AFFLICTIONS THE FRUIT OF GOd's LOVE.
Heb. xii. 4 — 13. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation tvhich speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chas- tejiing, God dealeth tvith you as with sons ; for ivhat son is he whom the father chasteneth Jiot ? But if ye.be vrithout chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh tvhich corrected us, and we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather be in szibjection unto the Father of sjHrits, and live ? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that ive might be partakers of Ibis holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands tvhich
2330.] AFFLICTIONS THE FRUIT OF GOd's LOVE. 459
hang down, arid the feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that ivhich is lame he turned out of the way ; hut let it rather be healed.
PERSECUTION for righteousness' sake is what every child of God must expect : and when faith is in hvely exercise, it will be sustained without mur- muring. This is amply shewn in the preceding chapter ^ But when faith languishes, the trials which believers are called to endure will appear almost insupportable. Such was the state of many of the Hebrews to whom the Apostle wrote : they were in danger of becoming weary and faint in their minds through the greatness and long continuance of their sufferings. On this account, St. Paul, having shewn them the power of a living faith to support them, brings before them a variety of considerations,
I. For their consolation and support —
The patience of Christ under his sufferings is be- yond all comparison the strongest incentive to resig- nation under ours ; since ours fall so infinitely short of his. This the Apostle first propounds for their consideration ; and then goes on, in the words which we have just read, to offer other suggestions, which also are of great weight for the reconciling of the mind to trials, of whatever kind they be. From them we also, when bowed down with affliction, may learn to support them manfully : for,
1. They are far less than we have pledged our- selves willingly to endure —
[The very terms on which we come to Christ are, that we shall be ready to die for him at any time, and in any way, that he shall see ht. We are plainly warned by our Lord himself, that, if we will not lay down our life for him, we cannot be his disciples. " If we love our lives, we shall lose them : but, if we lose them for his sake, then shall we find them to life eternal." But, what is the loss of temporal good when com- pared with that of life? Be it granted that, like the Hebrews, we have suffered much'^: yet our persecutors have stopped far short of what they might have inflicted ; and may, for ought
a Heb. xi. 35— 3S. ^ Ileb. x. 32—34.