Continue to Trust

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Oct 16, 1855

Continue to Trust.

"MARK that text," said Richard Adkins to his grandson Abel, who was reading to him the 32d Psalm, "Mark that text, 'He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.' I read it in my youth and believed, and now I read it in my old age, thank God, I know it to be true. Oh, it is a blessed thing, in the midst of the sorrows of the world, Abel, to trust in the Lord."

These are hard times; hard for the rich and harder still for the poor. But let not the poor man be cast down. God's eye is upon him. And now is the time to trust in God and not waver. Many a man has been reduced to want, and at the very time of his greatest necessities the hand of the Lord has been extended to relieve. Henry Venn, author of "The Complete Duty of Man," was once, as many of God's people have been, in great want. He owed money, and had none to pay the debt. The creditor was importunate for the payment of his bill. He had no resource left, but with earnest supplication to make known his wants to God. And mark the result, while he was upon his knees, a letter was brought inclosing a bank-note of 50£., equal to two hundred and fifty dollars. He never found out the donor. But God sent it, sent it in the time of his greatest distress; and his biographer relates, that he was at length enabled to live in continual reliance upon the care of Providence, and his wants were remarkably supplied. He continued to trust, and God continued to take care of him. And so it has been in thousands of instances.

But the difficulty with many persons is, while they can trust in God whenever things look prosperous yet in times of want they lose their faith; and then failing to trust, they are apt to do wrong by making use of sinful means of getting along. If these words come before the eyes of one who is hesitating, thinking to live better by doing something his conscience tells him is wrong, let him stop. O, my brother, shun the first false step. God's arm is not shortened, that he cannot help you. Trust him now when the day is dark, and the times are hard. Continue to trust, and God will help you. Yea, he is pledged to help you. But if you take one false step, beware; you must then take another and another, and so you will be led away from your Father in heaven.

Beware of the first false step. Remember the case of another clergyman in England, Dr. Dodd, who was condemned to death for committing forgery, and was hung upon the gallows. He made one false step when he was a minister, and this led on to others, until at last he died the death of a felon. He was in the habit of gathering his people in his own house for the purpose of prayer and religious instruction; but doing this exposed him to the reproach of some of his brethren in the ministry; and in his own house he told the few who came together to be benefitted, that "he was obliged to give up that method of helping their souls, because it exposed him to so much reproach." His conscience told him to go on, fear bid him stop. He yielded, and so lost a good conscience. And then he sunk lower and lower, until he committed forgery.

Trust in God. Are your wants many? Trust in God. Does your family lack food? Trust in God. Continue to trust. Keep a brave heart, and God will help you.