Extracts from the Last Chapter of The Righteous Man's Refuge
THE AGGRAVATIONS OF A WICKED MAN’S TROUBLES.
1. When troubles come upon him, the curse of God follows him into his carnal refuges; ‘* Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord,” Jer. xvii. 5. ‘Trouble is the arrow, and this curse the venom of the arrow, which makes the wound incurable.
2. When troubles fall upon him from without, a guilty conscience will terrify him from within; so that the mind can give no relief to the body, but both sink under their own weights. It is not so with the people of God, they have inward relief under outward pressures, 2 Cor. iv. 16,
3. ‘The gusts and storms of wicked men’s troubles may blow them into hell, and hurry them into eternal destruction: if death march towards them upon the pale horse, hell always follows him, Rev. vi. 8.
4. If troubles and distresses overwhelm their hearts, they can give them no vent or ease by prayer, faith, and resignation to God, as his people used to do.
5. When their troubles and distresses come, then come the hour and power of their temptations; and, to shun sorrow, they will fall into sin, having no promise to be kept in the hour of temptation, as the saints have, Rev. iii. 10.
6. When their troubles come, they will be left alone in the midst of them: these are their burdens, and they alone must bear them. God’s gracious, comfortable, supporting presence is only with his own people.
7. If trouble and death come upon them as a storm, they have no anchor of hope to drop in the storm; ‘*’The wicked is driven away in his wickedness ;. but the righteous hath hope in his death,” Prov. xiv. 82. By all which it appears that a Christless person is a most helpless and shiftless creature in the day of trouble.
REASONS WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT BE DEJECTED.
1. If thou be in Christ, thy sins are forgiven thee; and why should not a pardoned soul be a cheerful soul in adversity? Afflictions may buzz and hum about thee, like bees that have lost their sting, but they can never hurt thee.
2. If thou be in Christ, thy God is with thee in all thy troubles; and how can thy heart sink or faint in such a presence? Let those who are alone in troubles fail under them: but do not thou do so, who art surrounded with Almighty power, grace, and love, Isa. xl. 1, 2.
3. If thou be in Christ, thy greatest afflictions shall prove thy best friends and benefactors, Rom. viii, 28. Surely then thou art more afraid than hurt; thou mistakest thy best friends for thy worst enemies; thou and thy afflictions shall part more comfortably than you met.
4. If thou bein Christ, thy treasure is safe, thy eternal happiness is out of the reach of all thine enemies, Luke xil. 4; x. 42: and if that be safe, thou hast no cause to be sad. ‘To droop and tremble at the hazard of earthly comforts, whilst heavenly and eternal things are safe, is as if a man that had obtained his pardon from the king, and had it safe in his bosom, should be found weeping upon the way home, because he hath lost his staff or glove. ‘These reasons are strong against the dejections of God’s people under outward troubles; but yet I am sensible that all the reasoning in the world will not prevent their dejections, except they will take pains to clear up their interest in God against such a day, Psal. xviii. 2, and will act their faith by way of adherence and dependence upon God, in the want of former light and evidence, Isa. ]. 10. And lastly, that they keep their consciences pure and inviolate, which will be a spring of comfort in the midst of troubles, 2 Cor. i. 12.
CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION.
There are six things implied in Christian resignation. |,
1. An awakened sense of our dangers and hazards. ‘* At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee,” Psal. lvi. 3. Suffering times are resigning times; ‘* Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator,” 1 Pet. iv. 19. And the greater and nearer our dangers are, the more frequent and vigorous should the actings of our faith this way be: Be not far from me, for trouble is near.
2. Resignation to God necessarily implies our renunciation and disclaiming of all other refuges. ‘*¢ Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth merey,’’ Hos. xiv. 3. He that relies upon God must cease from man; resignation to God excludes not the use of lawful means, but it doth exclude dependence upon them.
3, Resignation to God is always grounded upon an interest in God, we have no warrant nor encouragement to expect protection from him in time of trouble, except we can come to him as children to a father; it is the filial relation that gives encouragement to this fiducial resignation; and the clearer that relation and interest is, the more bold and confident those acts of faith will be; ‘ Preserve my soul, forl am holy: O thou, my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee,”’ Psal. lxxxvi. 2. And again, ‘*I am thine, save me,” Psal. exix. 94. I speak not here of the first act of faith which flows not from an interest, but gives the soul an interest in God. Nor dol say, that poor, doubting, and timorous believers, whose interest in him is dark and dubious, have no warrant to resign themselves and their concerns into his hands; for it is both their right and duty to do it: but certainly the clearer our interest is, the more easy and comfortable will those acts be.
4. The committing acts of faith imply a full acknowledgment and owning of God’s power to protect us, be the danger ever so imminent; ‘* My times are in thy hand, deliver me from the hands of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me,”’ Psal. xxxi. 15. This denotes, O Lord, I am fully satisfied, my life is not at the disposal of mine enemies; it is not in their hands, but in thine; all the traps and snares they lay for it shall not shorten one minute of my time; I know thy hand is fully able to protect me, and therefore into thy hands I resign myself, and all I have.
5. Resignation involves in it an expectation of help and safety from God, when we see no way of security from men, ‘* O Lord,”’ saith Jehoshaphat, ‘‘we have no might, nor strength, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are unto thee,” 2 Chron. xx. 12. So David, ‘* My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved,” Psal. xi. Oo, 6.
6. Resignation to God implies the leaving of ourselves, and our concerns with him, to be disposed of according to his good pleasure; the resigning soul desires the Lord to do with him what he will, and is content to take what lot divine pleasure shall cast for him: “And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation; but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him,742/ Sam: xve25.:
ENCOURAGEMENTS TO TRUST IN GOD.
1. The sovereignty and absolute dominion of God over all creatures is a singular encouragement to commit ourselves into his hands, and trust him above all, ‘* Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence,”’ Psal. lix. 9. If a man were in danger amidst a great army of rude and insolent soldiers, and were to put himself under the protection of any one, it would be his wisdom to choose to do it under the general, who had all the soldiers of his army at his beck. Christian, thy. God, into whose hands thou committest thyself, is Lord-General of all the hosts and armies in heaven and earth; how safe art thou then in his hands!
2. The unsearchable and perfect wisdom of God is a mighty encouragement to commit ourselves into his hands; ‘* With him is plenteous redemption,”’ Psal. exxx. 7, 8, that is, Choice and variety of ways and methods to save his people. We are, but God never is, ata loss to find a door for our escape, ‘*’The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation,’’ 2 Pet. ii. 9.
3. ‘The infinite tenderness and compassion of our God, is a sweet encouragement to resign and commit ourselves and all we have into his hands; his mercy is incomparably tender towards his people, infinitely beyond whatever any creature felt stirring within towards his own most beloved child, Isa. xlix. 15. This compassion of God engageth the two fore-mentioned attributes, namely, his power and wisdom for the preservation and relief of his people, as often as distresses befall them. Yea,
4. The very distresses his people are in do, as it were, awake the Almighty power of God for their defence and reseue; our distresses are not only proper seasons, but powerful motives to his saving power, ‘* For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left,’ Deut. xxxii. 36. God makes it an argument to himself, and his people plead it as an argument with him, ‘ Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.”
5. We have already committed greater and weightier concernments into his hand than the dearest interest we have in this world; we have entrusted our souls with him, 1 Pet. iv. 19; 2 Tim. i. 12. Well, therefore, may we commit the lesser, who have entrusted the greater with him. What are our lives, liberties, estates, and relations, com-RIGHTEOUS MAN’S REFUGE. pa
pared with our souls, and the eternal safety and happiness of them!
6. The committing act of faith is the great and only expedient to procure and secure the peace and tranquillity of our minds, amidst all the distractions and troubles of the present world; the greatest part of our affliction and trouble in such days is from the working of our own thoughts; these torments from within are worse than any from without; and the resignation of all to God by faith is their best and only cure, ‘* Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established,’”’ Prov. xvi. 3. <A ‘blessed calmness of mind, a sweet tranquillity and settlement of thoughts follow immediately hereupon, Psal. exiv. 19. O then leave all with God, and quietly expect a comfortable issue: and for the better settlement and security of thy peace in times of distraction and trouble, I beseech thee, reader, carefully to watch and guard against these two evils:
Caution 1. Beware of infidelity or distrustfulness of God and his promises, which secretly lurks in thy heart, and is very apt to betray itself when great distresses and troubles befall thee. Thou wilt know it by such symptoms as these: 1. In an over-hasty and eager desire after present deliverance; ‘* The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail,’’ Isa. li. 14. ‘The less faith, always the more impatience; and the more ability to believe, the more patience to wait. 2. It will discover itself in our readiness to close with, and catch at sinful mediums and methods of deliverance, Isa. xxx. 15,16. And this is the handle of temptation, and occasion of apostasy. ‘* But he that believeth will not make haste,”’
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Isa. xxviii. 16.. No more haste than good speed. 3. It will show itself in distracting cares and fears about events which will rack the mind with various and endless tortures.
Caution 2. Beware of dejection and despondency of mind in evil times; take heed of a poor low spirit that will presently sink and give up its hope upon every appearance and face of trouble; it is a promise made unto the righteous, ‘* He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord,” Psal. exii. 7. ‘The trusting of God fixes the heart, and the fixing of the heart fortifies it against fear.