Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 18:6

"In my distress." If you listen even to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Spirit hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see, in needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground; judge, therefore, of the pleasures of the heart by the pleasures of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours —most fragrant when they are crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. —Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, etc., 1561-1626.