The Night of Weeping

Words for the Suffering Family of God

IT is no easy matter to write a book for the family of God. Yet it is for them that these thoughts on chastisement are written.
They may be found not unsuitable for the younger brethren of the man of sorrows. For the way is rough, and the desert-blast is keen. Who of them can say aught regarding their prospects here, save that tribulation awaiteth them in every place as they pass along. This they must know and prepare for, grasping more firmly at every step the gracious hand that is leading them on to the kingdom, and looking up for guidance to the loving eye that rests over them with fondest vigilance, ever bright and ever tender, whether in shadow or in sunshine, whether amid the crowds of busy life, or in the solitude of the lonely way.
It is, then, to the members of this family that this little volume is offered. They may find in it something which may not merely interest them; but may also meet their case; something too in which, perhaps, they may recognise not the voice of a stranger, but of a brother; “a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” For the tones of the suffering brotherhood on earth have something in them too peculiar not to be instinctively recognized. It is said of Arabian airs that they are all plaintive. They all touch some melancholy chord, as if the wail of the desert-echo were the key-note of each melody. It is in some measure thus with the children of the kingdom,—while sojourners in this wilderness of earth. “Their voice is ever soft, gentle, and low.” Sorrow has smoothed away its harshness, and breathed gentler feeling into its tones. True, it is the voice of gladness, for it is the voice of the forgiven; but still it is sorrowing gladness, calm and serious joy. Their peculiar lot as followers of a hated Lord, and their peculiar circumstances, as standing in the midst of a doomed and dying world, have wrought into their spirit a deep, though serene, solemnity of expression, alike in look and voice. Hence, the instinctive recognition among the brotherhood, not only of the family look, but of the family tones.
It is of family concerns that we speak, and in these each member has a common interest. The “household of faith” has many concerns, and not the least of these are its sorrows. These are the lot of all; and there is no member of the house hold but has his share in these, either in personal suffering or in helping to bear the burden of others.
What is now written may be found suitable to all, whether actually under chastisement or not. It is, however, presented specially to those who are “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” suffering the rebuke of the Lord, passing through fire and through water, with “affliction laid upon their loins.” The bruised reed must not be broken; the smoking flax must not be quenched. The hands which hang down must be lifted up, and the feeble knees confirmed; that which is lame must not be turned out of the way, but rather healed.