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Saturday, April 27, 2019
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
The Importance of Dogma # 1
The Importance of Dogma # 1
The word which forms the title of this paper requires some explanation and definition. What are we to understand by "dogma"? Before we go a step further, let us see clearly what "dogma" means.
"Dogma", says Garbett, "is to be distinguished from dogmatism. Dogma is a word that simply means a definite ascertained truth, which is no longer the subject of inquiry, simply because inquiry has ended, and the result has been accepted. Wherever there is any fixed ascertained truth whatever, there must be dogma. If there is no dogma - then there is no known truth."
"Dogma," says Dean Hook in his Church Dictionary, "is a word used originally to express any doctrine of religion formally stated. Dogmatic theology is the statement of positive truths in religion."
To these definitions I shall only add one more remark, by way of caution. We must never forget that there is a wide difference between dogma and science - and dogma in religion. In religion, to be dogmatic is often a positive duty; in science, it is often sheer presumption. In the study of natural science, on the one hand, we have no inspired book to guide us. We have no revelation from Heaven to teach us about biology, or chemistry, or astronomy, or geology. We can only attain conclusions in these subjects by careful observation of phenomena, by patient investigation and induction of facts, or by a diligent use of such helps as the microscope and telescope afford. Even then, our conclusions are often very imperfect, and we ought to be modest in our assertions, and to beware of overmuch positiveness.
"The highest wisdom in many matters of science," said Faraday, "is to keep ourselves in a state of judicious suspense." "All human knowledge is but fragmentary. All of us who call ourselves students of nature possess only portions of natural science." To be always dogmatic in natural science, is a mark of a shallow and conceited mind.
In religion, on the contrary, we start with an infallible Bible to guide us. Our only business is to ascertain the meaning of that Bible. When it speaks plainly, clearly, and unmistakably upon any point - then we have a perfect right to form positive and decided conclusions, and to speak positively and decidedly. Dogmatic language in such cases is not only not presumption, but a downright duty - and not to be positive when God has spoken positively, is a symptom of ignorance, timidity, or unbelief!
The subject I am going to take up, my readers will now understand, is the importance of holding distinct and systematic theological views - and of making positive statements of doctrine in teaching and dispensing God's Word. With the Bible in a minister's hands - there ought to be nothing faltering, hesitating, and indefinite in his exhibition of the things necessary to salvation. He must not shrink from making strong assertions, and drawing sharply-cut and well-developed conclusions. He must not hesitate to say, "This is certainly true - and you ought to believe it! This other teaching is certainly false - and you ought to refuse it! This is right - and you ought to do it. That is wrong - and you ought not to do it."
It is the duty of ministers to speak like men who have quite made up their minds, who have grappled with Pilate's question: "What is truth?" and are prepared to give the question an unhesitating answer. In short, if men mean to be faithful ministers of the New Testament, they must hold and teach "dogma." And of all Christian ministers, there are none, I am convinced, who ought to be so distinct and decided in their statement of dogma as the ministers of the Church of England.
The subject, I venture to think, is one of vast importance in the present day, and it needs to be pressed on the attention both of clergymen and laymen. But the subject is a very wide and deep one, and can only be touched lightly in a short paper like this. I shall therefore limit myself with laying down two general propositions, and offering a few remarks upon each of them.
The object of my first proposition will be to prove the peculiar importance of dogma in these days.
The object of my second will be to show the great encouragements there are to hold and teach dogma.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
The word which forms the title of this paper requires some explanation and definition. What are we to understand by "dogma"? Before we go a step further, let us see clearly what "dogma" means.
"Dogma", says Garbett, "is to be distinguished from dogmatism. Dogma is a word that simply means a definite ascertained truth, which is no longer the subject of inquiry, simply because inquiry has ended, and the result has been accepted. Wherever there is any fixed ascertained truth whatever, there must be dogma. If there is no dogma - then there is no known truth."
"Dogma," says Dean Hook in his Church Dictionary, "is a word used originally to express any doctrine of religion formally stated. Dogmatic theology is the statement of positive truths in religion."
To these definitions I shall only add one more remark, by way of caution. We must never forget that there is a wide difference between dogma and science - and dogma in religion. In religion, to be dogmatic is often a positive duty; in science, it is often sheer presumption. In the study of natural science, on the one hand, we have no inspired book to guide us. We have no revelation from Heaven to teach us about biology, or chemistry, or astronomy, or geology. We can only attain conclusions in these subjects by careful observation of phenomena, by patient investigation and induction of facts, or by a diligent use of such helps as the microscope and telescope afford. Even then, our conclusions are often very imperfect, and we ought to be modest in our assertions, and to beware of overmuch positiveness.
"The highest wisdom in many matters of science," said Faraday, "is to keep ourselves in a state of judicious suspense." "All human knowledge is but fragmentary. All of us who call ourselves students of nature possess only portions of natural science." To be always dogmatic in natural science, is a mark of a shallow and conceited mind.
In religion, on the contrary, we start with an infallible Bible to guide us. Our only business is to ascertain the meaning of that Bible. When it speaks plainly, clearly, and unmistakably upon any point - then we have a perfect right to form positive and decided conclusions, and to speak positively and decidedly. Dogmatic language in such cases is not only not presumption, but a downright duty - and not to be positive when God has spoken positively, is a symptom of ignorance, timidity, or unbelief!
The subject I am going to take up, my readers will now understand, is the importance of holding distinct and systematic theological views - and of making positive statements of doctrine in teaching and dispensing God's Word. With the Bible in a minister's hands - there ought to be nothing faltering, hesitating, and indefinite in his exhibition of the things necessary to salvation. He must not shrink from making strong assertions, and drawing sharply-cut and well-developed conclusions. He must not hesitate to say, "This is certainly true - and you ought to believe it! This other teaching is certainly false - and you ought to refuse it! This is right - and you ought to do it. That is wrong - and you ought not to do it."
It is the duty of ministers to speak like men who have quite made up their minds, who have grappled with Pilate's question: "What is truth?" and are prepared to give the question an unhesitating answer. In short, if men mean to be faithful ministers of the New Testament, they must hold and teach "dogma." And of all Christian ministers, there are none, I am convinced, who ought to be so distinct and decided in their statement of dogma as the ministers of the Church of England.
The subject, I venture to think, is one of vast importance in the present day, and it needs to be pressed on the attention both of clergymen and laymen. But the subject is a very wide and deep one, and can only be touched lightly in a short paper like this. I shall therefore limit myself with laying down two general propositions, and offering a few remarks upon each of them.
The object of my first proposition will be to prove the peculiar importance of dogma in these days.
The object of my second will be to show the great encouragements there are to hold and teach dogma.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
"So shall we ever be with the LORD" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Nearest and Dearest Fellowship
"So shall we ever be with the LORD" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
While we are here the LORD is with us, and when we are called away we are with Him. There is no dividing the saint from His Savior. They are one, and they always must be one: Jesus cannot be without His own people, for He would be a Head without a body. Whether caught up into the air, or resting in paradise, or sojourning here, we are with Jesus; and who shall separate us from Him? What a joy is this! Our supreme honor, rest, comfort, delight, is to be with the LORD. We cannot conceive of anything which can surpass or even equal this divine society. By holy fellowship we must be with Him in His humiliation, rejection, and travail, and then we shall be with Him in His glory. Before long we shall be with Him in His rest and in His royalty, in His expectation and in His manifestation. We shall fare as He fares and triumph as He triumphs. O my LORD, if I am to be forever with Thee, I have a destiny incomparable. I will not envy an archangel. To be forever with the LORD is my idea of heaven at its best. Not the harps of gold, nor the crowns unfading, nor the light unclouded is glory to me; but Jesus, Jesus Himself, and myself forever with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship.
~Charles Haddon Spurgeon~
_____________________________
Spending Our Inheritance
The word “inheritance” usually brings to mind the money and real estate handed down from one generation to another. But God has an even greater legacy to share with His children—one that they are given the moment they enter His family.
Galatians 4:7 tells us that believers are God’s heirs. First among our priceless treasures is a living hope in Jesus Christthat cannot be taken away (1 Peter 1:3). What’s more, He pledged to supply our needs according to His riches (Phil 4:19). In other words, we already have all that we need for an abundant and victorious life.
However, some folks get stuck in spiritual poverty because they refuse to view themselves as adopted children. Failing to tap into their inheritance, they’re like a man who sees himself as a poor, sinful creature: he wanders through this big angry world hoping to hold on to his meager scrap of faith until he’s lucky enough to die and go to heaven. Of course that man misses the blessings available in this life, because he’s not looking for them.
How differently people see themselves when they look through the eyes of Jesus. Christians who live like the beloved, empowered heirs that they are will lavishly spend their inheritance of grace to benefit everyone they meet.
God gives all believers a pledge of inheritance out of the unsurpassed riches of His infinite grace. We are spiritually rich citizens of heaven who have nothing to fear in this world. Choose to live boldly for Christ, and see how abundantly God pours out blessing from the legacy already set aside for you.
~Charles F. Stanley~
______________________________
It is not a Sunday religion, but a week-day lifestyle!
(J.R. Miller, "What Is a Christian Life?")
A great many people seem to misunderstand Christianity and the Christian life.
In some cases, no more is implied than intellectual belief of the doctrines of Christianity. Some people seem to think that a Christian is one who is "sound in the faith"--although the personal character may be very faulty, and there may be no practical application of the principles of the gospel to the conduct. Pride, bitterness, selfishness, malice, dishonesty, and harshness may abound. But because the person believes the facts of the gospel, he considers himself to be a Christian man.
A Christian life is a regenerated life. Thus the teaching of the Scriptures is that a true Christian life is one that has come under new influences, a new life, a divine principle--entering the heart and changing all within and then without. It is the Spirit entering into him and influencing his whole life.
In a true Christian life, the beliefs in the heart manifest themselves, in greater or lesser measure--in the conductand the character. Thus it is character which is the true and final test of religion. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." These are the things that manifest one to be a Christian. Not those who say, "Lord, Lord"--but those who "obey His commandments," shall enter into Heaven.
Men talk about holiness and pray for it, as if it were something entirely apart from their everyday life--something that has nothing whatever to do with their conduct in their domestic, social and business relations. But holiness is not a mere sentiment--it is the most real and practical thing in this world! If being holy means anything at all, it means being true, honest, upright, noble, pure, gentle, patient, unselfish. Holiness is not only church-going and hymn-singing--it is life and conduct. It is not a Sunday religion, but a week-day lifestyle. We really have no more religion than we get into our everyday life--at home, in business, in all our conduct. We are Christians only so far as the Christ living in us, is manifested in a Christlike life.
(J.R. Miller, "What Is a Christian Life?")
A great many people seem to misunderstand Christianity and the Christian life.
In some cases, no more is implied than intellectual belief of the doctrines of Christianity. Some people seem to think that a Christian is one who is "sound in the faith"--although the personal character may be very faulty, and there may be no practical application of the principles of the gospel to the conduct. Pride, bitterness, selfishness, malice, dishonesty, and harshness may abound. But because the person believes the facts of the gospel, he considers himself to be a Christian man.
A Christian life is a regenerated life. Thus the teaching of the Scriptures is that a true Christian life is one that has come under new influences, a new life, a divine principle--entering the heart and changing all within and then without. It is the Spirit entering into him and influencing his whole life.
In a true Christian life, the beliefs in the heart manifest themselves, in greater or lesser measure--in the conductand the character. Thus it is character which is the true and final test of religion. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." These are the things that manifest one to be a Christian. Not those who say, "Lord, Lord"--but those who "obey His commandments," shall enter into Heaven.
Men talk about holiness and pray for it, as if it were something entirely apart from their everyday life--something that has nothing whatever to do with their conduct in their domestic, social and business relations. But holiness is not a mere sentiment--it is the most real and practical thing in this world! If being holy means anything at all, it means being true, honest, upright, noble, pure, gentle, patient, unselfish. Holiness is not only church-going and hymn-singing--it is life and conduct. It is not a Sunday religion, but a week-day lifestyle. We really have no more religion than we get into our everyday life--at home, in business, in all our conduct. We are Christians only so far as the Christ living in us, is manifested in a Christlike life.
The Puritan Vision of God # 4
The Puritan Vision of God # 4
Furthermore, the prisoner on Patmos would say to us, "Listen, God is speaking to you. Hear what he says! "Not a little of the mischief of our age has been caused by the growth of what is known as Agnosticism, a long and high-sounding word for unbelief.
It may be doubted whether there have ever been any genuine atheists on the earth, men who have denied the existence of Deity altogether. Even Lucretius, the Roman poet, believed in a Deity who was far removed from all that goes on in the world, hidden somewhere in the inexhaustible depths of space. The human mind in every age has felt that there must be something, be it law or force or principle or energy or fate or destiny or mind, by which the universe came into being, and according to which it moves. But all men are practically atheists who deny that God can speak, and that He does speak to the human heart. To say that one does not know whether God speaks or not is to cut away the ground upon which the world's strongest characters have been built. "Out of the throne," says John, "there comes a voice. Listen to it." And if you listen you will hear it telling you to pray.
There is divine wisdom in the poet's lines:
"Speak to Him thou for He hears, and
Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer
Than hands and feet."
"Look up, listen, work." Work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work.
Work, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Work, in order that at the end of the day you may hear the King saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
What did the Puritans give to the world? Certainly not pictures, nor statues, nor philosophy, nor metaphysics.They were not artists, scientists or architects or sages; they were nothing but heroes who gave the world a new impulse toward God. They were ahead of us because they are nearer to the throne. With all our knowledge and acumen and attainments and accumulations we stand abashed before these men, acknowledging that they are indeed above us, and the radiance of the throne is on their foreheads.
This then is the greatest work which any man can do, which any set or society of men can do, which any state or any church can do, it is to blow the dust off the ideal, to pick up the lowered standards and lift them higher, to unveil the face of virtue that men may see her in her loveliness, to adorn the doctrine of the blessed God, to sound a note of warning that men shall not take the downward path, but turn their faces toward God's throne.
If we should ask ourselves what our Puritan forefathers would say to us if they could speak to us tonight, no doubt they would say very simple and elementary things like this: "Better die than live ignobly, better be poor through life than be dishonest, better fail with honor than succeed by means that are unworthy of a man, better leave your boys nothing but an unspotted name than leave them a colossal fortune with a name that has been tarnished." There is no tragedy on earth so terrible as the fading of the luster of an honored name. There is no spectacle so heart-breaking as the spectacle of laurel withered brows that have worn it nobly until their hair is gray. There lies upon this island one of the highest heaps of gold ever amassed by the genius and ingenuity and industry of man. That mass of gold can be an Aaron's rod by means of which miracles shall be wrought for humanity, or it may if wrongly used be a millstone and drown us in the depths of the sea. Let us keep repeating to ourselves the words of Jesus, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Let us ponder the meaning of the sentence, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?" And how in a world like this shall a man keep from losing his soul? Simply by living always within sight of the great white throne!
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(The End)
Furthermore, the prisoner on Patmos would say to us, "Listen, God is speaking to you. Hear what he says! "Not a little of the mischief of our age has been caused by the growth of what is known as Agnosticism, a long and high-sounding word for unbelief.
It may be doubted whether there have ever been any genuine atheists on the earth, men who have denied the existence of Deity altogether. Even Lucretius, the Roman poet, believed in a Deity who was far removed from all that goes on in the world, hidden somewhere in the inexhaustible depths of space. The human mind in every age has felt that there must be something, be it law or force or principle or energy or fate or destiny or mind, by which the universe came into being, and according to which it moves. But all men are practically atheists who deny that God can speak, and that He does speak to the human heart. To say that one does not know whether God speaks or not is to cut away the ground upon which the world's strongest characters have been built. "Out of the throne," says John, "there comes a voice. Listen to it." And if you listen you will hear it telling you to pray.
There is divine wisdom in the poet's lines:
"Speak to Him thou for He hears, and
Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer
Than hands and feet."
"Look up, listen, work." Work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work.
Work, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Work, in order that at the end of the day you may hear the King saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
What did the Puritans give to the world? Certainly not pictures, nor statues, nor philosophy, nor metaphysics.They were not artists, scientists or architects or sages; they were nothing but heroes who gave the world a new impulse toward God. They were ahead of us because they are nearer to the throne. With all our knowledge and acumen and attainments and accumulations we stand abashed before these men, acknowledging that they are indeed above us, and the radiance of the throne is on their foreheads.
This then is the greatest work which any man can do, which any set or society of men can do, which any state or any church can do, it is to blow the dust off the ideal, to pick up the lowered standards and lift them higher, to unveil the face of virtue that men may see her in her loveliness, to adorn the doctrine of the blessed God, to sound a note of warning that men shall not take the downward path, but turn their faces toward God's throne.
If we should ask ourselves what our Puritan forefathers would say to us if they could speak to us tonight, no doubt they would say very simple and elementary things like this: "Better die than live ignobly, better be poor through life than be dishonest, better fail with honor than succeed by means that are unworthy of a man, better leave your boys nothing but an unspotted name than leave them a colossal fortune with a name that has been tarnished." There is no tragedy on earth so terrible as the fading of the luster of an honored name. There is no spectacle so heart-breaking as the spectacle of laurel withered brows that have worn it nobly until their hair is gray. There lies upon this island one of the highest heaps of gold ever amassed by the genius and ingenuity and industry of man. That mass of gold can be an Aaron's rod by means of which miracles shall be wrought for humanity, or it may if wrongly used be a millstone and drown us in the depths of the sea. Let us keep repeating to ourselves the words of Jesus, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Let us ponder the meaning of the sentence, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?" And how in a world like this shall a man keep from losing his soul? Simply by living always within sight of the great white throne!
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(The End)
Saturday, April 13, 2019
The Puritan Vision of God # 3
The Puritan Vision of God # 3
God speaks, He speaks to you, He speaks to everyone. You must therefore prepare yourself to listen. You must train your mind that you may interpret His message. His message is recorded in the Scriptures, and that message you must read and understand and profit by. No priest or king shall read it for you. You must read it for yourself. Therefore you must be educated. It was the conception of the speaking God that built Harvard College and Yale College and all the other Puritan colleges of the world. Every one of our Puritan schools is built on the Puritan vision of the Eternal.
The God Who sits upon the throne is the sovereign of the world. His sway is absolute, His dominion has no end. He is the sovereign Judge. He holds man accountable for his deeds. To Him every soul must give account. "He will judge every one of you after His ways." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and render an account of the deeds done in the body." "And I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God." That was the vision by which Hebrew thought was always haunted. And that was the vision which haunted the Puritan through all his days. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone," said old John Cotton on his death-bed, on the last day of his earthly life. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone. I would speak for a while to the King!"
The outcome of this vision, it is not necessary for us tonight to consider. You know what it was in apostolic history, and you know what it has been in the history of the Puritan world. From this vision there came a courage which has never been surpassed. The Puritans had in them the intrepid temper of Drake and Frobisher and the other sea kings of the sixteenth century, and did not hesitate to cut the cables and push their ships out upon seas whose bounds had not yet been determined. They were not afraid to trample down precedents when precedents were wrong, and burn up customs however ancient if those customs had proved destructive to the soul. There was no enemy however terrible whom they hesitated to fight, there was no suffering however fearful from which they shrank. As the historian Froude says in one of his essays, "They were the only men who in that great age stood up and fought," the only men who dared to strike at the Duke of Alva and resist the tyranny of Philip. When men told William the Silent that his cause was hopeless and tried to induce him to give up, his reply was, "When I took in hand to defend these oppressed Christians I made an alliance with the mightiest of all potentates, the God of Hosts, who is able to save us if He choose." "It is not with us," said one of the founders of New England, "as it is with those whom small things can discourage." The Puritan was heroism incarnate. And along with this splendid courage there was a magnificent hatred of shams and lies.
The Puritans hated mendacity, despised contradictions to duty and to truth. They saw that the throne was white. Because the throne of the Pope was black they hurled their thunderbolts against it. Religion in their day had become an elaborate and embroidered lie, and so they trampled it beneath their indignant feet. They took off the head of a king because he was a liar. And along with this hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood there was a fidelity to duty which never wavered and never failed. The Puritan conscience became a new factor in the progress of the world. The initial note of the new age was struck in Martin Luther's answer to the officials of the Roman church who demanded that he recant. "I can do naught else. Here stand I, God help me. Amen." A new age dawned when those words were spoken. That was the temper of the Puritan everywhere.
Listen to John Knox on his trial for treason saying, "I am demanded of conscience to speak the truth; and therefore the truth I speak, impugn it who so list." They have inscribed those words around the frieze of one of the rooms in the old house in Edinburgh in which the Scotch reformer lived. And along with this fidelity to duty there came a steadfast and unquenchable hope. Like the old Hebrew prophets the Puritans could never be beaten down. In the darkest night, amid the wildest discords, when the storm was at its highest they still kept saying to themselves, "Sometime, somewhere, somehow, His kingdom shall come, and His Name shall be glorious throughout the world."
Is this not the vision we need? We are living in confused and troubled times, when the winds are blowing a hurricane across the lands and the currents are sweeping us onward toward what we do not know. Sin still wears her scarlet and lifts her scepter, and evil in a thousand forms devastates the peoples of the earth. Many a fixed star has been dissipated to mist, and many a hope in these recent days has gone out. In current literature and in the conversation of the aged I detect now and then a tone of weariness and despondency,sometimes sinking into a sigh of hopelessness and despair. Many men have lost hope in their city and in our republic and in the world. Would that we might have a fresh vision of the throne! And if the prisoner on Patmos could speak to us tonight, he would say, "Look up! Look up!" But how difficult it is to look up. You remember John Bunyan's man with the rake. His eyes are fixed upon the ground, for he is raking up sticks and straws, while overhead hangs a golden crown which he never sees. It was hard for men in the sixteenth century to look up when they were raking sticks and straws; immeasurably more difficult is it now when men are raking together diamond dust and bars of gold.
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(continued with # 4)
God speaks, He speaks to you, He speaks to everyone. You must therefore prepare yourself to listen. You must train your mind that you may interpret His message. His message is recorded in the Scriptures, and that message you must read and understand and profit by. No priest or king shall read it for you. You must read it for yourself. Therefore you must be educated. It was the conception of the speaking God that built Harvard College and Yale College and all the other Puritan colleges of the world. Every one of our Puritan schools is built on the Puritan vision of the Eternal.
The God Who sits upon the throne is the sovereign of the world. His sway is absolute, His dominion has no end. He is the sovereign Judge. He holds man accountable for his deeds. To Him every soul must give account. "He will judge every one of you after His ways." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and render an account of the deeds done in the body." "And I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God." That was the vision by which Hebrew thought was always haunted. And that was the vision which haunted the Puritan through all his days. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone," said old John Cotton on his death-bed, on the last day of his earthly life. "Draw the curtains and leave me alone. I would speak for a while to the King!"
The outcome of this vision, it is not necessary for us tonight to consider. You know what it was in apostolic history, and you know what it has been in the history of the Puritan world. From this vision there came a courage which has never been surpassed. The Puritans had in them the intrepid temper of Drake and Frobisher and the other sea kings of the sixteenth century, and did not hesitate to cut the cables and push their ships out upon seas whose bounds had not yet been determined. They were not afraid to trample down precedents when precedents were wrong, and burn up customs however ancient if those customs had proved destructive to the soul. There was no enemy however terrible whom they hesitated to fight, there was no suffering however fearful from which they shrank. As the historian Froude says in one of his essays, "They were the only men who in that great age stood up and fought," the only men who dared to strike at the Duke of Alva and resist the tyranny of Philip. When men told William the Silent that his cause was hopeless and tried to induce him to give up, his reply was, "When I took in hand to defend these oppressed Christians I made an alliance with the mightiest of all potentates, the God of Hosts, who is able to save us if He choose." "It is not with us," said one of the founders of New England, "as it is with those whom small things can discourage." The Puritan was heroism incarnate. And along with this splendid courage there was a magnificent hatred of shams and lies.
The Puritans hated mendacity, despised contradictions to duty and to truth. They saw that the throne was white. Because the throne of the Pope was black they hurled their thunderbolts against it. Religion in their day had become an elaborate and embroidered lie, and so they trampled it beneath their indignant feet. They took off the head of a king because he was a liar. And along with this hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood there was a fidelity to duty which never wavered and never failed. The Puritan conscience became a new factor in the progress of the world. The initial note of the new age was struck in Martin Luther's answer to the officials of the Roman church who demanded that he recant. "I can do naught else. Here stand I, God help me. Amen." A new age dawned when those words were spoken. That was the temper of the Puritan everywhere.
Listen to John Knox on his trial for treason saying, "I am demanded of conscience to speak the truth; and therefore the truth I speak, impugn it who so list." They have inscribed those words around the frieze of one of the rooms in the old house in Edinburgh in which the Scotch reformer lived. And along with this fidelity to duty there came a steadfast and unquenchable hope. Like the old Hebrew prophets the Puritans could never be beaten down. In the darkest night, amid the wildest discords, when the storm was at its highest they still kept saying to themselves, "Sometime, somewhere, somehow, His kingdom shall come, and His Name shall be glorious throughout the world."
Is this not the vision we need? We are living in confused and troubled times, when the winds are blowing a hurricane across the lands and the currents are sweeping us onward toward what we do not know. Sin still wears her scarlet and lifts her scepter, and evil in a thousand forms devastates the peoples of the earth. Many a fixed star has been dissipated to mist, and many a hope in these recent days has gone out. In current literature and in the conversation of the aged I detect now and then a tone of weariness and despondency,sometimes sinking into a sigh of hopelessness and despair. Many men have lost hope in their city and in our republic and in the world. Would that we might have a fresh vision of the throne! And if the prisoner on Patmos could speak to us tonight, he would say, "Look up! Look up!" But how difficult it is to look up. You remember John Bunyan's man with the rake. His eyes are fixed upon the ground, for he is raking up sticks and straws, while overhead hangs a golden crown which he never sees. It was hard for men in the sixteenth century to look up when they were raking sticks and straws; immeasurably more difficult is it now when men are raking together diamond dust and bars of gold.
~Charles E. Jefferson~
(continued with # 4)
Saved When The Lord Appears # 3
Saved When The Lord Appears # 3
d. In the Scriptures we read that we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, that is, with our beloved who have gone on before. No more separation, no more fear of funerals, no more visits to the cemetery, no more going back to the home that has been made empty because the loved one has departed.
"We shall not all sleep, what ineffable bliss,
Some living at present may taste even of this,
His coming, the rapture, the joyful surprise,
One moment a mortal, the next in the skies.
Our Saviour will come in the air, He'll descend,
The living, the sleeping, to His shall ascend,
Some wait there in heaven, some wait here below,
Then raptured in triumph to Him we all go.
We shall not all sleep, but changed we shall be,
Yes, changed in a moment when Jesus we see,
In the blaze of His glory, the flash of an eye.
e. When Paul was nearing the end of his remarkable career, he writes, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The expression "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" is literally "the out- resurrection from among the dead!" that is, Paul knew that the Lord was coming back, that the Christian dead would rise to greet Him, and he wanted to be of the company, and thus expresses his hope and desire.
2. What will it mean to the unsaved for Christ to appear?
a. If they are dead then it will mean that at His appearing their tombs will not be unsealed, they shall wait longer for another great event which is so startling that one shudders even as he reads of it, that is Judgment.
b. If they are living they will be left behind when others ascend to greet Him with their loved ones in the skies.
c. And when the time comes those who have rejected Jesus Christ will face the Judgment. In Revelation 20:11-13, I read, "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." It is a white throne, to me, at least, it is significant that when the saved greet Him there will be "a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." The emerald is green and green rests the eye. In contrast the full blaze of the white of the throne of God's judgment will be torture indeed.
He will be upon the throne; the One whom men have rejected and despised in spite of His mercy, and love. "The dead, small and great, shall stand before God." There can be no favoritism there. The books shall be opened and on the basis of one's record, men will be judged. Those who have accepted Christ need have no fear of the judgment of the Great White Throne. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," but if he has been rejected, and finally rejected, we know what the end must be, for the word of the Lord hath spoken it.
Recently the Honorable Elihu Root, in one of his addresses used this expression: The timetable of the Almighty.
What a striking sentence, how suggestive, how true it is to these days, how it fits in to my subject.
The hour has come. Jesus said that as He was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, and when the price of our redemption was to be paid in full.
"Behold, now is the time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The door of mercy is open; it may close at any moment. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near."
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(The End)
d. In the Scriptures we read that we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, that is, with our beloved who have gone on before. No more separation, no more fear of funerals, no more visits to the cemetery, no more going back to the home that has been made empty because the loved one has departed.
"We shall not all sleep, what ineffable bliss,
Some living at present may taste even of this,
His coming, the rapture, the joyful surprise,
One moment a mortal, the next in the skies.
Our Saviour will come in the air, He'll descend,
The living, the sleeping, to His shall ascend,
Some wait there in heaven, some wait here below,
Then raptured in triumph to Him we all go.
We shall not all sleep, but changed we shall be,
Yes, changed in a moment when Jesus we see,
In the blaze of His glory, the flash of an eye.
e. When Paul was nearing the end of his remarkable career, he writes, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The expression "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" is literally "the out- resurrection from among the dead!" that is, Paul knew that the Lord was coming back, that the Christian dead would rise to greet Him, and he wanted to be of the company, and thus expresses his hope and desire.
2. What will it mean to the unsaved for Christ to appear?
a. If they are dead then it will mean that at His appearing their tombs will not be unsealed, they shall wait longer for another great event which is so startling that one shudders even as he reads of it, that is Judgment.
b. If they are living they will be left behind when others ascend to greet Him with their loved ones in the skies.
c. And when the time comes those who have rejected Jesus Christ will face the Judgment. In Revelation 20:11-13, I read, "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." It is a white throne, to me, at least, it is significant that when the saved greet Him there will be "a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." The emerald is green and green rests the eye. In contrast the full blaze of the white of the throne of God's judgment will be torture indeed.
He will be upon the throne; the One whom men have rejected and despised in spite of His mercy, and love. "The dead, small and great, shall stand before God." There can be no favoritism there. The books shall be opened and on the basis of one's record, men will be judged. Those who have accepted Christ need have no fear of the judgment of the Great White Throne. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," but if he has been rejected, and finally rejected, we know what the end must be, for the word of the Lord hath spoken it.
Recently the Honorable Elihu Root, in one of his addresses used this expression: The timetable of the Almighty.
What a striking sentence, how suggestive, how true it is to these days, how it fits in to my subject.
The hour has come. Jesus said that as He was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, and when the price of our redemption was to be paid in full.
"Behold, now is the time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The door of mercy is open; it may close at any moment. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near."
~J. Wilbur Chapman~
(The End)
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Classic Quotes From Classic Ministers
Surveying the Crisis of Worship
There is a crisis of worship in our land. People are staying away from church in droves. One survey indicated that the two chief reasons people drop out of church are that it is boring and irrelevant.
If people find worship boring and irrelevant, it can only mean they have no sense of the presence of God in it. When we study the act of worship in Scripture and church history, we discover a variety of human responses to the sense of the presence of God. Some people tremble in terror, falling with their faces to the ground; others weep in mourning; some are exuberant in joy; still others are reduced to a pensive silence. Though the responses differ, one reaction we never find is boredom. It is impossible to be bored in the presence of God (if you know that He is there).
Neither is it possible for a sentient creature to find his or her encounter with God a matter of irrelevance. Nothing--and no one--is more relevant to human existence than the living God.
Coram Deo: Living in the Presence of God
Do you find worship boring and irrelevant? If so, pray for a renewed sense of God's presence.
~R. C. Sproul~
______________________
Before the Lord continually. - Leviticus 24:4-8
The light of the candlestick and the twelve cakes of fine flour were to be before the Lord continually, as symbols of the twofold office His people were to sustain, on the one hand to the world's darkness, on the other to God Himself.
We must shine as lights in the world. - As a candle in the hand of the housewife, who sweeps her house diligently; as a lamp in the hand of the virgin expecting the bridegroom; or as the lighthouse on a rocky coast. We must dispel the darkness, and guide wanderers through the murky night. Light is soft and still, and is thus a fitting emblem of the influence of a holy life, which burns steadily on before the Lord continually, and is unaffected by the heed or comment of man. If no one seems the better for our consistent testimony, aim to satisfy the Lord. The lamps of the pure candlestick of a holy life are not for man only, but for Him. But they can only be maintained through the constant supply of the pure oil of the Holy Ghost, ministered by Him who walks amid the seven golden candlesticks. "Ye are the light of the world."
We must be as bread to God. - In a blessed sense we feed on God, but God also feeds on us. He finds satisfaction in beholding His people's unity and love, in receiving their sacrifices of praise, and in watching their growing conformity to His will. The two rows of six cakes foreshadow the unity and order of the Church; the fine flour, its holy, equable character; the pure frankincense, the fragrance of Christian love. There is a testimony in all these to the world; but we do not always realize the satisfaction afforded to the great God, who has made such costly sacrifices on behalf of His Church.
We must shine as lights in the world. - As a candle in the hand of the housewife, who sweeps her house diligently; as a lamp in the hand of the virgin expecting the bridegroom; or as the lighthouse on a rocky coast. We must dispel the darkness, and guide wanderers through the murky night. Light is soft and still, and is thus a fitting emblem of the influence of a holy life, which burns steadily on before the Lord continually, and is unaffected by the heed or comment of man. If no one seems the better for our consistent testimony, aim to satisfy the Lord. The lamps of the pure candlestick of a holy life are not for man only, but for Him. But they can only be maintained through the constant supply of the pure oil of the Holy Ghost, ministered by Him who walks amid the seven golden candlesticks. "Ye are the light of the world."
We must be as bread to God. - In a blessed sense we feed on God, but God also feeds on us. He finds satisfaction in beholding His people's unity and love, in receiving their sacrifices of praise, and in watching their growing conformity to His will. The two rows of six cakes foreshadow the unity and order of the Church; the fine flour, its holy, equable character; the pure frankincense, the fragrance of Christian love. There is a testimony in all these to the world; but we do not always realize the satisfaction afforded to the great God, who has made such costly sacrifices on behalf of His Church.
~F. B. Meyer~
_________________________________
Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.” Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” “Why do you ask my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. (Gen 32:26,29)
Jacob got the victory and the blessing not by wrestling, but by clinging. His limb was out of joint and he could struggle no longer, but he would not let go. Unable to wrestle, he wound his arms around the neck of his mysterious antagonist and hung all his helpless weight upon him, until at last he conquered.
We will not get victory in prayer until we too cease our struggling, giving up our own will and throw our arms about our Father’s neck in clinging faith.
What can puny human strength take by force out of the hand of Omnipotence? Can we wrest blessing by force from God? It is never the violence of wilfulness that prevails with God. It is the might of clinging faith, that gets the blessing and the victories. It is not when we press and urge our own will, but when humility and trust unite in saying, “Not my will, but Thine.” We are strong with God only in the degree that self is conquered and is dead. Not by wrestling, but by clinging can we get the blessing.
--J. R. Miller
--J. R. Miller
An incident from the prayer life of Charles H. Usher (illustrating “soul-cling” as a hindrance to prevailing prayer): "My little boy was very ill. The doctors held out little hope of his recovery. I had used all the knowledge of prayer which I possessed on his behalf, but he got worse and worse. This went on for several weeks.
“One day I stood watching him as he lay in his cot, and I saw that he could not live long unless he had a turn for the better. I said to God, ’O God, I have given much time in prayer for my boy and he gets no better; I must now leave him to Thee, and I will give myself to prayer for others. If it is Thy will to take him, I choose Thy will--I surrender him entirely to Thee.’
“I called in my dear wife, and told her what I had done. She shed some tears, but handed him over to God. Two days afterwards a man of God came to see us. He had been very interested in our boy Frank, and had been much in prayer for him.
“He said, ’God has given me faith to believe that he will recover--have you faith?’
“I said, ’I have surrendered him to God, but I will go again to God regarding him.’ I did; and in prayer I discovered that I had faith for his recovery. From that time he began to get better. It was the ’soul-cling’ in my prayers which had hindered God answering; and if I had continued to cling and had been unwilling to surrender him, I doubt if my boy would be with me today.
“Child of God! If you want God to answer your prayers, you must be prepared to follow the footsteps of ’our father Abraham,’ even to the Mount of Sacrifice.” (See Rom. 4:12.)
~L. B. Cowman~
Saved When The Lord Appears # 2
Saved When The Lord Appears # 2
He is coming back again and we shall see Him.
"Just to see Jesus once scarred as Redeemer,
Jesus, my Lord, from all suffering free,
Just to see Jesus transfigured forever,
That will be glory, be glory, for me.
Just to see Jesus, when saved ones are gathering,
Jesus who died upon Calvary's tree,
Just to see Jesus with all heaven ringing,
That will be glory, be glory, for me."
He is surely coming back again and it is well worth while to ask the question as to what this coming will mean to certain classes of people.
1. What will it mean to the saved?
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
So many times we hear people use the expression, speaking of certain events, "This is as certain as death," but death is by no means certain, it is not at all sure that we shall all die. Paul himself tells us we shall not all sleep, and he is speaking of death; some will be alive when the Lord comes back, and perhaps we who are today in health and strength shall be the company.
a. Some day the skies will brighten and He will appear, and just as Saul of Tarsus saw what others did not see, so some eyes will be opened to behold Him, while others will be blinded to His coming, and when those who have their trust in Him are taken away, others will remain behind in wonder and in amazement.
b. Families will be separated. In this household a mother was a humble follower of Jesus Christ and all the others were indifferent to Him. She will be taken, the others left.
In another household the father was a saint of God. The Bible and Jesus were his constant delight, but he was unable to lead his children to Christ, and with the godly mother he will be taken and the others left.
A Christian business man who has been careful in all his business dealings, and consistent in his following of Jesus Christ, taken, and those with whom he is associated, left behind; perhaps the saved children of a household whose parents were worldly and cared not for Christ and His Church are taken.
c. It should be remembered, however, that before these are taken, the dead in Christ shall rise first; their spirits safe with Him from the moment of their death, their bodies have been resting in the tomb, and when He appears, the tombs of the Christian dead shall be opened, and spirit and body united. They shall go up to be with Him.
There are some places I should like to be at that wonderful time, I think I should like to be standing here speaking of Him, or I should like to be pleading with an audience to turn to Him, or I should like to be sitting beside some one who is helpless and hopeless and urging them to accept Him, or I should like to be at the grave of D. L. Moody, and behold his tomb open and see him ascend to meet the Lord whom he so faithfully preached, or I should like to be at my mother's tomb where years ago we placed her and said "goodbye" to her with tears blinding our eyes. To sum it all up, however, I think I should like to be just anywhere, seeking to please Him and trying to find out concerning His will, that I might do it.
I stood one day in Wales before the grave of the famous preacher, Christmas Evans, and was told that he was buried in the same grave with a friend, a brother minister, whom he loved dearly, and this was all because they wanted to be together when the Lord came and they be caught up. They had agreed that hand in hand they would ascend to greet Him.
~John Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 3)
He is coming back again and we shall see Him.
"Just to see Jesus once scarred as Redeemer,
Jesus, my Lord, from all suffering free,
Just to see Jesus transfigured forever,
That will be glory, be glory, for me.
Just to see Jesus, when saved ones are gathering,
Jesus who died upon Calvary's tree,
Just to see Jesus with all heaven ringing,
That will be glory, be glory, for me."
He is surely coming back again and it is well worth while to ask the question as to what this coming will mean to certain classes of people.
1. What will it mean to the saved?
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
So many times we hear people use the expression, speaking of certain events, "This is as certain as death," but death is by no means certain, it is not at all sure that we shall all die. Paul himself tells us we shall not all sleep, and he is speaking of death; some will be alive when the Lord comes back, and perhaps we who are today in health and strength shall be the company.
a. Some day the skies will brighten and He will appear, and just as Saul of Tarsus saw what others did not see, so some eyes will be opened to behold Him, while others will be blinded to His coming, and when those who have their trust in Him are taken away, others will remain behind in wonder and in amazement.
b. Families will be separated. In this household a mother was a humble follower of Jesus Christ and all the others were indifferent to Him. She will be taken, the others left.
In another household the father was a saint of God. The Bible and Jesus were his constant delight, but he was unable to lead his children to Christ, and with the godly mother he will be taken and the others left.
A Christian business man who has been careful in all his business dealings, and consistent in his following of Jesus Christ, taken, and those with whom he is associated, left behind; perhaps the saved children of a household whose parents were worldly and cared not for Christ and His Church are taken.
c. It should be remembered, however, that before these are taken, the dead in Christ shall rise first; their spirits safe with Him from the moment of their death, their bodies have been resting in the tomb, and when He appears, the tombs of the Christian dead shall be opened, and spirit and body united. They shall go up to be with Him.
There are some places I should like to be at that wonderful time, I think I should like to be standing here speaking of Him, or I should like to be pleading with an audience to turn to Him, or I should like to be sitting beside some one who is helpless and hopeless and urging them to accept Him, or I should like to be at the grave of D. L. Moody, and behold his tomb open and see him ascend to meet the Lord whom he so faithfully preached, or I should like to be at my mother's tomb where years ago we placed her and said "goodbye" to her with tears blinding our eyes. To sum it all up, however, I think I should like to be just anywhere, seeking to please Him and trying to find out concerning His will, that I might do it.
I stood one day in Wales before the grave of the famous preacher, Christmas Evans, and was told that he was buried in the same grave with a friend, a brother minister, whom he loved dearly, and this was all because they wanted to be together when the Lord came and they be caught up. They had agreed that hand in hand they would ascend to greet Him.
~John Wilbur Chapman~
(continued with # 3)
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