“I hope and pray the Lord will sanctify all to your profit. If it depended upon me, you should have nothing to grieve you for a moment.
But I am glad our concerns are in His wise and gracious hands, who appoints us a mixture of afflictions and trials, not because He takes pleasure in giving us pain, (our many comforts afford sufficient proofs of His goodness,) but because He sees that troubles are often better for us than the continual enjoyment of our own wishes.”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 5 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 5: 577.
