PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 12
James Hastings · 169,069 words · 174 reading sections
Section 121
ST. JOHN XVIII. 37, 38 321 (3) Pilate was surprised and Judged hy the truth. — He found himself unexpectedly confronted by the truth, and he could not recognise it. His whole life long he had tampered with truth, he had despised truth, he had despaired of truth. Truth was the last thing that He had set before him as t…
1,103 wordsSECTION 122Section 122
(3) But our eye must always be single. The seeker after truth must fulfil one condition : he must lead a true life, a life of moral rectitude at least. A false life can never come to the truth, for truth is revealed only to truth. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life," was advice fou…
921 wordsSECTION 123Section 123
1. It is the evening of the first Easter Day. In an upper chamber in Jerusalem — in all probability in the upper chamber which had been the scene of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and was to be the scene of the baptism of the Church by the descending Spirit, and then to be the place of the first of Chris- tian …
982 wordsSECTION 124Section 124
^ I happened to drop into a house where there was a large family, and I found the mother very busy about the room. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Oh, when the children have gone to bed I have to tidy up after them, and I make straight what they have left amiss." And there she was, just going over all the broken fragme…
1,019 wordsSECTION 125Section 125
Christ is inevitable, unavoidable; you cannot stop or stay Him. That is the first great lesson of the Eesurrection. No one can follow the story of His life, without feeling that Christ is inevitable. It is the key to the whole record. We are swept into a movement which we realize is irresistible, and the secret of ^ G…
917 wordsSECTION 126Section 126
Halts by me that footfall: Is my gloom, after all. Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly? Ah ! fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He whom thou seekest ! Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me. * F. B. Macnutt, The Inevitable Christ, 8. Zz6 THE SAVIOUR'S EASTER GREETING 3. But while Christ forces Himself thu…
903 wordsSECTION 127Section 127
plural form. The Professor's curiosity was aroused, and he asked : " Why do you put it so ? Is there another that you wish peace to ? " " Yes," replied the Jew, " Peace be to you and to the angel over your shoulder." 1. The first gift that Jesus had for them was a high confidence in their cause. Without that a Christi…
926 wordsSECTION 128Section 128
340 THE SAVIOUR'S EASTER GREETING undisturbed and enraptured gaze on the Eternal Beauty — all ancient and all young. His will is redirected, the problem of duty is simplified, and he does it with all his heart. His conscience is calmed, for there is no longer any sense of feud between himself and holiness of life. All…
962 wordsSECTION 129Section 129
1. He confirmed, His former word of peace. — "My peace I give unto you," He had said, and the word lived in their ears like deep irony. And now, when they sat in gloomy silence, with their sorrow, and their peril, and thoughts of the empty future making peace impossible. He comes again with His former word. It was a ti…
982 wordsSECTION 130Section 130
3. Quite as astonishing are these words from another point of view. Not only does the Lord associate Himself uniquely with God, but in a wonderful way He associates Christians with Himself. What an honourable vocation He assigns to His people ! He sends us as He Himself was sent. He classes His disciples with Himself. …
947 wordsSECTION 131Section 131
350 CHRIST'S MISSION AND OURS Christ lived in the love of the Father because He always did the Father's will ; His perfect obedience was the soil out of which the flower of love grew ; His oneness of will and desire with the Father formed the harmonious environment in which alone love can subsist. " I have kept my Fat…
922 wordsSECTION 132Section 132
2. " As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Mark the deep significance of that resounding " as " and " even so," 1 J. Parker. 352 CHRIST'S MISSION AND OURS The parallel involves disparity. He is God, and we are but men. He came to atone, and we but preach His sovereign atonement. This and much more is impl…
950 wordsSECTION 133Section 133
^ G. Campbell Morgan. * R. L. Stevenson, Lay Morals. ST. JOHN (2) — 23 354 CHRIST'S MISSION AND OURS they were His children who were groaning in bondage, and the meaning of their anguish reached and touched His heart. And God gave His only begotten Son, that the world should not perish, but have everlasting life. N…
1,015 wordsSECTION 134Section 134
Scarce had she learnt to lisp the name Of Martyr; yet she thinks it shame Life should so long play with that breath Which spent could buy so brave a death. She never undertook to know What death with love should have to do; Nor has she e'er yet understood Why to shew love, she should shed blood. Yet though she cannot t…
1,016 wordsSECTION 135Section 135
1 W. Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 158. My Lord and My God. M9 Literature. Aitken (W. H. M. H.), What is Your Life? 148. "Bellett (J. C), in Sermons for the People, i. 95. Benson (R. M.), The Final Passover, iv. 536. Bernard (J. H.), From Faith to Faith, 261. Buckland (A. R.)> Words of Help, 105. Burrows (…
945 wordsSECTION 136Section 136
In the shop of Nazareth Pungent cedar haunts the breath. 'Tis a low Eastern room, Windowless, touched with gloom. Workman's bench and simple tools Line the walls. Chests and stools, Yoke of ox, and shaft of plow. Finished by the Carpenter, Lie about the pavement now. ST. JOHN XX. 28 363 In the room the Craftsman stan…
951 wordsSECTION 137Section 137
(4) Thomas declared its contents. The Saviour of the world is both Lord and God. He is Lord, for He is a man. The inhabitants of Nazareth knew that. He is also the supreme man. They did not know that ; and when He claimed it they took Him to the brow of their hill to cast Him down headlong. Thomas had discovered that J…
1,180 wordsSECTION 138Section 138
(4) " My Lord and my God." This is the fourth saying of Thomas that we know. Thomas the doubter has left his doubt behind. He has outstri^ed his fellow-disciples. He has out- stripped even the impetuous Peter, whose great confession, " Thou 368 MY LORD AND MY GOD art the Christ, the Son of the living God," lacks the …
919 wordsSECTION 139Section 139
ST. JOHN (2) — 24 370 MY LORD AND MY GOD commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." " God is love," and the Man who could not save Himself as He hung upon the cross could be nothing less than God. ^ If the conclusion that Jesus was God was based merely upon the fact of re…
982 wordsSECTION 140Section 140
374 BELIEVING WITHOUT SEEING Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." That is the crowning blessedness. They have the noblest beatitude who have not seen, and yet have believed. ^ When Dr. Arnold was suddenly stricken with his mortal agony, he was se…
928 wordsSECTION 141Section 141
1. What is the value of the evidence of the senses ? (1) The best answer is to consider what must have been the impression left upon the mind of the Jew when for the first time he saw Jesus of Nazareth, with His attendant followers, passing through the streets of Jerusalem. To answer this we must try to place ourselve…
1,049 wordsSECTION 142Section 142
^ There is no slight amount of peril in matters of religion in demanding more evidence than can actually be given. Men formerly used to say, " Write the Gospel — the Divine message — in letters of fire along the sky, and I will believe." They say now, " Give me mathematical demonstration — make the whole thing as plain…
1,050 wordsSECTION 143Section 143
From the soft south the constant bird comes back, Faith-led, to find the welcome of the Spring In the old boughs whereto she used to cling. Before she sought the unknown southward track: Above the Winter and the storm-cloud's wrack She hears the prophecy of days that bring The Summer's pride, and plumes her homeward …
961 wordsSECTION 144Section 144
ST. JOHN XX. 29 383 Newman did not deny that one reasoned rightly, the other wrongly. He did not deny that there might be responsibility for the false principles which led to unbelief — for the failure of the unbehever to recognize the deeper principles which a Christian thinker adopts (as he phrased it a little later…
901 wordsSECTION 145Section 145
ST. JOHN XX. 29 385 ^ We have none of us seen Christ in the flesh. At times we judge ourselves disadvantaged thereby. But no ! Christ says we are supremely advantaged. We are blessed with a distinctive blessedness. We have really lost nothing by not being alive when Christ was incarnate here. Oh, how we should like to…
990 wordsSECTION 146Section 146
But it is possible to suggest certain advantages which belief without sight confers. 1. It gives us the assurance of a Eisen Christ. ^ Forty years ago a poet of genius, a man to whom this story of St. Thomas must, I think, have been almost as dear as it was to his great master, Dr. Arnold, conceives of a sudden awake…
904 wordsSECTION 147Section 147
^ A manifold enjoyment of Christ is a large component of this blessedness. The believer draws such pure delight from the Lord in whom he trusts. How grandly St. Peter states it: " Whom having not seen ye love,!' The loving of Christ is such unalloyed pleasure. None can know the rapture save only they who experience it.…
994 wordsSECTION 148Section 148
^ What, after all, is this " faith " which above all things we who have even a grain of it must desire to hold forth to others ? " This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith." It is a power, not a mere belief ; and power can be shown only in action, only in overcoming resistance. Power that shall li…
1,123 wordsSECTION 149Section 149
The Omitted and the Eecokded Signs. St. John has recorded only a part of what he knows, and he has recorded this for a special purpose. He and his friends have lived through a great experience ; they have been forced to consider what it really meant, and they have come to certain conclusions. Among all the events whic…
1,054 wordsSECTION 150Section 150
* M. Brokenshire. ST. JOHN XX. 30, 31 401 emphasis to those who are to come after. To secure this he depends, not on the quantity, but on the quality, of the matter chosen. We know, even in his own case, that the years as they pass over him have taught him the same lesson — to pare down rather than to expand. Fewer a…
1,030 wordsSECTION 151Section 151
ST. JOHN XX. 30, 31 403 Himself the argument, the appeal ; Himself the soul of the record ! Though all the books that the world could contain were written about Him the situation would still be the same. At the close when you have read them all, the one question would still remain to be answered : " After all you have…
904 wordsSECTION 152Section 152
of the Jews. As He is the strength of all the present, so was He the fulfilment of all the past. God, who loved His human children unto the end, loved them from the beginning. The Incarnation was no sudden thought; no second-best plan. It was the consummation of that love of God of which He had not left Himself without…
907 wordsSECTION 153Section 153
Thine ear their open door. ^ J. LI. Davies, TJu Manifestation of the Son of Ood, 46 ST. JOHN XX. 30, 31 407 Ah ! who can tell the joy in Palestine — What smiles and tears of rescued throngs ! Their lees of life were turned to wine, Their prayers to shouts and songs ! The story dear our wise men fable call, Give p…
902 wordsSECTION 154Section 154
ST. JOHN XX. 30, 31 409 in the subjective. Faith is limited in the subjective only — it has an infinite objective. Sight has to do solely with the material, faith with the spiritual. Sight is of the body, faith is of the soul.^ (2) How do the signs of Jesus produce faith in Him ? St. John felt that the life of Christ…
905 wordsSECTION 155Section 155
ST. JOHN XX. 30. 31 411 to men by the Son, who is thus the proximate source. " As the Father hath Hf e in himself ; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." (4) By the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus manifested Himself to be the sustainer and nourisher of man's Ufe. This miracle gives poin…
958 wordsSECTION 156Section 156
^ I do not think we mark sufficiently the traces of autobio- graphy in the sacred writers. The favourite word of St. John is "life." He dwells upon it more than on any other conception. And it seems to me that there is great appropriateness in the selection. To the men of his generation he was essentially the man of li…
1,142 wordsSECTION 157Section 157
ST. JOHN (2) — 27 41^ LOVE AND SERVICE ^ It was my happiness a few years ago to set eyes upon the Lake of Galilee, gazing with strange emotions upon the waters and the mountain-shores from the garden of the Scottish Mission Hospital (scene of a noble work for God) at Tiberias, and after- wards from a boat, built prob…
903 wordsSECTION 158Section 158
2, The language. — The passage is marked in the original by a variety of language which does not appear in the English trans- lation. There are two different Greek words for each of the English words " love," " know," and " feed," and three Greek words for " sheep " or " lambs." And there is significance in other words…
990 wordsSECTION 159Section 159
422 LOVE AND SERVICE and succour in all difficulty ; He will guide with His counsel, and afterwards receive to glory, every meek soul that utters it. The profession of love to Christ is painful to hear. It is full of danger ; it is boastful, self-confident. He who makes it will have, by many a sore trial, through many…
966 wordsSECTION 160Section 160
424 LOVE AND SERVICE thing, a part of the Lord's all-embracing knowledge. But Christ will not let go the former command; He repeats, "Feed my sheep " ; all alike need support as well as guidance. *[| The reiteration in the interrogation did not express doubt as to the veracity of the answer, nor dissatisfaction with …
944 wordsSECTION 161Section 161
^ " Lovest thou me ? " It is a question that goes down very deep ; for it goes dov/n to the eternal springs of all life. It is God's and Nature's great secret; and man's only hope. Love is life, hatred is death. Love, in its essence, is attraction, combination, sympathy, blending. It is so even in what we call the unco…
933 wordsSECTION 162Section 162
ST. JOHN XXI. 15-17 429 liberately stakes everything on this single qualification. " Lovest thou me ? " is His sole test for discipleship. It seems as if nothing else seriously mattered in His judgment, compared with this one master passion of the soul. " Lovest thou me ? " — will there be any other question for us to…
930 wordsSECTION 163Section 163
The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one, Yet the light of a whole world dies With the setting sun. ST. JOHN XXI. 15-17 431 The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one, But the light of a whole life dies If love be done.^ 4. Love is unselfish. — " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? " I do no…
1,131 wordsSECTION 164Section 164
^ What Christ wants from me is a practical expression of my theoretical love, an expression in act, as well as on the lip ; and though it may be a hard, it will always be a blessed, answer, if I can give it, " Lord, thou seest all things, Thou seest that I love Thee." And others ought to see it too. My love to Christ o…
964 wordsSECTION 165Section 165
(2) The Sheep. — " Feed my sheep " comes next ; feed the middle-aged, the strong, the vigorous ; they also need to be directed in their Christian course, and to be guided to some field of earnest service for Christ, therefore shepherdize them. Do not try to govern these, but feed them. They may have far more prudence, …
1,015 wordsSECTION 166Section 166
2. When Jesus had said " Follow me," Peter turned about and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following. At once he put 439 440 THE INDIVIDUALITY OF DUTY the question, " Lord, and what shall this man do ? " Christ's answer is our text. Now it is not easy to determine with any certainty the spirit in which that que…
933 wordsSECTION 167Section 167
^ Can you picture it at all ? The church is built by the natives — walls of nipa palm spines, and thatched roof of palm leaves, floor of bark — two doorways on each side, and one at each end, and plenty of square openings for windows. ' We have no church members here yet, but we think of the Moffats, and feel encourage…
937 wordsSECTION 168Section 168
^ There is a beautiful old tradition, done finely into verse by one of our poets, that, during the demon-raging fury of the Neronic persecution, Peter, visiting the harried flock at Eome, who nevertheless were undaunted in their brave stand for the Name of Christ, was one day waited upon by the threatened Christians, w…
937 wordsSECTION 169Section 169
2. The discovery of our own particular path is found in the revelation of His will which God makes to us. " If I will that he tarry." To follow Christ is, like Him, to obey whenever God's will is clear ; to be patient like Him when it is dark. And this is a rule which applies to all circumstances, and one which can be …
1,057 wordsSECTION 170Section 170
^ I am reminded, by one who was present, of a scene when some Americans were announced, seeking an interview, " What is it you want ? " she [Jenny Lind] asked, standing very erect. "Oh, Madame Goldschmidt, we hoped to have the pleasure of seeing you, and making your acquaintance." " Well, here is my front ! " Then (wit…
905 wordsSECTION 171Section 171
If you could let men go their way, They would let you go yours; and he adds : We might have peace, great peace, If we would not load ourselves with others' words and works, And with what concerns us not. How can he be long at rest Who meddles in another's cares. And looks for matters out of his own path, And on…
1,162 wordsSECTION 172Section 172
(1) There are the mysteries of God's Providence. How often are we completely at our wits' end what to make of them. When we begin to inquire into the meaning of this or that occurrence, we get no reply. We meet with things that baffle explanation in our everyday life. The good are taken away, and the wicked left; stron…
944 wordsSECTION 173Section 173
^ I read Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Coleridge, Philip Van Artevelde, for views of man to meditate upon, instead of theological caricatures of humanity; and I go out into the country to feel God ; dabble in chemistry, to feel awe of Him ; read the life of Christ, to understand, love, and adore Him ; and my exper…
941 wordsSECTION 174Section 174
^ Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 655. 458 THE INDIVIDUALITY OF DUTY Experience bows a sweet contented face, Still setting-to her seal that God is true: Beneath the sun, she knows, is nothing new; All things that go return with measured pace, Winds, rivers, man's still recommencing race : — "While H…
150 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.