Trials and Sanctification
By E. L. Bascom
Bro. Smith: Gladly would I express my gratitude for the Review. I feel that it is one of the many great blessings which my heavenly Father has bestowed upon me. How many times have I found something within its pages which was just what I very much needed. Never did I realize it more than while reading a piece on "Self," in No. 25 of Vol. xiv. I had felt for some time that I was indeed wretched and nearly destitute of the grace of God. I felt to truly hunger and thirst after a clean heart. When I read that piece, I saw how I had been resisting the work of the Lord in my own heart. The trials which I thought so very afflicting, I now feel are just what I need. How good the Lord is! how long-suffering to unworthy me! When I first saw the light of present truth I thought it would be an easy matter to go through to Mt. Zion. How little did I know of my own carnal heart! and how could I have seen that without trials? When I look back and see how impatiently I have borne trials, I wonder that the Lord has borne so long with me. I feel like giving up all my own will, and saying, welcome trials and afflictions, if I can only be accepted of the Lord and numbered with his children. Caledonia, Mich., Nov. 1859.