Record of Christian Work Volume 17 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: ... been comforted. The happiest home is not one which has never known grief, but one whose songs of gladness have in them a minor strain. There is a story of a German baron who made a great /Eolian harp by stretching wires from tower to tower of his castle. When the harp was ready he listened for the music. But it was in the calm of summer, and in the still air the wires hung silent. Autumn came with its gentle breezes, and there were faint whispers of song. At length the winter winds swept over the castle, and now the harp answered in majestic music. Such a harp is the human heart. It does not yield its noblest music in the summer days of joy, but in the winter of trial. The sweetest songs on earth have been sung in sorrow. The richest things in character have been reached through pain. Even of Jesus we read that he was made perfect through suffering This does not mean that there were evils in His nature which had to be expelled by the heat of trial, that there was dross in the gold of His being which only the fire could remove The meaning is that there were elements, even in His sinless humanity, which could be brought to full ripeness only through pain. There is given us in the Apocalypse a glimpse of the heavenly life, in which this same truth is revealed. It was in a visionof the redeemed, singing their praises to God. Among them were some who appeared to have special glory--a great multitude which no man could number, gathered out of all nations, standing in the place of honor before the throne, wearing white robes and carrying palms in their hands When the question was asked, "Who are these highly favored ones and whence came they?" the answer was, "These are they which came out of great tribulation." This great multitude came from ...