_The former treatise have I made._ A TRUE COMMENCEMENT MUST HAVE RESPECT TO WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE In any new beginning of study or work, it is important to have in mind what has been done before in the same line. No one can learn or do to advantage, unless he avails himself of what others have lear... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_To whom also He showed Himself alive after His Passion._ HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD I. The fact itself, or the notion of a resurrection in general. Admitting the power and providence of God, there can be nothing in it repugnant to reason, or incredible. 1. To raise a dead man to life surpasses... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem._ LAST WORDS Before ascending Christ had-- I. A misconception to remove--respecting the date and character of the Messianic Kingdom. II. A promise to bestow. 1. The Father made the promise. 2. Ch... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?_ BEFORE THE ASCENSION I. The question of the apostles. 1. The great awe produced by the first appearances of the risen Christ has worn off during the forty days. He and His are engaged in familiar converse as in days of old. 2. The apo... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you._ THE GIFT OF POWER At first sight this promise seems to be Christ’s response to a universal craving. There is nothing which so awakens man’s ambition as power. It is sweeter to him than bread to the hungry, or home to the wanderer, o... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_And when He had spoken these words, while they beheld, He was taken up._ TAKEN UP How we talk about “up,” took “up” I What eager, earnest; faces are looking up through the clouds of sorrow. The atmosphere above us seems palpitant with the hopes and aspirations of hearts below. The secret of this... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up._ TOO MUCH MERE SENTIMENT IN RELIGION It may be that the same two angels who rolled away the stone, and appeared at His open sepulchre, were present now. Or were they the “two men,” Moses and Elijah, who had appeared at the Transfigura... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_Then returned they unto Jerusalem._ THE RETURN TO JERUSALEM The distance was a “Sabbath-day’s journey”; not that Moses had limited a journey on the Sabbath; but the Rabbins derived the rule from the prohibition to depart, on the sacred day, from the camp, which was supposed to be two miles square... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples._ PETER’S ATTITUDE Mark the bearing of Peter towards his fellow-believers. No priestly attitude does he assume. Though he leads, he associates the whole assembly with himself. He will have _them_ to choose candidates for the apostlesh... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled … concerning Judas._ THE SUBSERVIENCY OF CRIME TO THE PURPOSES OF GOD We know not a more remarkable expression than “The wrath of man shall praise Thee, the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.” The manner in which God overrules w... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us._ THE FAMILIAR SIDE OF CHRIST’S LIFE There are many ways of regarding the life of Christ: _e.g.,_ the philosophical or ideal, as in John’s Gospel; the historical, in its larger world rela... [ Continuer la lecture ]
_And they appointed two._ AN ELECTION SERMON This, the earliest, stands remarkably distinguished from the episcopal elections of after ages. Every one acquainted with history knows that the election of a bishop was one of the fiercest questions which shook the Church of Christ. Appointment by the... [ Continuer la lecture ]