On Thy Chastisements

“For -whom, the Lord loveth. He chasteneth.” — Hsb. xii. 6.

Chastisement! — The family badge — the family pledge- — the family privilege! — “To you it is given to svffer “Troubles,” says a good man, “are in God’s catalogue of mercies.” “Afflictions,” says another, “are God’s hired laborers to break the clods and plough the land.”

Believer! is the hand of thy God heavy upon thee? Has He been breaking thy cisterns, withering thy gourds, poisoning thy sweetest fountains of earthly bliss? Are the world’s bright spots outnumbered by the dreary? Has one tear been following another in quick succession? Thou mayest have

—J to tell, perhaps, of a varied experience of triajs. Every tender point touched — sickness, bereavement, poverty — all! Be still! If thou art a child of God, there is no exemption from “the household discipline.” The rod is a father’s; the voice that speaks may be rough, but the hand that smites is gentle. The furnace may be seven times heated, but the Refiner is seated by. His object is not to consume, but to purify. Do not misinterpret His dealings; there is mercy on the wings of “the rough wind.” Our choicest fountains are fed from dark lowering clouds. All, be assured, will yet bear the stamp of love. Sense cannot discern yet “the bright light in the clouds.” Aged Jacob exclaimed at first, “All these things are against me;” but at last he had a calmer and a juster verdict, “His spirit revived!” “At evening time it was light.” The saint on earth can say, regarding his trials, in faith and in trust, “I hnow O Lord, that thy judgments are right.” The saint in glory can go a step far-ON THY CHASTISEMENTS. 85

ther, “I see O Lord, that they are so!” His losses will then be shown to be his riches. Believer! on a calm retrospect of thy heaviest afflictions — say, were they nnneeded? Was this (what Augustine calls) ‘’ the severe mercy of God’s discipline” — was it too severe? Less would not have done. Like Jonah, thou never wouldst have awoke but for the storm! He may have led thee to a Zarephath (” a place of furnaces”), but it is to show thee there “one like unto the Son of God!” When was God ever so near to thee, or thou to thy God as in the furnace-fires? When was the presence and love and sympathy of Jesus so precious? When “the Beloved” comes down from “the Mountain of Myrrh” — the “Hill of Frankincense” — to His “Garden on Earth,” He can get no fragrance from some plants but by bruising them. The spices in the Temple of old were hruised. The gold of its candlestick was heaten gold! It was when the Marah-fountain of thy heart was bitter with sin, that He cast in some cross — some trial — and “the waters were made sweet!”

My soul, be still! Thou hast in affliction one means of glorifying God, which even angels have not in a sorrowless world: — Patience under the rod — Submission to thy Heavenly Father’s will! Pray not to have thine affliction removed, but for grace to bear up under it, so that thou mayest glorify God even “in the fires;” and, remembering that though “weeping endureth for a night, joy cometh in the morning,” close thy tearful eyes, saying, —

“I WILL BOTH LAY ME DOWN IN PEACE AND SLEEP; FOR THOU, LORD, ONLY MAKEST ME DWELL IN SAFETY 1”