German Children Dipped in the Rhine

“God seeth it fitting sometiines, at our first setting forth, as the old Germans were wont to dip their children in the Rhine to harden them, so to seasoji us for our whole course by ‘phmgitig 7is in trouble. Saints must bear the yoke from their youth, or first acquai7itance with God (Heb. x. yi).for this is good for themP Some of us can endorse this opinion from our own experience. Sharp trials in our early days hardened us for our life’s warfare. Abused and misrepresented both by good and bad, we learned to set small store by the judgment of men, so that when praise and flattery followed, we had an antidote for the poisons. Pain and depression of spirit, endured in early life, have prepared many to sympathize with the unhappy, and to live a life of benevolence. A baptism into fire is, for young converts, a terrible ordeal, and yet an incalculable blessing. The whole Church endured this baptism for ages, and thereby gathered a strength much needed in these last days.

Let us never despise the chastening of the Lord. Should he seem to dip us in the Styx itself, let us believe that it is for our good, and stand to Job’s resolve, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”