taken us down into the depths of Scripture, and shown us its hidden wonders. Luther used to say, " Were it not for tribulation I should not understand Scripture." And every sorrowing saint responds to this, as having felt its truth, — felt it as did David, when he said, " Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, and teachest him out of thy law."* " It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; that I might learn thy statutes."! What teaching, what training of the mind goes on upon a sick bed, or under the pressure of grief! And, oh, what great and wondrous things will even some little trial whisper in the ear of a soul that is " learning of the Father !"
In some cases t,his profit is almost unfelt, at least during the continuance of the process. We think that we are learning nothing. Sor- row overwhelms us. Disaster stuns us. We become confused, nervous, agitated, or perhaps insensible. We seem to derive no profit. Yet ere long we begin to feel the blessed results. Maturity of judgment, patience in listening to the voice of God, a keener appetite for his word, a quicker discernment of its meaning — these are soon realized as the gracious results
* Ps. iciv. 12. t Ps. cxix. 71.
THE FAMILY DISCIPLINE. 53
of chastisement. The mind has undergone a most thorough discipline, and has, moreover, made wondreus progress in the knowledge of divine truth through the teaching of the Holy Ghost.
2. It is the training of the will. The will is the -»eat of rebelliousness. Here the warfare is carried on. " The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." At conversion the will is bent in the right direc- tion, but it is still crooked and rigid. Rebel- liousness is still there. Prosperous days may sometimes conceal it, so that we are almost unconscious of its strength. But it still exists. Furnace-heat is needed for softening and strengthening it. No milder remedy will do. "It requires (says a suffering saint) all the energy of God to bend my will to his." Yet it must be done. The will is the soul's cita- del. Hence it is the will that God seems so specially to aim at in chastisement. Fire after fire does he kindle in order to soften it ; and blowr after blow does he fetch down on it to straighten it. Nor does he rest till he has made it thoroughly flexible, and hammered out of it the many relics of self which- it con- tains. He wilt not stay his hand till he has
56 THE FAMILY DISCIPLINE.
thoroughly marred our self-formed plans, and shown us the folly of our self-chosen ways.
This is specially the case in long-continued trials ; either when these come stroke after stroke in sad succession, or when one fearful stroke, at the outset, has left behind it conse- quences which years perhaps will not fully unfold. The bending and straightening of the will is often a long process, during which the soul has to pass through Avaters deep and many, through fires hot and ever kindling up anew. Protracted trials seem specially aimed at the will. Its perversity and stiffness can only be wrought out of it by a long succession of trials. It is only by degrees that it becomes truly pliable, and is brought into harmony with the will of God. We can at a stroke lop off the unseemly branch ; but to give a proper bent to the tree itself, we require time and assi- duous appliances for months or years. Yet the will must give way. However proud, however froward, it must bend. God will not leave it till he has made it one with his own.*
3. It is the training of the heart. Man's heart beats false to God. It is true to many
* " Character is a perfectly educated will," — says a German writer.
THE FAMILY DISCIPLINE. 57
things but false to him. When first the Holy Spirit touches it, and shows it " the exceeding riches of the grace of God," then it becomes in some measure true. Yet it is only in part. Much false-heartedness still remains. It clings too fondly to the creature. It cleaves to the dust. It is not wholly God's. But this cannot be. God must have the heart ; nay, and he must have it beating truly towards him. He is jealous of our love, and grieves, over its fee- bleness or its falling away. It is love that he wants, and with nothing but true-hearted love will he be satisfied. For this it is that he chastises. These false throbbings of the heart ; these goings out after other objects than him- self, he cannot suffer, but must correct, or else forego his claim. Hence he smites and spares not till he has made us sensible of our guilt in this respect. He strips off the leaves whose beauty attracted us ; he cuts down the flowers whose fragrance fascinated us ; he tears off one string after another from the lyre whose music charmed us. Then when he has shewed us each object of earth in its nakedness or de- formity, then he presents himself to us in the brightness of his own surpassing glory. And thus he wins the heart. Thus he makes it
58 THE FAMILY DISCIPL3 VTE.