I. IT IS GOD'S PART TO PROVIDE THE OPPORTUNITIES. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (ver. 17). The apostle recognizes that men cannot be condemned for unbelief, if they have not had the opportunity-of hearing the gospel, No person will be condemned in the day of judgment who has not had the opportunity of salvation. And lest any one, applying this rule to the case of Israel, should suggest that they had not such an opportunity, he asks the question, "But I say, Have they not heard?" Can the plea of ignorance be put in on their behalf? Nay. "Their sound" (that is, the voice of God's messengers, referred to in ver. 15) "went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." God has done his part for the enlightenment and salvation of men. He has revealed himself in his works of nature. He has revealed himself in his Word. He has revealed himself in his Son. Jesus is the Emmanuel, "God with us."

II. IT IS MAN'S PART TO AVAIL HIMSELF OF THEM. The mere possession of gospel privileges is no guarantee of salvation, "But they have not all obeyed the gospel (ver. 16). Israel had the Law, with its types and ceremonies, pointing to Christ; their prophets, who spoke of him. Yet, with all their privileges, they rejected Christ. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." It will not profit us that we have been brought up in a Christian home, in a Christian Church, or that we have had the Bible in our hands, unless we ourselves "obey the gospel," accept its invitations, respect its precepts, and submit ourselves to Jesus as our Saviour and our King. Yet there are many who are resting entirely upon their privileges, without exercising that living personal faith in Jesus Christ for which these privileges afford the opportunity and the help.

III. OPPORTUNITIES NEGLECTED WILL BE TAKEN AWAY. Israel had been from the beginning forewarned of this. So long ago as the time of Moses it had been said to them, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you" (ver. 19). Then Isaiah repeated a similar warning," I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me" (ver. 20). The same lesson in the history of Israel is repeated by Christ more than once in his parables. In the parable of the wicked husbandmen, the lord of the vineyard is represented as letting out his vineyard "unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons" (Matthew 21:41). The same lesson is taught in the parable of the wedding-feast, where the invitation, rejected by the regularly invited guests, is sent out to the highways and hedges. We have the same truth in the parable of the talents. "Unto every one that hath shall be given... but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath" (Matthew 25:29). The history of the Jews is a solemn warning against the neglect of opportunities. It is a solemn warning to all those who, though brought up in Christian homes and in a Christian land, make light of the blessings of the gospel, resist its invitations, and set at naught its counsels. - C.H.I.

? — If I am thirsty, how shall I quench my thirst? By a draught of water. But in what way can I obtain water? It is enough to tell me to go to the tap or the fountain. There is no need to explain that the water is supplied by a reservoir, having been first drawn from the river, which received it from the clouds. To the thirsty all you want to say is, "There's the water, drink." A man is hungry, and he asks you, "How can I get bread? .... Go to the baker's," you say. If he wants to know how bread is obtained, we can give it to him at another time. And when you are dealing with an anxious person, it will suffice to say, "Faith cometh by hearing"; further information can be supplied under happier circumstances.

I. THE WAY BY WHICH FAITH COMES TO MEN. "By hearing."

1. Negatively. It does not come —(1) By hereditary descent. The heirs of salvation are born, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and nothing more.(2) By sacraments. Is not faith a concomitant of regeneration? and what is that regeneration worth which leaves a person an unbeliever? Faith. cannot be sprinkled upon us, nor can we be immersed in it. It is not to be poured into us from a chalice, nor generated in us by consecrated bread.(3) By feeling. Till certain men have felt what they have heard described in religious biography they cannot believe. You may get the best feeling from faith, but you will be long before you will find any faith worth having from frames and feelings.(4) By dreams and visions. The notion is still current that if you dream of seeing Jesus, or if a passage of Scripture strikes you, or if you imagine that you hear a voice speaking to you, you are then a believer. Now, though you should see all the angels in heaven, it would not prove that you would go to heaven, any more than my having seen the Pope's bodyguard would be a proof that I shall be made a Cardinal. Moreover, men saw Christ, and yet blasphemed Him.(5) Through the eloquence, earnestness, or any other good quality of the preacher. If so, being born of the power of the flesh, it will die, and so prove itself unlike the faith which springs from the incorruptible word of God, for that liveth and abideth for ever.

2. Positively: "Faith cometh by hearing." Sometimes faith has come into men's minds by hearing —(1) The simple statement of the gospel. All some have wanted has been merely to be informed of the way of salvation.(2) Of the suitability of the gospel to the individual case. While some have heard it preached as a gospel for sinners, they have felt that they were certainly among that class.(3) Of the condescending pity and the melting love of Jesus. When such texts have been preached on "This Man receiveth sinners," "Come unto Me, all ye that labour," etc., that strain has touched the heart, and led the most hardened to believe in a Saviour so kind to the undeserving.(4) Of its authority. There are persons who, when they have heard the gospel, have not at first believed it, but if the minister has been led to show that God has set His sanction upon it, they have yielded and given over all further question.(5) Of the veracity of the sacred writers.(6) The explanation of the gospel. When the preacher takes up one by one the soul difficulties which keep a man from looking to Christ, and when a man shows that all his help for salvation is laid upon one that is mighty, it has often happened that faith has come through the hearing of such an explanatory word.(7) The gospel preached with peculiar soul-revealing pointedness. Remember the Samaritan woman.(8) The experience of those who have tasted the word of life; when the preacher tells how he trusted in Jesus, and found peace; when he is able to point to others who have felt the same, then conviction and faith are wrought in the mind. To set the whole matter clearly: Suppose you are labouring under a very serious disease, and a physician professes to heal you, how would you get faith in him? By hearing. You hear him speak, and you perceive that he understands your case, for he describes exactly all your symptoms. He next describes to you as much of the method of cure as you can comprehend. Then you inquire as to the man's character; you find that he is a skilful practitioner. Moreover, suppose that he does everything gratis, moved only by a kind desire to remove pain and save life. But if, in addition, he shows you his case-book, and bids you read case after case similar to your own in which he has effected perfect cure, and if some of these are your own acquaintances, you will not insult him by saying, "I wish I could believe you." In the same way faith in Christ comes.

II. THE OBSTRUCTIONS WHICH OFTEN BLOCK UP THIS WAY.

1. A want of intention. Many persons come to hear, but they have no wish to be led into faith. Like the butterflies which flit from flower to flower, they extract no honey because they come not for such a purpose; while the bees dive into the cups and bells of the flowers, and come up loaded with their luscious food.

2. A want of attention. Sleepy hearers are not likely to be led to faith. Wandering hearts lose the benefit of the truth, and vain minds trifle away the privilege of a gospel ministry.

3. A want of candour. If a man hears with a prejudiced heart he is not likely to be convinced.

4. The want of after meditation. The juryman who is most likely to get at the truth of a given case will be the man who, having heard attentively, takes the notes of the evidence, weighs it, and endeavours to sift out the truth. So when you hear us preach, sift the sermon afterwards, pick holes in it if you like, but do search into the truth, and be not content till you find it. Here is a bag, and I drop into it pound after pound, but I find that the bag is just as empty as before; the reason is, there are holes in it, and the money drops through. Too many hearers are as a bag full of holes, and golden sermons will not bless them because they wilfully forget all.

III. THE IMPORTANCE THAT FAITH SHOULD COME TO US BY THIS WAY. If you have been a hearer and faith has not come to you, you are, this moment, in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. The wrath of God abideth on you.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. WHAT IS FAITH?

1. An historical (James 2:19).

2. A dogmatical (Acts 8:13, 33; Luke 4:41).

3. A temporary (Luke 8:13; John 5:35).

4. A faith of miracles (Luke 17:6; 1 Corinthians 13:2).

5. A saving faith (Romans 10:10; Acts 16:31; 1 Peter 2:6).

II. WHAT IS THE WORN BY THE HEARING WHEREOF FAITH COMES?

1. Not the word of men.

2. Not of angels (Galatians 1:8).

3. But of God.

III. WHAT IS MEANT BY HEARING THIS WORD? Hearing it —

1. Read.

2. Expounded.

3. Preached.

IV. HOW IS FAITH WROUGHT BY THE WORD? Not as by the principal, but only instrumental cause. Thus —

1. The minister commissioned by God speaks it to the ear, sometimes of God's mercy, sometimes of man's duty (2 Timothy 4:2).

2. The ears of the hearer take in what the preacher speaks, and convey it to the understanding. But that cannot receive it (1 Corinthians 2:14), therefore —

3. The Spirit goes along with the word, and enables the understanding to receive it.

4. The Spirit having done so inclines the heart to embrace it (Philippians 2:13; Romans 7:15; Hebrews 4:12).

V. USE OF REPREHENSION.

1. To those who think themselves above ordinances.

2. To those who will not come up to them. This doctrine meets, as the angel did Balaam, with a drawn sword —

(1)Such as will not so much as.come to hear.

(2)Such as will come, but not to hear, but out of custom, or to stop the mouth of a brawling conscience.

(3)Such as will come to hear, but will not hear when they are come (Ezekiel 33:31). They come and bring their ears too, but they are either stopped (Psalm 58:4, 5), dull (Matthew 13:15), or itching (2 Timothy 4:3, 4).

(4)Such as will hear when they come, but do not mind or understand what they hear (Ezekiel 33:32; Acts 9:7; cf. 22:9).

(5)Such as mind what they hear, but will not believe what they mind.

(6)Such as do believe what they mind, but will not resolve to practise what they believe (Ezekiel 33.).

(7)Such as will resolve to practise what they believe, but will never practise what they resolve (James 1:23, 24).

VI. MOTIVES. Consider —

1. Whose word it is.

2. What a word it is (Psalm 19:7; Romans 1:16; James 1:21).

3. What thou mayest get by coming to it; what thou mayest lose by staying from it.

4. The time will come when thou wilt curse thyself for every opportunity lost, or bless God for everyone embraced (Matthew 23:39).

VII. DIRECTIONS.

1. Before hearing —

(1)Consider what thou art going about and whom thou art going before.

(2)Set aside all worldly thoughts, as Abraham his servants, and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:19,20), especially sins (James 1:21).

(3)If thou wouldst have God pour forth His blessings upon thee in preaching, do thou pour out thy spirit before Him in prayer (Psalm 10:17; Psalm 65:2).

(a)For the minister (Romans 15:20).

(b)For yourselves, that God would assist the word (Isaiah 8:11).(4) Come —

(a)with an appetite (Matthew 5:6; Job 29:23).

(b)With large expectations.

(c)With strong resolutions to practise.

2. In hearing. Hear —

(1)Reverently.

(2)Diligently, with hearts as well as ears.

(3)Meekly (James 1:21).

(4)With faith (Hebrews 4:2).

(5)With self-application (Job 5:27).

3. After hearing —

(1)Meditate (1 Timothy 4:15).

(2)Confer with others.

(3)Square thyself according to it, that thy life may be a comment on the sermon (James 1:22; Matthew 7:24, 25).

(Bp. Beveridge.)

I. THE GENERAL LESSON OF THE TEXT.

1. As all is suspended upon God, and as He reigns with as supreme a dominion in the heart of man as in the world around us, all relating to the salvation of the soul is His work. But on the ether hand, it is evident that though it be God alone that worketh, yet He worketh by instruments. None were more impressed than Paul with the pious sentiment that all depends upon God; yet he says "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." If, in that extraordinary age, when the Author of nature broke in upon the constancy of its operations by miracles, one of His own inspired messengers does not overlook the use of instruments, it would ill become us to overlook them.

2. Now observe that the operation of the two instruments laid before us in the text is somewhat different at present from what it was in the days of the apostles. Those were the days of inspiration; and faith came by the hearing of inspired teachers; and hearing came by the "Word of God — for the apostles spake only as God put the word into their mouth. But whatever is capable of being spoken is capable of being written also; and it was not long before the Christian teachers committed to writing the doctrine of salvation; and if you read what they wrote with the impression that it is the genuine production of inspired men, you are in circumstances likely for receiving faith. Now, however, there is a change in one of the instruments. Instead of the messenger delivering the message in person, you have the substance of it in a written communication. And now faith comes by reading, and reading by the Word of God.

3. We are not to suppose, however, that reading is substituted for hearing. True you can no longer hear the immediate messengers of heaven; but you can hear the descendants of these messengers. And although you have the inspired documents, heaven still gives a saving influence to the living energy of a human voice.

4. In no age of the Church, indeed, does it appear that the one instrument ever superseded the other. Nehemiah not only "read in the book of the law of God distinctly, but gave the sense, and caused the people to understand the reading." And this reading and expounding of the law from the days of Ezra formed a permanent institution among the Jews. We meet with traces of its existence in the New Testament (Acts 13:14, etc.; Luke 4:16, etc.). And it has descended, without interruption, through all the ages of Christian worship. The apostles deemed it necessary to leave something more than the written volume of inspiration behind them. They left teachers and overseers; and to this very day, the readings, and the explanations, and the sermons of Christian pastors, are superadded to the silent reading of Christian people; and both are found to be instruments of mighty operation, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

5. Neither instrument is to be dispensed with.(1) If you have hearing without reading, you lay the Church open to all the corruptions of Popery. You have priests, but you have no Bibles. You take your lesson from the wisdom of man, and throw away from you all the light and benefit of revelation. Keep fast, then, by your Bible. Let not your faith come by hearing alone; but let your hearing be tried by the Word of God. Let it not be said that what you believe is what you have heard merely.(2) But if you have reading without hearing, you throw away the benefit of a public ministry — an institution sanctioned by the Bible. Though you have no knowledge to receive, you have memories to be refreshed; minds which, however pure, need to be stirred up by way of remembrance.

II. ITS APPLICATION TO THE EVANGELISATION OF THE WORLD. The propagation of the gospel is a cause the maintenance of which consists of the providing of Bibles, and the providing of human agents. The latter, by teaching them to read, teaches unlettered people to use one of the instruments of the text; and to the latter belongs the exclusive office of bringing the other instrument to bear upon them — the instrument of hearing. The society whose office it is to provide the former is the Bible Society. The society whose office it is to provide the latter instrument is the Missionary Society. It is the duty of a Christian public to keep both instruments in vigorous operation. Each of these societies has mighty claims upon you. The two go hand in hand. The one ploughs while the other sows; and let no opposition be instituted betwixt their claims on the generosity of the public.

(T. Chalmers, D.D.)

A poor man being on his death-bed, asked that the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah should be read to him. Though weak and faint, and full of pain, yet when he heard the words, "Incline your ear and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live," he gathered up his strength to say, "What a mercy, sir, that it is not ' Read, and your soul shall live,' for if it had been I could not have been saved, for you know I am no scholar. But, blessed be God, it is 'Hear, and your soul shall live.' I have heard and believed, and trust I shall be saved."

It is said that a beautiful countess of one of the Orkney Islands was a deaf mute. One day, when her firstborn child was a few months old, as it was sleeping in its cradle, she softly approached its side, to the terror of the nurse, with a large stone in her hands, and dropped it on the floor, eagerly watching the face of the babe to see the effect of the noise. To the inexpressible joy of the fond mother's heart the child started and awoke, so that she knew it had the sense of hearing. She embraced both child and nurse, and wept tears of gratitude to God that her own sad affliction was not transmitted to her offspring.

Esaias, Isaiah, Israelites, Paul, RomansRomeBelief, Christ, Faith, God's, Hearing, Message, Preaching, Proves, Report, Saying, Spoken1. The difference between the righteousness of the law, and that of faith;
11. all who believe, both Jew and Gentile, shall not be shamed;
18. and that the Gentiles shall receive the word and believe.
19. Israel was not ignorant of these things.

Romans 10:17

     1445   revelation, responses
     5159   hearing
     5547   speech, power of
     7755   preaching, importance

Romans 10:14-17

     6183   ignorance, of God
     8025   faith, origins of

Romans 10:16-21

     7505   Jews, the

Romans 10:17-18

     8023   faith, necessity

The Gospel Message, Good Tidings
[As it is written] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! T he account which the Apostle Paul gives of his first reception among the Galatians (Galatians 4:15) , exemplifies the truth of this passage. He found them in a state of ignorance and misery; alienated from God, and enslaved to the blind and comfortless superstitions of idolatry. His preaching, accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, had a great and marvellous effect. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Progress of the Gospel
Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world. T he heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1) . The grandeur of the arch over our heads, the number and lustre of the stars, the beauty of the light, the splendour of the sun, the regular succession of day and night, and of the seasons of the year, are such proofs of infinite wisdom and power, that the Scripture attributes to them a voice, a universal language, intelligible to all mankind, accommodated to every capacity. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

How Can I Obtain Faith?
May the Spirit of God assist us while we meditate upon the way by which faith cometh. This shall be followed by a brief indication of certain obstructions which often lie in that way; and then we will conclude by dwelling upon the importance that faith should come to us by that appointed road. I. First, then, THE WAY BY WHICH FAITH COMES TO MEN. "Faith cometh by hearing." It may help to set the truth out more clearly, if we say, negatively, that it does not come by any other process than by hearing;--not …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

Christ the End of the Law
The reason why many do not come to Christ is not because they are not earnest, after a fashion, and thoughtful and desirous to be saved, but because they cannot brook God's way of salvation. "They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," We do get them by our exhortation so far on the way that they become desirous to obtain eternal life, but "they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." Mark, "submitted themselves," for it needs submission. Proud man wants to save …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 22: 1876

A Simple Sermon for Seeking Souls
Now, I think, I shall not this morning err in his point of view, for I shall assume that some of my congregation, at least, are totally unacquainted with the great plan of salvation. And you that know it well, and have tried its preciousness, will bear with me, I am sure, whilst I try in the simplest words that human lips can put together to tell out the story of how men are lost, and how men are saved according to the words of my text by calling upon the name of the Lord. Well then, we must begin …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Barriers Broken Down
YOU THAT HAVE YOUR BIBLES OPEN, kindly follow me from the first verse of the chapter. It begins, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." If you really desire that men should be saved, pray for them. It is an empty wish, a mere formality, if you do not turn it into prayer. Every loving desire for any man or woman should, by the believer, be taken before God in prayer. We cannot expect that God will save men unless his people pray for it. There must …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Sovereign Grace and Man's Responsibility
The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once. I am taught in one book to believe that what I sow I shall reap: I am taught in another place, that "it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I see in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." All men love to have privileges above others. Every one is upon the design and search after some well-being, since Adam lost that which was true happiness. We all agree upon the general notion of it, but presently men divide in the following of particulars. Here all men are united in seeking after some good; something to satisfy their souls, and satiate their desires. Nay, but they …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Seances Historiques De Geneve --The National Church.
IN the city of Geneva, once the stronghold of the severest creed of the Reformation, Christianity itself has of late years received some very rude shocks. But special attempts have been recently made to counteract their effects and to re-organize the Christian congregations upon Evangelical principles. In pursuance of this design, there have been delivered and published during the last few years a series of addresses by distinguished persons holding Evangelical sentiments, entitled Séances …
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

Confirmation.
In our studies concerning the methods of Grace, or the application of the Salvation purchased by Christ, to the sinful race of Adam's children, we necessarily had to begin with the new-born child. We noted the first known operations of Grace at the baptismal font. We traced the infant through the holy influences received at a Christian mother's knee, and in the nurture of a Christian home. We followed up through the lessons and influences of the Church's nursery, the Sunday-school, and from thence …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

Faith in the Sacred Scriptures.
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." --Rom. x. 10. Calvin says beautifully and comprehensively that the object of saving faith is none other than the Mediator, and invariably in the garments of the Sacred Scriptures. This should be accepted unconditionally. Saving faith is possible, therefore, only in sinful men and so long as they remain sinful. To suppose that saving faith existed already in Paradise is to destroy the order of …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Which Sentence Dishonoreth the Holy Martyrs, Nay Rather Taketh Away Holy Martyrdoms Altogether. ...
3. Which sentence dishonoreth the holy Martyrs, nay rather taketh away holy martyrdoms altogether. For they would do more justly and wisely, according to these men, not to confess to their persecutors that they were Christians, and by confessing make them murderers: but rather by telling a lie, and denying what they were, should both themselves keep safe the convenience of the flesh and purpose of the heart, and not allow those to accomplish the wickedness which they had conceived in their mind. …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Or Haply is it So, that He who Plots in this Way to Find...
13. Or haply is it so, that he who plots in this way to find out Priscillianists, denies not Christ, forasmuch as with his mouth he utters what with his heart he believes not? As if truly (which I also said a little above) when it was said, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," it was added to no purpose, "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation?" [2398] Is it not so that almost all who have denied Christ before the persecutors, held in their heart what they believed of Him? …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Christ Our Righteousness.
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I. Cor. i. 30, 31). In this language Paul affirms that Christ is our righteousness. This is a momentous thought. It goes to the heart of the scheme of redemption. How is Christ our righteousness? What does Paul mean by the affirmation? The very life of Christianity is involved in the answer. …
Frank G. Allen—Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel

Letter v. Yes, My Dear Friend, it is My Conviction that in all Ordinary Cases the Knowledge...
Yes, my dear friend, it is my conviction that in all ordinary cases the knowledge and belief of the Christian Religion should precede the study of the Hebrew Canon. Indeed, with regard to both Testaments, I consider oral and catechismal instruction as the preparative provided by Christ himself in the establishment of a visible Church. And to make the Bible, apart from the truths, doctrines, and spiritual experiences contained therein, the subject of a special article of faith, I hold an unnecessary …
Samuel Taylor Coleridge—Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc

Receive, My Children, the Rule of Faith, which is Called the Symbol or Creed. ...
1. Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol (or Creed [1762] ). And when ye have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before ye sleep, before ye go forth, arm you with your Creed. The Creed no man writes so as it may be able to be read: but for rehearsal of it, lest haply forgetfulness obliterate what care hath delivered, let your memory be your record-roll: [1763] what ye are about to hear, that are ye to believe; and what ye shall …
St. Augustine—On the Creeds

Moreover Moses in Deuteronomy Says that the Gentiles Should be the Head...
Moreover Moses in Deuteronomy says that the Gentiles should be the head, and the unbelieving people the tail. And again he says: Ye provoked me to jealousy with those that are no gods, and angered me with your idols: and I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, and with a foolish nation will I anger you. (Cf. Rom. x. 19) Because they forsook the God who is, and worshipped and served the gods who are not; and they slew the prophets of God, and prophesied for Baal, who was the idol …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Epistle xvi. To Mauricius, Augustus.
To Mauricius, Augustus. Gregory to Mauricius, &c. Seeing that in you, most Christian of princes, uncorrupt soundness of faith shines as a beam sent down from heaven, and that it is known to all that your Serenity embraces fervently and loves with entire devotion of heart the pure profession in which by God's favour you are powerful, we have perceived it to be very necessary to make request for those whom one and the same faith enlightens, to the end that the Piety of our lords may protect them with …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

St. Paul's Wish to be Accursed from Christ.
"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Few characters more remarkable than that of St. Paul, are to be found in history. He is introduced to our acquaintance on a tragical occasion--the martyrdom of Stephen, where he appears an accomplice with murderers--"he was standing by and consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him." The circumstances of Paul's conversion to Christianity were very remarkable, and …
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Twenty-First Day for God's Spirit on the Jews
WHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on the Jews "I will pour out upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and Supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they pierced."--ZECH. xii. 10. "Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved."--ROM. x. 1. Pray for the Jews. Their return to the God of their fathers stands connected, in a way we cannot tell, with wonderful blessing to the Church, and with the coming of our …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being
Rom. xi. 36.--"Of him and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever." And 1 Cor. x. 31--"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." All that men have to know, may be comprised under these two heads,--What their end is, and What is the right way to attain to that end? And all that we have to do, is by any means to seek to compass that end. These are the two cardinal points of a man's knowledge and exercise. Quo et qua eundum est,--Whither to go, and what way to go. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," &C.
Matth. vi. 33.--"But seek ye first the kingdom of God," &c. II. The Christian's chief employment should be to seek the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof. "Seek first," &c. Upon this he should first and chiefly spend his thoughts, and affections, and pains. We comprehend it in three things. First, He should seek to be clothed upon with Christ's righteousness, and this ought to take up all his spirit. This is the first care and the chief concern. Did not this righteousness weigh much …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Regeneration and Faith.
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."--1 Peter i. 23. There is a possible objection to what has been said above concerning regeneration. It is evident that God's Word, and therefore our symbols of faith, offers a modified representation of these things which, superficially considered, seems to condemn our representation. This representation, which does not consider children, but adults, may thus be stated: Among a …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

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