Causes and Cure of Melancholy
H. Kollock, D. D. Psalm 42:11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope you in God: for I shall yet praise him… I. THE CAUSES OF RELIGIOUS MELANCHOLY. 1. Sometimes our compassionate Father, who in mercy visits us so often with external afflictions, is pleased, for the same benevolent reasons, to make us suffer internal sorrows. As when the sun is eclipsed, all nature appears to mourn, so everything is gloomy to the believer when anything interposes between his soul and the gracious countenance of his God. 2. Sometimes Satan is permitted to disquiet and distress the children of God. 3. With Satan, wicked men often concur to depress and cast down the pious. 4. But the great causes of our dejections and melancholy are to be found in ourselves. (1) From the temperament of the body (2) From ignorance and error. (3) From sin. II. WHY, LIKE THE PSALMIST, WE SHOULD ENDEAVOUR TO RISE FROM THIS STATE. Your duty to God, as wail as your own happiness, requires this. How imperfectly are all the Christian duties performed by you, when you are thus "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow": how unfitly do you worship Him who loves a cheerful and a thankful giver? III. THE MEANS WHEREBY WE MAY AGAIN OBTAIN PEACE, COMFORT, AND A CALM TRUST IN GOD. 1. Imitate the psalmist here: instead of yielding to a vague grief, cite your soul; inquire of it the particular cause of your sorrow: different remedies will be requisite, according to the different sources of your distress: and be careful that you trifle not with God, and your comfort, and your salvation, while you inquire of your soul, "why art thou cast down?" 2. Be careful to understand the Gospel-scheme of salvation; especially the nature, the terms, the intent of the covenant of grace. 3. Study also the promises of God; view them in their variety, their extent, their application to you. 4. In your devotions, be much employed in praise and thanksgiving, instead of principally occupying yourselves with lamentations. If you cannot do this with all the joy that you would, do it as well as you can. 5. Be not unacquainted with your own hearts; examine them, to see the marks of conversion, and to "make your calling sure" to yourselves. 6. But do not confine yourselves to this self-examination; be also engaged in active duties. The growing and fruitful Christian will be a comfortable one; a degree of peace and satisfaction will follow every good action; and your graces, acquiring maturity, will shine by their own light. (H. Kollock, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. WEB: Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.