Great privilege. Great pain. This is God's way: to take the privilege of faith and strengthen it with real trials so that we worship and witness with a greater passion for God.
There is a certain irony to the fruit of affliction; John Bunyan's confinement taught him the pilgrim path of Christian freedom; William Cowper's mental illness yielded sweet music of the mind for troubled souls; David Brainerd's smouldering misery of isolation and disease exploded in global mission beyond all imagination.
"This is one of the best books published this year. It is readable, challenging and should enlighten any reader... It should be read by any young or new Christian for two reasons. One, it is good biography and two, if it emblazes upon any mind the link between suffering and grace, it will achieve much."
- Presbyterian Herald
"Here is an inspiring book which provides a rich antidote to the superficiality of our age."
- Derek Tidball, Baptist Times
Tested by Fire: John Bunyan, William Cowper and David Brainerd is in the following collections:
