Spiritual Sight # 5
"As from the Lord the Spirit" The Lord Jesus said, "When He is come... He shall take of Mine, and show it unto you" "He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak... He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:13-14). The Spirit, the faithful servant of the Father's house, has come right across the wilderness to find the bride for the Son, of His own kith and kin. Yes, there is room for wonder here. "Since the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same" (Heb. 2;14). "Both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one" (Heb. 2:11). The Spirit has come to secure that bride now, one with Him, His flesh and His bone. But the Spirit desires to be occupying us with the Lord Jesus all the time, showing us His things. To what effect? That we shall not be strangers when we see Him, that we shall not feel that we are of one kind and He another, but that it may just be, "This is the last step of many which have been leading to this, and every step has been making this oneness more perfect, this harmony more complete." At the end, without any very great crisis, we just go in. We have been going in all the time, and this is the last step. That is conformity to His image, that is spiritual growth; getting to know the Lord, and to become like Him, getting to be perfectly at home with Him, so that there is no clash, no strangeness, no discord, no distance. Oneness with our Lord Jesus deepening all the time unto the consummation: that is spiritual growth. You see, it is something inward again, and it is but the development of that initiation, that beginning. We have seen and are seeing, and seeing and seeing, and as we are changed.
Is that true of everything you think you see? We have to test everything we think we see and know by its effect in our lives. You and I may have an enormous amount of what we think to be spiritual knowledge; we have all the doctrines,all the truths, we can box the compass of evangelical doctrine; and what is the effect? It is not seeing, beloved, in a true spiritual sense, if we are not changed. Oh, that is the tragedy of so many who have got it all, but who are so small, so puny, so unkind, so cruel, so legalistic. Yes, seeing is to be changed, and it is not seeing if it does not bring that about. It would be far better for us to be stripped of all that and to be brought right down to the point where we really do see just a little that makes a difference. We must be very honest with God about this. Oh, would we not sooner have just a very little indeed that was a hundred percent effective, than a whole mountain of knowledge, ninety percent of which counted for nothing? We must ask the Lord to save us from advancing beyond spiritual life, advancing, I mean, with knowledge, a kind of knowledge presuming to know. You know what I mean. Real seeing, Paul says, is being changed, and being changed is a matter of seeing as by the Lord the Spirit. So we will pray to see.
Some of us knew our Bible, knew our New Testament, knew Romans, knew Ephesians, thought we saw. We could even lecture on the Bible and these books, and on the truths in them, and did so for years. Then one day we saw; and people saw that we saw, and said, "What has happened to the minister? He is not saying anything different from what he has always said, but there is a difference; he has seen something!" That is it.
Seeing Governs Ministry
And of course that must lead us to the next thing, though in a very brief word. What is true of the beginning of the Christian life, and what is true of growth, is true of the matter of ministry. Now, do not think I am speaking to any particular class of people called "ministers." Ministry, as we have said before, is a matter of spiritual helpfulness. Any ministry which is not a matter of spiritual helpfulness is not true ministry, and anybody who is spiritually helpful is a minister of Christ. So we are all in the ministry, in God's plan. Now, since that is so, we are all affected, we are all governed by this same law. To be spiritually helpful is a matter of seeing. You know that 2 Corinthians is the letter in the New Testament which has most to do with ministry. "Seeing we have this ministry" (4:1) - and what is this ministry? Well, "God hath shined into our hearts" (4:6). It is very familiar to us that Paul has at the back of his mind as he writes this part of the letter, Moses, the minister of God. That is the designation by which we know Moses, as the servant of God, and Paul is referring to Moses fulfilling his ministry, his service, reading the law and having to put a veil upon his face because of the glory, the people being unable to look upon him. And that was a glory that was passing. Now, says Paul, in the ministry committed to us God hath shined inside and we have no need of a veil; in Christ the veil is taken away; and what you are to see is Christ in us, and Christ is to be ministered through us as He is seen, as we are the vehicles of bringing Christ into view. That is spiritual helpfulness, that is ministry, namely, bringing Christ into view, and "we have this treasure in vessels of fragile clay, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves" (4:7). "We are...": and then follows a whole list of things which put us at a discount. But he is saying, in effect, It is Christ! If we are put at a discount, if we are persecuted,k pursued, cast down, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that is only God's way of bringing Christ into view. If we are pursued and persecuted and cast down and the grace of the Lord Jesus is sufficient, and you see the grace of the Lord Jesus being exhibited in that suffering and trail, then you say, that is a wonderful Christ! You see Christ, and by our sufferings Christ is ministered. That is spiritual helpfulness.
Who has helped you most? I know who has helped me most. It has not been anyone in the pulpit. It was one who passed through intense and terrible suffering for many years, and in whom the grace of God was sufficient. I was able to say, If I go through suffering like that, then mine will be a Christianity worth having, mine will be a Christ worth having. That helped me most, that is what I want to see. Do not preach to me; live, and you help me most. How we go through trial is the thing that is going to help someone else better than all that we can say to them. Oh, the Lord cover us as we say a thing like that,for we know our frailty, how we fail Him under trial. But that is what Paul is saying here about ministry. But with Paul, the end of all such things was, "they glorified God in me" (Gal. 1:24). What do you want more than that? That is ministry.
But it is a seeing; we, to be spiritually helpful, have to see, that others may have the ground provided for seeing. I put it that way; because we may see, and we may give out what we see, we may be living epistles, but others may not be seeing. But there is the ground for their seeing, and if they are honest in heart and unprejudiced, really open to the Lord, He will give them to see what it is the Lord has revealed to us and in us, and seeking to reveal of Himself through us. He must have living epistles, men and women in whom He can be read. That is ministry.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 6)
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Saturday, August 18, 2018
A Word To Parents # 2
A Word To Parents # 2
And it is further worth observation, that the same word in the original, which is translated "withhold", signifies also "to forbid"; meeting with another distemper in parents, who as they will not correct their children themselves, so also they forbid others to correct them, under whose tuition they put them. It is as if they were afraid their children would not have sin enough here, nor hell enough hereafter - they lay in caveats against the means which God has sanctified for their reclaiming. Parents, take heed that when you commit your children to others' hands, you do not in the meanwhile hold their hands.
If you judge them unwise, why do you choose them? If you choose them, why do you not trust them? Well then, if the rod is in your own hand, withhold it not; if in your friend's hand, forbid it not.
Certainly there is great need of this duty, which the Spirit of God frequently inculcates all through the Proverbs.
(b) And secondly, if you would have your children blessed, add INSTRUCTION to correction. Imitate God in this part of paternal discipline also. Let chastisement and instruction go together - it is what the Holy Spirit urges upon you. "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
There are two words relating to both of these parental duties; in the "nurture" or correction; and it is added, "of the Lord". This is, the chastisement which the Lord commands earthly parents to exercise towards their children - this is the first duty, of which we have already addressed. And then there is another word, which holds forth the end and design of parental - that is the "admonition" or instruction of the Lord - counsels and instructions taken out of the Word of God. The sum of this, that while we chasten the flesh - we should labor to inform and form the mind and spirit, by infusing right principles, pressing and urging upon their tender hearts counsel, reproof, and instruction as the matter requires.
This is the duty of parents, to imitate God, to let instruction expound correction; and with a rod in the hand, and a word in the mouth - to train up their children to life eternal.
A silent rod is but a brutish discipline, and will certainly leave them more brutish than it found them. Chastisement without teaching - may sooner break the heart. Chastisement alone may mortify the flesh, but not corruption. Chastisement alone may control nature, but never beget grace. But the rod and reproof give wisdom. As instruction added to correction makes excellent Christians - so also it makes good children.
The rod and reproof give wisdom - neither alone will do it. The rod without reproof, will harden the heart and teach children sooner to hate their parents than to hate sin. It is divine truth alone, which must be the instrument which works saving grace in the heart. "Sanctify them with your truth - your word is truth" (John 17:17). It is the commendation of Timothy's mother, that from his very infancy, she instructed him in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15). "My mother labored with my salvation with more tenderness and sorrow, than ever she did with my first birth" (Augustine).
Beloved, this is done by the Word and the rod. "Correct your son and he shall give you rest, yes, he shall give delight unto your soul" (Prov. 29:17). What greater delight than to see your children walking in truth, and to think thus with yourselves: that so many children God has given you, so many children you have brought up for God, and so many heirs for the kingdom of Heaven! Well, chastise and teach them out of the Word of God, and your children shall be blessed.
(c) Add PRAYER to instruction. As teaching should accompany chastisement - so prayer should accompany teaching. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water - but God must give the increase. (1 Cor. 3:6). In the same way with us, the father may correct, the mother may instruct, both may do both - but God must give the blessing.
So therefore Christian parents, while they add instruction to correction - should add prayer to instruction. The means are ours - the success is God's. Pray and teach your children to pray - that God would so bless correction and instruction, that both may make you and your children blessed. Amen
~Thomas Case~
(The End)
And it is further worth observation, that the same word in the original, which is translated "withhold", signifies also "to forbid"; meeting with another distemper in parents, who as they will not correct their children themselves, so also they forbid others to correct them, under whose tuition they put them. It is as if they were afraid their children would not have sin enough here, nor hell enough hereafter - they lay in caveats against the means which God has sanctified for their reclaiming. Parents, take heed that when you commit your children to others' hands, you do not in the meanwhile hold their hands.
If you judge them unwise, why do you choose them? If you choose them, why do you not trust them? Well then, if the rod is in your own hand, withhold it not; if in your friend's hand, forbid it not.
Certainly there is great need of this duty, which the Spirit of God frequently inculcates all through the Proverbs.
(b) And secondly, if you would have your children blessed, add INSTRUCTION to correction. Imitate God in this part of paternal discipline also. Let chastisement and instruction go together - it is what the Holy Spirit urges upon you. "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
There are two words relating to both of these parental duties; in the "nurture" or correction; and it is added, "of the Lord". This is, the chastisement which the Lord commands earthly parents to exercise towards their children - this is the first duty, of which we have already addressed. And then there is another word, which holds forth the end and design of parental - that is the "admonition" or instruction of the Lord - counsels and instructions taken out of the Word of God. The sum of this, that while we chasten the flesh - we should labor to inform and form the mind and spirit, by infusing right principles, pressing and urging upon their tender hearts counsel, reproof, and instruction as the matter requires.
This is the duty of parents, to imitate God, to let instruction expound correction; and with a rod in the hand, and a word in the mouth - to train up their children to life eternal.
A silent rod is but a brutish discipline, and will certainly leave them more brutish than it found them. Chastisement without teaching - may sooner break the heart. Chastisement alone may mortify the flesh, but not corruption. Chastisement alone may control nature, but never beget grace. But the rod and reproof give wisdom. As instruction added to correction makes excellent Christians - so also it makes good children.
The rod and reproof give wisdom - neither alone will do it. The rod without reproof, will harden the heart and teach children sooner to hate their parents than to hate sin. It is divine truth alone, which must be the instrument which works saving grace in the heart. "Sanctify them with your truth - your word is truth" (John 17:17). It is the commendation of Timothy's mother, that from his very infancy, she instructed him in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15). "My mother labored with my salvation with more tenderness and sorrow, than ever she did with my first birth" (Augustine).
Beloved, this is done by the Word and the rod. "Correct your son and he shall give you rest, yes, he shall give delight unto your soul" (Prov. 29:17). What greater delight than to see your children walking in truth, and to think thus with yourselves: that so many children God has given you, so many children you have brought up for God, and so many heirs for the kingdom of Heaven! Well, chastise and teach them out of the Word of God, and your children shall be blessed.
(c) Add PRAYER to instruction. As teaching should accompany chastisement - so prayer should accompany teaching. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water - but God must give the increase. (1 Cor. 3:6). In the same way with us, the father may correct, the mother may instruct, both may do both - but God must give the blessing.
So therefore Christian parents, while they add instruction to correction - should add prayer to instruction. The means are ours - the success is God's. Pray and teach your children to pray - that God would so bless correction and instruction, that both may make you and your children blessed. Amen
~Thomas Case~
(The End)
A Word To Parents # 1
A Word To Parents # 1
[The following is an excerpt from "The Rod and the Word, A Treatise on Afflictions"]
4. The fourth and last branch of exhortation is to PARENTS - to exhort them in the education of their children to imitate God, and that in three things:
(a). Afford your children the CORRECTION.
It is the counsel of the Holy Spirit, "Chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying" (Prov. 19:18). Behold, God counsels you who are parents to do with your children as he does with His - wisely to use the discipline of the rod, before vicious dispositions grow into habits, and folly is so deeply rooted that the rod of correction will not drive it out.
"Error and folly," says one very well, "are the cords of satan with which he ties sinners to the state to be burnt in hell!" These cords are easiest cut early. If you make the child hurt in the cutting of them, let it not cause you to withdraw your hand; for so it follows, "Chasten your son, and let not your soul spare for his crying." It is not only foolish, but cruel pity to forbear correction for a few childish tears; to cause your child to wail in hell for sin, rather than to shed a few tears for the preventing of it. Foolish fathers and mothers call this love, but the God calls it hatred: "He who spares the rod, hates his son!" (Prov. 13:24). Surely there is nothing so ill-spared, as that whereby the child is bettered. Such sparing is hatred; and because you hate your children in not correcting them - they may come afterwards to hate you for not correcting them.
But this is not all! The parent's leniency in disciplining, makes way for God's severity. Pity to the child is cruelty to the child's soul. So the Hebrew may be rendered, "Spare not to his destruction, or to cause him to die" - that is, to occasion his destruction. The foolish indulgence of the parent may be, and often is, the death of the child - eternal death. Parents spare their children in folly - to the destruction both of body and soul!
And this may help us to expound that other parallel text, "Withhold not corrections from the child, for if you beat him with the rod he shall not die" (Prov. 23:13). The meaning may be either that correction will not kill him - the rod will break no bones. This reproves the silly and sinful soft-heartedness of parents, who think if they would correct their children, they would presently die from it. They are as afraid to use the rod, as if it were a sword. Nay, but says the Holy Spirit, fear not correction, for behold, the strokes of the rod are not the strokes of death. It is but a rod - it is not a serpent. It may hurt - but it will not give a poisonous sting. To obviate the fear of parents in this case, God himself gives His word for it, "He shall not die".
This may be the meaning which I conceive - the words may be a motive drawn from the fruit of correction. "Withhold not correction from the child." Why? "He shall not die" - in other words discipline may be, and (through divine blessing accompanying it) is often a means to prevent death. It may prevent the first and second death, to which the child is exposed by the sinful indulgence of the parent.
The word used in this place, says one, seems to note an immortality; so that "He shall not die" - is all one as if the Holy Spirit had said, "He shall live forever," the rod on the flesh shall be a means to save the soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. "We are chastened that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). "Such smitings," as David says in another case, "shall be kindness" (Psalm 141:5). And such rebukes are so far from breaking the head, that they shall be an excellent oil which shall cure, and give life. Even the philosopher could say, "Correction is a kind of medicine for children."
Alas, our children are sick, and cruel is that mercy which will allow them to die - yes eternally - rather than heal their palates with a little bitter medicine! They are monsters in the form of fathers and mothers - who thus hug their little ones to death! They are infanticides rather than parents; of whom we may say, as once the Roman emperor said of Herod, when he heard that he had murdered his own son among the rest of the infants in Bethlehem, so that he might be sure to destroy the King of the Jews, "Surely it is better to be such people's swine, than their sons!"
O hateful indulgence and merciless pity - to damn a child for lact of correction! Such parents throw both the rod and the child into the fire at once! This is not done like God, for "whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives" (Heb. 12:6) - and so does every wise loving parent! "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him chastens him early (Prov. 13:24).
For lack of this disciplinary love - how have some children accused their parents on their death bed. And how many do and will curse their parents in hell! "The wicked fondness of our parents has brought us into these torments! Our fathers and mothers have been our murderers! Those who gave us our natural life, have deprived us of eternal life! Those who would not correct us with the rod, have occasioned us now to be tormented forever!" It is said of Eli, "His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not" (1 Sam. 3:13). The Hebrew has it, "He did not frown upon them." How sad - for lack of a frown, to destroy a soul!
I am much afraid, this unchristian, yes wicked indulgence of parents is the fountain of all that confusion under which our country at this time reels and staggers likea drunken man. And for this very sin (at least for this among others, yes, and for this above others) God is visiting all the families of the land, from the poorest cottage to the highest official. Such indulgent parents have laid the foundation of their own sorrows, their children's ruin, and the destruction of the nation, in withholding proper discipline from their children!
Therefore God crosses us in our righteous desires; we have walked even in this point, exceedingly contrary to God and to his discipline; and therefore God is walking contrary to us, and is punishing us seven times more for this iniquity. Oh, that parents would awaken themselves, to follow both the pattern and precept of their heavenly Father, who, as "he corrects those whom He loves," so he commands them to lovingly correct their children. "Withhold not correction from the child; for if you correct him with the rod he shall not die" (Prov. 23:13).
~Thomas Case~
(continued with # 2)
[The following is an excerpt from "The Rod and the Word, A Treatise on Afflictions"]
4. The fourth and last branch of exhortation is to PARENTS - to exhort them in the education of their children to imitate God, and that in three things:
(a). Afford your children the CORRECTION.
It is the counsel of the Holy Spirit, "Chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying" (Prov. 19:18). Behold, God counsels you who are parents to do with your children as he does with His - wisely to use the discipline of the rod, before vicious dispositions grow into habits, and folly is so deeply rooted that the rod of correction will not drive it out.
"Error and folly," says one very well, "are the cords of satan with which he ties sinners to the state to be burnt in hell!" These cords are easiest cut early. If you make the child hurt in the cutting of them, let it not cause you to withdraw your hand; for so it follows, "Chasten your son, and let not your soul spare for his crying." It is not only foolish, but cruel pity to forbear correction for a few childish tears; to cause your child to wail in hell for sin, rather than to shed a few tears for the preventing of it. Foolish fathers and mothers call this love, but the God calls it hatred: "He who spares the rod, hates his son!" (Prov. 13:24). Surely there is nothing so ill-spared, as that whereby the child is bettered. Such sparing is hatred; and because you hate your children in not correcting them - they may come afterwards to hate you for not correcting them.
But this is not all! The parent's leniency in disciplining, makes way for God's severity. Pity to the child is cruelty to the child's soul. So the Hebrew may be rendered, "Spare not to his destruction, or to cause him to die" - that is, to occasion his destruction. The foolish indulgence of the parent may be, and often is, the death of the child - eternal death. Parents spare their children in folly - to the destruction both of body and soul!
And this may help us to expound that other parallel text, "Withhold not corrections from the child, for if you beat him with the rod he shall not die" (Prov. 23:13). The meaning may be either that correction will not kill him - the rod will break no bones. This reproves the silly and sinful soft-heartedness of parents, who think if they would correct their children, they would presently die from it. They are as afraid to use the rod, as if it were a sword. Nay, but says the Holy Spirit, fear not correction, for behold, the strokes of the rod are not the strokes of death. It is but a rod - it is not a serpent. It may hurt - but it will not give a poisonous sting. To obviate the fear of parents in this case, God himself gives His word for it, "He shall not die".
This may be the meaning which I conceive - the words may be a motive drawn from the fruit of correction. "Withhold not correction from the child." Why? "He shall not die" - in other words discipline may be, and (through divine blessing accompanying it) is often a means to prevent death. It may prevent the first and second death, to which the child is exposed by the sinful indulgence of the parent.
The word used in this place, says one, seems to note an immortality; so that "He shall not die" - is all one as if the Holy Spirit had said, "He shall live forever," the rod on the flesh shall be a means to save the soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. "We are chastened that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). "Such smitings," as David says in another case, "shall be kindness" (Psalm 141:5). And such rebukes are so far from breaking the head, that they shall be an excellent oil which shall cure, and give life. Even the philosopher could say, "Correction is a kind of medicine for children."
Alas, our children are sick, and cruel is that mercy which will allow them to die - yes eternally - rather than heal their palates with a little bitter medicine! They are monsters in the form of fathers and mothers - who thus hug their little ones to death! They are infanticides rather than parents; of whom we may say, as once the Roman emperor said of Herod, when he heard that he had murdered his own son among the rest of the infants in Bethlehem, so that he might be sure to destroy the King of the Jews, "Surely it is better to be such people's swine, than their sons!"
O hateful indulgence and merciless pity - to damn a child for lact of correction! Such parents throw both the rod and the child into the fire at once! This is not done like God, for "whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives" (Heb. 12:6) - and so does every wise loving parent! "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him chastens him early (Prov. 13:24).
For lack of this disciplinary love - how have some children accused their parents on their death bed. And how many do and will curse their parents in hell! "The wicked fondness of our parents has brought us into these torments! Our fathers and mothers have been our murderers! Those who gave us our natural life, have deprived us of eternal life! Those who would not correct us with the rod, have occasioned us now to be tormented forever!" It is said of Eli, "His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not" (1 Sam. 3:13). The Hebrew has it, "He did not frown upon them." How sad - for lack of a frown, to destroy a soul!
I am much afraid, this unchristian, yes wicked indulgence of parents is the fountain of all that confusion under which our country at this time reels and staggers likea drunken man. And for this very sin (at least for this among others, yes, and for this above others) God is visiting all the families of the land, from the poorest cottage to the highest official. Such indulgent parents have laid the foundation of their own sorrows, their children's ruin, and the destruction of the nation, in withholding proper discipline from their children!
Therefore God crosses us in our righteous desires; we have walked even in this point, exceedingly contrary to God and to his discipline; and therefore God is walking contrary to us, and is punishing us seven times more for this iniquity. Oh, that parents would awaken themselves, to follow both the pattern and precept of their heavenly Father, who, as "he corrects those whom He loves," so he commands them to lovingly correct their children. "Withhold not correction from the child; for if you correct him with the rod he shall not die" (Prov. 23:13).
~Thomas Case~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Ingratitude To God # 2
Ingratitude To God # 2
But if this does not suffice to make you sensible of your enormous guilt, let me lay before you an inventory of still richer blessings! At the head of this stands Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift of God. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world - but that the world through Him, might be saved" (John 3:17). The comforts of this life alone would be a very inadequate provision for creatures who are to exist forever in another world; for what are sixty or seventy years - in comparison to the long duration of an immortal being!
And the purposes for which he gave this gift, render it the more astonishing. He gave Him not only to rule us by His power - but to purchase us with the blood of His heart! Various means are appointed, and various endeavors are used - to save you, perishing sinners. For your salvation Jesus now intercedes in his native heaven, at the right hand of God. For your salvation the Holy Spirit strives with you; conscience admonishes you; providence draws by blessings, and drives you by chastisements; angels minister to you; Bibles are put into your hands; ministers persuade you; friends advise you; and thousands of saints pray for you. For this end, preaching, and a great variety of means of grace, are instituted.
And yet - hear, oh earth, with horror; be astonished, O heavens, at this: How little gratitude does God receive from our world after all! How little gratitude from you - on whom these favors are showered down with distinguished profusion! Do not many of you neglect the unspeakable gift of God, Jesus Christ, as well as that salvation which He bought with His blood? Oh, the mountainous load of ingratitude that lies upon you! It is enough to sink the whole world into the depth of hell!
God's love to you is an unbounded ocean, that spreads over eternity, and makes it, a it were, the channel of the ocean of your happiness. In you, He intends to show to all worlds what glorious creatures He can form of the dust, and of the polluted fragments of degenerate human nature.
And now I am almost afraid to turn your thoughts to inquire - what return you have made for all these favors? I need not be particular. Your conscience accuses you, and points out the particulars; and I shall only join the cry of conscience against you. Oh! The ingratitude! Oh! the base, vile, unnatural, horrid, unprecedented ingratitude!
Let me now add a consideration, that gives an astonishing emphasis to all that has been said. All this profusion of mercy, personal and relative, temporal and spiritual - is bestowed upon creatures that deserve not the least mercy! Upon creatures that deserve to be stripped naked of every mercy; nay, that deserve to be made miserable in time and eternity! Upon creatures that are so far from deserving to be delivered from the calamities of life - that they deserve to have them all heightened and multiplied, until they convey them to the more intolerable punishments of hell! Upon creatures that are so far from making adequate returns, that they are perpetually offending their God to His face; and every day receiving blessings from Him, and every day sinning against Him!
One prayer, and I am done. May our divine Benefactor, among his other blessings, bestow upon us that of a thankful heart, and enable us to give sincere, fervent, and perpetual praise to His name, through Jesus Christ, His unspeakable gift! Amen.
~Samuel Davies~
(The End)
But if this does not suffice to make you sensible of your enormous guilt, let me lay before you an inventory of still richer blessings! At the head of this stands Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift of God. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish - but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world - but that the world through Him, might be saved" (John 3:17). The comforts of this life alone would be a very inadequate provision for creatures who are to exist forever in another world; for what are sixty or seventy years - in comparison to the long duration of an immortal being!
And the purposes for which he gave this gift, render it the more astonishing. He gave Him not only to rule us by His power - but to purchase us with the blood of His heart! Various means are appointed, and various endeavors are used - to save you, perishing sinners. For your salvation Jesus now intercedes in his native heaven, at the right hand of God. For your salvation the Holy Spirit strives with you; conscience admonishes you; providence draws by blessings, and drives you by chastisements; angels minister to you; Bibles are put into your hands; ministers persuade you; friends advise you; and thousands of saints pray for you. For this end, preaching, and a great variety of means of grace, are instituted.
And yet - hear, oh earth, with horror; be astonished, O heavens, at this: How little gratitude does God receive from our world after all! How little gratitude from you - on whom these favors are showered down with distinguished profusion! Do not many of you neglect the unspeakable gift of God, Jesus Christ, as well as that salvation which He bought with His blood? Oh, the mountainous load of ingratitude that lies upon you! It is enough to sink the whole world into the depth of hell!
God's love to you is an unbounded ocean, that spreads over eternity, and makes it, a it were, the channel of the ocean of your happiness. In you, He intends to show to all worlds what glorious creatures He can form of the dust, and of the polluted fragments of degenerate human nature.
And now I am almost afraid to turn your thoughts to inquire - what return you have made for all these favors? I need not be particular. Your conscience accuses you, and points out the particulars; and I shall only join the cry of conscience against you. Oh! The ingratitude! Oh! the base, vile, unnatural, horrid, unprecedented ingratitude!
Let me now add a consideration, that gives an astonishing emphasis to all that has been said. All this profusion of mercy, personal and relative, temporal and spiritual - is bestowed upon creatures that deserve not the least mercy! Upon creatures that deserve to be stripped naked of every mercy; nay, that deserve to be made miserable in time and eternity! Upon creatures that are so far from deserving to be delivered from the calamities of life - that they deserve to have them all heightened and multiplied, until they convey them to the more intolerable punishments of hell! Upon creatures that are so far from making adequate returns, that they are perpetually offending their God to His face; and every day receiving blessings from Him, and every day sinning against Him!
One prayer, and I am done. May our divine Benefactor, among his other blessings, bestow upon us that of a thankful heart, and enable us to give sincere, fervent, and perpetual praise to His name, through Jesus Christ, His unspeakable gift! Amen.
~Samuel Davies~
(The End)
The Justice of God - And The Sins of Our Country # 2
The Justice of God - And The Sins of Our Country # 2
O blessed Redeemer! what little necessity, what little use do the sinners of our country find for you in their religion! How many discourses are delivered, how many prayers offered, how many good works are performed - in which there is scarce anything of Christ!
How few pant and languish for you, blessed Jesus! and pledge never be contented with their reformation, with their morality, with their good works - until they obtain a saving interest in your righteousness, to sanctify all, to render acceptable!
You may see children sensible of their dependence on their parents for their existence; you see multitudes sensible of their dependence on clouds, and sun, and earth, for provision for man and beast. But how few sensible of their dependence upon God, as the great Sustainer of the universe? And how is Jehovah's government and agency practically denied in His own territories! How few receive the blessings of life from His hand - and make proper gratitude to Him!
You see a withered, ravaged country around you, languishing under the frowns of an angry God; but how few earnest prayers, how few penitential groans do you hear? I know there are some happy exceptions but is this not the prevailing character of a great majority? The most generous charity cannot think the contrary, if under any Scriptural limitations.
May it not be said of the people of our country - as well as those of Sodom, "Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord!" And thus, alas! it has been for a long time! Our country has sinned on securely for over one hundred and fifty years; and each generation has increased the vices of the previous one! And can a land always bear up under such a load of accumulated wickedness! Can God always allow such a race of sinners to go unpunished! May we not fear that our iniquities have now filled up the cup of God's wrath - and that He is about to thunder out His dreadful mandate to the executioners of His vengeance!
And is there no relief for a sinking country? Or is it too late to administer it? Is our wound so incurable, that it cannot be healed? No, blessed be God; if you now turn every one of you from your evil ways, if you mourn over your sins, and turn to the Lord with your whole hearts - then your country will yet recover."If at any time I announce that a nation is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil - then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned!" (Jeremiah 18:7-8).
Therefore, my friends, as we have all rebelled - let us all join in unanimous repentance and a thorough reformation. Not only your eternal salvation requires it - but also the preservation of your country.
If you go on impenitent in sin, you may expect not only to be damned forever - but to fall into the most extreme outward distress. You will have reason to fear not only the loss of heaven - which some of you perhaps think little of.
~Samuel Davies~
(The End)
O blessed Redeemer! what little necessity, what little use do the sinners of our country find for you in their religion! How many discourses are delivered, how many prayers offered, how many good works are performed - in which there is scarce anything of Christ!
How few pant and languish for you, blessed Jesus! and pledge never be contented with their reformation, with their morality, with their good works - until they obtain a saving interest in your righteousness, to sanctify all, to render acceptable!
You may see children sensible of their dependence on their parents for their existence; you see multitudes sensible of their dependence on clouds, and sun, and earth, for provision for man and beast. But how few sensible of their dependence upon God, as the great Sustainer of the universe? And how is Jehovah's government and agency practically denied in His own territories! How few receive the blessings of life from His hand - and make proper gratitude to Him!
You see a withered, ravaged country around you, languishing under the frowns of an angry God; but how few earnest prayers, how few penitential groans do you hear? I know there are some happy exceptions but is this not the prevailing character of a great majority? The most generous charity cannot think the contrary, if under any Scriptural limitations.
May it not be said of the people of our country - as well as those of Sodom, "Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord!" And thus, alas! it has been for a long time! Our country has sinned on securely for over one hundred and fifty years; and each generation has increased the vices of the previous one! And can a land always bear up under such a load of accumulated wickedness! Can God always allow such a race of sinners to go unpunished! May we not fear that our iniquities have now filled up the cup of God's wrath - and that He is about to thunder out His dreadful mandate to the executioners of His vengeance!
And is there no relief for a sinking country? Or is it too late to administer it? Is our wound so incurable, that it cannot be healed? No, blessed be God; if you now turn every one of you from your evil ways, if you mourn over your sins, and turn to the Lord with your whole hearts - then your country will yet recover."If at any time I announce that a nation is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil - then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned!" (Jeremiah 18:7-8).
Therefore, my friends, as we have all rebelled - let us all join in unanimous repentance and a thorough reformation. Not only your eternal salvation requires it - but also the preservation of your country.
If you go on impenitent in sin, you may expect not only to be damned forever - but to fall into the most extreme outward distress. You will have reason to fear not only the loss of heaven - which some of you perhaps think little of.
~Samuel Davies~
(The End)
Spiritual Sight # 4
Spiritual Sight # 4
You would never have argued Saul of Tarsus into Christianity; you would never have frightened him into Christianity; you would never have either reasoned or emotionalized him into being a Christian. To get that man out of Judaism needed something more than could have been found on this earth. But he saw Jesus of Nazareth, and that did it. He is out, he is an emancipated man, he has seen. Later, when he is right up against the great difficulty of the Judaisers, tracking and following him everywhere to disturb the faith of his converts, to wreck their position in Christ, and they are inclined to fall away, if they have not already done so, he once again raises the whole question as to what a Christian is, and focuses it upon this very point of what happened on the Damascus road. The Letter to the Galatians really can be summed up in this way: a Christian is not one who does this and that and another thing which is prescribed to be done; a Christian is not one who refrains from doing this and that and another thing because they are forbidden; a Christian is not one at all who is governed by the externalities of a way of life, an order, a legalistic system which says, You must, and you must not: a Christian is comprehended in this saying, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me: (Gal. 1:15-16). That is only another way of saying, He opened my eyes to see Jesus, for the two things are the same. The Damascus road is the place. "Who art Thou, Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth". "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me. That is one and the same thing. Seeing in an inward way: that makes a Christian! "God...hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" ( 2 Cor. 4:6). "In our hearts": Christ, so imparted and revealed within,k is what makes a Christian, and a Christian will do or not do certain things, not at the dictates of any Christian law, any more than Jewish, but as led by the Spirit inwardly, by Christ in the heart. It is that that makes a Christian, and in that the foundation is laid for all the rest, right on to the consummation, because it is just going to be that growingly. So the foundation must be according to the superstructure; they are all of a piece. It is seeing, and it is seeing Christ.
That is a bold statement upon which a very great deal more might be said. But it is a challenge. We have to ask ourselves now, On what foundation does our Christian life rest? Is it upon something outward; something we have read, something we have been told, something we have been commanded,something we have been frightened into, or emotionalized into; or is it based upon this foundation, "it pleased God to reveal His Son in me?" When I saw Him, I saw what a sinner I am, and I saw too what a Saviour He is: but it was seeing Him that did it! I know how elementary that is for a conference of Christians, but it is good sometimes to examine our foundations. We never get away from those foundations. We are not going to grow up and be wonderful folk who have left all that behind. It is all of a piece. I do not mean that we stay at elementary things all our lives, but we take the character of our foundations through to the end. The grace which laid the foundation will bring forth the topstone with shoutings of grace, grace! It will all be that; the grace of God in opening our eyes. I will not stay longer with that.
Seeing Governs Spiritual Growth
Let us pass on to growth. Just as the beginning is by seeing, so is growth. Spiritual growth is all a matter of seeing. I want you to think about that. We have to see if we would grow. What is spiritual growth? Well now,answer that carefully, in your heart. I think some people imagine that spiritual growth is getting to know a great deal more truth. No, not necessarily. You may increase in such knowledge as you grow it is true, but it is not just that. What is growth? Well, it is conformity to the image of God's Son. That is the end, and it is toward that that we are progressively and steadily and consistently to move. Full growth, spiritual maturity, will be our having been conformed to the image of God's Son. That is growth. Then if that be so, Paul will say to us, "We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). Conformity by seeing, growth by seeing.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Now that contains a very precious and deep principle. How can we illustrate? That very passage which we have just cited helps us, I think. The last clause will give us our clue - "as from the Lord the Spirit." I trust I do not use too hackneyed an illustration in trying to help this out when I go back to Eliezer, Abraham's servant, and Isaac and Rebekah, that classic romance of the Old Testament. You remember the day came when Abraham, getting old, called his faithful household steward, Eliezer, and said, "Put now your hand under my thigh, and swear that you will not take of the women of this country for a bride for my son, but that you will go to my own kith and kin." And he sware. And then Eliezer set out, as you know, with the camels for the distant country across the desert, praying as he went that the Lord would prosper him and give him a sign. The sign was given at the well. Rebekah responded to the man, and when, after tarrying a bit and being confronted with the challenge quite definitely, she decided to go with the man, on the way he brought out from his treasures things of his master's house, things of his master's son, and showed them to her, and occupied her all the time with his master's son and the things which indicated what a son he was, and what possessions he had and what she was coming into; and this went on right across the desert until they reached the other side and came into the district of the father's home. Isaac was out in the field meditating: and they lifted up their eyes and saw;and the servant said, "There he is! The one of whom I have been speaking to you all the time, the one whose things I have been showing you; there he is! And she lighted down from the camel. Do you think she felt strange, as though she had come from a far country? I think the effect of Eliezer's ministry was to make her feel quite at home, to make her feel that she knew the man she was going to marry. She felt no strangeness or distress or foreign element about this thing. They just merged, shall we say? It was the consummation of a process.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
You would never have argued Saul of Tarsus into Christianity; you would never have frightened him into Christianity; you would never have either reasoned or emotionalized him into being a Christian. To get that man out of Judaism needed something more than could have been found on this earth. But he saw Jesus of Nazareth, and that did it. He is out, he is an emancipated man, he has seen. Later, when he is right up against the great difficulty of the Judaisers, tracking and following him everywhere to disturb the faith of his converts, to wreck their position in Christ, and they are inclined to fall away, if they have not already done so, he once again raises the whole question as to what a Christian is, and focuses it upon this very point of what happened on the Damascus road. The Letter to the Galatians really can be summed up in this way: a Christian is not one who does this and that and another thing which is prescribed to be done; a Christian is not one who refrains from doing this and that and another thing because they are forbidden; a Christian is not one at all who is governed by the externalities of a way of life, an order, a legalistic system which says, You must, and you must not: a Christian is comprehended in this saying, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me: (Gal. 1:15-16). That is only another way of saying, He opened my eyes to see Jesus, for the two things are the same. The Damascus road is the place. "Who art Thou, Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth". "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me. That is one and the same thing. Seeing in an inward way: that makes a Christian! "God...hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" ( 2 Cor. 4:6). "In our hearts": Christ, so imparted and revealed within,k is what makes a Christian, and a Christian will do or not do certain things, not at the dictates of any Christian law, any more than Jewish, but as led by the Spirit inwardly, by Christ in the heart. It is that that makes a Christian, and in that the foundation is laid for all the rest, right on to the consummation, because it is just going to be that growingly. So the foundation must be according to the superstructure; they are all of a piece. It is seeing, and it is seeing Christ.
That is a bold statement upon which a very great deal more might be said. But it is a challenge. We have to ask ourselves now, On what foundation does our Christian life rest? Is it upon something outward; something we have read, something we have been told, something we have been commanded,something we have been frightened into, or emotionalized into; or is it based upon this foundation, "it pleased God to reveal His Son in me?" When I saw Him, I saw what a sinner I am, and I saw too what a Saviour He is: but it was seeing Him that did it! I know how elementary that is for a conference of Christians, but it is good sometimes to examine our foundations. We never get away from those foundations. We are not going to grow up and be wonderful folk who have left all that behind. It is all of a piece. I do not mean that we stay at elementary things all our lives, but we take the character of our foundations through to the end. The grace which laid the foundation will bring forth the topstone with shoutings of grace, grace! It will all be that; the grace of God in opening our eyes. I will not stay longer with that.
Seeing Governs Spiritual Growth
Let us pass on to growth. Just as the beginning is by seeing, so is growth. Spiritual growth is all a matter of seeing. I want you to think about that. We have to see if we would grow. What is spiritual growth? Well now,answer that carefully, in your heart. I think some people imagine that spiritual growth is getting to know a great deal more truth. No, not necessarily. You may increase in such knowledge as you grow it is true, but it is not just that. What is growth? Well, it is conformity to the image of God's Son. That is the end, and it is toward that that we are progressively and steadily and consistently to move. Full growth, spiritual maturity, will be our having been conformed to the image of God's Son. That is growth. Then if that be so, Paul will say to us, "We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). Conformity by seeing, growth by seeing.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Now that contains a very precious and deep principle. How can we illustrate? That very passage which we have just cited helps us, I think. The last clause will give us our clue - "as from the Lord the Spirit." I trust I do not use too hackneyed an illustration in trying to help this out when I go back to Eliezer, Abraham's servant, and Isaac and Rebekah, that classic romance of the Old Testament. You remember the day came when Abraham, getting old, called his faithful household steward, Eliezer, and said, "Put now your hand under my thigh, and swear that you will not take of the women of this country for a bride for my son, but that you will go to my own kith and kin." And he sware. And then Eliezer set out, as you know, with the camels for the distant country across the desert, praying as he went that the Lord would prosper him and give him a sign. The sign was given at the well. Rebekah responded to the man, and when, after tarrying a bit and being confronted with the challenge quite definitely, she decided to go with the man, on the way he brought out from his treasures things of his master's house, things of his master's son, and showed them to her, and occupied her all the time with his master's son and the things which indicated what a son he was, and what possessions he had and what she was coming into; and this went on right across the desert until they reached the other side and came into the district of the father's home. Isaac was out in the field meditating: and they lifted up their eyes and saw;and the servant said, "There he is! The one of whom I have been speaking to you all the time, the one whose things I have been showing you; there he is! And she lighted down from the camel. Do you think she felt strange, as though she had come from a far country? I think the effect of Eliezer's ministry was to make her feel quite at home, to make her feel that she knew the man she was going to marry. She felt no strangeness or distress or foreign element about this thing. They just merged, shall we say? It was the consummation of a process.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
Spiritual Sight # 3
Spiritual Sight # 3
The Man Whose Eye is Opened
Oh yes, it is a far bigger thing than you and I have yet appreciated. Let me tell you forthwith that all hell is banded together against that, and the man who has had his eyes opened is going to meet hell. This man in John 9 was up against it at once. They cast him out, and even his own parents were afraid to take sides with him because of the cost. "He is of age, ask him." Yes, this is our son, but do not press us too much, do not involve us in this thing; go to him, get it cleared up with him, leave us alone! They saw a red light, and so they were seeking to by-pass this issue. It costs to see, and it may cost everything, because of the immense value of seeing to the Lord, and as against satan, the god of this age, who hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving. It is the undoing of his work. "I send thee to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto God." satan is not going to take that, neither at the beginning nor in any measure. It is a tremendous thing, to see.
But oh, what a need today for men and women who can stand spiritually in the position in which this man stood and say, "I was blind, but now I see, and this one thing I know!" It is a great thing to be there. How much I do not know, one thing I do know, I see! which was not the case before. There is an impact, a registration, with that. Life and light always go together in the Word of God. If a man really sees, there is life, and there is uplift. If he is giving you something secondhand, studied, read, worked up, there is no life in it, other than, perhaps, that temporary and false lift of interest, passing fascination. But there is no real life which makes people live.
So one does not plead for changing the truth or having new truths, but for spiritual sight into the truth. "The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word," which is true. Let me get rid of that thing which has been fastened upon us here if I can. We do not seek for new revelation, and we do not say or suggest or hint that you may have anything extra to the Word of God, but we do claim that there is a vast amount in the Word of God that we have never seen, which we may see! Surely everybody agrees with that: and it is just that - to see, and the more you see, really see, the more overwhelmed you feel about the whole thing, because you know that you have come to the borders of the land of far distances, lying far beyond a short lifetime's power of experience.
Now just to close, let me repeat, that, at every stage from initiation to consummation, spiritual life must have this secret in it, I see! Right at the commencement when we are born again, that should be the spontaneous expression or ejaculation in the life. Our Christian life ought to begin there. But all the way along to the final consummation it must be that, the working out of this miracle, so that you and I are maintained in this atmosphere of wonder, the wonder factor repeated again and again, so that every fresh occasion is as though we have never yet seen anything at all.
But I may as well say at once that usually a new breaking in of the Spirit in that way follows the eclipse of all that has gone before. It seems that the Lord has to make it necessary, so that we come to the place where we cry out, Unless the Lord shows, unless the Lord reveals, unless the Lord does a new thing, all that ever has been is as nothing, it will not save me now! Thus He leads us into a dark place, a dark time. We feel that what has been has lost the power which it once had to make us buoyant, triumphant. That is the Lord's way of keeping us moving on. If you and I were allowed to be perfectly satisfied with what we have got at any stage, and not to feel the absolute necessity for something we never have had, should we go on? Of course not! To keep us going on, the Lord has to bring about those experiences where it is absolutely necessary for us to see the Lord, and know the Lord in a new way, and it must just be so all the way along to the end. It may be a series of crises of seeing and seeing again, and yet again, as the Lord opens our eyes, and we are able to say, as never before, I see! So it is not our study, our learning, our book knowledge, but it is a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of our hearts being enlightened, and it is that seeing which brings the note of authority that is so much needed. That is the element, the feature, that is required today. It is not just seeing for seeing's sake, but it is to bring in a new note of authority.
Where is the voice of authority today? Where are those who are really speaking with authority? We are languishing terribly in every department of life for the voice of authority. The Church is languishing for want of a voice of spiritual authority, want of that prophetic note - Thus saith the Lord! The world is languishing for want of authority, and that authority is with those who have seen. There is far more authority in the man born blind seeing, in his testimony - One thing I know that, whereas I was blind, now I see - than there is in all Israel, with all Israel's tradition and learning. And may it not be that that was the thing about the Lord Jesus that carried such weight, for "He spoke as One having authority, and not as the Scribes" (Matt. 7:29). The Scribes were the authorities. If anybody wanted an interpretation of the law, they went to the Scribes. If they wanted to know what the authoritative position was, they went to the Scribes. Wherein lay that authority? Just that in all things He could say, I know! It is not what I have read, what I have been told, what I have studied, that is with power, but this - I know! I have seen!
The Lord make us all to be of those who have eyes opened.
The Issue of Spiritual Sight
Read: Num. 24:3-4; Mark 10:46, 51-52; 8:23-25; John 9:1, 7, 25; Eph. 1:17-19; Rev. 3:17; Acts 26:17-18.
At the outset of our previous meditation we were speaking of the root-malady of our time, which is spiritual blindness. We took those passages which we have read and noted how they, in a very general way, cover the full ground of spiritual blindness and spiritual sight. Then we went on to speak about the common factor in all these cases, which is that spiritual sight is always a miracle. No one has real spiritual sight by nature. It is something which comes out of heaven as a direct act of God, a faculty which is not there naturally, but has to be created. So that the very justification for Christ's coming from heaven into this world is found in this fact, that man is born blind and needed a visitation from heaven to give him sight. Then, finally, to lose spiritual sight is to lose the miraculous element in the Christian life; which was the trouble with Laodicea. We went on to see that the great need of the hour is for those who really can say, I see! Imagine yourself being born blind and living perhaps to maturity without having seen anything or anyone, and suddenly having your eyes opened to see everything and everyone. The sense of wonder would be there; the world would be a wonderful world. I suppose when that man in John 9 went home, he would be constantly saying, It is wonderful to see people, wonderful to see all these things! Wonderful! That would be the word most on his lips. Yes, but there is a spiritual counterpart, and the great need is of people who have that spiritual wonder in their hearts all the time; that which has broken upon them by revelation of the Holy Spirit and is a constant and ever-growing wonder. It is a new world, a new universe. That is the need of this time - I see!
Well now, the final phase of our meditation was that which we are going to follow up a little now, that at every stage of the Christian life from initiation to consummation, the secret must just be that - I see: I never saw as I see now! I never saw it like that, I never saw it on this wise; but now I see! It must be like that all the way through, from start to finish, if the life is a true life in the Spirit. So for a little while let us think on one or two phases of the Christian life which must be governed by this great reality of seeing by Divine operation; and you will be recalling a great deal of the Word as I speak, seeing how much there is in the Scriptures about this matter.
Seeing Governs the Beginning of the Christian Life
What is the beginning of the Christian life? It is a seeing. It must be a seeing. The very logic of things demands that it shall be a seeing; for this reason, that the whole of the Christian life is to be a progressive movement along one line, to one end. That line and that end is Christ. That was the issue with the man born blind in John 9. You will remember how, after they cast him out, Jesus found him, and said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" and the man "answered and said, And who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him? Jesus said unto Him, Thou hast both seen Him and He it is that speaketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him." The issue of spiritual sight is the recognition of the Lord Jesus, and it is going to be that all the way through from start to finish.
We may say that our salvation was a matter of seeing ourselves as sinners. But had it been left there, it would have been a poor lookout for us. Or we may say that it is seeing that Christ died for sinners. That is very good, but not good enough. Unless we see Who Christ is, that subtle and fatal thing may find a lodgement in our hearts that asserts that many a British soldier died just as heroic a death for his fellows as Jesus died; not discerning or discriminating between the one and the other. No, the whole matter is summed up into seeing Jesus: and when you really see Jesus, what happens? What happened to Saul of Tarsus? Well, a whole lot of things happened, and mighty things which nothing else would have accomplished.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
The Man Whose Eye is Opened
Oh yes, it is a far bigger thing than you and I have yet appreciated. Let me tell you forthwith that all hell is banded together against that, and the man who has had his eyes opened is going to meet hell. This man in John 9 was up against it at once. They cast him out, and even his own parents were afraid to take sides with him because of the cost. "He is of age, ask him." Yes, this is our son, but do not press us too much, do not involve us in this thing; go to him, get it cleared up with him, leave us alone! They saw a red light, and so they were seeking to by-pass this issue. It costs to see, and it may cost everything, because of the immense value of seeing to the Lord, and as against satan, the god of this age, who hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving. It is the undoing of his work. "I send thee to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto God." satan is not going to take that, neither at the beginning nor in any measure. It is a tremendous thing, to see.
But oh, what a need today for men and women who can stand spiritually in the position in which this man stood and say, "I was blind, but now I see, and this one thing I know!" It is a great thing to be there. How much I do not know, one thing I do know, I see! which was not the case before. There is an impact, a registration, with that. Life and light always go together in the Word of God. If a man really sees, there is life, and there is uplift. If he is giving you something secondhand, studied, read, worked up, there is no life in it, other than, perhaps, that temporary and false lift of interest, passing fascination. But there is no real life which makes people live.
So one does not plead for changing the truth or having new truths, but for spiritual sight into the truth. "The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word," which is true. Let me get rid of that thing which has been fastened upon us here if I can. We do not seek for new revelation, and we do not say or suggest or hint that you may have anything extra to the Word of God, but we do claim that there is a vast amount in the Word of God that we have never seen, which we may see! Surely everybody agrees with that: and it is just that - to see, and the more you see, really see, the more overwhelmed you feel about the whole thing, because you know that you have come to the borders of the land of far distances, lying far beyond a short lifetime's power of experience.
Now just to close, let me repeat, that, at every stage from initiation to consummation, spiritual life must have this secret in it, I see! Right at the commencement when we are born again, that should be the spontaneous expression or ejaculation in the life. Our Christian life ought to begin there. But all the way along to the final consummation it must be that, the working out of this miracle, so that you and I are maintained in this atmosphere of wonder, the wonder factor repeated again and again, so that every fresh occasion is as though we have never yet seen anything at all.
But I may as well say at once that usually a new breaking in of the Spirit in that way follows the eclipse of all that has gone before. It seems that the Lord has to make it necessary, so that we come to the place where we cry out, Unless the Lord shows, unless the Lord reveals, unless the Lord does a new thing, all that ever has been is as nothing, it will not save me now! Thus He leads us into a dark place, a dark time. We feel that what has been has lost the power which it once had to make us buoyant, triumphant. That is the Lord's way of keeping us moving on. If you and I were allowed to be perfectly satisfied with what we have got at any stage, and not to feel the absolute necessity for something we never have had, should we go on? Of course not! To keep us going on, the Lord has to bring about those experiences where it is absolutely necessary for us to see the Lord, and know the Lord in a new way, and it must just be so all the way along to the end. It may be a series of crises of seeing and seeing again, and yet again, as the Lord opens our eyes, and we are able to say, as never before, I see! So it is not our study, our learning, our book knowledge, but it is a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of our hearts being enlightened, and it is that seeing which brings the note of authority that is so much needed. That is the element, the feature, that is required today. It is not just seeing for seeing's sake, but it is to bring in a new note of authority.
Where is the voice of authority today? Where are those who are really speaking with authority? We are languishing terribly in every department of life for the voice of authority. The Church is languishing for want of a voice of spiritual authority, want of that prophetic note - Thus saith the Lord! The world is languishing for want of authority, and that authority is with those who have seen. There is far more authority in the man born blind seeing, in his testimony - One thing I know that, whereas I was blind, now I see - than there is in all Israel, with all Israel's tradition and learning. And may it not be that that was the thing about the Lord Jesus that carried such weight, for "He spoke as One having authority, and not as the Scribes" (Matt. 7:29). The Scribes were the authorities. If anybody wanted an interpretation of the law, they went to the Scribes. If they wanted to know what the authoritative position was, they went to the Scribes. Wherein lay that authority? Just that in all things He could say, I know! It is not what I have read, what I have been told, what I have studied, that is with power, but this - I know! I have seen!
The Lord make us all to be of those who have eyes opened.
The Issue of Spiritual Sight
Read: Num. 24:3-4; Mark 10:46, 51-52; 8:23-25; John 9:1, 7, 25; Eph. 1:17-19; Rev. 3:17; Acts 26:17-18.
At the outset of our previous meditation we were speaking of the root-malady of our time, which is spiritual blindness. We took those passages which we have read and noted how they, in a very general way, cover the full ground of spiritual blindness and spiritual sight. Then we went on to speak about the common factor in all these cases, which is that spiritual sight is always a miracle. No one has real spiritual sight by nature. It is something which comes out of heaven as a direct act of God, a faculty which is not there naturally, but has to be created. So that the very justification for Christ's coming from heaven into this world is found in this fact, that man is born blind and needed a visitation from heaven to give him sight. Then, finally, to lose spiritual sight is to lose the miraculous element in the Christian life; which was the trouble with Laodicea. We went on to see that the great need of the hour is for those who really can say, I see! Imagine yourself being born blind and living perhaps to maturity without having seen anything or anyone, and suddenly having your eyes opened to see everything and everyone. The sense of wonder would be there; the world would be a wonderful world. I suppose when that man in John 9 went home, he would be constantly saying, It is wonderful to see people, wonderful to see all these things! Wonderful! That would be the word most on his lips. Yes, but there is a spiritual counterpart, and the great need is of people who have that spiritual wonder in their hearts all the time; that which has broken upon them by revelation of the Holy Spirit and is a constant and ever-growing wonder. It is a new world, a new universe. That is the need of this time - I see!
Well now, the final phase of our meditation was that which we are going to follow up a little now, that at every stage of the Christian life from initiation to consummation, the secret must just be that - I see: I never saw as I see now! I never saw it like that, I never saw it on this wise; but now I see! It must be like that all the way through, from start to finish, if the life is a true life in the Spirit. So for a little while let us think on one or two phases of the Christian life which must be governed by this great reality of seeing by Divine operation; and you will be recalling a great deal of the Word as I speak, seeing how much there is in the Scriptures about this matter.
Seeing Governs the Beginning of the Christian Life
What is the beginning of the Christian life? It is a seeing. It must be a seeing. The very logic of things demands that it shall be a seeing; for this reason, that the whole of the Christian life is to be a progressive movement along one line, to one end. That line and that end is Christ. That was the issue with the man born blind in John 9. You will remember how, after they cast him out, Jesus found him, and said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" and the man "answered and said, And who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him? Jesus said unto Him, Thou hast both seen Him and He it is that speaketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him." The issue of spiritual sight is the recognition of the Lord Jesus, and it is going to be that all the way through from start to finish.
We may say that our salvation was a matter of seeing ourselves as sinners. But had it been left there, it would have been a poor lookout for us. Or we may say that it is seeing that Christ died for sinners. That is very good, but not good enough. Unless we see Who Christ is, that subtle and fatal thing may find a lodgement in our hearts that asserts that many a British soldier died just as heroic a death for his fellows as Jesus died; not discerning or discriminating between the one and the other. No, the whole matter is summed up into seeing Jesus: and when you really see Jesus, what happens? What happened to Saul of Tarsus? Well, a whole lot of things happened, and mighty things which nothing else would have accomplished.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Spiritual Sight # 2
Spiritual Sight # 2
So spiritual sight is a miracle from heaven every time, and that means that the one who really sees spiritually has a miracle right at the foundation of his life. His whole spiritual life springs out of a miracle, and it is the miracle of having sight given to eyes which never have seen. That is just where the spiritual life begins, just whee the Christian life has its commencement: it is in seeing.
And whoever preaches must have that miracle in his history, and he himself is dependent entirely upon that miracle being repeated in the case of every one who listens to him. That is where he is so helpless and so foolish. Perhaps it is here that, in one sense, we find 'the foolishness of preaching". A man may have seen, and may be preaching what he has seen, but no one listening to him has seen or does see: and so he is saying to the blind, See! And they see not. He is dependent entirely upon the Spirit of God coming and, there and then, working a miracle. Unless that miracle is wrought, his preaching is vain, so far as the desired effect is concerned. I do not know what you say when you come into a gathering and bow your head in prayer, but there is a suggestion for you. There may be present that which has come out of a miracle in the one who is giving it forth in preaching or teaching, and you may miss it all. The suggestion is that you ever and always ask the Holy Spirit to work that miracle in you afresh in this hour, that you may see.
But we go further. Every bit of new seeing is a work from heaven. It is not something done fully once for all. It is possible for us to go on seeing and seeing, and yet more fully seeing, but with every fresh fragment of truth, this work, which is not in our power to do, has to be done. Spiritual life is not only a miracle in its inception; it is a continuous miracle in this matter right on to the last. That is what arises from the passages we have read. A man may have had a touch, and, whereas before he was blind and saw nothing, now he sees; but he sees only a little, both in its measure and in its range, and he sees imperfectly. There is a certain amount of distortion about his vision yet. Another touch is required from heaven in order that he may see all things correctly, perfectly. But even then it is not the end, for such as are seeing things correctly, perfectly, within that measure, have yet possibilities from God of seeing such vast ranges. But is it still a spirit of wisdom and revelation which is required to effect it. All the way along it is from heaven. And who would have it otherwise, for is not this the thing which give to a true spiritual life its real value, that there should forever remain in it the miraculous element?
The Effect of the Loss of Spiritual Sight
Then we come to that final word. To lose spiritual vision is to lose the supernatural feature of the spiritual life, and that produces the Laodicean state. If you seek to get to the heart of the thing, this state of things represented by Laodicea, neither hot nor cold, the state which provokes the Lord to say, "I will spew thee out of My mouth"; if you seek to get to the heart of it and say, Why is this, what is the thing lying behind this? The one thing that explains it is simply this, that it has lost its supernatural feature, it has come down to earth; it is religious, but it has come out of its heavenly place. And then, you see, you get the corresponding rebound to overcomers in Laodicea, "He that overcometh, AI will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne." You have gone down a long way to earth, you have lost your heavenly feature, but for overcomers in the midst of such conditions there is still a place above, showing the Lord's thought as over against this condition. To lose spiritual vision is to lose the supernatural feature of the spiritual life. When that has gone out, be as religious as you like, the Lord only has one word to say - Buy eye salve: that is your need.
The Need of the Hour
That brings us, then, to the need of the hour, the need which, of course, is the need of every hour, of every day, of every age. But we are made more and more aware in our time of this need, and in a sense, we can say there never was a time when there was a greater need for people who could say and can say, "I see!" That is the need just now. Great and terrible is that need, and not until that need is met will there be any hope. Hope hangs upon this, that there would arise people in this world, this dark world of confusion and chaos and tragedy and contradiction, people who are able to say, I see! If there should arise a man today who had position, to exercise influence and be taken account of, and such a man who saw, what new hope would arise with him, what a new prospect! That is the need. Whether that need will be met in a public, national, international way or not, I do not know, but that need must be met in a spiritual way by people on this earth who are in that position, who really can say, "I see!"
You see, Christianity has so largely become a tradition. The truth has been resolved into truths and put into a Blue-book, the Blue-book of Evangelical Doctrine, a set and fenced up thing. These are the evangelical doctrines, they set the bounds of evangelical Christianity in preaching and in teaching. Yes, they are presented in many and various forms. They are served up with interesting and attractive anecdotes and illustrations, and with studied originality and uniqueness, so that the old truths will not be too obvious, but will stand some chance of getting over because of the clothes in which they are dressed up; and a very great deal depends upon the ability and the personality of the preacher or the teacher. People say, I like his style, I like his manner, I like his way of saying things! - and much depends upon that: but when all those trappings have been stripped off, the stories, the anecdotes, the illustrations, and the personality are the ability of the preacher or teacher; when that has all gone, you have simply got again the same old things, and some of us come along and outdo the last man in the way of presenting them in order to gain for them some acceptance, some impression. I do not think that is unkind criticism, for that is what it amount to; and no one will think that I am asking for a change or dismissal of the old truths.
But what I am trying to get at is this: it is not new truths, it is not the changing of the truth, but it is that there shall be those who, in presenting the truth, can be recognized by those who listen as men who have seen: and that makes all the difference. Not men who have read and studied and prepared, but men who have seen, about whom there is that which we find in this man in John 9 - the element of wonder. "Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see". And you know whether a person has seen or not, you know where it has come from and how it has come: and that is the need: that something, that indefinable something, which works out in wonder, and you have to say, "That man has seen something, that woman has seen something!" It is that seeing factor which makes all the difference.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
So spiritual sight is a miracle from heaven every time, and that means that the one who really sees spiritually has a miracle right at the foundation of his life. His whole spiritual life springs out of a miracle, and it is the miracle of having sight given to eyes which never have seen. That is just where the spiritual life begins, just whee the Christian life has its commencement: it is in seeing.
And whoever preaches must have that miracle in his history, and he himself is dependent entirely upon that miracle being repeated in the case of every one who listens to him. That is where he is so helpless and so foolish. Perhaps it is here that, in one sense, we find 'the foolishness of preaching". A man may have seen, and may be preaching what he has seen, but no one listening to him has seen or does see: and so he is saying to the blind, See! And they see not. He is dependent entirely upon the Spirit of God coming and, there and then, working a miracle. Unless that miracle is wrought, his preaching is vain, so far as the desired effect is concerned. I do not know what you say when you come into a gathering and bow your head in prayer, but there is a suggestion for you. There may be present that which has come out of a miracle in the one who is giving it forth in preaching or teaching, and you may miss it all. The suggestion is that you ever and always ask the Holy Spirit to work that miracle in you afresh in this hour, that you may see.
But we go further. Every bit of new seeing is a work from heaven. It is not something done fully once for all. It is possible for us to go on seeing and seeing, and yet more fully seeing, but with every fresh fragment of truth, this work, which is not in our power to do, has to be done. Spiritual life is not only a miracle in its inception; it is a continuous miracle in this matter right on to the last. That is what arises from the passages we have read. A man may have had a touch, and, whereas before he was blind and saw nothing, now he sees; but he sees only a little, both in its measure and in its range, and he sees imperfectly. There is a certain amount of distortion about his vision yet. Another touch is required from heaven in order that he may see all things correctly, perfectly. But even then it is not the end, for such as are seeing things correctly, perfectly, within that measure, have yet possibilities from God of seeing such vast ranges. But is it still a spirit of wisdom and revelation which is required to effect it. All the way along it is from heaven. And who would have it otherwise, for is not this the thing which give to a true spiritual life its real value, that there should forever remain in it the miraculous element?
The Effect of the Loss of Spiritual Sight
Then we come to that final word. To lose spiritual vision is to lose the supernatural feature of the spiritual life, and that produces the Laodicean state. If you seek to get to the heart of the thing, this state of things represented by Laodicea, neither hot nor cold, the state which provokes the Lord to say, "I will spew thee out of My mouth"; if you seek to get to the heart of it and say, Why is this, what is the thing lying behind this? The one thing that explains it is simply this, that it has lost its supernatural feature, it has come down to earth; it is religious, but it has come out of its heavenly place. And then, you see, you get the corresponding rebound to overcomers in Laodicea, "He that overcometh, AI will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne." You have gone down a long way to earth, you have lost your heavenly feature, but for overcomers in the midst of such conditions there is still a place above, showing the Lord's thought as over against this condition. To lose spiritual vision is to lose the supernatural feature of the spiritual life. When that has gone out, be as religious as you like, the Lord only has one word to say - Buy eye salve: that is your need.
The Need of the Hour
That brings us, then, to the need of the hour, the need which, of course, is the need of every hour, of every day, of every age. But we are made more and more aware in our time of this need, and in a sense, we can say there never was a time when there was a greater need for people who could say and can say, "I see!" That is the need just now. Great and terrible is that need, and not until that need is met will there be any hope. Hope hangs upon this, that there would arise people in this world, this dark world of confusion and chaos and tragedy and contradiction, people who are able to say, I see! If there should arise a man today who had position, to exercise influence and be taken account of, and such a man who saw, what new hope would arise with him, what a new prospect! That is the need. Whether that need will be met in a public, national, international way or not, I do not know, but that need must be met in a spiritual way by people on this earth who are in that position, who really can say, "I see!"
You see, Christianity has so largely become a tradition. The truth has been resolved into truths and put into a Blue-book, the Blue-book of Evangelical Doctrine, a set and fenced up thing. These are the evangelical doctrines, they set the bounds of evangelical Christianity in preaching and in teaching. Yes, they are presented in many and various forms. They are served up with interesting and attractive anecdotes and illustrations, and with studied originality and uniqueness, so that the old truths will not be too obvious, but will stand some chance of getting over because of the clothes in which they are dressed up; and a very great deal depends upon the ability and the personality of the preacher or the teacher. People say, I like his style, I like his manner, I like his way of saying things! - and much depends upon that: but when all those trappings have been stripped off, the stories, the anecdotes, the illustrations, and the personality are the ability of the preacher or teacher; when that has all gone, you have simply got again the same old things, and some of us come along and outdo the last man in the way of presenting them in order to gain for them some acceptance, some impression. I do not think that is unkind criticism, for that is what it amount to; and no one will think that I am asking for a change or dismissal of the old truths.
But what I am trying to get at is this: it is not new truths, it is not the changing of the truth, but it is that there shall be those who, in presenting the truth, can be recognized by those who listen as men who have seen: and that makes all the difference. Not men who have read and studied and prepared, but men who have seen, about whom there is that which we find in this man in John 9 - the element of wonder. "Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see". And you know whether a person has seen or not, you know where it has come from and how it has come: and that is the need: that something, that indefinable something, which works out in wonder, and you have to say, "That man has seen something, that woman has seen something!" It is that seeing factor which makes all the difference.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
Spiritual Sight # 1
[very important series. We are in a "spiritual" dispensation (ever since Pentecost). Our faith is not 'intellectual" now, but "spiritual" - that inward sight given us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Please read carefully!]
Spiritual Sight # 1
Read: Numbers 22:31; 24:3-4; Mark 10:46, 51-52; Mark 8:23-25; John 9:1, 7, 25; Ephesians 1:17-18; Revelation 3:18; Acts 26:18.
I think the phrase used by Balaam might very well stand at the head of our present meditation - "the man whose eye is opened."
The Root Malady of Our Time
As we contemplate the state of things in the world today, we are very deeply impressed and oppressed with the prevailing malady of spiritual blindness. It is the root malady of the time. We should not be far wrong if we said that most, if not all, of the troubles from which the world is suffering, are traceable to that root, namely, blindness. The masses are blind; there is no doubt about that. In a day which is supposed to be a day of unequaled enlightenment, the masses are blind. The leaders are blind, blind leaders of the blind. But in a very large measure, the same is true of the Lord's people. Speaking quite generally, Christians are today very blind!
A General Survey of the Ground of Spiritual Blindness
The passages which we have just read cover in a general way a great deal, if not all, of the ground of spiritual blindness. They begin with those who never have seen, those born blind.
Then there are those who have been given vision, but are not seeing very much, nor every clearly - "men as trees walking" - but who come to see yet more perfectly under a further work of grace.
Then there are those who have true and clear sight as far as it goes, but for whom a vast realm of Divine thought and purpose still waits upon a fuller work of the Holy Spirit. "That He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His coming, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe." Those words are addressed to people who have sight, but for whom this great realm of Divine meaning still waits upon their knowing a fuller work of the Holy Spirit in the matter of spiritual sight.
Then, again, there are those who have seen and have followed, but who have lost spiritual sight, of which they were once possessed, and are now blind, but with the most fatal additional factor: they think they see and they are blind to their own blindness. That was the tragedy of Laodicea.
Further, there are those two classed represented by Balaam and Saul of Tarsus, from whom we have quoted. Balaam, blinded by gain, or the prospect of gain. That is, I think, what is meant in the New Testament by following in the way of Balaam; being taken up so much with the question of gain and loss as to be blind to the great thoughts of God and purpose of God, not seeing the Lord Himself in the way, and by his blindness coming very near to being smitten down on the road. The statement is quite definite there. Balaam did not see the Lord until the Lord opened his eyes, and then he saw the Lord. "The angel of the Lord": that is the way which it is put. I have not must doubt but that it is the Lord Himself. Then he saw. Later he made that double statement about the matter - "the man whose eye is opened," "falling down and having his eyes open." Such is Balaam, a man blinded by considerations of a personal character, of a personal nature, how things would affect him. That is what it amounts to. And what a blinding thing that is where spiritual matters are concerned. If ever you or I pause on that question, we are in very grave peril. If ever for a moment we allow ourselves to be influenced y such questions as, how will this affect me, what will this cost me, what do I stand to get out of this or to lose by this? That is a moment when darkness may very well take possession of our hearts and we go in the way of Balaam.
Then, on the other hand, we have Saul of Tarsus. There is no doubt about his blindness; but his was the blindness of his very religious zeal, his zeal for God, his zeal for tradition, his zeal for historic religion, his zeal for the established and accepted thing in the religious world. It was a blind zeal about which afterward he had to say, "I verily thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). "I thought I ought." What a tremendous turn round it was when he discovered that the things which he thought, and passionately thought he ought to do, in order to please God and to satisfy his own conscience, were utterly and diametrically opposed to God and the way of right and truth. What blindness! Surely he stands as an abiding warning to us all that zeal for anything is not necessarily a proof that the thing is right, and that we are on on right road. Our very zeal as a thing in itself may be a blinding thing, our devotion to tradition may be our blindness.
I think eyes have a very large place in Paul's life. When his eyes spiritually were opened, his eyes naturally were blinded, and you can use that as a metaphor. The using of natural eyes religiously too strongly may be just the indication of how blind we are, and it may be that, when those natural eyes religiously are blinded, we will see something, and not until they are do we see something. For a lot of people, the thing that is in the way of their real seeing is that they see too much and see in the wrong way. They are seeing with natural senses, natural faculties of reason and intellect and learning, and all that is in the way. Paul stands to tell us that sometimes, in order really to see, it is necessary to be blinded. Evidently that left its mark upon him, just as the finger of the Lord left its mark upon Jacob, for the rest of his days. He went to Galatia and later wrote the Letter to the Galatians; and you remember he said, "I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me" (4:15); meaning that they noted his affliction, they were aware of that mark which had lasted from the Damascus road, and so felt for him, that if they could have done so, they would have plucked out their very eyes for him. But it is wonderful that the commission which came when he was naturally blinded on the Damascus road was all about eyes. He was blind, and they led him by the hand into Damascus; but the Lord said in that hour, "to whom I send thee to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto God."
Well, all these have their own message for us, but they cover the ground fairly generally in relation to spiritual sight. There are, of course, many details, but we will not seek to search these out at the moment; we will get on with this general consideration.
Spiritual Sight Always a Miracle
When we have covered the whole ground in a general way, we come back to notice one particular and peculiar feature in every case, and that is, that spiritual sight is always a miracle. That fact carries with it the whole significance of the coming into this world of God's Son. The very justification of the coming into this world of the Lord Jesus Christ is found in the Word of God; because it is a settled matter with God Himself that man now is born blind. "I am come a light into the world" (John 12:46); "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5): and that statement, as you know was made right there in that section of John's Gospel where the Lord Jesus is dealing with blindness. "When I am in the world, I am the light of the world", and He illustrates that by dealing with the man born blind.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2)
Spiritual Sight # 1
Read: Numbers 22:31; 24:3-4; Mark 10:46, 51-52; Mark 8:23-25; John 9:1, 7, 25; Ephesians 1:17-18; Revelation 3:18; Acts 26:18.
I think the phrase used by Balaam might very well stand at the head of our present meditation - "the man whose eye is opened."
The Root Malady of Our Time
As we contemplate the state of things in the world today, we are very deeply impressed and oppressed with the prevailing malady of spiritual blindness. It is the root malady of the time. We should not be far wrong if we said that most, if not all, of the troubles from which the world is suffering, are traceable to that root, namely, blindness. The masses are blind; there is no doubt about that. In a day which is supposed to be a day of unequaled enlightenment, the masses are blind. The leaders are blind, blind leaders of the blind. But in a very large measure, the same is true of the Lord's people. Speaking quite generally, Christians are today very blind!
A General Survey of the Ground of Spiritual Blindness
The passages which we have just read cover in a general way a great deal, if not all, of the ground of spiritual blindness. They begin with those who never have seen, those born blind.
Then there are those who have been given vision, but are not seeing very much, nor every clearly - "men as trees walking" - but who come to see yet more perfectly under a further work of grace.
Then there are those who have true and clear sight as far as it goes, but for whom a vast realm of Divine thought and purpose still waits upon a fuller work of the Holy Spirit. "That He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His coming, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe." Those words are addressed to people who have sight, but for whom this great realm of Divine meaning still waits upon their knowing a fuller work of the Holy Spirit in the matter of spiritual sight.
Then, again, there are those who have seen and have followed, but who have lost spiritual sight, of which they were once possessed, and are now blind, but with the most fatal additional factor: they think they see and they are blind to their own blindness. That was the tragedy of Laodicea.
Further, there are those two classed represented by Balaam and Saul of Tarsus, from whom we have quoted. Balaam, blinded by gain, or the prospect of gain. That is, I think, what is meant in the New Testament by following in the way of Balaam; being taken up so much with the question of gain and loss as to be blind to the great thoughts of God and purpose of God, not seeing the Lord Himself in the way, and by his blindness coming very near to being smitten down on the road. The statement is quite definite there. Balaam did not see the Lord until the Lord opened his eyes, and then he saw the Lord. "The angel of the Lord": that is the way which it is put. I have not must doubt but that it is the Lord Himself. Then he saw. Later he made that double statement about the matter - "the man whose eye is opened," "falling down and having his eyes open." Such is Balaam, a man blinded by considerations of a personal character, of a personal nature, how things would affect him. That is what it amounts to. And what a blinding thing that is where spiritual matters are concerned. If ever you or I pause on that question, we are in very grave peril. If ever for a moment we allow ourselves to be influenced y such questions as, how will this affect me, what will this cost me, what do I stand to get out of this or to lose by this? That is a moment when darkness may very well take possession of our hearts and we go in the way of Balaam.
Then, on the other hand, we have Saul of Tarsus. There is no doubt about his blindness; but his was the blindness of his very religious zeal, his zeal for God, his zeal for tradition, his zeal for historic religion, his zeal for the established and accepted thing in the religious world. It was a blind zeal about which afterward he had to say, "I verily thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). "I thought I ought." What a tremendous turn round it was when he discovered that the things which he thought, and passionately thought he ought to do, in order to please God and to satisfy his own conscience, were utterly and diametrically opposed to God and the way of right and truth. What blindness! Surely he stands as an abiding warning to us all that zeal for anything is not necessarily a proof that the thing is right, and that we are on on right road. Our very zeal as a thing in itself may be a blinding thing, our devotion to tradition may be our blindness.
I think eyes have a very large place in Paul's life. When his eyes spiritually were opened, his eyes naturally were blinded, and you can use that as a metaphor. The using of natural eyes religiously too strongly may be just the indication of how blind we are, and it may be that, when those natural eyes religiously are blinded, we will see something, and not until they are do we see something. For a lot of people, the thing that is in the way of their real seeing is that they see too much and see in the wrong way. They are seeing with natural senses, natural faculties of reason and intellect and learning, and all that is in the way. Paul stands to tell us that sometimes, in order really to see, it is necessary to be blinded. Evidently that left its mark upon him, just as the finger of the Lord left its mark upon Jacob, for the rest of his days. He went to Galatia and later wrote the Letter to the Galatians; and you remember he said, "I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me" (4:15); meaning that they noted his affliction, they were aware of that mark which had lasted from the Damascus road, and so felt for him, that if they could have done so, they would have plucked out their very eyes for him. But it is wonderful that the commission which came when he was naturally blinded on the Damascus road was all about eyes. He was blind, and they led him by the hand into Damascus; but the Lord said in that hour, "to whom I send thee to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto God."
Well, all these have their own message for us, but they cover the ground fairly generally in relation to spiritual sight. There are, of course, many details, but we will not seek to search these out at the moment; we will get on with this general consideration.
Spiritual Sight Always a Miracle
When we have covered the whole ground in a general way, we come back to notice one particular and peculiar feature in every case, and that is, that spiritual sight is always a miracle. That fact carries with it the whole significance of the coming into this world of God's Son. The very justification of the coming into this world of the Lord Jesus Christ is found in the Word of God; because it is a settled matter with God Himself that man now is born blind. "I am come a light into the world" (John 12:46); "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5): and that statement, as you know was made right there in that section of John's Gospel where the Lord Jesus is dealing with blindness. "When I am in the world, I am the light of the world", and He illustrates that by dealing with the man born blind.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2)
Ingratitude to God - A Heinous Iniquity # 1
Ingratitude to God - A Heinous Iniquity # 1
"Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem" ( 2 Chron. 32:25).
Among the many vices that are at once universally decried, and universally practiced in the world - there is none more base or more common than INGRATITUDE; ingratitude towards the supreme Benefactor.Ingratitude is the sin of individuals, of families, or churches, or kingdoms, and even of all mankind. The guilt of ingratitude lies heavy upon the whole race of men, though. alas! but few of them feel and lament it.
If the plague of an ungrateful heart must cleave to us while i this world of sin and imperfection, let us at least lament it; let us bear witness against it; let us condemn ourselves for it; and let us do all we can to suppress it in ourselves. I feel myself, exasperated, and full of indignation against it, and against myself, as guilty of it. And in the bitterness of my spirit, I shall endeavor to expose it to your view in its proper infernal colors - as an object of horror and indignation. None of us can flatter ourselves that we are in little or no danger of this sin, when even so good and great a man as Hezekiah did not escape the infection. "Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem."
Many had been the blessings and deliverances of this good man's life. The Assyrians had overrun a great part of the country, and intended to lay siege to Jerusalem. Their haughty monarch who had grown insolent with success, sent Hezekiah a blasphemous letter, to intimidate him and his people. He profanely bullies and defies Hezekiah and his God together; and Rabshakeh, his messenger, comments upon his master's letter in the same style of impiety and insolence. But here observe the signal efficacy of prayer! Hezekiah, Isaiah, and no doubt many other pious people among the Jews, made their prayer to the God of Israel; and, as it were, complained to him of the threatenings and profane blasphemy of the Assyrian monarch. Jehovah hears, and works a miraculous deliverance for them. "That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops" (2 Kings 19:35).
Sennacherib, with the thin remains of his army, fled home inglorious; and his two sons assassinated him at an idolatrous altar. Thus Jerusalem was freed from danger, and the country rescued from slavery and the ravages of war. Nay, we find from history, that this dreadful blow proved fatal in the outcome of the Assyrian monarchy, which had oppressed the world so long; for upon this the Medes, and afterwards other nations, threw off their submission;and the empire fell to pieces. Certainly so illustrious a deliverance as this, wrought immediately by the divine hand - was a sufficient reason for ardent gratitude!
Another deliverance followed this. Hezekiah was sick unto death; that is, his sickness was in its own nature mortal, and would have been unto death - had it not been for the miraculous interposition of Providence. But, upon his prayer to God, he recovered, and fifteen years added to his life. This also was great cause of gratitude. And we find it had this effect upon him, while the sense of deliverance was fresh upon his mind; for in his thankful song upon his recovery, we find these grateful strains: "Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next. Think of it - the LORD has healed me! I will sing His praises with instruments every day of my life in the temple of the Lord!" (Isaiah 38:19-20).
But, alas! those grateful impressions wore off in some time; and pride, that uncreaturely temper, began to rise. He began to think himself the favorite of heaven, in some degree, on account of his own personal goodness. He indulged his vanity in ostentatiously exposing his treasures to the Babylonian messengers; which was the instance of selfish pride and ingratitude which here seems particularly referred to. This pride and ingratitude passed not without evidences of the divine indignation; for we are told, "Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord"s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem."
As the crime was not peculiar to him - so neither is the punishment. Nations and individuals have suffered in this manner from age to age; and under the guilt of it we and our country are now languishing. In order to make you the more sensible of your ingratitude towards your divine Benefactor, I shall give you a brief view of his mercies towards you, and expose the aggravated baseness of ingratitude under the reception of so many mercies!
Mercy has poured in upon you upon all sides, and followed you from the first commencement of your existence; rich,various, free, repeated, uninterrupted mercy! The blessing of a body wonderfully and fearfully made, complete in all its parts. The blessings of a rational, immortal soul, preserved in the exercise of sound reason for so many years, amide all those accidents that have shattered it in others, and capable of the exalted pleasure of religion, and the everlasting enjoyment of the blessed God, the Supreme Good! The blessing of a large and spacious world, prepared and furnished for our accommodation; illuminated with an illustrious sun, and the many luminaries of the sky! The earth enriched and adorned with trees, vegetables, various sorts of grain, and animals, for our support or convenience! The sea, a medium of extensive trade, and an inexhaustible store of fish! The blessing of the early care of parents and friends, to provide for us in the helpless days of infancy, and direct or restrain us in the giddy, precipitant years of youth! The blessing of being born in the mature age of the world, when the improvements of civilization are carried to so high a degree of perfection!
The blessing of being born in a humanized, civilized country, the blessing of a good education, the blessing of good health for most, the blessing of clothing, of rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, of summer and winter, of seed time and harvest, the refreshing repose of sleep, and the activity and enjoyment of our waking hours! The blessing of a refined society! Blessings in every age of life; in infancy, in youth, in adult age, and in the decays of old age!
In short, blessings as numerous as our moments, as long continued as our lives. We must own we are not left destitute of blessings from God! Therefore, let God be acknowledged the supreme, the original Benefactor of the world, and the proper Author of all our blessings! Let God stand as the acknowledged Benefactor of the universe - to inflame the gratitude of all to Him.
You children of God, his peculiar favorites, whose hearts are capable of, and do actually feel some generous sensations of gratitude; what do you think of your conduct towards such a Benefactor? I speak particularly to you, because you are most likely to feel what I say. Have you rendered back to your God, according to the divine benefits done to you? Oh! are you not mortified and shocked - to reflect upon your ingratitude, your sordid, monstrous ingratitude! Do you not abhor yourselves because you were capable of such base conduct? From you I expect such a generous response. But, as to others, they are dead in transgressions and sins, dead toward God - and therefore it is no wonder if they are dead to all penitential sincere relentings for their ingratitude.
~Samuel Davies~
(continued with # 2)
"Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem" ( 2 Chron. 32:25).
Among the many vices that are at once universally decried, and universally practiced in the world - there is none more base or more common than INGRATITUDE; ingratitude towards the supreme Benefactor.Ingratitude is the sin of individuals, of families, or churches, or kingdoms, and even of all mankind. The guilt of ingratitude lies heavy upon the whole race of men, though. alas! but few of them feel and lament it.
If the plague of an ungrateful heart must cleave to us while i this world of sin and imperfection, let us at least lament it; let us bear witness against it; let us condemn ourselves for it; and let us do all we can to suppress it in ourselves. I feel myself, exasperated, and full of indignation against it, and against myself, as guilty of it. And in the bitterness of my spirit, I shall endeavor to expose it to your view in its proper infernal colors - as an object of horror and indignation. None of us can flatter ourselves that we are in little or no danger of this sin, when even so good and great a man as Hezekiah did not escape the infection. "Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem."
Many had been the blessings and deliverances of this good man's life. The Assyrians had overrun a great part of the country, and intended to lay siege to Jerusalem. Their haughty monarch who had grown insolent with success, sent Hezekiah a blasphemous letter, to intimidate him and his people. He profanely bullies and defies Hezekiah and his God together; and Rabshakeh, his messenger, comments upon his master's letter in the same style of impiety and insolence. But here observe the signal efficacy of prayer! Hezekiah, Isaiah, and no doubt many other pious people among the Jews, made their prayer to the God of Israel; and, as it were, complained to him of the threatenings and profane blasphemy of the Assyrian monarch. Jehovah hears, and works a miraculous deliverance for them. "That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops" (2 Kings 19:35).
Sennacherib, with the thin remains of his army, fled home inglorious; and his two sons assassinated him at an idolatrous altar. Thus Jerusalem was freed from danger, and the country rescued from slavery and the ravages of war. Nay, we find from history, that this dreadful blow proved fatal in the outcome of the Assyrian monarchy, which had oppressed the world so long; for upon this the Medes, and afterwards other nations, threw off their submission;and the empire fell to pieces. Certainly so illustrious a deliverance as this, wrought immediately by the divine hand - was a sufficient reason for ardent gratitude!
Another deliverance followed this. Hezekiah was sick unto death; that is, his sickness was in its own nature mortal, and would have been unto death - had it not been for the miraculous interposition of Providence. But, upon his prayer to God, he recovered, and fifteen years added to his life. This also was great cause of gratitude. And we find it had this effect upon him, while the sense of deliverance was fresh upon his mind; for in his thankful song upon his recovery, we find these grateful strains: "Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next. Think of it - the LORD has healed me! I will sing His praises with instruments every day of my life in the temple of the Lord!" (Isaiah 38:19-20).
But, alas! those grateful impressions wore off in some time; and pride, that uncreaturely temper, began to rise. He began to think himself the favorite of heaven, in some degree, on account of his own personal goodness. He indulged his vanity in ostentatiously exposing his treasures to the Babylonian messengers; which was the instance of selfish pride and ingratitude which here seems particularly referred to. This pride and ingratitude passed not without evidences of the divine indignation; for we are told, "Hezekiah's heart was proud - and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord"s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem."
As the crime was not peculiar to him - so neither is the punishment. Nations and individuals have suffered in this manner from age to age; and under the guilt of it we and our country are now languishing. In order to make you the more sensible of your ingratitude towards your divine Benefactor, I shall give you a brief view of his mercies towards you, and expose the aggravated baseness of ingratitude under the reception of so many mercies!
Mercy has poured in upon you upon all sides, and followed you from the first commencement of your existence; rich,various, free, repeated, uninterrupted mercy! The blessing of a body wonderfully and fearfully made, complete in all its parts. The blessings of a rational, immortal soul, preserved in the exercise of sound reason for so many years, amide all those accidents that have shattered it in others, and capable of the exalted pleasure of religion, and the everlasting enjoyment of the blessed God, the Supreme Good! The blessing of a large and spacious world, prepared and furnished for our accommodation; illuminated with an illustrious sun, and the many luminaries of the sky! The earth enriched and adorned with trees, vegetables, various sorts of grain, and animals, for our support or convenience! The sea, a medium of extensive trade, and an inexhaustible store of fish! The blessing of the early care of parents and friends, to provide for us in the helpless days of infancy, and direct or restrain us in the giddy, precipitant years of youth! The blessing of being born in the mature age of the world, when the improvements of civilization are carried to so high a degree of perfection!
The blessing of being born in a humanized, civilized country, the blessing of a good education, the blessing of good health for most, the blessing of clothing, of rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, of summer and winter, of seed time and harvest, the refreshing repose of sleep, and the activity and enjoyment of our waking hours! The blessing of a refined society! Blessings in every age of life; in infancy, in youth, in adult age, and in the decays of old age!
In short, blessings as numerous as our moments, as long continued as our lives. We must own we are not left destitute of blessings from God! Therefore, let God be acknowledged the supreme, the original Benefactor of the world, and the proper Author of all our blessings! Let God stand as the acknowledged Benefactor of the universe - to inflame the gratitude of all to Him.
You children of God, his peculiar favorites, whose hearts are capable of, and do actually feel some generous sensations of gratitude; what do you think of your conduct towards such a Benefactor? I speak particularly to you, because you are most likely to feel what I say. Have you rendered back to your God, according to the divine benefits done to you? Oh! are you not mortified and shocked - to reflect upon your ingratitude, your sordid, monstrous ingratitude! Do you not abhor yourselves because you were capable of such base conduct? From you I expect such a generous response. But, as to others, they are dead in transgressions and sins, dead toward God - and therefore it is no wonder if they are dead to all penitential sincere relentings for their ingratitude.
~Samuel Davies~
(continued with # 2)
The Justice of God - And The Sins Of Our Country
The Justice of God And The Sins Of Our Country
"When disaster comes to a city - has not the LORD caused it?" (Amos 3:6).
It concerns you all seriously to reflect upon your own sins, and the sins of your land - which have brought all these calamities upon us. If you believe that God governs the world, if you do not abjure Him from being the Ruler of all - then you must acknowledge that all the calamities of war, and the threatening appearances of famine - are ordered by providence! And if you believe that He is a just and righteous ruler, you must also believe that He would not thus punish a righteous or a penitent people.
We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners! God proclaims that we are such by His judgments now upon us. Our consciences must also bear witness to the same melancholy truth.And if my heart were properly affected, I would concur with these undoubted witnesses; I would cry and not spare; I would lift up my voice like a trumpet - to show you your transgressions and your sins.
O my country, is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities infinite? Where is there a more sinful spot to be found upon our guilty globe? Pass over the land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct - and what do you see? What do you hear?
You see the gigantic forms of vice bidding defiance to the God of heaven - while true religion and virtue are obligated to retire, to avoid public contempt an insult!
You see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all the morality within them!
You hear the swearer venting his fury against God - trifling with that Name which prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest devil in hell trembles and groans!
You see AVARICE hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest craft planning her schemes of unlawful gain, and oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the poor!
You see prodigality squandering her stores! You see luxury spreading her table!
You see vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth, regardless of God, of time and eternity!
You see sensuality wallowing in carnal pleasures, and aspiring, with perverted ambition - to sink as low as her four-footed brethren in the stalls!
You see cards more in use than the Bible; the backgammon table more frequented than the table of the Lord; novels and romances more read - than the history of the blessed Jesus!
You see trifling and even evil diversions and amusements, become a gigantic business! You see the outcome of a horse race or a dogfight more anxiously attended to, than the concerns of eternity!
And where these grosser forms of vice do no shock your senses - even there you often meet with the appearance of more refined impiety, which is equally dangerous!
You hear the conversation of reasonable creatures, of candidates for eternity - engrossed by trifles, or vainly wasted on the affairs of time! There are their important subjects of conversation, even at the threshold of the house of God!
You see swarms of prayerless families all over our land! You see ignorant, wicked children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and has entrusted their souls!
You see the holy religion of Jesus - abused, neglected, disobeyed, and dishonored by its professors!
You see and hear infidelity scattering her ambiguous hints and suspicions; or openly attacking the Christian cause with pretended argument, with insult and ridicule!
You see crowds of professed believers, who are in reality, practical atheists! These nominal Christians are really unholy heathens! They are abandoned slaves of sin - who yet pretend to be the servants of the holy Jesus!
You see the ordinances of the gospel neglected by some, profaned by others, and attended upon by the generality with a trifling irreverence, and studied unconcerned. Alas! who would think that those thoughtless assemblies we often see in our places of worship - have met for such solemn purposes as to implore the pardon of their sins from an injured God, and to prepare for an all-important eternity?
Alas! Has that religion,for the propagation of which, the Son of God labored, and bled, and died; has that religion, for which His apostles and thousands of martyrs have spent their strength, and shed their blood; has that religion, on which our eternal life depends - has that religion become such a trifle in our days - that men are hardly serious and in earnest when they attend upon its most solemn services?
So few are concerned what shall become of them - when all their connections with earth and flesh must be broken, and they must take their flight into strange, unknown regions! So few lamenting their sins! So few crying for mercy and a new heart! So few flying to Jesus, or even sensible of the importance of a Mediator, in a religion for sinners!
You may indeed see some degree of civility and benevolence towards men, and more than enough of cringing complaisance of worms to worms - of clay to clay - of guilt to guilt. But oh! how little sincere homage, how little affectionate veneration for the great Lord of heaven and earth! You may see something of duty to parents, of gratitude to benefactors, and obedience to superiors - but if God is a Father - then where is His honor? If He is a Master - then where is His fear? If He is our Benefactor - then where is our gratitude to Him?
You may see here and there some instances of proud, self-righteous virtue, some appearances of morality: but oh! how rare is vital, evangelical religion, and true Christian morality, animated with the love of God, proceeding from a new heart, and a regard to the divine authority; full of Jesus, full of regard to Him as a Mediator, on whose account alone - our duties can find acceptance!
~Samuel Davies~
(continued with # 2)
"When disaster comes to a city - has not the LORD caused it?" (Amos 3:6).
It concerns you all seriously to reflect upon your own sins, and the sins of your land - which have brought all these calamities upon us. If you believe that God governs the world, if you do not abjure Him from being the Ruler of all - then you must acknowledge that all the calamities of war, and the threatening appearances of famine - are ordered by providence! And if you believe that He is a just and righteous ruler, you must also believe that He would not thus punish a righteous or a penitent people.
We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners! God proclaims that we are such by His judgments now upon us. Our consciences must also bear witness to the same melancholy truth.And if my heart were properly affected, I would concur with these undoubted witnesses; I would cry and not spare; I would lift up my voice like a trumpet - to show you your transgressions and your sins.
O my country, is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities infinite? Where is there a more sinful spot to be found upon our guilty globe? Pass over the land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct - and what do you see? What do you hear?
You see the gigantic forms of vice bidding defiance to the God of heaven - while true religion and virtue are obligated to retire, to avoid public contempt an insult!
You see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all the morality within them!
You hear the swearer venting his fury against God - trifling with that Name which prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest devil in hell trembles and groans!
You see AVARICE hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest craft planning her schemes of unlawful gain, and oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the poor!
You see prodigality squandering her stores! You see luxury spreading her table!
You see vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth, regardless of God, of time and eternity!
You see sensuality wallowing in carnal pleasures, and aspiring, with perverted ambition - to sink as low as her four-footed brethren in the stalls!
You see cards more in use than the Bible; the backgammon table more frequented than the table of the Lord; novels and romances more read - than the history of the blessed Jesus!
You see trifling and even evil diversions and amusements, become a gigantic business! You see the outcome of a horse race or a dogfight more anxiously attended to, than the concerns of eternity!
And where these grosser forms of vice do no shock your senses - even there you often meet with the appearance of more refined impiety, which is equally dangerous!
You hear the conversation of reasonable creatures, of candidates for eternity - engrossed by trifles, or vainly wasted on the affairs of time! There are their important subjects of conversation, even at the threshold of the house of God!
You see swarms of prayerless families all over our land! You see ignorant, wicked children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and has entrusted their souls!
You see the holy religion of Jesus - abused, neglected, disobeyed, and dishonored by its professors!
You see and hear infidelity scattering her ambiguous hints and suspicions; or openly attacking the Christian cause with pretended argument, with insult and ridicule!
You see crowds of professed believers, who are in reality, practical atheists! These nominal Christians are really unholy heathens! They are abandoned slaves of sin - who yet pretend to be the servants of the holy Jesus!
You see the ordinances of the gospel neglected by some, profaned by others, and attended upon by the generality with a trifling irreverence, and studied unconcerned. Alas! who would think that those thoughtless assemblies we often see in our places of worship - have met for such solemn purposes as to implore the pardon of their sins from an injured God, and to prepare for an all-important eternity?
Alas! Has that religion,for the propagation of which, the Son of God labored, and bled, and died; has that religion, for which His apostles and thousands of martyrs have spent their strength, and shed their blood; has that religion, on which our eternal life depends - has that religion become such a trifle in our days - that men are hardly serious and in earnest when they attend upon its most solemn services?
So few are concerned what shall become of them - when all their connections with earth and flesh must be broken, and they must take their flight into strange, unknown regions! So few lamenting their sins! So few crying for mercy and a new heart! So few flying to Jesus, or even sensible of the importance of a Mediator, in a religion for sinners!
You may indeed see some degree of civility and benevolence towards men, and more than enough of cringing complaisance of worms to worms - of clay to clay - of guilt to guilt. But oh! how little sincere homage, how little affectionate veneration for the great Lord of heaven and earth! You may see something of duty to parents, of gratitude to benefactors, and obedience to superiors - but if God is a Father - then where is His honor? If He is a Master - then where is His fear? If He is our Benefactor - then where is our gratitude to Him?
You may see here and there some instances of proud, self-righteous virtue, some appearances of morality: but oh! how rare is vital, evangelical religion, and true Christian morality, animated with the love of God, proceeding from a new heart, and a regard to the divine authority; full of Jesus, full of regard to Him as a Mediator, on whose account alone - our duties can find acceptance!
~Samuel Davies~
(continued with # 2)
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