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The Discipline of Suffering
The Discipline of Suffering
Most religions offer pleasure to their adherents. Sometimes voluptuous delights win sordid men to their suj)port. Christianity alone
wins men at the cost of suffering. It sets before the ungodly and pleasure -loving world sacrifice, self-denial, hardship, as the recompense
of embracing it. It speaks out to a race bent on
personal gratification and assures them that by
self immolation they are to be strengthened
and perfected. It holds forth the Cross as the
symbol of its system and its faith. Its gospel is
a proclamation of self denial and cross bearing.
No wonder that the progress of Christianity
is slow! No wonder that men turn their faces
away from its founder, close their ears to its
preachers and prefer a softer system and an easier faith! No wonder that in a world like this
idolatries abound, infidelities flourish, easy religions gain credence and adhesion! No wonder that Paganism numbers two^thirds of the
human family and that the narrow way has only here and there a traveler! The ruling passion of this world demands indulgence, demands
personal and i)()pular pleasure, demands tribute
from all sources of gratification, from the appetites and lusts of the body, from the imagina-
When, therefore, a religion apj^ears which antagonizes all this, which sets aside the selfish
claim and offers self-abnegation, sacrifice, suffering, as the meed of its accei)tance, it meets
with neglect and scorn and opposition. It is
like goods for which there is no market. It is
like food for which there is no ax^petite. It is
like art for which there is no taste or culture.
It is despised and rejected.
So it was with its founder. He was in this
world as a Sufferer. Though He was a son yet
He learned obedience by the things which
He suffered. Though He was the Son of God,
crowiied King of the universe, holding in His
royal name all dignities and all glories and all
blessedness; yet that He might be the Saviour
of a world in revolt He consented to an experience of suffering unrivaled and unknown in all
other history of endurance. He went from His
divine throne to a place of extreme lowliness.
He wore on His sacred ijerson the wounds and
from work and newly^made converts from heathenism. It is not an easy service, even to keep
up the true standard of Christian living in conditions that are outwardly favorable; to be thoroughly and everywhere consistent, to put religious practice before bodily ease and indulgence,
before social ijleasure and worldly relaxation,
when duty calls to holy worshix3 and i)ious efforts; to maintain through outward changes and
through inward variations of feeling, the real
Christian conduct and character, so that men
will recognize the reliable, unchanging, ever
consistent Christian. If it costs something to
keep up this standard, if it costs determination,
a crucifixion of the flesh, less personal indulgence, resistance of tenii)tati(m, the cost is inconsiderable when it is borne for Christ's sake.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
There is the subjective experience of suffering
which comes in the form of sickness and bodily
and mental pain, and which has its part in the
develoi^ment of character and in the preparation
of the soul for its future state. We cannot explain this. For often it seems that those who
need it least are those who receive the heaviest
infliction. They seem to us to be blessed in
their lives, to be meet for the inheritance of the
saints in light. Yet they are called to pass
through trials of the severest kind, while others
who apparently need strict discipline pass
through the world unscathed. We cannot explain it. The reasons are hidden in the divine
wisdom which is not yet revealed to us. We
knovv' some things: we do not know all things.
The differences of human d/sc/j^/me propound a
good things? What is the meaning of continual joy, of uninterrupted peace, of a life glad and
always sunny and full of ceaseless song? What
of those whose only guests bring cheer and music
to their homes? Are all the others vicarious
sufferers for these? Such are the questions that
are hard to answer, whose answers indeed are in
a book that no human hand can unclasp.
Sometimes we can see, for ourselves the purifying process of suffering. It lifts up the soul,
though it casts down the body. It brings a
heavenly atmosi^here. It etherializes the mind.
It transfigures the whole person. It anticipates
the holy calm and joy and love of the heaven
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