Resignation | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 9, 1863

Resignation.

The resignation of the stoic is the cold, cheerless submission of the mind to the unintelligent decree of an imaginary fate. The evil must be borne becasue it is inevitable, and it will do no good to fret and chafe under it. But the Christian yields to the will of a wise, holy, and benevolent God. "The Lord reigneth." There is no blind fate behind the throne, limiting and controlling his decisions. And his reign is universal. Nothing is so trivial, so casual, so contingent, so dependent on the voluntary agency of creatures, as not to form a part of his administration; whether it be the fall of an empire or the death of a sparrow, the martyrdom of a saint or the flight of an insect, it has its place in that grand plan by which he governs his immense kingdom. In every dark event, therefore the Christian bows and says, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." He knows that the Judge of all the earth will do right, that he will make no mistake, will do his creatures no injury, and that in all his works and ways he is seeking the highest good of his intelligent universe. He is willing, therefore, to be in his hands, rejoices to commit all his interests to his disposal.

But this is not all. That glorious being who sits upon the throne is his God, reconciled to him though Christ and engaged by covenant and oath to bring him in safety through all the trials of life to the rest above. Nay more—he assures him that all things shall work together for his good.