2. Apart from redeeming grace, the sinner is hopelessly lost to God, because God is hopelessly lost to the sinner. The evidences of this loss are many and various. The providential rule of God over men is carried on that they "might seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him." The whole scheme of grace rests upon, as it was rendered necessary by, men's loss of God. It is not merely God's plan for seeking lost men, but God's plan for coming near to men and being found of them.

3. If we look at men themselves, it is evident that, to all that have not found Him in His appointed way of grace, the Lord is lost. Witness the conscious or unconscious expression of this loss, in manifold ways and forms; in men's corrupt, miserable condition, their restlessness and aimlessness, their hunt for substitutes of the lost Lord, their self-righteousness, their strange discontents, until they seek and find the Lord. Is not the Lord lost out of men's hearts, creating by His absence a void there which only Himself can fill; out of men's consciences, so that the fear of man has more authority and power with them than the fear of God; out of men's minds, so that God is rarely, if ever, in all their thoughts, or is misunderstood and misinterpreted, and spiritual things cannot be discerned or welcomed; and finally, out of their lives, so that men can live and love without Him, can live to themselves, can live as though there were no God?

4. This is the greatest loss of all. What more has a man, if he has lost the Lord, and has not again found Him, in a world where the Lord is needed so much, where nothing else can make good the loss, and where yet the lost Lord may be found? How welcome to men should be the voice from heaven that tells them that the lost Lord has come near, and may be found, and how and where and when.

(Alex. Warrack, M. A.)

I. CONSIDER WHAT WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND BY SEEKING THE LORD. The sense in which this is to be taken is explained by the succeeding verses, "Let," etc. It is as a God, who will have mercy on the worst, and abundantly pardon the wickedest, that we are to seek the Lord — seeking Him without an hour's delay. We may, as man has often done, stand at a human bar" conscious of our innocence. We may refuse to put in a plea for mercy; boldly declaring that we want nothing more, and will accept of nothing less, than impartial justice. At God's tribunal, however, it is very different. There, simple justice were sure damnation. It is as just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus, that we are to seek the Lord; and all the blessings which in that gracious character He has, and He promises, to bestow.

II. INQUIRE WHEN THESE THINGS ARE TO BE OBTAINED.

1. The Lord, as bestowing the pardon of sin and salvation of the soul, is to be found in this world, not in another.

2. The Lord is not to be found on a deathbed.

3. The Lord is more likely to be found now than at any future time. We can foretell neither what, nor where we shall be to-morrow. Sin is like the descent of a hill, where every step we take increases the difficulty of our return. Sin is like a river in its course; the longer it runs, it wears a deeper channel, and the farther from the fountain, it swells in volume and acquires a greater strength. Sin is like a tree in its progress; the longer it grows, it spreads its roots the wider; grows taller; grows thicker; till the sapling which once an infant's arm could bend, raises its head aloft, defiant of the storm. Sin in its habits becomes stronger every day — the heart grows harder; the conscience grows duller; the distance between God and the soul grows greater; and, like a rock hurled from the mountain's top, the farther we descend, we go down, and down, and down, with greater and greater rapidity. How easy, for example, is it to touch the conscience of childhood; but how difficult to break in on the torpor of a hoary head!

III. THE SHORTNESS AND UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE ARE STRONG REASONS FORESEEKING PARDON AND SALVATION NOW.

( T. Guthrie, D. D.)

(W. Jay.)

I. AS AN INJUNCTION TO DUTY. This seeking of God is to be considered, not only as initial, but as repeated and constant.

II. AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO HOPE. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." We have the very same thought in the thirty-second Psalm, where it is said, "For this shall every one that in godly pray unto Thee in a tune when Thou mayest be found." "We are saved by hope." And what a foundation is laid for this confidence! What a foundation is laid in the Word of the Gospel. What a foundation is laid in His invitations. How encouraging is all this! If possibility will sometimes move people, and if probability will commonly move them, how much more will actual certainty influence them; especially when the prize is nothing less than the possession of God — the God of an grace and of glory!

III. AS A SECURITY FROM PRESUMPTION. Though God is to be found, He is not always to be found.

(W. Jay.)

1. The mercy-seat, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. In the Gospel. What is the Gospel? Just the tones of the voice of Jesus Christ, prolonged and perpetuated in the language of man.

3. In the preaching of His word.

4. At the communion-table.

II. WHEN?

1. In time as opposed to eternity.

2. On the Sabbath.

3. In the season of affliction.

4. in an emphatic sense, seek God. now, for "now is the. accepted time," etc.

(J. Cumming, D. D.)

I. THE GOD-SEEKING WORK. "Seek the Lord." But the Scriptures represent God as seeking man: this being the case, is it not strange to urge man to seek God? The fact that He seeks us is the ground and reason why we should seek Him. The call of God to us, and His search for us, is our greatest encouragement in seeking Him; for it is a pledge that our calling and seeking will not be fruitless. The text, in the words "seek' and "cell," indicates the method by which we should "seek-the Lord." We must return to Him b humble, penitential prayer Seek — Him by the guidance of His word: under the inspiration of His Spirit: through the mediation of His Son. Prove the sincerity of your search by endeavouring to comply with His will. "Let the wicked forsake," etc. This is the most urgent duty of sinful man. We can be truly blessed only union with God.

II. THE GOD-SEEKING SEASON.

1. There is a season when the Lord may be found — a time when He is near. He may be found when we feel Him near to us. There are times of spiritual awakening and revival, when we feel the presence and power of God; then may He be found. Them are occasions when we hear His voice,: and feel His influence in the events of life; then may He be found. There are seasons when by the preaching of His word He awakens earnest thought, carries conviction to the conscience, and inspires the heart with noble desires; then may He be found. Now may He be found.

2. There will come a season when the Lord may not be found — a time when He will not be near. Locally, He will be near to all beings everywhere and for ever; but, if any one persist in neglecting merciful calls and gracious offers, there will come a time when such an one will hear no kindly voice from Him, will feel no saving influence from Him. There came such a time in the life of King Saul; and the lost man cried in agony, — "God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams." By your own interest, I urge you to seek Him at once. By the solicitude of God for your well-being.

(W. Jones.)

I. THE OBJECT, whom we must seek.

1. God hath made Himself an Object to be sought.

2. He is the sole and adequate Object of our desires.

II. THE ACT; what it is to seek Him.

III. THE TIME; when we must seek the Lord. "While He may be found." There is no time to seek Him but now. For —

1. It is the greatest folly in the world thus to play with danger, to seek death first in the errors of our life, and then, when we have run our course, and death is ready to devour us, to look faintly back upon life. The later we seek, the less able we shall be to seek; the further we stray, the less willing to return.

2. It is dangerous in respect of God Himself, whose call we regard not, whose counsels we reject, whose patience we daily with, whose judgments we slight, and so tread that mercy under our feet which should save us, and will not seek Him yet, because we presume that, though we grieve His Spirit, though we resist His Spirit, though we blaspheme His Spirit, yet, after all these scorns and contempts, He will yet sue unto us, and offer Himself, and be found at any time in which we shall think convenient to seek Him.

(A. Farindon, B. D.)

1. You cannot become regenerate unless you know the truths of religion. Now, every period of life is not alike proper for disposing the body to this happy temperature, which leaves the soul at liberty for reflection and thought. If we defer the acquisition of religious knowledge till age has chilled the blood, obscured the understanding, enfeebled the memory, and confirmed prejudice and obstinacy, it is almost impossible to be in a situation to acquire that information without which our religion can neither be agreeable to God, afford us solid consolation in affliction, nor motive sufficient against temptation.

2. The soul not only loses with time the facility of discerning error from truth, but after having for a considerable time habituated itself to converse solely with sensible objects, it is almost impossible to attach it to any other. In order to conversion, we must have a radical and habitual love to God. This principle being allowed, all that we have to say against the delay of conversion becomes self-established. The whole question is reduced to this; if at the extremity of life, if in a short and fleeting moment, you can acquire this habit of Divine love, then we will preach no more against delay. But if time, labour, and will, are required to form this genuine source of love to God, you should frankly acknowledge the folly of postponing so important a work for a single moment. This being allowed, we shall establish, on two principles, all that we have to advance upon this subject.(1) We cannot acquire any habit without performing the correspondent actions.(2) When a habit is once rooted, it becomes difficult or impossible to correct it, in proportion as it is confirmed. Habits of the mind are formed as habits of the body; the former become as incorrigible as the latter. As, then, in the acquisition of a corporeal habit, we must perform the correspondent actions, so in forming the habits of religion, of love, humility, patience, charity, we must habituate ourselves to the duties of patience, humility and love. Further, we must not only engage in the offices of piety to form the habit, but they must be frequent; just as we repeat acts of vice to form a vicious habit. We make a rapid progress in the career of vice. But the habits of holiness are directly opposed to our constitution. When we wish to become converts, we assume a double task; we must demolish, we must build. Such is the only way by which we can expect the establishment of grace in the heart; it is by unremitting labour, by perseverance in duty, and by perpetual vigilance. Now, who does not perceive the folly of those who procrastinate their conversion? who imagine that a word from a minister, a prospect of death, a sudden resolution, can instantaneously produce perfection of virtue?

II. WE SHALL DEMONSTRATE THAT REVELATION PERFECTLY .ACCORDS WITH NATURE ON THIS HEAD; and that whatever the Bible has taught concerning the efficiency of grace, the supernatural aids of the Spirit, and the extent of mercy, favours, in no respect, the delay of conversion.

1. The first proofs of which people avail themselves, to excuse their negligence and delay, and the first arguments of defence, which they draw from the Scriptures, in order to oppose us, are taken from the aids of the Spirit, promised in the new covenant. To this objection we must reply. We shall manifest its absurdity —(1) By the ministry God has established in the Church.(2) By the efforts He requires us to make, previously to our presuming that we have received the Holy Spirit —(3) By the manner in which He requires us to co-operate with the Spirit, when we have received Him.(4) By the punishments He has denounced against those who resist His work.(5) By the conclusions which the Scripture itself deduces from our natural weakness, and from the necessity of grace.

2. The notion of the mercy of God is a second source of illusion. "God is merciful," say they, "the covenant He has established with man is a covenant of grace. A general amnesty is granted to every sinner. Hence, though our conversion be defective, God will receive our dying breath, and yield to our tears. What, then, should deter us from giving free scope to our passions, and deferring the rigorous duties of conversion, till we are nothing worth for the world?" Detestable sophism l Here is the highest stage of corruption, the supreme degree of ingratitude.

III. WE SHALL ENDEAVOUR TO CONFIRM THE DOCTRINES OF REASON AND REVELATION BY DAILY OBSERVATIONS ON THOSE WHO DEFER THE CHANGE.

1. You may oppose to us two classes of examples. In the first class, you may arrange those instantaneous conversions which grace has effectuated in a moment by a single stroke; and which apparently destroy what we have advanced on the force of habits, and on the economy of the Holy Spirit. In the second class, you will put those other sinners who, after the perpetration of enormous crimes, have obtained remission by a sigh, by a wish, by a few tears; and afford presumptive hopes, that to whatever excess we may carry our crimes, we shall never exceed the terms of mercy, or obstruct reception at the throne of grace. Consider that many of these conversions are not only out of the common course of religion, but also that they could not have been effectuated by lees than miraculous powers. Consider that, among all those sinners, there was not one in the situation of a Christian who delays conversion to the close of life. Consider that you are enlightened with meridian lustre, which they had scarcely seen. Consider that you are pressed with a thousand motives unknown to them. Consider that they continued, for the most part, but a short time in sin; but you have wasted life in folly. Consider that they possessed distinguished virtues, which rendered them dear to God; but you have nothing to offer Him but dissipation or indolence. Consider that they were distinguished by repentance, which afforded constant proof of their sincerity . whereas it is still doubtful whether you shall ever be converted, and you go the way to make it impossible. See, then, whether your arguments are just, and whether your hopes are properly founded.

2. Hitherto we have examined the cases of those sinners who apparently contradict our principles; let us briefly review those by which they are confirmed. Let us 1)rove that the long-suffering of God has its limits; and that in order to find Him propitious, we must "seek Him while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near." Three distinguished classes of examples confirm these illustrious truths.

(1)Public catastrophes.

(2)Obdurate sinners.

(3)Dying men. Happy are they who are cautioned by the calamities of others!

(J. Saurin.)

1. Here is a condition of time. "While He may be found." "While He is near."

2. Then, there are conditions on the part of men. The wicked is to forsake his .way, etc.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

I. THAT THE LORD IS SPECIALLY NEAR TO SOME.

1. To the young. It is not mere poetry, but a literal fact, that "Heaven lies about us in our infancy." The soul then is —

(1)Purer.

(2)More tender.

(3)Less rebellious.

2. To those who are convinced of sin and are conscious of their need of Him The distance between the soul and God is not a physical, but a moral one. God cannot come near to the soul that clings to its guilt with a culpable pertinacity. But when that pertinacity gives way to penitence He draws near and presents a pardon, and then the hand of faith has only to be stretched out to receive it.

II. THAT THOSE TO WHOM THE LORD IS THUS NEAR MAY EASILY FIND HIM NOW, BUT MAY FIND HIM ONLY WITH DIFFICULTY IN AFTER YEARS, OR MAY NOT FIND HIM AT ALL. Childhood and youthhood, how soon they are succeeded by manhood, and, unless there be early and immediate reformation, by maturity in selfishness and sin 1 Convictions, deep, fervent, strong, how soon they are consumed by contact with the world, unless they are immediately turned to good account! Delay will bring —

1. More difficulty.

2. More danger.

3. Damnation!

III. THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR THE OLDEST AND MOST HARDENED SINNERS WHO HAVE ALLOWED THEIR BEST TIME FOR SEEKING THE LORD TO PASS. Salvation is offered them; but there are conditions which "they will. find it difficult to comply with."

1. The casting off of evil habits. Let the wicked forsake his way."

2. The abandonment of impious iniquitous, thoughts. "And the unrighteous man his thoughts."

3. The sub'-mission and surrender of the soul to God. "And let him return unto the Lord.'" Are you prepared to comply with these conditions, hard, rigorous, only because your sins have made them so? If so, you are offered —

(1)Mercy sufficient, comprehensive, to cover your sins.

(2)Multiplied pardon to cancel, your multiplied transgressions and crimes.Conclusion: Do not defer your soul's safety until —

(1)To-morrow. Christ may not be "near" then; may not be found though you "call."

(2)Your dying hour. You may be delirious, or so surprised or so stultified by your affliction as to be "disinclined to seek."

(E. D. Solomon.)

I. SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE DONE.

II. SOMETHING THAT MAY BE ENJOYED.

(Principal Morison, D. D.)

II. BLESSING is held out to view on the other.

(Principal Morison, D. D.)

I. CONSIDER TWO OR THREE EVIDENCES OF THIS STARTLING FACT.

1. Here is a company of persons. It is the time for pleasant talk and the happy methods by which men give the hours wing. What wide circle the conversation sweeps. And yet through all the company there is a severe proscription of one subject. There is a certain rule of breeding or taste or custom to which all defer. Suppose, for a moment, that one should break the rule and begin to talk of God in a reverent way, would not all feel that a dissonant chord was struck? Would not talk about God be very apt to be voted out, even in such a rightfully glad company? Is it not a quick, true test of the way they feel about Him? They have no sense of a blessed intimacy with Him.

2. Behold, also, the fact of a lost Lord in the universal feeling that, while it is natural for a man to love certain earthly objects — his children, for example — it is somehow not natural for a man to love God as he feels all the time he ought.

3. See, too, a further evidence of the fact in the attitude of the conscience toward Him. Man cannot get out of himself the conviction that the condition of soul which God intended for him is that of a sweet intimacy with Himself. And yet, like the cherubim at the gates of Eden with the flaming swords flashing every way, conscience stands preventing entrance into such condition. Man is consciously a criminal at the bar of the inviolable law; and standing there speechless and helpless, God is the most fearful being in the universe to the man. And yet, never with his Lord thus lost can man be at peace.

II. A METHOD OF SEARCH FOR THE LOST LORD.

1. "Let the wicked forsake," etc.

2. "Let him return," etc. Repentance is double-sided. Not only must the man forsake, he must return.

III. THE SURE RESULT OF SUCH RIGID SEARCH — the Lord will have mercy and will abundantly pardon.

IV. THE TIME FOR SUCH RIGID SEARCH FOR THE LOST LORD — "While He may be found." That time is now, because refusal to seek God forces one into the firmer habit of hostility to Him.

(W. Hoyt, D. D.)

2. But you will naturally ask: "Does not the Bible teach us something more than this? something more than that God cannot be found out by dint of intellectual research?" Yes! Admitting God to be unknowable, it yet affirms that He may be known. We cannot find Him out to perfection, but He sufficiently, and most truly, reveals Himself to us in His works, in His Word, in His Son. God's thoughts and ways, we are told, are as high above ours as the heavens above the earth. But the heavens, high as they are, are yet known to us; and, though known, are yet unknown. We none of us know all that the heavens contain and reveal, nor all the laws which are at work upon and within them. But though "heaven" be so imperfectly known to us, does any sane man doubt that there is a heaven, or that it holds within it the sun, moon, and stars? Does any sane man doubt that we know something of the mechanical and chemical structure of the heavenly bodies, of the laws by which their movements are governed and controlled, of the mode in which they affect us, and the world in which we live, and the other worlds related to them? Unknown to us, and even unknowable, not to be found out to perfection, we nevertheless know them — know at least enough of the heavens to be sure that they exist, and to guide us in all the practical purposes of life. And it is precisely in the same sense that God is both known to us, and unknown. We have not learned, we cannot learn, all that He is, all that He does, or all the reasons which determine the several aspects and movements of His providence: but we may know, we do know and are sure, that He is, and that He rules over all. No doubt we know Him, in part, by our reason. It is not to reason alone, nor to reason mainly, that the Bible appeals. The Bible nowhere deals with God as a problem to be demonstrated, nor professes to give a complete or a philosophical view of His Being and the qualities of His Being. It shows us a more excellent way of finding Him. It affirms that as we ourselves grow in righteousness we shall come to know Him who is righteous; that as we grow in purity we shall see Him who is pure; that as we grow in love we shall become one with Him who is love. "Blessed are he pure in heart, for they shall see God." And is that not the way in which we come to know all persons, and especially good persons? The child does not know his father perfectly: but need he doubt that he has a father? The child can never know the goodness of a good father until he becomes good himself and a father: but need we, therefore, doubt whether his father be a good man? And may not we in like manner know that God is; do we not know that He is, although we are but children in understanding? If you have once come to know God for yourselves in this most natural yet Divine way, you will cleave to Him, and to your faith in Him, though the heavens should fall and time should be no more. Your feet are on the rock, and the everlasting arms are about you for evermore.

(S. Cox, D. D.)

(S. Cox, D. D.)

(Anon.)

( Ambrose.)

(D. L. Moody.)

(Christian Age.)

(Gregory.)

(Sunday School Chronicle.)

(J. R. Miller, D. D.)

     4903   time
     4926   delay, human
     4937   fate, fatalism
     4966   present, the
     4971   seasons, of life
     6203   mortality
     6663   freedom, of will

Isaiah 55:6-7

     2425   gospel, requirements
     5048   opportunities, and salvation
     5940   searching
     6627   conversion, nature of
     6636   drawing near to God
     6653   forgiveness, divine
     6734   repentance, importance
     8160   seeking God
     8466   reformation

Isaiah 55:6-8

     8764   forgetting God

Isaiah 55:6-9

     8604   prayer, response to God

December 14. "Instead of the Thorn Shall Come up the Fir Tree" (Isa. Lv. 13).
"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree" (Isa. lv. 13). Difficulties and obstacles are God's challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fulness and all-sufficiency of Jesus, and as we go forward, simply and fully trusting Him, we may be tested, we may have to wait and let patience have her perfect work, but we shall surely find at last the stone rolled away, and the Lord waiting to render unto us double …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Great Proclamation
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.'--ISAIAH lv.1. The meaning of the word preach is 'proclaim like a herald'; or, what is perhaps more familiar to most of us, like a town-crier; with a loud voice, clearly and plainly delivering the message. Now, there are other notions of a sermon than that; and there is other work which ministers have to do, of an educational kind. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Ways and Man's
'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'-- ISAIAH lv. 8, 9. Scripture gives us no revelations concerning God merely in order that we may know about Him. These words are grand poetry and noble theology, but they are meant practically and in fiery earnestness. The 'for' at the beginning of each clause points us back to the previous …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Free Salvation
I. In the first place, then, I have to preach, to-night, WINE AND MILK--"Come buy wine and milk." There we have a description of the gospel--wine that maketh glad the heart of man; milk, the one thing and the only thing in the world which contains all the essentials of life. The strongest man might live on milk, for in it. there is everything which is needed for the human frame--for bone, for sinew, for nerve, for muscle, for flesh--all is there. There you have a double description. The gospel is …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Need and Nature of Conversion
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."--Isaiah 55:7. SOME years ago,[3]* I preached from the last four words of this verse, laying special stress upon the abundant pardon which is given to repenting sinners through the rich mercy of our God. On this occasion, I am going to put the emphasis upon the first part of the verse, speaking more upon the necessity …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 48: 1902

A God-Given Field (1894-1900)
"Lord, there is none beside thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength; help us, O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are come against this multitude" (2 Chron. 14:11). THE story of the opening of Changte is so connected by a chain of prayer that to give isolated instances of prayer would be to break the chain. * * * * * A few months after our arrival in China an old, experienced missionary kindly volunteered to conduct Mr. Goforth and …
Rosalind Goforth—How I Know God Answers Prayer

The Covenant of Grace
Q-20: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH 1N THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY? A: No! He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver the elect out of that state, and to bring them into a state of grace by a Redeemer. 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Isa 55:5. Man being by his fall plunged into a labyrinth of misery, and having no way left to recover himself, God was pleased to enter into a new covenant with him, and to restore him to life by a Redeemer. The great proposition I shall go …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

A New Agency Needed
"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."[3] How true are these words! When the LORD is bringing in great blessing in the best possible way, how oftentimes our unbelieving hearts are feeling, if not saying, like Jacob of old, "All these things are against me." Or we are filled with fear, as were the disciples when the LORD, walking on the …
James Hudson Taylor—A Retrospect

My Beloved is Mine and I am His; He Feedeth among the Lilies.
O inconceivable happiness of a soul wholly and unreservedly devoted to her beloved, and to whom the Well-beloved is all! The Spouse is here so enamored of the goodness and caresses of the Bridegroom manifested for the purpose of obliging her to leave herself, that she thinks she has already arrived at the height of felicity and summit of perfection, and that her marriage is now to take place. She says that her Beloved is hers, to dispose of as pleases Him, and that she is His, for the whole extent …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

The Warmly Affectionate Dutch
Sunday, 22.--I went to the new church, so called still, though four or five hundred years old. It is larger, higher, and better illuminated than most of our cathedrals. The screen that divides the church from the choir is of polished brass and shines like gold. I understood the Psalms that were sung, and the text well, and a little of the sermon which Mr. De H. delivered with great earnestness. At two I began the service at the English church, an elegant building, about the size of West Street Chapel. …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Passing and the Permanent
'For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.'--ISAIAH liv, 10.-- There is something of music in the very sound of these words. The stately march of the grand English translation lends itself with wonderful beauty to the melody of Isaiah's words. But the thought that lies below them, sweeping as it does through the whole creation, and parting all things …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Immanuel
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name IMMANUEL , God with us. T here is a signature of wisdom and power impressed upon the works of God, which evidently distinguishes them from the feeble imitations of men. Not only the splendour of the sun, but the glimmering light of the glow-worm proclaims His glory. The structure and growth of a blade of grass, are the effects of the same power which produced the fabric of the heavens and the earth. In His Word likewise He is …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

"And this is his Commandment," &C.
1 John iii. 23.--"And this is his commandment," &c. There are different tempers of mind among men, some more smooth and pliable, others more refractory and froward. Some may be persuaded by love, who cannot be constrained by fear. With some a request will more prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath some regard to this in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Introduction, with Some General Observations from the Cohesion.
Doubtless it is always useful, yea, necessary, for the children of God to know the right way of making use of Christ, who is made all things to them which they need, even "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. But it is never more necessary for believers to be clear and distinct in this matter, than when Satan, by all means, is seeking to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and, one way or other, to lead souls away, and draw them off Christ; knowing that, if he prevail …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Conversion of all that Come.
"Turn Thou me and I shall be turned." --Jer. xxxi. 18. The elect, born again and effectually called, converts himself. To remain unconverted is impossible; but he inclines his ear, he turns his face to the blessed God, he is converted in the fullest sense of the word. In conversion the fact of cooperation on the part of the saved sinner assumes a clearly defined and perceptible character. In regeneration there was none; in the calling there was a beginning of it; in conversion proper it became a …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Boasted Merit of Works Subversive Both of the Glory of God, in Bestowing Righteousness, and of the Certainty of Salvation.
1. After a brief recapitulation, the question, Whether or not good works merit favor with God, considered. 2. First answer, fixing the meaning of the term Merit. This term improperly applied to works, but used in a good sense, as by Augustine, Chrysostom, Bernard. 3. A second answer to the question. First by a negative, then by a concession. In the rewarding of works what to be attributed to God, and what to man. Why good works please God, and are advantageous to those who do them. The ingratitude …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.
1. Secondary helps to establish the credibility of Scripture. I. The arrangement of the sacred volume. II. Its dignity. III. Its truth. IV. Its simplicity. V. Its efficacy. 2. The majesty conspicuous in the writings of the Prophets. 3. Special proofs from the Old Testament. I. The antiquity of the Books of Moses. 4. This antiquity contrasted with the dreams of the Egyptians. II. The majesty of the Books of Moses. 5. The miracles and prophecies of Moses. A profane objection refuted. 6. Another profane …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Memoir of John Bunyan
THE FIRST PERIOD. THIS GREAT MAN DESCENDED FROM IGNOBLE PARENTS--BORN IN POVERTY--HIS EDUCATION AND EVIL HABITS--FOLLOWS HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS AS A BRAZIER--ENLISTS FOR A SOLDIER--RETURNS FROM THE WARS AND OBTAINS AN AMIABLE, RELIGIOUS WIFE--HER DOWER. 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.'--2 Cor 4:7 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.'--Isaiah 55:8. 'Though ye have lien among the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

"Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour, and are Wearied," &C.
Matth. xi. 28.--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied," &c. It is the great misery of Christians in this life, that they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

"Whereby we Cry, Abba, Father. "
Rom. viii. 15.--"Whereby we cry, Abba, Father." All that know any thing of religion, must needs know and confess that there is no exercise either more suitable to him that professeth it, or more needful for him, than to give himself to the exercise of prayer. But that which is confessed by all, and as to the outward performance gone about by many, I fear is yet a mystery sealed up from us, as the true and living nature of it. There is much of it expressed here in few words, "whereby we cry, Abba, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning