Suffering was the confirmation of Paul's faith. Through "a thorn in the
flesh" he learned that spiritual grace was sufficient for him.

Peter rejoiced that he was found worthy to suffer for Christ; because to
suffer with him is to reign with him.

Sorrow is the harbinger of joy. Mortal throes of anguish forward the birth
of immortal being; but divine Science wipes away all tears.

The only conscious existence in the flesh is error of some sort,--sin,
pain, death,--a false sense of life and happiness. Mortals, if at ease in
so-called existence, are in their native element of error, and must become
_dis-eased_, dis-quieted, before error is annihilated.

Jesus walked with bleeding feet the thorny earth-road, treading "the
winepress alone." His persecutors said mockingly, "Save thyself, and come
down from the cross." This was the very thing he _was_ doing, coming down
from the cross, saving himself after the manner that he had taught, by the
law of Spirit's supremacy; and this was done through what is humanly called
_agony_.

Even the ice-bound hypocrite melts in fervent heat, before he apprehends
Christ as "the way." The Master's sublime triumph over all mortal mentality
was immortality's goal. He was too wise not to be willing to test the full
compass of human woe, being "in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin."

Thus the absolute unreality of sin, sickness, and death was revealed,--a
revelation that beams on mortal sense as the midnight sun shines over the
Polar Sea.