried, "My God,
My God why hast thou forsaken me?"
Our Saviour set US an example how to
endure grief; and if, in the hour of our sor-
rows, we will go to our Father in heaven, as
the Saviour did, we shall find our strength
equal to our day.
l do not say that person may not 60
through life, and to heaven, without trials;
but | do say, after many years experience, l
don't want to go that way. have had
enough of trials to appreciate their worth,
and were to be asked to choose my trials,
l should be as much at loss as David was,
when the Lord gave him his choice of the
pestilence, the sword, or famine, and, could
only do as he did, and say, "Let me fall into
the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are
great, but let me not fall into the hands of
man."
But it may be that God will call US to
experience this, the most terrible of all trials
falling into the hand of man. And, at
such time, it needs more than human power
of expression to convey the most indistinct
idea of it. 1t cannot be described to be for
saken; to have your good name cast out as
evil; reproached, slandered; to have your
own neighbors, your own brethren in the
church, take up evil surmises and reports
against you; to have them wish you evil; to
use their influence to do you evil, and to
have others do you evil; to have them speak
of you as if it were next to duty to rid the
world of you; to have them go to those who
are seen to be kindly disposed towards you,
and stealthily to infuse the poison of sus-
picion and distrust, and in this way to knock
from under you every earthly support. All,
tbs terrible tbs terrible! But | have been
there, and | thank God now that | have
been there, if for nothing else than for the
pleasure it has given me to sympathize with
others in trouble.
But, as woman, in the hour of her ma
ternal suffering, forgets it all in her new
born JOY, so it has been with me; so it will
be with you, my suffering friend; the daily
and hourly addition of trial, is designed of
God for your highest good, and by-and-by
you will change the sorrow for joy-for
Joy in proportion to your sorrow-and you
will almost regret parting with trial which
has been the occasion of affording you such
abundant joy. When you shall see your
enemies discounted, as they surely will be,
there will be no rejoicing in your heart over
their calamities; but, while gratitude wells
up out of your own soul, for Gods unspeak-
able love to you, the fruit of your own suf-
fering will be seen in devising ways and
means whereby you may break the stroke of
his wrath and mix your own tender sympa-
thies to alleviate their sufferings.
The value of trials is unspeakable, and
our prayer should be, not so much to be de-
livered from them, as to be supported under
them that Gods kind designs may be accom-
plished. And let us take wider range in
viewing those designs than our own individ-
ual selves We often hear the mournful ex-
clamation, "What have done that God
should punish me like thisl" Take another
view of it; if you are not sensible of having
merited such suffering, then inquire, Why
was it that Christ suffered as he did, far
more than it is possible for you to suffer ?
He did not merit it, but he suffered being
tempted, that he might succor those who are
tempted. And the JOY and gladness which
will return to your own bosom from being