The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best strength, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Oh, when we are journeying through the murky night and the dark woods of affliction and sorrow, it is something to find here and there a spray broken, or a leafy stem bent down with the tread of His foot and the brush of His hand as He passed; and to remember that the path He trod He has hallowed, and thus to find lingering fragrance and hidden strength in the remembrance of Him as "in all points tempted like as we are," bearing grief for us, bearing grief with us, bearing grief like us.
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before.
However bitter the cup we have to drink, we are sure it contains nothing unnecessary or unkind; and we should take it from His hand with as much meekness as we accept of eternal life with thankfulness.
In the dark and cloudy day,
When earth's riches flee away,
And the last hope will not stay,
Saviour, comfort me.
AMBITION.
Ambition is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
