1. Because he has selected a wise object.

2. Because to win a soul requires infinite wisdom.

3. He will prove to have been a wise man in the judgment of those who see the end as well as the beginning.

I. THE METAPHOR USED IN THE TEXT. We use the word "win" in many ways, e.g., game of chance, juggling tricks, etc. It is used in warfare. Warriors win cities and provinces. The word was used to signify success in a wrestling match. There are secret and mysterious ways in which those who love win the object of their affections. Love is the true way of soul-winning. The Hebrew is, "He that taketh souls is wise," and the word refers to fishing, or bird-catching. We must have our lures for souls adapted to attract, to fascinate, to grasp.

II. SOME OF THE WAYS BY WHICH SOULS ARE TO BE WON.

1. A preacher wins souls best when he believes in the reality of his work.

2. When he keeps closest to saving truth.

3. Souls are won by bringing others to hear the Word.

4. By trying after sermon to talk to strangers.

5. By button-holing acquaintances and relations.

6. By writing letters.

7. The soul-winner must be a master of the art of prayer.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. A GREAT WORK CONTEMPLATED. The definite business of all Christian workers. Great because —

1. Of the value of the object.

2. Of the soul's capacities — for evil if not won, and for good if won.

3. Because the soul is the mainspring of life and action.

II. AN EFFECTUAL METHOD SUGGESTED. Winning.

1. Christian work is a magnetic force. The centre of electric magnetism is the Cross.

2. The possibility here embodied. A work which all may undertake and accomplish.

III. A CHARACTER HERE DEFINED. "Is wise." Because he benefits others. Because he gains a star for his own crown. Because he is laying up treasure in heaven. For he wins the approval of his God and the plaudits of the angels. The highest form of wisdom is to devote life's strength to gather pearls whose salvation will enrich with eternal wealth.

(J. F. Pridgeon.)

I. THE INVOLUNTARY INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE. The fruit of a life is the involuntary and regular expression of what the man is in heart and soul. All actions are not the fruit of life, inasmuch as man in the exercise of his freedom and, indeed, even by accident, performs actions that, instead of fully expressing, misrepresent his life. The regular flow of a man's general activity is the fruit, and this, in the case of a good man, is a "tree of life." It is so for three reasons.

1. It expresses real life.

2. It communicates real life.

3. It nourishes real life.

II. THE HIGHEST PURPOSE OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE. "He that winneth souls is wise." This implies —

1. That souls are lost.

2. That souls may be saved.

3. That souls may be saved by man.

4. That the man who succeeds in saving souls is wise.

III. THE INEVITABLE RETRIBUTION OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE. The recompense here is supposed to refer rather to the suffering he experiences in consequence of his remaining imperfections than of the blessings he enjoys as a reward for the good that is in him. The sins of good men are punished on this earth. The argument here is a fortiori — if God visits the sins of His people with punishment, much more will He visit the sins of the wicked.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

I. HE WHO WOULD SUCCEED IN WINNING SOULS NEEDS TO BE WISE. It needs wisdom to succeed in the business of life. It needs a far higher and nobler wisdom to win Souls. It is an exceedingly difficult thing to win men over from the ranks of sin and Satan to the ranks of God and His Christ.

1. The would-be soul-winner needs to be theoretically wise. He needs to be well informed. He cannot know too much and must be well informed on some very important matters, e.g., the sacred Scriptures, human nature, etc.

2. He needs to be practically wise — wise in action as well as in thought. He should deal largely in the most attractive and pathetic truths. He should carefully choose the most appropriate seasons. He should cultivate the most loving spirit and the most kindly manner. He should be much in communion with God.

II. HE WHO DOES SUCCEED IN WINNING SOULS PROVES HIMSELF TO BE WISE. This is true looked at from several points of view.

1. Think of this work in relation to God. It is co-operation with God.

2. In its relation to those who are won.

3. In its relation to society.

4. In its relation to those who are engaged in it.In this world it brings them honour, pleasure, and culture. The blessings follow them into the future world.

(John Morgan.)

1. That man is a compound being.

2. That the soul is indestructible.

3. Because indestructible, its value is infinite.

II. WHAT IS MEANT BY WINNING SOULS?

1. The word "win" is used both in a good and bad sense. There are no mean tricks in winning souls.

2. "Win" is a warlike word: what powers are there striving for the soul?

3. Margin has, "he who taketh souls," implying the use of various allurements.

III. HOW MAY SOULS BE WON? There must be —

1. Adaptation.

2. The soul-winner must be careful not to offend the prejudices of those he seeks to win.

3. There must be method. The soul-winner must first have the love of Christ in his own heart. Then he must proclaim it patiently, lovingly, prayerfully, earnestly. This can be done in various ways.

IV. IN WHAT SENSE IS THE MAN WHO WINS SOULS WISE?

1. In the ordinary sense. The man of business who has adaptation, method, diligence, etc., you say is a wise man.

2. Because he is preparing for the future.

3. Because he builds lasting monuments.

4. Because he pleases God.

(A. F. Barfield.)

I. WISDOM IS SEEN IN THE ATTEMPT TO WIN. The very effort itself is a proof of true wisdom.

1. The soul's position proves it. It is a perishing one.

2. Soul-winning is a noble work. A soul-winner need envy no one. His work surpasses all in true nobility.

3. Soul-winning is a lasting work, and therefore he who attempts it is wise.

4. It is a soul-profiting work. The man who imparts a blessing by the very act receives one. The way to be a joyful Christian is to be a working one at the winning of souls.

5. Winning souls is a work that tells on eternity.

6. Winning souls is a work which will influence you in heaven.

II. WISDOM IS REQUIRED IN THE WORK OF WINNING.

1. The nature of the work as suggested in the text shows it. The word for "winneth" has three references. It refers to the snaring of birds, the catching of fish, the taking of a city. To the accomplishment of each of these wisdom is required.

2. The variety of disposition seen in souls requires it.

III. HINTS AS TO HOW TO SET ABOUT WINNING SOULS.

1. They must be alarmed.

2. They must be allured.

3. They must be taken by the hand.

4. They who would win others must show that they themselves are won.

(Archibald G. Brown.)

I. HE HAS SELECTED THE NATURAL FIELD FOR SUCCESSFUL HUMAN EFFORT. It is time to drop our suspicion in reference to honest work. Butler's definition says, "Happiness consists in a faculty having its proper object." That is, let any one of our powers fasten itself upon a legitimate end, and proceed at once unto vigour, and a feeling of true continuous joy will spring up from the mere exercise. Our reason is the happiest in reasoning; our judgment in deciding; our imagination in the poetic drawing of pictures; our affections in lavishing their love on chosen friends. There needs only to be added the element of success. That is, we must be able to gain the ends we aim at. If we are baulked, we are disappointed and discontented. Hence it is important for each man to understand his own adaptations and possibilities, so that he may seek right ends. Winning souls is the true work for human souls to do. For it flings into successful action the whole Christian man, body, mind, and spirit. There is intelligence in it; there is faith in it; there is hope in it; there is activity in it; there is excitement and exhilaration in it. And success is sure to follow fidelity. The old fable was that one who always carried a myrtle-wand in his hand would never grow weary in the way. But here is no fable. The love of Christ in the heart, and the zeal of Christ in the life, are what evermore satisfy, exercise, and rest the soul.

II. THE SPECIFIC END TO BE REACHED IN WINNING SOULS EVIDENCES WISDOM IN THE CHOICE. Even a ministry of destruction has something grand about it, fearful as it seems to gaze upon, awful as it must be to exercise. But a ministry of relief is better than any of retribution. It has in it all the sublimity of power, and then the additional grace and glory of help, the beauty of being serviceable. A ministry of salvation is simply transcendent. It deals with a man's highest nature, and touches upon the destinies of eternity. Everywhere God seems to look upon human beings as just so many souls. To save a man is to deliver a fellow-man from sin and hell, and bring him to holiness and heaven. To save a soul is to incorporate with the eternal destiny of a sentient and reasoning being a new spring and force of exultant and exhilarant life; to quicken all its susceptibilities; to renew the will into a profitable obedience to God; to unfold all the capacities of intellect and affection. In a word, to save the soul is more than to create the soul.

III. THE PROPRIETORSHIP WE GAIN IN THE SOULS WE INSTRUMENTALLY WIN. We love what we work for more than what costs us nothing. Value to you is measured by this sum of yourself you have put in possession. A soul we help to save possesses a value to us unlike that of any other soul. For we gain a kind of proprietary right in it. God lets us feel so.

1. Present companionship. The soul we lead into the joys of this new life becomes our helper, and returns the benefit. If we put into active, beneficent, useful, attractive life any human soul, may we not share all the benedictions its sweet, gentle, Christlike career is scattering around it?

2. Eternal communion. Those who are with us here will go with us to be in our company hereafter.

IV. THE GRAND AWARDS OF THE GOSPEL FOR THIS WORK SHOW THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS.

1. The growth of personal graces. He who watereth others shall be watered himself. He who carries a lantern for darkened men finds his own path lit the clearest.

2. The day of approval. Every soul which saves a soul shares in the satisfaction his work gives to the Master. Oh, the exquisite joy of that supreme moment when a Christian labourer presents a new prince or princess to Christ, the King of Glory, in the midst of heaven!

(C. S. Robinson.)

I. THE OBJECT HERE PROPOSED TO OUR BENEVOLENT SYMPATHY AND REGARD — THE SOUL OF MAN. The soul of man — who of us understands it? Fix attention on the nature and frame of the human soul. In nature it is not material, it is spiritual and immaterial. The body is divisible, the soul is a homogeneous substance — it is indivisible, insoluble, inseparable. The soul is not matter. We know of only two substances, matter and spirit, flesh and mind, body and soul — these make up the whole of what we know to have any existence in the universe of God. Philosophers have speculated much about the locality of the soul in the body. All that we know is, that although the soul dwells in matter, it is perfectly and entirely distinct from it.

1. We may endeavour to form some estimate of the soul by noticing its Maker, its origin. Think of it as formed for eternity; as occupying all the attributes of Jehovah in its formation; as made in the true image of God; as made next in rank and degree, though equal in blessedness, to the angelic multitude. Though the soul is not in the condition it was in when it came from the hands of its Maker, still there is that about it that tells us something of what it was; there are traces of primeval glory and dignity. Such is the faculty of reason, and the power of conscience.

2. Form a notion of the soul's capacities, and faculties, and properties. Think of its power of thought; of the recording pen of memory; of the tablet of the heart; of the creations of genius; the glow of enterprise; the light of reason; all proving to us that the soul of man is spiritual, intellectual, immaterial, immortal. Think, too, of its power of knowledge. The soul of man wanders on and on, exploring invisible and distant objects.

3. Think of the power of pleasing. How it can charm by description, dazzle by comparison, enliven by wit, convince by argument, thrill, captivate, and carry away by eloquence. Think of its power of acting on matter, in the glow of painting, in the symmetry of architecture, in the beauty of sculpture, in the enchanting intonations of the human voice.

4. The soul must be of inestimable value, for its redemption has been effected by Jesus Christ.

5. Think, too, on the endless duration of the soul's existence. Only one word can be applied to the duration of the human soul — it is the word Eternity. The soul never dies.

II. THE CONDUCT DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT, IN REFERENCE TO THIS OBJECT, AND RECOMMENDED TO OUR ADOPTION. We can only win souls as instruments and accessories. Christ is the ransomer of the soul. The French commentator paraphrases the text thus: "He that sweetly draweth souls to God, maketh a holy conquest of them"

(Diodoret).

1. We are to endeavour to win souls by instruction. Knowledge is wanted, is agreeable. Knowledge is to be communicated, now, from mind to mind, from one to another. The man who has knowledge is bound to communicate it to the man who has not.

2. We must do it by persuasion. For the soul is not only ignorant, but perverse. Its ignorance calls for illumination, and its perverseness and obstinacy call for entreaty and persuasion. Seriousness of manner, combined with affectionateness of spirit, are the charms we are to employ, the artillery we are to command. We are to clothe our words with plainness, seriousness, and affection.

3. It is our duty to endeavour to win souls by admonition. It is necessary, sometimes, to rebuke with all authority and all earnestness.

III. THE EULOGIUM WHICH THE TEXT PRONOUNCES ON THE CONDUCT OF THOSE WHO WIN SOULS. He is "wise."

1. Scriptures say that man is wise who saves his own soul.

2. The text pronounces that man wise who is instrumental in winning the souls of his fellow-creatures. Such a man, in his conduct, is promoting the honour, and glory of God. Such a man connects himself with the coming in of the mediatorial reign of our Immanuel. Such a man is the best friend of the human race, and most effectually promotes the welfare of mankind around him.

(J. Beaumont.)

I. THE WORTH OF SOULS. The very word "souls" is startling. The soul is a direct emananation from God — a breath of God, a spark, so to call it, of Deity. It is a living soul. It has infinite capacities. See the estimation in which God holds it; especially in giving His Son for its redemption. See not the original redemption only, but also all the subsequent acts of grace. Then most guilty must he be who despises his own soul, and in spite of all this array of mercy, chooses death rather than life.

II. THE WINNING OF SOULS.

1. The agency which the Divine wisdom has seen fit to employ in this business.

2. The means which this agency is commissioned to use. In preaching the doctrine of Christ, we are wielding a weapon of omnipotent might.

3. While with fidelity we preach Christ, we must do it with the earnestness which its importance demands, and the affection which its subject warrants.

4. And we must also labour to the utmost to give no offence, that the ministry be not blamed. But this line of conduct is strictly within the limit of the faithful preaching of the Word. What are the noble and glorious results of a ministry so conducted? Such a pastor both saves himself and them that hearken.

(Joseph Haslegrave, M.A.)

2. Missionary Societies employ the only expedient which has ever been known to act on human nature with the power of effecting a moral transformation.

3. Missionary enterprises proceed on the most enlightened views of the harmony between the instrumentality of man and the agency of God in the work of winning and saving souls.

4. The instrumentality employed secures the most glorious of all results to the instruments themselves.

5. Missionary operations are conducive, in a high degree, to the prevalence of the spirit of Christian union.

(H. F. Burder, M.A.)

(W. Arnot, D.D.)

II. IN DETERMINING THE MANNER IN WHICH THAT OBJECT SHALL BE PURSUED. In selecting, out of many plans, that which is the most likely to succeed. Of these plans for winning souls some are of men's devising, and bear the marks of their original. There is one, and one alone, of God's ordaining. Of men's schemes there is —

1. The religion of morality, which aims at men's reformation, by addressing the reason in the form of arguments and conviction.

2. The religion of sentiment, which addresses itself to the feelings, and endeavours to win the affections by exhibitions calculated to melt and touch and soften the sensibilities of men's natures. And there is the Divine religion of the gospel, which aims at the conversion of the soul through faith. This system speaks to the heart and to the conscience; and this is the way of wisdom in winning souls.

(Henry Raikes, M.A.)

1. That these souls might be lost, else they could never be won — would never need to be won.

2. That these souls, though lost, are not irrecoverably lost; they may yet be won.

3. That human instrumentality is to be employed for the accomplishment of these ends; the work is the Lord's.

II. THE WINNER OF SOULS HAS A TWOFOLD AIM. The immediate aim is the salvation of souls; the ultimate aim is the glory of God.

III. THE GAIN IS PERPETUAL. These souls once won are won for ever. Leave it to other men to build palaces and rear memorial pillars, to add house to house, and call their lands by their own names; be yours the God-like task of contributing to rear the palace of the Great King — of adding another and another stone to that goodly structure — of setting up pillars in the eternal temple that shall stand when all others have fallen — of brightening the diadem of Jesus with gems rescued from ruin — with stars that shall shine for ever and ever. Be it yours to win souls; for the price of them is far above rubies, more precious than the gold of Ophir — to rear plants that shall flourish and bloom for ever in the paradise of God.

(Thos. Main, D.D.)

1. The best way to keep our own souls in health is to seek those of others.

2. The best way to benefit our brethren is to seek souls.

II. HE HAS A BLESSING IN THE WON. Every soul we win for Christ —

1. Is a token of His favour. It proves we have used the means in the right way.

2. Causes, or should cause, more watchfulness. We are examples to them.

3. Is an additional helper for us. What sweet communion have we with our spiritual fathers and spiritual children!

III. HE HAS A BLESSING STORED UP IN HEAVEN.

1. Exalted position. "Shine as stars."

2. Perpetual preferment. "For ever and ever."

3. Unbounded delight.

(R. A. Griffin.)

I. THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS.

1. Human souls require to be won. They are at first in a lost state. They are lost as being without knowledge, without righteousness, without happiness, and without hope.

2. But the souls of men may be recovered. The method of their salvation is arranged and completed in the gospel.

3. See the wisdom of this work in its innate grandeur and excellence. In a shipwreck or a fire what strenuous efforts are made to save property, or to save life: how much more to pluck these brands from the burning.

4. See what an enduring work it is. Other things, saved, may perish again; but a soul saved will be secure for ever.

5. See the reward it brings to the happy agent himself. It gratifies his benevolence, and his piety — it secures him affection and love — it will ensure immortal honour (Daniel 12:3).

6. It is an essential part of our duty as Christians. The task of winning souls is committed to us. A dispensation of the gospel is entrusted to us. We are bound by the pledges of our allegiance and gratitude to Christ to employ ourselves in this work.

II. THE WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS.

1. There are difficulties peculiar to the work.(1) In the perversity and prejudices of those whom we seek to save.(2) In the snares and oppositions of the world, skilfully managed by the great adversary of our souls.(3) In the ignorances, jealousies, and inconsistencies of the agents themselves.

2. The required wisdom consists of several important constituents.

(The Congregational Pulpit.)

(E. E. Jenkins, M.A.)

(J. Parker, D.D.)

(J. Parker, D.D.)

1. Be prayerful. Have regular hours for secret communion with God.

2. Study the Scriptures.

3. Be gentle. Lead rather than drive. Speak the truth in love. Never argue.

4. Be polite. Haste or brusqueness will repel. A courteous, affable manner is well-nigh irresistible.

5. Be courageous. Trusting the guidance of the Spirit, never be afraid to speak to any soul.

6. Leave the result with God. It is unwise ever to waste time in regrets. A rebuff may mean a soul under strong conviction. Some seeds take longer to sprout than others. Remember you are not working for yourself, but for God; that without Him you could do nothing; and to Him belongs all the glory.

(G. F. Pentecost.)

(D. L. Moody.)

(Dean Hook.)

(F. E. Toyne.)

1. He who would be successful in winning souls to Christ must be considerate and thoughtful.

2. Another qualification is courage.

3. Another is tender, unaffected sympathy. It is said that if a piano is struck in a room where another stands unopened, one who should place his ear near it would hear a responsive note within, as though touched by the hand of an unseen spirit. Such is the power of sympathy.

(John N. Norton.)

1. He is a wise man who sets this before him as the object for which to five. No pursuit is more worthy of our energies. No pursuit yields a better return.

2. He who would be successful in this work must go about it wisely. He must himself be wise unto salvation. He must have the tact to discern his opportunities, and rightly direct his appeals. The word winneth (margin, "taketh") is an allusion to the hunter's craft.

3. A wise adaptation to the circumstances and temperaments of those we seek to bless is needed in this work. It will not answer to deal with all alike. Men are not to be taken in the lump and treated after some patent method of moral mechanics. Every human being is an individual, and must be so reckoned and laboured for. No labour or self-denial will be misspent in this holy cause.

(C. A. Davis.)

     4526   tree of life
     8258   fruitfulness, spiritual
     8367   wisdom, importance of

Proverbs 11:30-31

     7150   righteous, the

The Waterer Watered
A sermon (No. 626) delivered on Sunday Morning, April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that watereth shall be watered also himself."--Proverbs 11:25. The general principle is that in living for the good of others, we shall be profited also ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests, but feel that we live for others. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Withholding Corn
A sermon (No. 642) delivered on Sunday morning, July 30, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it."--Proverbs 11:26. If I dared, I should always preach upon the comfortable promises and gracious doctrines of God's Word. I find it most delightful and easy work to expatiate upon those themes of revelation which abound in sweetness, and are full of savor and preciousness …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Soul Winner
A sermon (No. 1292) delivered on Thursday evening, January 20th, 1876, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. I had very great joy last night--many of you know why but some do not. We held our annual meeting of the church, and it was a very pleasant sight to see so many brethren and sisters knit together in the heartiest love, welded together as one mass by common sympathies, …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Soul Winning
A sermon (No. 850) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. The text does not say "he that winneth sovereigns is wise," though no doubt he thinks himself wise, and perhaps in a certain grovelling sense in these days of competition he must be so; but such wisdom is of the earth and ends with the earth; and there is another world where the currencies of Europe will not be accepted, nor their past possession be any sign …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

To Win Souls Requires Wisdom.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. THE most common definition of wisdom is, that it is the choice of the best end and the selection of the most appropriate means for the accomplishment of that end--the best adaptation of means to secure a desired end. "He that winneth souls," God says, "is wise." The object of this evening's lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means for accomplishing their infinitely desirable end, the salvation of souls. To-night I shall confine my …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

A Wise Minister Will be Successful.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. I PREACHED last Friday evening from the same text, on the method of dealing with sinners by private Christians. My object at this time is to take up the more public means of grace, with particular reference to the DUTIES OF MINISTERS. As I observed in my last lecture, wisdom is the choice and pursuit of the best end by the most appropriate means. The great end for which the Christian Ministry was appointed, is to glorify God in the salvation …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

How to Preach the Gospel.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. ONE of the last remarks in my last lecture, was this, that the text ascribes conversion to men. Winning souls is converting men. This evening I design to show, I. That several passages of Scripture ascribe conversion to men. II. That this is consistent with other passages which ascribe conversion to God. III. I purpose to discuss several further particulars which are deemed important, in regard to the preaching of the Gospel, and which show …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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

Sanctions of Moral Law, Natural and Governmental.
In the discussion of this subject, I shall show-- I. What constitute the sanctions of law. 1. The sanctions of law are the motives to obedience, the natural and the governmental consequences or results of obedience and of disobedience. 2. They are remuneratory, that is, they promise reward to obedience. 3. They are vindicatory, that is, they threaten the disobedient with punishment. 4. They are natural, that is, happiness is to some extent naturally connected with, and the necessary consequence of, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Jesus, My Rock.
When the storm and the tempest are raging around me, Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock? There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me, A Refuge Eternal,--'Tis JESUS MY ROCK! When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me, To whom can I safely my secrets unlock? No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me, The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK! When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me, And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock, I will …
John Ross Macduff—The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus

George Muller, and the Secret of His
POWER IN PRAYER WHEN God wishes anew to teach His Church a truth that is not being understood or practised, He mostly does so by raising some man to be in word and deed a living witness to its blessedness. And so God has raised up in this nineteenth century, among others, George Muller to be His witness that He is indeed the Hearer of prayer. I know of no way in which the principal truths of God's word in regard to prayer can be more effectually illustrated and established than a short review …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

The Publication of the Gospel
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it [or of the preachers] P erhaps no one Psalm has given greater exercise to the skill and patience of commentators and critics, than the sixty-eighth. I suppose the difficulties do not properly belong to the Psalm, but arise from our ignorance of various circumstances to which the Psalmist alludes; which probably were, at that time, generally known and understood. The first verse is the same with the stated form of benediction …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii.
TIMOTHY after his Conversion to the Christian Faith, being found to be a Man of great Parts, Learning, and Piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the Ministry, St. Paul who had planted a Church at Ephesus the Metropolis or chief City of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it, after his departure from it, giving him Power to ordain Elders or Priests, and to visit and exercise Jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false Doctrines, 1 Tim. i. 3. That they be unblameable in …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament