October 8, 2011
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"if I would but cease struggling ... I might be happy" (Edward Payson)
From "Memoir, Select Thoughts and Sermons of the Late Rev. Edward Payson, Volume 1" by Edward Payson (1783-1827) and Asa Cummings, 319-321, emphasis mine:
A letter of counsel to a candidate for the ministry:—
" My Dear Brother :—I rejoice to learn that you are in part released from the bondage in which you have been so long held. That you are released, I infer, first, from the fact that you are preaching; and, secondly, from your having written me a letter. But what a request does your letter contain ! That I should write to you systematically ! I, who never did any thing systematically in my life, but have always lived extempore! If I write to you, it must be in the same way. It will be the easiest thing in the world to give you plenty of good advice. All the difficulty will be, to make you follow it. If you are like me, you will never learn any thing to any purpose, till it is beaten into you by painful experience; and even then, you will probably forget it in a tenth part of the time which it took you to learn it. However, I will tell you one thing, which experience has taught me. If you will believe it, on my word, it will save you some suffering. If not, you must learn it, as I did, under the scourge." Some time since, I took up a little work, purporting to be the lives of sundry characters, as related by themselves. Two of those characters agreed in remarking, that they were never happy until they ceased striving to be great men. This remark struck me, as you know the most simple remarks will strike us, when Heaven pleases. It occurred to me at once, that most of my sins and sufferings were occasioned by an unwillingness to be the nothing which I am, and by consequent struggles to be something. I saw that if I would but cease struggling, and consent to be any thing, or nothing, just as God pleases, I might be happy. You will think it strange, that I mention this as a new discovery. In one sense, it was not new ; I had known it for years. But I now saw it in a new light. My heart saw it, and consented to it; and I am comparatively happy. My dear brother, if you can give up all desire to be great, and feel heartily willing to be nothing, you will be happy too. You must not even wish to be a great Christian; that is, you must not wish to make great attainments in religion, for the sake of knowing that you have made, or for the sake of having others think that you have made them. Very true, very good, you will say, though somewhat trite; but how am I to bring myself to such a state ? Let me ask, in reply, why you are not troubled, when you see one man receive military, and another masonic honors? Why are you not unhappy, because you cannot be a colonel, a general, or a most worshipful grand high priest. Because, you answer, I have no desire for these titles or distinctions. And why do you not desire them? Simply because you are not running a race in competition with those who obtain them. You stand aside, and say, 'Let those who wish for these things have them.' Now if you can, in a similar manner, give up all competition with respect to other objects; if you can stand aside from the race which too many other ministers are running, and say, from your heart, ' Let those who choose to engage in such a race divide the prize; let one minister run away with the money, and another with the esteem, and a third with the applause, &c.; I have something else to do; a different race to run; be God's approbation the only prize for which I run; let me obtain that, and it is enough ; I say, if you can, from the heart, adopt this language, you will find most of your difficulties and sufferings vanish. But it is hard to say this. It is almost impossible to persuade any man to renounce the race, without cutting off his feet, or, at least, fettering him. This God has done for me; this he has been doing for you. And you will, one day, if you do not now, bless him for all your sufferings, as I do for mine. I have not suffered one pang too much. God was never more kind than when I thought him most unkind; never more faithful than when I was ready to say, His faithfulness has failed. Let him fetter you, then, if he pleases. Consent that he should cut off your feet, if he pleases. Any thing is a blessing which prevents us from running the fatal race, which we are so prone to run; which first convinces us that we are nothing, and then makes us willing to be so."
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Psalms 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.Psalm 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Psalm 131:1 LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
I Corinthians 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
Isaiah 29:19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Related:What Is Christian Contentment?
"the aim in life is God's, not mine" (Oswald Chambers)
Kingdom-Obsessed People don't seek "great things" for themselves
Lent V. - You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)
My love affair . . . whose trumpet, whose glory & incomplete joy
Lenten Reflections: Climbing (the minister's descent)
What is your attitude toward trials and sufferings? ~ Whitefield's Journals
"Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation" by Joseph Hart
"So you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name" (Isaiah 63:14b)
but made Himself of no reputation ~ O, for grace to be a doorkeeper! (Philippians 2, Psalm 84)
Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
All things (even bad things) work together for good...
Bible Reading-Isaiah: When We Think the LORD Has Forsaken and Forgotten Us
A Hymn for "Shelf" Times ..."Lord, We Know That Thou Art Near Us"
Why I blog and the only kind of recommendation I should seek
Birthday reflections ~ "Keep me an infant" (Isaiah 46:1-4)
Letter 16 on assurance and fighting for joy (our prayers, His wise denials and joy)
Letter 25 on assurance and fighting for joy (a strong craving ≠ His joy)
our Father's discipline, William Cowper on trials & sufferings (letter 61 on assurance & joy)
Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
Rejoicing here on the Potter's Wheel (Psalm 66) | Letter 96 on assurance & joy
dreams grasped, dreams released | letter 104 on assurance & fighting for joyScripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
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Comments (6)
nice bloge
Wow!!
How unlike this we are! Even desiring to be a great Christian carries with it the same problem: We are competing, striving to be something when we should be content to be what God is fashioning of us.
"if you can give up all desire to be great, and feel heartily willing to be nothing, you will be happy too."
@dmcx2010 - Thank you. I love reading of God's work in the lives of others; it really spurs me on.
@quest4god@revelife - This is EXACTLY why I read Christian biography, good Christian biography that is, and it is why I keep pushing others to do likewise. You aren't going to find very much contemporary teaching out there like this at all.
Some of these believers are so filled with the Spirit of God and as we read, we are taken to a plane beyond the ordinary, and we begin to see a glimpse of "glorious possibilities" that are truly available to us as believers through Jesus Christ (using ML-J's wording there). Don't know if you've seen this post or not... It includes an excerpt from ML-J's "Revival": http://naphtali-deer.xanga.com/706625838/postcards-from-england-are-we-excited-over-a-dead-fish-and-a-car-wreck/
And Spurgeon said: "There is a point in grace which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldly."
If we keep filling our heads and hearts w/ worldly stuff or mediocre so-called "Christian" stuff, what do we really expect to come out? GIGO...
Ephesians 3:14-21. Christ's fullness is made available to ALL the saints. We have not b/c we ask not. Luke 11:1-13. We are so pathetic in what we pray about. If we aren't praying for the Holy Spirit, we are not walking worthy of His calling as children of God.
@quest4god@revelife - P.S. - the thing that's wonderful is that so many of these older books are available to us on google books and/or other places b/c there's no longer any copyright on them. I did include links to the book and to the excerpt in the original post. However, call me old-fashioned, but I do like to hold the actual book myself, so I can mark it up, etc. I did end up getting a computer-generated copy of this one, and it has a few typos and the formatting isn't great, but it's serviceable. And then I really love that I can search through the online google book to find things and then pull out quotes, etc.
I enjoyed the read. Thank you much.
@nidan - You're welcome.