very expedient for your welfare that you be left sometimes without taste of spiritual sweetness, lest you should become proud of your prosperous state, and desire to please yourself in that which you are not. That which I have given, I can take away, and I can restore it again when I please. When I give it, it is Mine; when I withdraw it, I have not taken anything that is yours; for Mine is “every good and perfect gift”.† If I send affliction, or any cross what ever, grieve not, nor let your heart fail you; I can quickly comfort you and turn all your burden into joy. But I am righteous, and greatly to be praised when I deal thus with you. If you are wise, and consider what the truth is, you never ought to be cast down and saddened because of adversities, but rather to rejoice and give thanks. Yes, you will account this your special joy, that I afflict you with sorrow, and do not spare you. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you”,† I said to My beloved disciples. I sent them out not to temporal joys, but to great conflicts; not to honors, but to contempts; not to idleness, but to labors; not to rest, but to persevere and bring forth much fruit.† •
