II.A DESCRIPTION OF TRUE FOLLY.

III.AN ALL-IMPORTANT DUTY. Considering our latter end —

1. Reminds us of its certainty.

2. Urges preparation.

3. Will prevent us from being taken by surprise.

(Homilist.)

II. The serious contemplation of death, besides correcting our mistaken notions, WOULD HELP TO MODERATE OUR UNRULY PASSIONS, WHICH ARE SO DIFFICULT TO BE RESTRAINED. At the lively idea of death all the passions subside and leave the soul in a state of serious tranquillity. Pride falls; vanity is extinguished; envy dies; resentment cools; and the fond admiration of worldly things decays and vanishes.

III. An habitual attention to our latter end, as it would wean our affections from the things of time and sense, WOULD FIX THEM UPON OBJECTS OF A SPIRITUAL AND ETERNAL NATURE. The great virtues of the Christian life, such as love to God and love to man, are not, like worldly possessions, of a perishing kind. They continue after this life; they are the qualifications for admission into the kingdom of glory; nay, they constitute the very temper of heaven itself, and are the essential ingredients of future and eternal happiness. Death guides the imagination forward into futurity; it gives the rewards and punishments of the world to come their full weight and impression upon us. Thus, by suggesting the most powerful motives to a godly life, it will naturally deter men from sin and enforce the practice of holiness and virtue. It will engage them to avoid that course of life which would expose them to the future punishment. And it will excite them, by a patient continuance in well doing, to seek for glory, honour, and immortality in the kingdom of heaven. As death, from the consideration of its awful consequences, enforces a holy life; so by representing the shortness and uncertainty of time, it would lead us instantly to set about the great business of human life, and to pursue it with unremitting attention. Why do men allow themselves the continued practice of vice? It is because they flatter themselves with the hopes of living still longer, and with designs of future repentance: and thus the great business of eternity is frequently put off, from day to day, till sickness or death overtakes them. Now there is not a surer, there is not a more effectual, way of avoiding this fatal mistake, than by remembering our latter end.

IV. IT WOULD CAUSE US TO TAKE HEED LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD BE OVERCHARGED WITH SURFEITING AND DRUNKENNESS AND CARES OF THIS WORLD, AND THUS THE DART OF DEATH COME UPON US UNAWARES. It is one of the great advantages of considering death that it would help to keep our temper even and composed in every condition of life. As in prosperity, it would preserve us from insolence, so under adversity, from dejection of mind.

V. In the last place, by frequently meditating on our latter end, WE MIGHT MAKE THE IDEA OF DEATH FAMILIAR TO OUR MINDS, AND OVERCOME THE FEAR OF IT. The awe which it naturally strikes upon the mind wears off in proportion as we increase our acquaintance with it. But instead of cultivating this acquaintance, we industriously avoid it; and the surprise must add to the horror of its appearance whenever it constrains, as sometimes it will constrain, our attention. There are certain occasions on which it is impossible for us to shun the remembrance of death.

(Andrew Donnan.)

1. That it is very certain that such a time as this will once happen to every one of us.

2. That, though it be certain that such a time will once come, it is not certain when it will come.

3. That as it is certain that such a time will once happen to every one of us, but uncertain when, so it is sure that it cannot be long first; for what is our life — the longest life that anyone arrives to? This is to be the object of our consideration, which implies three things.(1) An undoubting assent to the truth of it, for propositions, however true in themselves, if they are not so to me, can make no great impression upon me.(2) A frequent reflecting upon and revolving in my mind; for propositions which I have assented to, if I think not of them, are not like to have much more influence upon me than those which I deny or question.(3) And chiefly, a diligent application of it to the government of my life, and the conducting it by such measures as that belief will suggest; for only such a practical consideration of this latter end will make a man wise.

II. HOW WISE IT WILL MAKE HIM; WHAT WISE PRACTICES WILL BE THE EFFECTS OF SUCH CONSIDERATION. And surely it will be allowed that it will make him very wise if it makes him wise for this world and the next too.

1. As to this world, that is certainly true wisdom which will carry a man most quietly through it with the least vexation. Now, most of the disturbances and uneasiness we meet with here arise either from our own false notions and imprudent pursuit of the good things of this world, or from those evils which befall us by the permission of providence; and the consideration of our latter end will go a great way towards the preventing or removing the former, and the alleviating and supporting us under the latter.

2. But the greatest advantage of the consideration of our latter end is that it makes us wise for the other world.(1) To be frugal of our time, and husband it to the best advantage. This short day is all the season of working; when the night comes no one can work. Have I a great work to do in that short time? Does my eternal bliss or woe depend upon my finishing that work? And can I be so foolish as to squander away this time in idleness or riot, in vain recreations and loose conversation? Shall I suffer sleep and pleasure and sin to share it among them?(2) Not to defer our repentance.(3) To make use of all the means of grace that are offered us, and not neglect one opportunity that is put into our hands of waiting upon God in His holy ordinances, or of doing good to our neighbour according to our power.(4) To go on with the work and service of God, and persevere to the end with alacrity; for it shows me these two things —

(a)That my service can be but short. And —

(b)That I shall quickly receive my wages.

(Bp. Wm. Talbot.)

I. CONSIDER DEATH.

1. Its origin. Man is a suicide. Our sin, the sin of the human race, slays the race. We die because we have sinned. How this should make us hate sin!

2. Its certainty. Die I must. There is a black camel upon which Death rides, say the Arabs, and that must kneel at every man's door. I must cross that river Jordan. I may use a thousand stratagems, but I cannot escape. Even now I am today like the deer surrounded by the hunters in a circle, a circle which is narrowing every day; and soon must I fall and pour out my life upon the ground. Let me never forget, then, that while other things are uncertain, death is sure.

3. Then, looking a little further into this shade, let me remember the time of my death. To God it is fixed and certain. He has ordained the hour in which I must expire. But to me it is quite uncertain. I know not when, nor where, nor how I shall breathe out my life. Oh, let us bethink, then, how uncertain life is. Talk we of a hair; it is something massive when compared with the thread of life. Speak we of a spider's web; it is ponderous compared with the web of life. We are but as a bubble; nay, less substantial. As a moment's foam upon the breaker, such are we. Oh, let us, then, prepare to meet our God, because when and how we shall appear before Him is quite unknown to us.

4. The terrors which surround death. To the best men in the world, dying is a solemn thing — a launching on an unknown sea. Farewell! to that house which I have so fondly called my home. Farewell! to her who has shared my life and been the beloved one of my bosom. Farewell all things — the estate, the gold, the silver. Farewell! earth. The fairest beauties melt away, thy most melodious strains die in the dim distance. I hear no more and see no more. No church bell now shall summon me to the house of God. If I have neglected Christ I shall hear of Christ no more. No grace presented now; no strivings of the Spirit.

5. The results of death. For, verily, its results and terrors to the wicked are the same. Oh, that ye were wise to consider them! Let me, however, remind the Christian that death to him should never be a subject upon which he should be loath to meditate. To die! — to shake off my weakness and to be girded with omnipotence. Say unto them your warfare is accomplished, your sin is pardoned, and you shall see your Lord's face without a veil between.

II. I desire you now to CONSIDER THE WARNING WHICH DEATH HATH ALREADY GIVEN TO EACH ONE OF US. Death hath been very near to many of us; he has crossed the ecliptic of our life many and many a time. That baleful planet has often been in close conjunction with us. Let us just observe how frequently he has been in our house. Think, again, what solemn and repeated warnings we have had of late, not in our families, but, in the wide, wide world. Here, there, everywhere, O Death! I see thy doings. At home, abroad, on the sea, and across the sea, thou art doing marvels. Death has given home-strokes to all of us. Put thy finger in thy own mouth, for thou hast Death's mark there. What mean those decaying teeth, those twitching pains in the gums? — an agony despised by those alone who feel it not. Why do some parts of the house tremble and hurry to decay? Because the rottenness that is in the teeth is in the whole body. You talk of a decayed tooth: remember it is but part of a decayed man. What mean those lungs that are so soon exhausted of their breathing if you travel up a flight of stairs to your bed? Why is it you need your optic glasses to your eyes, but that they that look out of the windows are darkened? Why that affected hearing?

III. And now will you, in the last place, PICTURE YOURSELF AS DYING NOW.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(1)Ignorance of self.

(2)Ignorance of God.

(3)Ignorance of future consequences.And ignorance is folly — inasmuch as it is the cause of folly, the spirit of folly, and the seed of folly.

II. A NEGLECTED DUTY. The "latter end" is the great crisis of existence. Why do men neglect its consideration?

(1)Because the prospect is not pleasant.

(2)Because of the natural buoyancy of human life.

(3)To look at our latter end will give us a true estimate of our own worth.

(4)To look at our latter end will cause us to use the time that remains for the highest ends.

(Homilist.)

II. THE CONSIDERATION WHICH IT DEMANDS.

1. We are to consider that this change must happen to us all.

2. We are to consider that this may happen at any time. It may happen to you in manhood, amidst all the cares and duties of life. It may happen to you in youth. It may appear to you in childhood. Death waits not for confirmed age and trembling years to realise his triumphs, but smites when and where he will.

3. We are to consider our latter end so as to ascertain whether we are prepared to meet it. Are you ready to renounce the things of the present life?

4. Then consider not only whether you are prepared to renounce the things of this life, but whether you are prepared for the events which will immediately follow. Scripture teaches us that two great events will follow immediately upon this latter end of our life; we must meet God, and we must stand in judgment.

5. We are not only to consider whether we are prepared for the great change, but we are deeply to ponder the consequences of being unprepared to meet it.

6. Then consider the method by which alone we can be prepared to meet this last end. Happily we are blessed with a revelation from God; happily that revelation contains within itself the grand preparation of redeeming and recovering mercy; and happily this is the only sovereign remedy, whilst all others are excluded from our confidence and our hope. The method, therefore, by which we can expect to meet God in peace is the method of His own device; devised by His infinite wisdom, and accomplished by a power also infinite, becoming the proof of a love also infinite. Consider that your hope and security lie in not devising your own method of happiness, but in accepting God's method of happiness, in bowing to God's proposition, and believing in God's dear Son.

(A. Reed.)

1. Thoroughly; I mean with judgment and understanding, so as to form just and regular apprehensions concerning its causes and consequences.

2. Seasonably. It must be thought of and provided for beforehand.

II. THE WISDOM AND ADVANTAGE OF CONSIDERING OUR LATTER END.

1. It would help us to form a truer estimate of life.

2. It would dispose us to reason and to act.

(S. Lavington.)

II. Reflect upon THE CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THIS LATTER END, WHICH ARE ESPECIALLY TO BE CONSIDERED. Consider the trials which will be involved in it, the peculiar wants which it will manifest, the results which must flow from it, the provisions which it will require.

III. Upon the authority of the truths which have been thus presented to you, I TRUST I MAY NOW URGE YOU TO A PRACTICAL FULFILMENT OF THIS DUTY. When you consider the latter end of others, and contrast together the various issues of their lives; when you behold the piety of youth and active life rising into the joy and peace of a Christian's departure, and mark the final triumph of a soul which has wisely considered and provided for its whole responsibility, you cannot fail to see how much has been gained by adopting the Gospel as the powerful and practical principle of conduct in the morning of man's day of grace.

(S. H. Tyng, D. D.)

1. One of these may be the perfect distinctness of life and death. They do not partially co-exist in the individual like imperfect health with a degree of illness. We have life absolutely, and death not at all; so that we can make no experimental comparison between them; we cannot know by means of the one what the other is.

2. Again, we think that even the certainty and the universality of death may be numbered among the causes tending to withdraw men's thoughts from it.

3. We might specify another thing as one of the causes sought for; that is, the utter inability to form any defined idea of the manner of existence after death. The thoughts sent onward to that boundary of life cannot stop there; the mere termination itself is nothing; they look beyond; but beyond is thickest darkness, as often as they go there; so that there is, as it were, nothing shown to draw the mind thither to look over the limit. But, after all, the chief causes that there is so little thought and concern on this great subject are of a much more obvious kind, and involving guilt.

4. One is a general presumption of having long to live. In each stage of life still this beguiled confidence is indulged.

5. Another great cause of the thoughtlessness and insensibility (indeed, it is both cause and effect) is that men occupy their whole soul and life with things to preclude the thought of its end.

6. We may add to these causes an inadequate, contracted notion of what is necessary as a preparation for the event.

7. And to give full force to all these causes, there is, in a large proportion of men, a formal, systematic endeavour to keep off the thought of death. A strong action to turn the thoughts in another direction — an amusing book seized, or a hasty recourse to occupation, or an excursion, or a going into a gay circle, possibly a plunge into intemperance. And all the unfortunate things that may have befallen have not been a measure of calamity equal to that involved in the success of this endeavour! We have hardly a moment left for the topics of admonition and remonstrance against indulging such a habit of the soul. But let it be impressed upon us that to end our life is the mightiest event that awaits us in this world. And it is that which we are living but to come to. It holds out a grand protest against being absorbed and lost in this world. It is the termination of a period confessedly introductory and probationary. Without thinking of it, often and with deep interest, there is no possibility that our scheme and course of life should be directed to the supreme purpose of life. To have been thoughtless of it, then, will ultimately be an immense calamity; it will be to be in a state unprepared for it.

(J. Foster.)

2. A vain foolish conceit that the consideration of our latter end is a kind of presage and invitation of it.

3. A great difficulty that ordinarily attends our human condition, to think otherwise concerning our condition than what at present we feel and find.

4. It is true, this is the way of mankind to put from us the evil day, and the thoughts of it; but this our way is our folly, and one of the greatest occasions of those other follies that commonly attend our lives; and therefore the great means to cure this folly and to make us wise, is wisely to consider our latter end.

I. THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR LATTER END DOTH IN NO SORT MAKE OUR LIVES THE SHORTER, BUT IT IS A GREAT MEANS TO MAKE OUR LIVES THE BETTER.

1. It is a great monition and warning of us to avoid sin, and a great means to prevent it. When I shall consider that certainly I must die, and I know not how soon, why should I commit those things, that if they hasten not my latter end, yet they will make it more uneasy and troublesome by the reflection upon what I have done amiss? I may die tomorrow; why should I then commit that evil that will then be gall and bitterness unto me? Would I do it if I were to die tomorrow? why should I then do it today? Perchance it may be the last act of my life, and however let me not conclude so ill; for, for aught I know, it may be my concluding act in this scene of my life.

2. It is a great motive and means to put us upon the best and most profitable improvement of our time.

3. Most certainly the wise consideration of our latter end, and the employing of ourselves, upon that account, upon that one thing necessary, renders the life the most contenting and comfortable life in the world: for as a man, that is aforehand in the world, hath a much more quiet life in order to externals, than he that is behindhand; so such a man that takes his opportunity to gain a stock of grace and favour with God, that hath made his peace with his Maker through Christ Jesus, hath done a great part of the chief business of his life, and is ready upon all occasions, for all conditions, whereunto the Divine Providence shall assign him, whether of life or death, or health or sickness, or poverty or riches; he is, as it were, aforehand in the business and concern of his everlasting, and of his present state also.

II. AS THUS THIS CONSIDERATION MAKES LIFE BETTER, SO IT MAKES DEATH EASY.

1. By frequent consideration of death and dissolution, he is taught not to fear it; he is, as it were, acquainted with it aforehand, by often preparation for it.

2. By frequent consideration of our latter end, death comes to be no surprise unto us.

3. The greatest sting and terror of death are the unrepented sins of the past life; the reflection upon these is that which is the strength, the venom of death itself. He, therefore, that wisely considers his latter end, takes care to make his peace with God in his lifetime; and by true faith and repentance to get his pardon scaled; to husband his time in the fear of God; to observe His will, and keep His laws; to have his conscience clean and clear. And being thus prepared, the malignity of death is cured, and the bitterness of it healed, and the fear of it removed.

4. But that which, above all, makes death easy to such a considering man is this: that by the help of this consideration, and the due improvement of it, as is before shown, death to such a man becomes nothing else but a gate unto a better life. Not so much a dissolution of his present life, as a change of it for a far more glorious, happy, and immortal life. So that though the body dies, the man dies not; for the soul, which is indeed the man, makes but a transition from her life in the body to a life in heaven. I shall now add some cautions that are necessary to be annexed to this consideration.We are to know, that although death be thus subdued, and rendered rather a benefit than a terror to good men; yet —

1. Death is not to be wished or desired, though it be not an object to be feared, it is a thing not to be coveted; for certainly life is the greatest temporal blessing in this world.

2. As the business and employments of our life must not estrange us from the thought of death, so again we must be careful that the overmuch thought of death do not so possess our minds as to make us forget the concerns of our life, nor neglect the business which that portion of time is allowed us for. As the business of fitting our souls for heaven; the sober businesses of our callings, relations, places, stations? Nay, the comfortable, thankful, sober enjoyments of those honest lawful corn forts of our life that God lends us; so as it be done with great sobriety and moderation, as in the presence of God, and with much thankfulness to Him; for this is part of that very duty we owe to God for those very external comforts and blessings we enjoy.

(Sir M. Hale.)

1. To familiarise our minds to the thought of death, and of that eternal state on which death is the entrance.

2. To consider how we may provide for our welfare in our latter end.

3. To devote ourselves mainly to the great work of providing for our welfare in our latter end.

II. THE WISDOM OF ATTENDING TO IT.

1. Because such attention is pleasing to the Most High.

2. Because the neglect of it will infallibly expose us to the tremendous effects of God's righteous indignation.

3. Because it serves to facilitate our victory over the delusions of the world.

4. Because it tends to administer support under every affliction which assails us.

5. Because it will be the means of giving us a good hope in death.

(J. Natt, B. D.)

(J. C. Hare, M. A.)

II. THAT IT IS A GREAT POINT OF WISDOM TO CONSIDER SERIOUSLY THE LAST ISSUE AND CONSEQUENCE OF OUR ACTIONS, whither they tend, and what will follow upon them. And therefore wisdom is here described by the consideration of our latter end.

III. THAT THIS IS AN EXCELLENT MEANS TO PREVENT THAT MISERY WHICH WILL OTHERWISE BEFALL US. And this is necessarily implied in this wish, that if they would but consider these things they might be prevented.

IV. THAT THE WANT OF THIS CONSIDERATION IS THE GREAT CAUSE OF MEN'S RUIN. And this is likewise implied in the words, that one great reason of men's ruin is because they are not so wise as to consider the fatal consequences of a sinful course. This is the desperate folly of mankind, that they seldom think seriously of the consequence of their actions, and least of all such as are of greatest concernment to them, and have the chief influence upon their eternal condition. They do not consider what mischief and inconveniency a wicked life may plunge them into in this world, what trouble and disturbance it may give them when they come to die.

1. That consideration is the proper act of reasonable creatures, and that whereby we show ourselves men. So the prophet intimates (Isaiah 46:8).

2. Whether we consider it or not, our latter end will come; and all those dismal consequences of a sinful course, which God hath so plainly threatened, and our own consciences do so much dread, will certainly overtake us at last; and we cannot by not thinking of these things ever prevent or avoid them.

(Archbishop Tillotson.)

1. Death will part asunder the body and the soul.

2. Death will dissolve all our earthly ties.

3. Death will strip us of all our titles, and of that office, power, and influence which they imply.

4. Death will level all distinctions.

5. Death will strip us of our earthly possessions.

6. Death must bring all our schemes to a close.

7. Death will finish our period of usefulness.

8. Death will finish our character, and close our accounts for the judgment.

II. THE WISDOM OF PROPERLY CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR LATTER END.

1. God has pronounced it wise to consider our latter end, and act with constant and careful reference to the life to come.

2. The wisdom of such a course is inferred from the fact that in all other things we consider it indispensable.

3. To make death a matter of previous calculation is necessary to the promotion of our temporal interest and that of our heirs.

4. To well consider our latter end will tend to forward our preparation for the scenes of death.

(D. A. Clark.)

(George Macdonald.)

(J. Spencer.)

     5694   generation
     6130   corruption
     7115   children of God
     8840   unfaithfulness, to God

Deuteronomy 32:15-21

     8705   apostasy, in OT

Deuteronomy 32:18-20

     6232   rejection of God, results

Their Rock and Our Rock
'Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being Judges.' DEUT. xxxii. 31. Moses is about to leave the people whom he had led so long, and his last words are words of solemn warning. He exhorts them to cleave to God. The words of the text simply mean that the history of the nation had sufficiently proved that God, their God, was 'above all gods.' The Canaanites and all the enemies whom Israel had fought had been beaten, and in their awe of this warrior people acknowledged that their …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Memento Mori
I propose this morning, as God shall help me, to lead you to consider your latter end. May the Holy Spirit bend your thoughts downward to the tomb. May he guide you to the grave, that you may there see the end of all earthly hopes, of all worldly pomp and show. In doing this, I shall thus divide my subject. First, let us consider Death, secondly, let us push on the consideration by considering the warnings which Death has given us already; and then, further, let us picture ourselves as dying,--bringing …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Religion --A Reality
Now we will grant you this morning that much of the religion which is abroad in the world is a vain thing. The religion of ceremonies is vain. If a man shall trust in the gorgeous pomp of uncommanded mysteries, if he shall consider that there resides some mystic efficacy in a priest, and that by uttering certain words a blessing is infallibly received, we tell him that his religion is a vain thing. You might as well go to the Witch of Endor for grace as to a priest; and if you rely upon words, the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

At a Public Fast in July, First Sabbath, 1650. (257)
At A Public Fast In July, First Sabbath, 1650.(257) Deut. xxxii. 4-7.--"He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment," &c. There are two things which may comprehend all religion,--the knowledge of God and of ourselves. These are the principles of religion, and are so nearly conjoined together, that the one cannot be truly without the other, much less savingly. It is no wonder that Moses craved attention, and that, to the end he may attain it from an hard hearted deaf people, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jeremy Taylor -- Christ's Advent to Judgment
Jeremy Taylor, born in Cambridge, England, in 1613, was the son of a barber. By his talents he obtained an entrance into Caius College, where his exceptional progress obtained for him admission to the ministry in his twenty-first year, two years before the canonical age. He was appointed in succession fellow of All Souls, Oxford, through the influence of Laud, chaplain to the King, and rector of Uppingham. During the Commonwealth he was expelled from his living and opened a school in Wales, employing …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Vol. 2

a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Appendix xvi. On the Jewish views About Demons' and the Demonised,' Together with Some Notes on the Intercourse Between Jews and Jewish Christians in the First Centuries.
IT is not, of course, our purpose here to attempt an exhaustive account of the Jewish views on demons' and the demonised.' A few preliminary strictures were, however, necessary on a work upon which writers on this subject have too implictly relied. I refer to Gfrörer's Jahrhundert des Heils (especially vol. i. pp. 378-424). Gfrörer sets out by quoting a passage in the Book of Enoch on which he lays great stress, but which critical inquiries of Dillmann and other scholars have shown to be …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Truth of God
The next attribute is God's truth. A God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he.' Deut 32:4. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.' Psa 57:10. Plenteous in truth.' Psa 86:15. I. God is the truth. He is true in a physical sense; true in his being: he has a real subsistence, and gives a being to others. He is true in a moral sense; he is true sine errore, without errors; et sine fallacia, without deceit. God is prima veritas, the pattern and prototype …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Finding
Heinrich Suso Deut. xxxii. 10 Now have I seen Thee and found Thee, For Thou hast found Thy sheep; I fled, but Thy love would follow-- I strayed, but Thy grace would keep. Thou hast granted my heart's desire-- Most blest of the blessed is he Who findeth no rest and no sweetness Till he rests, O Lord, in Thee. O Lord, Thou seest, Thou knowest, That to none my heart can tell The joy and the love and the sorrow, The tale that my heart knows well. But to Thee, O my God, I can tell it-- To Thee, and …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

viii
We have not treated the Latin Church after that fashion. There is not a hymn of real merit in the Latin which has not been translated, and in not a few cases oftener than once, with the result that the gems of Latin hymnody are the valued possession of the Christian Church in all English-speaking lands. One does not proceed far without making some discoveries which may account, to a certain extent, for the neglect of Greek hymnody by those men who are best qualified to pursue the study of it. The …
John Brownlie—Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church

The Call of Moses
There is a great deal more room given in Scripture to the call of men to God's work than there is to their end. For instance, we don't know where Isaiah died, or how he died, but we know a great deal about the call God gave him, when he saw God on high and lifted up on His throne. I suppose that it is true to-day that hundreds of young men and women who are listening for a call and really want to know what their life's mission is, perhaps find it the greatest problem they ever had. Some don't …
Dwight L. Moody—Men of the Bible

Perhaps There is no Book Within the Whole Canon of Scripture So Perplexing and Anomalous...
Perhaps there is no book within the whole canon of Scripture so perplexing and anomalous, at first sight, as that entitled "Ecclesiastes." Its terrible hopelessness, its bold expression of those difficulties with which man is surrounded on every side, the apparent fruitlessness of its quest after good, the unsatisfactory character, from a Christian standpoint, of its conclusion: all these points have made it, at one and the same time, an enigma to the superficial student of the Word, and the arsenal …
F. C. Jennings—Old Groans and New Songs

Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

God's True Treasure in Man
'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.'--DEUT, xxxii.9. 'Jesus Christ (Who) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--TITUS ii. 14. I choose these two texts because they together present us with the other side of the thought to that which I have elsewhere considered, that man's true treasure is in God. That great axiom of the religious consciousness, which pervades the whole of Scripture, is rapturously …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Necessity of Regeneration, Argued from the Immutable Constitution of God.
John III. 3. John III. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. WHILE the ministers of Christ are discoursing of such a subject, as I have before me in the course of these Lectures, and particularly in this branch of them which I am now entering upon, we may surely, with the utmost reason, address our hearers in those words of Moses to Israel, in the conclusion of his dying discourse: Set your hearts unto all …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Lix. The Preacher and his Hearers.
22nd Sunday after Trinity. S. Matthew xviii. 23. "The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." INTRODUCTION.--I have been a good deal abroad, over the Continent of Europe, and whenever I am in a little country inn, I make a point of going into the room where the men are smoking and drinking wine or beer, and hearing their opinions on the politics of the day, and of their country. Now, my experience tells me that in country taverns in France, and …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Jewish Dispersion in the West - the Hellenists - Origin of Hellenist Literature in the Greek Translation of the Bible - Character of the Septuagint.
When we turn from the Jewish dispersion' in the East to that in the West, we seem to breathe quite a different atmosphere. Despite their intense nationalism, all unconsciously to themselves, their mental characteristics and tendencies were in the opposite direction from those of their brethren. With those of the East rested the future of Judaism; with them of the West, in a sense, that of the world. The one represented old Israel, stretching forth its hands to where the dawn of a new day was about …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Early Life of Malachy. Having Been Admitted to Holy Orders He Associates with Malchus
[Sidenote: 1095.] 1. Our Malachy, born in Ireland,[134] of a barbarous people, was brought up there, and there received his education. But from the barbarism of his birth he contracted no taint, any more than the fishes of the sea from their native salt. But how delightful to reflect, that uncultured barbarism should have produced for us so worthy[135] a fellow-citizen with the saints and member of the household of God.[136] He who brings honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock[137] …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Christian's God
Scripture References: Genesis 1:1; 17:1; Exodus 34:6,7; 20:3-7; Deuteronomy 32:4; 33:27; Isaiah 40:28; 45:21; Psalm 90:2; 145:17; 139:1-12; John 1:1-5; 1:18; 4:23,24; 14:6-11; Matthew 28:19,20; Revelation 4:11; 22:13. WHO IS GOD? How Shall We Think of God?--"Upon the conception that is entertained of God will depend the nature and quality of the religion of any soul or race; and in accordance with the view that is held of God, His nature, His character and His relation to other beings, the spirit …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great