IN the days to come, when all things are known, the loving-kindness of God’s people will be all made manifest. My heart has been cheered indeed in days of weariness and pain by messages of Christian sympathy and love. Only two days ago a friend sent me some beautiful verses by Anna Shipton, called “Loved so well and loved so long.” I can only give the first and last verses, but they cheered my heart as music from heaven: ―
“Master! Thou hast never failed me;
And when Satan’s spite assailed me,
Broke my harp, and stilled my song:
As I fell in fear before Thee,
Sweet Thy whisper floated o’er me―
‘Loved so well, and loved so long!’
Sharp the thorns that rise around me;
But the love that sought and found me,
Stills the sigh and wakes the song:
Can He fail me? Never, never!
I am His, and His Forever:
Loved so well, and loved so long”
The same post brought me a message from a dear friend in Christ. She says: — “This, is the text that I found for you this morning: ‘Peace, peace, be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for the Lord thy God helpeth thee’ (1 Chron. 12:1818Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band. (1 Chronicles 12:18)). I am quite sure the Lord will bless your Testament work more and more. Fear not.”
Yes, when God sends His messenger of affliction to us, as Macduff says, He comes with an olive-branch in one hand — a love token plucked from the bowers of Paradise — and in the other, a chalice mingled by One too loving and gracious to insert one needless ingredient of sorrow.”
And Richard Baxter tells us that “without this hedge a thorns of trouble on the right hand, and on the left, we should! hardly be able to keep the way to heaven.”
The storms that sweep around us bring Christ to us upon the waters, and He brings us into the “desired haven.” The forty years of desert wandering ended in Canaan at last. The “burning fiery furnace” led to companionship with the Son of God.
God be thanked for the words, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:1919As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:19)), and as one beautifully says, “Tribulation is the King’s highway, and yet that highway is paved with love,” and leads to heaven.