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Come what will, God does me no harm. If God has given me Christ, what have I to complain of? And how should I welcome the disease or decay, which is sent to secure him to me and bring me to him! Adam.

God sometimes will not let me sleep, but keeps me awake to catechize me; and is always ready with some new instruction or conviction. Ibid.

When I suffer most, I will comfort myself with thinking that I might, and that many do, suffer more; and that all I can suffer is not only much less than I deserve, but ordained in mercy as the means of my eternal happiness. Ibid.

The furnace is Christ's usual workshop, where he has formed the most excellent vessels of honour and praise, Willison.

God is a loving, tender Father to all his children; yet when there is occasion, they shall feel the smart of his rod. Henry.

The woundings of God have more kindness in them, than the kisses of most men. Caryl.

The spirit of Christ sweetly calms the soul of a suffering believer, not by taking away all sense of pain, but by overcoming it with the sense of his love. Gurnall.

Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions. Dyer.

To believe mercy in the midst of mercy is no great matter; but to believe mercy in the midst of wrath, is a great matter, and argues strong faith. Erskine.

When at any time we are in trouble, we should be more concerned about our sins to get them pardoned,

than about our afflictions to get them removed.

Henry.

If we cannot think of Christ through the power of disease, O what happiness is it to be assured, that Christ thinks constantly and affectionately of us. He maketh all our bed in our sickness; that is, he turns the whole frame of our condition in it for our advantage. Serle.

Look not here only upon the affliction, but see how it comes attended; if the Lord come along with it to sanctify it to your amendment; if he teach as well as chastise; if he instruct you, as well as correct you, then it is a proof of your happiness. Harris.

That is a precious faith, which, like the star, shines brightest in the darkest night. It is good that our graces should be brought to a trial; thus we have

the comfort, and the gospel the honour. Ashe.

The saints lose nothing in the furnace, but what they can well sparetheir dross. Ibid.

God's ploughing us by afflictions is to kill the weeds of sin; his harrowing us, is to break the hard clods of impenitency, that the heart may be the fitter to receive the seed of

Ibid.

grace.

The shade of adversity is better for some than the sunshine of prosperity. Ibid.

The heavier the weight of affliction, the heavier the weight of glory; not that our sufferings do merit glory, as some erroneously think; but though they are not the cause of our crown, yet are they the way to it; and God makes us, as he did our Captain, "perfect through suffering." Ashe.

It is better to learn by suffering to delight in God's word and to value it more than thousands of gold and silver, than by prosperity to grow callous and ripe for eternal destruction. Scott.

When the box is broken, and the precious ointment is poured forth, then it sends forth its delightful savour; so when the heart is broken with affliction and the grace is poured forth, then they give a smell sweet to God and men. Burroughs.

Two things should comfort suffering Christians, namely, all they suffer is not hell, and yet it is all the hell they shall suffer. Mason.

Sin hath brought many a believer into suffering; and suffering has kept many a believer from sinning. Dyer.

Hope, patience, and prayer are powerful supports under all afflic

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