Perhaps you sometimes feel as if billow after billow were passing over you-sickness, bereavement, poverty, and crosses of all kinds. Don't be discouraged; remember, it is the bruised herbs that are the most fragrant; it is the pressed grapes from which we get the wine; the corn is first bruised before we get the bread.
"Stars shine brightest on the darkest night, spices smell sweetest when pounded, vines are the better for bleeding, gold looks the brighter for scouring, juniper smells sweetest in the fire, and chamomile is spread by being trodden upon.
"And so it is with the bruised and chastened saints-there is something about them akin to the Man of Sorrows! The bee sucks honey out of the bitterest herbs; so God will by affliction teach His children to get sweet knowledge, sweet obedience, and sweet experiences out of all the bitter afflictions and trials with which He exercises them."