Thus the Incarnation, the eternal counsel of the past, that embraced them while they were on earth, is still enfolding them, while they, with us, wait and pray for its final consummation, in the coming of the Kingdom.

Let us so use our opportunities for discipline now, that the uplifting of character shall be permanent; not a mere spasm of passing enthusiasm, but a real growth into the character and likeness of Him Who suffered death upon the Cross, that all might live unto Him.

For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.

VII

=Discipline through Bereavement=

SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT

1 Thess. iv. 13

  “We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall
  asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope.”

Of all kinds of sorrow, bereavement is in some senses the sternest, the most irrevocable, and the one in which human compassion is of least avail.

All that we said last week on the discipline of suffering applies here, but with enhanced force.  If suffering generally cannot be rationally contemplated outside of the doctrine of a future existence, still less can death be tolerated unless it lead to further life.  If sorrow in the bulk needs the Incarnation to throw upon it the light of God’s love, still more does this particular grief require the assurance that the finished work of Christ operates within, as well as without, the vail.

Broadly speaking, all over the world there are torn and bleeding hearts mourning the nearest, the dearest; in the vast majority of instances, from the circumstances of the case, men in the beginning or the very prime of life.

The heroism of the women has been as magnificent as that of the men—­nay, in a sense, more so.  For those who go forth there is the novelty, the excitement, the nerving sense of duty.  Their time is so ceaselessly occupied that but little space remains for brooding or for anxious thought, on behalf of themselves or those at home.  The men who remain behind, the fathers, brothers, friends, have the priceless boon of daily occupation, often vastly increased in amount.  There is no such infallible anodyne of care as plenty of honest work.

But the women—­theirs is the harder task, the fiercer trial, of keeping up the brave appearance, the show of cheerfulness, whilst all the time the load of apprehension and fear lies heavy on their hearts.  None will ever know the crushing reality of the offering the women are making to their country, in one great stream of self-sacrifice.

Nor can we forecast the end, nor estimate the claims that are yet to be made in the cause of patriotism.  The nations engaged, at least the chief of them, are fixed irrevocably in their determination that peace, when it comes, shall be no temporary patching up of hostilities and arranging of indemnities, but a solid, lasting settlement, which shall, as far as possible, place another vast European war out of the range of practical politics.