PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 14
James Hastings · 171,740 words · 177 reading sections
Section 61
There may yet, says the Apostle, be some fresh transforma- 1 Milton. * A. Maclaren. ROMANS VIII. 38, 39 163 tions. I know not what new environment; may yet confront me, what strange world, what undreamed-of surroundings, what play of forces more dread and solemn than I have hitherto experienced; but I fear not even …
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^ It is still the evident and immediate duty of many people living in Christian lands to set themselves at once to know God as He has been revealed to the world by Jesus Christ. To know Him is to have an untroubled and unlimited confidence in Him, and their want of confidence shows that they do not know Him. Eight know…
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But beyond all this the Apostle found a deeper gulf, a more 170 ANATHEMA FROM CHRIST terrible sentence. To be anathema from Christ, cut off for ever from that eternal life which he had known as the truest and highest blessedness, sentenced for ever to that outer darkness, the wailing and gnashing of teeth — this was …
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172 ANATHEMA FROM CHRIST and poured upon the enemy, after the fashion of the olden times, when they poured melted lead or boiling pitch upon the besiegeris who wished to take a tower or city. Such a text as this must be fired off red-hot ; it spoils if it cools. It is a heart business, not a head business.^ It will b…
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2. St. Paul's spirit was not that of a heginner in the Christian faith. — A man's religion, like most else within him, often begins in selfishness. If it is true religion, it cannot end in selfishness. The child sees in his mother at first only the reservoir of food and comfort. He seeks her bosom for his own sake. By …
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11. The Feeling of the Patriot. No sacrifice, St. Paul felt, was too great for him to make — for whom ? " For my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." All Christian believers were his brethren spiritually, but it was the Jews who were his brethren by natural relationship. So let us look at St. Paul's words as…
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^ If I were attempting a survey of the whole field of the literature of patriotism, the very first book to which I should need to ask your attention would be our sacred Scriptures ; for nowhere will you find a more intense patriotism than glows in the words of some of its psalmists and prophets. And in New Testament ti…
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^ He who does not desire the salvation of those who are his own kith and kin — " how dwelleth the love of God in him ? " Christianity is expansive, it makes the bosom glow with love to all that God has made ; but, at the same time, our love does not expand so as to lose force ; and this is seen when it turns its power …
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^ A. C. Benson, Euskin : A Stvdy in Personality, 221, * Richard Burton. ROMANS IX. 3 183 of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things." The urgency of his message burned like a fire in his bones ; his passion to win men was like a Divine con- straint which gave him no rest. 2. The p…
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Thy love — to trust Thy mercy wide For him — for me."^ * Margaret Blaikie, Smigs by the Way, 26. The Heart and the Mouth. Literature. Barrett (6. S.), Musings for Quiet Hours, 49. Blake (R. E.), Good News from Heaven, 27. Edger (S.), Sermons Preached at Auckland, New Zealand, ii. 153. Finney (C, G.), The Way of S…
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^f The believing heart is indispensable to the discovery of truth. I do not say that it is indispensable to the discovery of all truth, although there is a sense in which it is true that no truth can be discovered without it. I do say that the truth he needs cannot be discovered by any man unless one of the organs by w…
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^ There can be no doubt that the belief in a historical Christ and a historical resurrection is the only basis on which a living certainty of life beyond the grave can be placed.^ 2. This belief was not an act of the intellect alone ; it was scarcely even a conscious act of the individual. For we must keep in mind, in…
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There is no unbelief! Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod. And waits to see it push away the clod. He trusts in God. Whoever says, when clouds are in the sky. Be patient, heart, light breaketh by and by, Trusts the Most High. Whoever lies down on his couch to sleep, Content to lock each sense in slumber deep, Know…
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^ It is told in the Memoirs of Br. Chalmers that he spent an evening at Edgarstoun in the house of Mr. Eutherford. "His amiable wife was by the library fire with her sister-in-law, and Mr. Brown, a remarkably large stout man of seventy-two. He had been a parishioner in Cavers when Dr. Chalmers was assistant there, and …
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1. What St. Paul says to us here is no single or partial lesson dropped by the way. Standing where it does in his writings, it carries an exceptional weight of authority and breadth of meaning. It forms a kind of midpoint in the greatest and most comprehen- sive of his early Epistles. The two divisions of the Epistle a…
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^ When vaccination was introduced in Aberdeen, there existed a strong popular prejudice against it and a corresponding reluct- ance on t'de part of parents to allow their children to undergo that oper54tion. It " went over " the medical men of Aberdeen to disabuse -people's minds of the fear that it "would do more harm…
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Like the winds of the sea are the waves of fate, As we voyage along through life; 'Tis the set of the soul which decides the goal, And not the calm or the strife. II. The Consecration. '* I beseech you therefore, brethren, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God." It is not often that th…
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^ Listen to the parable of the earth, as it lies far down beneath the blue heaven, or as in the cold night it looks up at the silver stars, "Here am I," it mutters, "so far away from Him who made me. The grass blades and the flowers lift up their heads and whisper to the breeze, the trees go far up into the golden…
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^ It is a matter of great interest, and even awe, to me, to observe how the nobler feelings can exist in their intensity only where the whole nature, the lower too, is intense also ; and how that which is in itself low and mean becomes sublimated into something that is celestial. Hence, in the highest natures I suppose…
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% After dinner to the San Gregorio to see the frescoes, the "Martyrdom of St. Andrew," the rival frescoes of Guido and Domenichino, and afterwards drove about till dark, when we went to a most extraordinary performance — that of the Flagellants. I had heard of it, and had long been curious to assist at it. The church w…
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ROMANS XII. I 217 The reason why we should glorify God in our bodies is that we were bought with a price. " Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ? " What a marvellous thought, that God is living in the world to-day in the bodies of Christians ! But of all passages there is none more…
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^ A. W. Robinson, The Voice of Joy and Emlth, 220. * Browning, Eabbi ben Uzra. * S. D. Gordon. ROMANS XII. I 219 ^ All misuse of the body is not of vulgar vice, the kind of thing which is soul-murder, and which declares its character openly and visibly. There is a subtler misuse. There is a way of living which gives…
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^ Early Letters of Marcus Dods, 103. ROMANS XII. I 221 athlete and the Christian ? an alliance against the common enemies of both — against intemperance, and indolence, and dis- sipation, and effeminacy, and aesthetic voluptuousness, and heartless cynicism, and all the unnatural and demoralizing elements in our moder…
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^ In the guest book of a friend I saw recently a few lines written by Dr. John Willis Baer, in which he said, quoting from another — God gave Himself for us, God gave Himself to us, God wants to give Himself through us.* III. The Pakt which Eeason Plays. " Which is your reasonable service." 1. It is natural to s…
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From the commencement of the twelfth chapter to the close of his Epistle we find the Apostle presenting those mercies, the nature and fulness of which he had previously unfolded in doctrine, as motives to Christian activity. They do not produce the effect which they ought to have if they do not produce righteous and ho…
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2. This very fact, that " the fashion of this world " is change- able and uncertain, makes it harder to give definite rules as to the way to avoid being '' fashioned according to this world." St. Paul does not attempt to do so ; he does not say, " Such and such Ik, such and such employments, such and such pleasures ar…
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* F. Arnold, Robertson of Brighton, 224. 232 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR even, as well as in social -etiquette; and it is against these that St. Paul warns his Eoman Christians. Whenever and wherever the shifting moral sense of Society forms its own rules and stan- dards, without reference to the revelation of God in His…
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^ In the department of the "minor morals" various little changes of fashion are observable. The change in the drinking habits of society is too hackneyed a topic to be more than men- tioned, but if we are not mistaken, a striking change has taken place in the matter of " strong language." It is quite true that " damns …
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236 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR 3. It is evident that the world of to-day has changed, and it is unreasonable to require of modern Christians the line of action which was necessary in the first century. The spirit of Christ has counted for something during nineteen centuries, and Western society is not arrayed in arrogant…
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238 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR so entirely taken up with his property, pursuits, schemes, and employments in this world, innocent though they may be and useful in themselves, that he is more in earnest about them than about his devotions and the preparation of his soul for death, such a man has much need to watch and pra…
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' J. E. Roberts. 240 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR had in it the veiy radiance of heaven, and of which it might be said without exaggeration that it was " as it had been the face of an angel " ? Did you never see goodness making men and women beautiful ? Did you never see some noble emotion stamp its own nobility on the co…
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ROMANS — 16 242 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR " acceptable," well pleasing (that is, to God) ; and " perfect," that is, ethically adequate or complete. ^ You wish to know what is the will of Grod which you must follow amid the dark perplexities of your life. Well, remember that the will of God is a living will. It develop…
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^ S. Wilberforce. * H. Begbie, In the Hand of the Potter, 266. • H. Howard. 244 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR 3. We have examined what the words imply. Let us now see some of the consequences which follow. (1) The danger of thwarting God's will. — Here is the key to the secret history of every careless life amongst us Ch…
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When we go behind these general considerations, however, we find that this great commonwealth rests on God's enactment. When He commanded man to replenish the earth and subdue it, He issued His royal charter to business. Business means the appropriation and subjection of the world by man to himself. Beginning with agri…
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* Joseph Parker, Well Begun, 69. ROMANS XII. II (AV) 253 God's blessing on him as a faithful servant. He may never have thought of God from beginning to end ; but what he has done is in full accord with the Divine mind and plan. N'ay ! the man who spends his working day in merely baking bread, or in laying one brick …
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ROMANS XII. 11 (AV) 255 any depth. Now, God has not spent all this education on us for the purpose of making us more successful worldlings. He has put us in this school to develop our energy for His cause and Kingdom. There is enough unemployed talent in the churches and the world to-day to reform all empires and all …
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•[f A business man, not being well, came to his doctor. The doctor told him he had a bad heart. He said, " At any time you may die suddenly, or you may live for years." The man was at first greatly shocked, and said, " Shall I give up business ? " The doctor said, " No, you will die the sooner probably for that. Go on,…
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Never exceed thy income. Youth may make Ev'n with the yeare; but Age, if it will hit. Shoots a bow short, and lessens still his stake. As the day lessens, and his life with it. Thy children, kindred, friends upon thee call; Before thy journey fairly part with all. Yet in thy thriving still misdoubt some evil. Lest g…
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(1) To all, then, who really wish to lead such a life, let it be said that the first thing to be done — that without which all other efforts are worse than vain — is to devote themselves heartily to God through Christ Jesus. Much as has been said of the infusion of religious principle and motive into our worldly work, …
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264 BUSINESS we seek, and man finds it in the fulfilment of his life by Jesus Christ.i 2. Garry religion into every part of life. — If we carry the principles of Christ with us into the world, the world will become hallowed by their presence. A Christlike spirit will Christianize everything it touches. A meek heart, …
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l^ 266 BUSINESS secular a work to create a cotton plant as to spin the cotton and to weave it. It is as secular a work to create iron as to make the iron into railway girders, into plates for steamships, into ploughs and harrows, nails, screws, and bedsteads. It is as secular a work to create the sun to give light in…
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*[[ Philosophers are sometimes exceedingly detached from the world, strangely careless about national struggles in which it would seem they ought to be passionately interested. What about Goethe and his lack of patriotism ? He was absorbed by singers and actors, by art and literature, and hardly cast a glance at the st…
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^ I confess to you that though, like St. Paul, I desire to magnify my own office, I am often filled with deep admiration for the life and calling of a Christian man of business. His special trials and temptations are not mine; and, though a minister has his own temptations and trials, he sometimes feels, as he stands b…
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(Stalker). Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., vii. 129. Keswick Week (1908), 190 (Lees). 074 Outward, Inward, Christward. In diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord. — Rom. zii. II. The position that the portion of Holy Scripture from which these words are taken occupies, gives to the words special …
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Looking to the whole context of the verse, looking to the whole tenor and life of the Apostle, we may be sure that he meant those to whom he wrote to think chiefly of the spheres of Christian activity which were open to them, to each of them according to the gift that he had received — the gift of prophecy, ministratio…
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28o OUTWARD, INWARD, CHRISTWARD approaching to overwhelm her, and Love abandoning her to its horrors.^ ^ Life without industry is guilt ; and industry without art is brutality.2 ^ There is no cure for the despair and the nervous misery from which so many among us are sufiering like a long and steady piece of hard wo…
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^ William Law, in A Serious Call, has instructed us in methodical devotion. He systematically divides the day, devoting to certain hours and certain seasons special kinds of praises and prayers. This was the early glory of the Methodist denomination. Their distinctiveness consisted in the systematic ordering of the Chr…
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Passage, immediate passage ! the blood burns in my veins I Away, 0 soul ! hoist instantly the anchor ! Cut the hawsers — haul out — shake out every sail! Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough 1 Have we not grovell'd here long enough eating and drinking like mere brutes ? Have we not darken'd …
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'O" Come, my beloved! we will haste and go To those pale faces of our fellow-men! Our loving hearts, burning with summer fire, ROMANS XII. II 287 Will cast a glow upon their pallidness; Our hands will help them, far as servants may; Hands are apostles still to saviour-hearts. 2. Enthusiasm is indispensable; the…
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(4) Then, once more, think of the glowing and beautiful enthusiasm of our social philanthropists. What man has done more for a multitude of souls than John Pounds, the poor Ports- mouth cobbler, who, in the simple enthusiasm of ignorant love for the poor ragged children of the streets, became the ultimate founder of Ba…
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1 E. C. Moberly. 292 OUTWARD, INWARD, CHRISTWARD ^ A distinction must be drawn between the gifts of God and the gift of God. The gifts are natural endowments, energy, strength, sagacity, powers of body, mind, and character, all of them bestowed upon man without his asking. The gift is the Divine fire, the Spirit of G…
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(1) To one dealt with as Isaiah was dealt with, the very hearing, or as it were the overhearing by accident, of that voice of the Lord, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" has all the force of a command. He must feel that the very idea of that Holy One, by whom he has first been so wonderfully humbled, and the…
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And now I thank Thee for the prayer Thou didst not hear ; And for the ministry of care, The hour of fear, For skies o'ercast, and places where The way was drear. For now I know that life is great Not by the things That make for peace, and all that Fate Or Fortune flings Down at my feet — for soon or late These a…
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1. Eejotcing in hope ; patient in tribulation ; continuing stedfastly in prayer. At first sight they are three separate injunctions. Let some whose lot has fallen in pleasant places rejoice; let others whose lot is dark suffer patiently; let still others devote themselves to continual prayer. Or musing on the exhortati…
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And with this spirit in prayer patience under trial will not be denied. " At this season the sun enters into the sign of Libra, for the day and night are equal, and light and darkness evenly balanced. Even so for the resigned soul Jesus Christ is in the sign of Libra ; and whether He grants sweetness or bitter- ness, d…
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2. St. Paul fixed his mind next on the reality and greatness of his present resources. — " By Christ redeemed " — yes, but that is only the Alpha and not the Omega of the work of grace. " By Christ redeemed ; in Christ restored." St. Paul's mental and spiritual outlook comprehended a great army of positive forces labou…
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(2) It must have an element of recovery in it. How we crave the recovery of lost friends ! Is it all over when they leave us ? The heart refuses to think so. It clings to the thought of reunion. Christ is the pledge of that — Christ the Uniter, who as on earth at the house of Jairus, at the bier of Nain, at the grave o…
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^ One of our bishops, when he was a London incumbent, was at one time deeply distressed by the persistent calumnies of a certain obnoxious parishioner. He wrote for advice to a high legal luminary, who was also a very religious man. His answer was laconic ; it was a quotation : " * Jesus stood before the governor. . . …
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O why are darkness and thick cloud Wrapped close for ever round the throne of God ? Why is our pathway still in mystery trod ? None answers, though we call aloud. The seedlet of the rose. While still beneath the ground, Think you it ever knows The mystery profound Of its own power of birth and bloom, Until it sprin…
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^ Such was the patience of Lazarus after his resurrection when " his heart and brain moved there " in glory, and " his feet stay here." " How, beast," said I, " this stolid carelessness Sufficeth thee, when Kome is on her march To stamp out like a little spark thy town, Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?" 1 …
1,122 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.