PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 18
James Hastings · 181,464 words · 186 reading sections
Section 121
312 PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS 4. The role of " Captain " which Jesus assumed necessitated suffering. The word translated "captain" in the Authorized Version, which occurs only four times in Scripture, means literally one who leads or begins any course or thing ; hence it comes to mean a commander (or a prince, as it …
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We can go through no darker rooms Than He went through before ; and where He has stretched Himself on the cold ground and bivouacked, we need not be ashamed or afraid to lie down. The Captain of our salvation has shared all our hardships, and plodded with bleeding feet over every inch of the ground over which He would…
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Radford (J. G.), The Eternal Inheritance, 77. Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, iii. (1857), No. 133. Symonds (A. R), Fifty Sermons, 244. Christian World Pulpit, xxi. 321 (A. Barry) ; Ivii. 184 (H. Price Hughes). Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., viii. (1894) 1. Sunday Magazine, 1881, p. 194 (D. Fraser). 3r…
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2. The rest of God, so far from being inactivity, is full of work. When Christ was telling these Jews the principles of the Sabbath day, He said to them : " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The creative act is finished and God rests ; but God, in resting, works ; even as God, in working, rests. Preservation is …
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XL Israel's Failure to Eeach Eest. The history of Israel from the beginning consists of continued renewals of the promise on the part of God and persistent rejections on the part of Israel, ending in the hardening of their ^ John Brash : Memorials and Correspondence, 218. * R. Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest, c…
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326 THE SABBATH REST secret path is the path of increased toil and dizzy climbing. The man who, while putting forth all his mental energy, wishes to find rest to his soul, must fight ten where the other fights only one. But with this difference, that he is sure to ivin. This is true. I believe some men have as truly v…
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Canst thou not see That there remains another rest for thee ? Not this alone Which comes to all His own — Which comes to all who hide Beneath the shadow of the Crucified. There is a rest which still He waits to give — A rest wherein we all may daily live — The rest whereby, As in His death, by faith, we die, …
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(2) We must labour to enter into rest. We must will the will of God. So long as the will of God, whether in the Bible or in providence, is going in one direction and our will in another, rest is impossible. Can there be rest in an earthly household when the children are ever chafing against the regulations and control …
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4. Through Christ the heavenly rest is as sure as it is desirable. How dim, after all, was the conception of heaven among the prophets of the Old Testament, and how it seemed sometimes to meet, and sometimes to elude, the aspirations of the psalmist. But now the " sure and certain hope " of heaven is a commonplace of r…
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Then, when he has, by brief, pregnant phrase, hinted the thoughts he means to prove, the writer proceeds to address to his readers an exhortation, which is repeated at the close of the long discussion on the priesthood of Christ, to which these sentences are the prelude. In doing so, he gives prominence to that feature…
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1. The word " throne " commonly suggests power, majesty, sovereignty, wealth; but God's throne is here described as one of grace. His generosity is as boundless as His wealth. He * W. Robertson Nicoll, Sunday Evening, 339. * Bunyan. 340 THE THRONE OF GRACE bestows blessing not upon the ground of desert or according …
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^ " Less and less, I think, grows the consciousness of seeking God. Greater and greater grows the certainty that He is seek- ing us and giving Himself to us to the complete measure of our 342 THE THRONE OF GRACE present capacity. That is Love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. I am sure that we ought to dw…
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^A. C. Beuson, The Upton Letters, 317. 344 THE THRONE OF GRACE 0 Great Eedeemer ! God and Man, Victim and Priest in one; Thou, entering Heaven with Thine own Blood, Didst once for all atone ; Thou hast removed the awful cloud. Which once the oracle did shroud. Now a bright Eainbow o'er the Throne Sheds lustre fro…
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HEBREWS IV. i6 347 power of temptation in its might, and come scathless through the trial. " In all points tempted — yet witJioiit sin " \ therefore, to Him you may " boldly go to find mercy." ^ 2. There is no fellowship with God possible on the footing of what people call " disinterested communion." No, we have alwa…
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^ A. Maclaren, HEBREWS IV. i6 349 further inquiry, assure you that you are mistaken. At this very moment you need grace to cure your anxiety and distrust, to check your impatience and presumptuous curiosity. Cast your care upon God for every needful support when you shall be called to suffer and die; and come to His …
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^ In Irvine, and wherever he went, his voice was recognized as that of a prophet of the Lord, whose lips had been touched 1 J. Eendel Harris, Life of F. W. Crosshy, 206. I THESS.-HEB. — 23 ' 354 SALVATION TO THE UTTERMOST with a coal from off the holy altar ; and whose mission was to present men with a lofty ideal, …
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" Yes," said the clerk, " I see that you have lost, but what ? " " I have lost a precious jewel," replied the unfortunate man, " the like of which is not to be found among prince's treasures. While I possessed it the contemplation of it was my sole and sufficient happiness. No price should have purchased it of me, but…
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^ L. A. Banks, The King's Sieivards, 211. * C. B. Keenleyside, God's Fellow- IVorkers, 60. 358 SALVATION TO THE UTTERMOST (2) But the expression " to the uttermost " may deaote dura- tion. ] t is rendered in the margin " evermore." He is able to save evermore. This indeed seems to be the true meaning of the word, fr…
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Why is the endless life of one high priest more effective than a succession, conceivably an endless succession, of high priests ? The eternal priesthood involves two distinct, but mutually de- pendent, conceptions — power to save and intercession. In the case of any man, to live for ever means power. Even the body of o…
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^ lAfe of Bishop Samuel Wilber/orce, iii. 44. HEBREWS VII. 25 363 4. Christ's intercession links itself to our prayers and makes them effectual. He enters and finds us bowed down before God, trying to pray, but not able ; He approaches, kneels with us, and whispers with great gentleness, " I am the way, tlie truth, a…
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1 F. F. Kelly. a J. Rendel Harris, Life of F. W. Crossley, 174. HEBREWS VII. 25 365 III. The Condition of Salvation. "He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him." 1. To come unto God, or Christ, sometimes means to bejieve on Him, sometimes to be a worshipper of Him, Not but that a…
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^ There is a story told of the great Dr. Doddridge. During his Northampton ministry an Irishman was convicted of sheep- stealing and, according to the cruel custom of the time, con- demned to death. Doddridge did everything he could to save him, but in vain. When the man was being driven in the death- cart to the place…
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2. This, then, is what is meant in the text, when it contrasts the atoning power of the blood of Christ with that of the blood of bulls and goats. The blood of the sacrificed animal had a certain value, because it was so intimately connected with the life or sensitive soul of the animal ; as the writer puts it, it did,…
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(1) In that mysterious judgment chamber, where busy thoughts, like subtle and eager pleaders, accuse and excuse one another, a voice, whose authority we cannot dispute, declares us HEBREWS IX. 13, 14 375 guilty, and the testimony of God, which is greater than our con- science, reveals to us more fully our sin and con…
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HEBREWS IX. 13, 14 377 of insincere habit, on which ah-eady the avenging angels may have traced the motto, " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead'Mi 3. Living Service.— The effect of the ceremonial cleansing was to restore to the man his place in the congregation. So the effect of the cleansed conscience i…
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^ K. W. Dale, The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church, 213. HEBREWS IX. 13, 14 379 harmless. You will see that there is an am?jiQ;uity in the words " without " and " alone," and the two Apostles use them in different senses, just as I have used them in the above simile about the licrhtninfi.i II. The Way of Clea…
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382 CLEANSING OF THE CONSCIENCE ling " which pleads for mercy, and so is contrasted with the blood of Abel, which cries for vengeance. And in the last book of the New Testament the beloved disciple gives at the very outset thanks and praise to Him who has " washed us from our sins in his own blood " ; and the blessed …
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1 H. P. Liddon. 384 CLEANSING OF THE CONSCIENCE our moral state before God ; and that, as sinners, we are above all things interested in the "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness " in the blood of Christ. Do we look to our successive Communions for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls ? This is becaus…
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386 CLEANSING OF THE CONSCIENCE the sacrifice, is tortured and discouraged. When God determined to have mercy upon man, He did not command or permit holy angels to endure the sufferings which men had deserved ; nor did He command or permit an innocent man to sink under the awful burden of the iniquities of the race; b…
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392 THE WAY OF ACCESS ^ If we would measuie the height of our privileges in com- parison with those of the Jews, we may do so by simply asking the question, What would a pious and devout Jew have thought, to say nothing of a congregation of pious and devout Jews, if one from among them, standing before the veil, had p…
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II. A New and Living Way. 1. How boldly the writer of the Epistle puts in the forefront just those features of the Christian religion which a timid prudence would take care to conceal ! To the conservative mind of Hebrew readers, enamoured of the ancient Levitical system, the novelty of the way might seem the reverse…
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2. It is called a living way not because it leads to life, nor because it gives life, nor because it vitally renews itself, nor because its use is restricted to the living — though in all these senses there is much truth — but because it is a way set up in Him who is the Life. Christ is the way to Christ, as the light …
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2. When, by the sacrifice of Himself, the Son of God came down from heaven, and took upon Him, not the nature of angels, but our nature, that flesh became a revealer of God; in His human nature, which He shares with us — and which we must therefore regard as our human nature — we can see God. Veiled in flesh we can the…
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1. We are to approach " with a true heart." Literally trans- lated, the words mean : " With a heart answering to the ideal " ; that is to say, in the excellent words of Bishop Westcott, " a heart which fulfils the ideal office of the heart, the seat of the individual character, towards God." The question thus comes to …
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*[[ In the outer court of the Temple there stood a large bath, or brazen sea, in which the high priest was required to wash before he entered the most holy place. This washing was repeated in the course of the day, at a more advanced stage in the services ; and the intention of the ceremonial, no doubt, was to impress …
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The bird let loose in Eastern skies When hastening fondly home. Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies Where idle warblers roam. But high she shoots, through air and light, Above all low delay, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight Nor shadow dims her way. ^ H. G. "Wood, George Fox, 102. HEBREWS X. 19-22 405…
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^ A freer, but on the whole a better translation would be : " Faith is the giving of substance to things hoped for, the putting to the test of things not seen." Probably the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews did not intend us to look upon this as a full and complete definition of what faith is, but rather as a descr…
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^ What is Faith ? If I were to say that it is the absolute condition of all life, of all action, of all thought which goes beyond the limitations of our own minds, I should use no exaggeration. Faith is in every age, under all circumstances, that by which man lays hold on the realities which underlie the changeful appe…
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^ A. C. Eraser, Philosoi^hy of Theism, 312. » W. James, The Will to Believe, 96. HEBREWS XI. I 415 IL The Test of Things not seen. 1. Faith is the proof or test of things not seen. Faith tries the spirits, as St. John says ; that is to say, tests beliefs by living them and acting them ; tries them until experiment …
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*I| What is needed perhaps more than anything else in theology to-day is a thorough criticism of the methods of criticism, so that the mind may be properly equipped for its special task and safeguarded from the many pitfalls, ethical and intellectual, that waylay the religious as distinguished from the physical inquire…
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(3) The things unseen strengthen us. — The feebleness, fading- ness, vanity, poverty of things which we do see here are very enfeebling and disheartening; whereas the greatness, euduring- ness, glory, excellence of the things which we do not see strengthen, nerve, animate, invigorate us. These glorious invisi- bilities…
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1 Hugh Black, Comfort. 24. ^ Annie Matheson, Maytime Hongs, 17. The Choice of Moses. Literature. Banks (L. A.), On the Trail of Moses, 12. Bell (C. D.), The Roll-Gall of Faith, 178. Brandt (J. L.), Soul-Saving, 219. Brown (C), The Birth of a Nation, 95. „ (J.), Sermons with Memoir, 159. Carroll (B. H.), Sermons, 12…
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HEBREWS XI. 24-26 427 has placed us. No doubt it often happens that this principle may- be overruled by a higher, that there are exceptions which warrant a departure from this course. But in the case of Moses it might well have been argued that this was pre-eminently one of those cases where the rule held good. For wh…
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What did he refuse ? Away out from the king's palace on the plain there was a poor, downtrodden, oppressed, ill-used race, and this man, who was akin to them and belonged to them, was afraid lest, getting into the softness of retirement, the surroundings of * J. Herkless, The Early Christian Martyrs, 46. HEBREWS X…
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1 William Hall. HEBREWS XI. 24-26 431 brings so much pain with it that we can only tell it from pain by its being what we would choose before everything else, because our souls see it is good.^ ii. The Acceptance. 1. What did Moses prefer ? He " chose rather to suffer afflic- tion with the people of God," He chose …
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1 J. H. Jowett. HEBREWS XI. 24-26 433 ^ There was a man called Benjamin Wangh who was enjoy- ing the delights of some secluded ministry, all the enjoyment that comes to the studious life. He heard the wail of a little child, and he left his study and his books, went out into the night, and encountered the tempest, an…
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^ He who walks by sight only walks in a blind alley. He who does not know the freedom and joy of reverent, loving speculation wastes his life in a gloomy cell of the mouldiest of prisons. Even in matters that are not distinctively religious faith will be found to be the inspiration and strength of the most useful life.…
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(1) First of all, with regard to the very people to whom he was to become deliverer, his reward consisted in being permitted, though not to enter Canaan itself, to stand on the summit of the mountain and see the land they would so soon enter. The »J. H. Jowett. 438 THE CHOICE OF MOSES recompense of his toil, the rew…
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443 444 SEEING THE INVISIBLE 2. Moses saw something that was invisible to most men — something that was more important than the splendours of the Egyptian Empire. The first thing he saw was his love for his own people — a sort of patriotism, though the Hebrews were then, as now, a nation without a country. There was …
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2. The choice of Moses was a moral duty. Having made it, he strove to make it good. Often weakened by his own natural timidity, and praying God to relieve him and send a stronger man to the task, he yet endured. Tempted by wealth and by position, he yet resisted and endured. Threatened by royal power, banished from the…
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HEBREWS XI. 27 449 ootlet tucked away, the little leaflet folded up, each ready to open out if the grain should be let fall into the earth. And then there is the little bag of food attached which would then go to build up the new plant, at the beginning of its life. This is the bag of food which we take to make our fl…
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HEBREWS XI. 27 451 3. It was this truth that received such signal illustration in the career of him to whom the Lord spake face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend ; and as each of the three stages of his life called for a different manifestation of the endurance which characterized it all through, we may take t…
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HEBREWS XI. 27 453 within as well as a world without a man, and no withdrawal from the latter will secure against encroachments on the former. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies : these are the things which defile a man." So said He who was ho…
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HEBREWS XI. 27 455 Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, Man's fitful uproar mingling with his toil, Still do thy sleepless ministers move on, Their glorious tasks in silence perfecting; Still working, blaming still our vain turmoil, Labourers that shall not fail, when man is gone.^ 1 Matthew Arnold. The Ra…
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I. A Eace that All must Eun. " Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." 1. Life is a race : an individual effort, not a fatality. Every man is what his life is ; and his life is just how he has run his race. The road is his ; the opportunity is his ; the means and ap- pliances are his ; and if he fa…
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3. This race is appointed for the follower of Jesus, He also finds that he cannot choose his own way to the goal ; the race is set before him, marked out for him, measured and staked in by a power not his own. His birth, his natural condition, tempera- ment, and talents, his opportunities, the vicissitudes of fortune h…
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^ Stopford A. Brooke. HEBREWS XII. I, 2 465 II. The Conditions of Successful Eunning. "Let us . . . lay aside every weight." 1. We are to lay aside every " weight." This term means that which is superfluous, that which exceeds the proper extent or mass of anything ; in the case of a runner, it would refer to unnec…
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^ One of the New Testament Kevisers has told me that in order to get at the literal meaning of this word we shall have to invent an almost grotesque expression ; he says the only words which represent the idea in his mind are these, " Let us lay aside the well-stood-arounded sin " ; that is to say, the popular sin. The…
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"Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." 1. The word " witness " has two meanings in our language, and out of that double meaning has come some confusion, and a misunderstanding of the text. The word means one who looks on and sees — a spectator ; it also means one who gives his evidence. It…
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*[| The writing-master sits down at the desk, and says to the child, " See how 1 hold my pen," and shows his pupil how to place the fingers on the penholder, and with what freedom and flexibility, and yet with what steadiness, the letters are formed ; and then he says, " Now you sit down and try." And the boy sits down…
1,091 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.