Article May 16, 1901 Issue

The Chastening Hand of Love

BY MERCY NUTTER DAVIS.

"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." So we read in the epistle to the Hebrews. If this be true, why do we complain when we meet with conditions which demand of us increased watchfulness and more thorough and conscientious work? It can be only our own errors that punish us, and this through our indifference to the Truth, so plainly given us. It is true that some unkind thought may touch us and so bring discord but this also is made our own before it can afflict us.

We can prove that we understand the Truth in no other way than through overcoming. Discord only proves that we are approaching a position that demands the forsaking of some error which we have, perhaps unwittingly, held. It reminds us that the perfect for which we long is still distant, and causes us to struggle for the clearer vision that will enable us to reach a more spiritual vantage-ground. This cannot be the result of evil; therefore we rejoice as we recall the words, now become so dear, "Whom the Lord loveth."

Only in proportion to our loss of the material sense of things can we rise to apprehend, or lay hold of, that which is spiritual and lasting. Then is it not the ever dear hand of Love which leads and directs the straying thought, until it rests upon a sure foundation?

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