There are six things implied in Christian resignation. 4!:
1. An awakened sense of our dangers and hazards. At what time 1 am afraid, IT will trust in thee,” Psal. lvi. 3. Suffering times are resigning times; Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator,” 1 Pet. iv. 19. And the greater and nearer our dangers are, the more frequent and vigorous should the actings of our faith this way be: Be not far from me, for trouble 1s near.
2. Resignation to God necessarily implies our renunciation and disclaiming of all other refuges. Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy,” Hos. xiv. 3. He that relies upon God must cease from man; resignation to God excludes not the use of lawful means, but it doth exclude dependence upon them.
3. Resignation to God is always grounded upon an interest in God, we have no warrant nor encouragement to expect protection from him in time of trouble, except we can come to him as children to a father; it is the filial relation that gives encouragement to this fiducial resignation; and the clearer that relation and interest is, the more bold and confident those acts of faith will be; Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O thou, my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee,” Psal. lxxxvi. 2. And again, “I am thine, save me,” Psal. cxix. 94. 1 speak not here of the first act of faith which flows not from an interest, but gives the soul an interest in God. Nor do I say, that poor, doubting, and timorous believers, whose interest in him is dark and dubious, have no warrant to resign themselves and their concerns into his hands; for it is both their right and duty to do it: but certainly the clearer our interest is, the more easy and comfortable will those acts be.
4. The committing acts of faith imply a full acknowledgment and owning of God’s power to protect us, be the danger ever so imminent; « My,uimes are in thy hand, deliver me from the hands of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me,’ Psal. xxxi. 15. This denotes, O Lord, I am fully satisfied, my life is not at the disposal of mine enemies; it is not in their hands, but in thine; all the traps and snares they lay for it shall not shorten one minute of my time; I know thy hand is fully able to protect me, and therefore into thy hands 1 resign myself, and all I have.
5. Resignation involves in it an expectation of help and safety from God, when we see no way of security from men, O Lord,” saith Jehoshaphat, “we have no might, nor strength, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are unto thee,” 2 Chron. xx, 12. So David, My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; 1 shall not be moved,” Psal. Ixii. 9, 6.
6. Resignation to God implies the leaving of ourselves, and our concerns with him, to be disposed of according to his good pleasure; the resigning soul desires the Lord to do with him what he will, and is content to take what lot divine pleasure shall cast for him: And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation; but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him,” 2 Sam. xv. 25. ay “