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 Duke University Libraries 
 
 Casting our bur 
 Conf Pam 12mo #923 
 
i a nlw TJAt r I No. 1A 
 
 CASTING OCR BURDEN OX THE LORD, 
 
 BV REV. 
 
 There i K I I men who o ;-: . ■ i t o ft 
 
 in every loyal son of the 8 >uth than bin 
 who \w ids V f 
 
 the battle field and of th" camp, in - • mr Iioium, 
 
 our lib* 
 elusion iui'i 
 
 and sorrow— in wounds ami in wertl : 
 c ' 
 
 I would lead such direetry to ti I \v< uW 
 
 point them to the Lanib of <dk>J that taketh away the 
 gin ct'ihe world. 1 ivonld eotnitiehd the 
 though He ; i, yet t<5r oui 
 
 that we rty might be made rich 
 
 though •' priory, > • 
 
 Borrows — who hath borne on r griefs and earn 
 
 ■ 
 and -ays that lie will puStain us -that \{c will 
 suffer the righteous to be mo 
 
 If we wish t*» know the worth Cjf true 
 porieiice all its consoiati i | our- 
 
 selves with hanvn tributes to tlic ] 
 the time that we fevl the burthen pn 
 fide in flim. We should receive every affliction 
 challenge to try lli> la it h fulness, as an invitation n 
 IIw 1 ve: and the more cheerless our prospect on earth 
 believe that the brighter is our inheritance in Heaven. 
 
 True cod lines?, rtoca not reqnire hs to deny that n;c 
 are afflicted when God has laid His heavy hand upon 
 Us; nor dot* it require us to- be insensible Lo rain 
 When we become ehru-tia- s, wj do not cease to be uk-ii 
 The feeling- of natural affection are not quenched but 
 purified and regulated by faith. We arc therefore, at 
 libertv, like D.ivid, to number our afflictions; not that 
 we may murmur against our .Sovereign Judge 01 
 into despair, but that wc may be reminded like Dt* ii. 
 
'1 CASTING OUR BURDEN ON THE LORD, 
 
 of the only sure consolation, and directed like him to the 
 only true Refuge. 
 
 Among the rim tilings, for the afflicted to consider is, 
 the disposition of mind w kick is connected w'dh Divine relief. 
 It is not enough that we hear a burden ; we must cast 
 our burden upon- the Lord. The temper befitting the 
 burdened soul is /tumble, meek, submissive and confiding. 
 God ever looks to the man that is bumble and contrite, 
 and that trembles at His word. The mere feet that we 
 arc miserable does not entitle us to the promised 
 blessing; nor will suffering alone, constitute any claim 
 to the provisions of God's goodness. This isa common error 
 into which superficial readers of the promises are prone to 
 fall and therefore, it is one against which it is especially 
 important to guard. When we read in the liible, that 
 God's compassions fail not — that He does not willing- 
 ly afflict 4 the sons of men- — that He delighteth not in 
 the death of the sinner — we may be insensibly led to 
 suppose that the circumstance that we are subjects of 
 compassion — children of sorrow and withal wretched 
 offenders — of itself — gives us some sort of olaim to 
 His blessing. But such an impression, will prove 
 most delusive. The fact that we are miserable, only 
 proves that we are guilty. It is far from being an evi- 
 dence that hereafter we shall be happy. If misery 
 alone were the object, and measure of the Divine bene- 
 volence, then would the lost spirits in Hell be the 
 principal recipients of the Almighty's bounty; for of all 
 his creatures, they are the most completely miserable. 
 It is evident then, that something more is necessary to 
 share in God's promises, than simply to be miserable ; 
 that something must be done as well as endured; that 
 we must not only have a burden, but cast it upon 
 the Lord. There is not a word of comfort for thosg who 
 are conscious of misery and arc trying to bear it in their 
 own strength — who are too proud or too unbelieving to 
 cast their burden on the Lord — who trust in an arm of 
 flesh rather than in the mighty God of Jacob — who 
 betake themselves to the polluting cup ot sensual plea- 
 sure to assuage their sorrows by stupefying their souls, or 
 turn to a false philosophy for consolation rather than to 
 
CASTING 0U« BURDEN ON Tin 3 
 
 God their Maker, who pveth songs in tlm night. But, 
 tliey who put their tr 1 for del ; verance in 
 
 humble submission to Ilia Sovereign will, ami in fervent 
 gratitude for His gracious help, shal iued. 
 
 For we are /■,< 
 delivermjiee or to specif, 
 
 ing is tcjbw. Ail thai ia required is, that we shall east 
 our burden on tl irable man ia to be 
 
 conceived of as bending under a heavy load, but what 
 that burden — from whom derived — of what composed 
 — is wholly immaterial. It may be tl <■ reoei 
 large estate — tin pofatrusl -the death 
 
 ofa beloved child, whose expanding beauties tilled your 
 heart with natural gladness, and whose opening virtues 
 ■warranted the hope of futile excellence — a child that 
 you had been fondly rearing np t<> be an ornament, 
 and a pillar in the house of God — perhaps such an one 
 has been i suddenly, when your hopes 
 
 were highest and your love warmest, and perhaps the 
 paleness of the heart's ag ill npon your brow 
 
 und the tears of parental Borrow still bedew your cheek 
 — 0! T cannot say to such, weep no m >fe — I cannot say 
 that you have not been bitterly tried and that you have 
 not bitter trials now : but this I Mn saw east thy burden 
 upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee. He will 
 suffer the righteous to be 
 
 It may be that you mourn what you imagine to be the 
 darkening prospects of 1 the community in which your lot 
 lias fallen, or the more exl of iniquity 
 
 in the land, the horrible desecrations 'e holy 
 
 Sabbaths, the prevailing ignorance of Divine truth, the 
 apparent apathy of good men, the in Irunkness, 
 
 profanenees, dishonesty and debauchery— whatever be 
 the source of your trouble or the nature of your burden, 
 you are invited to cast it on the Lord. 
 
 But perhaps sorrows of a more personal kind are yours. 
 The heart knoweth his own bitterness. Every man shall 
 bear his own burden. Perhaps you are drooping under 
 some strong temptation, and are to some extent ac- 
 quainted with the doceitfulness and desperate wicked- 
 ness of your own heart ; and are afraid that you will be 
 
4 I \- il.\(, <>\T, UTJRDKN (;>N THE 1.0150. 
 
 left to yourself, and fall into some scandalous sin. Be 
 not high-minded Inn fear, watch and pray that ye enter 
 not into temptation. Therefore, we ought to riya tlie 
 
 us ore earnest heed to the things which we have heard 
 lest at any time we should let them elip.* 
 
 Take hedd brethren, lest there be in any of you 
 an evil heart of unbelief, in departing i'rom the 
 living God. But exhort one another daily, while 
 it is called to-day lest any of you be hardened 
 through the deeeitfulness of sin. Let uh therefore, fear 
 test a promise being left us of entering into His rest, 
 any of you should seem to come short of it. These pass- 
 ages, in strict accordance with the uniform tenor of the 
 word of God, show that we must diligently use the 
 means of grace if we would escape the damnation of 
 Jlell and attain the inheritance of the saints in light. While 
 it is the height of presumption, to look for Salvation 
 while destitute 6f the frftits of the Spirit, yet we need 
 not be alarmed by the slavish dread of eternal death, 
 while giving^U diligence to make our calling and election 
 sure, and putting our trust in the living God who giveth 
 us richly all things to enjoy. 
 
 Accordingly the deliverance, which we are taught to 
 expect with most confidence, and to desire with most 
 earnestness, is not deliverance from any temporal evil, 
 but from the intolerable burden of sin. Ask will) refer- 
 ence to this object and ye shall receive. Seek and ye 
 shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. 
 for every one that asketh rceeiveth and he that seckelh 
 iindeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 
 For this gracious assurance, we have no less authority 
 than that of Christ himself. If then our burden of sin 
 be not taken off, it is because we will not. This is the 
 solution of the mystery whi h the Master Irmself gives : 
 Ye wid net come unto me that ye might have life. This 
 is the condemnation that light is come into the world, 
 and men loved darkness rather than light because their 
 deeds were evil. Our sin, which ought to drive us k> 
 < 'hrist, is the very thing that keeps us from him. Tims 
 
 "Hebrews?: 1: Heb. S; 12: 13 a:.d 4: 1. 
 
[NO "IP. BURDKN ON III I l I) 
 
 He U'Mtiiies ot' Himself: I camo i j « > t ka caN the righteous, 
 but sinners to repentance. The whole u Physi- 
 
 cian bu^.they thai ate siek* X > one who 
 through this bitter struggle, will be disposed to glory 
 over another who may beeven now involved hi it. The 
 strong man armed, will not leave bis house without a 
 furious contest. Satan will not surrender the victim of 
 his wiles and (he partner of hi.-? \vuo.<, without a desperate 
 effort to retain him; and hitter is the |*ag and kottible 
 the agony endured by the >»♦ nitent when lie exclaims, 
 
 ''Oh! that my- load ofein were gone. 
 
 Oh ! that I could at last submit, 
 
 At Jems feet to lay me down ; 
 
 To lay my soul at Jesua feet." 
 But tfiere iv, in ike Gospel, tneoHtrngtment for tkone rqost 
 deeply dejected a nd a hope /all, qf immortality for th 
 d upondent. Lei us therefore consider tkb certainty of . 
 relief. We by no means affirm that the burden what- 
 ever it may be, shall he taken away, hut that the soul. shall 
 be strengthened to bear it. The needful succour shall 
 he administered and it .-hall be adapted to the harden. 
 If the thing complained of be sin. it has been aVoi 
 and it shall he remitted- Fof him bath God exalted to 
 be a Prince and a Savior, to giire repentance unto I 
 and remission of sins, and the blood of .lesus Christ, His 
 Son, cleanseth us from all sin. But what if the harden 
 he necessary either for our good or lor J I is glory ? What 
 it it he sent to humble us — to bend our proud necks to 
 his yoke? What if'it he an indispensable pari oi 
 spiritual discipline? What if it be needed to make u.s 
 meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light? What 
 though lie removi it not, ye4 shall He give u- grace to 
 bear it. Affliction is not always an evidence of tho 
 ldvine displeasure, for whom the Lord I o vet a He chus- 
 teneth and Boourgetli every son whom lie received). If 
 ye then be without chastisement whereof all are par- 
 takers, then are ye bayards and not J0/1& Thero was 
 once a servant of God who had keen distinguished by 
 extraordinary marks of favor, and by revelations ot pe- 
 culiar glory. He had been caught up to tho third 
 Heavens whether in the body he knew not, and whether 
 
CASTING OUB lUHDKx ON THE LORD. 
 
 out of the "body he knew not, but (here lie was admitted 
 •to visions of (Jod, and he beheld things that ought not 
 to be spoken or that human tongue was incompetent to 
 express. Am] yet after nil this, (i<>d scat a messenger of 
 Satan to bullet htm. What is the explanation of this 
 seeming mystery? Why did the favored Apostle find 
 this apparent inconsi- teney in the Divine dealing?- to- 
 ward him? We have the answer in his own words. 
 '•Lest J should be exalted above measure by the 
 abundance of the revelations." These opposite ex- 
 periences of the same man at different times, were not 
 merely consistent but related and dependent, It was 
 because he had been so exalted that he must he depress- 
 ed; because lie had been so highly favored that he must 
 be so deeply afflicted. And when he besought the Lord 
 thrice that it might depart from him, did it depart? Was 
 the burden removed — the thorn extracted — Satan's 
 messenger dismissed? No! the appropriate answer is 
 my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made 
 perfect m weakness.* 
 
 The instance which we have just contemplated, of a 
 servant of God, in some respects highly exalted, in others 
 unusually afflicted, is by no means an exception or de- 
 parture from the common course of His providential 
 dispensations. Doubtless when afflicted, not less than 
 when exalted, the Apostle accomplished the will of his 
 Divine Master. 
 
 Wit May therefore gather from his experience tend ex- 
 ample that it is possible to glorify <}o;l in suffering. This is 
 perhaps the most difficult service \fhich man can render 
 to God, and it is one which our mortal condition often 
 mak<-s it our duty to yield. It is comparatively easy to 
 perform many actiee. duties, because they are such as re- 
 putatfon, iiviertst and natural affection dictate. Nothing is 
 plainer than that we are bound to provide for the support 
 and comfort of those dependent upon us ; for the man 
 that tails to do this is said to have dented the faith and 
 to be worse than an intidcl. We are likewise required 
 to honor our father and mother, and he who can treat 
 
 *2d Cor., 12: 7: 10. 
 
CASTING OUR BURDEN ON THE LORD. i 
 
 with ingratitude those from whom he has derived his 
 earthly being, is justly regarded as a monster and a 
 miscreant. The Christian religion also renders the obli- 
 gation of speaking the truth to our neighbor and of the 
 strictest honest} in our pecuniary transactions impera- 
 tive and universal. But we find men scrupulous in the 
 performance of these duties, from no higher or better 
 principles than the world acknowledges, and although 
 they are necessary to the character ot a christian, they 
 do not alone constitute it, though no one who in 1 . 
 them can be a christian, yet all who observe them are 
 not christians. These ought ye to have done and not 
 left the others undone. Give unto Caeaar the things 
 which are ' >d the things which are 
 
 God's, But it is the peculiar privil people of 
 
 God to bear "What He sends upon them with reli 
 resignation — to suffer joyfully the spoiling of then 
 tor His name's sake ; and nothing^bwt : 
 enable them to do it. When tin 3 people of <i<'d are cut 
 off from active service — when by some painful dispensa- 
 tion affecting their heaHk, tfceii or their families t 
 they are so disabled as no longer to be capable of pei 
 forming those duties which habit had rendered familiar 
 and the blessing of God delightful, they are too apt lo 
 conclude that they can be useful no more. But they 
 may as truly glorify God when stretched upon a bed of 
 sickness as when employed in active duty; and there is 
 perhaps no more pleasing spectacle which God beholds 
 on earth than that of a good man patiently resigned to 
 His will when it appoints the loss of all things and 
 humbly trusting in }£ is mercy, when all His wa?< 
 His billows are going over him. They that trust in the 
 bord shad be as Mount Ziori, which cannot be removed, 
 but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about 
 Jerusalem, so the Lord la round about His peop e from 
 hencetorth even forever.* 
 
 *P*. 12fr: land 2. 
 
THE REFUGE, 
 
 JEsre, lover of my eon], 
 
 Let me to thy besom fly, 
 AVhi'e the billows near ine roll, 
 
 AVhile the tempest still is high: 
 Hide me, my Saviour, hide, 
 
 Till the storm of life is past: 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 
 ( 'h receive my soul at last. 
 
 Other refuge have I none, 
 
 Jiangs my helpless soul on thee ; 
 Leave, O leave me not alone, 
 
 Still support and comfort me: 
 All my trust on thee is stayed, 
 
 All my help from thee I bring; 
 Cover my defenceless head 
 
 With the shadow of thy wing. 
 
 Thou, O Christ, art all I want, 
 
 Boundless hive in thee I find; 
 Raise the fallen, cheer the faint. 
 
 Heal the sick, and lead the blind. 
 Just and holy is thy name, 
 
 J am all unrighteous: ess ; 
 Vile and full of sip I am, 
 
 Thou art fuT of truth and grace. 
 
 Plenteous grace with thee is found, 
 
 Grace to pardon all my sin ; 
 Let the healing streams abound, 
 
 Make and keep me pure within: 
 Thou of lile the fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take ofth.ee ; 
 Spring thou up within my heart, 
 
 Ki.se to all eternity. Rp»j? 
 
 £cow 
 
 ail 
 
 *423 
 
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