DISCIPLINE AND LIFE
‘Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?’
You are all familiar with the fact that very frequently in the New Testament parallels between the earthly home and the earthly father with the heavenly home and the heavenly Father are set forth as illustrations.
I. The discipline of life.—It is that parallel that the sacred writer here makes use of. But he is thinking of something different. He is thinking of life in relationship to discipline. He says that all life begins with discipline, and that in all true life there must be a continuance of discipline till the end has been obtained. The earthly father must in the nature of the case, not because he does not love, but because he does love the child, exercise the law and order of discipline. The education in the hands of the earthly father may be a mistaken one. ‘They verily chastened us,’ not as it is recorded in the Authorised Version ‘after their own pleasure,’ but rather ‘They verily chastened us as it seemed good to them’—that is, according to the best of their ability. And yet that best might not be the highest best; still we give them credit for having chastened us as seemed good to them. In contrast with that he sets the Divine Father’s training and education.
II. A parallel and a contrast.—Now when you think of this parallel, which is also a parallel connected with a contrast, I think you will be first struck by the pathetic picture which the writer conjures up of the incompleteness of the earthly father’s education. It is so true that we are all ready to recognise that human instruction, human education, human providence exercised towards any of the growing children about us is so often faulty and mistaken.
III. The purpose of discipline.—And let me say this word. What a gain it is to every human being who will realise that he is under the educating hand of the Father of spirits. Whatever wisdom parents have they cannot penetrate into that chamber of the child’s spirit. The spirit remains very largely an enclosed thing, and it is in that spirit that the education must go on. I cannot reach the inner power. We want the education of the spirit, and that is precisely what we cannot reach. We can only remind our sons that there is that spiritual bond. They will bring also greater satisfaction to you if they remember that they are not only your sons, but the sons of Almighty Righteousness, Eternal Wisdom, and of the Divine Father.
IV. The two halves of life.—It is not only in the education of the spirit that the advantage of this recognition of the discipline of the father comes; it is also in this that the halves of life are brought so beautifully together. The conflict is between the domination of the thing physical and the thing spiritual. He is in conflict with you; you are only the father of his flesh, and yet, what you want is that he should realise not simply that your domination is that of the father, and due to the reverence that he is your offspring; you want him to be animated by a nobler spirit than that. But if you make him realise that he is a child of the Divine Father, then what follows? That Divine Father is educating. Where does His education come in? All through life. Therefore, shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? Do you wish to enter into the fulness of life? Remember the scientific man with his patience and observation. No chastening of the present seems to be joyous, but there is an afterwards, and it is faith in the afterwards, it is faith that duty accepted to-day means capacity afterwards. We shall find that in the hereafter we shall understand what life is, for there is fulness of joy at God’s right hand, but that fulness of joy can only be the part of those who have entered into the fulness of God’s will here, for this they will enter into the full understanding of His ways and works, and so the afterwards will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have had the courage to be exercised by the disciplining hand of God in life.
Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter.
Illustration
‘A father’s dream for his son is not always realised. The moment comes when the father must wake up to see that what he has under his control is a being he cannot dictate to, hut who in some moment in his life will take his own choice and his own way. There is something very pathetic about the failure of earthly dreams of fatherhood and parenthood. But is there not something good in it after all? Is there not something which brings us to the principle which underlies the disappointment, to a reconciliation of the principles upon which life is built? This assertion of will and of choice on the child’s part, is it wholly bad? Do you not realise in it that you have made a profound mistake? You thought of playing providence to your child, to manipulate his character so that he would be trained for a career, and the day comes when you wake up to the fact that the lad has a mind and spirit of his own. There is a capacity for choice in this child’s mind. You have had your dreams, but the lad has had his dreams too. Is it wholly bad? Does it not teach you this—You are fathers of the flesh; the bond between you and the child is the bond which is for flesh and blood. But the child is not flesh and blood alone: he is dowered by the Almighty with His Gift of the Spirit, and his spirit must rise and must assert itself.’