“The way to stronger faith usually lies along the rough pathway of sorrow,” he said. “… I am afraid that all the grace that I have got out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable.… Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library.” We cannot hope to understand Spurgeon’s sufferings unless we glimpse the experiential