him? And even ~o, if an ee.rthly father disciplines his children, me.king them do nnd bear many ha.rd things the.t they ma.y grow into a. useful ma.nhood, how much more will the heavenly Fe.ther make his children to suffer he.rdness that they may be fit to run in the way of his commandments hereafter? r. How A BRIGHT smE MAY BE FOUND TO sUFFEBmG, They were evidently a mdly tried community to whom this letter was written. What shall be done to comfort and encoure.~e them? In the fourth verse there is a very common and not altogether useless ground of comfort suggested. Things are bad, no doubt, but they ,night be worse. "You have to suffer a good deal in resisting sin, but not yet have you resisted to blood." This view of suffering, however, useful as it is for the moment, soon leada on to the question, "Why should others suffer, or seem to suffer, more than I?" And so the writer quickly turns to bid his friends remember that they are the children of God, and if they only recollect their character and destiny, and live under the ever- deepening influence of this recollection, then they will see that nothing can do them abiding harm. All the comfort of the exhortation passes away, unless it mingles with the assurance of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are indeed the children of God. Suffering must cast an ever-thickening gloom upon the heart unless the hopes of a child of God come in to shed abroad an amply countervailing light. II. TrrE RESPONSIBILITY THAT SUFFERING LAYS UPON us. It is a serious thing for one who reckons himself a Christian to pass through suffering and difficulty. Ha is expected to be the better for it alL If he uses it aright, according to the wisdom communicated from abovP., then assuredly he will emerge from it with a purified heart and a clearer spiritual vision. The first rule is that suffering is to be escaped if possible. But if it cannot be escaped, it must not merely be endured. It must be reseived as an agent of God's will in making us better and more capable children. Hence the plain truth that we shall be held responsible for all we have had in the way of pain. IIL THE UBE GoD CAN MAKE OF BUMAN WICKEDNESS. Those here sought to be comforted were evidently suffering persecution. This is distinctly suggested in the expression "striving against sin." And thus it is made mauifest how the discipline comes in. Much suffering could have been escaped by yielding to the temptation of compromise, or of total retreat from the Christian's position. Little do the enemies of Christ imagine the service they render his true people by the demonstrations of hostility. We are forced to a firmer grasp of truth and to a more penetrating and exact estimate of our spiritual possessions.-Y. Ver. 11.-The fruit of discipline. L A LESSON FROM BOYISH EXPERIENCE. The discipline of earthly parents, while we are passing through it, is all pain and no pleasure. Even when exercised with wisdom and consideration, the discipline must be pllinful; and in many instances there is a needless harshness which increases the pain. Parents are apt to take the course of discipline which gives them the least trouble. But even hari:;h and stern discipline is better than indulgence, infinitely better than letting the child have its own way. What bitter pain men have had to suffer, because as chudren they suffered little or none! The boy at school finds it very hard to bo kept at the desk and the book, when the sun shines bright through the window, and ha hears the merry cry of other lads at play; and hard it must seem while he is goinii; through it. But it will soon slip past and manhood come, and then how glad he will be for knowledge gained and for facility in the use of the knowledge I How he will then rejoice over the encircling rigour of the parental will! II. 'l'HE FALLACY OF PRESENT ESTIMATES, We are bad judges of the experiences through which we are passing. A schoolboy's estimate of life is amusing to listen to, but. when we come to reflect over it, the reflection makes us sad. For we know well how different things are from what he thinks them to be. And what changes there must be in his view of life before it can be, even approximately, a true one I 'l'herefore, when- ever we listen to the confident and artless prattling of boyish ignorance, let there be in it a warning for us, a fresh admonition to walk by faith and not by sight. What we know not now and cannot know, we shall know hereafter. Vie must not kick against circumstances, for they are doubtless the very safety of our life if we only knew it. It is the greatest folly to say that a thing must be bad for us because it is painful and straight opposite to the strongest inclinations of the moment. on. xn. 1-29.) 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 389
. II!, THE DISOIPLIN~ OF Goo NEED_ NOT BE GRIEVOUS. As a general rule discipline JS grievous, always grievous to the child. And even to one who is Aure of his position of sonship towards God, discipline comes ae a hard thing. But what makes it hard is that the flesh ns yet counts for more than the spirit. Only let the spirit have free course and be glorified, and then joy will spring up in the very midst of the discipline. The man who wrote this letter, whoever he was, had not yet himself got ont of the era of discipline; hut the grievousness of discipline must have been abundantly sweetened by all the divinely born hopes and assurances that would throng into his heart. All th~ consid~ra_tio_ns here pressed _upon the suffering be)iever are m~ant to bring joy in the midst of d1sc1plme. Joy especially there should be m the certarnty of fruit. Youthful discipline, however careful and however successful in appearance for the time, yet may show little of result in after life. Something that no discipline can avert spoils the manhood. But we have the joy of feeling sure that God's discipline of us cannot fail, if we work together with him in submissive docility and patience.-Y.