Hebrews 12:6: whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth

c. 96 · Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement) 56

Let us receive correction, beloved, on account of which no one should feel displeased. Those exhortations by which we admonish one another are both good [in themselves] and highly profitable, for they tend to unite us to the will of God. For thus saith the holy Word: “The Lord hath severely chastened me, yet hath not given me over to death.” “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”

c. 249 · Cyprian of Carthage, On the Dress of Virgins (De habitu virginum) 1

And from Solomon we have received the mandates of wisdom, warning us: “My son, despise not thou the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He correcteth.” But if God rebukes whom He loves, and rebukes him for the very purpose of amending him, brethren also, and especially priests, do not hate, but love those whom they rebuke, that they may mend them; since God also before predicted by Jeremiah, and pointed to our times, when he said, “And I will give you shepherds according to my heart: and they shall feed you with the food of discipline.”

c. 370–419 · Jerome, Letters 68.1

God’s hottest anger against sinners is when he shews no anger. Wherefore in Ezekiel he says to Jerusalem: “My jealousy will depart from thee and I will be quiet and will be no more angry.” For “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”

c. 391 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 35.3

I see many persons even now become more pious, when during the sufferings of a child or the sickness of a wife they enjoy any comfort, yet they ought even if they obtain it not, to persist just the same in giving thanks, in glorifying God. Because it is the part of right-minded servants, and of those who feel such affection and love as they ought for their Master, not only when pardoned, but also when scourged, to run to Him. For these also are effects of the tender care of God; “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth,” it says, “every son whom He receiveth.” ( Heb. xii. 6.)

c. 392–422 · Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos) 103.17

Let Him be as angry as He shall will, He is our Father. But He hath scourged us, and afflicted us, and bruised us: He is our Father. Son, if thou bewailest, wail beneath thy Father; do not so with indignation, do not so with the puffing up of pride. What thou sufferest, whence thou mournest, it is medicine, not punishment; it is thy chastening, not thy condemnation.

1655–1662 · William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour Part 5. DIRECTION I.—SECOND GENERAL PART [The reason why the Christian must be armed,

But it is strange that a saint should be at a loss for his afflicted state, when he hath a key to decipher God's character. Christian, hath not God secretly instructed thee by his Spirit from the Word, how to read the shorthand of his providence? Dost not thou know that the saint's afflictions stand for blessings? Every son whom he loves he corrects; and prosperity in a wicked state, must it not be read a curse?

1680–1681 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. VII Several Sermons upon the CXIX. Psalm, Sermon LXXVI. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word

A philosopher could say that he never made better voyage than when he suffered shipwreck, because then he began to apply himself to the study of wisdom: surely a Christian should say, Blessed be God that he laid his chastenings upon me, and brought me to a serious heavenly mind: I should otherwise have been a carnal fool, as others are. Wicked men are left to their own swing. When the case of the sick is desperate, physicians let them alone, give them leave to take anything they have a mind unto. The apostle speaketh much to this purpose: Heb. xii. 6, ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’ Sharp afflictions, which in their visible appearance seem tokens of God’s hatred, are rather tokens of his love.

1692 · Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer 3

Psa 101: 1. It should make our wills cheerfully submit to God’s, to consider that in every path of providence we may see a footstep of kindness. There is kindness in affliction when God seems most unkind. [1] There is kindness in that there is love in it. God’s rod and his love may stand together. ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’ Heb 12: 6. As when Abraham lifted up his hand to sacrifice, Isaac loved him; so when God afflicts his people, and seems to sacrifice their outward comforts, he loves them.

c. 1714 · William Tong, Commentary on Hebrews 12.4-17

Afflictions, rightly endured, though they may be the fruits of God's displeasure, are yet proofs of his paternal love to his people and care for them (v. 6, 7): Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Observe, (1.) The best of God's children need chastisement. They have their faults and follies, which need to be corrected. (2.) Though God may let others alone in their sins, he will correct sin in his own children; they are of his family, and shall not escape his rebukes when they want them. (3.) In this he acts as becomes a father, and treats them like children; no wise and good father will wink at faults in his own children as he would in others; his relation and his affections oblige him to take more notice of the faults of his own children than those of others. (4.) To be suffered to go on in sin without a rebuke is a sad sign of alienation from God; such are bastards, not sons. They may call him Father, because born in the pale of the church; but they are the spurious offspring of another father, not of God, v. 7, 8.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Hebrews 12.6

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth - This is also a quotation from Proverbs 3. It means that it is a universal rule that God sends trials on those whom he truly loves. It does not, of course, mean that he sends chastisement which is not deserved; or that he sends it "for the mere purpose" of inflicting pain. That cannot be. But it means that by his chastisements he shows that he has a paternal care for us.

1890 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 36 (1890) 2176

It is true love which whips the erring heir of Glory from his sin. To fondle and spoil a rebel were folly and cruelty and would show that the father had not enough love for his child to study his best interests. But we see the triumph of love when a wise parent, out of supreme affection, grieves himself by chastening his child. Your heavenly Father does not afflict willingly—He has a loving reason for every stripe. In all your affliction He is afflicted and He brings Himself to afflict you—if I may use such a term—as you bring yourself to the chastening of your child. Love seems to behave itself strangely when it wields the rod and bruises its darling—but, indeed, it is then most truly love. I charge you, as you love your God and would not dare to accuse Him of falsehood, do not believe for an instant that He is angry with you, or will rebuke you in anger.

c. 403–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews 29.3

“Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.” Again, [he reasons] from their own experiences, from what they themselves suffered. For as he says above, “Call to mind the former days” ( c. x. 32 ), so here also “God” (he saith) “dealeth with you as with sons,” and ye could not say, We cannot bear it: yea, “as with sons” tenderly beloved. For if they reverence their “fathers of the flesh,” how shall not you reverence your heavenly Father?

c. 1554 · Menno Simons, A Consoling Admonition Concerning the Sufferings of the Saints The Cross of Christ

Forasmuch as eternal Wisdom recognizes an extreme weakness, and since earthly ease, peace, and prosperity have so great a tendency to ruin and undo us before our God, and to render us careless, refractory, lukewarm and drowsy, he has appointed his cross as an awakening rod for the use of all his followers, by which, as a faithful Father, he restrains, awakes and excites the children of his love; as Solomon says, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father the son in whom he delighteth," Prov. 3:11, 12. "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness," Heb. 12:7, 10.

1605–1610 · Johann Arndt, True Christianity 2.44

1 Pet. 2:21, 23. So great was the patience of our blessed Redeemer, that though the sun hid its head at the time of his passion, being unwilling to witness indignities so great; though the earth trembled, and the rocks rent (Luke 23:44; Matt. 27:51); yet he, still hanging upon the cross, murmured not against his enemies, nor by either word or gesture discovered the least impatience; but on the other hand, prayed for his enemies, that they might be saved by that blood which they so unjustly shed. Now if this be the lot of the children of God, that he chasteneth every one whom he loveth and receiveth, it follows that we must either suffer, or quit our title to be the sons of God. Heb. 12:6-8. If our heavenly Father spared not his own Son, though he was without sin, but chastened him with the rod of affliction; canst thou, who art an adopted son, and polluted with innumerable sins, expect to escape it? Moreover, if God bear so patiently with our provocations, how much more patient ought we to be, when we are punished for our good, with a view to our amendment! “Let us rather rejoice,” as St. Peter exhorts us (1 Epistle 4:13), “inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, we may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

c. 1611 · Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety 16

God sendeth affliction to seal unto us our adoption, for “every child whom God loveth, he correcteth; and he is a bastard that is not corrected.” (Heb. xii. 6, 7, 8.) Yea, it is a sure note, that where God seeth sin and smites not, there he detests and loves not; therefore it is said, that he suffered the wicked sons of Eli to continue in their sins, without correction, “because the Lord would slay them.” On the other side, there is no surer token of God’s fatherly love and care, than to be corrected with some cross, as oft as we commit any sinful crime. Affliction, therefore, is a seal of adoption, no sign of reprobation; for the purest corn is cleanest fanned, the finest gold is oftest tried, the sweetest grape is hardest pressed, and the truest Christian heaviest crossed.

1651 · Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying Chapter III. Of the State of Sickness and the Temptations Incident to It, With Their, Section V. Remedies Against Impatience, by Way of Exercise

The very suffering is a title to an excellent inheritance; for God chastens every son whom he receives; and if we be not chastised, we are bastards, and not sons. And be confident, that although God often sends pardon without correction, yet he never sends correction without pardon, unless it be thy fault: and therefore take every or any affliction as an earnest-penny of thy pardon; and upon condition there may be peace with God, let anything be welcome that he can send as its instrument or condition. Suffer, therefore, God to choose his own circumstances of adopting thee, and be content to be under discipline, when the reward of that is to become the son of God: and by such inflictions he hews and breaks thy body, first dressing it to funeral, and then preparing it for immortality. And if this be effect of the design of God's love to thee, let it be occasion of thy love to him; and remember, that the truth of love is hardly known but by somewhat that puts us to pain.

1861 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 7 (1861) 360

He will teach you Doctrine after Doctrine. He will lead you into all His Truths until, at last, perfected in all heavenly wisdom, you shall be made fit to join with your fellow commoners in the great Heaven above. There is also one thing, perhaps, you sometimes forget which you are sure to have in the course of discipline if you are God's children, and that is God's rod. That is another fruit of adoption. Unless we have the rod, we may tremble, fearing that we are not the children of God. God is no foolish father—if He adopts a child, He adopts it that He may be a kind and wise Father. And though He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men for nothing—though when His strokes are felt, His strokes are fewer than our crimes and lighter than our guilt—yet at the same time He never spares the rod. He knows He would ruin His children if He did, and therefore He lays it on with no very sparing hand, and makes them cry out and groan while they think that He is turned to be their enemy.

1912 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 58 (1912) 3327

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. What a bright light this sheds upon all affliction—that it is for our profit—that it is, thereby, we are made partakers of the holiness of God!

1549 · John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 12.10

The second amplification of the subject, as I have said, is that God’s chastisements are appointed to subdue and mortify our flesh, so that we may be renewed for a celestial life. It hence appears that the fruit or benefit is to be perpetual; but such a benefit cannot be expected from men, since their discipline refers to civil life, and therefore properly belongs to the present world. It hence follows that these chastisements bring far greater benefit, as the spiritual holiness conferred by God far exceeds the advantages which belong to the body.

1655–1662 · William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour Part 11. Direction Third

All is well, we say, that ends well; the product of afflictions on the Christian is good; the rod with which they are corrected yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and therefore they can call their afflictions good. That is a good instrument that lets out only the bad blood. ‘It was good for me that I was afflicted,’ saith David. I have read of a holy woman who used to compare her afflictions to her children. They both put her to great pain in the bearing; but as she knew not which of her children to have been without—for all the trouble in bringing forth —so neither which of her afflictions she could have missed, notwithstanding the sorrow they put her to in the enduring.

1675–1680 · Stephen Charnock, Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God 12

The visiting our transgressions with rods, and our iniquities with stripes, is one of the articles of the covenant of grace, wherein the greatest lustre of his goodness appears (Ps. lxxxix. 33). The advantage and gain of our afflictions is a greater testimony of his goodness to us, than the pain can be of his unkindness; the smart is well recompensed by the accession of clearer graces. It is rather a high mark of goodness, than an argument for the want of it, that he treats us as his children, and will not suffer us to run into that destruction we are more ambitious of, than the happiness he hath prepared for us, and by afflictions he fits us for the partaking of, by “imparting his holiness,” together with the inflicting his rod (Heb. xii. 10).

1680–1681 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. VII Several Sermons upon the CXIX. Psalm, Sermon LXXVI. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word

How many are reduced to a more serious, lively practice of godliness by their troubles! We are rash, inconsiderate, inattentive to our duty, but the rod maketh us cautious and diligent. We follow the world, not the word of God; the vanities thereof take us off from minding the promises or precepts of the word, till the affliction cometh. In short, there are none of us so tamed and subdued to God but that we need to be tamed more. We are all for carnal liberty; there is a wantonness in us. We are high-minded, earthly-minded, till God come with his scourge to reclaim us. He chasteneth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness, Heb. xii. 10; some lust still needeth mortifying, or some grace needeth exercising; our pride needs to be mortified, or our affections to be weaned from the world. The almond-tree is made more fruitful by driving nails into it, because that letteth out a noxious gum that hindereth its fruitfulness; so when God would have you thrive more, he makes you feel the sharpness of affliction.

1692 · Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer 3

Heb 12: 10. The vessels of mercy are the brighter for scouring. As you pour water on your linen when you would whiten it, so God pours the waters of affliction upon us to whiten our souls. The leaves of the fig-tree and root are bitter, but the fruit is sweet; so afflictions are in themselves bitter, but they bring forth the sweet fruits of righteousness.

c. 1714 · William Tong, Commentary on Hebrews 12.4-17

The judgment of faith, which corrects that of sense, and declares that a sanctified affliction produces the fruits of righteousness; these fruits are peaceable, and tend to the quieting and comforting of the soul. Affliction produces peace, by producing more righteousness; for the fruit of righteousness is peace. And if the pain of the body contribute thus to the peace of the mind, and short present affliction produce blessed fruits of a long continuance, they have no reason to fret or faint under it; but their great concern is that the chastening they are under may be endured by them with patience, and improved to a greater degree of holiness.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Hebrews 12.11

The apostle speaks of this as if it were a universal truth in regard to Christians who are afflicted. And it is so. There is no Christian who is not ultimately benefited by trials, and who is not able at some period subsequently to say, "It was good for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word." When a Christian comes to die, he does not feel that he has had one trial too many, or one which he did not deserve. He can then look back and see the effect of some early trial so severe that he once thought he could hardly endure it, spreading a hallowed influence over his future years, and scattering its golden fruit all along the pathway of life. I have never known a Christian who was not benefited by afflictions; I have seen none who was not able to say that his trials produced some happy effect on his religious character, and on his real happiness in life.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Hebrews 12.11

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous - It does not impart pleasure, nor is this its design. All chastisement is intended to produce pain, and the Christian is as sensitive to pain as others. His religion does not blunt his sensibilities and make him a stoic, but it rather increases his susceptibility to suffering. The Lord Jesus, probably, felt pain, reproach, and contempt more keenly than any other human being ever did; and the Christian feels the loss of a child, or physical suffering, as keenly as anyone.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Hebrews 12.11

The objection that chastening is grievous is here anticipated and answered. It only seems so to those being chastened, whose judgments are confused by the present pain. Its ultimate fruit amply compensates for any temporary pain. The real object of the fathers in chastening is not that they find pleasure in the children's pain. Gratified wishes, our Father knows, would often be our real curses. fruit of righteousness—righteousness (in practice, springing from faith) is the fruit which chastening, the tree yields (Php 1:11). "Peaceable" (compare Isa 32:17): in contrast to the ordeal of conflict by which it has been won. "Fruit of righteousness to be enjoyed in peace after the conflict" [Tholuck].

1890 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 36 (1890) 2146

Faith reads—"Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives." Better to be chastened with God's children, here, than to be condemned with the world hereafter! Faith also sees that affliction may be sent by way of discovery to make the man know himself, his God and the promises better. Faith perceives that affliction may be most precious as a test, acting as does the fire when it shows what is pure gold and what is base metal. Faith joys in a test so valuable. Faith spies out the Truth of God that affliction is sent to develop and mature the Christian life. "Ah, well!" says Faith, "then, thank God for it. No trial for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it works out the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those that are exercised thereby."

1892 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 38 (1892) 2237

In the smart of the sorrow lies the blessing of the chastisement! God chastens us in the purest love because He sees that there is an absolute necessity for it—"for He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." Our fathers, according to the flesh, too often corrected us according to their own pleasure—and yet we gave them reverence. But the Father of our spirits corrects us only of necessity—a necessity to which He is too wise to close His eyes. Shall we not, therefore, pay greater reverence to Him and bow before Him and live?

1908 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1.13

Man’s holiness is separation from the world and dedication to God. He is separated from the world by moral perfection yet more than by His other attributes, and men who have yielded themselves to Him will share in that characteristic. This assimilation to His nature is the highest ‘profit’ to which we can attain, and all the purpose of His chastening is to make us more completely like Himself. ‘The fathers of our flesh’ chasten with a view to the brief earthly life, but His chastening looks onwards beyond the days of ‘strife and vanity’ to a calm eternity.

1909 · Handley C. G. Moule, Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews 10

Scripture is full of this tender insight into the bitterness of even our salutary sorrows, and its appeals to patience are all the more potent for that insight. "Nevertheless, afterward, it produces the peace-bringing fruit of righteousness," the sense of a profound inward rest, found in conformity to the "sweet, beloved will of God," in living correspondence to the Father's rule, "for those who have been exercised, as in a spiritual gymnasium (γεγυμνασμένοις), thereby." That "exercise" was to tell at once, as they surrendered their wills to it in faith, in a present sense of the certainty of future blessing.

c. 373 · Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 16: On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail 15

Our repentance when we sin, is a human action, but an action which bespeaks a good man, belonging to that portion which is in the way of salvation. For if even our dust contracts somewhat of wickedness, and the earthly tabernacle presseth down the upward flight of the soul, which at least was created to fly upward, yet let the image be cleansed from filth, and raise aloft the flesh, its yoke-fellow, lifting it on the wings of reason; and, what is better, let us neither need this cleansing, nor have to be cleansed, by preserving our original dignity, to which we are hastening through our training here, and let us not by the bitter taste of sin be banished from the tree of life: though it is better to turn again when we err, than to be free from correction when we stumble. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and a rebuke is a fatherly action; while every soul which is unchastised, is unhealed. Is not then freedom from chastisement a hard thing? But to fail to be corrected by the chastisement is still harder.

c. 392–422 · Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos) 38.22

But sinners are in this life sometimes not scourged at all, or are scourged less than their deserts: because the wickedness of their heart is given over as already desperate. Those, however, for whom eternal life is prepared, must needs be scourged in this life: for that sentence is true: “My son, faint not under the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary when thou art rebuked of Him.” “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Let not mine enemies therefore insult over me; let “them not magnify themselves;” and if my Father scourgeth me, “I am prepared for the scourge;” because there is an inheritance in store for me. Thou wilt not submit to the scourge: the inheritance is not bestowed upon thee. For “every son” must needs be scourged. So true it is that “every son” is scourged, that He spared not even Him who had no sin.

1679 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. III A Practical Exposition Upon the Firty-third Chapter of Isaiah, The Twelfth Verse

Providence is against us; and then afflictions without raise troubles and discontents within. We think God is against us, and all is ordered by way of satisfaction to divine vengeance; all is wormwood and gall, and the terrors of the Lord possess our spirits. Oh, but hold up the head, and consider nothing is done to a believer by way of punishment and satisfaction of divine vengeance: all that was required of Jesus Christ; he bore that in his body upon the tree. We are not to bear our own sins. Natural men do think that all their misery is formally penal, and ordered by way of punishment, the sting of death, and all afflictions. But yours are not punishments; that is the wormwood and gall of afflictions. The idol priests were to bear their own iniquities, Ezek. xliv. 10. But Christ hath taken the sins of his people upon himself. You may have the same afflictions with wicked men, or that you had before conversion; but their habit and use is changed to you.

1693 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. XX Sermons on Several Texts of Scripture, Sermons upon 1 John ii. 12-14, Sermon VI. 1 John ii. 13, 14

It is a sad and woful thing for a child to be left to himself, and to be suffered to go on in untoward courses; but far more sad it is for a man to be suffered to go on in sin without any chastisement and correction. God seemeth to cast them off, and to leave them to their own lusts, that they may perish for ever. Children, though they take it ill at the hands of others, yet take it patiently when beaten for their faults by their own parents, who under God are the cause of their being, and maintain and love them, and even in correcting seek their good, much more their souls’ good hereafter. Earthly parents may err by wanting wisdom, and out of passion and rashness their chastisements may be arbitrary and irregular, but God never mingleth passion with his rod; there is more of compassion than passion in it; it is but only medicinal. His chastisements flow from the purest love, and are regulated by perfect wisdom, and tend to and end in holiness and happiness.

c. 1714 · William Tong, Commentary on Hebrews 12.4-17

They must not despise the chastening of the Lord; they must not make light of afflictions, and be stupid and insensible under them, for they are the hand and rod of God, and his rebukes for sin. Those who make light of affliction make light of God and make light of sin. (2.) They must not faint when they are rebuked; they must not despond and sink under their trial, nor fret and repine, but bear up with faith and patience.

c. 1714 · William Tong, Commentary on Hebrews 12.4-17

] God's correction is no condemnation. His children may at first fear lest affliction should come upon that dreadful errand, and we cry, Do not condemn me, but show me wherefore thou contendest with me, Job x. 2. But this is so far from being the design of God to his own people that he therefore chastens them now that they may not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. xi. 32. He does it to prevent the death and destruction of their souls, that they may live to God, and be like God, and for ever with him.

1745 · Philip Doddridge, The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul 25.7

Thou seest, O Lord! that bundle of folly which there is in the heart of thy poor, froward, and thoughtless child, and knowest what rods and what strokes are needful to drive it away. I would therefore ‘be in humble subjection to the Father of spirits,’ who ‘chastened me for my profit;’ would ‘be in subjection to him and live.’ (Heb. 12:9,10) I would bear thy strokes, not merely because I cannot resist them, but because I love and trust in thee.