The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 111

I. Tm: nnoKEN IIUMAN HEART. There are two thing~ which break hearta: 1. One i~ intolerable shame; I-he shame which comes from a crushing sense of sin; it may be of flagrant sin, such RB commands the deep indignation and stron.,. censure of our fellow- men, and in'l'olves the loss of our own self-respect; or it may be° a eeuse of that common 6in of which all the souls of men l\re guilty in the slghtof God-the keeping back from him of all that has been due to him, all the reverence and love of our hearts and all the service of our lives. Under a deep sense of sin, and therefore of condemnation, affected and afflicted with the consciousness of Divine disapproval and the fear of Divine 1,unishment, the heart cries out for refuge. 2. The other is overwhelming sorrow• it may be some crushing disappointment, or it may be some wearing and trying sickn~se or it may be eome heavy and hnmiliating loss, or it may be some terrible bereavement and consequent loneliness of heart and life; under one or more of these overwhelmina0 burdens the heart may be bowed down even to breaking. II. THE ONE DIVINE REFUGE. There is but one availing "Refuge of our soul" to whom we can flee with perfect assnrance that in him we shall find what we need. Christ came "to heal the broken-h<'arted," and he does so by: 1. Offering us the most tender sympathy. He is the High Priest who is " touched with a feeling of our infir- mities, ha,ing been in all points tr-ied even as we are," and therefore able to enter perfectly into our griefs, whether of mind, body, or estate. 2. Ministering to us Divine comfort. By bis Holy Spirit's ministry be comes to ns, and dwells within us, and acts powerfully though graciously upon our hearts ; thns he lets the gentle dews of hill comfort cool the heats of our fevered spirit, making himself known to us as the "God of all comfort," as that " One who comforteth them that are cast down." 3. Granting us effectual help; enlightening our minds, energizing our spirits, making us capable of doing that which has to be done, animating and reviving us, fitting us to take onr part and do onr work. In proportion a.s we are reverent and pure of heart in the time of our prosperity and joy, may we look for hie indwelling and outworking in the .. day of desperate grief" and of heart-brokennese.-C. Ver. 18.-Bpiritual bondage and Christian freedom. Who does not pity the capti-ve? Saddening to the sympathetic heart is the thought of the man who is confined within his lonely and dreary cell, shut in from the beauties and melodies of nature, excluJed from the haunts of men, debarred from all the activities of busy life, unable to enter his own home, compelled to nnwilling solitude and separation from those he loves I There is no prayer that we breathe with a finer or fuller feeling than the petition, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee." Yet is there a bondage that is worse than any ever inflicted by stone walls and iron chains. It is- L THE BONDAGE OF sm. Sin is at first a transgression, but it soon becomes a tyranny. It grows into a power; and it becomes a power which holJe the soul in its grasp, so that it is practically enslaved; it attempts to rise, to move, to do that which befits it ar..d for which it was created, but it finds that it cannot; it is held down; its way is barred. This is true of sin in all its forms, and it is true in a number of degrees, va7ing from an objectionable constraint down to an almost hopeless despotism. It apolies to: 1. Error, which becomes an inveterate prejudice through which no light wiil break. 2. Folly, such as that of procrastination, which in no length of time weaves itself round the soul. 3. Vice, such as intemperance, or profanity, or impurity (more especially in some of its forms). There is no bondage more thoroughly deserving the name than this. The victim of vice is, indeed, "holden with the cords of his sins" (Prov. v. 22); they have him fast in the saddest and most degrading thraldom in which a human being can be held. 4. Vanity. How many a man is a wretched slave to the judgment of other men I The fear of their condemnation, or still oftener of their ridicule, impels him in a dire(tion in which he knows he ought not to be going, ties him to a position from which he is longing to break away. 5. Rebellion against God ; disloyalty, estrangement, the with.hold.in~ of the heart and life from Go~·s ~ervi~e, so long maintained, that, when the soul thmks of repentance and return, 1t finds itself held to its wrong ar.d sinful state. 11. 'l'HE FREEDOM WHICH 1s IN CHRIST. The gospel announces" dclivorance to the captives." And how does it effect this blessed emancipation? 1. By giving to the sinr.er a deep si,nse of Lis sin, and filling his soul with shame of him.self and loathiug C'n. 1v. 1-44.] TJIE OOSPET, ACCORDING TO ST. LUKK