p. 159 | SELECTIONS

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 17, 1857

SELECTIONS.

Cast Down, but not Destroyed.

If our heavenly Father had seen it to be better for us that we should be exempt, in a great measure, from the trials now incident to life, he could, doubtless, as easily have so provided for us. Aside from his declaration, and the recorded testimony of good men, we see in what way the afflictions of God's people yield, in rich clusters, the peaceable fruits of righteousness. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted," has been the sincere conviction of thousands who have uttered their groanings, as well as their gratitude, in the language of the singer of Israel. The bruised grape bleeds with its rich juice. A heart ripened under gracious influences knows not what that grace has done for it until pressure from without has come upon it. What brings forth wrath and bitterness from unsanctified hearts, is pretty certain to move the sweet fountains of the Christian's soul. Trial is a better test than prosperity. If we find our trials to issue in continued and ungrateful murmuring—if we find that they result in enmity to God and man—if they alienate us from the work of doing good—if they seal us up in iciness, then may we know or fear that we are not born of God. For so it is with the unsubdued heart.

We have sometimes seen those whom we thought among the most afflicted of all beings not only resigned but buoyant. An almost irrepressible elevation of spirits was maintained. Their every prospect seemed to us gloomy and dispiriting, and yet the heart glowed and poured out a stream of joyous emotions. We could not understand at once, but we have since learned. It is not in the nature of affliction, but it is in the nature of Christian submission and faith and love. It is an anomaly presented in every true Christian experience. Faith, love, triumph. The heart struggles against the lessons, and is not "apt" to learn them. It seems called upon to exercise a different temper; it shows fight in some way against God, or fate, or man. But if the heart is right, the bitter cup will be taken, and it will be turned to sweetness ere it is drained. "Cast down, but not destroyed." No, the irrepressible nature of religion causes the heart to triumph. It is stronger when cast down than it was before: strong in blessed, firm, peaceful consciousness before God; strong in a beautiful, burning, clear love for man, whose flame flickers not with the varying currents of human conduct. Knowing and feeling, to the bottom, its own faith, it has faith in others. Virtue, purity, goodness, exist in spite of the wrongs that many commit. The Psalmist complained to God that he had left his soul among lions, yet did he still know that God had made man a little lower than the angels. Precious is that love for God which comes from the heart which he hath broken; abiding is that Christian love for man, and strong that faith in Him, which lives and rules notwithstanding wrong and outrage. Christian, shrink not from affliction,

—"He doth but design Thy dross to consume, thy gold to refine."

In uninterrupted prosperity we are strangers to some of the sweetest, most purifying feelings of the heart. They come not through prosperity. The rainbow emerges from the storm. The voice of God is on the waters. "They shall not overflow thee." We may not choose the shape in which trial may come. We cannot tell the lessons which we may need, the virtues to be wrought out, by which God will glorify himself through us. They will probably come in the way which we little expect, for we may most need the virtues correlative to the events which we think far from us. Sometimes a dear friend will be taken, to loosen us from earth, and create in us more interest in heaven, to know how blessed it is. Sometimes one is stripped of property, that he may altogether make the Most High his habitation, and feel what a refuge he is to his people. Sometimes enemies arise whose hatefulness is more than the slime of the serpents, and even then the heart triumphs in wishing them no evil. There are always wicked men in the world, and sometimes it is unavoidable to come in contact and collision with them. They obtain the victory when they can either overwhelm or anger. But they have given it to the Christian, in the last sense, when, while loathing their conduct, he can still pray for his enemies. In every place of trial, O Christian, think not that any strange thing hath happened unto you! Nor be disheartened. There is a principle within you which cannot be crushed. You shall smile while the waves spend their living force. God is your protector. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" "My soul, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance, and my God." "Cast down, but not destroyed." Others may not understand this philosophy, but the Christian does. In prosperity we have been weak as aspen, in affliction strong as steel. And when circumstances seemed most adverse and trying, then have we been most buoyant and exultant; when night gathered around with cold and dewy wings, then our songs arose, and we waited for the dawning of a glorious morrow. With those who trust in themselves, in their schemes and wickedness, it is not so. Their counsels come to nought, and they are snared in their own nets. O God! blessed are they who trust in thee, for they shall not be disappointed.—The Pacific.