( C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. The Divine purpose has never been satisfied, if we may so say, with darkness, judgment, desolation. When God has judged a man He would seem to return to see what effect the judgment has had, if haply He may see some hope of returning feeling, of loyalty sad filial submission. God's feeling has been always a feeling of solicitude to bless the nations. We shall do wrong if we suppose that pity comes in only with the historical Christ, that compassion was born on Christmas Day.

2. The Divine movement amongst the nations has always expressed itself under the contrast of light sad darkness (ver. 2). No contrast can be more striking; therefore this is the one God has chosen whereby to represent the Divine movement. God is associated with light, and all evil with darkness. The fulfilment of Divine purpose has always been associated with incarnation, idealised Humanity.

3. Look at the Deliverer as seen by the prophet (ver. 6). The Deliverer is to come as a child, a son, a governor, a name; He is to sit upon the throne of David, sad upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment sad with justice from henceforth even forever. Say there was a secondary application of the terms, there can be no objection to that; but no living man ever filled out in their uttermost spheral meaning all these names but one, and His name is Jesus.

4. Then comes rapture upon rapture. And the pledge of the fulfilment of all is, "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

(J. Parker, D. D.)

1. The people are represented as walking in darkness. The prophet contemplates the world at large. Light is an emblem of knowledge; darkness of ignorance and error.

2. But darkness alone appears to the mind of the prophet only a faint emblem of the state of the heathen. He adds, therefore, "the shadow of death." In Scripture this expression is used for death, the grave, the darkness of that subterranean mansion into which the Jews supposed the souls of men went after death. Figuratively, the expression is used for great distress; a state of danger and terror. It is an amplification, therefore, of the prophet's thought. Experience has justified this representation of the prophet. The religion of the heathen has ever been gloomy and horrible.

II. THE BLESSED VISITATION (Ver. 2).

1. As darkness is an emblem of the religious sorrows which had overcast the world, so light is an emblem of the truth of the Gospel The Gospel is "light." This marks its origin from heaven. This notes its truth. It is "light" because of its penetrating and subtle nature. It is called "light," "a great light," because of the discoveries which it makes. It is life and health to the world. Where it prevails, spiritual life is inspired, and the moral disorders of the soul give place to health and vigour.

2. As in the vision light succeeds to darkness, so also joy succeeds to fear and misery.

III. SO VAST A CHANGE MUST BE PRODUCED BY CAUSES PROPORTIONABLY POWERFUL: and to the means by which this astonishing revolution is effected the prophet next directs attention (vers. 4, 5). These words speak of resistance and a struggle. In the conduct of this battle two things are, however, to be remarked: the absolute weakness and insufficiency of the assailants, and their miraculous success. The weakness of the instruments used in breaking the rod and yoke of the oppressor is sufficiently marked by the allusion to the destruction of the host of Midian by Gideon and his three hundred men. But it may be said, "Is not all this a splendid vision? You speak of weak instruments effecting a miraculous success; of the display and operation of a supernatural power, touching the hearts of men, and changing the moral state of the world; but what is the ground of this expectation?" This natural and very proper question our text answers.

IV. "FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN," etc. (vers. 6, 7).

(R. Watson.)

I. THE GREAT DARKNESS. The prophet first saw the people utterly overwhelmed by the ruthless hand of merciless war. It had been once a prosperous land, but now darkness dense had come over it till it was a veritable "shadow of death." Turning from the immediate political significance of this to its spiritual import, we can easily see in it a picture of the spiritual condition of the world when Jesus came. The whole world was lying in the wicked one. The Jewish people, though they had the living Word of God, had in the darkness of their carnal ambition and lifeless formality lost all true vision of God. The Gentile world was no better. The best which they had was, on the one hand, a sensuous and godless Epicureanism, and on the other a cold and hopeless Stoicism. Turning to the condition of the unconverted people of our own day, we see also darkness and the shadow of death. What light for the soul has all our modern philosophical thinking and scientific research given?

II. THE GREAT LIGHT. The light which the prophet saw was the intervention of God for the deliverance of the people from political bondage and physical misery, with some spiritual return to God. That which it typified was the advent and work of Christ. How this light shone upon the darkened world when He came! Truly it was a "great light." The light seen in the face of Jesus Christ is the glory of God, revealing His eternal purposes of grace to all sinful men. Christ lights the world by loving it, i.e., by revealing the love of God to sinners.

III. THE GREAT BLESSINGS. With the coming of the true light came wonderful blessings to the people. This is described in the language of the prophet under several figures of speech.

1. "Thou hast multiplied the nation." If we look to the real fulfilment of this prophecy, what a vast increase in the people of God there has been!

2. "And increased their joy." Of old the people of God rejoiced at their best periods in mere national prosperity. But under the spiritual reign of Jesus the people shall rejoice in better things. The joy of salvation.

3. "According to the joy in harvest." The happiest festival of the Jews was the harvest feast, when the fruits of the earth were all gathered in, and the people blessed God and rejoiced in their riches. But now He gives us a new and better harvest, the ingathering of souls, the first fruits of which were gathered on the day of Pentecost. There is no such pure joy as that which arises in the heart when God's salvation is being accepted by men and women, and His harvest is being gathered. What will it be in that day when the glad harvest home is accomplished?

4. "And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." This is a figure borrowed from the triumphant joy of the victorious warrior, who, having overthrown the enemy, and taken possession of his goods, divides them as spoil among the victors. Well, so shall, and so do, God's people rejoice over the victories which the Gospel wins over "the god of this world."

5. "Thou hast broken the yoke...and the staff." Hitherto the people had boon under the iron yoke of their oppressors, and beaten by the rod of their taskmasters, as in the old slavery times of Egypt. How happy when that yoke shall be broken, and that cruel staff or rod done away! Under Messiah's reign the cruel bondage of Satan's yoke is broken, and the taskmaster's staff done away.

IV. HOW CHRIST DELIVERS. In earthly conflicts battles are fought "with confused noise and garments rolled in blood." The captives were delivered of old by these terrible and sanguinary methods; but Christ delivers His captives by the power of the Spirit of God, "with burning and fuel of fire." The fire is the Holy Ghost, and the fuel of fire is the Word of truth.

(G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)

II. JOY BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT.

1. Because Jesus was born.

2. Because in His incarnation God and man were united.

3. Because through His birth "the yoke" of man's burden has been broken (ver. 4), and the power of his oppressor destroyed.

III. THE GROUNDS OF THIS JOY (vers. 6, 7).

(Clergyman's Magazine.)

I. There are THREE GREAT NEW TESTAMENT BLESSINGS he condescends upon.

1. Great light should spring up to a lost world (ver. 2).

2. Joy in the Lord (ver. 3).

3. Spiritual liberty (vers. 4, 5).

II. It any should ask WHO IS HE, AND WHERE IS HE, THAT SHALL DO ALL THESE GREAT THINGS? You have an answer in the words, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder," etc. In the words we may notice these things following.

1. The incarnation of the great Messiah; for here the prophet speaks of His birth.

2. His donation. He is the gift of God to a lost world. "Unto us a Son is given."

3. His advancement to the supreme rule and authority. "The government shall be upon His shoulder."

4. His character and designation, in five names here given Him, which show that He has a name above every name, "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

5. The relation He stands in to lost sinners of Adam's family. He is born "to us," He is given "to us," and not to the angels which fell.

6. The application and triumph of faith upon all this; for the Church here lays claim to Him, and triumphs in her claim; for the words are uttered in a way of holy boasting. "Unto us this Child is born, unto us this Son is given."

(E. Erskine.)

I. WE WILL INQUIRE INTO THE TRUTH OF IT (Colossians 2:9).

1. If you look into Scripture you shall find that the promises and prophecies of Christ are calculated and given out for the worst of times.

2. If there was enough in the types of Christ to comfort and relieve the people of God under the Old Testament in the worst of their times; then there must needs be enough in Christ to comfort the people of God now in the worst of our times. In the times of the Old Testament, in ease they had sinned, what relief had they? A sacrifice to make an atonement (Leviticus 4:20), and so a type of Christ the great Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:26). In case they were in the wilderness and wanted bread, what relief had they? Manna, a type of Christ, "the true Bread that came down from heaven.' In case they wanted water, what relief had they? The rock opened, and "that rock was Christ." In ease they were stung wire the fiery serpents what relief had they? They had the brazen serpent, and that was a type of Christ (John 3:15).

3. If all the promises of good things made to us were originated in Christ, and if all the promises that were made unto Christ of good things to come, do descend upon us, then surely there is enough in Christ to succour in the worst of times. For what are the promises but Divine conveyances?

4. If all our want of comfort and satisfaction doth arise from the want of a sight of Christ's fulness and excellency, and all our satisfaction and comfort doth arise from the sight of Christ's fulness and excellency, then this doctrine must needs he true.

II. WHAT IS THAT IN CHRIST THAT MAY OR CAN COMFORT, SUCCOUR AND BELIEVE IN THE WORST OF TIMES AND CONDITIONS?

1. Look what that good thing is which the world can either give or take away, that is in Christ in great abundance; and if that be in Christ in great abundance which the world can neither give or take away, then there is that in Christ that may or can succour, comfort, and relieve in the worst of times. Can the world take away your estate, gold, or silver? Then read what is said in Proverbs 3, concerning wisdom, where Christ is called wisdom (ver. 13). Can the world take away your liberty? Then you know what Christ says, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." Can the world take away your life? You know what Christ saith, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." On the other side, what can the world give to you? Can the world give you peace, rest, quietness? Then you know what Christ saith (Matthew 11:28; John 14:27). Can the world give you happiness? I am sure Christ can.

2. There is in Jesus Christ the greatest excellency under the best propriety, "My Lord and my God."

3. There is in Jesus Christ the greatest fulness joined with the most communicativeness.

4. The sweetest love under the greatest engagement. Is not a brother engaged to help his brother? A father his children? A husband his wife! Now, suppose there were one person that could stand under all these relations — a brother, a father, a husband; how much would that person be engaged to help? Thus Christ doth; He stands under all these relations.

6. There is that in Jesus Christ that suiteth all conditions.

III. HOW FAR THIS CONCERNS US.

(W. Bridge, M. A.)

1. I must carry you back to Isaiah 7:14. The sign of coming light is Jesus.

2. Further on we see our Lord Jesus as the hold fast of the soul in time of darkness. See in Isaiah 8:8, the whole country overwhelmed by the fierce armies of the Assyrians, as when a land is submerged beneath a flood. Then you read — And he shall pea through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of Thy land, O Immanuel." The one hope that remained for Judah was that her country was Immanuel's land. There would Immanuel be born, there would He labour, and there would He die. He was by eternal covenant the King of that land, and no Assyrian could keep Him from His throne. If you are a believer in Christ, you belong to Him, and you always were His by sovereign right, even when the enemy held you in possession. We might exultingly have gloried over you, "Thy soul, O Immanuel." Herein lay your hope when all other hope was gone. Herein is your hope now.

3. Further on in the chapter we learn that Jesus is our star of hope as to the destruction of the enemy. The foes of God's people shall be surely vanquished and destroyed because of Immanuel. Note well in verses 9, 10, how it is put twice over like an exultant taunt: "Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for Immanuel." Our version translates the word into "God with us," but it is "Immanuel." In Him, even in our Lord Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and He has brought all that Godhead to bear upon the overthrow of the foes of His people.

4. Further on we find the Lord Jesus as the morning light after a night of darkness, The last verses of the eighth chapter picture a horrible state of wretchedness and despair: "And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:" etc. But see what a change awaits them! Read the fine translation of the R.V. "But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish." What a marvellous light from the midst of a dreadful darkness! It lean astounding change, such as only God with us could work. There am some here who have traversed that terrible wilderness You are being driven as captives into the land of despair, and for the last few months you have been tromping along a painful road, "hardly bestead and hungry." You are sorely put to it, and your soul finds no food of comfort, but is ready to faint and die. You fret yourself: your heart is wearing away with care, and grief, and hopelessness. In the bitterness of your soul you are ready to curse the day of your birth. The captive Israelites cursed their king who had led them into their defeat and bondage; the fury of their agony, they even cursed God and longed to die, It may be that your heart is in such a ferment of grief that you know not what you think, but are like a man at his wits' end. Those who led you into sin are bitterly remembered; and as you think upon God you am troubled. This is a dreadful ease for a soul to be in, and it involves a world of sin and misery. You look up, but the heavens are as brass above your head; your prayers appear to be shut out from God's ear; you look around you upon the earth, and behold "trouble and darkness, and dimness of anguish"; your every hope is slain, and your heart is torn asunder with remorse and dread. Every hour you seem to be hurried by an irresistible power into greater darkness. In such a case none can give you comfort save Immanuel, God with us. Only God, espousing your cause, and bearing your sin, can possibly save you. See, He comes for your salvation!

5. Once more, we learn from that which follows our text, that the reign of Jesus is the star of the golden future. He came to Galilee of the Gentiles, and made that country glorious, which had been brought into contempt. That corner of Palestine had very often borne the brunt of invasion, and had felt more than any other region the edge of the keen Assyrian sword. It was a wretched land, with a mixed population, despised by the purer race of Jews; but that very country became glorious with the presence of the incarnate God. That first land to be invaded by the enemy was made the headquarters of the army of salvation. Even so at this day His gracious presence is the day dawn of our joy. Here read and interpret Isaiah 9:3. Then shall your enemy be defeated, as in the day of Midian. When Jesus comes you shall have eternal peace; for His battle is the end of battles. "All the armour of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall even be for burning, for fuel of fire." This is the rendering of the Revision; and it is good. The Prince of Peace wars against war, and destroys it. Now is it that the Lord Jesus becomes glorious in our eyes; and He whose name is Immanuel is now crowned in our heart with many crowns, and honoured with many titles. What a list of glories we have here! What a burst of song it makes when we sing of the Messiah (ver. 6). Each word sounds like a salvo of artillery.

II. I want to PRESS HOME CERTAIN TRUTHS CONNECTED WITH MY THEME. Immanuel is a grand word. "God with us" means more than tongue can tell It means enmity removed on our part, and justice vindicated on God's part. It means the whole Godhead engaged on our side, resolved to bless us.

1. Jesus is Immanuel (Matthew 1:21).

2. Perhaps you wish to know a little more of the incident in the text which exhibits Jesus as the great light. Our Lord made His home in the darkest parts. He looked about and saw no country so ignorant, no country so sorrowful, as Galilee of the Gentiles, and therefore He went there, and lifted it up to heaven by priceless privileges!

3. We will turn back to where we opened our Bibles at the first, and there we learn that, to be God with us, Jesus must be accepted by us. He cannot be with us if we will not have Him. Hear how the prophet words it: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." Be sure that you go on with the verse to the end — "and the government shall be upon His shoulder." If Christ is your Saviour He must be your King.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

     7266   tribes of Israel
     8276   humility

Isaiah 9:1-2

     2366   Christ, prophecies concerning
     2422   gospel, confirmation
     7511   Gentiles, in OT

Isaiah 9:1-3

     4824   famine, spiritual

Isaiah 9:1-7

     8370   zeal

The Kingdom and the King
'The people that walked in darkness hare seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 3. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4. For Thou hast broken the yoke of His burden, and the staff of His shoulder, the rod of His oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Nativity
'Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sun Rising Upon a Dark World
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon then hath the light shined. C ontrasts are suited to illustrate and strengthen the impression of each other. The happiness of those, who by faith in MESSIAH, are brought into a state of peace, liberty, and comfort, is greatly enhanced and heightened by the consideration of that previous state of misery in which they once lived, and of the greater misery to which they were justly exposed. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Characters and Names of Messiah
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. S uch was the triumphant exultation of the Old Testament Church! Their noblest hopes were founded upon the promise of MESSIAH; their most sublime songs were derived from the prospect of His Advent. By faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, they considered the gracious declarations …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

December the Twenty-Fourth Entering in at Lowly Doors
"Unto us a Child is born." --ISAIAH ix. 1-7. How gentle the coming! Who would have had sufficient daring of imagination to conceive that God Almighty would have appeared among men as a little child? We should have conceived something sensational, phenomenal, catastrophic, appalling! The most awful of the natural elements would have formed His retinue, and men would be chilled and frozen with fear. But He came as a little child. The great God "emptied Himself"; He let in the light as our eyes were …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Harvest Joy
"Thou hast magnified the nation, and increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil."--Isaiah 9:3. Notice that I make a correction in the version from which I am reading. The Authorized Version has it, "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy." This is not consistent with the connection; the Revised Version has very properly put it, "Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy." I have not …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

His Name --Wonderful!
My dear friends, we live to-day upon the verge of that bright spot. The world has been passing through these clouds of darkness, and the light is gleaming on us now, like the glintings of the first rays of morning. We are coming to a brighter day, and "at evening time it shall be light." The clouds and darkness shall be rolled up as a mantle that God needs no longer, and he shall appear in his glory, and his people shall rejoice with him. But you must mark, that all the brightness was the result …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

His Name --The Counsellor
We shall now enter upon the discussion of this title which is given to Christ, a title peculiar to our Redeemer; and you will see why it should be given to him and why there was a necessity for such a Counsellor. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ is a Counsellor in a three-fold sense. First, he is God's Counsellor; he sits in the cabinet council of the King of heaven; he has admittance into the privy chamber, and is the Counsellor with God. In the second place, Christ is a Counsellor in the sense which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

His Name --The Mighty God
The term here used for God, El, is taken from a Hebrew or root, which, as I take it, signifies strength; and perhaps a literal translation even of that title might be, "The Strong one," the strong God. But there is added to this an adjective in the Hebrew, expressive of mightiness, and the two taken together express the omnipotence of Christ, his real deity and his omnipotence, as standing first and foremost among the attributes which the prophet beheld. "The mighty God." I do not propose this morning …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

A Christmas Question
This morning, however, the principal object of my discourse, and, indeed, the sole one, is to bring out the force of those two little words, "unto us." For you will perceive that here the full force of the passage lies. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given." The divisions of my discourse are very simple ones. First, is it so? Secondly, if it is so, what then? Thirdly, if it is not so, what then? I. In the first place, IS IT SO? Is it true that unto us a child is born, unto us a Son …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

The Same Text Further Explained.
For His Only-begotten Son might, ye Arians, be called Father' by His Father, yet not in the sense in which you in your error might perhaps understand it, but (while Son of the Father that begat Him) Father of the coming age' (Isa. ix. 6, LXX). For it is necessary not to leave any of your surmises open to you. Well then, He says by the prophet, A Son is born and given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Angel of Great Counsel, mighty God, Ruler, Father of the …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Two Famous Versions of the Scriptures
[Illustration: (drop cap B) Samaritan Book of the Law] By the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Egypt, lies Alexandria, a busy and prosperous city of to-day. You remember the great conqueror, Alexander, and how nation after nation had been forced to submit to him, until all the then-known world owned him for its emperor? He built this city, and called it after his own name. About a hundred years before the days of Antiochus (of whom we read in our last chapter) a company of Jews …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Two Things to be Observed in Gratuitous Justification.
1. The glory of God remains untarnished, when he alone is acknowledged to be just. This proved from Scripture. 2. Those who glory in themselves glory against God. Objection. Answer, confirmed by the authority of Paul and Peter. 3. Peace of conscience obtained by free justification only. Testimony of Solomon, of conscience itself, and the Apostle Paul, who contends that faith is made vain if righteousness come by the law. 4. The promise confirmed by faith in the mercy of Christ. This is confirmed …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Christ's Prophetic Office
'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet,' &c. Deut 18:85. Having spoken of the person of Christ, we are next to speak of the offices of Christ. These are Prophetic, Priestly, and Regal. 'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet.' Enunciatur hic locus de Christo. It is spoken of Christ.' There are several names given to Christ as a Prophet. He is called the Counsellor' in Isa 9:9. In uno Christo Angelus foederis completur [The Messenger of the Covenant appears in Christ alone]. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Disciple, -- Master, if Thou Wouldst Make a Special Manifestation of Thyself to The...
The Disciple,--Master, if Thou wouldst make a special manifestation of Thyself to the world, men would no longer doubt the existence of God and Thy own divinity, but all would believe and enter on the path of righteousness. The Master,--1. My son, the inner state of every man I know well, and to each heart in accordance with its needs I make Myself known; and for bringing men into the way of righteousness there is no better means than the manifestation of Myself. For man I became man that he might …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

Of the Name of God
Exod. iii. 13, 14.--"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." We are now about this question, What God is. But who can answer it? Or, if answered, who can understand it? It should astonish us in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Wesley's Hymns Reconsidered
Bernard Manning A paper read before the Cambridge University Methodist Society on February 9, 1939. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, sometime Scholar of Jesus College in the University of Cambridge, once wrote some ingenious verses {Metrical Feet: Lesson for a Boy.} to help his sons to remember the chief sorts of metre. If Coleridge had been a Methodist instead of a pilgrim from Anglicanism to Unitarianism and back again, he would have needed to do no such thing: he would have needed only to advise his boys …
Bernard L. Manning—The Hymns of Wesley and Watts: Five Papers

The Lord's Prayer.
(Jerusalem. Thursday Night.) ^D John XVII. ^d 1 These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven [the action marked the turning of his thoughts from the disciples to the Father], he said, Father, the hour is come [see pp. 116, 440]; glorify thy Son, that the son may glorify thee: 2 even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. [The Son here prays for his glorification, viz.: resurrection, ascension, coronation, etc., …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Peace
Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. I Pet 1:1. Having spoken of the first fruit of sanctification, assurance, I proceed to the second, viz., Peace, Peace be multiplied:' What are the several species or kinds of Peace? Peace, in Scripture, is compared to a river which parts itself into two silver streams. Isa 66:12. I. There is an external peace, and that is, (1.) (Economical, or peace in a family. (2.) Political, or peace in the state. Peace is the nurse of plenty. He maketh peace in thy borders, …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1