August 20

Behold we count them happy which endure.— JAMES V, II.

God never would send you the darkness

If He felt you could bear the light;

But you would not cling to His guiding hand

If the way were always bright;

And you would not care to walk by faith,

Could you always walk by sight.

So He sends you in blinding darkness,

And the furnace of seven-fold heat;

'Tis the only way, believe me,

To keep you close to His feet,

For 'tis always so easy to wander

When our lives are glad and sweet.

The consciousness of trials patiently borne en- riches the soul. He who has gone unscathed through the fiery furnace has no longer any terror of it, even though it be heated seven-fold. He who has been through battles fears not the flying bullet or the screaming shell. An abiding trust in the goodness and love of God is the supreme panacea for all our woes. When in harmony with Him what can we choose other than what He chooses, and then no matter what happens to us we can hear Him say, as our friend so happily quotes, "I, even I, am He that comforteth you."

The Living Church.