Trial Works In The Saints

“Look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man at home on the sea. He has a bronzed face and mahogany-colored flesh. He looks as tough as oak and as hardy as if made of iron. How different from us poor landsmen. He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea legs on. How did he come to this strength? By doing business in great waters. He could not have become a hardy seaman by tarrying on shore. Now, trial works in the saints that spiritual hardihood which cannot be learned in ease. You may go to school forever, but you cannot learn endurance there: you may color your cheek with paint, but you cannot give it that ingrained brown which comes of stormy seas and howling winds.” Charles Spurgeon