PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 19
James Hastings · 162,584 words · 167 reading sections
Section 121
^ God's love is reflected in His children. The veriest beam of light passing through the vault of heaven and smiling in through your windows is exactly the same as the great surging ocean of light in the distant sun. Catch that slender beam, split it open on your prism, and it will tell you what the sun is made of. The…
1,012 wordsSECTION 122Section 122
^ Far above all other motives was his love to Christ. That was the root of his life, and the life of all his effort. It was a * E. J. Campbell, in The Christian Commonwealth, xxx. 533. I JOHN IV. 7 321 conscious, personal, realized devotion. It was too hallowed a feeling for him to speak much of. It coloured and per…
1,152 wordsSECTION 123Section 123
III. Love in its Insight. Is God knowable ? No, answers the agnostic ; God may exist, but we cannot know Him, for we cannot see Him, and knowledge is of the senses. Yes, answers the Apostle John ; for the deepest knowledge is not of the senses, but of the heart; the deepest knowledge is through the operation of the a…
1,165 wordsSECTION 124Section 124
Here, then, we have three words which are three syllables, and they are greater words than all the piled words of the most elaborate dictionary ever constructed. These are the words out of which all the other words come. No man invented these 328 GOD words. They have become so familiar now that we do not know their m…
925 wordsSECTION 125Section 125
After a while he turned about and retraced his steps, entered the church again, and took a seat behind the stove over in the corner. The people gathered and Mr. Moody ascended the plat- form and began to preach. All the time that Mr. Moody preached, the man was weep^'ng in the corner. Mr. Moody's quick eye caught sight…
984 wordsSECTION 126Section 126
Before God created heaven and earth with all their inhabitants, the Eternal Love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shone with unseen splendour in the Divine Being. Love exists, not for the sake of the world, but for God's sake ; and when the world came into existence. Love remained unchanged ; and if every creature w…
901 wordsSECTION 127Section 127
\^ V 2. Love is the bedrock of the moral universe. — Science has told us of a struggle for existence in which the race is to the swift and the battle to the strong, and God gives the verdict to the stronger. History has told us that God is on the side that has the heaviest battalions. Political Economy has told us that…
976 wordsSECTION 128Section 128
^ Young Scott, the son of Dr. Scott of Greenock, is with us. He is a highly gifted man. May the mighty God bless him, and strengthen him for the work that he may be called to ! He preached last night in Dundee. There was one thing which he said upon the universality of the love of God to sinners which I shall repeat to…
1,052 wordsSECTION 129Section 129
* Thomas Davis. I JOHN IV. 8 339 O Blessed well of love, O flower of Grace, O glorious Morning-starre, 0 lampe of light. Most lively image of Thy Father's Face, Eternall King of glorie, Lord of might, Meeke lambe of God before all worlds behight, How can we Thee requite for all this good ? Or what can prize tha…
904 wordsSECTION 130Section 130
^ There is a story of a lad who was devoted to his father, and ^ J. M. Jones, The Cup of Cold Water, 162. I JOHN IV. 8 341 who stole some money from his employer's till. He was detected in the act, sent to prison, and brought a stain upon the family name. Before serving his sentence, he was allowed to see his sister…
992 wordsSECTION 131Section 131
^ P. J. Maclagan, The Gospel View of Things, 175. a J. M. Jones, TJie Cup of Cold Water, 142. I JOHN IV. 8 343 must hold ourselves remote, and yet be near at hand, and when the lull comes, the only sentence the man can bear — and at first he may receive it with unbelief and partial scorn — is, " God is love." It does…
905 wordsSECTION 132Section 132
Banks (L. A.), John and his Friends, 143. Bright (W.), Morality in Doctrine, 209. Churcli (R. W.), Village Sermons, iii. 258. Cox (S.), Expositions, i. 364. Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, ii. 247. Figgis (J. B.), The Anointing, 67. Gibbon (J. M.), The Gospel oj Fatherhood, 43. Goodwin (H.), Par…
1,013 wordsSECTION 133Section 133
I JOHN IV. i8 349 most part they will proceed together. Fear is allayed by the love of Him, aud our love is sobered by our fear of Him.^ 3. The Apostle had just spoken of a day of judgment. To his mind there was something very real in that judgment, very decisive too. But the reality — the force of such reality — lay…
946 wordsSECTION 134Section 134
\J 2. In a world where everything has to struggle for existence fear is inevitable. One of the strangest things in the organization of this world is the prevalence of a universal destructiveness. We are taught, and we believe, that God is a God of benevolence. We are taught, and we believe, that the world was ordained …
909 wordsSECTION 135Section 135
^ The little pilgrim of the dawn has now the freedom of what Professor Sully calls " the realm of fancy." In his active brain he has a magic wand which makes him master of creation. He fills the blank spaces between the zenith and the nadir with his imaginings ; makes the woods fearful with wolves, discovers the haunts…
902 wordsSECTION 136Section 136
The beginnings of morality and virtue are in fear; for, although men may finally be organized so highly that they shall work for the love of working, as men do that are in health of both body and mind, yet, in the beginnings, among low and rude people, men do not work because they like it. They bask lazily in the sun, …
929 wordsSECTION 137Section 137
^ There is no exorcist of fear like love. Longing for the good of another will carry one through fire and water.^ Our love wakes in the morning, unafraid To meet the little worries of the day; And if a haggard dawn, dull-eyed and grey. Peers in upon us through the window shade, Full soon love's finger, rosy tipped, is…
901 wordsSECTION 138Section 138
■^ 4. The love which casts out fear is not a vague emotion towards an unknown God ; nor is it the result of a man's willing that he will put away from himself his hatred and his indifference, and will set himself in a new position towards God and His mercy: but it rises in the heart as a consequence of knowing and beli…
997 wordsSECTION 139Section 139
^ One of our poets gives a grim picture of a traveller on a lonely road, who has caught a glimpse of a frightful shape close behind him. And having once turned round walks on. And turns no more his head. The dreadful thing is there on his very heels, its breath hot on his cheek ; he feels it though he does not see, b…
1,006 wordsSECTION 140Section 140
4. Perfect love rests on the bosom of Christ, and looks forward to the day of judgment without apprehension. That is the particular thought which this text enshrines. Love God, and fear not, the Apostle seems to say, for now we know to what incon- ceivable lengths God's love for us has gone. The crown and perfect work …
903 wordsSECTION 141Section 141
Voysey (C), Sermons (1876), No. 36 ; (1884) No. 34 ; (1907) No. 10. Walpole (G. H. S.), Life's Chance, 81. Christian World Pulpit, liv. 168 (Scott Holland). Churchman's Pulpit : lat Sunday after Trinity : xxi. 481 (Qrimley), 483 Moore ; 18th Sunday after Trinity, xxxviii, 402 (Melvill). Church of England Magazine, li.…
909 wordsSECTION 142Section 142
1 Phillips Brooks, The Light of the World, 45. I JOHN IV. 19 371 when the goodness was diminished the love would diminish too. If God had loved us second and not first, or had the cause of the love been in us, that cause might have altered, and the supposed eftect, namely. His love, would have altered too ; but now, …
929 wordsSECTION 143Section 143
^ J. Reid Ho watt, The Children's Angel, 16. * Henry Jones, Browning as a Philosophical and Eeligious Teacher, ch. vi. I JOHN IV. 19 373 infusion of air, heated it to a very high temperature, put it into a flask, sealed it hermetically, put it aside. A few weeks after the flask was opened ; there was life inside it.…
900 wordsSECTION 144Section 144
I JOHN IV. 19 375 No other founder of religions, patriot, martyr, king, or saint, has ever claimed it or received it. In all history it is unique. Critics tell us that the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount were not original, and the suffering of Calvary no greater than what other men have borne, and even that the Gos…
902 wordsSECTION 145Section 145
* J. MacConnachie, An Artisan Missionary on the Zambesi, 77. 2 Viscount St. Gyres, Pascal, 229. I JOHN iv/ 19 2^^^ II. OuK Love to God, The Eevised Version omits "him" in the first clause, and simply says " we love," without specifying the object. That is to say, for the moment John's thought is fixed rather on the…
903 wordsSECTION 146Section 146
" Sir, I was sick with revelry. True, I have scarred the night with sin, A pale and tawdry heroine; But once I heard a voice that said 'Who lives in sin is surely dead, But whoso turns to follow me Hath joy and immortality.'" "O Mary, not for this," I cried, "Didst thou renounce thy scented pride. Not for a tast…
1,241 wordsSECTION 147Section 147
^ The opening paragraphs of Wesley's Earnest Appeal to Men of Beason and Religion are perhaps the finest epitome of the ruling purpose of the Great Eevival. The lifeless, formal religion of the time was a sad contrast to that religion of love which they had found. The love of God and of all mankind " we believe to be t…
1,023 wordsSECTION 148Section 148
^ M. Lonsdale, HlsUr Bora, 102. ^ IMd. 52. 384 THE RAY AND THE REFLECTION to subdue the virgin lands of our empire; if we have rescued woman from corruption and slavery ; if we have carried thrift and peace and purity into the lowest dens of misery — we were but following Him who promised rest to the weary and heavy-…
980 wordsSECTION 149Section 149
Upon the marsh mud, dank and foul, A golden sunbeam softly fell. And from the noisome depths arose A lily miracle. * Mrs. RoTjertson, in The Life of James Eobertson, 25. » John G. Paton, ii. 278. * J. W. Burgon, Lives of Twelve Good Men, i. 327. JAS.-JUDE— 25 386 THE RAY AND THE REFLECTION Upon a dark, bemired lif…
925 wordsSECTION 150Section 150
I. Tee World that Challenges the Believer. 1. What is the world ? The term rendered " world " means properly " arrangement " ; and is then applied to the universe of created things in its orderly and systematic conformation, as opposed to the confusion of the original chaos. In all this, how- ever, the idea is rather…
1,131 wordsSECTION 151Section 151
^ J. Munro Gibson. I JOHN V. 4 .3^0 exists, whether we belong to it or no, although our belonging to it is a matter of inward motives and character. The world penetrates like a subtle atmosphere in Christendom, while in heathendom it is organized as a visible system. But it is the same thing at bottom. It is the ess…
911 wordsSECTION 152Section 152
I JOHN V. 4 395 the word of God ; yet, when we come to act in the world, we find this very thing a trial, not merely of our obedience, but even of our faith ; that is, the mere fact that the world turns out to be what we began by actually confessing concerning it.^ •|| One of the severest trials of Gladstone's life w…
913 wordsSECTION 153Section 153
^ Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, ii. 224, ^ Browning, Bishoji Blougram's Apology. I JOHN V. 4 397 Cold iron is precisely identical with iron heated in the fire ; but though the metal is the same, the fire that has entered into it entirely transforms its condition, and endows it with a new power. And the fire …
911 wordsSECTION 154Section 154
1 E. Hopkins, in The Keswick Week, 1900, p. 27. " Hudson Taylor. I JOHN V. 4 399 mouths of lious, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. By faith Joseph exercised self-restraint, regarded sin as an offence to God, and said, " How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God ? " By f…
938 wordsSECTION 155Section 155
*IJ One of our famous philosophers tells of an Italian who was placed upon the rack to secure a confession, and who bore the agony with courage by crying out continually : " I see it, I see it." What did he see ? The victim explained afterwards that he had conjured up the direr punishment that awaited him if he reveale…
1,137 wordsSECTION 156Section 156
But what is most observable is the tone of triumph and victory that the inscriptions seem to breathe. On the porch of a house is written, " If God be for us, who can be against us ? " and a sepulchral monument records the triumphant sentence, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." Even an obscure painter w…
924 wordsSECTION 157Section 157
^ When the populace of Paris adorned the statue of Stras- bourg with immortelles, none, even the simplest of the pious decorators, would suppose that the city of Strasbourg itself, or any spirit or ghost of the city, was actually there, sitting in the Place de la Concorde. The figure was delightful to them as a visible…
907 wordsSECTION 158Section 158
4. What gives this tendency its strength? The Jews were tempted to worship these idols because they saw in the lives of the nations around them that emancipation from shame, from conscience, from restraint, from the stern and awful laws of morality, for which all bad men sigh. They longed for that slavery of sin which …
1,007 wordsSECTION 159Section 159
I JOHN V. 21 413 had come to the city of the idol, and perished there from fatigue and want. And when they were asked where their home was, they said they had no home but where their mother was. And that mother was dying before her time because of her idolatry. Well might he have told such little ones how foolish and …
902 wordsSECTION 160Section 160
^ H. M. Gwatkin, TIlc Eye for Spiritual Things, 94. 2 Hugh Price Hughes, The Philanthropy of God, 229. ' H. Scott Holland, Personal Stiulies, 18. I JOHN V. 21 415 women had almost to go out of the world, in order to be free from complicity in the all-pervading idol-worship. Now, although the form has changed, and the…
958 wordsSECTION 161Section 161
^ 77te Life of Edward Irving, i. 258, I JOHN V. 21 417 the earthly love will not then by any means injure or impair the heavenly. I could not love thee, dear, so much Loved I not honour more.^ ^ We cannot know or enjoy or love the world too much, if God's will controls us. Has a mother anything but joy in watch- i…
913 wordsSECTION 162Section 162
1. JuDE is the prophet of the Apostasy, He sounds the JBnal note of warning. The key word is " kept." Those who embrace the faith and contend for the faith are " preserved " unto the day of presentation ; those who reject and oppose the faith are " re- served " unto the day of retribution. Those who kept not their firs…
1,138 wordsSECTION 163Section 163
4H SELF-KEEPING that the indwelling Jesus always maintains the fulness of the Spirit. ^ Some maimed bird from the woods is brought into the house and the children want to tend it with all the gentleness of hospital nurses. They stretch out entreating hands and make pretty speeches, spread for it royal banquets, offer…
975 wordsSECTION 164Section 164
^ The brightest lamp will burn dim in an impure or rarefied atmosphere, but William Burns was enabled so to keep himself " in the love of God " that he was but little affected by his sur- roundings. Prayer was as natural to him as breathing, and the Word of God his God as necessary as daily food. He was always cheerful…
971 wordsSECTION 165Section 165
^ M. Johnson. JUDE 20, 21 429 about a right relation to Him deserves to be called the most holy faith. Such a foundation involves every other, just as the greater necessarily includes the lesser. There is involved in it every real good. It embraces every department of life, and enters into all its complex and diversi…
976 wordsSECTION 166Section 166
^ The under side of every leaf is furnished with thousands of tiny mouths, through which the leaf breathes back upon the world the air it has purified and sweetened for human uses. And so the foliage of a mighty forest is like a cluster of fountains from which health and quickening alchemies are ever pouring, which sup…
981 wordsSECTION 167Section 167
Though waves and storms go o'er my head, Though health and strength and friends be gone, Though joy be withered all and dead, And every comfort be withdrawn; On this my steadfast soul relies — Jesus, Thy mercy never dies ! Fixed on this ground will I remain, Though my heart fail and flesh decay; This anchor shall…
127 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.