_We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain _ WORKERS TOGETHER Once when a number of employees were invited down to Mr. George Moore’s country house, Mrs. Moore, going out one morning, met a venerable man standing and staring about him wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted … behold now is the accepted time … the day of salvation._ NOW God never says “Behold,” without tolling something worth listening to. I. Salvation the thing to be sought. 1. Greatly needed. 2. Graciously provided. 3. Gratuitously proffered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Giving no offence ._ .. that the ministry be not blamed. MINISTERS CAUTIONED AGAINST GIVING OFFENCE To preach and to act so that none shall be offended would indeed be an impossible task; and that can never be our duty, which is wholly out of our power. The tastes of our hearers are so opposite... [ Continue Reading ]
_By pureness._ PURENESS The Greek word--like the cognate form, “holiness”--seems to come from a root denoting reverence. It suggests the thought of the awe with which nature herself regards the presence of purity. All kinds of purity carry an awe with them. Whether it be the purity of aim and motiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_As unknown, and yet well known._ A CATALOGUE OF CONTRADICTIONS In these and preceding verses we have the grand characteristics of apostolic life. 1. Their difficulties and dangers. 2. The methods of their ministry. 3. The seeming contradictions that made up their life. Examining these in order... [ Continue Reading ]
_O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged._ A CHRISTIAN MINISTER’S APPEAL I. The appeal of a revived minister, 1. It consists of a full exhibition to you of all the truths which the gospel teaches for your salvation. 2. It comprises an affectionate desire for your enjo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers._ UNEQUALLY YOKED This peculiar word has a cognate form in the law which forbids the breeding of hybrid animals (Leviticus 19:19). God has established a good physical order in the world, and it is not to be confounded and disfigured by the mixing... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye are the temple of the living God._ THE SOUL TEMPLE From this analogy between the Christian’s soul and the old Jewish temple we learn concerning Christians that-- I. They are the objects of special Divine regard. At the beginning of the promises which God made concerning the old temple, He sai... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate._ SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD When a person conversant with the vegetable productions of the earth, observes in the forest a plant whose properties he is desirous of improving, he removes it from its native wild into his garden. There, rooted... [ Continue Reading ]