1910
No one can fail to be impressed by the careful hygienic precautions of the Mosaic period. For example, consider how animals were divided into the clean and the unclean, the reason for this being that the priests, in preparing them for sacrifice, noted the presence of parasites in the flesh or insides of certain animals which were therefore to be avoided.
Bits and Pieces
Some people treat the sermon as a table d'hote dinner, picking out the things that will not agree with them.
When the pulpit gets into poetic clouds it misses the man on the pavement.
A catalogue of vices never led any one into virtue.
Anaemia is often temporarily mistaken for virtue.
An ingrowing conscience drives many a man into sin.
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Gems of Thought — "Patience is Sorrow's Slave"
1877
Gems
Gathered by Mrs. Felix Van Wyke
Patience is sorrow's slave.
Every path has its puddle.
Time passed never returns.
Talkers are no good doers.
There is no joy without alloy.
The more law the less justice.
Great bargains empty the purse.
Strew not roses before swine.
A good fellow is a costly name.
The little alms are the good alms.
He that is down needs fear no fall.
Saving is a greater art than gaining.
The cock is lord on his own dunghill.
Think to-day, and speak to-morrow.
An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
Quick believers need broad shoulders.
Every one is the son of his own works.
Pin not your faith on another's sleeve.
Though a lie be swift truth overtakes it.
Virtue is but dryly praised, and starves.
— The Reynolds Herald.
Gems
Gathered by Mrs. Felix Van Wyke
Patience is sorrow's slave.
Every path has its puddle.
Time passed never returns.
Talkers are no good doers.
There is no joy without alloy.
The more law the less justice.
Great bargains empty the purse.
Strew not roses before swine.
A good fellow is a costly name.
The little alms are the good alms.
He that is down needs fear no fall.
Saving is a greater art than gaining.
The cock is lord on his own dunghill.
Think to-day, and speak to-morrow.
An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
Quick believers need broad shoulders.
Every one is the son of his own works.
Pin not your faith on another's sleeve.
Though a lie be swift truth overtakes it.
Virtue is but dryly praised, and starves.
— The Reynolds Herald.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
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).
Friday, April 13, 2007
Women Seeking to Prohibit Peyote Use
NEW INDIAN DRUG
Colorado Women Seek to Prohibit Use of "Peyote"
Denver, Colo., Jan. 29. — Peyote prohibition has made its appearance in Colorado. It is being urged by a group of socially prominent women in Denver under the leadership of Mrs. S. A. R. Brown, and is an effort to stop the traffic among the Indians in "peyote," the dried leaf of the cactus, which in similar in its effect to opium or cocaine. A bill has been introduced in the legislature which absolutely prohibits the sale or gift of peyote in Colorado. A similar bill is now before the legislature in Utah.
To get a better hold on their victims, the peyote peddlers have lent a religious tone to the ceremony of eating the drug, so that the peyote is worshiped in a semi-barbaric festival before an orgy is held.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, January 29, 1917, page 1.
Colorado Women Seek to Prohibit Use of "Peyote"
Denver, Colo., Jan. 29. — Peyote prohibition has made its appearance in Colorado. It is being urged by a group of socially prominent women in Denver under the leadership of Mrs. S. A. R. Brown, and is an effort to stop the traffic among the Indians in "peyote," the dried leaf of the cactus, which in similar in its effect to opium or cocaine. A bill has been introduced in the legislature which absolutely prohibits the sale or gift of peyote in Colorado. A similar bill is now before the legislature in Utah.
To get a better hold on their victims, the peyote peddlers have lent a religious tone to the ceremony of eating the drug, so that the peyote is worshiped in a semi-barbaric festival before an orgy is held.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, January 29, 1917, page 1.
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