Isaiah 57:17-19

Can there be a sweeter description than these words contain, of the graciousness of God, in his dealings, with sinners? The Lord corrects; the Lord hides his face; the Lord sends affliction. Wave follows wave, until the unthinking soul becomes humbled. But when at length the hand that smites, applies instruction to the stroke; and the Lord, who sends the rod, causeth the poor creature to hear the rod, and who hath appointed it; then the cry goeth forth from the soul, Save, Lord, or I perish! But I beseech you, Reader, to remark in all this, that it is the Lord's sole work, and wholly to the Lord's own glory. The Lord creates, and new creates, both the heart and the lips. It is he that both wounds and heals. Oh! the blessedness of sovereign grace!