For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
(Hebrews 12: 6,11.)

Had the Bible presented no other than this negative view of affliction, it would still have cleared the character of God from the unworthy suspicion, that he takes a cruel or capricious delight in the infliction of suffering, and would have served so far to compose our minds under trial, by giving us the assurance, that no suffering would be inflicted without some reason which was satisfactory to infinite benevolence and wisdom. But the Bible is far from confining its consoling discoveries to this negative view of the subject: it not only denies that affliction is the result of caprice or cruelty, but affirms that, under the scheme of grace, it is the result of pure and comprehensive benevolence, and the means of positive good. ‘Comfort in Affliction’

~ James Buchanan.

The Chestnut Mare