THE **Free Presbyterian Magazine** *And MONTHLY RECORD.* —

VOL. XX.

OCTOBER, 1915.

No. 6.

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“Casting all your care upon Him.”

1 PETER V. 7.

THE Apostle Peter, in the last chapter of his First Epistle, addresses a solemn admonition to the scattered strangers to whom he writes—“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” He gives them this counsel apparently in view of an approaching “fiery trial,” to which he refers in the preceding context. He calls them to recognise “the mighty hand of God” in it more than the puny hand of man, and exhorts them to the exercise of self-humbling—manifestly in a way of lowly confession of sin—as that exercise of mind to which the promise of exaltation and deliverance is attached, according to the words of Christ Himself—“Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” But the Apostle in this connection does not stop at the negative exercise of self-abasement; he proceeds to admonish the strangers, in the very same breath, to the positive exercise of trust in God’s gracious and loving care—“casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” He declares, in effect, that God was not smiting them with a view to drive them farther away from Him, but rather with a view to draw them closer to Himself. “Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.”

Let it be observed that self-humbling and trust in the Lord are entirely consistent with one another. In fact, they are two essential aspects of saving faith in all its exercises, and the one is not complete without the other. Self-humbling without trust, and trust without self-humbling, are not saving graces. If the Lord has brought us to lie low before Him confessing our sins, let us not be satisfied till He lead us on to an apprehension of His mercy in Christ, and of His gracious care for the interests of perishing sinners. Let us further distrust any faith in His mercy that is not accompanied by a spirit of self-abasement on account

of sin. Saving faith towards a gracious God in Christ humbles the sinner in the dust in view of his guilt and unworthiness, and exalts him to peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost, in view of the riches of the gospel provision.

Let us now notice three things principally in the subject before us: first, certain kinds of care that devolve upon us; secondly, the duty of casting these cares upon the Lord; and thirdly, the great encouragement we have to do so.

1.—We shall observe certain kinds of necessary care.

1. There is the care of the soul and its interests. This ought to be the chief care of every one of us. “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The soul, as fallen, is under sin and condemnation—liable to eternal death. If we lose our souls, we lose our all for eternity. The soul’s salvation ought to be our principal concern; everything else is as nothing in comparison therewith. Such as are taught of God believe and feel this to be truth.

Many of our brave fellow-countrymen are at present exposed to imminent danger and death on land and sea. It is theirs, no doubt, to give all necessary attention to the serious work in which they are immediately engaged, but they ought not to forget at the same time that they have souls which must live in happiness or woe for ever and ever. We praise the Most High that there are some among them who remember this daily before Him. But alas, others are careless, and it is our earnest desire that many of them would be awakened to real anxiety for their soul’s salvation. Such care will not make them less, but more, efficient defenders of their country. May the cry of many go up without delay, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”

1. There is the care of the body and its interests. A certain degree of anxiety for bodily life, health, and sustenance is lawful, though the great evil is that sinners, left to themselves, indulge this concern to an excessive degree. It is quite proper, for example, for our brave soldiers and sailors, who are willing to lay down their lives for their country in a just cause, to desire intensely, at the same time, self-preservation, as far as that is consistent with duty. The care of the body and its interests is lawful in subservience to higher concerns. The commands, “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Do thyself no harm,” have an important place.

2. There is the care of friends and others. Many at home at the present moment are justly anxious about the temporal and eternal welfare of friends who are abroad (or are likely to be) fighting in this great War. They are deeply concerned that their kinsmen may be safely carried through the conflict to the end. If those who are at home fear God, they are intensely anxious that those at a distance, who are not yet savingly changed, may be brought to the feet of Jesus, ere it be too late. They cannot but be in daily dread of hearing sore tidings, such is the

widespread destruction of human life that is taking place. Again, many of our soldiers and sailors at the front are bound to have a keen anxiety about the dear ones whom they have left behind in the homeland, wondering how it shall fare with them, if they themselves are struck down in the conflict. “Love seeketh not her own.”

II.—Let us next observe the duty of casting all these kinds of care upon the Lord.

1. Sinners naturally, through darkness and unbelief, are disposed to carry all their own burdens. They do not see how relief or success is to be obtained unless they themselves, at any rate, carry the heaviest part of the weight. Thus the need arises for a positive exhortation to cast all care upon the Lord. Even God’s people, who have had most experience of divine help, are never safe in this respect. They must be taught over and over again that their sure and all-sufficient help is in Jehovah’s name.

2. Are you concerned about your soul’s salvation, the interest of infinite importance? Are you convinced that you cannot redeem or save your own soul? “Salvation is of the Lord;” cast this care upon Him. Are you anxious about your temporal welfare—whether you shall live or die, or whether you shall have a sufficiency to meet your common needs? Endeavour to cast this care upon the Lord—”your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.” Are you alarmed for the welfare of others? Is their case for time and eternity a heavy burden to you? The only way of relief is to commit it to the Lord in believing prayer. He knows all things, and has all power in heaven and in earth. Seek to plead His gracious invitations and promises. Go with every kind of care that oppresses you to His throne of grace, and make known your desires to Him who is mighty to deliver.

3. Some may feel that they have no power to obey the exhortation, and that their principal difficulty is to actually exercise faith, and cast all their cares upon the Lord. Their faith, if they have any, they find so exceedingly weak. But let such come making known their lack of faith to Him and asking Him to supply their need out of His infinite fulness of grace, and they shall not be disappointed. The Lord Jesus is the author and finisher of faith, and He is a liberal giver. This leads us to observe:—

III.—The great encouragement given to sinners to cast their cares upon Him: “for he careth for you.”

1. He has shown a general care for His creatures, not only in connection with the provision of His providence, but with the provision of His grace. He has sent the word of truth and the gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth, and makes sinners everywhere welcome to come to Christ and to receive Him as all their salvation and all their desire. The commission to the gospel ministry is, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to

every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved : he that believeth not shall be damned.”

1. He shows a special care over those whom he has chosen in Christ and who in due time flee for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. He careth in a special and saving way for all such as come to Him through Christ and cast their cares upon Him that He may help, sustain, and save. The Lord’s care over His people extends to all their needs—small and great, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. It is a care that is unceasing, unchangeable, and everlasting. There is nothing that affords Him greater delight than to see them coming with their cares and anxieties, and confiding in Him for the relief and help He is able and willing to give. “He delighteth in mercy.”

The Lord’s voice is to the city at the present moment, and calls us not only to exercises of self-humbling under His mighty hand, but of confiding trust. He sitteth upon the floods and reigneth King for ever, and who can help effectually but He in all trials and extremities? He is able to make a way through the sea, and a path through the mighty waters, and at the fourth watch of the night to command a great deliverance. “Trust ye in the Lord for ever ; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”

THERE will be space enough in eternity to carry on delayed repentance, to rue one’s follies when it is too late ; and in a state past remedy, to speak forth these fruitless wishes, “Oh that I had never been born ! that the womb had been my grave, and I had never seen the sun ! Oh that I had taken warning in time, and fled from this wrath, while the door of mercy was standing open to me ! Oh that I had never heard the gospel, that I had lived in some corner of the world where a Saviour, and the great salvation, were not once named !” But all in vain. What is done cannot be undone ; the opportunity is lost, and can never be retrieved ; time is gone, and can never be recalled. Wherefore, improve time, while you have it, and do not wilfully ruin yourselves, by stopping your ear to the gospel call.—Thomas Boston.

God hath a threefold rod, whereby He maketh Himself known to a people. 1. He hath the rod of His mouth, whereby He makes known His Word to us. 2. There is the rod of His hand, and that is, affliction and crosses. 3. There is the iron rod of destruction, when God doth utterly destroy, that destruction shall not rise up the second time. Now God hath been long speaking to you by the rod of His mouth, and by the rod of His afflictions and crosses ; and O ! now beware, lest He come and speak to you by the iron rod of destruction : look that the treaty which is betwixt Christ and you, be not broken. O ! be persuaded to lay hold upon your time, while it is with you.—Andrew Gray (of Glasgow).