SUFFERING-TESTIMONIES
I can say as
to myself, that I have been assailed on all sides, and have scarcely been able
to enjoy repose for a single moment, but have always had to sustain some
conflict either from enemies without or within the church.
John Calvin
Preface to the Commentary on the Psalms.
Therefore, I
bind these lies and slanderous accusations to my person as an ornament; it
belongs to my Christian profession to be vilified, slandered, reproached and
reviled, and since all this is nothing but that, as God and my conscience
testify, I rejoice in being reproached for Christ's sake.
John Bunyan
Grace Abounding, Evangelical Press, 2000, p.
143.
This depression comes over me whenever the Lord
is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; the cloud is black before it
breaks, and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has
now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing, a John the Baptist, heralding
the nearer coming of my Lord's richer benison. So have far better men found it.
The scouring of the vessel has fitted it for the Master's use. Immersion in
suffering has preceded the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Fasting gives an appetite
for the banquet. The Lord is revealed in the backside of the desert, while his
servant keepeth the sheep and waits in solitary awe.
The wilderness is the way to Canaan. The low valley leads to the towering
mountain. Defeat prepares for victory.
C.H. Spurgeon
The
Minister’s Fainting Fits, Lectures to My Students, Lecture XI, 1856.