PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Weighed and Wanting: Addresses on the Ten Commandments
Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837-1899 · 32,362 words · 85 reading sections
GOD'S WEIGHTS.
_Extortioner_, are you ready to step into the scales? What will you do with the condemnation of God--"Thou has taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbor's by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God?" _Employer_, are you guilty of sweating your employees? Have you defrauded th…
540 wordsSECTION 62STOLEN GOODS A BURDEN.
I heard of a boy who stole a cannon-ball from a navy-yard. He watched his opportunity, sneaked into the yard, and secured it. But when he had it, he hardly knew what to do with it. It was heavy, and too large to conceal in his pocket, so he had to put it under his hat. When he got home with it, he dared not show it to …
439 wordsSECTION 63RESTITUTION.
If you have ever taken money dishonestly, you need not pray God to forgive you and fill you with the Holy Ghost until you make restitution. If you have not got the money now to pay back, will to do it, and God accepts the willing mind. Many a man is kept in darkness and unrest because he fails to obey God on this poin…
620 wordsSECTION 64TRUTH NECESSARY.
Organized society of a degree higher than that of the herding of animals and flocking of birds depends so much upon the power of speech, that without it we may say society would be impossible. Language is an essential element in the social fabric. To its purpose it must be trustworthy. Words must command confidence. An…
195 wordsSECTION 65PERJURY.
The bearing of false witness is forbidden, but this must not be limited merely to testimony given in the law court or under oath. Isn't it a condemnation that men have to be put under oath in order to make sure of their speaking the truth? As a legal offence, _perjury_--the bearing of false witness when under oath--is …
113 wordsSECTION 66LYING.
We have got nowadays so that we divide lies into white lies and black lies, society lies, business lies, etc. The Word of God knows no such letting-down of the standard. A lie is a lie, no matter what are the circumstances under which it is uttered, or by whom. I have heard that in Siam they sew up the mouth of a confi…
130 wordsSECTION 67SLANDER.
You don't like to have any one bear false witness against you, or help to ruin your character or reputation: then why should you do it to others? How public men are slandered in this country! None escape, whether good or bad. Judgment is passed upon them, their family, their character, by the press and by individuals w…
318 wordsSECTION 68A TEST OF TRUE RELIGION.
Government of the tongue is made the test of true religion by James. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. . . . For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridl…
144 wordsSECTION 69FOR GOOD OR EVIL.
The tongue can be an instrument of untold good or incalculable evil. Some one has said that a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. "Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. . . . They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under …
436 wordsSECTION 70WORDS NEVER CALLED BACK.
The most dangerous thing about it is that a word once uttered can never be obliterated. Some one has said that lying is a worse crime than counterfeiting. There is some hope of following up bad coins until they are all recovered; but an evil word can never be overtaken. The mind of the hearer or reader has been poisone…
159 wordsSECTION 71THE FATE OF THE LIAR AND SLANDERER.
These sins are devilish, and the Bible is severe in its denunciations of them. It contains many solemn warnings. "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. . . . The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut …
121 wordsSECTION 72HOW TO OVERCOME.
"But, Mr. Moody," you say, "how can I check myself? how can I overcome the habit of lying and gossip?" A lady once said to me that she had got so into the habit of exaggerating that her friends said they could never understand her. The cure is simple, but not very pleasant. Treat it as a sin, and confess it to God and…
636 wordsSECTION 73A SEARCHING COMMANDMENT.
It would be absurd for such a law as this to be placed upon any human statute book. It could never be enforced. The officers of the law would be powerless to detect infractions. The outward conduct may be regulated, but the thoughts and intents of a man are beyond the reach of human law. But God can see behind outward…
404 wordsSECTION 74GODS THOUGHTS ABOUT COVETOUSNESS.
Let us examine a few of the Bible passages that bear down on this sin, and see what are God's thoughts about it. "_Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thie…
443 wordsSECTION 75A SORE EVIL.
"_He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether …
420 wordsSECTION 76A TEMPTATION AND A SNARE.
"_They that will be_, (that is, desire to be), _rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition_." The Bible speaks of the deceitfulness of two things--"the deceitfulness of _sin_" and "the deceitfulness of _riches_." Riches are like a mirage…
597 wordsSECTION 77A ROOT EXTRACTOR.
"_For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows_." The Revised Version translates it--"_a root of all kinds of evil_." This tenth commandment has therefore been aptly called a "root-extractor," because it …
726 wordsSECTION 78HOW TO OVERCOME.
You ask me how you are to cast this unclean spirit out of your heart? I think I can tell you. In the first place, make up your mind that by the grace of God you will overcome the spirit of selfishness. You must overcome it, or it will overcome you. Paul said: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; f…
730 wordsSECTION 79ONE LAW, NOT TEN.
These ten commandments are not ten different laws; they are one law. If I am being held up in the air by a chain with ten links and I break one of them, down I come, just as surely as if I break the whole ten. If I am forbidden to go out of an enclosure, it makes no difference at what point I break through the fence. "…
293 wordsSECTION 80ALL HAVE COME SHORT.
For fifteen hundred years man was under the law, and no one was equal to it. Christ came and showed that the commandments went beyond the mere letter; and can any one since say that he has been able to keep them in his own strength? As the plummet is held up, we see how much we are out of the perpendicular. As we measu…
308 wordsSECTION 81FALSE WEIGHTS.
Men have all sorts of weights that they think are going to satisfy, but they will find that they are altogether vanity, and lighter than vanity. The moral man is as guilty as the rest. His morality cannot save him. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. . . . Except ye be converted, and become as little chil…
303 wordsSECTION 82LOVE THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW.
If the love of God is shed abroad in your heart, you will be able to fulfil the law. Paul reduced the commandments to one: "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Some one has written the following: "Love to God will admit no other God. Love resents everything that debases its object by representing it by an image. Love …
109 wordsSECTION 83ARE YOU READY?
It is the height of madness to turn away and run the risk of being called by God to judgment and have no hope in Christ. Now is the day and hour to accept salvation, and then He will be with you. Do you step aside and say: "I'm not ready yet. I want a little more time to prepare, to turn the matter over in my mind?" We…
244 wordsSECTION 84WORKS BY G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
The Crises of the Christ. 8vo, cloth, net, $2.00 The Spirit of God. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians. 12mo, cloth, net, $1.00. God's Methods with Man; In Time--Past, Present and Future. With colored chart. 12mo, paper, 50 cents. Cloth, $1.00. Wherein Have We Robbed God…
149 wordsSECTION 85THE WITH CHRIST SERIES
By ANDREW MURRAY With Christ in the School of Prayer. Thoughts on Our Training for the Ministry of Intercession. Abide in Christ. Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God. Like Christ. Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Conformity to the Son of God. Holy in Christ. Thoughts on the Calling of …
169 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.