THE MINISTRATION OF SUFFERING. "And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."-REV., vii., 14. In this scene, where figure is carried up to symbol, and the whole exalted to the utmost reach of imagination, we behold the glory of a throng of radiant beings whose apparel dazzles the sight, and whose triumph overflows the soul. They live in the very centre of joy. No care is upon them. No burdens of ill-borne labor weigh them down. They are tied by no bands to uncongenial duties. They are freer than the birds. Their songs are more exhilarant than summer winds. Surely these are the favorite children of heaven, born of purity into purity, without experience of evil, pressed forward in this sacred vision to show how glorious they are who have kept their first estate of heavenly holiness. As such the revelator gazed upon them; and as the songs of lofty triumph ceased for a moment, the guiding angel questioned him, "What are these that are arrayed in white robes? Whence came they?" We may imagine the rapt apostle, startled by the intimation of this question, as if he should have known them, and gazing on them fixedly and long. But not one did he recognize. No earthly care was written on the flaming brow of any. No dull wrinkles showed the channels through which griefs had flowed. Surely he had never seen them! There was no earthly man that could find out any one of these. Then spake the angel: "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The raiment signifies the whole state and character. Here it is symbolic. The blood signifies the suffering of mortal human life. And the whole declaration is, that this glorious fellowship of noble singers, the radiant brotherhood of triumphing saints, were exalted to their heavenly glory and perfectness through the natural and earthly steps of sanctified suffering. This scene is but a picture under which you might write the words of the Master: "In this world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." A great lesson to be derived from this vision is the true moral result of sanctified suffering. There is another less considered, but perhaps equally important truth-the great fellowship to which suffering brings men; the final unity of sufferers in a sphere of celestial glory. The contrast between suffering on earth and its fruits in heaven are wonderful, and ought to be kept constantly together, so that the darkness of the one shall be interpreted by the light of the other; that we shall not feel that sorrows have ended their course when aching ceases; that we shall not for a moment be left to believe that all the fruit of suffering is that which we pluck hitherward. We should know that sufferings produce their final results only after we are disembodied, and stand on the heavenly plane in the glorious fellowship of the redeemed. Then it will be made known to us that these, and all of them, came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb by the maintenance of their faith; by their endeavors to live according to God's commandments; by undergoing pain, and self-denial, and hardness as good soldiers; by accepting providential afflictions; by cleansing their dispositions and purifying their hearts; by suffering death itself. The marvelous economy of earthly suffering, rightly understood, is an economy of cleansing and of beautifying. It is a lustration, and is preliminary to a state of glorifica-1 tion. Let us, in some few points, contrast suffering on earth with its fruits in heaven. 1. Earthly suffering seems to come either as a vengeance or as a calamity upon men. It is still a surprise until we have been long wonted to it. But the heavenly side, as disclosed in the apocalyptic vision, shows that suffering ordinarily comes neither as a vengeance nor as a calamity; for, although we may understand that God sometimes employs suffering for purposes of punishment, yet such an employment of it is special. Suffering is intercalated upon the course of nature, and is part of a universal experience. Storms may be most destroying, overflowing the land, tearing up foundations, sweeping away bridges, and submerging harvests; but this result of storms is exceptional. The fall of rain and the sweep of winds are a part of the economy of mercy. It is not for destruction, but for benefit. And so sufferings may, at times, in the hands of God, be punitive, but ordinarily they are not. They are a part of God's design for the education of men in this world. They are pangs of birth into higher states. Suffering is intended to make us let go of things that are lower, and to rise a grade higher. The earthly seeming and the heavenly reality, if you could contrast them, are in wonderful opposition. Here it seems as if God were angry; but in heaven it is seen that he was dealing in mercy. Here it seems as if great disaster had overwhelmed us; but there the breaking of the cloud over us appears as the waters of a bath from which we shall emerge purer, cleaner, and more manly. 2. Suffering seems to some contrary to the course of nature; an interruption and violation of natural order; but the revelation of the effects of suffering upon the future state shows that it is in accordance with the course of nature. It would seem rational to suppose that God built the enginery of the human mind for happiness; that the way of growth |