The Sin of Anxiety

“casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

The children of the Lord are subject to much sinful anxiety in following of their duty; which appears when they are hindered from their duty by looking more to their own weakness and the difficulties in the way of duty, than to the sufficiency promised by Him that calls them to it….

The Lord allows His children to cast upon Him all their anxieties, both such about their souls and matters of highest concernment, and those about their bodies and lesser matters: however small the thing be whereabout their heart becomes anxious, He allows them to commit the same to Him; for He knows that a very small matter is ready to occasion much vexation of spirit of His own.

It is not only the privilege of believers that they may dis-burden themselves of their distrustful heart-dividing cares by casting them over upon the Lord; but it is also the very great desire of our God that we should not sink under the insupportable burden of our own needless cares and fears.

Mis-believing anxiety, whereby Christians break themselves with the burden of these cares which God requires to be cast upon Him, is one of the greatest signs of pride in the world; and to trust God with the weight of these in following our duty is a prime evidence of true humility….

-Alexander Nisbet, 1&2 Peter Commentary

The Long-Suffering of God

No length of time can make the Lord forget His mercies, which impenitent sinners have abused. Even when they are in Hell He will remember them, and make them to remember them, for the increase of their unspeakable torment and vexation, Luke 16:25, for here the Spirit of the Lord, speaking by this Apostle, declares to the world that He is mindful of the despising of His patience and pains, manifested many thousand years ago, toward them that are now in Hell:

-Alexander Nisbet, 1&2 Peter Commentary, page 147

Perseverance a Result of Study

Nisbet commenting on 1Peter 1:13 (Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;) :

The consideration of our spiritual privileges by Jesus Christ should stir us up to the study of holiness; our diligence in that study being the means of our perseverance and that which clears our right to take the comfort of those privileges,…
-Alexander Nisbet, 1&2 Peter; Geneva Series of Commentaries

Alexander Nisbet, Altogether Necessary

For some time I have had my eye on Alexander Nisbet’s commentary on 1&2 Peter, so I went ahead and bought a used copy through amazon, with curiosity getting the better of me. I haven’t been able to find much information about him or even find any scanned images of his writings. In fact, I not sure he wrote anything beyond this commentary. But, from what I have read of it so far, I highly recommend this treatment of the Petrine epistles. For writing that is over 350 years old, it is very readable and the content obviates the passion of a preacher of Christ.  Commenting on 1 Peter 1:11 about the incarnation of Christ as predicted by the prophets (searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.) :

It is the way which the Lord usually keeps with the dearest of His servants to let out His mind to them by little and little, to make plain some things to them and keep up other things from them that He may humble them, quicken them to diligence, and keep up correspondence between Himself and them;…..yet they were kept dark concerning the particular time when He should come, and the distinct quality of His times, what form of worship and way of administration of Gospel ordinances there should be then.

God keeps His own counsel and timing. I’ll be quoting from Nisbet more in the future.

Alexander Nisbet?

I am starting a men’s bible study on I & II Peter within a week. When I start a bible study, I like to get a taste of perspectives from more than one century (i.e. not just my own) on commentaries that I use. I have been searching for a puritan commentary and I have been interested in one by Alexander Nisbet, but I don’t know about him at all and am having trouble getting any info on him.

Does anyone know anything about him or at least the quality of his commentary on I & II Peter? Any help or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!