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(Letters of John Newton)
My Dear Sir,
Poor little boy! It is mercy indeed that he recovered from
such a formidable injury. The Lord wounded--and the Lord healed.
I ascribe, what the world calls accident--to Him. I believe
that without His permission, and for wise and good ends--a child can no more
pull a bowl of boiling water on itself, than it could pull the moon out of its
orbit!
And why does He permit such things? One or two reasons is
sufficient for us. God allows trials to remind us of the uncertainty of life
and all creature-comforts; to make us afraid of cleaving too closely to pretty
toys, which are so precarious, that often while we look at them they vanish;
and to lead us to a more entire dependence upon Himself--that we might never
judge ourselves or our concerns safe from outward appearances only; but that
the Lord is our keeper, and were not His eye upon us, a thousand dangers and
painful changes, which we can neither foresee nor prevent, are lurking about us
at every step, ready to break in upon us every hour.
" For they verily for a few days chastened us after
their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his
holiness. Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. "
Hebrews 12:10-11
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