This also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be
graciously gentle, yet it may seem severe.
For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
As the poets in different languages have expressed it:--
Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
With exactness grinds He all.
Though the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling down of sin's
strongholds, it may stir the human heart to resist Truth, before this heart
becomes obediently receptive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian
Scientist recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which permeate
justice and Love, he will not scorn the timely reproof, but will so absorb
it that this warning will be within him a spring, welling up into unceasing
spiritual rise and progress. Patience and obedience win the golden
scholarship of experimental tuition.
The kindly shepherd of the East carries his lambs in his arms to the
sheepcot, but the older sheep pass into the fold under his compelling rod.
He who sees the door and turns away from it, is guilty, while innocence
strayeth yearningly.
There are no greater miracles known to earth than perfection and an
unbroken friendship. We love our friends, but ofttimes we lose them in
proportion to our affection.
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