The believer's peace is like a river for continuance. Look at it, rising as a little brook among the mosses of the lone green hill; by and by it leaps as a rugged cataract; anon it flows along that fair valley where the red deer wanders, and the child loves to play. With hum of pleasant music the brook turns the village mill. Hearken to its changeful tune as it ripples over its pebbly bed, or leaps adown the wheel, or sports in eddies where the trees bend down their branches to kiss the current. Anon the streamlet has become a river, and bears upon its flood full many a craft. Then its bosom swells, bridges with noble arches span it, and, grown vaster still, it becomes an estuary, broad enough to be an arm of old Father Ocean, pouring its water-floods into the mighty main. The river abides the lapse of ages; it is no evanescent morning cloud or transient rain-flood, but in all its stages it is permanent.
"Men may come, and men may go,
But I flow on for ever."
Evermore, throughout all generations, the river speedeth to its destined place. Such is the peace of the Christian. He has always reason for comfort. He has not a consolation like a swollen torrent which is dried up under the hot sun of adversity, but peace is his rightful possession at all times. Do you inquire for the Thames? You shall find it flowing in its own bed in the thick black night, as well as in the clear bright day. — SPURGEON.
Showing posts with label devotions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label devotions. Show all posts
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Doing God's Work
1905
We are to live in the world pouring into it the fragrance of the love of Christ. There is a legend which says that when Jesus arose and walked out from the tomb in the garden white lilies blossomed where he stepped, so that wherever he went there was beauty and fragrance. So should it be wherever we go, if we are Christ's. We are not to shut ourselves indoors, but are to go out into the world to carry blessing and good among its many needs.
Live for To-day
We are writing with a diamond on a rock. We are writing the Rock of Remembrance with invisible ink. We are accumulating for the future. What we do is done forever. The thoughts we think, the words we speak, the kindly and unkindly acts of daily life, we must face them again. Take heed, therefore. Live for eternity. And the way to live for eternity is to concentrate all the energies of life upon the discharge of present duty. Therefore, live for to-day. — D. J. Burrell, D. D.
We are to live in the world pouring into it the fragrance of the love of Christ. There is a legend which says that when Jesus arose and walked out from the tomb in the garden white lilies blossomed where he stepped, so that wherever he went there was beauty and fragrance. So should it be wherever we go, if we are Christ's. We are not to shut ourselves indoors, but are to go out into the world to carry blessing and good among its many needs.
Live for To-day
We are writing with a diamond on a rock. We are writing the Rock of Remembrance with invisible ink. We are accumulating for the future. What we do is done forever. The thoughts we think, the words we speak, the kindly and unkindly acts of daily life, we must face them again. Take heed, therefore. Live for eternity. And the way to live for eternity is to concentrate all the energies of life upon the discharge of present duty. Therefore, live for to-day. — D. J. Burrell, D. D.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Good Cheer in Religion
1902
It is a happy thing to live. It is a happy thing to die. Our religion has the promise of the life that now is and also of that which is to come. It makes the world ours and all things in it.
We rejoice in its beauty and its joys, the laughter of little children, the love of young men and maidens, the grave friendship of the old, the confidence of life and the calm and trust which belong to us all. Our religion now tells us to look upon these and all the beautiful things of life, and to take them, holding them in holiness as the happy gifts of our glad God.
And, above all these, and in all these, Christ is now revealed to us. He was and He will be. Yea, and He is. No other day ever set Him so high or loved Him so dearly. To be sure, there is enough that is dark still, and the shadows could be drawn heavily, sadly, but this hour let us see the sunshine and play in it.
The Lord Christ! He is the good cheer of religion to-day, as He has been in all days. If our good cheer is better and cheerier than any of old, it is because we see him more clearly and love Him more dearly because we have gone a little further in making our life His and Him our life. — Congregationalist.
Rewards of Life
The man who sees in life the opportunity to express himself in the highest terms, who after ascertaining what faculties he has determines to develop them to the highest possible efficiency, who is capable of seeing the sweetness and joy that he has about him, who, being proud, does not allow his body or mind to be defiled, he is the one who obtains the big rewards, the big successes. — Mental Growth and Control.
It is a happy thing to live. It is a happy thing to die. Our religion has the promise of the life that now is and also of that which is to come. It makes the world ours and all things in it.
We rejoice in its beauty and its joys, the laughter of little children, the love of young men and maidens, the grave friendship of the old, the confidence of life and the calm and trust which belong to us all. Our religion now tells us to look upon these and all the beautiful things of life, and to take them, holding them in holiness as the happy gifts of our glad God.
And, above all these, and in all these, Christ is now revealed to us. He was and He will be. Yea, and He is. No other day ever set Him so high or loved Him so dearly. To be sure, there is enough that is dark still, and the shadows could be drawn heavily, sadly, but this hour let us see the sunshine and play in it.
The Lord Christ! He is the good cheer of religion to-day, as He has been in all days. If our good cheer is better and cheerier than any of old, it is because we see him more clearly and love Him more dearly because we have gone a little further in making our life His and Him our life. — Congregationalist.
Rewards of Life
The man who sees in life the opportunity to express himself in the highest terms, who after ascertaining what faculties he has determines to develop them to the highest possible efficiency, who is capable of seeing the sweetness and joy that he has about him, who, being proud, does not allow his body or mind to be defiled, he is the one who obtains the big rewards, the big successes. — Mental Growth and Control.
The Need of Tenderness
1902
The grace of tenderness, for it is a grace, should be cultivated for its own sake as well as its invaluable aid in our service for the Master.
True tenderness modulates the voice, illuminates the face and presents the word of life in a spirit of gentleness, which wins a hearing for even unwelcome truths. The world is in need of just such tenderness as was manifested by our Lord, and we as His disciples can render no better service to Him than reflecting His tender sympathy as we pass along life's journey.
People long for tenderness. Harsh measures never won a soul to higher things. Sympathy is the magic key by which we may gain access to hungry, aching hearts. Tenderness may be developed by studying the character of our Master. He recognized the innermost longings of weary mankind, and met this yearning with infinite tenderness and pity. Surely we as His followers should imitate Him to the best of our ability along this line.
Let us determine by the help of the Holy Spirit never to be betrayed into harshness. The world is hard and cold enough without you and I adding to its burden. Rather let us seek by tenderness and sympathy to aid some soul to reach a firmer foundation, and bring joy and peace to some little corner of earth. — George D. Gelwicks.
The grace of tenderness, for it is a grace, should be cultivated for its own sake as well as its invaluable aid in our service for the Master.
True tenderness modulates the voice, illuminates the face and presents the word of life in a spirit of gentleness, which wins a hearing for even unwelcome truths. The world is in need of just such tenderness as was manifested by our Lord, and we as His disciples can render no better service to Him than reflecting His tender sympathy as we pass along life's journey.
People long for tenderness. Harsh measures never won a soul to higher things. Sympathy is the magic key by which we may gain access to hungry, aching hearts. Tenderness may be developed by studying the character of our Master. He recognized the innermost longings of weary mankind, and met this yearning with infinite tenderness and pity. Surely we as His followers should imitate Him to the best of our ability along this line.
Let us determine by the help of the Holy Spirit never to be betrayed into harshness. The world is hard and cold enough without you and I adding to its burden. Rather let us seek by tenderness and sympathy to aid some soul to reach a firmer foundation, and bring joy and peace to some little corner of earth. — George D. Gelwicks.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Faith On Trial (James 1:1-18)
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
People of faith sometimes think it's strange that they have problems and others perhaps do not. The Bible gives enough evidence that it doesn't need to seem so strange. This questioning comes up often enough in the Psalms (10:1), and then there's the story of Job.
James has some advice that turns it all around: "Count it all joy." How is that possible? For anyone who's been camping, you might have a few stories to tell of various disasters that not only can you laugh about now, but they were also kind of funny at the time! Or in a more serious light, think of Jesus at the Cross (Heb. 12:2), with the "joy" set before Him. For us, pain is pain, but behind every cloud...
So what is it that tries your faith? There are many problems we can think of involving children, sickness, finances, various failures. Sometimes just life in general. All are real problems, but our faith can endure and our joy can be real. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
James declares in verse 3 that the trial of faith results in patience, which, as we're involved in these real life issues, can indeed "have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (1:4). That's a good result, progress on the way. Faith doesn't need to waver (1:6); we can hang on, and become stronger in our faith. That's really the whole point!
God sustains us through prayer (Phil. 4:6), the word (Rom. 10:17), and by His care (1 Pt. 5:7), just to name a few of the many ways. And in this chapter of James (1:5), God offers wisdom to those who ask it of Him.
So, your faith is on trial. Don't despair! Recognize it, look to God, handle things as best as you can in a spiritual way, and let your faith help you endure everything. It's helpful now and it will be stronger next time.
People of faith sometimes think it's strange that they have problems and others perhaps do not. The Bible gives enough evidence that it doesn't need to seem so strange. This questioning comes up often enough in the Psalms (10:1), and then there's the story of Job.
James has some advice that turns it all around: "Count it all joy." How is that possible? For anyone who's been camping, you might have a few stories to tell of various disasters that not only can you laugh about now, but they were also kind of funny at the time! Or in a more serious light, think of Jesus at the Cross (Heb. 12:2), with the "joy" set before Him. For us, pain is pain, but behind every cloud...
So what is it that tries your faith? There are many problems we can think of involving children, sickness, finances, various failures. Sometimes just life in general. All are real problems, but our faith can endure and our joy can be real. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
James declares in verse 3 that the trial of faith results in patience, which, as we're involved in these real life issues, can indeed "have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (1:4). That's a good result, progress on the way. Faith doesn't need to waver (1:6); we can hang on, and become stronger in our faith. That's really the whole point!
God sustains us through prayer (Phil. 4:6), the word (Rom. 10:17), and by His care (1 Pt. 5:7), just to name a few of the many ways. And in this chapter of James (1:5), God offers wisdom to those who ask it of Him.
So, your faith is on trial. Don't despair! Recognize it, look to God, handle things as best as you can in a spiritual way, and let your faith help you endure everything. It's helpful now and it will be stronger next time.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Freedom for Service, Freedom from Besetting Sins
1902
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Children of Mysteries
1917
"The little isle of knowledge," says a recent writer, "shelves off suddenly on every hand into water that is too deep to wade and too wide to swim." When the rim of the earth slips up and shuts out the sun, we say it is sundown; and when in the morning the rim of the earth slips down past the golden plaque in the east, we say it is sun up. Meanwhile we have been flying through darkness and space at a terrific rate, clinging like great beetles to the under side of a world. No fear of falling off.
We are the children of mysteries, the heirs of a life and a world more full of wonder than the crags of the Yosemite, or the great gray mountain spurs that shine the face of God as the face of the Savior shone when he met the commissioners from the throne. How little we know. How little we realize of the wonder of our daily lives.
To him whose eyes are but half awake to the land he lives in, there should be no questioning of the incarnation of Jesus, or the mysteries and miracles of his wonder-working hand. "Truth is a continent in whose interior are forest-covered valleys and towering mountain ranges and broad rivers sweeping through wide plains, but we touch it only as Columbus touched the shores of the new world, coasting a little way along a small segment of its beach." — United Presbyterian.
"The little isle of knowledge," says a recent writer, "shelves off suddenly on every hand into water that is too deep to wade and too wide to swim." When the rim of the earth slips up and shuts out the sun, we say it is sundown; and when in the morning the rim of the earth slips down past the golden plaque in the east, we say it is sun up. Meanwhile we have been flying through darkness and space at a terrific rate, clinging like great beetles to the under side of a world. No fear of falling off.
We are the children of mysteries, the heirs of a life and a world more full of wonder than the crags of the Yosemite, or the great gray mountain spurs that shine the face of God as the face of the Savior shone when he met the commissioners from the throne. How little we know. How little we realize of the wonder of our daily lives.
To him whose eyes are but half awake to the land he lives in, there should be no questioning of the incarnation of Jesus, or the mysteries and miracles of his wonder-working hand. "Truth is a continent in whose interior are forest-covered valleys and towering mountain ranges and broad rivers sweeping through wide plains, but we touch it only as Columbus touched the shores of the new world, coasting a little way along a small segment of its beach." — United Presbyterian.
Monday, May 7, 2007
What Easter Should Mean
1917
Does Easter mean to you only the wearing of a new hat, a new frock and the studying of fashions as worn by others? Do you let it bring to your little ones only the rabbit's nest of colored eggs or the fluffs of yellow chicks? Does it strike no higher chord in your being than the fact that spring is at hand and you must have light and becoming apparel?
Easter is more than all these. It is the force in nature that brings the leaf, the bud and at last the glowing blossom from the clod. It is the resurrection of the life of those things we call inanimate because they cannot talk to us; how much more than the springing into being of the good that may be dormant in our hearts.
What the little ones should be told this Easter morning is that the life of the world itself is new; that the grave cannot hold within its confines the mighty spirit of growing things. So I beg of you to not dwell too largely upon the sadness of the cross and the crown of thorns, but rather upon the glorious truth that those were but small in comparison with the glory of Christ's rising.
If the remembrance of the freeing from the tomb means anything in teaching Christianity it means the beauty of the resurrection; it means that the very spirit of "Christ risen from the dead" is to be carried out in real life; that joy and fresh glowing happiness are to be taught and believed in. Gloom has no place on Easter day. What is past is past; troubles that have come are gone; pain that has been suffered and cured is to be forgotten, and this is the meaning that Easter should bring into every mother's morning greeting to her little ones.
"You were ill yesterday, but you are well today." You are to live as if the sun was newly born, the skies newly washed in their sunny blue, the stars but just freshly placed to shine to give you pleasure, the moon sailing like a beautiful round globe for your eyes to see. All these mean a keener enjoyment, a better understanding, and you will find response in each small body and loving heart if the practice be the teaching of the Golden Rule, not only today, but all the year. — Emma Irene McLagan in St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Does Easter mean to you only the wearing of a new hat, a new frock and the studying of fashions as worn by others? Do you let it bring to your little ones only the rabbit's nest of colored eggs or the fluffs of yellow chicks? Does it strike no higher chord in your being than the fact that spring is at hand and you must have light and becoming apparel?
Easter is more than all these. It is the force in nature that brings the leaf, the bud and at last the glowing blossom from the clod. It is the resurrection of the life of those things we call inanimate because they cannot talk to us; how much more than the springing into being of the good that may be dormant in our hearts.
What the little ones should be told this Easter morning is that the life of the world itself is new; that the grave cannot hold within its confines the mighty spirit of growing things. So I beg of you to not dwell too largely upon the sadness of the cross and the crown of thorns, but rather upon the glorious truth that those were but small in comparison with the glory of Christ's rising.
If the remembrance of the freeing from the tomb means anything in teaching Christianity it means the beauty of the resurrection; it means that the very spirit of "Christ risen from the dead" is to be carried out in real life; that joy and fresh glowing happiness are to be taught and believed in. Gloom has no place on Easter day. What is past is past; troubles that have come are gone; pain that has been suffered and cured is to be forgotten, and this is the meaning that Easter should bring into every mother's morning greeting to her little ones.
"You were ill yesterday, but you are well today." You are to live as if the sun was newly born, the skies newly washed in their sunny blue, the stars but just freshly placed to shine to give you pleasure, the moon sailing like a beautiful round globe for your eyes to see. All these mean a keener enjoyment, a better understanding, and you will find response in each small body and loving heart if the practice be the teaching of the Golden Rule, not only today, but all the year. — Emma Irene McLagan in St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Be of Good Cheer, Child of God
1895
Be of Good Cheer
It was amid the storm and darkness, the ship going to pieces which was carrying Paul a prisoner to Rome, that the grand, heroic man bade all aboard to be of good cheer, he gave a reason for his quiet courage: "There stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am and whom also I serve, saying, fear not, Paul; for you must stand before Caesar. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, and it shall be even so as it has been spoken unto me."
No matter what may come to God's witnesses they need not fear. It is for them simply to be faithful to their testimony. The battle in us and around us, now as ever, is between truth and falsehood, righteousness and unrighteousness, Christ and Satan. By reason of our unbelief and perverseness and selfishness, the way may be long and through the wilderness, yet he leadeth us. It is for us to add to our faith, courage, manliness, patience, that we may endure to the end.
God reigns, and if he be for us we are stronger than all who are against us. The triumph of wickedness is short. Be of good cheer, child of God.
Be of Good Cheer
It was amid the storm and darkness, the ship going to pieces which was carrying Paul a prisoner to Rome, that the grand, heroic man bade all aboard to be of good cheer, he gave a reason for his quiet courage: "There stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am and whom also I serve, saying, fear not, Paul; for you must stand before Caesar. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, and it shall be even so as it has been spoken unto me."
No matter what may come to God's witnesses they need not fear. It is for them simply to be faithful to their testimony. The battle in us and around us, now as ever, is between truth and falsehood, righteousness and unrighteousness, Christ and Satan. By reason of our unbelief and perverseness and selfishness, the way may be long and through the wilderness, yet he leadeth us. It is for us to add to our faith, courage, manliness, patience, that we may endure to the end.
God reigns, and if he be for us we are stronger than all who are against us. The triumph of wickedness is short. Be of good cheer, child of God.
Religion Brings Pleasure, Spiritual Good as Law of Life
1895
What Religion Does
It is a mistake to suppose that religion is designed to eliminate pleasure from life. Quite the contrary is true. It does inculcate thoughts and principles of a serious and important nature. But in doing so it promotes pleasure of the choicest and most enduring variety. It brings mere worldly amusement under due limitation, and employs it chiefly as a relaxation of life.
Religion brings its own pleasure with it. Extirpating nothing innocent, it makes innocence itself a bliss. Discouraging nothing cheerful, it renders cheerfulness itself a common habit by grafting into the heart something to be cheerful over. It regulates the intellectual machinery, gives poise to thought, symmetry to plans, and harmony to purposes.
It enthrones spiritual good as the law of life and imparts qualities of richness, sweetness, and joy to right actions and helpful words. It promotes longevity by inculcating temperate habits and proper care of all the physical organs and powers. It imparts correct and healthful views to our earthly existence by teaching that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be despised, and that it is the privilege of all believers to use this world as not abusing it. It is the normal condition of complete being.
Sin gives no real advantage to anyone, but holiness does. Sin destroys. It mars perfection. It clogs aspiration. It cripples endeavor. Holiness upbuilds. It engenders completeness. It fans legitimate ardor. It crowns all laudable effort with true success. Paul embodied common sense and true philosophy in his beautiful statement that "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
What Religion Does
It is a mistake to suppose that religion is designed to eliminate pleasure from life. Quite the contrary is true. It does inculcate thoughts and principles of a serious and important nature. But in doing so it promotes pleasure of the choicest and most enduring variety. It brings mere worldly amusement under due limitation, and employs it chiefly as a relaxation of life.
Religion brings its own pleasure with it. Extirpating nothing innocent, it makes innocence itself a bliss. Discouraging nothing cheerful, it renders cheerfulness itself a common habit by grafting into the heart something to be cheerful over. It regulates the intellectual machinery, gives poise to thought, symmetry to plans, and harmony to purposes.
It enthrones spiritual good as the law of life and imparts qualities of richness, sweetness, and joy to right actions and helpful words. It promotes longevity by inculcating temperate habits and proper care of all the physical organs and powers. It imparts correct and healthful views to our earthly existence by teaching that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be despised, and that it is the privilege of all believers to use this world as not abusing it. It is the normal condition of complete being.
Sin gives no real advantage to anyone, but holiness does. Sin destroys. It mars perfection. It clogs aspiration. It cripples endeavor. Holiness upbuilds. It engenders completeness. It fans legitimate ardor. It crowns all laudable effort with true success. Paul embodied common sense and true philosophy in his beautiful statement that "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
The Sin of Fretting
1895
There is one sin which it seems to me is everywhere and by everybody underestimated, and quite too much overlooked in valuations of character. It is the sin of fretting.
It is as common as air, as speech, so common that unless it rises above its usual monotone we do not even observe it. Watch any ordinary coming together of people, and see how many minutes it will be before somebody frets — that is, makes a more or less complaining statement of something or other which probably every one in the room, or in the car, or the street corner, it may be, knew before, and probably nobody can help. Why say anything about it? It is cold, it is hot, it is wet, it is dry; somebody has broken an appointment, ill-cooked a meal; stupidity or bad faith somewhere has resulted in discomfort.
There are plenty of things to fret about. It is simply astonishing how much annoyance may be found in the course of every day's living, even at the simplest, if one only keeps a sharp eye out on that side of things. Even Holy Writ says we are prone to trouble as sparks fly upward. But even to the sparks flying upward, in the blackest of smoke, there is a blue sky above; and the less time they waste on the road the sooner they will reach it. Fretting is all time wasted on the road. — Helen Hunt.
There is one sin which it seems to me is everywhere and by everybody underestimated, and quite too much overlooked in valuations of character. It is the sin of fretting.
It is as common as air, as speech, so common that unless it rises above its usual monotone we do not even observe it. Watch any ordinary coming together of people, and see how many minutes it will be before somebody frets — that is, makes a more or less complaining statement of something or other which probably every one in the room, or in the car, or the street corner, it may be, knew before, and probably nobody can help. Why say anything about it? It is cold, it is hot, it is wet, it is dry; somebody has broken an appointment, ill-cooked a meal; stupidity or bad faith somewhere has resulted in discomfort.
There are plenty of things to fret about. It is simply astonishing how much annoyance may be found in the course of every day's living, even at the simplest, if one only keeps a sharp eye out on that side of things. Even Holy Writ says we are prone to trouble as sparks fly upward. But even to the sparks flying upward, in the blackest of smoke, there is a blue sky above; and the less time they waste on the road the sooner they will reach it. Fretting is all time wasted on the road. — Helen Hunt.
"A New, Complete Heart"
1895
"It is nothing less than character, nothing less than a new, complete heart, a fulfilled manhood, that Christ is trying to give us. Therefore, we may be patient, and be sure that the perfection of His gift cannot be all at once. He who enters into Christ enters into a region of life and growth which stretches far away before him. He stops across the threshold, and his feet are glad with the very touching of the blessed soil. Christ is so One that all which He is ever to be to the soul He is in some sense already. But none the less there is much which He cannot be until the soul is more, and so can take more of the life to live by. The world cannot give you blessings which will be complete to you at once. It is able and glad to set forth for you at the beginning of the feast the best wine it has. But Christ will take you, if you let Him, into His calm, strong power, and lead you on to ever richer capacity and ever richer blessing, till at last only at the end of eternity shall your soul be satisfied and be sure that it has touched the height and depth of His grace, and say: 'Now I know thy goodness wholly. Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' Oh, at the end of our eternity may those words be ours!" — Phillips Brooks.
"It is nothing less than character, nothing less than a new, complete heart, a fulfilled manhood, that Christ is trying to give us. Therefore, we may be patient, and be sure that the perfection of His gift cannot be all at once. He who enters into Christ enters into a region of life and growth which stretches far away before him. He stops across the threshold, and his feet are glad with the very touching of the blessed soil. Christ is so One that all which He is ever to be to the soul He is in some sense already. But none the less there is much which He cannot be until the soul is more, and so can take more of the life to live by. The world cannot give you blessings which will be complete to you at once. It is able and glad to set forth for you at the beginning of the feast the best wine it has. But Christ will take you, if you let Him, into His calm, strong power, and lead you on to ever richer capacity and ever richer blessing, till at last only at the end of eternity shall your soul be satisfied and be sure that it has touched the height and depth of His grace, and say: 'Now I know thy goodness wholly. Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' Oh, at the end of our eternity may those words be ours!" — Phillips Brooks.
Ere You Censure, Look Within (poetry)
1895
Ere You Censure, Look Within
Should you feel inclined to censure
Faults you may in others view,
Ask your own heart, 'ere you venture,
If that has not failings too.
Let no friendly vows be broken,
Rather strive a friend to gain;
Many a word in anger spoken,
Finds its passage home again.
Do not, then, in idle pleasure,
Trifle with a brother's fame;
Guard it as valued treasure,
Sacred as your own good name.
Do not form opinions blindly;
Hastiness to trouble tends;
Those of whom we thought unkindly,
Oft become our warmest friends.
Ere You Censure, Look Within
Should you feel inclined to censure
Faults you may in others view,
Ask your own heart, 'ere you venture,
If that has not failings too.
Let no friendly vows be broken,
Rather strive a friend to gain;
Many a word in anger spoken,
Finds its passage home again.
Do not, then, in idle pleasure,
Trifle with a brother's fame;
Guard it as valued treasure,
Sacred as your own good name.
Do not form opinions blindly;
Hastiness to trouble tends;
Those of whom we thought unkindly,
Oft become our warmest friends.
Brevity in Prayer
1895
"The late William Arnot tells us in his diary that, as he grew older, he grew more brief and simple in his closet devotions. He tersely says: 'I suppose there are two kinds of brevity in prayer — one, because you are far off, and one because you are far in.' This is pithily put, and contains a profound truth. No one can judge of another as to just how much time that other needs to spend on his knees. We cannot safely take the example of anybody else as an absolute guide in our own case. Many things need to be considered — our household duties, our business engagements, our special perplexities, our mastery of perpetual prayer. We must not, of course, let prayer be crowded out or crushed down through mere selfishness or worldly absorptions; but neither need we feel it always incumbent on us to spend just so much time in the exercise, or write ourselves down delinquent if we cannot pass whole hours in special supplication like some one we have read about. It is better certainly to be far in than far off, but the former must not despise the latter, nor the latter judge the former. Strength in prayer is better than length in prayer." — Zion's Herald.
"The late William Arnot tells us in his diary that, as he grew older, he grew more brief and simple in his closet devotions. He tersely says: 'I suppose there are two kinds of brevity in prayer — one, because you are far off, and one because you are far in.' This is pithily put, and contains a profound truth. No one can judge of another as to just how much time that other needs to spend on his knees. We cannot safely take the example of anybody else as an absolute guide in our own case. Many things need to be considered — our household duties, our business engagements, our special perplexities, our mastery of perpetual prayer. We must not, of course, let prayer be crowded out or crushed down through mere selfishness or worldly absorptions; but neither need we feel it always incumbent on us to spend just so much time in the exercise, or write ourselves down delinquent if we cannot pass whole hours in special supplication like some one we have read about. It is better certainly to be far in than far off, but the former must not despise the latter, nor the latter judge the former. Strength in prayer is better than length in prayer." — Zion's Herald.
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