beware of laying his cares on any but God. He must cast all his cares on God. He may seek the sympathy and the advice of his fellow-Christians; but he must never cast his cares, or place his confidence on them. They cannot bear the burden. They are obliged to cast their own cares on God. "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." He well understood the blessed art of casting all his care on God, who said, "My soul, wait thou only on God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Ye people, place your confidence in him continually: pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance" with God, as the object of confidence, "they are altogether lighter than vanity."

1

Finally, here, in the right state of mind under affliction, the two things recommended by the apostle must be conjoined, "Humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God," and "Casting all our cares upon him." Our self-abasement must not lead to despondency, but to deeper dependence, greater confidence; and our reliance on God, and consequent ease of mind, must not be presumptuous. A sense of sin must not prevent the use of privilege, and a continuous enjoyment of privilege must not diminish self-abasement.

§ 3.—The motive to casting our care on God is, that he cares for us.

It is time now that I proceed to turn your attention to the motive by which the apostle urges the Christian to cast all his care on God. "Casting all your care on God; for he careth for you." And here I shall very briefly state the evidence of this truth, that God cares for his people; and then show how the belief of this truth should lead them to cast their care on him.

It is quite obvious that the apostle is not here speaking of the general providential care which God has of men as his creatures, but of the peculiar care which he has of those who are in a peculiar sense his children, his people, his inheritance, his purchased possession. He cares for them in another way than he does for the world. On those who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, by a spiritual separation, and who are made obedient to the truth and sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, are bestowed peculiar "heavenly and spiritual blessings;" to them who have obtained like precious faith with the apostles, are given "exceeding great and precious promises." It is the care of God for this peculiar people, that I mean to establish as a ground why this peculiar people should cast all their care on him.

1 Psal. lxii. 5-9.-Hengstenberg very justly remarks that the words "Pour ye out your heart before him-God is a refuge for us"—are, as to sense, quite parallel to that before us.-Amat gives the meaning of "pour out"-completely empty your heart of all that is distressing it'-pour it out before the Lord! What a beautiful example have we of "pouring out the heart before God," "casting all care on him," in Psal. cxlii. 1–5. Hannah, too,-1 Sam. i. 10-17-shows us what the mental exercise is, expressed by these significant figures-and her experience shows how "he on whom we cast our cares" cares for us," and relieves us of our cares.

17 2

It deserves notice that the word "careth" in this last clause is a word of a very different meaning from that used in the first clause, though rendered by the same English word.' The word in the first clause denotes painful anxiety; in the second, kind interest. It is said, "the hireling fleeth when the wolf cometh; for he careth not for the sheep." It is said, Judas "cared not for the poor. "He cares for you" is equivalent to, 'He takes a kind interest in you.' Now that God does, must, take a peculiar and most benignant interest in his people, will be very plain, if we attend for a moment to the peculiar relation in which he stands to them, the peculiar works he has done for them, the peculiar privileges he has bestowed on them, and the peculiar "exceeding great and precious promises" he has made to them.

3

"Be

What is the relation in which God stands to them? He is their God and Father; they are his people and children, in a sense quite peculiar. They were "predestinated to the adoption of children;" and when he called them out of the world, by the power of his Spirit attending the invitation of his word, he said, "I will be a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." "Behold," may "this chosen generation, this holy nation, this peculiar people," say, hold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God !" The title is not an empty name. There is great force in the apostle's argument, "If children then heirs."4 If you stand in the relation of children to God, you may be sure of the treatment of children. Is it possible that our Father in heaven should not care for his children? "If ye, being evil," says our Lord, "know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Father in heaven give good gifts to them that ask him?" "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. He knows their frame; he remembers they are dust." What has God done for, what has he given to, his peculiar people? He "chose them before the foundation of the world." He" commended his love to them, in that, when they were yet sinners, Christ died for them." He "spared not his Son, but delivered him up for their offences, and raised him again for their justification," and set him at his own right hand, that, ever living to make intercession for them, he might be able to save them to the uttermost. For them he poured out the Holy Ghost in his miraculous and inspiring influence, and diffused his gospel and established his ordinances throughout the earth. This is a specimen of what he has done for them. And what has he given them? He has "blessed them with all heavenly and spiritual blessings;" he has bestowed on them "redemption in Christ through his blood, according to the riches of his grace;" he has made them "accepted in the beloved;" he has conferred on them "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not, reserved in heaven for them," while he keeps them by his power, through faith, unto salvation; he has given them the holy Scriptures as the charter, and the Holy Spirit, in his sanctifying and comforting influences, as

1 Μέριμναν Μέλει.

3 Eph. i. 5. 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. 1 John iii, 1. 5 Matt. vii. 11. Psal. ciii. 13, 14.

2 John x. 13; xii. 6.

* Rom. viii. 17.

the seal and the earnest, of their inheritance; he has sent forth his angels, who excel in strength, as "ministering spirits, to minister to them as heirs of this great salvation ;" he has delivered them from the present evil world, and from the power of the wicked one, and given them "everlasting consolation and good hope through grace." Surely he who has done all this for them, and given all this to them, does, must, care for them. For these "gifts and callings are without repentance." He "rests in his love," and is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." 1

Still farther, what has he promised them, or rather, what has he not promised them, which could show his care for them? He has promised that he will "withhold no good thing from them;" that "it shall be well with them;" that "their desire shall be granted," and that "their hope shall be gladness." He has declared that theirs is the world, and that they "shall inherit all things;" and promised to supply all their need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." He has a promise which meets every anxiety which can arise in their hearts. Are they anxious as to strength to perform duty? he says, "My grace is sufficient for you.' "God will work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure." "I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in my name." Are they anxious as to guidance in difficulty? "I will lead the blind in a way that they know not; I will make darkness light before them." "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shouldest go." Are they afraid of falling before their spiritual enemies, and ultimately coming short of eternal life? He who is the Father's substantial image says, “I give to my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and none can pluck them out of my Father's hand." "God who is faithful, will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able to bear; and will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." "Satan shall be bruised under your feet shortly." And as to events; Are they anxious about affliction? "He shall deliver thee in six troubles, in seven no evil shall touch thee." "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the floods they shall not overflow thee, When thou passest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flames kindle on thee." "All things shall work together for good to them that love God." In every situation in life fitted to excite anxiety there are appropriate promises which I cannot stop to enumerate. To his people, when in poverty, in famine, bereaved of relations, spoiled of their possessions, misrepresented and calumniated, promises singularly suited to their circumstances are made, all prov ing that he cares for them, that "in all their afflictions he is afflicted," and that "they who touch them, touch the apple of his eye.' Are they anxious about death, and about what is to follow death?

1 Eph. i. 4. Rom. v. 8; viii. 32; iv. 25. Heb. vii. 25. Eph. i. 3, 6, 7. 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. Eph. i. 13. Psal. xci. 11. Heb. i. 14. Gal. i. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 16. Rom. xi. 29.

Phil. ii. 13. Rom. xvi. 20.

2 Psal. lxxxiv. 11. Eccles. viii. 8. Isa. iii. 10. Psal. cxlv. 19. Prov. x. 24, 28. 1 Cor. iii. 22. Rom. iv. 13. Rev. xxi. 7. Phil. iv. 19. 2 Cor. xii. 9. Zech. x. 12. Isa. xlii. 16. Psal. xxxii. 8. John x. 28, 29. 1 Cor. x. 13. Job v. 19. Isa. xlii. 2; lxiii. 9. Rom. viii. 28. Zech. ii. 8.

He shows that he cares for them by promising, that when they "walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he will be with them; his rod and his staff, they shall sustain them." "He will swallow up death in victory." "I will ransom them from the power of the grave! I will redeem them from death. O death! I will be thy plagues: O grave! I will be thy destruction." "This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; and death shall be swallowed up in victory." The Saviour shall come from heaven, and "change these vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body;" and they "shall be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and they shall be forever with the Lord." "He who testifieth these things is a true and faithful witness." He cannot be deceived; he cannot deceive. "He is not a man that he should lie." He means all he says; he can and will do all he promises.1

Does he not, then, care for his people? Do not the relations he has assumed towards them, the works he has performed for them, the privileges he has bestowed on them, and the promises so exceeding great and precious that he has made about them and to them, abundantly prove the assertion in the text, "He cares for them"?

It will not require many words to show, that this truth, so abundantly demonstrated, is a most powerful and appropriate motive to the Christian's casting his care, all his care, upon God. Why should he allow the burden that so oppresses and depresses him, that so interferes both with his duty and with his comfort, to remain on him? He knows very well that these anxieties can be of no use to him; they refer to matters that he cannot control. His anxieties, however intense, do not bring him one whit nearer the object of his hope, or remove him one whit farther from the object of his fear. But, to obtain relief from anxiety, I must not only be convinced that my anxiety is useless. A conviction of this, if I do not see some way of getting rid of the evils which occasion it, will but fix the burden more firmly on me. But the Christian who knows that God cares for him, knows that his anxieties are not only useless, they are needless. God who has the entire management of those matters which excite his anxieties, God cares for him. And who is this who cares for the Christian? He is the all-wise, "the only wise God," who never can be deceived as to what is the Christian's true interest, and who knows how to make "all things work together for good." He never can fall into any mistake as to what is good for his people, nor as to the means best fitted for securing this good to them. Then he is God Almighty, the all-powerful God. "Whatsoever he pleaseth, that doeth he in heaven, in the earth, and in all deep places." He never can want power to execute what his wisdom deems to be best for those he cares for. When a Christian is "afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as the grass," surely it is in momentary forgetfulness that He who cares for him is "the Lord his maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth the Lord God who divided the seas, whose waters roared; the Lord

1 Psal. xxiii. 4. Isa. xxv. 8. Hos. xiii. 14. 1 Cor. xv. 53-57. Phil. iii. 20, 21. 1 Thess iv 17.

;

of hosts is his name. Then he is God, ever present, omnipresent; nothing can overtake you in his absence. The connection in the parallel passage in Philippians iv. 5, 6, deserves to be marked. "The Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing." Then still farther; He is "the God of all grace;" "the Father of mercies." He who cares for you, has his wisdom and power influenced and guided by infinite love, infinite love to you. Hear his own words, which are as true in reference to every one of his people individually, as in reference to their collective body, the church. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, she may forget, yet will not I forget thee." This love will keep wisdom ever wakeful, power ever active, in reference to the true interests of its objects. Is not anxiety, then, on the part of the Christian, a very needless, and therefore a very unreasonable thing? Surely it is very unwise in him not to cast his care on God.'

1

But it is worse than unwise, it is ungrateful and undutiful. When God says, 'Leave these matters which you cannot manage to my management,' if we refuse what is it but to insult our Divine benefactor by discovering doubts of his sincerity, or of his wisdom, or of his power? Whether would the ingratitude or the folly of the Levite of Mount Ephraim have been greater, if he had met the generous invitation of the hospitable old man of Gibeah, "Let all thy wants lie on me, only lodge not in the street," with a sullen refusal? And when the greatest and best of all beings says to us, who are but dust and ashes, Let all your wants lie upon me,' wants, we well know, we cannot supply, but he can, where shall we find words to describe the baseness and the absurdity of putting away from us so generous, so needed a boon? Is it a fitting return for all his kindness, to insist on keeping hold of a burden from which he is willing to release us, when getting rid of that burden is necessary to enable us to yield him the cheerful, ready, joyful service he so well deserves? Surely when he says, 'I would have you without carefulness, that you may serve me without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of your lives,' the sense of his kindness and the desire of his glory should equally lead us to comply with the command, "Cast all your care on God." Indeed, wherever the proposition, 'God the infinitely powerful, wise, and benignant Sovereign of the universe cares for me, is interested in my welfare, and has pledged himself to secure it,' is understood and believed, in the degree in which it is understood and believed, it does, it must, banish carefulness and anxiety from the mind. Here, as in so many other cases, it is with a man according to his faith. Oh, how happy, oh, how holy, should we be! how easy should labor be, how light affliction! could we but, believing that God cares for us, "cast all our care on him," saying, "I am poor and needy; but the Lord thinketh on me! Thou art my help and deliverer, Ŏ my God!" 2

Thus have I turned your attention to affliction as a state calculated to excite anxiety and carefulness; to the afflicted Christian's duty in reference to this view of affliction,-to cast all his anxieties on God; and to the motive urging him to this course,-God cares for him.

This is the duty of the Christian at all times, and the motive is 1 Psal. cxxxv. 6. Isa. li. 12, 15; xlix. 15.

2 Psal xl. 17.