This little gem was a best-seller when first published in 1882. The author was a pastor in New York who was bereaved of three children –– two in infancy and a daughter aged twenty-one. Using vivid illustrations to show God’s grace, he provides consolation and hope for the bereaved, suffering or simply weary Christian.
The chapters, which are easily digested at an average of five pages each, seek to show the higher purpose of the Lord in every difficult happening in life. There are many quotable passages, such as ‘when you reach Him in this world you have reached Heaven in the next world’ (p.74).
Cuyler sees God’s best for us in every distress. Every suffering will be compensated by the light of God’s love; every sadness can remind us that our Lord felt grief for friends and still sympathises with us today; we can learn in every anxiety to yield it to the Lord and take one day at a time; and especially, that our dark days are a ‘preparatory school for Heaven’.
God’s sovereignty and good purpose in all things are thoroughly brought home to us, but you might initially wonder about statements like ‘Our salvation depends on complete submission to Jesus’ (p.91). This comes, however, in the context of ‘a constant salvation’, speaking not only about salvation by faith, but salvation in the wider sense of fulfilling the best that God desires for us.
The majority of this book, though, is intended to bring full comfort without qualification to every struggling Christian –– and that includes pastors like himself. It really is uplifting and can be fully recommended.
