PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 1
James Hastings · 160,791 words · 166 reading sections
Section 1
, ; ♦ ^'^^ .H3S V. / copy I THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE We must preach more upon the great texts of the Scriptures, the tremendous passages whose vastnesses almost terrify us as we approach them. J. H. JOWETT. THE GREAT T®|gl> OF THE BIBLE EDITED BY THE REV. JAMES ^HASTINGS, D.D. EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY…
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Let us attempt to explain this great but difficult text by considering — L The Creation. i The meaning of "In the beginning," and of "the heaven and the earth." 4 THE CREATION AND THE CREATOR ii. The idea in the word " created." iii. Other explanations of the origin of the world, iv. In what sense God continues to …
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If The idea in the word cannot be defined with precision, but the following points are to be noted : (a) the moat important fact is that it is used exclusively of Divine activity — a restriction to which perhaps no parallel can be found in other languages. (b) The idea of novelty or extraordinariness of result is frequ…
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IF There was a philosopher, a great man in Aberdeen ; his name was Dr. Beattie. He had a little boy about five years old, who was just able to read. Dr. Beattie wanted to teach his little boy about God, and how do you think he did it ? He went into the garden, and in a corner, with his finger, he made in the ground the…
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^ How the Jews have understood the first verse of Genesis is sufficiently notorious. "Those," says Maimonides, "who believe in the laws of our master Moses, hold that the whole world, which comprehends everything except the Creator, after being in a state of non-existence, received its existence from God, being called …
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' L. W. Bacon. * W. L. WatkiuBou. GENESIS I. I 13 is the answer to the soul's thirst. It is the universal prayer. It is the greatest idea in the world. It is the idea that over- whelms us, that humbles us, that exalts us, that saves us, that inspires us, and that makes us believe in our immortality. It is the keynote…
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' Brother Lawrence, The PraeUee of the Presence of Ood, 25. ' R. Rothe, Still Hmtrs, 91. * James Vaughan. GENESIS I. I 15 2. His Power. — " God created : " does anything so lead up our thoughts to the almightiness of God as this ? For think of the untold vastness of creation, with its two infinities, of great and sm…
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^ Of this property of God's activity there is on earth one most beautiful and instructive shadow — the love of a parent for his child. That love is the most disinterested, the purest, if not the strongest, of human passions. The parent hopes for nothing from his child ; yet he will work for it, suffer for it, die for i…
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^ Let us bear in mind that a religion of mere Theism is now impossible. We are redeemed from our sin by Him who gave us being, and therefore the claims of God the Creator are enhanced and intensified by the new, wondrous, matchless claims of God our Saviour. 'Twas great to speak a world from nought, 'Twas greater to r…
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22 THE CREATION AND THE CREATOR you will, in its blackest colours ; but good exists too, and good will triumph at last, because God and good are one. And so our poet declares — Oh, thought's absurd ! — as with some monstrous fact Which, when ill thoughts beset us, seems to give Merciful God that made the sun and star…
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This is the second stage in the history of the Creation. After the first verse, it is of the earth, and of the earth only, that the narrative speaks. The earth did now exist, but in the form of eJtaos. This expression does not mean a state of disorder and confusion, but that state of primitive matter in which no creatu…
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This, then, is the first lesson of the Bible ; that at the root and origin of all this vast material universe, before whose laws we are crushed as the moth, there abides a living conscious Spirit, who wills and knows and fashions all things. The belief of this changes for us the whole face of nature, and instead of a c…
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^ Donald Macleod, Christ and Society, 243. 32 LET THERE BE LIGHT been taught to trace, can be linked on to what we behold at Pentecost. It is the same Spirit who filled St. Peter and St. John with the life and power and love of Christ, who also " dwells in the light of setting suns, in the round ocean, and the living…
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(2) To this work nothing whatever is contributed by the man himself. "The earth was waste and void," so it could not do anything to help the Spirit. "Darkness was upon the face of the deep." The Spirit found no light there ; it had to be created. The heart of man promises help, but "the heart is deceitful above all thi…
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ii. God's Word. 1. And God said. — This gives the keynote to the narrative, the burden ten times repeated, of this magniiicent poem. To say is both to think and to will. In this speaking of God there is both the legislative power of His intelligence, and the executive power of His will ; this one word dispels all noti…
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^ " Let there be light." This is at once the motto and the condition of all progress that is worthy of the name. From chaos into order, from slumber into wakefulness, from torpor into the glow of life — yes, and " from strength to strength " ; it has been a condition of progress that there should be light. God saw the …
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Meet is the gift we ofiFer here to Thee, Father of all, as falls the dewy night; Thine own most precious gift we bring — the light Whereby mankind Thy other bounties see. Thou art the Light indeed; on our dull eyes And on our inmost souls Thy rays are poured; To Thee we light our lamps: receive them. Lord, Filled w…
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2. The last stage in the work of creation has been reached, and the Creator is about to produce His masterpiece. But, as if to emphasize the importance of this event, and to prepare us for something new and exceptional, the form of representation changes. Hitherto the simple fiat of omnipotence has sufl&ced — " God sai…
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GENESIS I. 26, 27 49 winds to help him in braving the sea. And marvellous as is man's rule over external, dead nature, more marvellous still is his rule over animated nature. To see the trained falcon strike down the quarry at the feet of his master, and come back, when God's free heaven is before him ; to see the hou…
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GENESIS I. 26, 27 51 them ; . . . and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam . . . begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth" — meaning that, as Adam was created in the image of God, Seth inherited that image. After the flood, God is represented as saying t…
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The glory of the great All-Fair; And so mine own each one I call ; And so 1 dare to love you all.^ II. The Pakts of the Imagk i. Reason. 1. In speaking of man as being created in the image of God, one must speak first of the intellectual powers with which man has been endowed. Nothing can surprise us more than the …
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Hi. Recognition of Right and Wrong. The great distinction between right and wrong belongs to man alone. An animal may be taught that it is not to do certain things, but it is because these things are contrary to its master's wish, not because they are wrong. Some persons have en- deavoured to make out that the distinc…
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But consider, further, not only to what, but hy what, is the revelation. By sight ? or word ? If by sight, then to eyes which see justly. Otherwise, no sight would be revelation. So far, then, as your sight is just, it is the image of God's sight. If by words — how do you know their meanings ? Here is a short piece of…
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6o IN THE IMAGE OF GOD off to sleep. The lady of the house happened to enter the room. At first she looked in disgust and anger at the filthy black object that was soiling her counterpane. But all at once something in the expression of the little dirty face, or some familiar pose of the languid limbs, drew her nearer …
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2. We can co-operate with God in His creating, preserving, and redeeming activity. — Though now "subject to vanity" and (not as to locality, but as to apprehension) far from his heavenly home, the assurance of man's ultimate perfection rests upon the im- pregnable foundation that there is within him a Divine potency. W…
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2. All have sinned. — Man has fallen by disobedience. It was not merely the eating of the fruit ; it was the principle involved in the act that proved fatal. What was that — what but rebellion ? The conflict of the human will with the Divine. That involved death. By that act the soul of man passed from spiritual health…
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Oh, fairest legend of the years, With folded wings, go silently ! Oh, flower of knighthood, yield your place To One who comes from Galilee. To wounded feet that shrink and bleed, But press and climb the narrow way, The same old way our own must step, For ever, yesterday, to-day. For soul can be what soul hath been…
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The text brings before us three great fundamental facts — I. Man is made for Fellowship with God — " They heard the voice {or sound, i.e. steps) of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." II. Sin breaks the Fellowship — "The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amougst…
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' George Matheson. ' Dora Greonwell. GENESIS III. 8. 9 75 (2) In corporate worship. — When one joins a group of worshippers, one enters to take one's part in the ordered re- sponse of the Church universal to the outgoing of the heart of God ; one enters a region where heaven dips down to earth, while earth lifts up "…
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2. In Fear. — In no way does the tragedy of Eden come out with more picturesque realism than in these hiding figures fleeing from the face of the God against whom they have sinned. But yesterday the presence of God was their chief delight. It made the flowers more beautiful ; it added to the fragrance of the blossoming…
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ii. They hid themselves. The attempt to hide oneself may be made in different ways. 1. One way is by careless living, by such levity as that of the Athenians who scoffed at St. Paul when he spoke to them of the ' A. Smellie. ' E. Morgan. 8o FELLOWSHIP resurrection of the dead. Men who are devoured by a foolish appe…
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» J. W. Shepard. GEN.-NUM. — 6 82 FELLOWSHIP the manifold busmess of religious societies, may usurp the place of religious worship, and the care for these things may leave scanty room for the inward communing of the soul with God. Experience seems to show that the use of inferior ways of calling forth religious earne…
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I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee, I have not thirsted for Thee: And now cold billows of death surround me, Bufi'eting billows of death astound me, — Wilt Thou look upon, wilt Thou see Thy perishing me ? Yea, I have sought thee, yea, I have found thee, Yea, I have thirsted for thee, Yea, long ago with …
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\ The venerable Dr. Harry Eainy — in his old age, a picturesque and familiar figure in the streets of Glasgow with his Highland 1 James Yaughan. GENESIS III. 8, 9 87 plaid, his snow-white hair and his furrowed face — died loved and honoured. In his last years he had a beautiful gentleness of spirit, and, regarding t…
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4. The Protevangelium lays down a great ethical principle. There is to be a continual spiritual struggle between man and the manifold temptations by which he is beset. Evil promptings and suggestions are ever assailing the sons of men ; and they must be ever exerting themselves to repel them. It is of course true that …
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Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition: By that sin fell the angels. GENESIS III. 15 95 And we have accepted that view of it. But whatever was the cause, we know that some of the angels chose the evil and fell. Man chose the evil and fell also. The story of his Choice and Fall is told in this third chapter of G…
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^ Hercules, the fabled deliverer of Greece, always wore on head and shoulders the skin of a lion killed in his first adventure, which Euskin thus interprets : " Every man's Nemean lion lies in wait for him somewhere It is the first ugly and strong enemy that rises against us, all future victory depending on victory ove…
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GENESIS HI. 15 99 and crushed ; he should not have been placing his foot delicately upon his frustrate foe, but pressing it down hard as if his very life depended upon the result.^ 0 bird that fights the heavens, and is blown beyond the shore, Would you leave your flight and danger for a cage, to fight no more ? No…
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When in my shadowy hours I pierce the hidden heart of hopes and fears, They change into immortal joys or end in immemorial tears. Moytura's battle still endures and in this human heart of mine The golden sun powers with the might of demon darkness intertwine. I think that every teardrop shed still flows from Balor'…
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I04 THE CONFLICT OF THE AGES introduces us to ; or a denial of God such as science sometimes leads us to. But the temptation to Jesus was nobler, we do not doubt, and more subtle than the temptation to the mind has ever been to any other man. He saw the kingdoms of the world at a glance, and the glory of them. He was…
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^ Let us not undervalue the blessing which would come to us if Jesus Christ were simply one of us, setting forth with marvellous vividness the universal conflict of the world, the perpetual strife of man with evil. Surely that strife becomes a different thing for each of us, when out of our own little skirmish in some …
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^ Every earnest man grows to two strong convictions : one, of the victory to which a life may come; the other of the obstacles and wounds which it must surely encounter in coming there. Alas for him who gains only one of these convictions GENESIS III. 15 109 Alas for him who learns only confidence in the result, and …
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3. Thus begins the long career of humanity. Man is forced to undertake the work and drudgery of living. The centuries, GEN.-NUM. — 8 114 THE TREE OF LIFE laden with wars and pains and hopes and fears and disappoint- ments and successes, start on their slow procession. But no more is heard of the tree of life. It is …
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^ That which we have is never the tree of life to us. The tree of life is always the thing which we must reach forward to attain ; and if our condition of life is that we are satisfied to take these fruits which grow upon the tree of life, what is according to the ordinary conventional acceptation the best thing, the c…
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II. The Guardians of thb Trek of Life. Adam and Eve being driven out from the tree of life, who were the guards that stood to hinder their return ? Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way. i. The Cherubim. 1. The essential idea of the Cherubim seems to have been that they represented the forces of natu…
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The road for his release, Oh, tell him they stretch dark and wide, Long roads that never cease — If you should meet with one outside The walls of peace.^ ii. The Flaming Sword. There is something else, besides the Cherubim, that bars the way: something more subtle, more inexplicable, more versatile even, and even mo…
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Let them go by. It is not worth the Pain."^ IIL The Kecovery of the Tses of Life. Although, by reason of his transgression, man was driven out of Paradise, and debarred from access to the tree of life, he was not to be for ever excluded from the one or the other. Both are reserved in safe keeping until the time of t…
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And in the garden secretly, And on the cross on high, Might teach His brethren, and inspire To suffer and to die. (4) And then you watch the early beginnings of the Christian Church ; you see Peter boldly standing up in Jerusalem to preach the new faith, and to declare the glad tidings; you see Paul, himself a perse…
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The Tree of Life in Eden stood With mystic Fruits of Heavenly Food, Which endless life afford, — That life, by man's transgression lost: — Cast out is man by Angel-host: Until by Man restored. In vain the lambs poured forth their blood ; In vain the smoking altars stood; All unatoned was sin: Must greater be the sa…
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2. We are all concerned in this question. Let us take it as addressed to ourselves individually. (1) First of all, we may consider the question so far as it relates to all those who are near and dear to us ; all those whose names and faces are familiar to us ; all those who are connected with us by the bonds of kindre…
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» A. H. Smith, Chinese Characteristiei, 228. * Mrs. Norton. GENESIS IV. 9 135 consoiousness of self-degrading fault ? "I am not responsible ; this tendency to evil, intemperance, gambling, impurity, is the burden of heredity. I might as well blame myself for the shape of my head or the colour of my eyes as for the in…
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^ G. K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, \ GENESIS IV. 9 137 is intense, deep, oppressive — a thing that can be felt. The roll of the city is all unheard, the roar of the sea, the hubbub of our busy life — all is silenced. But startling in its suddenness comes sometimes the shrill cry of a child. Ah ! the things that…
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And, pitying, Counts it a Ghristlike thing — Not to despise The fallen one who at the wayside lies — But, for His sake, A brother's part to take.^ II. The Special Kesponsibility of the Christian. 1. The question, Where is thy brother ? comes to those who follow Christ, not only as it comes to other men, but als…
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How many souls of strongest powers To selfish solitude consigned, Have whiled in idleness their hours, Nor nobly sought to serve mankind! But not to such the Muse may give Her sacred wreath, the Patriot's pride ! Since for themselves content to live, So for themselves alone they died. 1 B. W. Dale. « Hid. 142 AM …
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f I sat a little while ago in one of the chambers of the National Gallery, and my attention was caught by the vast miscellaneous crowd as it sauntered or galloped through the rooms. All sorts and conditions of people passed by — rich and poor, the well-dressed and the beggarly, students and artisans, soldiers and sailo…
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The platted thorns that pierced His bleeding brow, The cross of shame, the spikes that tore His palms, Are blazoned o'er her banners, treasured now. All consecrate with martyrs' dying psalms. Sweet daughter of the King ! — her beauty bright Hath yet the bloodstains starred upon her vest, Of faithful hearts, who, thr…
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^ That we should establish ourselves in a sense of God's Presence, by continually conversing with Him, That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries.^ % That in order to form a habit of conversing with God con- tinually, and referring all we do to Him, we must at first apply t…
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> T. R. WilliauM. GENESIS V. 24 155 be reconciliation. " How can two walk together, except they be agreed ? " Amos asked that question, and there is logic in that little word " can." An appeal is it to the nature of things, and "the nature of things is the law of God." Harmony of sound is music. Harmony of word to th…
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Build thee more stately mansions, 0 my soul, As the swift seasons roll ! Leave thy low-vaulted past ! Let each new temple, nobler than the last. Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!* 5. And, last of all, to walk with God mea…
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2. But this grand revelation did not disclose itself fully and clearly until they lost Enoch, The full significance of a noble life is scarcely ever, perhaps never, realized until we have lost it. " Whence hath this man these mighty works ? This carpenter of Nazareth we know ; bis brothers and sisters live next door to…
959 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1910); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.