PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 9
James Hastings · 191,666 words · 197 reading sections
Section 1
V. ^ Copy i THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE EDITED BY THE REV. JAMES HASTINGS, D.D. EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE' "THE DICTIONARY OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS" AND "THE ENCYCLOPiGDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS" ST. MARK NEW YORK CHARLES SGRIBNER'S SONS EDIN…
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ST. MARK 5 1 I have read somewhere an ancient Hindu legend to this effect. In an extensive district of the country a terrible famine long pre- vailed. The parched land refused to yield any sustenance for man or beast, and the wretched people were perishing miserably. A princess of the country knew of their condition a…
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3. The use of the word in the New Testament. The history of the word in the New Testament books is worth notice. It seldom occurs in those lives of our Lord which are now emphatically so called, and where it does occur, it is " the gospel of the Kingdom " quite as frequently as " the gospel " of the King. The word is n…
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(3) The "gospel of salvation" (Eph. i. 13) and the "gospel of peace" (vi. 15). In these expressions we pass from the consideration of the author or of the subject-matter of the good news to that of its purpose and issue. It is meant to bring to men, and it does in fact bring to all who accept it, the wide and complex b…
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(1) The first note in the early preaching of the Acts of the Apostles is the proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The first thing the Gospel says is " Jesus is Lord." It is that " God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ" (Acts ii. 36). And this should be first in the preaching of the Gospel still. F…
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2. The name Jesus (that is, Joshua) was in the post-exilic times a common Jewish name : Joshua is equivalent to Jehoshua, which means " Jehovah is salvation." In the Septuagint as well *F. Delitzsch, Old Testament History 0/ Iiedei7i2}tion, 182. • A. Menzies, The Earliest Gospel, 57, i»ote. 14 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE …
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(2) Because there is a Gospel in His worTi and influence. One of the most striking contrasts betweeiT heathendom' "and^" Christendom is in their respective attitudes towards nature and its forces. That of heathenism untouched by Christianity is one of uncertainty, distrust, timidity, even dread or terror ; that ^ H. P…
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1 W. L. Walker, The True Christ, 51. 2 G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, 212. ST. MARK. — 2 i8 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE living relations with a living person, rather than in the adoption of opinions or of habits ? that under it the believer is, not the man who maintains the doctrine of the Trinity, or holds " justific…
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2. Immediately after what ? Immediately after the Baptism. Now at the Baptism two things had occurred — the Spirit as a dove had descended upon Jesus, and a voice had come from heaven, " Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased." These ex- periences were inseparable, but they may be examined separately. (1) …
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IF It is not true to say that the devil arranged the temptation. Temptation here is in the Divine plan and purpose. Jesus went into the wilderness under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to find the devil. My own conviction is that if the devil could have escaped that day, he would have done so. It is a very popular fall…
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Was the trial sore ? Temptation sharp ? Thank God a second time ! Why comes temptation but for man to meet And master and make crouch beneath his foot. And so be pedestaled in triumph ? Pray "Lead us into no such temptations, Lord!" Yea, but, 0 Thou whose servants are the bold, Lead such temptations by the head and ha…
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/ ST. MARK 29 reminds us, " Our sage and serious poet Spenser, describing true temperance under the guise of Guyon, brings him in with his palmer through the cave of Mammon and the bower of earthly bliss, that he may see and know and yet abstain." IT The temptation was involved in the Incarnation — it was necessary;…
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IF Carlyle was at one time strongly tempted to give up striving for success in literature : " No periodical editor wants me ; no man will give me money for my work. Despicablest fears of coming to absolute beggary besiege me." His Sartor was pronounced "clotted nonsense"; but at this critical juncture he received a let…
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ST. MARK 33 the room was full of evil beings. A peculiar feeling of horror came over him, with strange bodily sensations. The air of the room seemed stifling. He quickly recognised that he was being attacked, rose from bed, and attempted to sing a verse of a hymn with Jesus' Name in it. It seemed impossible at first t…
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y joy of her life, differed only in one particular from one another. ^ She discovered the difference when they were both away from home. She was able to trust one a little more than the other. One of them she knew confidently to be quite safe wherever he might be ; the other she was not quite so sure about. One relied…
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38 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE He alone could breathe ; in it human sympathy slept or died, and human speech could make no sound. Out of the loneliness He issued to begin His work; into loneliness He passed to end it. The moments that made His work divinest were His own and His Father'8.1 ii. Why in the Wilderness? …
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Space is but narrow — east and west — There is not room for two abreast. No one of us is like any other, either in his needs or in the mode in which these needs must be satisfied. Every man bears the impress of his finitude, with its infinite variety of form. Hardly less is that impress borne by even the greatest and …
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II The Apologue was to Orientals a favourite vehicle for con- veying moral lessons ; and we have a familiar instance in English Literature of the attraction of allegory. "Would Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress have possessed itself, as it has done, of the hearts of whole sections of the British race, if, shorn of its human …
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^ Bishop Gore. * R. W. Dale, Lecturer on the Ephesians, p. 422. ST. MARK 45 of man's fall, because they have no eye for the heavenly heights of his restoration, or for the mighty powers of God that are at work to bring this about, seem to count that much will have been gained by casting out Satan ; although it may be…
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In the New Testament there is not one single writer who does not speak of Satan and his work, not so much in the way of insisting on his existence, as, taking this for granted, building thereon exhortations and warnings. St. Peter bids us " Be sober, be vigilant ; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, wa…
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^ H. J. C. Knight ST. MARK — 4 50 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE might sift you as wheat." Jesus said this from His own experience of the subtlety and covetousness of evil. In the earthly life of our Lord there are no moments so intense as those in which He felt the attempts of evil upon Himself. And it was out of this…
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Let us not always say "Spite of this flesh to-day I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole ! " As the bird wings and sings, Let us cry "All good things Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!"2 ' E. L. Hicks. ' B. Browning. ST. MARK 53 IV. The Wild Beasts. *• He was with the wild …
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ST. MARK 55 the Spectator (H. C. Minchin, 13th December 1902) describes with vivid power what must frequently have been in such a man's mind : — The ranks are crowded, tier on tier, And midst them in my place am I, As oft before ; we talk and jeer, Waiting to see yon captive die Who in the arena stands alone; He…
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I'll to the wilderness, and can Find beasts more mercifuU than man; He liv'd there safe, 'twas his retreat From the fierce Jew, and Herod's heat; And forty dayes withstood the fell And high temptations of hell; With Seraphims there talked he, His father's flaming ministrie; He heav'n'd their walks, and with his…
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"Praise Him all ye creatures of His! Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." And all the time he sang the wolf bayed at intervals.^ 4. Did He not look upon them as sharers in the curse He had come to remove ? — Did He not see in their eyes an appeal from, their misery ? Was He not quick to behold the earnes…
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^ r. E. BruBsWll. 62 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE "He shall give His angels charge over Thee, To keep Tiiee in all Thy ways. They shall bear Thee up in their hands, Iiest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone." 1. We find here, therefore, the " Son of Man," man as God meant Him to be, the ideal man of the Psalms, stand…
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^ When we have carried on a long struggle, and have been pinched or in distress, and have felt as if we must give way, and have been upheld only by naming God every hour, saying God is able, God will not fail us ; then, when the relief comes at last, there is a strange sense that it has come direct from God. Angels com…
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Forty days and forty nights Thou wast fasting in the wild, Forty days and forty nights Tempted, and yet undefiled,— Sunbeams scorching all the day. Chilly dewdrops nightly shed, Prowling beasts about Thy way. Stones Thy pillow, earth Thy bed. Shall we not Thy sorrow share. And from earthly joys abstain, Fasting…
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i ST. MARK 71 immortal poetry in praise of that city where God dwelt, and towards which all nations should come. Athens may be the eye of Greece, illustrious in wisdom; Eome may be the synonym of Imperial and ecclesiastical power ; Mecca may speak of a prophet that conquered by the sword, and Benares of caste that ru…
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(2) There was a second preparation in the convictions of mankind. The heathen nations were not without some religion, which contained, in various degrees, elements of truth, however mingled with or overlaid by errors. But from the first the ancient religions tended to bury God in the visible world which witnessed to Hi…
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* H. P. Liddon, Advent in St. Paul's, 118. ' W. L. Watkinson. Ashes of Roses, 268. >](> THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE beings whom it includes, and so far as they are under its influ- ence. It is, however, the former much more, and more frequently, than the latter. It is inward, spiritual, invisible, but ever strugglin…
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But although the Kingdom was approaching, it was not immediately at hand. All Christ's teaching implies this, though there is nothing in it that requires the thought of long delay. More than once He gave a distinct negative to the expectation that the Kingdom " should immediately appear." He preached repentance and rig…
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iii. The Conditions of Entering the Kingdom. *' Repent ye, and believe in the gospel." Our Lord here commands the two things which are required for salvation. " Except ye repent," He says elsewhere, " ye shaU all perish." And St. Paul declares that without faith it is impossible to please God. Eepentance is that whic…
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ST. MARK 83 demoniac envy. But, ah! thank God His true penitents have uttered that cry in very different tones. Job said, "I have sinned," and humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and God exalted him. David said, "I have sinned," and in a voice broken by sobs sang the dirges of his De profundis and the wailin…
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(1) It is an act of will. — Eepentance is not primarily a species of feeling, but an act of will. I want again and again to ^ John WatsoB. • Williiim Forbe*. ' Gipsy Smith. ST. MARK 85 say that a man can repent with dry eyes. There may be much weeping and no repentance ; there may be real penitence where there are n…
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ST. MARK 87 a cheque in my hand, and as I stood before the window I should hold the cheque, and say, " I want money for this." " Give me the cheque and I will bring you the money." " No ; I cannot trust you that far." " Yes ; but I will go right to the counter and bring you the money." " No ; I will try to trust you "…
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Love saith to me, " Eepent " ; Love saith to me, " Believe " ; Love sayeth ofttimes, "Grieve That thou hast little lent, That thou hast little given, To Him, thy Lord in heaven, And when He cometh what wilt thou receive?" 1 S. H. Tyng. " Hugh T. Kerr. ST. MARK 89 Love sayeth to me, "Pray That thou mayst meet that da…
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ii. The Sabbath of the Decalogue. The account of the observance of the Sabbath in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus precedes the giving of the law on Mount Sinai ' J. H. Vmeeut. ST. MARK 95 When the manna fell, it marked the Sabbath day. None fell on that day. Twice as much fell on Friday as on any other day. For for…
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Thus it may be said of the majority of religious Jews of the time of Christ that their object was not to mould their lives according to some few great principles, but to keep 613 distinct commandments. Some great men, it is true, were exceptions to this general rule. Thus, a generation or so before the time of Christ, …
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2. Its Eelation to the Sabbath. — What was the relation of the Lord's Day to the Sabbath ? We turn for an answer to the New Testament. There can be no doubt whatever that the ancient law was kept among all Jewish Christians, for we read constantly of the Apostles as teaching and joining in the synagogue service of the …
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i. It is a Gift for every Man. 1. If the Sabbath was made for man, it must have been because man needed it ; not, certainly, as a mere temporary provision for special purposes, but as a permanent blessing. Who shall take from us one of God's first gifts to His creatures — a gift bestowed with a special regard to their…
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•[[ Christianity has given us the Sabbath, the jubilee of the whole world, whose light dawns welcome alike into the closet of the philosopher, into the garret of toil, and into prison -cells, and everywhere suggests even to the vile the dignity of spiritual being.* ^ It is the student's day, whereon he may turn from t…
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A Sunday well spent Brings a week of content, And health for the toils of to-morrow. But a Sunday profaned, Whate'er may be gained. Is a certain precursor of sorrow.^ 1. It is necessary for our Physical Health. The laws and couditions of man's bodily life and health are such as to make intervals of repose absolutel…
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2. It is necessary for our Mental Health. Man is not a mere animal. He has a life of the mind which like- wise demands occasional relief from the wearing toils and anxieties of secular life. Our nervous force, which lies at the basis of thought and feeling, can bear only a certain amount of strain, and if this be trans…
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4. It is necessary for our Spiritual Health. Above all things it was ordained because it was indispensable to our spiritual growth. Our health, mental and bodily, depends upon the harmonious and complete development of all our faculties. The neglect of any power which belongs to the integrity of our nature leaves us st…
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And home of rest! The milky way chalkt out with Suns, a clue That guides through erring hours; and in full story A taste of Heav'n on earth; the pledge and cue Of a full feast; and the out-courts of glory !^ iii. It is a Gift that is without Repentance. "There remaineth a sabbath rest for the people of God" (Heb. iv.…
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^ I was as silent as my friends ; after a little time we retired to our separate places of rest. About midnight I was awakened by a noise ; I started up and listened ; it appeared to me that I heard ^ Ea^ositor, 2nd Ser., iii. 321. "7 ii8 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE voices and groans. In a moment I had issued from…
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C'f'dlC^^. .J ^^ I20 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE The result was that the following Tuesday the gardener's daughter called to thank me, saying her father had found the Saviour the preceding Sabbath. She said he had long thought he had sinned against the Holy Ghost, but that illustration about the flowers set him at …
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The word here translated " eternal " (ala)vio<:) is the adjective formed from the word " age " or " world " (alcov) of the previous phrase. In a great many places where this adjective may be rendered " everlasting," it is impossible not to feel that this does not give the whole or the exact meaning. This is very notice…
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: stage is " Kesisting^ the^ IIoly_Spirit." Then, thirdly, there comes cu^^ ^) I the awful state in which the Spirit of God is " quenched." JC^^ ^) ; ' Grieve, resist, quench ! These three sad words "mark the progress along this path of evil, this path of sin, which ultimately brings men into a state where their sin …
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was one window less, and the dungeon came to be a coffin. In , Jean Ingelow's poem " Divided," two friends, parted by a little -rivulet across which they could clasp hands, walk on in the I direction in which the stream is flowing, till the rivulet becomes l a brook, and the brook a river, and the river an arm of t…
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' Henry Ward Beecher. ST. MARK * 129 ment, indiscriminated, unchecked. And the dishonoured will now seeks to justify its degradation by an appeal to the in- tellect. Sin is decried as an ecclesiastical bogey. It is easy to get rid of grace by saying that it has been dangerously patronised by an enslaving priestcraft.…
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ST. MARK 131 before we think of taking shelter." The trifling acts of pride or sloth, the unchecked love of self, the evil thought, the word of shame, the neglect of prayer — we never thought that these could kill down the soul and separate from God, and suddenly we wake up to find that God has, as it were, dropped ou…
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The story of the healing of this man, usually called the Gadarene demoniac, is told in the previous verses of the chapter. 1. There is some uncertainty regarding the locality. The place is given in the manuscripts in three different forms — country " of the Gadarenes," " of the Gergesenes," and " of the Gerasenes." Ga…
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138 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE to the voice that spoke his freedom and still thrills his soul, he has no further need. And yet he shrank — who would not ? — from so speedy a separation from Him whose coming had been the cause of his salvation, whose presence was the source of his stabiHty, whose departing, he perhap…
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2. A Message to his Thought. — The man's thoughts were concentrated on his visible Healer. He must be taught to pass in thought beyond that which is seen and realise those spiritual powers of which outward things convey but a passing expression. He must walk by faith and not by sight. He must pass from the material to …
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Then into His hand went mine And into my heart came He, And I walked in a light divine. The path I had feared to see. ^ ^ George Macdonald. ST. MARK 143 III. The Home Missionaey. 1. The man's first duty was to his own house. His tale was to be told first in his own circle. " Go home to thy friends and tell them.…
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(3) The Motive, — The first motive is love to the Saviour. The next motive is love to the home and friends. A few years ago, in the British House of Peers, a certain speech was delivered on a question concerning the extreme limits of our Indian Empire. That speech just thrilled England from end to end. It was delivered…
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I. Jesus was a Workman. The word translated " carpenter " is a more generic term than our English word. It conveys something more than the specific handicraft designated by the latter, and implies gener- 150 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE ally a fashioner of articles in wood. Jesus the carpenter was a maker of all su…
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152 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE any other man who has ever lived, also was a manual labourer, and the hands with which he grips the heartstrings of the world are hands that have been stained by toil.^ IT It is a significant fact that not a few high-minded thinkers of modern times, repelled by that insidious blight w…
912 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.