Through the agonies of great trial

(John MacDuff, "Thoughts for the Quiet Hour")

"You, O God, have purified us like silver
 melted in a crucible." Psalm 66:10

As the olives must be crushed for the oil to flow;
as the grapes must be bruised in the wine-press
that the vats may be filled; as the gold comes out
refined from the furnace--so, through the agonies
of great trial, the best Christian graces are
developed.

"I have refined you in the furnace of suffering."
    Isaiah 48:10