PHILLIPS BROOKS
The time for discipline is approaching. Happy are those who, under Divine direction, consent to be led, for, in the words of Quintilian:—Nulla poena est nisi invito, or as Seneca expressed it, Fata volentum ducunt, involentem trahunt,—those who refuse will be dragged.
You must in some manner experience the ordeals common to other peoples, and you have seen from a distance what has overtaken many cities and nations, the inhabitants of which felt themselves as fixed as the rocks in the soil. Yet, all that is happening is in harmony with Divine law. You will find it in Isaiah and Jeremiah. The repetition is inevitable except for those who possess vision.
The time for appeals is past.
“The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth, the haughty people of the world do languish.”
“When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled, and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.”
Are the people astonished? Let them marvel at their own willfulness.
“The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.”
Titus, with his army, destroyed the Holy City. The enemy entered the gates from without but your adversaries have long been entrenched within.
Mammon is heavily laden and will fall from the top. Material power is volatile.
In the day of trial, the retainer and the hireling will seek a refuge, every man for himself. They will melt like the wax image before the heat of the furnace. On that day humility will be as a precious gift and poverty as a peace offering.
Blessed is he who uses the spade and the hoe, for by the sweat of his brow he shall eat the bread of security.