"Viewed from the outside, my life as a sinner was easy and
untroubled, over which most of my friends expressed envy; while
these same friends thought my life as a Christian full of care,
toil, hardship, and immense loss. This, however, was only an
outside view, and the real state of the case was exactly the
opposite of what they supposed. For in all the pleasure-seeking,
idleness, and freedom from responsibility of my life apart from
God, I carried an immeasurable burden of fear, anxiety, and
constantly recurring disappointment; trifles weighed upon me, and
the thought of death haunted me with vague terrors.
"But when I gave myself wholly to God, though my lot became at
once one of toil, responsibility, comparative poverty and
sacrifice, yet I could not feel pain in any storm that broke over
my head, because of the presence of God. It was not so much that
I was insensible to trouble, as sensible of His presence and
love; and the worst trials were as nothing in my sight, nor have
been for over twenty-two years. While as for death, it appears
only as a doorway into more abundant life, and I can alter an old
German hymn, and sing with joy:
"'Oh, how my heart with rapture dances.
To think my dying hour advances!
Then, Lord, with Thee!
My Lord, with Thee!'"
This is faith's triumph over the worst the world can offer
through the blessed fullness of the indwelling Comforter. Bless
His Name!
"Here speaks the Comforter, Light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, Advocate sure,
Joy of the desolate, tenderly saying,
'Earth has no sorrow My grace cannot cure.'"
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"