For the Righteous and Those Who Live Without God in the World

At all events, it shall be well with the righteous. Rejoice, believers, in the Lord. You may be assured, upon the warrant of His faithful promise, either that He will preserve you from the evils which our sins give us such cause to apprehend; or, if He should appoint you to share in a common calamity, He will make you shoes of iron and brass when any part of the road on which you travel through this wilderness towards your heavenly home, shall prove very difficult and rugged. Pray for grace to sit loose to the world, and you will have nothing to fear. The first Christians rejoiced in the spoiling of their goods, and so shall you if the Lord calls you to the trial. You have the same Saviour to support you, and you likewise have treasures far better and more enduring, out of the reach of violence. The Lord teaches us to consider even the loss of life as comparatively of small importance when He says, “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” They cannot do that without His permission. The very hairs of your head are numbered, and most of those who have suffered death for Him, who died upon the cross for them, have thought the honor of dying in His cause more to be valued than a thousand lives.

My feelings are painful for you who live without God in the world. I do not wonder if your heart trembles like the leaves of a tree when agitated by a mighty wind. You know not what may come upon you, but you forebode the worst— and, should it prove so, you have no resource, no hiding place, no Almighty Friend to whom you may with confidence apply for help in time of trouble. Death, at least, is inevitable; and will you dare to die, (yet die you must) if your heart be unhumbled and your sins unpardoned? We preach to you a gracious, powerful Saviour, who invites you to seek Him, and has said, “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” Seek Him then today while it is called today. Now is the accepted time, the day of salvation. Tomorrow is not your own.

Let believers rejoice and be glad. The Lord reigns, your Lord reigns. He who loved you and gave Himself for you, possesses and exercises all power in heaven and earth. Though clouds and darkness are about His throne and His paths are untraceable by us, we are sure that He is carrying on His great designs for the glory of His great name and for the extension and establishment of His Church, in a way worthy of Himself—worthy of infinite wisdom and goodness. Make His name your strong tower of refuge. Hold out faith and patience. Yet a little while, and we hope to meet where “the wicked cease from troubling; there the weary be at rest” and hear those welcome words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

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