The end will make amends for all!

(Letters of J. C. Philpot)

What a world it is of sin and sorrow!

How everything serves to remind us
that we are all passing away!

I feel for you in your trials and afflictions,
so various, painful, and multiplied. But
dare I wish you free from what the all-wise,
all-gracious Lord lays upon you? Could
He not in a moment remove them all?

Our Father sees fit in His wisdom and mercy
to afflict His children, and we know that He
would not do so unless it were for the good
of their soul. What can we say then? All we
can do is to beg of the Lord that He would
support, comfort, and bless them.

It is in the furnace that we learn our need of
realities, and our own helplessness and inability.
The furnace also brings to our mind the shortness
of life, and how vain all things are here below.

Affliction are sent to . . .
  wean from this world,
  make life burdensome,
  and death desirable.

I well know that the poor coward flesh is fretful
and impatient under afflictions, and would gladly
have a smoother, easier path. But we cannot
choose our own trials, nor our own afflictions.
All are appointed in fixed weight and measure;
and the promise is that all things shall work
together for good to those who love God.

Wherever we go, and wherever we are, we must
expect trials to arise. But it will be our wisdom
and mercy to submit to what we cannot alter, and
not fret or repine under the trial--but accept it as
sent for our good.

We need trial upon trial, and stroke upon stroke
to bring our soul out of carnality. We slip insensibly
into carnal ease; but afflictions and trials of body
and mind stir us up to some degree of earnestness
in prayer, show us the emptiness and vanity of
earthly things, make us feel the suitability and
preciousness of the Lord Jesus.

The path in which you have been led so many
years is a safe way, though a rough and rugged
way. The end will make amends for all!