viii. 21, and ix. 13. _And they shall pass through it, &c._
+I. Sin leads to suffering.+ 1. This is true of _individuals_
(H. E. I. 4603-4612). But because there is another life and a future
retribution, the full results of sin are frequently not seen in this
life. Nay, the sinner often appears prosperous, even to the end (Ps.
lxxiii. 3-5). 2. But in the case of _nations,_ which as such have no
immortality, it is otherwise (P. D. 2544); it is more prompt; it is
often exceedingly terrible. This fact should make those who have any
love for their children hostile to any national policy that is
unrighteous, however politically "expedient" it may seem. +II. There
is in suffering no sanctifying power.+ God may use it as a means of
arresting the careless, or of making good men better, but there is in
it no certain reformative energy. On the contrary it may harden men
in iniquity.[1] +III. Suffering does nothing in itself to abate God's
anger against sinners.+ We, when we are wronged, often yield to a
passion of vindictiveness, which is sated when we have succeeded in
inflicting a certain amount of pain on the wrong-doer. But God's
anger is not vindictive, but righteous (H. E. I. 2288-2294); hence
its terribleness. As it does not thirst for suffering, it is not
satisfied by suffering. As long as the sinner holds to his sin, God's
anger will burn against him, irrespective altogether of the suffering
he may have endured. Nothing will turn away that anger but a genuine
repentance (ix. 13).
1. In the hour of temptation, let us think of sin not as it then
presents itself to us, but as it will certainly appear to us when its
results are manifested (H. E. I. 4673-4676). 2. When suffering has
come upon us, let us regard it as God's summons to repentance
(H. E. I. 56-59); and let us obey it with thankfulness that God is
willing to deal with us in the way of mercy.