PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Life and Times of David. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. VI
Mackintosh, Charles Henry, 1820-1896 · 107,515 words · 153 reading sections
THE THRONE AND THE ALTAR.
(Isa. vi. 1-8). In this sublime passage of Scripture we notice two prominent objects, namely, the throne and the altar; and, moreover, we perceive the action of these two objects upon the soul of the prophet. The entire scene is full of interest and instruction. May we gaze upon it aright! "In the year that king Uzzi…
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And be it carefully noted by the reader that the prophet when under the convicting light of the throne is not occupied with what he had done or left undone. The question before his soul was not as to the evil he had done or the good he had left undone. No; it was something far deeper than this. In a word, he was occupi…
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Such, then, is the precious and beautiful connection between the throne and the altar--a connection which may be easily traced through the inspired volume from Genesis to Revelation, and through the history of God's redeemed from Adam down to the present moment. All who have been really brought to Jesus have experience…
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Do you not own yourself to be a sinner?--a deep-dyed and ruined sinner? If so the death of Christ applies itself as perfectly to you as the "live coal" did to Isaiah when the seraph declared to him, "This hath touched thy lips." The word is, "If any say I have sinned,"--What then? He will send him to hell? No; but "he …
521 wordsSECTION 65LEGALITY AND LEVITY
Feeling, as we trust we do, in some little measure our responsibility to the souls of our readers, as well as to the truth of God, we desire to offer a brief but pointed word of warning against two opposite evils which we can plainly see working among Christians at the present moment. These are legality on the one hand…
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This, beloved reader, is at once the cure for legality and levity. The Cross, in its double aspect, delivers from both. Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father" (Gal. i. 4). By the Cross the believer is as completely delivered…
578 wordsSECTION 67A RISEN SAVIOUR'S CHALLENGE
(Luke xxiv.) The period during which our blessed Lord lay in the tomb must needs have proved a dark and bewildering moment to many of those who looked for redemption in Israel. It would demand a calm, clear and vigorous faith to raise the heart above the heavy clouds which gathered just then upon the horizon of God's …
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How earnestly, then, should we seek, as members of the household of _God_, to give a right impression of what He is by our temper, spirit, style and manner! If men of the world--those with whom we come in contact from day to day in the practical details of life--if they see us looking sour, morose, downcast--if they he…
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"And they rose up the same hour" of the night--thus proving they had but little business at Emmaus, or how paramount was the blessed object now before them, "and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And…
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Yes, dearly beloved Christian reader, "It is written" was a favorite sentence with our divine Master and Lord. He ever obeyed the Word. He yielded a hearty and unqualified submission to its holy authority in all things. He lived on it and by it from first to last. He walked according to it and never acted without it. H…
434 wordsSECTION 71PAST AND PRESENT
It is at once interesting, instructive and encouraging to trace through Scripture the history of what is called "The Remnant." We may remark at the outset that the fact of there being a remnant proves the failure of the ostensible witness or professing body, whether Jewish or Christian. If all were faithful there would…
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Now we may rest assured that all this was most grateful to the heart of Jehovah, God of Israel. True there was weakness, failure, short-coming. Things were not externally what they were in Solomon's day. Doubtless many may have looked upon Hezekiah's acting as presumptuous in convening such an assembly under the circum…
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But, blessed forever be the God of all grace, He never leaves Himself without a witness; and hence, during the long and dreary period of Babylonish captivity, we find some most striking and beautiful proofs of the statement that the greater the ruin the richer the grace, and the deeper the gloom the brighter the flashe…
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But, on the other hand, we are not to draw a plea from the ruin of the Church for laxity as to truth, or sluggishness in our personal walk. We are in great danger of this. There is no reason whatever why any child of God, or servant of Christ, should do or sanction what is wrong, or continue for an hour in association …
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What a deplorable condition of things! It is simply heart-breaking to contemplate. The public worship of God brought into utter contempt; the ministers of religion working only for hire; venality and corruption in connection with the holy service of God; every form of moral pravity practiced amongst the people. In shor…
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I might here close this paper, were it not that I am anxious to present the reader with two or three illustrations drawn from the precious pages of the New Testament. In the opening of Luke's Gospel we have a lovely picture of a remnant in the midst of a hollow, heartless profession. We listen to the spiritual heart-ut…
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Let us see how all this comes out in Jude's address to the remnant. "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Here then we have a lovely view of the true Christian r…
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Here then we have a deeply interesting view of the Christian remnant. It is not the Church restored, but a distinct company clear of Jezebel's teaching and Satan's depths, and going on to the end. It is of the utmost importance that the reader should be clear in reference to the fact that the last four churches run on …
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But we must quote the remainder of this most exquisite address, so full of comfort and consolation. "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of _My God_, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of …
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How solemn is all this! People boasting of their riches, and of their having need of nothing, and Christ outside. They have lost the sense of divine righteousness, symbolized by "gold," and practical human righteousness, as symbolized by "white raiment," and yet full of themselves and their doings--the very reverse of …
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And in speaking of the work of an evangelist, we must not confine it to public halls and rooms, which, of course, demand a distinct gift from the Head of the Church. We believe it is the sweet privilege of every child of God to be in a condition of soul to tell the glad tidings to individual souls in private life; and …
291 wordsSECTION 82DAVID
By C. H. M.…
4 wordsSECTION 83INTRODUCTION
The steps which led to the setting up of a king in Israel are easily traced, and easily accounted for, by all who have studied with any attention the humbling history of the human heart, either as presented in themselves or in others. In the opening chapters of 1 Samuel we are furnished with a most instructive and sol…
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In chapter iii. we have the prediction of the terrible downfall of Eli's house. "And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, _and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see_; and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down t…
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And observe the nature and ground of their confidence, in this their time of need and pressure: "And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it…
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Chapters v. and vi. embrace the period during which "Ichabod" was written upon the nation of Israel. During this time God ceased to act publicly for Israel, and the ark of His presence was carried about from city to city of the uncircumcised Philistines. This period is full of instruction. The ark of God among stranger…
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Now all this is replete with instruction and encouragement at a time like the present, when the people of God are so sadly declining from that deep tone of devotedness and separation which ought to characterize them. We should bless the Lord for the full assurance of His faithfulness--"He cannot deny Himself"; "The fou…
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Reader, is there not a solemn admonition in all this for the professing Church? Truly there is. The present is preeminently a day of form without power. The spirit of cold and uninfluential formalism is moving upon the face of Christendom's troubled waters, and soon all will settle down in the deathlike calm of false p…
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Chapter viii. In this chapter we have a very marked step towards the setting up of a king in Israel. "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.... And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment." Sad picture! How like …
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Saul was emphatically the man after Israel's heart: he had all that the flesh could desire--"a choice young man, and a goodly; and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people." This was all very imposing to those who could only…
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And mark the change upon Israel the moment that faith begins to act amongst them. The trembling was transferred from Israel to the Philistines; "and there was a trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth quaked; so it was a very great …
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How important to have this great principle pressed home upon the conscience, when so many are cloaking all sorts of disobedience with the word, Sacrifice, sacrifice! "_To obey is better than sacrifice._" It is far better to have the will in subjection to God than to load His altar with the costliest sacrifices. When th…
869 wordsSECTION 93DAVID ANOINTED
We now come to our theme--our rich and varied theme--the life and times of David, king of Israel. In looking through Scripture, we observe how wonderfully the blessed God has ever brought good out of evil. It was Israel's sin to reject their King, Jehovah, and seek to set up a man over them; and in that man, who first…
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However, the Lord, in tender mercy, meets His servant in his difficulty. "And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord." Thus with a full horn and a sacrifice he sets off to the city of David, where an obscure and unthought-of youth tended a few sheep in the wilderness. Among…
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The people were the Lord's sheep, and he, as the Lord's shepherd, kept them on the mountains of Israel, just as he had kept his father's sheep in the retirement of Bethlehem. He did not alter his character when he came from the sheep-cote to the throne, and exchanged the crook for the sceptre. No; he was the shepherd s…
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[11] "Yea, man is born as a wild ass's colt" says Job xi. 12, describing man's natural condition--wilful, unmanageable, unclean. Compare Exod. xiii. 13, and Hosea viii. 9. Saul and Israel were only too manifestly pictured in this unsuccessful search after his father's asses. David was the keeper of his father's sheep. …
147 wordsSECTION 97THE VALLEY OF ELAH
No sooner had the anointing oil of the Lord been poured upon David, than he was called forth from his retirement to stand before king Saul, now forsaken of God, and troubled with an evil spirit. This unhappy man needed the soothing notes of David's harp to dispel the horrid influence of that spirit which now haunted hi…
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But the Lord was secretly preparing an instrument for this new and more difficult work. And, my reader, may we not say it is ever thus that the blessed God acts? He trains in secret those whom He is about to use in public. He makes His servants acquainted with Himself in the secret solemnity of His sanctuary, and cause…
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"And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine." Precious faith! no difficulty deters it--nothing stands in its way. What was the Philistine to David? Nothing. His tremendous height, his formidable armor, were mere circumstances; _and faith never look…
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Now, both these cases are full of practical instruction for us. With the majority of us, alas, there is too great a readiness to talk of our doings, or, at least, to think much of them. The flesh is prone to glory in anything that might exalt _self_; and if the Lord, despite of the evil in us, has accomplished any litt…
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"And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him." Happy deliverance from the trammels of human policy! It has been observed, and most truly so, that David's trial was not …
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[14] For the important distinction between the expressions, "Lord" and "God"--Jehovah and Elohim--see "Notes on the Book of Genesis," chap. ii. [15] It is interesting to observe David's address to Goliath. He does not say, "I come to thee _with a sling and a stone_." No; but, "in the name of the Lord of hosts." With h…
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That we are warranted in making such application will, surely, not be questioned. The whole scene, from first to last, is too remarkable to admit of a question. In Goliath we behold the power of the enemy by which he held the soul in grievous bondage. From this power there was no means of deliverance within human reach…
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This train of thought has been suggested by the deeply interesting and touching interview between David and Jonathan, when the conflict was over. The many thousands of Israel had raised the shout of triumph, and pursued the Philistines to reap the fruits of victory, while Jonathan was delighting himself in the person o…
487 wordsSECTION 105THE CAVE OF ADULLAM
From amid the brilliant lustre of the valley of Elah, David passed into very different scenes in the household of Saul, where envious looks and heartless attempts upon his life were the only returns for the soothing notes of his harp, and the valiant exploits of his sling and his sword. Saul owed his continuance on the…
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It was this subjection of spirit that led David to give way in the matter of the kingdom, and to take his place in the lonely cave of Adullam. He left Saul, and the kingdom, and his own destinies in the hands of God, assured that all would yet be well. And, oh, how happy was it for him to find himself outside the unhea…
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Reader, you may clearly perceive in David and his despised company a precious sample of the true David, and those who prefer companionship with Him to all the joys, the honors, and emoluments of earth. Those who had cast in their lot with David--what had they to do with the interests of Saul? They had found a new objec…
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Christian! ponder well your heavenly calling--it is the only thing that will give full deliverance from the power and influence of worldliness. Men may seek _abstraction_ from the world in various ways, but there is only one in which to attain _separation_ from it. Again, men may seek to render themselves _unearthly_ i…
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And let the reader observe, that all this was not merely an admission of the Gentile into the Jewish fold.[17] No, it was taking both Jew and Gentile out of their circumstances in nature, and setting them down in new circumstances--new to both. The work of the Cross was needful to break down the middle wall of partitio…
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Oh that all who profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ may seek a more decided identification with Him in this the time of His rejection! The citizens have sent a message after Him, saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us;" and shall we go and associate ourselves with those citizens to forward their Christ-r…
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[18] There is something peculiarly touching and beautiful in the above scene, whether we contemplate the act of the three mighty men in procuring the water for David, or David's act in pouring it out to the Lord. It is evident that David discerned, in an act of such uncommon devotedness, a sacrifice which none but the …
323 wordsSECTION 112NABAL AND ABIGAIL.--I SAM. XXV.
It is interesting to observe, as we pass from stage to stage of David's history, how different individuals were affected toward his person, and the consequent position assumed in reference to him. It required energy of faith to discern, in the despised outcast, the future king of Israel. In this chapter we are presente…
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The moral of all this is deeply instructive. It demands the clear vision of faith to enable any one to discern the true glory of Christ, and cleave to Him in the time of His rejection. It is one thing to be a Christian, as people say, and another thing to confess Christ before men. Indeed, one can hardly find anything …
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We shall have occasion, as we proceed with our subject, to trace this principle more fully, and shall now turn to another character introduced to our notice in this instructive chapter. This is Abigail, the wife of Nabal, "a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance." A noble testimony, surely, and on…
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Now Abigail, by the grace of God, delivered David from the unhappy influence of the _present_, by leading his soul onward into the _future_: we learn this from her exquisite address to him. "And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the grou…
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Dear Christian reader, this is our model; thus ought we to meet the trials and difficulties, the reproach, obloquy and desertion of this present time. We should view _all_ in the light of "_hereafter_." "Our light affliction," says an eminent sufferer, "which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and…
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Such are the soul-stirring, momentous facts presented to us throughout the book of God, in order to detach our hearts from present things, and bind them in genuine affection to those objects and prospects which stand connected with the person of the Son of God. Nor will aught else, save the deep and positive conviction…
565 wordsSECTION 118ZIKLAG
In dwelling upon a history such as that now before us, which manifestly presents much failure and infirmity, it is well for us to keep in memory what we ourselves are, lest we be found pointing out the lapses of others in a spirit of self-complacency. The divine penman has set before us, with unflinching fidelity, all …
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"And David said _in his heart_, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines." This was David's second visit to the land of the Philistines. In chapter xxi. we read, "And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul,…
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How completely must David have lost the sense of God's sufficiency when he could say, "There is _nothing better_ for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines." Nothing better for a man of faith than to go back to the world for refuge! Strange confession! The confession of one who had allow…
881 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.