God by discipline takes our hearts by degrees from this present world and makes us look homeward. He lessons the esteem of the world that we might discover the excellencies of heavenly comforts and draws out the desire of the soul to fully desire God’s presence. Affliction shows the glories of heaven: to the weary it is rest; to the banished it is home; to the scorned it is glory; to the captive it is liberty; to the struggling soul it is conquest; to the conqueror it is a crown of life; to the hungry it is hidden manna; to the thirsty it is the fountain and waters of life, and rivers of pleasure; to the grieved soul it is fullness of joy; to the mourner it is pleasures forevermore; to the afflicted soul heaven cannot fail to be precious.
—Thomas Case, When Christians Suffers, 57
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