PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 13
James Hastings · 184,906 words · 190 reading sections
Section 121
The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one ; Yet the light of a whole world dies With the setting sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one ; Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is done. ^ A German student, who had strayed far into doubt and sin, went one day in a fit of desperate …
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T| " Give me first a death in which there is no life, and then a life in which there is no death." He who uttered these words was not a Christian as we count Christian, but he understood the great law which regulates human and Christian life better than many of us Christians do. There is only one kind of perfect human …
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T[ It is in Christ Himself that we see what complete death to sin means. To the most subtle and enticing allurements that this world, and the varying exigencies of a most complicated life in this world, could present, He was simply dead. How vain to offer Him, after He was risen, any prizes of this world ! How absolute…
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Tf Do not try to live neither for sin nor for God. Engage at once in the spiritual and heavenly life, the life that is for God. To be dead is to be miserable, nay, it is worse, it is on the road to ROMANS vi. n 333 dissolution, and the reason why Christian society is so unattractive, so feeble, so disappointing, is t…
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Tj A lady came to me in Japan last summer, and said, " I am a missionary here, and have come to make a sad confession to you. I have come to tell you this — that though I came out from America to teach the people here in Japan, I have never had a single hour of joy in my Christian life. And " she said, " I feel so asha…
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ROMANS vi. ii 337 have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." A true and deep faith in Christ, a recognition by mind and heart of the work of Christ, is such an intuition of law, such a sense of God, such a revelation of the evil of sin, such a burning of the heart against self and the flesh, and the worl…
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ROMANS vi. ii 339 yourself to be learned." A man must possess sight before he can consider himself able to see, and he must have the use of his limbs in order to count on being able to move, and he must have wealth or knowledge if he is to reckon on using either. It would be not only ineffectual and senseless, but a c…
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1 Canon B. Wilberforce. 8 W. G. Stooke. ROMANS vi. ii 341 2. But, more biblically and more accurately, it is an exercise of Faith. It will be observed that the starting-point in these verses is not something at which we are to aim, but a fact which has already happened, and which is stated to us on authority. Over an…
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1 J. Gregory Mantle. 3 F. B. Meyer. The Wages and the Gift. 343 Literature. Armstrong (W.), Five-Minute Sermons to Children, 63. Arnold (T. K.), Sermons 'preached in a Country Village, 112. Bain (J. A. Kerr), For Heart and Life, 121. Bo wen (W. E.), Parochial Sermons, 38. Campbell (R. J.), New Theology Sermons,…
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ROMANS vi. 23 347 spiritual, there will be no difficulty in realizing and asserting that physical life and physical death are spiritually significant, prophetic, and interpretative. But the physical is only of subordinate significance. The essential characteristics of eternal life and eternal death are spiritual. And …
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ii. Sin. 1. Sin is a word of wide import. We can all assent to the truth of the statement before us, if it be restricted to the case of great excesses of wrongdoing; to the case of the dishonest, the in- temperate, the grossly profligate, who reap the fruit of their evil deeds in bodily disease or in civil punishment.…
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T[ We know but little of the meaning which must fill this word so full of all that is calamitous. Our minds cannot compass the dark dimensions of the word as they appear to the omniscient Mind who here and elsewhere gives abundant sanction to its use as a vivid figure of speech. For we may need to remember that the dea…
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2. Just in the same way as Paul, who had no other means of support, was compelled, like most of us, to earn a wage if he was to live, so the soul by nature is compelled, for lack of spiritual resource, to serve sin, for its wage of death. Man must serve ; his only choice being which of two masters he will serve, Satan …
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the Apostle's noble faith, " He is able to keep," we are without any " persuasion " at all ; and instead of a ringing certainty, we have only a ghastly fear or, at best, a tremulous hope. T[ You have seen the little engraving that adorns the title-page of Dora Greenwell's beautiful books : a hand grasping a cross, and…
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arranged in ascending sections to represent the different processes and stages through which the granite passes, from the quarry to the polished issue. The pedestal is rough, jagged, and primitive, just as it left the quarry, bearing all the marks of the blasting. And then follow layer upon layer, each succeeding one b…
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1 J. H. Jowett. 360 THE WAGES AND THE GIFT me." That is the apprehension of God; the singing basal consciousness that the Lover is in the house ! It is "deep calling unto deep " ; it is the sympathetic vibration of those who partake of the same nature, and that nature is Divine.1 It will not meet us where the shadow…
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That our work may be divine Seek we not our own but Thine ; Lost to self and found "in Thee," Find we sweet Humility, Zeal by reverent Love refined, True Devotion's single mind. So "in Thee" we shall be strong, Seem the labour light or long; And, though clouds of self and sin Darken round us and within, So not dimly s…
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My soul would lie All night long; and when the morning splendour Flashed o'er the sky, I think that I could smile, could calmly say, "Welcome His day." But if a wondrous hand from the blue yonder Held out a scroll, Upon which my life was writ, and I with wonder Beheld unroll To a long century's end its mystic clue…
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3. The text would be unintelligible unless we observed its antithetical setting. It is a contrast between law and love as redemptive forces in human life. Paul does not discuss it with the philosopher's pleasure in abstract reasoning. He is dealing with facts. Law was a fact. Love was a fact. In times past God had soug…
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If not with hope of life, Begin with fear of death: Strive the tremendous lifelong strife Breath after breath. Bleed on beneath the rod; Weep on until thou see ; Turn fear and hope to love of God Who loveth thee. Turn all to love, poor soul; Be love thy watch and ward; Be love thy starting-point, thy goal, And thy …
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•f[ " One may deal with things without love, one may cut down trees, make bricks, and hammer iron without love, but one cannot deal with men without love." 2 T[ Paracelsus believed that knowledge is power, and it was that that kindled and kept alive for a time his transcendent ambition. And when he was defeated, when …
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1 P. T. Forsyth, The Holy Father and the Living Christ, 27. 2 Tertullian. 378 LAW OR LOVE ^| St. Paul speaks of Christ as having been " God's own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh" — that is, here was a man with a nature like ours, including flesh like ours, the very flesh which in us is always bringing forth sin, …
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1 T. G. Selby. 380 LAW OR LOVE Love kindled at His love makes likeness and transmutes the out- ward law into an inward " spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Tf It is of great importance that you see the sacrificial character of Christ's condemnation of sin in the flesh — that besides seeing that Christ clearly declared…
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382 LAW OR LOVE Henceforth Sin can lay no claim against Him. Neither can it lay any claim against the believer ; for the believer also has died with Christ. Henceforth when Sin comes to prosecute its claim, it is cast in its suit and its former victim is acquitted. The one culminating and decisive act by which this st…
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2. We are brought into sympathy with the Law, because we are brought into grateful and loving sympathy with the great Lawgiver. When He could not by His commandments over- come the evil that was in us, He has by the power of His love, revealed in His long-suffering patience and boundless sacrifice, brought us into will…
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4. Though " the flesh " is not essentially sinful, it is essentially weak, and hence the word is used to describe man in his weakness, physical, intellectual, or moral. (1) As connoting mere physical weakness " the flesh " is found in several passages of St. Paul's Epistles (2 Cor. iv. 11, vii. 5, xii. 7 ; Gal. ii. 20…
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Of all that is, and is not, first and best. Ah, vain desire, our straitened years to mar ! Troubled we turn and listen unreleased, To music of a revel held afar, Evasive echoes of a distant feast.1 1 Rosamund M. Watson. ROMANS viii. 6 391 iii. Death. What is death ? We may define death in its first aspect as cea…
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2. And, whatever it is, it is not the same thing as moral goodness — not quite the same. One may be very good, very kind, honour- able, benevolent, and tender-hearted without being spiritual in one's mind. Spirituality is moral excellence with something added. That additional something is what heat is to light. Has spi…
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^| You say there is another kind of intelligence that men lawfully respect, which is called shrewdness, or practical acquaint- ance with affairs. But is not that, too, provided for in the New Testament ? Do you suppose it was irrespective of their practical experience among men, that Christ chose His first disciples, t…
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T[ You have struggled for personal purity against all the temptations of the flesh; you have fortified the castle of your will with every worldly bulwark — respectability, shame, ambition, health ; you have struggled and you have conquered. But has not something better often hovered before you as a possibility, when, i…
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(3) But St. Paul always regards life as a present possession of the believer. As such, it is the direct result of the indwelling 1 T. R. Williams. 4oo THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL of the Holy Spirit, and may even be termed the actual presence of the Spirit in the human personality. Most typical instances are : Eom. …
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(2) Again, it is the peace of perfect trust. Our want of peace is very often just want of confidence. We are not at ease in our mind, because we are not sure of those on whom some interests that are dear to us depend. We are not sure of ourselves. Great responsibilities are entrusted to our wisdom and skill ; but we ar…
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Tf I never read this Scripture in the presence of a Christian congregation without feeling that I have in some way chopped down through every heart with a great broad axe. There is no whitewashing in this passage : " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Not, " He will do tolerably well, but not…
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T[ I pray you, attempt to correct the circumference of your life from the centre ; do not attempt to correct the centre from the circumference — that is, do not attempt to correct your spirit by altering your habits. Correct your habits by an alteration of the spirit. And how is the spirit to be altered ? Only by the t…
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TJ A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of structure in the body which renders it capable of the most delicate sensation ; and of structure in the mind which renders it capable of the most delicate sympathies — one may say, simply " fineness of nature." This is, of course, compatible with heroic bodily s…
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0, east is east and west is west and never twain shall meet Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat; But there is neither east nor west, border, nor breed, nor birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth ! 1 Tj It takes the greatest strength to …
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I held the golden vessel of my soul And prayed that God would fill it from on high. Day after day the importuning cry Grew stronger — grew, a heaven-accusing dole Because no sacred waters laved my bowl. " So full the fountain, Lord, wouldst Thou deny The little needed for a soul's supply ? I ask but this small portion …
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418 THE OWNER'S MARK done, he said, "Mr. Speer, you have asked me a great many questions, and some of them have been very difficult. Now, I would like to ask you one question. You know what the Chris- tians in your country are like. Are they all men and women of burning hearts ? " It was a quaint Chinese idiom of whic…
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2. Nearly as frequent as egeiro, and on the whole more con- spicuous, are the verb anistemi and its noun anastasis. The noun is translated " resurrection." The verb denotes to rise up or raise one up from the supineness of death to the vigour of life. Peter turned to the body of Tabitha and said, " Kise up." She opened…
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III. The Eesurkection of our Body. 1. Jesus rose in the body. His was no mere immortality of the soul ; He claimed the body as part of Himself. In the body He ascended ; in the body, now glorified, He lives and rules ; in the body He will appear again, the second time, unto salvation. Not only, however, has He Himsel…
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■[f A human body is the necessary — is the only — method and condition on earth of spiritual personality. It is capable, indeed, of expressing spirit very badly; it is capable of belying it; indeed, it is hardly capable of expressing it quite perfectly ; it is, in fact, almost always falling short of at least the ideal…
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T[ Should it be the case that the soul had become so perfectly embodied that its covering is now its character, then the moment of death would be the moment of judgment, for the soul would carry with it, as it were, its whole history, and show the deeds done in the body. We have, indeed, I think, a hint and prophecy of…
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1 J. Baldwin Brown. * E. H. Archer-Shepherd. 432 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY doubts, no attempts to be wise above that which is written, move you from this solid certainty, that, when your time comes to die, and that tired body which, perhaps, now contains in it the seed of the disease which shall one day lay it low…
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2. There is certainly abundant reason why we should seek to learn what the Scriptures mean by " spiritual leading." There are few subjects so intimately related to the Christian life of which Christians appear to have formed, in general, conceptions so inadequate, where they are not even positively erroneous. The …
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1 H. Alford. 2 T. G. Selby. 8 Mirkhond, in Field's Little Booh of Eastern Wisdom, 25. 440 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT 3. As the sons of God are characterized by the leading of the Spirit, so at the same time the leading of the Spirit produces certain broad results in them, so that in the sons of God we dis- cern (1) l…
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442 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT when he is merely upheld while he himself finds or directs himself to the goal. The Greek language possesses words which precisely express these ideas, but the Apostle passes over these and selects a term which expresses determining control over our actions. Tf Our Lord promised His disc…
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\ There is a difference between the Spirit's action in dealing 1 B. B. Warfield. 3 H. Alford. 444 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT with the prophet of God in imparting through him God's message to men and the action of the same Spirit in dealing with the children of God in bringing them into their proper holiness of life. T…
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(1) The first step of the Spirit's ordinary work of guidance takes place in that part of man's spiritual being which we know as his understanding. It is a guidance of information. It is expressed by our Lord in these words : " He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." It is revelation of facts regarding Chris…
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T[ Seventeen beautiful Easter lilies were planted in a garden, and in due time sixteen of them sprung up with all their beauty ; but the one which had been planted near the hedgerow never seemed to make any progress whatever ; it was carefully tended, watched, and watered day by day, and yet it never grew. At last the …
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1 Henry H. Barry. ROMANS viii. 14 451 integrity rather than to pressure of circumstances or business incompetency, is mercifully hidden from us. 3. And the leading of the Spirit establishes that intimacy, confidence, and affection which are so necessary to right training. "We cannot love God if He is only an instiga…
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Tf In this assurance we shall no longer beat our disheartened way through life in dumb despondency, and find expression for our passionate but hopeless longings only in the wail of the dreary poet of pessimism — But if from boundless spaces no answering voice shall start, Except the barren echo of our ever yearning he…
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4. And the example of St. Paul agrees. In the words of our text, taken from the supreme chapter of St. Paul's classic formula- tion of the meaning of Christianity, we hear the note of real and vital personal experience. From the midst of the clouds and darkness of human existence, the great spirit of St. Paul rose high…
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One in a vision saw a woman fair; In her left hand a water jar she bare, And in her right a burning torch she held That shed around a fierce and ruddy glare. 1 J. LI. Da vies. ROMANS viii. 15 461 Sternly she said, "With fire I will burn down The halls of Heaven; with water I will drown The fires of Hell, — that all…
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And be the wall to separate my heart So that I may at length repose me free; That peace, and joy, and rest may be within, And I remain divided from my sin. (3) The fear of death, and of the terrible possibilities (at least) which must be faced just beyond death, is, no doubt, the chief cause of that spirit of bondag…
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T| A rich man, well educated, " adopts " a poor illiterate child. The child moves in the circle of the society of his adopted father, and shares with him in the indulgences of his wealth. But because that child has no sense of affection towards his adopted father, or because he has no previous training to qualify him f…
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FRANgois, Archbishop and Duke of Cambrai." It must have caused him much suffering to feel that he was looked upon as a heretic, that his enemies were triumphing over his submission; but he felt, and no doubt he was right, that obedience would bring a greater blessing to the Church than any protest.2 Tf When our commi…
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1 Canon Body. 2 Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poems 0/ Love and Life, 13. 470 THE SPIRIT OF A SON meet and are consummated in the love of God. May He who has prepared for them that love Him such good things as pass man's understanding, pour into our hearts such love towards Him, that we, loving Him above all things, may obtai…
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4. Now some of the signs of this filial spirit which cries " Father," are these — (1) Boldness in Prayer. A child does not ask a father as a stranger asks him. He goes as one who has a right, — as one who 1 A. Thorn, in The Expository Times, xx. 527. ROMANS viii. 15 473 has never been refused all his life, and never…
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Tf John Kendrick Bangs tells about a little boy who one night cried for the moon. So his father, who was a kind and generous as well as a wise man, gave it to him. "You may have the moon," said the father, " only you must not be selfish about it. The very best place to keep the moon is up there in the heaven, where it …
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Sunday, 259. Mclntyre (D. M.), Life in His Name, 215. Maclaren (A.) *Creed and Conduct, 39. „ ^Expositions of Holy Scripture, Romans, 136. „ *Sermons Preached in Manchester, i. 54. Martineau (J.), Hours of Thought, i. 45. Patton (W. J.), Pardon and Assurance, 18. Pusey (E. B.), Parochial and Cathedral Sermons, 175. …
1,119 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.