_Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise._ THE EVIL EFFECTS OF DRUNKENNESS I. It deadens every moral sensibility. And what is the evidence of the drunkard himself? On his own declaration, are the principles of virtue as vigorous in his heart now as b... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is an honour for a man to cease from strife._ THE LAW OF HONOUR The rules of life by which men are ordinarily governed are the law of honour, the law of the land, and the law of God. It is the object of religious institutions and instruction to uphold the last of these as the supreme and univer... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing._ THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE The present is intimately related to the future; and the future will faithfully reflect the character. Here is a principle from the operation of which none can escape... [ Continue Reading ]
_Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out._ The getting of wisdom from the wise: I. Wisdom to man is a very valuable thing. 1. It improves the sphere of his being. 2. It improves the power of his being. II. Sane men are favoured with more wisdo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man, who can find?_ ON GOODNESS AND FIDELITY I. What are we to understand by “goodness” and a “faithful man”?--Goodness often means the Whole of a virtuous or religious temper. In Scripture it is sometimes limited to good affection... [ Continue Reading ]
_His children are blessed after him._ THE JUST MAN’S LEGACY 1. Anxiety about our family is natural, but we shall be wise if we turn it into care about our own character. If we walk before the Lord in integrity, we shall do more to bless our descendants than if we bequeathed them large estates. A f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who can say, I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?_ PURITY OF HEART I. Who can say, i have made my heart clean? We read of some who have clean hands, which implies an abstinence from outward sins. A clean heart implies more than this; it relates to the inward temper and disposition,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Divers weights and divers measures; both of them are alike abomination to the Lord._ CAVEAT VENDITOR I. Dishonesty in trade is various in its forms. “Divers weights and divers measures. .. and a false balance.” II. Dishonesty in trade is offensive to God. 1. Dishonesty is known to Him: His eye... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right._ A CHILD’S ACCOUNTABILITY The Bible recovers lost truths, as well as lost souls. The recovery of lost truth is one means of restoring lost souls. It is like a guide in a wilderness, as food in famine, as light... [ Continue Reading ]
_The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them._ EARS AND NO EARS, EYES AND NO EYES 1. There are wise men in the world who will not admit that it was God who made the seeing eye, or the hearing ear, or anything else; who will rather assume that the ear and the eye made... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth._ FRAUD EXPOSED AND CONDEMNED The man who would be really religious, must be influenced by religion in every part of his conduct, and on all occasions, during the week, as well as on the Sabbath; in his int... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is gold, and a multitude of rubies._ ON THE MORAL END OF BUSINESS Let me define my meaning in the use of this phrase--“the moral end of business.” It is not the end for which property should be sought. It is not the moral purpose to be answered by the acquisition, but by the process of acqui... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every purpose is established by counsel._ COUNSEL “Of all apostolic habits the most habitual,” writes arehbishop Benson, “was the usage of counsel. The upper chamber, the house, the home of Mary, Jerusalem, Antioch, the school of Ephesus, the Hired House at Rome, were so many _conciliabula _and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips._ ON KEEPING AWAY PEOPLE WE DON’T WANT Not all insects are welcome visitors to plants; there are unbidden guests who do harm. To their visits there are often obstacles. Stiff hairs, impassably slippery or viscid stems, moats in which the intruders... [ Continue Reading ]
_An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed._ PATIENCE AND PERMANENCE Ours is an age of haste. Short cuts to learning, professional life without due preparation, fortunes before labour; all this foretells disaster and collapse. In behalf of an e... [ Continue Reading ]
_And a false balance is not good._ FALSE BALANCE APPLIED TO PROVIDENCES We may apply a false balance to the providences which make up our life. What skill some people have in dealing only in dark things, black aspects, wintry phases, deprivations, bereavements, losses! They are eloquent when they t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Man’s goings are of the Lord: how can a man then understand his own way?_ MAN’S GOINGS I. The text in its negative bearings. 1. Appeal to Scripture (Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23). 2. Appeal to history. Hazael (2 Kings 8:11). 3. Appeal to your own experience. Is it not true that when you trus... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy._ SELFISHNESS IN RELIGION There were under the Levitical dispensation certain things prescribed by the law as consecrated to God; such as tithes, first-fruits, firstlings of the herds and the flock. There were also things that were volunta... [ Continue Reading ]
_A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them _ PERSECUTION AND RIGHTEOUS PENALTY A passage of this kind may easily be perverted by being used for the purpose of supporting a doctrine of persecution. To bring the wheel over a man seems to be a figurative expression for the v... [ Continue Reading ]
_The glory of young men is their strength._ THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN Power, force, might, strength, are divers names for a thing which always has been, and always will be, admirable in human esteem. In all its forms it is a glorious thing. The man of indomitable will is always an object of reverence... [ Continue Reading ]