TO AN AFFLICTED BROTHER.
By J. Clarke
WHAT did David say when sorrows weighed him down, when difficulties surrounded him, when driven from his family and home, pursued by those whom he had befriended and served? Did he droop and languish? Not by any means. The greater the difficulties he had to surmount, the greater his efforts, the more ardent his prayer, the more lively his faith. "Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me;" and in answer to his prayer the Lord gave him to see by faith his future enlargement, and he would break out in praise, "Unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel." You are embarrassed. Debts like a heavy incubus weigh you down, and your honest heart faints at the thought of injuring the estate of your friend. It is torture to your soul, and truly this is sufficient to fill the heart of a good man with sorrow and woe; but still you have the comfort of thinking that it has not been by extravagance or mismanagement on your part, but by the failure of another to perform his engagements; and now you are making what efforts you can to free yourself; and can any one ask more? But you droop and faint under the burden. Brother, this will not do. Every time you give way to despondency, you weaken yourself, and make it a more habitual practice. At the same time you please Satan, and grieve the Spirit of the Lord, and injure your own prospects and present usefulness. These feelings of despondency are tacit rebellion against God, in repining and murmuring. You recollect the poet's words, "Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To heaven in supplication sent,
Your grateful cry would oftener be,
See what the Lord hath done for me." Besides, it must be remembered that indulgence in this bitter sorrow, will finally tend to moroseness and sour tempers, and other besetments. It will render your friends unhappy, to whom your presence should be light and joy. The duty of a husband and parent calls for habitual cheerfulness. If you fail in this, you injure the education of your child, and blast the happiness of those who most nearly surround you. To them you should be a sun, dispensing light and joy. Suppose the sun should rise occasionally veiled in gloom and coldness; how soon would July be turned into January, and August into December! How would the husbandman sigh and mourn; not less will those who look to you for a daily supply of good cheer, be disappointed when you approach them with downcast countenance, and woeful words. Do not, then, dear brother, add to the bitter cup we all must drink, by this sorrowful way of yours. This is a debt you can pay as you go; and now you can prove your honesty by paying it with compound interest; and then we will all pray, and God will help you to pay the other less important debts, which so trouble you. Your brother in Christ.
J. CLARKE.