One man is forsaken for a season with a view to
another’s restoration, in order that others when they see his
state may be taught a lesson Nemes.,
ch. 44., as in the
case of Lazarus and the rich man St. Luke xvi. 19.. For it
belongs to our nature to be cast down when we see persons in
distress. Another is deserted by Providence in order that another
may be glorified, and not for his own sin or that of his parents, just
as the man who was blind from his birth ministered to the glory of the
Son of Man St. John ix. 1.. Again
another is permitted to suffer in order to stir up emulation in the
breasts of others, so that others by magnifying the glory of the
sufferer may resolutely welcome suffering in the hope of future glory
and the desire for future blessings, as in the case of the
martyrs. Another is allowed to fall at times into some act of
baseness in order that another worse fault may be thus corrected, as
for instance when God allows a man who takes pride in his virtue and
righteousness to fall away into fornication in order that he may be
brought through this fall into the perception of his own weakness and
be humbled and approach and make confession to the Lord.