_Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite._ MODERATION This virtue the people of God ought to practise in everything. They should exercise self-government in the desire, the use, the enjoyment, and the regret of all that pertains to the present world. Here is commended laying... [ Continue Reading ]
_Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom._ MAMMON All the precepts of Scripture have their origin in the benevolence of God. Man labours to be rich because he is voluntarily ignorant or forgetful of the requirements of his nature. I. Labouring to be rich implies the consecration of our... [ Continue Reading ]
_For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he._ THE IMPORTANCE OF A MAN’S THOUGHTS 1. A man is as his thoughts. 2. A man has control over his thoughts. 3. God helps him in the exercise of that control. “We are that really, both to God and to man, which we are inwardly.” (_Matthew Henry_.) THOUGHT... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their Redeemer is mighty._ SOCIAL INJUSTICE I. Social injustice indicated. “Remove not the old landmarks.” What are the landmarks? The rights of man as man. 1. Every man has a right to personal freedom. 2. To the produce of his own labour. 3. To freedom in religion. II. Social injustice perpe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge._ SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE I. Because of its own worth. A knowledge of the creation, its elements, laws, objects, extent, is valuable, but a knowledge of the Creator is infinitely more valuable. “This is life eternal, to know... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine._ THE HAPPY PARENT I. The attainment required. A pious youth is said to be wise in heart. 1. To show us that religion is wisdom. 2. That this wisdom is not notional, but consists principally in dispositions and actions. Religion... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long._ ENVY OF SINNERS FORBIDDEN, AND THE FEAR OF GOD ENJOINED I. Some of the reasons why men very frequently are induced to envy sinners. 1. They perhaps see them possessed of wealth, in the enjoyment of many outw... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely there is an end._ THE END Let religion be the very atmosphere in which you live and move and have your being; and the reason for this is, “surely there is an end.” I. The solemn certainty which nobody can deny. 1. All our actions, thoughts, feelings, capabilities, everything about us, re... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way._ THREE IMPORTANT PRECEPTS The words are very direct and personal. I. The precept contained in the word “hear.” I take it to mean, “Hear the gospel.” “Take heed what ye hear.” 1. Take care that you hear with a view to obtaining fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Buy the truth, and sell it not._ A DOMESTIC HOMILY ON BUYING THE TRUTH When the wise man counselled his pupil to “buy the truth,” he had the whole range of truth before his mind: truth in history, in science, in social economics, in morals, and in religion. It is a slander that revelation, or the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice._ FILIAL PIETY Respect and love for parents are not, indeed, the motives which operate with the greatest force upon minds renewed by the Spirit of grace and truth. With such the most powerful incentives to action are th... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son, give Me thine heart._ THE HEART A GIFT FOR GOD I. Love prompts this request of wisdom. 1. Only love seeks after love. We care not to be loved by those whom we do not love. When God asks human love it is because God is love. It is an instance of infinite condescension that God should say,... [ Continue Reading ]
_They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine._ THE WOES OF THE DRUNKARD The ugly sketch given here should be enough to warn all young people against tampering with a vice which may make it a portrait of them. The questions, six in number, fall into three pairs, which deal res... [ Continue Reading ]
_They have beaten me and I felt it not: when shall I awake?_ I will seek it yet again. SATAN’S ANESTHETIC 1. The application of anaesthetics to surgery is one of the most beneficent discoveries of the present age. One shudders at the very thought of the surgical operations of the olden days, execu... [ Continue Reading ]