Suffering as the Test of Love

It is a great practical principle in the religious life, that a state of suffering furnishes the test of love.  When God is pleased to bestow his favors upon us, when his blessings are repeated every hour, how can we tell whether we love him for what he is  or for what he  gives? But when, in seasons of deep and varied afflictions, our heart still clings to him as our only hope and only joy, we may well say, "Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee."

— Religious Maxims (1846) LXIX.