The Christian Struggling Under Great and Heavy Affliction, by Philip Doddridge.

Описание: The Christian Struggling Under Great and Heavy Affliction, by Philip Doddridge. The following contains Chapter Twenty-Five of his work, "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul Illustrated in A Course of Serious and Practical Addresses Suited to Persons with a Devout Meditation, or Prayer, Subjoined to Each Chapter".

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
~ Psalm 22:24

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
~ Psalm 34:19

Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
~ Job 34:31

1. Here it is advised—that afflictions should only be expected.—2. That the righteous hand of God should be acknowledged in them when they come.—3. That they should be borne with patience.—4. That the divine conduct in them should be cordially approved.—5. That thankfulness should be maintained in the midst of trials.—6. That the design of afflictions should be diligently inquired into, and all proper assistance taken in discovering it.—7. That, when it is discovered, it should humbly be complied with and answered. A prayer suited to such a case.

1. SINCE “man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward,” (Job 5:7) and Adam has entailed on all his race the sad inheritance of calamity in their way to death, it will certainly be prudent and necessary that we should all expect to meet with trials and afflictions; and that you, reader, whoever you are, should be endeavoring to gird on your armor, and put yourself in a posture to encounter those trials which will fall to your lot as a man and a Christian. Prepare yourself to receive your afflictions, and to endure them, in a manner agreeable to both these characters. In this view, when you see others under the burden, consider how possible it is that you may be called out to the very same difficulties, or to others equal to them. Put your soul as in the place of theirs. Think how you could endure the load under which they lie, and endeavor at once to comfort them, and to strengthen your own heart, or rather pray that God would do it. And observing how liable mortal life is to such sorrows, moderate your expectations from it; raise your thoughts above it; and form your schemes of happiness only for that world where they cannot be disappointed; in the mean time, blessing God that your prosperity is lengthened out thus far, and ascribing it to his special providence that you continue so long unwounded, when so many showers of arrows are flying around you, and so many are falling by them, on the right hand and on the left.

2. When at length your turn comes, as it certainly will, from the first hour in which an affliction seizes you, realize to yourself the hand of God in it, and lose not the view of him in any second cause, which may have proved the immediate occasion. Let it be your first care to “humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Pet. 5:6) Own that “he is just in all that is brought upon you,” (Neh. 9:33) and that in all these things “he punishes you less than your iniquities deserve.” (Ezra 9:13) Compose yourself to bear his hand with patience, to glorify his name by a submission to his will, and to fall in with the gracious design of his visitation, as well as to wait the issue of it quietly, whatsoever the event may be.

3. Now, that “patience may have its perfect work,” (James 1:4) reflect frequently, and deeply upon your own unworthiness and sinfulness. Consider how often every mercy has been forfeited, and every judgment deserved. And consider, too, how long the patience of God hath borne with you, and how wonderfully it is still exerted towards you; and indeed not only his patience, but his bounty too. Afflicted as you are, (for I speak to you now as actually under the pressure) look around and survey your remaining mercies, and be gratefully sensible of them. Make the supposition of their being removed: what if God should stretch out his hand against you, and add poverty to pain, or pain to poverty, or the loss of friends to both, or the death of surviving friends to that of those whom you are now mourning over; would not the wound be more grievous? Adore his goodness that this is not the case; and take heed lest your unthankfulness should provoke him to multiply your sorrows. Consider also the need you have of discipline, how wholesome it may prove to your soul, and what merciful designs our Heavenly Father has in all the corrections he sends upon his children.

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