Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1879 — Desponding Christians. [ARTICLE]

Desponding Christians.

It would be well for all who are given to despondency to ask themselves, and endeavor to give brief, sharp answers to the question of the Psalmist, “ Why art thou cast down, Omy soul?” Many, doubtless, would be able to refer their depression to real troubles—ill-health, bereavement, want, business or other disasters; but the majority would find that they have no real reasons outside of themselves for their despondency; that it arises from vague and indefinable fears, from imaginary troubles, or from the anticipation of evil; and that the source of it all is a sinful distrust of that everwatchful Divine Providence which notes tbe fall of a sparrow, numbers even the hairs of our heads, and constantly guards and keeps us. The chief source of despondency is foreboding—useless worrying about the future. Men suffer more in anticipation of evil than they do from the actual misfortunes of life. And yet, in nine cases out of ten, our fears about to-morrow are groundless. Very few of the sorrows we have apprehended have ever reached us; and those which have come upon us have always been lighter than we feared, and proved to be less painful to bear in actual experience than the anticipation oi them. When we look at a dark placer it seems very black, but when we are in it there is usually some light. God sends no unmitigated sorrow; every trial comes with its alleviating circumstances. “He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;” or if He does not make the suffering less, makes us stronger to bear it. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” He smooths for us the roughest road; and we enter upon it with the assurance that He is with us always, and that His grace is sufficient for us. “In every form of sorrow God drqws near to the stricken spirit, and offers His own joy-giving presence in place of the blessings taken; and many of the afflicted have had in their severest trials far deeper and more heart-swelling views of the Divine love than they ever had in their seasons of gladness. But if we borrow trouble we seize the cup in its untempered bitterness, before the time has come for the infusion of what may sweeten, bless and sanctify it.”

The habit of taking desponding views of the future is utterly useless—and worse, foolish and hurtful. It does no good, has no tendency to avert evils, but may hasten them, by paralyzing the energies, and so preventing the effort necessary to ward off disaster. Under Providence, there are many evils which it is within our own power to either avert entirely, or modify by a cheerful, hopeful spirit, which is apt to see a way out of present, or impending difficulties. But the foreboding, desponding spirit sits down in discouragement, and does nothing to remedy E resent or prevent future calamities. >espondency often fulfills its own dismal prophecies, while the courageous, hopeful soul is able to wring profit out of disaster, and victory out of defeat. ' The best cure for despondency is that of the Psalmist: “Hope thou in God.” Our own efforts may do much to correct our weaknesses, and lessen the evils we cannot avert, but we need also the grace of God and the inspiration of hope in Him to support us. An unknown future lies before us. There hangs over it a veil which no man can lift. We know not what trials lie before us, and it is a blessing that we do not. God, in His wisdom and goodness, conceals them from us, and we ought to acquiesce thankfully in His hand who doeth all things well, and that “He careth for us.” That single truth—God careth for you, heartily believed, will quiet fear, remove despondency, and make the spirit peaceful and hopeful. If the great and good God is watching over us day and night, surely we ought not to be distressed about the future. Let us, then, hope in God, and rest from undue anxiety in the assurance that He who never slumbers nor sleeps, who fainteth not, neither is weary, will care for us, and make all things work together for good to them thaflove Elim. The prospect of a better and enduring inheritance in Heaven should ex-

elude desDondencv. However heavy' our outward burdens and sorrows, if we have Christ within, the hope of glory,, we have the best of reasons for joy r and, if we do not rejoice, may well exclaim, in self-rebuke, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” “ How brief the longest space which earthly trials cover! How short the period during which changes can come! How, in comparison with eternity and its ever-growing joy, does all that flesh and heart can bear, on this side of the grave, shrink into utter nothingness!” St. Paul said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” And this inheritance above is revealed, that faith may use it here—“that hope may bridge over the few doubtful years that remain with an arch that shall repose at once on a past full of mercy, and on a Heaven where all is sure, cloudless and eternal.” — N. W. Christian Advocate.