PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 17
James Hastings · 205,313 words · 212 reading sections
Section 61
(1) Faith is trust. — And trust which is faith is self-distrust. " I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Eivers do not run on the mountain tops, but down in the valleys. So the heart that is lifted up and self-complacent has no dew of His blessing resting upon it, b…
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i"A. E." * Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Life and Letters of Robert Browning, 349. 158 CHRIST IN THE HEART ^ It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother thus taught me, that which cost me most to learn, and which was, to my child's mind, chiefly repulsive — the 119th Psalm — has now become of all the mo…
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When I have heard Thy voice and felt Thy power, Then evil lost its grasp, and passion hushed. Owned the divine enchantment of the hour. These were but seasons, beautiful and rare; Abide in me, and they shall ever be; Fulfil at once Thy precept and my prayer — Come, and abide in me, and I in Thee ! * 1 H. B. Stowe. …
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There are two thoughts in the petition : he prays that the Ephesians may be able to apprehend the love of Christ in its vast dimensions, and that they may have an experimental knowledge of it, though it passes knowledge. But the exposition of each clause by itself will be the best exposition of the whole text. I. EOO…
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^ The grand foundation or ground of everything is love, God's love. Because "God is love," therefore His love goes forth to sinners. Because His love went forth to sinners. He provided a way by which He could restore sinners again to happiness and to Himself ; and so Jesus died for them. And since Jesus died for sinner…
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II. Strong to Apprehend. 1. It requires strength, says Paul, to lay hold of the love of God. Some of us might, perhaps, fancy that it would have been more 1 Thomas Guthrie. 2 e, Grubb, The Personality of God, 124. 8 Pean Hole, Then and Now, 93. I EPHESIANS III. 17-19 169 appropriate had he said, " weak enough to…
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EPHESIANS III. 17-19 171 little about it. We hear, and read, and talk, but we do not think. When we hear of our Lord's wonderful doings, we do not take the thought away with us and consider it, consider what it means and what it comes to. We never turn it about in our minds as we do the ways and doings of men among wh…
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III. With All the Saints. 1. The definition of a saint here implied is that it is one who has apprehended something, rather than one who has attained a ^ Joliu PuLslbrd, Christ and His Seed, 117. =* D. L. Moody, The Way to God, 19. EPHESIANS III. 17-19 173 great reputation for sanctity by asceticism or noble deed…
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The man That could surround the sum of things, and spy The heart of God and secrets of His empire, Would speak but love. With love the bright result Would change the hue of intermediate things, And make one thing of all theology. EPHESIANS III. 17-19 175 It was " the Bloody Advocate, Mackenzie," who, whatever his ill…
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1 J. E. McFadyen, The Divine Pursuit, 123. « Edward White, EPHESIANS III. 17-19 177 pass beyond Golgotha and Olivet to the throne of God, and see Christ as the reigning Lord of heaven and earth under the Father, who has subjected all things to Him, and they see Him especially as the King who shall come again to rule …
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* J. A. Davies, Seve7i Words of Love, 138. EPHESIANS III. 17-19 179 And here is a word of Samuel Eutherford which he wrote to Matthew Mowat when Mowat was in great distress: "I would not wish a better stock, while salvation be my stock, than to live upon credit at Christ's hands, daily borrowing. Surely running- over…
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There's a wideness in God's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in His justice, Which is more than liberty. * J. A. Davies, Seven Words of Love, 144. 2 Norman MacLeod, D.D., ii. 373. ' J. H. Jowett, in The British Congregationalist, Jan. 28, 1909. EPHESIANS HI. 17-19 181 There is no place whe…
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1 F. W. Robertson. EPHESIANS III. 17-19 183 from Him, He makes us know that His high Eternity is summed up, and shortly rendered in His love ; and that love, though it be only ours, has a right to know love, though it be God's ; a right to appropriate it, a right to dwell in Him, and in Him to advance for ever.^ (4)…
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That before living he'd learn how to live — No end to learning; Earn the means first — God surely will contrive Use for our earning. But is not life passing? Is it not very brief? No, "Man has Forever." And so he laboured lovingly on, his mind dragging the body after it, and in that dragging the body suffered. He wa…
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But the little girl was strong in hope ; she got on the train away up in Vermont, and started off to Washington. When she reached the White House the soldiers refused to let her in ; but she told her pitiful story, and they allowed her to pass. When she got to the Secretary's room, where the President's private secreta…
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And we have the same knowledge that he had of that " love of Christ which passeth knowledge." We have before us continually, in one form after another, that picture of Christ loving man which moved St. Paul so deeply. We have that history of love ever open before us, to which nothing done by man for man can compare. Th…
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^ R. H. Story, Creed and Cmiduct, 152. * D, L. Moody, Tlu Way to God, 9, 192 THE LOVE OF CHRIST love as a child might lay its tiny palm upon the base of some great cliff, and hold that love in a real grasp of a real knowledge and certitude, but we cannot put our hands round it and feel that we comprehend as well as a…
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The two Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians must there- fore be studied side by side. The central truth is the same in both ; the point of view, and therefore tthe range of vision, is slightly different. Dealing with the Colossian danger, the Apostle meets it with the great doctrine of the fulness of Christ. That …
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Who comes again to give Himself — the Life that fills my soul with Thee ! ^ 2. To be filled with God we must first be emptied. Such emptying we fear. What will God wish of us if He has entire occupancy of our desires and purposes ? It may be that He will ask us to change our desires, to give up present ambitions, to …
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(1) First, the Apostle prays that the Ephesians may be " strengthened with power through " God's " Spirit in the inward man." And how can we be " filled unto all the fulness of God " except by His Spirit filling us ? We believe, with the whole Church, that the Holy Spirit is God. If then the Holy Spirit dwells in the i…
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^ The love of God is as various as the world which God hath made, and there is no state of mind and no circumstances of life to which that love will not fit its gift. The Christian, the longer he lives, the more sure he becomes that God has loved him from the very first ; that not even his own many sins have quenched t…
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2. We have, then, as the promise that gleams from these great words, this wonderful prospect, that the Divine love, truth, holi- ness, joy, in all their rich plenitude of all-sufficient abundance, may be showered upon us. The whole Godhead is our possession. For the fulness of God is no far-off remote treasure that lie…
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When all the over-work of life Is finished once, and fast asleep We swerve no more beneath the knife But taste that silence cool and deep ; * Life and Letters of F. W. Rohertson, 57. EPHESIANS III. 19 207 Forgetful of the highways rough, Forgetful of the thorny scourge, Forgetful of the tossing surge, Then shall w…
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^ Take a water-bottle, and if that water-bottle be only half full, every time you move the bottle, the water in it washes to and fro. Why ? How is it that it feels every motion ? Because it is not full. But if you fill that water-bottle right up till it cannot hold another drop, and then cork it in, you may turn the bo…
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Vallings (J. F.), The Holy Spirit of Promise, 154. Vaughan (C. J.), The Presence of God in His Temple, 228. „ (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), iv. No. 493 ; ix. No. 790. Christian World Pulpit, xii. 74 (Beecher). Churchman's Pulpit, Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, xii. 488 (Moberly) Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., …
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2. The Holy Spirit is always with us, a constant companion, and nothing is hid from Him. In this He witnesses to us the omnipresence of God; He makes God's existence real to us, wherever we happen to be. However vast the numbers of the human race, the Holy Spirit is with every individual and knows every individual's li…
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^ The thinnest sheet of paper placed under the trolly of an electric car will stop the car, provided it is not punctured by the mechanical pressure. Cut a copper wire carrying an electric current, file the ends square, place a piece of writing paper be- tween the ends and press them together : the current which was tra…
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^ Dean Stanley recalls a well-known German picture repre- senting a young man playing at chess with the Tempter of his soul. There he sits, intent upon the game; he sees only the moves of the pieces immediately before him ; he thinks he will still win the game. Opposite to him sits the Fiend, exulting over an easy prey…
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The ills we see, The mysteries of sorrow deep and long, The dark enigmas of permitted wrong. Have all one key ! This strange, sad world is but our Father's school. All chance and change His love shall grandly overrule.^ ^ In Eastern countries clay is sometimes used instead of wax for the purpose of sealing. The wax m…
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4. The seal lasts until the day of redemption. — The term " redemption " is one of the broadest and most elastic in the New Testament vocabulary. A cursory glance will show us that it does not merely denote the ransom Christ once offered for our salvation, or even our experimental deliverance from the power of sin in t…
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Fleming (A. G.), Silver Wings, 70. Garbett (E.), Experiences of the Inner Life, 127. Holland (H. S.), Logic and Life, 163. Jones (J. D.), The Unfettered Word, 260. Kenrick (C. W. H.), in Sermons for the People, iii. 80. Lewis (R. C), in Sermons by Welshmen, 296. Llewellyn (D.), The Forgotten Sheaf, 45. Maclaren …
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^ How terrible is the thought of blind darkness, and most of all to a painter, who truly sees ; whereas most men are purblind, while they think they see the glories of this marvellous world. But worse infinitely is the blindness of man's spirit, often wilfully barring out every avenue by which Light might enter. That w…
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EPHESIANS V. 9 233 it fchall resemble the luxuriance with which it grows in its natural soil and under its native skies ; but that when he has done all, when he has got his thermometer up into any temperature he chooses, there is little or no aromatic secretion. That in which the plant excels, that in which it finds i…
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^ J. Aitchison, A Bag with Holes, 105. 8 J. P. Lilley, The Pathway of Light, 63. EPHESIANS V. 9 235 golden plovers, who in the evening ascend from slope to slope, as each becomes shaded by the intervening heights, until they are all collected on the very last ridge which the sun shines upon.^ Grant us Thy light, tha…
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' Life of Dr. MacGregor of St. Cuthherts, 289. EPHESIANS V. 9 237 As the branch abides in the vine, Through seasons delayed or long, Till its clusters of purple shine And the vintage echoes with song; As tendril and leaf and flower Partake the life of the tree, And further its use and power, In bondage of growth …
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For as a stone, so Sufi legends run, Wooed by unwearied patience of the sun Piercing its dense opacity, has grown From a mere pebble to a precious stone, Its flintiness impermeable and crass Turned crystalline to let the sunlight pass; So hearts long years impassive and opaque. Whom terror could not crush nor so…
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^ It is the blending of purity with gentleness that makes "goodness." A good man is something more than a strictly righteous man or a strictly just man. There is a gentleness and grace to add a charm to what might otherwise be repellent in the strength and vigour of his convictions and life. A good man is a man who has…
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2. This fruit is in all righteousness. — The principle of righteous- ness, fully understood, includes everything in moral worth, and is often used to denote in one word the entu*e fruit of God's grace in man. For righteousness is the sanctification of the conscience. It is loyalty to God's holy and perfect law. It is n…
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King of mercy, King of love, In whom I live, in whom I move, Perfect what Thou hast begun, Let no night put out this sun; Grant I may, my chief desire. Long for Thee, to Thee aspire ! Let my youth, my bloom of days Buy my comfort, and Thy praise ; * J. Martineau, A Study of Religion, i. 26. • S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talk…
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Alexander (S. A.), The Christianity of St. Paul, 204. Ashley (J. M.), A Promptuary for Preachers, ii. 280. Baring-Gould (S.), Village Preaching for a Year, 1st Ser., i. 60. Beaumont (J. A.), Walking Circumspectly, 1. Blunt (J. J.), Plain Sermons, i. 259. Bonner (H.), Sermons and Lectures, 206. Brown (J.), Sermons…
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The text leads us to trace three ideas in the Apostle's mind : first, he thinks of opportunity as an article in the market ; second, he feels that there are circumstances which increase the value of the article ; and third, he sees the different types of traders, some neglecting opportunity, others eagerly buying it up…
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' H. Bonner, Ssrmons and Lectures, 208. EPHESIANS V. i6 255 man's past — its evil and its good ; what he has done and what he has left undone — lives in the man to-day. If he has lived an evil or thoughtless life, he may, indeed, amend his ways and live a pure and noble life ; but time lost is still time lost to him …
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" Indeed I do, and a very disagreeable inmate he was. He waa always either shut up in his room, or if he walked out, he never condescended to speak to any one." " Ah ! my good woman," Napoleon rejoined, " had I passed my time as you wished to have me, I should not now have been in command of the army of Italy." 1 ^ Wa…
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' M. S. "Watts, George Frederic Watts, ii. 137. • Dr. MacGregor of St. Cuthberts, 109. • B. F. Westcott, Village Sermons, 321. EPHESIANS V. i6 259 famine and plague. Especially she loved children, and built hospitals for them ; and they loved her so that they ran after her, calling out " Mother ! mother !" The sick…
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^ On the death of General Booth of the Salvation Army, one of his lieutenants was asked what the probable effect would be on the army. The reply was, " I think that probably the departure of the General will mean the consecration afresh of every Salva- tionist to the great work to which the General gave his life. Now t…
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^ After much consideration we settled the question where to spend the winter by taking a house at Brighton. There was the advantage of a well-lighted studio, built for a picture-gallery, large enough to take in his big painting of the " Court of Death," and as many others as he wished to have there. His doctor knew and…
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•6r St. PAUL'S Ruling Passion. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.— Phil. i. 21. 1. The words of this text are not the words of a newly-born Christian, but the language of a full-grown man in Christ. They contain the ripe experience of a well-matured Christian. There are thirty years of Christian life a…
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To be, or not to be : that is the question : Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them ? To die : to sleep ; No more; and, by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh i…
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0 Christ upon the Tree, Thou art not dead to me: Though Thy pierced arms be cold They yet my heart enfold: Though Thy head droop in death 1 draw from Thee my breath, Bound Thee my being rolls Thou art my soul of souls: 0 dead Christ on the Tree, 1 only live in Thee.^ 1. Paul derived his life from Christ. — He fe…
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If Just imagine where the Apostle's life would have gone had it followed its original bent. What a crusade of persecution it would have become ! With what swift and relentless fury he would have destroyed, one after another, the congregations of the hateful sect ! Would not the name of the Apostle of the Gentiles have …
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4. Paul found in Christ the ruling passion of life. — There was never such a lover as Paul, and never such a self-sacrificinar labourer for others as he. But it was the constraining love of Christ that girded and impelled him. Not for his own sake did l! he live, nor for the sake of his countrymen, nor for the sake of …
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28o ST. PAUL'S RULING PASSION to help these dear friends at Philippi and elsewhere who need him, as he knows. So love to them drags at his skirts, and ties him here. ^ " Other-worldliness " finds no place in the truly Christian conduct of life. Not so to wrap ourselves up in the Christ and in the things of Christ as …
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^ When Ambrose was on his death-bed, Stilicho, apprehending the loss of such a man to Italy and to Christendom, urged the principal inhabitants of Milan to entreat the effective prayers of the Bishop for his own recovery. " I have not so lived among you," replied Ambrose, " as to be ashamed to live. I have so good a Ma…
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Never did Grecian art express so graphically the hopelessness of human love to stay the step of death. The inequality of the contest could not possibly be represented to us in a more striking manner. It seems to be cruel, remorseless, inevitable Fate, the sight of which strikes us dumb. And yet there is wonderful conso…
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1 Bret Harte. PHILIPPIANS I. 21 287 into which it passes is no longer loss, but gain. When to live is Christ, to die is, so to speak, more Christ. ^ For this man the Alps were tunnelled. There was no interruption in his progress. He would go, he believed, without " break of gauge," and would pass through the darknes…
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PHILIPPIANS I. 21 289 there, as here, be the vision which makes happy ; and the vision which makes us happiest is never a vision of indolent con- templativeness, but a vision to which we lend all our powers and all our vitality. It is, in fact, a vision in which the will is as much alive as the intellect, the sympathi…
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PHILIPPIANS I. 21 291 signs of pagan gloom and hopelessness. The inscriptions are either cynical at the expense of the gods, or embittered in their complaints. Hard by is a chamber where are buried those who suffered the extremities of persecution at the hands of men — martyrs who were burned, or crucified, or sawn as…
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895 296 WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION broken up, and the man who, without knowing it, was living on, and kept alive by, the high-seasoned food of meetings, conferences, etc., has, like Philip, been called away from animating, bustling scenes, to go unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert …
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1 J. T. MarshaU. 298 WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION it would be obvious that we have a hard task upon our hands, and that if ever we gain freedom we shall have good reason to compliment ourselves. But let us suppose the case of a slave emancipated by his master, given his full liberty at once ; and then directed, both …
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* A. H. Strong, Miscellanies, ii. 129. • J. Cameron Lees. • F. W. H. Myers, Saint Paul. 300 WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION has given us ; we are each to work it out, as the skilled workman may work out in wood or metal the idea which lies already fully formed within his mind. We are not to work for life, but, as it wer…
903 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.