And with the Scotch poet I would say that those events, usually regarded as misfortunes,
Give the wit of age to youth;
They let us ken oursel';
They make us see the naked truth,
The real guid and ill.Thou losses and crosses
Be lessons right severe,
There's wit there, ye'll get there,
Ye'll find nae other where.
What the mountain gorge, the beatling crags, and steep declivities are to the stream—enabling it to dash on in its course and by its very motion purify itself—so are what we usually denominate adverse circumstances to the life of man—they are the means of development and of purification only —the pathway of fiery trials is the one ordained of God for his favored sons.
In proof of this I direct you to the lives of the saints and the prophets; but above all to the life of the Son of God himself! The life of the Prophet Joseph Smith is an illustration second only to that of Messiah. He was wont to say:
"I have waded in tribulation lip-deep; but every wave of adversity which has struck me, has only wafted me that much nearer to Deity."
"Envy and the wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. * * * It all has become as second nature to me, and I feel like Paul, to glory in tribulation, for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all."
The Lord, while the prophet was a prisoner in Liberty Jail, said to him:
"If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea; if thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and thy mother, and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife and of thine offspring * * * And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and sentence of death be passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, _and shall be for thy good_. The Son of Man hath descended below them all; art thou greater than he? Therefore hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee, for their [the wicked] bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you for ever and ever."[L]
[Footnote L: Doc. and Cov., Sec cxxii.]
If all this affliction was for the "good" of one of the most favored of God's sons, is it not a fair conclusion that the trials and adversities of the other sons of God are for their "good?"