Spiritual Depression
An alternative is called for in the mode of treat-
ing cases of spiritual depression. The occasion
of anxiety and despondency has to be laid open,
either that it may be rebuked, or that it may be
sympathised with ; either to give warning, or im-
port encouragement ; — though the difficulty is often
great of knowing when the one mode of treat-
ment is needed, and when the other.
Undoubtedly, offering comfort to the distress-
ed is what benevolence instantaneously prompts.
But to do this at once, without any discrimina-
tion of cases, is not wise. It may serve at times
merely to hide the source of evil; to cherish the
persuasion of soundness, while no cure is wrought ;
to thwart conscience in the most salutary of her
exercises, or actually to '" resist the Spirit" in
one of his ways of bringing the soul to final
peace. " Ye have healed the wound of the
daughter of my people slightly," is a charge laid
against the false prophets.
Instances of spiritual depression occur, there-
fore, in which tne wise treatment, instead of at
once applying the balm of comfort, employs first
the probe of serious and awakening inquiries.
To strike the more solemn fear on the subject of
a personal interest in the divine favour, is often
the best means of at last fixing hope unchange-
tlily in God. Anxiety sifting the genuineness of
faith in the Saviour, may lead to the calmer and
feller assurance of grace. Convictions of sin,
K they penetrate more widely, form the broader
foundation of moral improvement. And the very
turbidness and bitterness of the earlier cares of
the soul, become the measures to the purity and
iweetness of the succeeding comforts. Why is
satisfaction in Religion lost or abated ? Why are
the ordinances of devotion observed, while the
pleasures of devotion are never felt, — ^the Scrip-
tures read, the Sabbaths kept, and communions
celebrated, while the blessed effects of these are
never received ? Are we really " in the faith?"
Are we honestly pledged to the cause of Christ ?
Are we dealing truly with the covenant of peace ?
Do we carefully employ the appointed means of
keeping alive and strengthening in us the prin-
ciples of the divine life? Do we cultivate, by
daily exercise, the sentiments and habits of
Christian trust and righteousness ? Do we che-
rish grace in the heart, the fiame of which is not
only to cheer and gladden by its light, but by its
power is to consume the dross of the affections,
and purify the fine gold ? These inquiries, with
the humiliating alternative to which they point,
are often needed for detecting the secret cause of
spiritual depression, and consequently, in the first
instance, for the purposes of rebuke and warning.
No hasty attempt, therefore, to comfort and encou-
rage, is to make us overlook their importance.
They must not be put aside, nor postponed, nor
blunted. And in faithfully urging them, it must
never be forgotten, that spiritual depression may
originate in what infests the mind with an *< evil
root of bitterness ; " and what, accordingly, for
obtaining peace, must be removed ; and, to be re-
moved, must be searched and seen.
It is true, that the humiliation and painfulness
arising from such inquiries, in minds of peculiar
sensibility, may occasionally have the effect of
sinking them below the horizon of Christian light:
a circumstance which prescribes the need of wisely
discriminating the cases of spiritual depression,
and suiting the treatment to each respectively. It
is true, besides, that suggestions of fear and sad-
ness are often shot forth as envenomed darts from
the quiver of the malevolent archer, who wounds
though he cannot destroy. It is true, also, that
trying changes of mental frames, in Christian be-
lievers, are often unavoidable : their experience
acquainting them with the intermixtures of " trem-
bling and rejoicing," one season being clear to
them, and another dark ; their sky now serene, and
then tempestuous ; the duties performed with
alacrity and satisfaction to-day, which to-morrow
shall be laboured through almost as a penance ;
the religious services that once seemed to be kin-
dled as " by a live coal from off the altar," becoming
afterwards as if they never had excited the leas^
glow of devotion, — and thus, the mind feeling
itself pressed on by another yoke and burden **
than what Christ Jesus calls it to bear.
But still, though " the heart of the righteous
be ofteu sad, when the Lord has not made it sad/'
yet inquiries into the state of the soul, both serious
and strict, are to be put. We are to " prove and
examine ourselves," for ascertaining whether spi-
ritual remifisnecs and secret sin be not the cause
of spiritual depression. And, in seeking peace
at the throne of mercy, these are to form some of
our unceasing petitions: — Lord teach us to
know the plague of our heart. Search us and try
us, and show us the evil way that* is in us. Lead
us in the way everlasting. Turn us, and we shall
be turned. Heal us, and we shall be healed. Save
us, and we shall be saved."
ing cases of spiritual depression. The occasion
of anxiety and despondency has to be laid open,
either that it may be rebuked, or that it may be
sympathised with ; either to give warning, or im-
port encouragement ; — though the difficulty is often
great of knowing when the one mode of treat-
ment is needed, and when the other.
Undoubtedly, offering comfort to the distress-
ed is what benevolence instantaneously prompts.
But to do this at once, without any discrimina-
tion of cases, is not wise. It may serve at times
merely to hide the source of evil; to cherish the
persuasion of soundness, while no cure is wrought ;
to thwart conscience in the most salutary of her
exercises, or actually to '" resist the Spirit" in
one of his ways of bringing the soul to final
peace. " Ye have healed the wound of the
daughter of my people slightly," is a charge laid
against the false prophets.
Instances of spiritual depression occur, there-
fore, in which tne wise treatment, instead of at
once applying the balm of comfort, employs first
the probe of serious and awakening inquiries.
To strike the more solemn fear on the subject of
a personal interest in the divine favour, is often
the best means of at last fixing hope unchange-
tlily in God. Anxiety sifting the genuineness of
faith in the Saviour, may lead to the calmer and
feller assurance of grace. Convictions of sin,
K they penetrate more widely, form the broader
foundation of moral improvement. And the very
turbidness and bitterness of the earlier cares of
the soul, become the measures to the purity and
iweetness of the succeeding comforts. Why is
satisfaction in Religion lost or abated ? Why are
the ordinances of devotion observed, while the
pleasures of devotion are never felt, — ^the Scrip-
tures read, the Sabbaths kept, and communions
celebrated, while the blessed effects of these are
never received ? Are we really " in the faith?"
Are we honestly pledged to the cause of Christ ?
Are we dealing truly with the covenant of peace ?
Do we carefully employ the appointed means of
keeping alive and strengthening in us the prin-
ciples of the divine life? Do we cultivate, by
daily exercise, the sentiments and habits of
Christian trust and righteousness ? Do we che-
rish grace in the heart, the fiame of which is not
only to cheer and gladden by its light, but by its
power is to consume the dross of the affections,
and purify the fine gold ? These inquiries, with
the humiliating alternative to which they point,
are often needed for detecting the secret cause of
spiritual depression, and consequently, in the first
instance, for the purposes of rebuke and warning.
No hasty attempt, therefore, to comfort and encou-
rage, is to make us overlook their importance.
They must not be put aside, nor postponed, nor
blunted. And in faithfully urging them, it must
never be forgotten, that spiritual depression may
originate in what infests the mind with an *< evil
root of bitterness ; " and what, accordingly, for
obtaining peace, must be removed ; and, to be re-
moved, must be searched and seen.
It is true, that the humiliation and painfulness
arising from such inquiries, in minds of peculiar
sensibility, may occasionally have the effect of
sinking them below the horizon of Christian light:
a circumstance which prescribes the need of wisely
discriminating the cases of spiritual depression,
and suiting the treatment to each respectively. It
is true, besides, that suggestions of fear and sad-
ness are often shot forth as envenomed darts from
the quiver of the malevolent archer, who wounds
though he cannot destroy. It is true, also, that
trying changes of mental frames, in Christian be-
lievers, are often unavoidable : their experience
acquainting them with the intermixtures of " trem-
bling and rejoicing," one season being clear to
them, and another dark ; their sky now serene, and
then tempestuous ; the duties performed with
alacrity and satisfaction to-day, which to-morrow
shall be laboured through almost as a penance ;
the religious services that once seemed to be kin-
dled as " by a live coal from off the altar," becoming
afterwards as if they never had excited the leas^
glow of devotion, — and thus, the mind feeling
itself pressed on by another yoke and burden **
than what Christ Jesus calls it to bear.
But still, though " the heart of the righteous
be ofteu sad, when the Lord has not made it sad/'
yet inquiries into the state of the soul, both serious
and strict, are to be put. We are to " prove and
examine ourselves," for ascertaining whether spi-
ritual remifisnecs and secret sin be not the cause
of spiritual depression. And, in seeking peace
at the throne of mercy, these are to form some of
our unceasing petitions: — Lord teach us to
know the plague of our heart. Search us and try
us, and show us the evil way that* is in us. Lead
us in the way everlasting. Turn us, and we shall
be turned. Heal us, and we shall be healed. Save
us, and we shall be saved."
Comments
Post a Comment