PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 5
James Hastings · 172,846 words · 178 reading sections
Section 61
^ 1 Jan. 1878. Marine Parade, Brighton, 6 a.m. When one thinks of the immensity of time and of the Christian hope that there is endless existence before us, one is perplexed that this infinity of time should take its character from a few years that seem to bear no proportion to it. One observes, however, that in the ti…
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In the making of great iron castings, through some defect in the mould, portions of air may lurk in the heart of the iron, and cavities like those of an honey-comb may be formed in the interior of the beam, but the defects and flaws may be effectively concealed under the outer skin ; when, however, it is subjected to a…
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(2) Our own way is a way of j^^. " See if there ia any j^ay of grievousness i^me." The. path of self -fulfilment is hard ^anxd bitter. If the roses in the broad road of sensual pleasure, sordid gain, and worldly pride are red, there is no wonder ; enough blood PSALM cxxxix. 23, 24 167 has been shed to make them so. I…
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"Bd^ ^^^\ PSALM cxxxix. 23, 24 169 in order to preach the next night, would not give him a map on a slate, but would accompany him on the way and further him on his journey." That is exactly it. There are snTinft_pf>Qp1p^ whn will give YQu^aanap pn the slate,4p tell ^u hn^y fo ^jQ^ i.hrn^^gh \j^ and hn^yg;jg^^tp.rj…
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^ If the forest has attractions for the huntsman, how much more interesting it must be to the naturalist. What one who has delighted the world for over fifty years thought of the Guiana forest may be seen in Waterton's Wanderings. The enthusiasm of the Yorkshire squire has probably never been surpassed. To him the fore…
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^ The whole science of flowers to the thoughtful mind in these days is full to the brim of the most delightful and suggestive poetry. And how much better fitted is it now than ever before for the illustration of moral and religious truth ! Science has anointed our blind eyes with its own magic eye-salve, and enabled us…
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' R, J. Campbell. PSALM cxLv. 1 6 179 afterward it should come to pass that you let it slip, and never think of it again, yet the love and aspiration which once really existed live for ever before God, and in Him ye shall find the fruit thereof ; that is, to all eternity it shall be better for you than if you had nev…
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^ The sweetest and the best talent that God gives to any man or woman in this world is the talent of prayer. And the best usury that any man or woman brings back to God when He comes to reckon with them at the end of this world is a life of prayer. ' Luther, The Oreaier Catechism. PSALM cxLv. i6 i8i And those servan…
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I. Broken Hearts and Countless Stars. ^ 1. The Psalmist brings together here countless stars and broken hearts. It is not easy for us to get these two thoughts into our minds at the same time. Still harder is it for us to think them as one thought. It seems such a far cry from all the jj i86 TENDERNESS AND POWER st…
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^ An astronomer, known to me, divides his heart between the stars and his home — in the latter a dying boy ; both know that the God of the stars has knit their hearts together and binds them up. The spiritual man is apt to come among scientists as into an ice-house, the scientist into church as into a tropical * A. M.…
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I90 TENDERNESS AND POWER wonder of our text. It is He who calleth out the stars hy number, and maketh the pillars of the heaven to shake. And when He worketh, no man can stay His hand or say to Him, What doest Thou ? And it is this Kuler, infinite in power, before whom the princes of the earth are vanity, who is exqui…
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192 TENDERNESS AND POWER for mankind, His heart was thrilled with the agonized entreaty of one thief. For one coin the woman swept the house ; for one sheep the shepherd faced the midnight ; for one son, and him a sorry prodigal, the father in the home was broken-hearted. That is complete assurance that our God is the…
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There have been occasions when I have felt that if others ^ Life and Letters of the Rev. F. W. Robertson, 233. PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 13 194 TENDERNESS AND POWER cared for me as I did for them, it would be not so much a solace of loss as an equivalent for it — a certain real thing in itself — a touching of that ab…
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* T. J. De Boer, The History of Philosophy in Islam, 6. PROVERBS I. 7 199 2. The Greek idea of " Wisdom " was a grander thing ; it meant a clear insight into the eternal order of the world. In more modern terms, it meant the knowledge of God. But it had its defects. The God that was sought after was too much of an in…
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PROVERBS I. 7 20I ence, in which I shall be true to the best within me, and find peace and satisfaction for my life ? The great merit of the Hebrew lies in this, that he, of all the old nations of the world, gave the truest answer to these questions, that he became the oracle of God in the shrine of human life, and th…
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PROVERBS I. 7 203 just as his perception of beauty in literature and art declined, in proportion as he suffered his spirit of reverence towards these things to die.i 2. The deepest reverence arises from the recognition of God. If this universe of which we form a part is a thought of the Divine mind, a work of the Div…
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(2) The fear of the Lord lies at the foundation of knowledge because knowledge, understood as the mere accumulation of facts, is inoperative upon life. The way from the head to the heart is stopped by a hard rock, which must be softened and cut through before a constant and reliable communication can be established. An…
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One in a vision saw a woman fair; In her left hand a water jar she bare, And in her right a burning torch she held That shed around a fierce and ruddy glare. ' R. F. Horton. 2o8 THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM Sternly she said, " With fire I will burn down The halls of Heaven ; with water I will drown The fires of Hell, —…
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^ If I had to single out any particular verses in the Bible which I am conscious of having influenced me most it would be PROVERBS III. 5, 6 213 those which were taught me when a boy and which I long after- wards saw on the wall in General Gordon's room in Southampton : " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean …
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PROVERBS III. 5, 6 215 it, they are setting their will before God's will, and fancying that they know better than God what is best for them. And if this is so with those who try to leave themselves in God's hands, how shall they who never seriously try at all be able to do so when the time of trouble comes ? ^ Faith …
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PROVERBS III. 5, 6 217 our fields, or to the earthquake that converts our home into ruins. If God has no care for the concerns of this lower world, to acknow- ledge Him is useless ; if He acts in all things quite independently of our conduct, acknowledging Him is an impertinence. If He is not graciously disposed to ac…
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PROVERBS III. 5, 6 219 No one on earth can distinguish them for me ; but He will. It so often seems to me as if two different courses of action were right or might be right ; and this is what puzzles me, even though it is a blessing as bindiug me to people of widely different opinions.^ ^ On reflection I felt that I …
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2. How will this direction be effected ? Not by an audible voice from heaven, not by the sudden appearance of angelic messengers to point the way, not even by any undefinable and irresistible persuasion, arising unaccountably within the mind, that a certain path and no other is to be taken. Of miraculous inter- positio…
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* J. M, Charlton, * General C. G. Gordon, Letters to His Sister, 23. A ,.<■ The Two Paths. PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 1 5 Literature. Adams (J. C), The Leisure of God, 35. Body (G.), The Life of Justificatioriy 175. Brown (H. S.), Manliness, 83. Guthrie (T.), Man and the Gospel, 274. Hamilton (J.), Failh in God…
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PROVERBS IV. i8, 19 229 thinks himself cunning enough to be safe. "Dead through excessive drinking " is the verdict given day by day, all the week through, and all the year round ; but every other excessive drinker thinks that he does not drink to excess, or that he has a constitution that will stand it. Thus, verily,…
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» W. J. Townsend, The Ladder of Life, 256. PROVERBS IV. i8, 19 231 at the end of every minute of his existence. The absolute justice of the system of things is as clear to me as any scientific fact. The gravitation of sin to sorrow is as certain as that of the earth to the sun, and more so — for experimental proof of…
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2. The life of the righteous is a life of increasing lustre. Like the light, it shineth " more and more." The day does not burst upon the earth at once. The night does not vanish and come to an end in a moment. There is a slow and gradual change; at first a very faint light far away in the eastern sky, while all the re…
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Tj Throughout these pages [of his annotated Bible], we are con- stantly impressed by the large mental frontier of Smetham — his range of faculty, his many-sidedness. Here is a fragrant wild flower of the sermonic type, which crops up in that paradise of perfumed philosophy, Solomon's Proverbs. It elucidates that celest…
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One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event To which the whole creation moves.^ ^ Our destiny is potential within ourselves. Every man, woman, and child possesses this potentiality, this shaping spirit of prayer and the love of God. The golden stairs are in every home, in every house of business, and w…
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I. The Centre of Life. 1. The heart that we carry in our body may rightly be called the centre of life. The physical heart is a large bunch of muscles, placed between the two lungs and acting as a fountain of life to the whole body. How wonderful it is in its structure — its auricles, and ventricles, its valves and b…
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(3) That which goes so far to mould character and to shape influence, must determine destiny. When the great judicial scales of the Universal Judge are at last hung, it cannot be otherwise than that the central affections should settle which way those scales preponderate : what we have most truly loved must have vital …
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^ One of the most famous and valuable diamonds in the world is the " Koh-i-nur," or Mountain of Light, which belongs to the British Crown. This gem was exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was an object of special interest. It lay upon a little cushion in a case with glass panels, the inside being lighted up …
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PROVERBS IV. 23 249 standard of right and wrong which shall not be deflected by variations in our temperature. We need a fixed light to steer towards, which is stable on the stable shore, and is not tossing up and down on our decks. We shall cleanse our way only when we " take heed thereto, according to thy word." For…
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PROVERBS IV. 23 251 are pure, think on these things." One thought there is which above all others is fruitful and powerful, and which should be familiar to every tempted Christian soul ; it is the thought of the Cross and of Christ Crucified. "In hoc signo vinces." David slew the Pliilistine with a sling and with a st…
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^ If all trees were clerks and all their branches pens, and all the hills books, and all the waters ink, yet all would not PROVERBS VIII. 36 257 sufficiently declare the evil that sin hath done. For sin has made this house of heavenly light to be a den of darkness ; this house of joy to be a house of mourning, lament…
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PROVERBS VIII. 36 259 our own life and sin against our own nature and wrong our own self. This sense of the word as the law of God is that in which the Psalmist prayed, "Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," that we may learn not worldly wisdom but wisdom^ the true meaning and purpor…
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And if without this faith there seems no foothold for intellect, still less is there for morals. To be men in all that hitherto has stood for manhood at its best, we must believe that our moral life is related to a moral law which is rooted in the very nature of things; we must believe that man is so related to God tha…
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^ It is related that in certain parts in South America it used to be the practice to drug with opium the coolies brought to work there, in order to make them oblivious to their wretched surround- ings, and their arduous tasks. It is possible with the opiates of sin, of small sins as we call them if you will, gradually …
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4. This would seem to be the worst degradation of all — that man should not only sin his intellect and will and conscience away, but that he should love his shame, that his soul should be enamoured of its degradation. And yet, who does not know that even this is the effect of sin ? Through it men learn to love the base…
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under consideration. The Apostle goes on to say that if there are bitter feelings and jealousy in the heart this wisdom is 710^ a wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly and animal. " But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, w…
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1 R. A. Torrey, » Hid. 272 THE WINNING OF SOULS II. The Way to Win Souls. 1. What is meant by winning souls ? To the writer of the text, we may be quite sure, the soul meant nothing less than the entire individuality, with all its faculties, and whoever would win souls, as he understood the term, would have to addr…
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1 C. H. Spurgeon, The Soul- Winntr, 254. PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 1 8 274 THE WINNING OF SOULS wisdom of the means becomes clear to every eye. The weapon of love is sometimes a look, or a soft word whispered and eagerly listened to ; sometimes it is a tear ; but this I know, that we have, most of us in our turn, cast…
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* C. H. Spurgeon. ^ A. Smellie, In the Secret Place, 9. 276 THE WINNING OF SOULS nature springs spontaneously from it. And that which to the believer himself is fruit becomes to others a tree. From the child of God there falls the fruit of holy living, even as an acorn drops from the oak ; this holy living becomes in…
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278 THE WINNING OF SOULS to myself. There can be no true soul-winner who is not a pupil at the feet of Jesus.^ 4. The successful winner of souls must rely less on his own wisdom and more on the wisdom of God. One of the principal qualifications of a great artist's brush must be its yielding itself up to him so that h…
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^ Have you ever, in a collected hour, and aided by a good memory, gone over the events of your own life — gone over them in some little detail ? To many people there comes at some time either a period of enforced inactivity, or some critical juncture, which makes their thoughts range over the past, turning its yellowed…
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^ Chance or Providence ! Chance : or Wisdom — one with nature and man ; reaching from end to end, through all time and all existence, orderly disposing all things, according to fixed periods — as he describes it, in terms very like certain well-known words of the book of Wisdom — those are the " fenced opposites " of t…
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' A. Tholuck, Hours of Christian Devotion, 146, PROVERBS XVI. S3 287 upon philosophy and religion an inestimable benefit, by showing us that we must choose between two alternatives. Either God is everywhere present in nature, or He is nowhere. He cannot be here and not there. He cannot delegate His power to demigods …
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* A. Tholuck, Hours of Christian Devotion, 144. * A. C. Benson, Along the Rood, 165. PROVERBS XVI. 33 289 and each other lie at Heaven's door, or were fore-ordered by the Most High. " He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good," but He contents Himself with the showing : He asks for a free, not a forced, obedience, an…
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PROVERBS XVI. 33 291 from the field when his blunted tools are of no further use. When, however, the youth is unexpectedly snatched away, by such a casualty as the fall, perhaps, of a tile from the roof ; when the goodly framework is shattered before the spirit it contained has unfolded its wings, — we then speak of c…
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296 THE LAMP OF THE LORD " searching all the inward parts of the moral nature." This inward lamp " lighteth every man that coraeth into the world." The multitudes of our race destitute of the written revelation have nevertheless this inward revelation. The human spirit instinctively apprehends certain great spiritual …
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2. The lamp burns with the light of conscience. Every human being has a conscience, yet few people know its nature ; just as everybody drinks water, but few people understand its chemical composition. In the case of the water we drink, fortunately we are refreshed just as fully with the peasant's ignorance as with the …
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^ It is not surprising that, prominent among the idolatries of the world, there should be found the worship of fire and of light. Once become an idolater, and it becomes easy to worship fire — that wonderful thing in nature which we find everywhere and in every object, even in ice ; that which you can strike out of eve…
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(2) When at length God gave the greatest of revelations, a revelation which was the consummation of all preceding ones; when the Sun of Eighteousness arose with healing in His wings ; then when the morning stars which heralded the light had dis- appeared in the brightness of His rising, when the Son of God came He took…
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2. The lamp is to be God's ivitness in the world. — God says to each of us : " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The Christian, wlierever he goes, is to show forth certain clear- shining qualities which will commend his Christianity, and so…
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^ You are a part of God ! You have no place or meaning in this world but in relationship to Him. The full relationship can be realized only by obedience. Be obedient to Him, and you shall * C. Jordan, Messages to the Children, 40. » PROVERBS XX. 27 307 shine by His light, not your own. Then you cannot be dark, for H…
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^ The way to train the child is to train yourself. What you are, he will be. If your hands are morally dirty, his life will be dirtied by the home handling he gets. If he is to obey his mother he must breathe in a spirit of obedience from his mother. Your child will never obey more than you do. The spirit of disobedien…
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^ Perhaps there is no criterion by which to estimate a Christian's life and influence so just, so simple, so ungainsayable, as that of the fruits of his faith and of his works in his own family. It is a quality of virtue, as truly as it is of sin, to repro- duce itself ! And there is no soil so favourable for the mani-…
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^ You will all recollect that some time ago there was a scandal and a great outcry about certain cutlasses and bayonets which had been supplied to our troops and sailors. These war- like implements were polished as bright as rubbing could make them ; they were very well sharpened ; they looked lovely. But when they wer…
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Our Heavenly Father chastens His children ; by most gracious punishments He brings home to them the sense of sin, and leads them to repentance and amendment. And earthly parents, in proportion as they are led by the Spirit and filled with love, will correct their children, not for their own pleasure, but for their chil…
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^ You are bound to initiate your children, not merely to the joys and desires of life, but to life itself ; to its duties, and to its moral Law of Government. Few mothers, few fathers, in this irreligious age — and even especially in the wealthier classes — understand the true gravity of their educational mission. Few …
993 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.