“Grace and Glory, have you ever thought of what joy it is to me to be a Savior? To be able to take something which has been marred and spoiled and ruined by evil and to produce out of it something lovely and good and enduring—something which can never again be spoiled? No cost can possibly be too great in order to accomplish such a triumph as that. Whatever the price, love will pay it exultantly and with ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory.’”

As he spoke he looked across at the charred black summit of the mountain opposite as it just appeared above the clouds of swirling mist and his whole face was alight with a glory of love and joy impossible to describe. Presently he began to sing another of the mountain songs, and in the words and the melody there was such a blending of sorrow and of joy that Grace and Glory sat as though lost in wondering awe.

The cry of all distorted things:

“Why hast thou made us thus?

To bear the anguish which life brings;

Why didst thou not love us?”

So marred that God himself must weep—

Fit only for the rubbish heap.

The cry of every breaking heart:

“Why were we born for this?

Evil alone is made our part

And nothing of earth’s bliss.

Why didst thou give us human birth

If we may know no love on earth?”

The cry of each despairing mind

Ascends before love’s throne:

“Behold us, God! or art thou blind?

Can we be blamed alone?

If thou be there, then answer us,

Why make us? or why make us thus?”

And love’s voice answers from a cross:

“I bear it all with you;

I share with you in all your loss,

I will make all things new.

None suffer in their sin alone,

I made—I bear—and I atone.”

There was a long silence when the song ended and then the King said: “You know, Grace and Glory, ‘It is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord,’ and to learn also to overcome evil with good. There is absolutely no experience, however terrible, or heartbreaking, or unjust, or cruel, or evil, which you can meet in the course of your earthly life, that can harm you if you will but let me teach you how to accept it with joy; and to react to it triumphantly as I did myself, with love and forgiveness and with willingness to bear the results of wrong done by others. Every trial, every test, every difficulty and seemingly wrong experience through which you may have to pass, is only another opportunity granted to you of conquering an evil thing and bringing out of it something to the lasting praise and glory of God.

“You sons and daughters of Adam, in all your suffering and sorrow, are the most privileged of all beings, for you are to be perfected through suffering and to become the sons and daughters of God with his power to overcome evil with good. If only you realized your destiny, how you would rejoice at every experience of trial and tribulation, and even in the persecution which comes your way. You would ‘count it all joy.’ You would take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ’s sake ‘for when you are weak, then you learn how to be made strong.’