“Do they never change? What were you telling that boy just now about the blind man that was healed for the asking? But you could not tell Claude that the same power could make him strong and well again, though I am sure you wish it were so.”
“But I am quite sure He could; and He would, if it were best.”
“But why is it not best for him as well as it was for the blind man? He wishes it, and all who love him wish it. And our poor little Claude is not the only one. Think how much suffering there is in the world that might be relieved.”
Christie looked puzzled and anxious for a moment.
“But it is not that He has changed, or that He breaks His promise. I cannot say just what I would, but I don’t think it is quite the same. You know when Christ came into the world it was not merely to do that kind of good to men; it was to save them. And it was necessary that He should prove to them that He was the Son of God, by doing what none but God could do. So He opened blind eyes, and healed their diseases, and raised the dead. And besides, they were to know another way: ‘Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!’ They might have known He was the Messiah by that too.” She stopped suddenly, and then added: “It is different now.”
“And so, having done enough to prove all that, He forgets the troubles people in the world have now. Does He?”
“It is not that He forgets, or breaks His promise,” said Christie, hesitatingly, yet earnestly. “He has not promised that His people should never have trouble in the world; quite the contrary. But He promises always to be with them, to support and comfort them through all. And that is as good as though they were to have none—and, indeed, far better.”
She spoke very earnestly. Her face was flushed, and the tears filled her eyes, but she spoke very modestly and humbly too.
“Well, it does not seem that you are troubled with doubts, anyway,” said Mr Sherwood, rising, and placing Claude on the seat she had prepared for him.
“No; I do not doubt. It must be a great unhappiness to think at all about these things and not be sure and quite at rest about them.”