Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing ChristiansRyle, J. C. (John Charles)
Religion
Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles)
Christian life -- Anglican authors
(3) In the third place, I exhort all true Christians who read this paper
to remember how much they may glorify God in the time of sickness, and
to _lie quiet in God's hand when they are ill_.
I feel it very important to touch on this point. I know how ready the
heart of a believer is to faint, and how busy Satan is in suggesting
doubts and questionings, when the body of a Christian is weak. I have
seen something of the depression and melancholy which sometimes comes
upon the children of God when they are suddenly laid aside by disease,
and obliged to sit still. I have marked how prone some good people are
to torment themselves with morbid thoughts at such seasons, and to say
in their hearts, "God has forsaken me: I am cast out of His sight."
I earnestly entreat all sick believers to remember that they may honour
God as much by patient suffering as they can by active work. It often
shows more grace to sit still than it does to go to and fro, and perform
great exploits. I entreat them to remember that Christ cares for them as
much when they are sick as He does when they are well, and that the very
chastisement they feel so acutely is sent in love, and not in anger.
Above all, I entreat them to recollect the sympathy of Jesus for all His
weak members. They are always tenderly cared for by Him, but never so
much as in their time of need. Christ has had great experience of
sickness. He knows the heart of a sick man. He used to see "all manner
of sickness, and all manner of disease" when He was upon earth. He felt
specially for the sick in the days of His flesh. He feels for them
specially still. Sickness and suffering, I often think, make believers
more like their Lord in experience, than health. "Himself took our
infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Isaiah liii. 3; Matt. viii. 17.)
The Lord Jesus was a "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." None
have such an opportunity of learning the mind of a suffering Saviour as
suffering disciples.
(4) I conclude with a word of _exhortation_ to all believers, which I
heartily pray God to impress upon their souls. I exhort you to keep up a
habit of close communion with Christ, and never to be afraid of "going
too far" in your religion. Remember this, if you wish to have "great
peace" in your times of sickness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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