CHAPTER XXI. DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN SORROW AND AFFLICTION. "For till the bruising flail of God's corrections AND so it is that we are all, more or less, subjected to the terrible ordeal of suffering. But after so much which has been said of it already, in the chapters on the regenerate life, we shall not need a long matter here. There are a few things, however, which still remain to be said, and there is one thing which it is well to bear prominently in mind concerning this whole subject. It is that suffering is not the orderly way of perfecting any man. And nine-tenths of the wonder and mystery connected with our great afflictions would disappear at once, could we only make the distinction between what is from order, and what is from disorder. Every thing that God does is indeed of order on his part, but He himself is compelled to the "order of disorder" by the sins and follies of men. The great object to be attained by our whole discipline on earth, is the highest state of the soul's regeneration. And if sin had never entered the world, divine Truth, with an unsuffering earthly experience, would have been the sufficient and orderly means to that end of good. But now, the sins and iniquities of men have made necessary an immense amount of human suffering. "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." (Isa. 48: 10.) That is, in the language of correspondence, not with truth. alone, but with suffering. How much of it is necessary! Trials and afflictions which eat into the very soul and life, and destroy for the time being all peace of mind and body; which lay whole families prostrate under the awful blows of the divine displeasure; and which roll their surging billows, ages long, over desolate nations, and deluge the whole world with calamity; alas, there would be none of it, were man but a pure and sinless being! It would be no more needed on earth than it is in heaven. Nor is it by any means an arbitrary infliction as it is. It breaks forth by correspondence from disorderly human states. Not indeed that those who suffer most, sin most; this is far from being the case; but still, if there were not some disorderly conditions existing, either hereditarily or actually, all such suffering could and would be spared. It should be particularly observed that the law which here operates is not always of sin and punishment; many times it is so; and a great proportion, both of our physical and mental suffering, can be traced directly to laws violated on the part of the sufferers. But when it is not so, the causes must be looked for somewhere in the ancestry. We belong to a fallen world,— one of the most fallen, and most corrupt, if not the most, there is reason to believe, of all the universe. We are the ruins of many generations. Sin undoubtedly was the first cause of all the suffering in the world. The early, unfallen inhabitants of the earth were not sick, nor weighed down with a load of mental sorrow. We may, of course, reasonably suppose them to have had their little trials, their cares and anxieties growing out of their human and dependent conditions, the rearing of their children, and attention to all their worldly and heavenly concerns; but it is impossible that the iron of consuming grief, or the sting of misery, could have entered into their experience, before sin had entered with its wretched train of disorders. Upon this point we may acquiesce entirely with the great poet who is so well sustained by the Scriptures, in recognizing The fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe." So far as we have any spiritual revelations on the subject which are worthy, they accord with this view of it. There was no sickness in those times, neither in child-bearing nor death. But now, it is impossible to tell the amount of those hereditary conditions which cause both sorrow and pain to man, when he himself is not personally accountable. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Let it be understood, then, that while sin is the first cause of all suffering and affliction, (or nearly all-all that has any sting to it,) yet to many who have not sinned most grievously, -nay, to many of the very best and purest of humanity, the dispensations of sorrow come most heavily, and in various ways and kinds. It is of disorder, but not altogether of their own actual disorder. They are involved in a corrupt past. And their purification is to be effected by suffering, not altogether because they have sinned, but because their ancestors have sinned, and they are brought now into such an organic condition that nothing but a disorderly process will cure them.* They need this suffering to expel hereditary evils, or to prevent them from adopting them as their own, in the same way that others (and themselves partially) need it for their own actual evils. If it were not for this afflictive and painful dis * If any should be disposed to fault the justice of this hereditary law, they are referred to the chapter on the "Nature and Origin of Evil," pp. 38, 39. cipline, these evils might break out in them more fiercely than in many actual transgressors. Who can tell, but the Lord who sees into all hearts, and knows the secrets of all constitutions, how much pride, how much lust, how much vanity and poor ambition, grosser and more evil than any could imagine, would spring up in many an humble heart which is now a subject of divine grace, and which is only prevented by these kindly chastisements? The seeds are all there, but in their case, it is seen to be better not to allow of their vigorous growth. They can be expelled without it. Therefore they are crushed within them before they are ultimated to that extent which some more hardened and daring natures require. In these latter, the weed must grow before it can be rooted out. It is also to be noted, that misfortunes and sufferings frequently happen to the faithful, in order that they may not attribute good and prosperity to themselves. If they were not of such a nature as to do this, and thereby become involved in sin and folly, they would not so frequently become the subjects of misfortune, which is only intended to rebuke their self-confidence, and lead them to look more fully to the Divine. There are, therefore, latent causes that operate, far more than appears. So of many other cases. Our kind and loving Lord knows how to discriminate, and it is all, therefore, of the Divine Mercy, whether we have sinned equally or not. The disorder is in us, and it is to be eradicated by these severe means. It is thus that the evil proprium is weakened, and such an experience does for us what truth alone could not do. "I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." How many such there are, - children of sorrow, misfortune, and misery! They know not why it is, nor whence it is, that they are called to suffer, but the Lord hath seen in them from the beginning, a heavenly principle that could not otherwise be awakened. Indeed, without suffering, by which we are weaned from the world, divine truth would have frequently no attraction for us. The Lord should be set forth in all his loveliness, the unrenewed heart would have no affection for Him. Heaven should be set forth ever so brightly, the world would be brighter still, and nearer still. We cling pertinaciously to its outward shows. Its riches deceive, its glories cheat. But there is within, deeply imbedded under all this crust of worldliness, a principle of life which can be made available for the eternal heavens. The Lord seeks it as a jewel of his own. How shall He bring it forth? Only by suffering. It is the lot, more or less, of every human being, but of many in the highways and hedges of life, it is frequently a hard, compulsory lot, and they are made to feel in their very souls that there is no other path through which they can enter the kingdom of heaven. "The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown." An eminent instance of this kind of discipline may be given. in the case of that peculiar class of men known as authors and artists, and literary men in general. And to borrow the words of another "God's providence is in a most peculiar manner indicated in the life of authors and artists; for it is probable that there is no class of men whose desires are less satisfied, or who oftener languish in poverty. An eminent writer informs us, that 'next to the Newgate Calendar, the Biography of authors is the most sickening in the history of man.' This arises from the fact that they possess, above others, qualities which if allowed to predominate would cause their ultimate ruin. Thus a learned man has, as a general thing, though he may be ignorant of it, more vanity, more pride and arrogance than others. Now permit such a one to become wealthy, and, to use a common saying, there would be no living with him; for his superior attainments would cause him to look down with contempt upon those who were his inferiors, and which, joined with a superciliousness of manner, would render him unendurable except by those who were willing to become his parasites. Such a man |