Consider that all your afflictions troubles and trials shall work for your good. Rom 8:28
That scouring and rubbing which frets others shall make them shine the brighter; and that weight which crushes and keeps others under, shall be make them, like the palm tree, grow better and higher; and that hammer which knocks others all in pieces, shall but knock them the nearer to Christ, the corner stone. Stars shine brightest in the darkest night; torches give the best light when beaten; grapes yield most wine when most pressed; spices smell sweetest when pounded; vines are the better for bleeding; gold looks the brighter for scouring; junper smells sweetest in the fire; chamonile the more you tread it the more you spread it; the salamander lives best in the fire, the jews were best when most afflicted; the Athenians would never mend, till they wer in mourning; the Christ’s cross, saith Luther, is no letter in the book, and yet, saith he, it hath taught me more than all the letters in the book. Grace shines the brighter for scouring, and is most glorious when it is most clouded. Thomas Brooks--Mute Christian under the smarting rod
Labels: Thomas Brooks
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