PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 19
James Hastings · 162,584 words · 167 reading sections
Section 61
2 PETER I. 5-7 165 of correspondence between the soul and the environing God is prayer ; but prayer requires a conductor, and that conductor or line of communication is faith. That is why we read, " He that Cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." But the fait…
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^ C. Silvester Home, Sermons and Addresses, 146. 1 PETER I. 5-7 167 other words, behind our beliefs, penetrating and informing them, is to be our own true and manly spirit. We may believe what is wrong — for as long as man lives it will be human to err — but, at least, we must be true. The real truth and sincerity of…
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1. This knowledge covers the three great relations of life — God, self, and fellow-man. As surely as faith is translated into character will character result in richer and fuller accessions to our knowledge of God. Over against our spiritual faculties, and answering to them, is a world of spiritual being — a world with…
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3. It is a knowledge that grows out of life. It reflects and tries to understand something of its way of living, its way of acting, and strives to think out the principles of its life and action. The rugged maxims hewn out of life, and polished to roundness and smoothness by frequent action, grow into fixed and definit…
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^ There are times when we have by effort to control ourselves ; " Watch and pray," says Christ, " that ye enter not into tempta- tion : the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." It is dangerous for even the saintliest man to relax his guard over himself ; as the example of David warns us. There is sometimes…
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"From out the earth-fed furnace of desire, (Ere Thou cam'st questioning,) This formless and unfinished gift I brought, And on life's anvil flung it down, while hot: A glowing thing, of selfishness and fire, With blow on blow, I made the anvil ring; (Ere Thou cam'st questioning). "The hammer, Self-Control, beat hard on…
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(3) Faith. — Patience is not merely passive endurance; it contains also an ingredient of active service. A firm, bright, working faith in the moral government of God, and in the ulti- mate triumph of righteousness, girds the soul with quiet strength, and constitutes the ground of self-control ; while the exercise of se…
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A secret message, — " Bless'd unto the end Are they that love and they that still endure." Jesus, my Saviour, take to Thee Thy poor, Take home Thy humble friend.^ VL Godliness. 1. At first sight, the mentioning of this virtue just at this place seems hardly natural. In looking at the order in which the ^ H. Howa…
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i82 THE UNFOLDING OF CHARACTER never draw upon without satisfying response, cannot but command our grateful and adoring love. Through patience, then, thought and feeling are carried up to their highest, till they prostrate themselves in lowly reverence at the feet of Him " who is, and who was, and who is to come, the …
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^ Some ladies in the city had established an infant school in the district of Billingsgate, and finding themselves quite unsuc- cessful in persuading the people to send their children to it, applied to Irving to help them. When they came to the second house, he took the office of spokesman upon himself. " When the door…
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4. Brotherly -love is a test of character. — For the love of the brotherhood is the love of a man because he is a man in Christ. It is a great test of Christian character to be able to discern the likeness to Christ in a man, and to love that and nothing else but that in him. For there may be much in Christians that ma…
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1. Love, then, is the final and fullest expression of spiritual force ; but it is not love as a mere emotion. Hence it is inde- pendent of all reciprocity. It is a principle of beneficence, and, being a principle, is not subject to spasm or caprice. It holds on through all weathers and through all moods. This is the ch…
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3. It is full of ivise discernment. — Love always distinguishes between the person and his sin, just as a doctor distinguishes between a patient and his disease. He never by any chance identifies them. He fights the disease with a vigour, a continuity, and a relentlessness that knows no cessation and gives no quarter ;…
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^ The capacity of growth is that which, more than anything else, distinguishes one mind from another.^ 2. Here we are told to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now the text does not mean, grow into the grace, or into the knowledge. It means, being in grace — grow ; being in knowledg…
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^ By grace Jansen simply meant the birth of a religious sense. This may be strong, or it may be weak ; but even its humblest forms are enough to distinguish him who has it from those who have it not — to draw all his actions into a new perspective, and put a different colouring on all his thoughts. In other words, it i…
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II. The Naturalness of Growth. 1. Growth is dependent upon life and health. Grant these conditions, and it follows naturally and without effort. If these be absent there can be no growth. 1 W. Skinner. 200 GROWTH (1) It is dependent on life. — We nicay sometimes use the word somewhat carelessly in relation to matt…
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^ The Journal of John Wesley (Standard Edition), iii. 449. ^ G. Campbell Morgan, The Siniple Things of Die Christian Life, 58. 202 GROWTH ^ Much work is done on board a ship crossing the Atlantic. Yet none of it is spent on making the ship go. The sailor but harnesses his vessel to the wind. He puts his sail and rud…
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^ R. H. Lovell, First Types of Du Christian Life, 271. 204 GROWTH He means that we are to grow in grace ; we are to " press toward the mark " ; we are to set our faces toward the holy temple.^ •[[ While coarse growths are apt to be rapid, all fine growths are apt to be slow, and come up through a long process of min…
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More than even feeding on Christ, more than appropriating His qualities, is the soul's living touch of the living Christ. We are deeply conscious of the force and stimulus of some people's presence; we can speak better when they are present to listen ; we do our best and beyond it — we " excel ourselves " — when they p…
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^ It was Jenny Lind's intense conviction that her art was a gift of God, to be dedicated to His service. This belief was continually on her lips. " I have always put God first," she said, during her last days. It was this which you could feel in her pose, as she stood high-strung and prophetic, to deliver a great theme…
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3. There is a growth outward. The man who does something for others does something for himself. If he is freezing and obeys an impulse to keep another man from freezing, the warmth which he ^ George MacDonald, Poetical Works, i. 13. * The Treasury, May 1902, p. 82. 2 PETER III. i8 211 generates reacts upon himself. …
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^ George MacDonald. ^ E. H. Lovell , First Tyjtes of the Christian Life, 281. 2 PETER III. i8 213 roots to the very top of the tree. Every ring represents a year ; and so from the number of the rings I can tell the age of the tree. Now, it is not quite so easy as that to mark your growth in grace. It is true, howeve…
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Campbell (R. J.), New Theology Sermons, 217. Cope (F. L.), A North Country Preacher, 1. Dewhurst (E. M.), The King and His Servants, 191. Ellis (R.), Sin and its Remedy, 49. Farrar (F. W.), Truths to Live by, 74. Forbes (A. P.), Sermons on the Grace of God, 75. Griffiths (W.), Omvard and TJ'pward, 17. Hoare (E.)…
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' The Life of M. W. Dale, 79. " W. J. Patton, Pardon and Assurance, 88. ' John S. Maver. I JOHN I. 7 219 life would languish. Every living creature would lose its bright- ness and activity ; every plant would wither ; all the material world would lose its charm. How natural was it for men to identify with light the …
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^ Jowett, I remember, had said shortly before, in one of his quaint and characteristic Balliol sermons, " The search for truth is one thing ; fluttering after it is another." Here was a man whose ^ 0. W. Holmes, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, ch. v. I JOHN I. 7 221 earnestness rebuked all " fluttering," who wa…
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^ The Gospel became at once a social message. The preach- ing which laid hold of the outer man, detaching him from the world, and uniting him to his God, was also a preaching of solidarity and brotherliness. The Gospel, it has been truly said, is at bottom both individualistic and socialistic. Its tendency towards mutu…
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^ G. S. Barrett, The First Epistle General of St. John, 60. JAS.-JUDE — 15 226 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT courage and peace, and enables the man who had faltered and hesitated as to whether he could accept the assurance of Divine forgiveness to accept it with courage, thankfulness, and hope. ^ The essential part of eve…
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1 R. V/. Dale. 2 Bishop Lightfoot, Noiihcni Leaders, 169, 228 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT ^ Pardon is not enough. Pardon seems merely to restore us to a kind of negative condition. Pardon may mean, in some cases, where not fully understood and realized, mere innocence. There was a stain upon the heart : that stain has be…
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230 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT And then what heaven were better than a name, If there must haunt and cling unto us there Abiding memories of sin and shame? Dread doubt ! which finds no answer anywhere Except in Him, who with Him power did bring To make us feel our sin an alien thing.^ 1 E. C. Trench, Poems, 143. Righte…
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(1) It would seem that some thought it must be unworthy of God to vex Himself about the right or wrong doings of men. They pictured Him as so great and comprehensive that He con- tained within Himself darkness as well as light, and looked with equal complacency on the evil and on the good, so that what men call wrong-d…
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/ I JOHN I. 8, 9 237 recognize that this sin is a thing in which the guilty person is righteously held guilty. ^ I wish to call to remembrance my past vileness, and the corruptions of my soul ; not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, 0 my God ! I do this for the love of Thy love, calling to mind my most e…
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At the end of it all the doctor told the man that the good God would forgive him if he should ask in true faith and repentance, but that the people, being human, could not. For a whole year, he charged the people, they must not speak to that man ; but if, 1 J. Keble, I JOHN I. 8, 9 239 at the end of that time, he ha…
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I JOHN I. 8, 9 241 no fellowship with the pure and good, or any heaven in the presence of God. III. Commanding Forgiveness. 1. Forgiveness is a free gift. — That is, it affords the same revelation of love as we find in a child's or a friend's or a lover's pardon, and indeed in all self-sacrifice. It does not spring…
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^ Take the case of some human act of forgiveness. A man does me a wrong. The act being once done is irremediable, and the loss or injury of it must be borne by some one. If he makes me amends, though the evil originally done is not annihilated, yet the sentiment of justice is satisfied. In some cases of wrong- doing, h…
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Since succour to the feeblest of the wise Is charge of nobler weight Than the security Of many and many a foolish soul's estate, This I affirm. Though fools will fools more confidently be: Whom God doth once with heart to heart befriend, He does so till the end ; And having planted life's miraculous germ, One …
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So it is that we are apt to treat this text. Its language is very bold and strong. St. John seems to say that if only we rightly use what he tells us, we shall be freed from all sin. It is a claim which sounds as extravagant as if a doctor should claim to have found a panacea for all disease. " I write unto you that ye…
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' H. Scott Holland, Personal Studies, 137. 252 AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER the bosom of Christ, and who had known Him face to face. Sitting in his chair at Ephesus, or speaking from the Isle of Patmos, he addresses the entire Church of every country, as he says, with the weight of venerable age, with the tone of in- …
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^ Before me lies a faded manuscript in the handwriting of a Puritan scholar, containing notes of his conversations with " that holy primate of Ireland, Doctor James Ussher, in the year wherein he died." Early in that year he paid a visit to the writer, who made humble request to him that he would give him on paper his …
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^ When Sir Walter Kaleigh, involved in a network of malice, had been brought to trial for high treason, and unjustly condemned to die, his mind turned from the thought of the earthly court, in which he had suffered vile insult and cruel wrong, to the thought of the court in heaven; from the king's attorney here to Him …
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I JOHN II, I, 2 259 tion. Unbroken it prolongs itself from age to age, unchanging in its character, and unintermittent in duration. For He is made a priest, " not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." It is not, then, on the fact of a past atonement, but on the power of a livi…
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(2) It is an all-erribracing plea — " for the whole world." — In Christ all mankind rendered obedience to that law, and suffered beneath its penalty. All mankind, therefore, in that act was redeemed from the incidence of Adam's sin. Topsy, in Unxile Tom's Cabin, says : " Why should I be punished ? I never ate that appl…
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Oh ! how shall I, whose native sphere Is dark, whose mind is dim, Before the Ineffable appear, And on my naked spirit bear That uncreated beam ? , There is a way for man to rise To that sublime abode : An offering and a sacrifice, A Holy Spirit's energies. An Advocate with God. These, these prepare us for the sig…
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/ % The phrase which the Apostle employs is remarkable — " love the Father hath given to us." Not the love the Father hath felt, or manifested toward us, but the love He hath given to us. It reminds us of another remarkable passage in the Gospel of this same Apostle. " God so loved the world that he gave — He gave — hi…
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^ J. G. Greenhough, The Cross in Modern Life, 64. I JOHN III. I 271 V 2. The purpose of the Father's love is not only to Ccall us children but to make us morally and spiritually true children, to bring us into right relations with Himself. We might have been told that He is our Father by creation, and that He hates n…
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^ S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Home Ideals, 146. 2 The Life of R. IF. Dale, 654. » J. I. Vance, Tendency, 213, I JOHN III. t 573 tion did not obtain this honour, this rank did not belong to them under the old era. This is a new title, a new dignity. They were servants, not children. Our Saviour marked the transition…
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^ For what good doth it to the Soul to know the Way to God, * A. Mackennal, Tlt-c Eternal Son of God, 36. I JOHN III. I 275 if it will not walk therein, but go on in a contrary Path ? What good will it do the Soul to comfort itself with the Filiation of Christ, with His Passion and Death, and so flatter itself with t…
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^ J. T. Trowbridge. I JOHN III. I 277 sued me. I had come to the end of all strength and courage. I saw myself, I felt myself lost — yes, lost, without the slightest ray of hope. My difficulty was, I wished I knew what it could be to believe. At last I understood that it was to accept salvation on God's conditions ; …
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2. All natural sons are not spiritual sons. The natural son becomes a spiritual son when the Father's will and purpose are made his will and purpose. We find this beautifully illustrated in the story of the Prodigal Son. The youth chafes under parental restraint, he is now a dissatisfied son ; he leaves home and makes …
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Lord, purge our eyes to see Within the seed a tree. Within the glowing egg a bird, Within the shroud a butterfly. Till taught by such, we see Beyond all creatures Thee, And hearken for Thy tender word, And hear it, "Fear not: it is I."* » J. I. Vance, Tendency, 214. » F. W. Lewis, The Work of Christ, 139. ■ Christ…
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^ I recall some years ago reading a sermon on this text by Dr. Lyman Abbott. All I can remember of that sermon now is a single thought in connexion with this passage. " Of all Scripture promises," said Dr. Abbott, " the one that stretches my faith most is this : to think that poor, sinful, fallen man can become like Ch…
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*[f A pleasant, sunny landscape has the power of transcribing its own joyous image into the heart of him who intelligently surveys it. The shadow of a cloud, it has been said, does not pass over the face of a field without making some change in it, and in the feelings of the observer. However this may be, it is certain…
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^ How can a man, without clear vision in his heart first of all, have any clear vision in the head ? It is impossible ! ^ ^ The Civil War did not originate in a conspiracy, but in a ' Clougli, Poams, 63. • ^ Carlyle, Past and Present, 83. 292 WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE SHALL BE perverted state of mind, as other great con…
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897 298 THE POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 2, So when in this chapter St. John has for an instant opened for us the door leading into the future home of the redeemed, he shuts it again, brings us back to earth once more, and says to us, as stated in the text, that the matter immediately before us is not what we are goin…
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^ In a letter to Bishop King, Dr. Bright wrote : " Blessed are they that hope," is not formally among the Beatitudes; but it is, as you have made us feel, a summary of very much of the New Testament teaching.^ 3. This hope, being unworldly, does not appeal to mercenary instincts. — It does not centre itself on surroun…
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II. The Opekation of Christian Hope. 1. The Christian hope has a purifying power. — There are very few religions which have not made purifying of some kind a part of their duty. The very savage, when he enters (as he fancies) the presence of his God, will wash and adorn himself that he may be fit, poor creature, for …
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3. This hope will supply courage and patience. — There is nothing that makes a man so downhearted in his work of self- improvement as the constant and bitter experience that it seems to be all of no use; that he is making so little progress; that with immense pains, like a snail creeping up a wall, he gets up, perhaps …
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^ H. Scott Holland, Personal Studies, 138. ^ Christina G. Rossetti, Poems, 196. I JOHN III. 3 307 ness and gentleness, His sinless purity, His forgiveness of wrong. His delight in the Father's will, His absolute submission to the Father's purpose, His marvellous self-sacrifice, giving Himself " a ransom for many." ^…
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» S. S. Harris, The Dignity of Man, 229. I JOHN III. 3 309 has set before men. And it is plain that unless it were so we should not enjoy the human freedom, the human faculties in that thing which most belongs to humanity — the knowledge and love of God. ^ See how he does not take away freewill in that he saith, " p…
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2. Of this love there could be no more illustrious example than was St. John himself. It was undoubtedly the loving nature of St. John that drew towards him the sympathetic affection of Jesus Christ. Between the two there existed a harmony of char- acter, which bound them necessarily to each other. In both there was th…
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3i6 THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD to-day. Let then our fixed resolve and maxim ever be: "God, Thou art love. I take my stand on that." " Love's faith in love is the surest anchor amid the waves of this troublesome world." ^ When I found Him in my bosom, Then I found Him everywhere, In the bud and in the blossom, In the ea…
1,044 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.