1. When troubles come upon him, the curse of God follows him into his carnal refuges; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord,” Jer. xvii. 5. Trouble is the arrow, and this curse the venom of the arrow, which makes the wound incurable.
2. When troubles fall upon him from without, a guilty conscience will terrify him from within; so that the mind can give no relief to the body, but both sink under their own weights. It is not so with the people of God, they have inward relief under outward pressures, 2 Cor, iv. 16.
3. The gusts and storms of wicked men’s troubles may blow them into hell, and hurry them into eternal destruction: if death march towards them upon the pale horse, hell always follows him, Rev. vi. 8.
4. If troubles and distresses overwhelm their hearts, they can give them no vent or ease by prayer, faith, and resignation to God, as his people used to do.
5. When their troubles and distresses come, then come the hour and power of their temptations; and, to shun sorrow, they will fall into sin, having no promise to be kept in the hour of temptation, as the saints have, Rev, iii, 10.
2592 EXTRACTS FROM THE
6. When their troubles come, they will be left alone in the midst of them: these are their burdens, and they alone must bear them. God’s gracious, comfortable, supporting presence is only with his own people.
7. If trouble and death come upon them as a storm, they have no anchor of hope to drop in the storm; The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his death,” Prov. xiv. 32. By all which it appears that a Christless person is a most helpless and shifiless creature in the day of trouble. REASONS WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT BE DEJECTED. 1. If thou be in Christ, thy sins are forgiven thee; and why should not a pardoned soul be a cheerful soul in adversity? Afllictions may buzz and hum about thee, like bees that have lost their sting, but they can never hurt thee,
2. If thou be in Christ, thy God is with thee in all thy troubles; and how can thy heart sink or faint in such a presence? Let those who are alone in troubles fail under them: but do not thou do so, who art surrounded with Almighty power, grace, and love, Isa, xliii. 1, 2.
3. If thou be in Christ, thy greatest afflictions shall prove thy best friends and benefactors, Rom. viii, 28. Surely then thou art more afraid than hurt; thou mistakest thy best friends for thy worst enemies; thou and thy afflictions shall part more comfortably than you met.
4. If thou be in Christ, thy treasure is safe, thy eternal happiness is out of the reach of all thine enemies, Luke xii. 4; x. 42: and if that be safe, thou hast no cause to be sad. To droop and tremble at the hazard of earthly comforts, whilst heavenly and eternal things are safe, is as if a man that had obtained his pardon from the king, and had it safe in his bosom, should be found weeping upon the way home, because he hath lost his staff or glove, These reasons are strong against the dejections of God’s people under outward troubles; but yet I am sensible that all the reasoning in the world will not prevent their dejections, except they will take pains to clear up their interest in God against such a day, Psal. xviii. 2, and will act their faith by way of adherence and dependence upon God, in the want of former light and evidence, Isa. 1. 10. And lastly, that they keep their consciences pure and inviolate, which will be a spring of comfort in the midst of troubles, 2 Cor. i. 12.