“The day must come when all creature-comforts shall vanish.
And when we view things in the light of eternity, it seems comparatively of small moment whether it is this year or twenty years hence.
If we are interested in the covenant of grace; if Jesus is our beloved, and heaven our home; we may be cast down for a little season, but we cannot be destroyed; nay, we shall not be overpowered.
Our faithful God will surely make our strength equal to our day.
He that has delivered, and does deliver, will deliver to the end; and it will not be long before he will wipe away all tears from our eyes.
Therefore let us not fear: whatever sufferings may be yet appointed for us, they shall work together for our good; and they are but light and momentary in comparison of that exceeding and eternal weight of glory to which we are drawing nearer every hour.
Well, the day is coming when all the Lord’s people who are scattered abroad, who praise him in different ages and different languages, shall be collected together, and stand with one heart, consent, and voice before the throne.
Oh, the glorious assembly! how white are their robes, how resplendent their crowns, how melodious their harps!
Every hour the chorus is augmented by the accession of fresh voices; and ere long we hope to join them.
Then shall we remember the way by which the Lord led us through this dark wilderness; and shall see that all our afflictions, our heaviest afflictions, were tender mercies, no less than our most pleasing comforts.
What we shall then see, it is now our privilege and duty to believe.”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 6: 62-63.
