All Things

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

If riches will thus do them good, all things shall work together to make them rich; if poverty, all things shall work together to keep them poor. If it be good for them to be healthful and strong, all things shall work together to prevent sickness; if it is better to be sick or weak, all things shall work together to impair their health. And so in everything that can be named.

Why? In that it helps to subdue some vice in them, or to regulate some passion, or to break an ill custom, or to prevent some occasion of falling into sin or mischief, or to divert some temptation, or to arm them against it, or to make them more watchful over themselves. Also to exercise some virtue in them, or to put them in mind of their duty or to keep them close to it, or to give them an opportunity of doing some good which otherwise they could not do, or else to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and so to equip them better to serve God here and to live with Him hereafter.

—Beveridge