PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 10
James Hastings · 176,380 words · 181 reading sections
Section 61
156 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (1) As a witness to His Sonship it had both a retrospective and a prospective reference. Jesus had left behind all the doings of those quiet, peaceful years, and was at the dividing line between private and public life. He was leaving behind Him the years of His obscurity, and coming out into …
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ii. Its Meaning to us. 1. In the narrative of the Baptism, as has often been observed, we have the participation of the three Persons of the Trinity. There flows from it therefore a threefold blessing to men. (1) Divine reconciliation is assured to us in this manifestation of the Son of God. To the personal " Jesus "…
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^ To as many of us as by His grace to us are true believers on Him and in His blood, our Lord's own faith in His Father and in His Father's word to Him is a subject of the intensest interest, the most edifying meditation, and the most transporting reflection. To as many of us as believe there is no subject in heaven or…
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' W. L. Watkinson, The Gates of Dawn, 288. * A. J. Gordon: A Biography, 258. Prayer and Choice. i«3 Literature. Campbell (W. M.), Footijrints of Christ, 155. Little (W. J. K.), The Light of Life, 178. Manning (H. E.), Sermons, ii. 342. Murray (J. 0.), in Princeton Sermons, 192. Mursell (W. A.), Sermons on Speci…
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^ Thoreau's love of mountains is exemplified in many passages of his diary, and the occasional excursions which he made to the ^ J. H. Jowett ST. LUKE VI. 12, 13 167 lofty outlying ranges visible from the Concord hills formed some of the most pleasing episodes in his life. " A mountain chain," he says, " determines …
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^ Never did I feel more strongly that in this habit Jesus had laid bare one of the great secrets of life than one day when I climbed all alone a hill above Inverary and lay on the summit of it, musing through a summer forenoon. On every hand there stretched a solitary world of mountain and moorland ; the loch below was…
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II. The Occasion of the Night-Long Peayer. 1. We come here to a new departure in our Lord's Messianic mission. The selection of the Twelve by Jesus from among those who had been led to believe in Him, to be His Apostles, and be with Him during His earthly ministry, and then take up the work, and carry it forward afte…
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* Memorials of Sir Edward Burne-Jcntes. 174 PRAYER AND CHOICE inspiration in this early morning scene. The organization of the college of Apostles was followed by the greatest sermon that was ever preached, and that sermon was followed by the healing of the leper and the sick, and by other events that were proper and…
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3. The answer to the grandest prayer is wrapped in mystery. Who can escape the question, " If these men were chosen as the result of all this prayer — perfect, faultless prayer — why was Judas among their number? Was his election part of the answer ? " Why Judas was chosen at all is not clearly shown. What his characte…
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when she had meant an honour. She has nothing at hand to 181 i82 FORGIVENESS repair the fault, and so, with a touch she looses the hair, which it was shameful to let down in public, and, with the ingenuity and abasement of love, makes it a towel. Then, gaining confidence and carried farther than she had dared to int…
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Once in old Jerusalem A woman kneeled at consecrated feet. Kissed them, and washed them with her tears, "What then? I think that yet our Lord is pitiful : I think I see the castaway e'en now ! And she is not alone: the heavy rain Splashes without, and sullen thunder rolls, But she is lying at the sacred feet Of One tr…
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^ The woman took Jesus at His word. Man though He was, somehow she felt that when He spoke God spoke, and that He could do as He said. She felt that this Man had the value of God. And, trusting Him, she felt in her soul the " rest " of God's forgiveness. And now The opening heavens around her shone With beams of sacre…
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^ Amos Barton, in George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life, had been an affectionate husband . . . but now that Milly was laid in the grave he re-lived all their life together, with that terrible keenness of memory and imagination which bereavement gives, and he felt as if his very love needed a pardon for its poverty an…
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192 FORGIVENESS come stealing into the heart that trusts, just because it does trust, a strange calm like the centre in a cyclone, where there is absolute repose, and the sail hangs lank and straight in the windless air, however storms may rage madly all round about it.^ 4. At the very moment when one would have thou…
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Martineau (J.), National Duties, 173. Mellor (E.), The Hem of Christ's Garment, 177. Meyer (F. B.), The SouVs Pure Intention, 191. Paget (F.), Studies in the Christian Character, 221. Parker (J.), The Gospel of Jesus Christ, 88. Peck (G. C.), Vision and Task, 259. Pulsford (J.), Loyalty to Christ, ii. 32. Smith …
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^ G. C. Peck, Vision and Task, 259. ST. LUKE X. 37 199 perhaps, by the consciousness of wrong, or lifted up perhaps to catch, as it were, the faint murmurs of some more beautiful world in some more beautiful time ; or perhaps in the hour in which, conscious of the transitoriness of this life and the hateful persisten…
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ST. LUKE X. 37 201 been to lose the truth. The lawyer, steeped in all the traditions and instincts of his class, wanted our Lord to give him a clear and precise definition of his neighbour ; to mark him out, and set him apart from the general mass of mankind. But definition means limitation. If our Lord had said, "Thi…
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A Priest and Levite both passed by, Sent out perchance, to vainly try To do some good, in fashion high, Upon the road to Jericho. But praises of Jerusalem A wounded sinner would condemn. This fallen soul was not for them. Nor journeys down to Jericho. Their words he would not understand, Their solemn priestly repriman…
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^ E. Mellor, The Hem, of Christ's Garment, 185. 8 W, R. Moody, The Life of Dmg^fct L. Moody, 439. V 2o6 THE GOOD SAMARITAN withstanding their high religious rank, they were as cold and heartless as the most blatant infidel could be. On the other hand, the Samaritan was neighbourly, not because he was a religious ma…
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(1) Martineau denies that we are bound to be neighbourly to those who are in need. He says, " We are under no obligation to love as ourselves the selfish, the malignant, the depraved. Such are not our neighbours, but occupy the same position with respect to us as the Priest and the Levite in the parable, from whom, it …
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II January 23rd, 1827. — Slept ill, not having been abroad these eight days. Then a dead sleep in the morning, and when the awakening comes, a strong feeling how well I could dispense with it for once and forever. This passes away, however, as better and more dutiful thoughts arise in my mind. I know not if my imaginat…
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^ " Some years ago I lay ill in San Francisco, an obscure journalist, quite friendless. Stevenson, who knew me slightly, came to my bedside and said, ''■ I suppose you are like all of us, you don't keep your money. Now, if a little loan, as between one man of letters and another — eh ? " This to a lad writing rubbish f…
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3. Finally lay stress on the example — " go, and do thou like- wise " — for here lies the moral of the whole. School and train the sensibility and tenderness of heart which God has given to you ^ Joseph Parker. ST. LUKE X. i^ 215 into the practice of active mercy towards those who stand in need of it ! Do, by ready …
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2. Martha was determined to provide a fine entertainment on this occasion. She was doubtless a notable housewife, and, not unnaturally, a little proud of it ; and she had with her now her »I9 220 THE ONE THING NEEDFUL dearest and most honoured Guest, and was bent on setting before Him her best, and in her best style…
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222 THE ONE THING NEEDFUL exude no toil can produce, and the exquisite beauty in which they are clothed no spinning can equal. They transform the crude materials in their environment into fragrance and sweetness, but the operation is carried on within, the aroma and the nectar are in their own natures. While they thus…
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Worship or service, — which ? Ah, that is best To which He calls us, be it toil or rest, — To labour for Him in life's busy stir. Or seek His feet, a silent worshipper.^ 4. Christ gladly accepted the offering presented to Him by different types of followers. He sat at Martha's table. He proclaimed His pleasure in Mary…
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3. But the life of being is higher than the life of doing. Perhaps we can quite see that the heavenly mind, and the pure soul, and the inner life which is true quite through, and which, the nearer we approach it, only shines with a purer and more unearthly light, is higher, is better, is more God-hke, than any service …
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' Aubrey de Vere. ST. LUKE X. 42 229 world is to feel strongly that "one thing is needful"; to have one paramount object to which all others shall be subordinated, and to which the undivided efforts of mind and body shall be devoted. ^ Amongst an otherwise infinite variety of qualities, one is always the same, one a…
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2. The one thing needful does not supersede all other things. It does not rob us of all other interests. In accepting and following Christ, we are not as a rule called to withdraw from any of those great primal influences that replenish and illuminate life, and make natural living bright and full and glad ; we receive …
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^ Mary was quick to perceive that there are times and seasons in our relations to God. The Lord's ministry was rapidly passing away. The opportunity for the privileges of loving expression and for personal service would be few. Mary seizes this one as it passes; and the wisdom of her act, not to say its supreme importa…
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Let us consider — I. The Giver. II. The Gift. III. The Kecipients. The Giver. 1. The Giver is God, and we must begin by regarding Him as a personal Being. This may not seem so easy in these modern days as it was in the childhood of the race. Old Testament saints found no difficulty in clinging to God as to a friend ;…
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Sleep, little blossom, my honey, my bliss! For I give you this, and I give you this ! And I blind your pretty blue eyes with a kiss! Sleep ! Father and Mother will watch you grow, And gather the roses whenever they blow, And find the white heather wherever you go, My sweet. 3. The Heavenly Father transcends all earth…
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The worth of this gift is immeasurable. Jesus spoke of the Spirit as " the promise of the Father " ; the one promise in which God's Fatherhood revealed itself. The best gift a good and wise father can bestow on a child on earth is his own spirit. This is the great object of a father in education — to reproduce in his c…
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* S. 0. Lowry, Hymns cund Spiritual Songs, 26. ST. LUKE XI. 13 245 noblest aspirations. The potent, ineffable influence, the Holy Spirit, appears to be indispensable in order that man may realize his highest possibilities and come to the crown of his being. ^ Those of you who still go to chapel say every day your cr…
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Well might the Saviour recommend this Spirit. He had been with Him all through His temptation, and He is with every one who receives Him, from first to last — never leaving or forsaking him. Surely He is the good gift of God ! ^ John Brash : Memorials and Correspondence, 137. ST. LUKE XI. 13 247 Oft in a dark and lo…
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It is this principle that the man of faith carries with him into his spiritual life. What others have tried and tested in the daily play of human intercourse he has found good also in that larger world in which the soul holds communion with the Eternal. Too often has he proved its prevailing efficacy to mistake the sil…
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" Sixty-two years, three months, five days and two hours have passed," replied Mr. Mtiller with his characteristic exactness, " since I began to pray that two men might be converted. I have prayed daily for them ever since and as yet neither of them shows any signs of turning to God." " Do you expect God to convert th…
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^ Nobody can tell us what makes a carbon a diamond. The same substance is in both, but the one will shine in the dark and the other will not. We cannot see what makes the difference, except that the diamond, which is carbon after all, has managed to feed upon the light somehow, and store it, and shine by its lustre. Ho…
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^ You find Christ giving various counsels to varying people, and often jealously careful to avoid definite precept. Is He asked, for example, to divide a heritage ? He refuses ; and the best advice that He will offer is but a paraphrase of the tenth com- mandment which figures so strangely among the rest. Take heed, an…
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» Ruskin, A Joy far Ever, § 120 ( Works, xvi 102). ST. LUKE XII. 15 261 desperate struggle, the incidents of which make the tragedies of every day ; and there is the struggle of some for wealth — no less anxious and tragical, though far more sordid than the other. Now to both of these classes Christ speaks. He says, …
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' W. L. Watkinson, T?ie Gates of Dawn, 243. ST. LUKE xn. 15 26^ to avarice. His only daughter died next door to him, and when the water came through the roof and fell upon the bed, I suggested to him to mend the roof : and he said, " Na ! Na ! many a woman as good as her has had to come on the parish." Her funeral da…
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(1) A man's life consists in the abundance of the things he knows. ^ I was once the guest, for a little time, of a man who owned a magnificent art gallery. But he could say more than " I have these pictures." He could say " I know them." He had a marvellous pipe-organ in his house. But he could say more than " I have …
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^ As a teacher wandered in Qualheim, he came into a moun- tainous region, and saw a castle which was of dream-like beauty. " Who is the enviable man who lives in such a palace ? " he asked. His guide answered : " He is an unhappy, helpless hermit, without peace, and without a home. He was born with great artistic gifts…
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For there are two ways of reforming men — an external and an internal. The first method pronounces decisions, formulates laws, changes governments, and thus settles all moral and political questions. The second seeks, before everything else, to renovate the heart and the will. Jesus Christ chose the latter plan. He rem…
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272 A MAN'S TRUE LIFE riches to increase, he felt it to be a religious duty to make the disposal of his money a matter of earnest and most careful solicitude. There was placed in his hands a mighty power for good or for evil, and he felt himself under obligation to God and man to spare no pains in using it to the best…
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The gate is strait to our weak, unwilling nature, however gloriously open and free in itself. It is too low for pride, which will not come down from its high horse to enter on foot like a beggar, or like a little child. It is too narrow for philosophy, for ST. LUKE XIII. 24 277 the wisdom of this world ; it is too de…
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(2) The narrow door is the door of renunciation, and it is left for every man to say what in his case must be renounced before he can enter. No sin can go through : the narrow door calls for repentance, and renunciation of evil. No sham can go through : it demands renunciation of acted insincerity, and a humble resolve…
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* T. H. Darlow, The Upward Calling, 47. " Amiel's Journal Intime. ' George Frederic Watts, i. 84. ST. LUKE xiii. 24 281 imposed by them. This gate is perfectly open to all who come just as they are. For there are no limits in the invitation, no conditions in the coming, and no objections to the comers. Hear the King…
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2. Our Lord places momentous emphasis upon struggle. The word " agonize " which He employs suggests the fierce desperate onset of the wrestler. In modern usage the word has come to stand for keen, bitter suffering, but it implied, at first, the tension of effort in the man himself, rather than the burden of pain laid u…
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TI Our chemists liquefy atmospheric air by applying portent- ously cold temperatures, two or three hundred degrees below freezing-point, and it has been found that under these ultra- Arctic conditions chemical reactions are no longer possible. The sun's rays lose their actinic power. A lecturer at the Eoyal Institution…
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For religion is holiness, and holiness is health. When some one whom we love is cross or irritable, we say of him, " He's not himself to-day." When one whom we have known for years does something unworthy, we say, "Ah, that's not himself at all.'* And what is that but our instinctive certainty that a man is more than h…
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(2) He reflected on his past error and folly. — He saw what was the genesis of his whole miserable condition : he ought never 1 Hugh Macmillan, Life- Work of G. F. WaMs, 165. ST. LUKE XV. 17-20 293 to have left his father's home. That was the beginning of his undoing ; and, if he was ever to be saved, he must get ba…
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If In illustration of the change in life and position which this meant, the story of Marie Antoinette has been told, how she took off her old robes and put on new, as she entered France to become its queen. It just meant that she had put off the Austrian princess, and put on the French queen. So it is to be with us. Ou…
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" If it had not been for that sentence about going home," said Mr. Spurgeon, "I might have had some doubts concerning her conversion ; but when a fallen girl goes home to her father and mother it is a sure case." ^ 1 Christina G. Rossetti, Poems, 251. * Mrs. Spurgeon, Life of C. H. Spurgeon, iv. 32. 298 THE RETURN T…
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300 THE RETURN TO THE FATHER to view, and that stands for ever prominent in our thoughts of it. ^ A lad from the north country strayed or stole into one of our great London cathedrals. He was lonely, dejected, friendless, and ashamed. He had sown his wild oats and a good many other things — gambled, drunk, and fooled…
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Lord, I would rise, and run to Thee, — Christ of God, who didst die for me; But my feet are bound with the chains of sin, And my heart is ashes and dust within. Lord, I would rise, and run to Thee If Thou'dst open mine eyes and let me see How beautiful shines Thy deathless love In Thy face that is bending my face abov…
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\ Something led to our speaking of the small events which influence men's lives, and Mr. Robertson of the Foreign Office (son of Robertson of Brighton) said : " My father always main- tained that the whole course of his life had been changed by the barking of a dog. Once, when he was very ill, a dog belonging to Lady T…
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I A. C. Benson, D. O. ltosseU% 62. ST. LUKE XVI. lo 311 complete confidence — is that characteristic of unshaken truth and firm reality which can be relied upon, which assures us that what we admire has strength in it, and will last — which we call faithfulness.^ 11. God's Estimate of Little Things. 1. The least t…
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^ A friend once saw Michael Angelo at work on one of his statues. Some time afterwards he saw him again, and said, seeing so little done, " Have you been idle since I saw you last?" " By no means," replied the sculptor. " I have retouched this part and polished that ; I have softened this feature and brought out that …
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2. Fidelity in small things issues in an enduring possession. We cannot take with us beyond the grave our business or the success it may have gained for us, our money or the pleasures it may have brought. But we can take the good we may have won or done. The moral qualities with which our use of Mammon may have strengt…
980 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.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.