DISCIPLINE.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 247, 18 January 1916, Page 11

DISCIPLINE.

i What Wordsworth wrote of Dmy could equally well be sa d of Discipline : “Stern daughter of the* V oice of God! 0 Duty! If that name thou love Who art a light, a guide, a rod, j To check the erring and reprove; Tiiou who art victory and law, ] When empty terrors overawe ; From vain temptations dost set free, * And calm’st the weary strife of frail humanity.” In writing of what is closely associated with discipline, and which more or less accompanies it, Cow per wrote: •fPain in man bears the high mission ol the flail and sword,” finely expressed by another as, “God is deeply concraned th.tt every soul shall have its full chance. He is not in a hurry about the transformation of souls.” Can we wonder if the heir of heaven has not a good time of it in this life.' WThe children of (iod by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:-’0). True, but tins gives us no status in a Christrejecting world. Then there is the discipline that comes to us from our S ns, faults, foibles. David it was who said, “Before 1 was afflicted 1 went astray, but now have I kept Ihy Word.” And of Him, the God-Man, le read, “Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” I True, it is “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous”; but, child of (iod, does not what follows make it worth the Cost: “Nevertheless, afterward it fieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.” But we bring, too, much discipline upon ourselves it any part Ot our entirety is not God-controlled. *‘lf we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we ire judged, we are (hastened of the lord, that we should not be <onfemned with the world.”

\\ hat a commentary upon cur profession of Christianity those hotheaded words and pret ipitate a< tions that for us set back the (fix k of time and destroy much good! What a commentary on 0111 boasted < ivilisation and humanitarianism that at this stage of its advancement it has found no other way of settling its disputes than by an appeal to the sword! Commenting on the disintegrating forces at work before the outbreak of the war, the Rev. Henry Howard remarked: “Beneath our skin-deep civilisation are moving forces far more terrible than those of war,~ forces of intemperance, uncleanness, mutual distrust, commercial dishonesty, political (hicancery,—forces elemental, barbaric, which, should they break through, will prove volcanic in their power to lay waste and destroy. The hour of war is the hour and power of blind instinct and brute force.” Only with the coming of II m whose rule shall extend to the uttermost parts of the earth, when “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11 :q) will wars cease. But what we may not hope from nations may be realised in us as individuals if God-possessed. So shall we be saved from all that makes for ‘carnal’ warfare in our small circles” (1 Coi 3:3)It is well for us if we have been well disciplined in early life. The pains and penalties of discipline are then minimised for us in later life. Some of us can thank (iod that our youth was passed under Godly control in well-ordered home and school. Bu granted that we have no such background to our lives, and so are bu tling with duties, temptations, difficulties, for w hi h we lack equipment, what then? Our now surrender to (iod through Jesus Christ our Lord will take out of the life the friction, rebellion, disobedience, that make discipline irksome. We can then say

with the Psalmist, “Thy commandments are not grievous.” “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” Bui we cannot get away from the fact that ali life needs control, so that Christ, not self, shall be its goal. Let us earnestly set ourst Ives to seek the “good” that not only belongs to the bear ng of the yoke in youth, but to the bearing of that yoke that alike befits all. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Our attitude towards youth may have in it entreaty, a tender yearning that all its untold possibilities for God and man should be unhampered. We would not sacrifice the man to an undisciplined youth, and spoil the child by sparing the rod. But we may forget our own youth, or made hard by its lac ks, perpetuate its evils and spoil the <hl Id by our undue application of the rod. True, the Apostle said, “Ye younger, submil yourselves unto the elder.” But our fitness to discipline other lives is the measure of our own self-discipline. And so the Apostle adds, “Yea, all < * you be subje t one to another, and b 1 clothed with humility, for (led 1 . isteih th" proud, and g v ah grace Ij the humble.” The discipline of life that is ours in life’s manifold relations has nothing in it of friction as we abide under the yoke,—the yoke of Christ, and in His harness find our “rest.” We cannot then make capital of our position, or fail to render to others their due. Our relations Godward and man ward adjusted, discipline is not bondage, for as one has said, “True freedom is not to do as you like, but to like to do as you ought.” GERTRUDE COCKERELL.