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It was a saying of Milton that, "who best can suffer best can do."
The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been
done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have
struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted, only
to grasp the sand and expire. They have done their duty, and been
content to die. But death hath no power over such men; their
hallowed memories still survive, to soothe and purify and bless
us. "Life," said Goethe, "to us all is suffering. Who save God
alone shall call us to our reckoning? Let not reproaches fall on
the departed. Not what they have failed in, nor what they have
suffered, but what they have done, ought to occupy the survivors."
Thus, it is not ease and facility that tries men, and brings out
the good that is in them, so much as trial and difficulty.
Adversity is the touchstone of character. As some herbs need to
be crushed to give forth their sweetest odour, so some natures
need to be tried by suffering to evoke the excellence that is in
them. Hence trials often unmask virtues, and bring to light
hidden graces. Men apparently useless and purposeless, when
placed in positions of difficulty and responsibility, have
exhibited powers of character before unsuspected; and where we
before saw only pliancy and self-indulgence, we now see strength,
valour, and self-denial.
As there are no blessings which may not he perverted into evils,
so there are no trials which may not be converted into blessings.
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