* 2 Corinthians xii. 4-7.

St. john suffered sore persecutions--was banished from the society of
his fellow Christians, if not from the society of men. But divine
discoveries repaid all his sufferings--heaven's ineffable glories were
opened to his view! What he witnessed could be but very partially
communicated. Language is weak; only faint hints and general
intimations could be given of the "glory which is to be revealed." But
the suffering apostle enjoyed it, and was supported, yea, enraptured
by it.

This life is filled with changes. Good and evil, hope and fear, light
and darkness, are set over against each other. The saints, while they
dwell in the dust, sometimes walk in darkness, and have their hours of
gloom and horror--"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together
in pain until now--Even those who have the first fruits of the spirit,
groan within themselves, waiting for--the redemption of the body.
Those of whom the world is not worthy, are often in heaviness, through
manifold temptations."

We may wonder at these things: but when we consider them as ordered of
God, the consideration, should calm our minds, and bring us to say
with the astonished Shunamite of old, "It is well." *

* 2 Kings iv. 26.

God doth not order sorrows to his creatures here, because he delights
in their sufferings. "He grieves not willingly, neither afflicts the
children of men. He doth it for their profit, that they may be