Sorrow
Sorrow has been fitly called the mother of all joy. She alone creates the darkness , in which we can distinguish the real meaning of God's dealings , and understand the true nature of our wild wanderings . Her neutral tints subdue the soul's pride , and turn it away from the glare of human ambition . beneath her teaching we learn to view aright the evanescence of all things human , and to see that the eternal is alone real amid a world of illusions
"Sweet sorrow , who the earth has ever trod ,
Dreaded and shunned , till, by thy burning kiss,
The heart was fired and flamed serene to God ;
O kind stern friend , we leave thee on Time's shore
The only friend of earth whom we shall see no more ,"
Perhaps your sorrow will be allowed to press on you more and more sorely till you have been led to self-examination , and confession of sin , and the acknowledgement of the rightness of God's dealings with you . There is an alloy of pride in your nature that must be destroyed . If the fire is not hot enough, its heat must be raised till it suffices . Accept the lesson of your present pain , and rebel no longer. The waves of unutterable grief may be breaking in succession against the beaten promotory of your faith, and will be followed by the great tenth wave of apparent desertion ; but the return tide of exultant joy is at hand.
"Sweet sorrow , who the earth has ever trod ,
Dreaded and shunned , till, by thy burning kiss,
The heart was fired and flamed serene to God ;
O kind stern friend , we leave thee on Time's shore
The only friend of earth whom we shall see no more ,"
Perhaps your sorrow will be allowed to press on you more and more sorely till you have been led to self-examination , and confession of sin , and the acknowledgement of the rightness of God's dealings with you . There is an alloy of pride in your nature that must be destroyed . If the fire is not hot enough, its heat must be raised till it suffices . Accept the lesson of your present pain , and rebel no longer. The waves of unutterable grief may be breaking in succession against the beaten promotory of your faith, and will be followed by the great tenth wave of apparent desertion ; but the return tide of exultant joy is at hand.
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