Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy: Written for the Use of Such As Are or Have Been Exercised by the Same

by Rogers, Timothy; Kistler, Don

• ISBN13: 9781573581202
• ISBN10: 1573581208
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books

Summary

About the close of the 17th century, Timothy Rogers, a pious and able minister of London, fell into a state of deep melancholy. Such was the distressing darkness of his mind that he gave up all hope of the mercy of God and believed himself to be a vessel of wrath, designed for destruction for the praise of the glorious justice of the Almighty. His sad condition was known by many pious ministers and people throughout the country, who, it is believed, were earnest and incessant in their supplications on his behalf. Thus it pleased God to grant a complete deliverance for His suffering servant.

Table of Contents

Life of the Author	x
Dedication	xx
Preface	xxiv
Part I
Introduction	1	(3)
Chapter 1	4	(6)
The anger of God, and why it is that He is sometimes angry with His own servants
Chapter 2	10	(10)
The anger of God towards His people is but for a short season; and why He is pleased to order it to be so
Chapter 3	20	(15)
The several advantages that are designed by God for His servants in His being angry with them only for a moment, together with the obligations they are under from so merciful a dispensation of His providence, and the various improvements we are to make of it
Chapter 4	35	(7)
The great love of Christ in suffering the wrath of God in His soul, which is all the more to be admired in that He bore it for us, and not for the fallen angels; and because of that He is now, from His own experience, more qualified to relieve us under all our temptations
Chapter 5	42	(18)
The unreasonableness of long-continued anger among good people; also that the temporary effects of God's displeasure are more eligible than the wrath of men; the excellency of religion, and that the enemies of the Church have no cause to gloat over it because of its certain deliverance, and the dismal conclusion of their own wickedness; upon which account Christians have no reason to envy the prosperity of the wicked
Chapter 6	60	(15)
The duty of such as have never been under a sense of God's wrath and terror; and what the doleful condition of a soul is that apprehends itself to be under His hot displeasure
Chapter 7	75	(15)
Showing what is to be done by those who think God is angry with them: the first thing is prayer, as a principal help against their troubles; with some objections of tempted persons answered
Chapter 8	90	(13)
Faith in Christ as another help under the sense of God's displeasure, and the various tendencies it has to calm an afflicted soul under long and sore trials
Chapter 9	103	(12)
The direct acts of faith, as the most suitable to a distressed soul, as also of waiting upon God; with several considerations to enforce it. And a person in great affliction ought to hope that it may be better with him
Chapter 10	115	(12)
People under great trouble and anguish of soul are not to look for assurance or great joy all of a sudden, but, as far as they can, are to inquire into the reasons for God's displeasure towards them, and to look up to Him through their great Mediator, and not to further provoke Him; also how they may know when afflictions are sent in wrath and when in love
Chapter 11	127	(10)
Present distress of conscience is no sign of reprobation. There may be too great trouble for sin. And when it is excessive, former experiences may be helpful to afflicted people. God will not judge persons who have been good according to what they are in the woeful disease of melancholy
Chapter 12	137	(19)
The various ends that God has in allowing His servants to be under long afflictions, spiritual distress, and anguish
Chapter 13	156	(15)
What the duty is of those persons whom God has delivered from melancholy and from the anguish of their consciences under a sense of His wrath. Also, what a wonderful act of providence it is that allows a very sinful world to be in such great peace! And what cause there is for all people to pray against such diseases, whereof the devil serves himself to their great torment and vexation. And at the conclusion of this first part, what is to be thought of those who are distracted with trouble for their sins, and of those who die in great darkness as to their spiritual state
Part II
Chapter 14	171	(16)
The several sorts of life that we enjoy by God's favor, and in what conditions of our present pilgrimage it more especially revives us
Chapter 15	187	(19)
Of heaven and hell, and of that spiritual death which has seized the greatest part of the world. The reason why good people are many times very willing to die, and the inexcusableness and misery of those who are without God's favor. And whence it is that some grow in grace more than others, and are more earnest for a share in the love of God
Chapter 16	206	(12)
The favor of God is diligently to be sought, and what is to be done that we may obtain it
Chapter 17	218	(20)
We ought to take heed that we do not lose the favor of God once we have enjoyed it; and what we are to do so that we may not fall into a condition so miserable as this would be
Chapter 18	238	(11)
Assurance, and the false grounds upon which many are apt to conclude that they are God's favorites when they are not
Chapter 19	249	(16)
By what means we may know whether we have God's favor or not: first, by the grace of His Spirit, though the acting of them is neither so strong nor so comfortable at one time as at another; second, by our hatred of sin and being satisfied with all providences
Chapter 20	265	(14)
Several other ways whereby a sense of God's favor may be preserved in our souls, and how we may certainly know that we are in that happy state
Chapter 21	279	(6)
The several privileges that belong to those who have God's favor
Part III
Chapter 22	285	(13)
The many miseries of this mortal life that are the usual occasions of sorrow to the sons of men, with respect to both their bodies and their souls
Chapter 23	298	(7)
Showing that the fall of Adam was the cause of all our miseries; in how excellent a condition the blessed angels are; and the folly of such as expect to meet with nothing in the world but what is easy and pleasant
Chapter 24	305	(13)
The peculiar occasions of weeping that good Christians have more than other men
Chapter 25	318	(16)
The dreadful apprehensions a soul has that is under desertion, and in several respects how very sad and doleful its condition is, from the author's own experience
Chapter 26	334	(10)
Some objections answered, a further discussion of the doleful state of a deserted soul, and why it is that God is pleased to allow a very tempestuous and stormy night to come upon His servants in this world
Chapter 27	344	(11)
Why it is that melancholy and troubled people love solitude, and why it is that serious persons are not as light and frothy in their conversations as others are. Some inferences deducible from the foregoing doctrine, and some advice to those who have never been deserted, and to such as complain that they are so
Chapter 28	355	(14)
The great joy that fills a soul when the favor of God returns to it after it has been long in darkness
Chapter 29	369	(13)
The further properties of the joy that comes to a soul after long desertion: it is irresistible, though usually gradual; it revives the body and the natural spirits; it fills the late mourner with the hope of glory, and causes him to express his delight to others. From all this we may justly admire the wisdom of divine providence
Chapter 30	382	(6)
The different ends that God has in the afflictions of the good and the wicked, and what reason we have to be reconciled to His providence. We must be satisfied that God carries us to heaven in His own way and method
Chapter 31	388
The conclusion of the whole treatise, with directions to such as have been formerly in the darkness of a sorrowful night, and now enjoy the light of day