The Christian is not to be insensible to the movements of the world. "Knowing the time," says the apostle (ver. 11). Mr. Spurgeon says he reads the newspapers to see how God is governing the world. It is well for us to know what are the current beliefs and motives of our fellow-men.

I. THE CHRISTIAN'S CONFIDENCE.

1. "The night is far spent.

(1) The forces of evil are far spent. Some Christians are always looking on the dark side of things. They see no traces of the breaking day. With them it is always night. They would have us believe, with Canon Taylor, that missions are a failure. They would have us believe, with Lord Wemyss, that prohibition of the liquor traffic is a failure. They would have us believe that Sunday closing is a failure. But it is those who want such movements to fail that usually originate such a cry. There is no failure in the forces of right. Failure is written on the forces of sin. Its night is far spent.

(2) The clouds of mystery will soon be lifted. There are difficulties in reconciling religion and science. Yet the. difficulties are only apparent. They are only temporary clouds. There are difficulties in God's providence that we cannot understand. But by-and-by they will all be made plain. Every mystery will be solved. Now we know in part; but then shall we know even as also we are known."

(3) The dark hours of pain and sorrow will soon be over. How dark is the hour of sickness! how dark the hour of bereavement! What shadows disappointment causes to pass over our lives! But the night is far spent. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

2. "The day is at hand. The day of our Saviour's coming is rapidly drawing nearer. Already we may hear the sound of his chariot-wheels. Gradually his kingdom has been making progress in the earth, his truth has been gaining the victory over error. The Reformation shook off the dust of centuries from the Word of God. The discovery of printing had already prepared the way for the spread of the emancipated Bible. Old kingdoms that encouraged error and fostered ecclesiastical despotism have been falling. New nations have arisen to sway the destinies of the world - the nations of the Bible-loving, liberty-loving, Anglo-Saxon race. Old wrongs have been redressed. Our King is coming. The day is at hand."

II. THE CHRISTIAN'S CALL.

1. A call to activity. "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep" (ver. 11). It is plain that this exhortation is addressed to Christians, for the writer adds, "for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Many Christians are asleep. They are inactive and idle, and are doing nothing to prepare the way of the Lord. It may be addressed also to the unconverted. This very passage, the closing part of this thirteenth chapter, was the means of converting St. Augustine.

2. A call to amendment. "Let us cast off the works of darkness" (ver. 12). Some works are literally works of darkness, as for example those specified in the thirteenth verse. Drunkenness and impurity are most practised in the night. "They that be drunken are drunken in the night." But "works of darkness" may be regarded as including all sinful works. Sin loves concealment. The Christian is to cast off everything that will not bear the light, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. "The day is at hand." How shall we abide the day of our Lord's coming if we do not, by Divine help, separate ourselves from sin?

3. A call to conflict. "Let us put on the armour of light" (ver. 12). We are to wage war with our own temptations, and with the evil that is in the world. Let our armour be the armour of light. Let us not fight the world with its own weapons - with hatred, or bitterness, or deceit. Let our weapons be good weapons - the weapons of truth, justice, love. They will conquer. Let us never do evil that good may come.

4. A call to Christ-likeness. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 14). That is to say, "Be clothed with his spirit." This is the secret of strength. Like Sir Galahad, whose strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure, the man who is Christ-like in spirit will overcome all temptations, and will grapple victoriously with all difficulties. This is emphatically a call which the Christian needs to hear in the present age, when there is so much in the Church as well as in the world that is contrary to the spirit of Christ. Let us, then, hear the trumpet-call of duty, and, as we go forth, let us brace up our spirits with the inspiring thought that "the night is far spent, and the day is at hand." - C.H.I.

These words contain —

I. A REPRESENTATION OF THIS LIFE AND OF THE LIFE TO COME.

1. This life is the night. Our condition in this state is one of —(1) Ignorance. What feeble conceptions have we of God! What mistakes do we make respecting the methods of Divine grace. He who knows most confesses "that we know in part, and prophesy in part."(2) Danger. In the night of this life "your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Nor is he a solitary agent. Besides, how many natural ills surround us!(3) Trouble.

2. The next life is day. Heaven will be a day of —(1) Knowledge. Good men will there see things as they are, God as He is, and know even as they are known.(2) Safety.(3) Happiness (Revelation 7:15-17).

II. AN ADMONITION OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE FORMER, AND OF THE APPROACH OF THE LATTER. We are informed of this fact by —

1. Revolving periods of time.

2. The doctrines of the gospel. There is not one of them which does not terminate in heaven. Christians are justified and sanctified that they may be capacitated to enjoy heaven.

3. The ordinances of the gospel. Why do we unite in songs of praise, but in the hope of ere long uniting in the praises of heaven?

4. Surrounding objects, combined with our own bodily infirmities.

(Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)

You have here a view of life opposite to the one taken by our Lord. Speaking of what is coming He says, "The night cometh," and speaking of what now is, "Work while it is called day." He looks upon us as labourers in the field, who, when the night comes, must leave their work done or undone, which must stand till the great light comes again to show exactly how it was left. Paul, however, regards us as soldiers in a campaign. The night is come, and we have encamped for the night; the uniform is laid off; some are sitting round the campfire, some are walking about, some are playing tricks, some are doing what they would not dare to do in the day. A voice is heard, "The night is far spent — put on your armour, be ready."

I. THE PRESENT DARKNESS.

1. Suppose you are on a hill, say a mile from the Thames. It might be that you could neither see the river nor the objects on it, but that would not prove that they did not exist. The only fact is that they and you are in darkness. Light does not create things; it only makes them manifest. So we are dwelling in the midst of ten thousand grand and mysterious realities, but we do not see them because of the shadows that lie on our souls.

2. By misapprehension we are liable in the dark to take the distant for the near, the little for the great, the common for the valuable, and vice versa. As the armour is scattered in the night the breastplate looks no brighter than the trunk of a tree, the helmet than a stone, etc. And the things which are symbolised by these pieces of armour do not always seem to us of their proper value. There is the girdle of truth — of unutterable price and value; but in this dim world men think that an ingenious deception is better. The breastplate of righteousness — why, many a man thinks more of a royal or municipal decoration. The helmet of salvation — many a woman prefers a new bonnet to that.

3. The dark brings us false anticipations. "When a man walketh in the darkness he knoweth not whither he goeth." A man looking into the dark forms an incorrect estimate of what is before him. He has no power to calculate where he will be after five steps or ten. This is pre-eminently the condition of the man who is going straight towards eternity.

4. Darkness is often the time of dreaming. The sleeping soldier dreams probably not of battlefields, but of sheepfolds, etc.; and in the midst of the dream bursts in the cry, "To arms!" So it may be that thy imagination is full of a life to be that never will be; with plans for this very year that will never be carried out.

II. THE COMING DAY. "The night is far spent." I know not in your case how far. The reason why we are in the dark is that this part of the world is turned away from the sun, and we are sitting in the shadow of our own world. And so the reason why we do not see God and heaven is simply because we have turned away from that side of heaven. Absence from the Lord is night-time; the presence of the Lord is the break of day. All you know is by faith; but the time of sight is coming. The moment is fixed, but God will never tell it. But it is at hand! The Judge is at the door.

III. THE DUTY TO WHICH WE ARE CALLED.

1. "Cast off the works of darkness" — everything that people will venture to do in the dark, but not in the light. Even here we have certain lamps — dim, it is true — but which cast light on our affairs. The lamp of —(1) Civil law. Is there anything in your action that if brought out to a court of justice would be stamped as guilty?(2) Commercial integrity. Many a thing that would escape the former lamp would, if brought to this, appear odious. Is there in your ways anything that, if subjected to the keen eye of half a dozen honourable men, would be pronounced mean and shabby?(3) Domestic honour. Many a thing that will escape the other two would look very vile under this. Is there aught in thee which would appear shameful in the eyes of those who love thee?(4) Church discipline. Is there anything that, if brought under the knowledge of your brethren, would compel them to say, "It is sin"? Cast them all off,

2. "Put on the armour of light." Look at the man who has got the polished shield, breastplate, etc., etc. As long as it is night they look poor and common; but when the great sun begins to play, look at them, how they shine in the light! Everything beautiful welcomes the light; and righteousness, peace, truth, etc., are akin to the light. Don't say, "There they are, I can find them when I seek them"; or, "I shall have time enough when the alarm is sounded"; or, "I know some one who will get them for me." Put them on, so that when the day dawns you may be ready. "But the day has not broken yet." No; if it had you would have had no time to put the armour on. "But I have no armour, no girdle of righteousness," etc. Then "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" — there is all the armour you need.

(W. Arthur, M.A.)

I. THE FACT STATED. The apostle reverses the sense in which our Lord uses these words (John 9:4). Jesus contrasts the present scene with the darkness of the grave, while the apostle contrasts it with the bright heaven that lies beyond it.

1. "The night" is a picture of the Christian's present state. In comparison with other men, and with his own former condition, he is in broad day. But the apostle is not thinking of these things. As he contemplates eternity, he feels that believers are all still in darkness. And the figure accords with our own experience and feelings. Night is a season of cheerlessness, incertitude, perplexity, inaction, and danger. Who is there that does not feel his spiritual condition here to be the same? But it is our ignorance that this figure most forcibly represents. Night throws a veil over the face of things. The traveller may be passing through the most beautiful scenes, but he might almost as well be going over a desert. So with us. What do we know of the things we most wish to know? Ours, however, is not a night of total darkness. The stars shine above us, and something like the mild, steady rays of an unclouded moon reach us; but it is night still, and we long for the shadows to flee away.

2. "The day" signifies heaven. "There shall be no night there." Nothing to endanger, impede, bewilder, or distress. Everything we wish done away with here shall be done away with there. And there shall all which we have so long wished to see come — sunshine, brightness, beauty, and happiness. Travel on a bright day through a beautiful country, with the glorious sun shining, and all nature exulting in his shining. Then transfer this scene to heaven. There shines in unclouded splendour the Sun of Righteousness. This glorious light is ever shining on the most glorious objects, and we shall behold these objects, and the same light on ourselves shall cause us to "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father." Now this day is near.

II. THE ADVICE GIVEN is grounded on the fact stated. "Let us cast off," etc.

1. Before, however, we can do this, there is something else to be done. Paul has in his mind a man asleep, who must in the first instance awake. Like a fellow-traveller or a fellow-soldier who has risen before us, Paul announces the approaching morning, and bids us rise. Now all this supposes that Christians may sink into a state of spiritual negligence, sloth, and torpor. And it shows us that out of such a state we must be roused before we can obey this exhortation.

2. We are to "cast off the works of darkness," so called, because they court secrecy, and because they are connected with the prince of darkness. It is impossible to fall into a state of spiritual indifference without getting some of these unclean things upon us. And they are to be got rid of in the first place. There is not a greater delusion than to think we can be clothed in the graces of Christ's Spirit while we are holding fast any beloved sin. As to our bodies, we may put a clean garment over an unclean one, but we can never get our minds imbued with any one Christian grace as long as we are harbouring any one unchristian lust. Hence we are to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit," in order to "perfect holiness in the fear of God."

3. The roused-up man is addressed as a warrior, and told to put on the "armour of light,"(1) The source of this is Divine. Like the light, holiness is heaven-born. As evil desires and works proceed from Satan in his dark world, so all "holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works," proceed from God in His bright world. This armour is a part of God's own nature. He is Light — "glorious in holiness"; His purity gives Him His splendour. So when He communicates His holiness to us, He communicates with it a portion of His own glory. We look for safety and victory only from the armour He gives us, but that armour dignifies us as we go forth to the fight in it.

2. This holiness accords well with the heaven to which we are going. It is light, something harmonising with the splendid day which is soon to break on us. The expression intimates "meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light."

(C. Bradley, M.A.)

I. THE NIGHT —

1. Of time and mystery.

2. Of sin and sorrow.

3. Of individual experience.

II. THE DAY —

1. Of eternity and revelation.

2. Of righteousness and salvation.

3. Of final decision.

III. THE DEPARTURE OF ONE AND THE NEAR APPROACH OF THE OTHER —

1. Evident.

2. A call to activity.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. WHAT WE ARE TO CAST OFF.

1. Works that consisted with a time of ignorance.

2. That will not bear the light.

3. That spring from darkness.

II. WHAT ARE WE TO PUT ON?

1. Armour, offensive, defensive.

2. Of light.

III. WHY? "Because the night," etc.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. THE FACT ASSERTED.

1. In reference to Rome and the heathen world at large, the night of Gentile ignorance and vice was far spent, and the day of gospel knowledge, grace, and blessing was at hand.

2. In reference to the Christian Church at Rome, the night of imperfect acquaintance with the gospel was far spent, and the clear day of spiritual light was at hand.

3. In reference to each individual Christian, whosoever and wheresoever he may be, the night of temptation, trial, and trouble is far spent, and the day of heavenly glory and bliss is at hand.

II. THE EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON THIS FACT.

1. From the practice of all sin. The dress to be "cast off" is "the works of darkness," so called because —(1) Their source is darkness.(2) Their scene of action is darkness, as far as man can render it so.(3) Their end is the "blackness of darkness for ever"! Sin must return to the place from whence it came; and woe to him who shall be found in its company at the time!

2. To the pursuit of all holiness. "Let us put on the armour of light." In Ephesians 6:13-17 he enumerates the several particulars of the Christian armour.But it is more briefly described in ver. 14.

1. Make the example of Christ your pattern.

2. Seek for union with Christ as your strength.

(J. Jowett, M.A.)

The whole time between His first coming and His second may be looked at as the dawn, the daybreak; light still struggling with darkness, the darkness only slowly receding, but yet ever receding — retreating step by step, and pierced through and through as it retreats by the glittering shafts of the true king of day.

(Abp. Trench.)

1. Divine in its origin.

2. Excellent in its nature.

3. Essential in its adoption.

4. Invincible in its use.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

Religion is the best armour a man can have, but the worst cloak.

(Bunyan.)

It is a habit of the Apostle Paul to present almost everything in its dual aspect — e.g., the "flesh" fails and corrupts; the "spirit" quickens and nourishes; "sin" condemns and slays; "grace" justifies, purifies, saves; "death " is swallowed up of "life." Here is the same method in another of its applications. There is one who is told the night is almost gone; that the morning is coming, that it is time to put off all the works of darkness, and to stand waiting for the glow of the sunrise. And he wishes to do it. But how hard the work is! How difficult to distinguish! These "works of darkness" are not all wicked and horrible. They are things that may be helpful or inimical, according to circumstances. "And here I stand," one has to think, "in the dark, to watch against evil, to put it away, to keep it away." No! you would have little chance of coming out of it into morning in that way — in the way simply of resistance to evil by inward strength and wisdom. Our apostle never proposes action in that way. He had tried it, and knew what it ended in. "Try it," saith he, "in this way." "Put off"; and in the same act, "put on." Put on what? Not "the works of light," although he might have said that with propriety; but "the armour of light" — thus conveying to us the sentiment that Christian faith, in proportion as we live in it, and Christian virtues, in proportion as we put them on, become a soldier's armour. Live the Christian life fully, and you will become like an armed man. Put on this armour, then. It can be done easily, quietly. Many a gentle soul is clad in it. Many a battle is fought and won without dust, or noise, or blood — by soul-confidence; by heart faith; by patient waiting; by looking to Christ; by longings for heaven. Courage! you who are striving, and you who are weary, and you who are longing for more than you can express. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand."

(A. Raleigh, D.D.)

I. ITS NATURE.

1. The military girdle, that which was intended to give support and firmness to the body: "Having your loins girt about with truth" — i.e., absolute sincerity in the consecration of ourselves to the service of Christ, our great Head.

2. "The breastplate of righteousness": all holiness, inward and outward. And as the breastplate defended the vital parts, so whatever injuries we may sustain, they cannot reach the conscience while this breastplate is there. And when the conscience is kept pure, all is safe.

3. "Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." This refers to the greaves and shoes, which were designed to give a firm footing and to guard against hidden traps. No man is in a state of preparation for the Christian conflict but he who is at peace with God. But pardoning love and regenerating grace, having set the man free from sin, give him firm ground, and enable him, standing fast in the Lord and the power of His might, to beat down every enemy that assails him.

4. "The shield of faith," the use of which is "to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one": in allusion to those firebrands which were sometimes shot along with the arrows, or to the arrows themselves, the iron heads of which had been previously heated, in order to inflict more intolerable pain. This shield quenches the fiery darts

(1)Of persecution.

(2)Of temptation and affliction.

5. "An helmet the hope of salvation." It defends the head, the very vital part. Despair chills exertion.

6. "The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

(1)Our Lord Himself has given us an instance of its defensive power in His own temptation.

(2)But the Christian is to carry on an offensive warfare by zealously and consistently, on all proper occasions, proclaiming the truth of God.

II. WHY IT IS CALLED "THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT."

1. With reference to its origin, which is heavenly. It is therefore well called the whole armour of God. Though it is true that sincerity, righteousness, faith, suppose acts of the will, and a certain state of the affections, yet, nevertheless, they are wrought in man by God, and are found only in the regenerate.

2. Because it is only found where Christianity exists and exerts its proper influence. No man is seen in the armour of light but a true Christian. We find no instance in which the philosophy of ancient times made a warrior such as the apostle describes, armed him with armour like this, and led him on to victory. St. Paul tried whether Pharisaism would do; so that, "touching the righteousness of the law," he was "blameless." Yet he was held in the bondage of pride, and prejudice, and anger. Take our modern infidel philosopher, with reason and virtue on his lips, and with pride, selfishness, and passion in his heart.

3. Because it corresponds with the character of our dispensation, which is a dispensation of light.

III. THE MOTIVES WHICH SHOULD INDUCE US TO ARRAY OURSELVES IN THIS ARMOUR. Consider —

1. The degraded state of the man who is not invested with it.

2. The moral elevation which it gives to every one who is invested with it.

3. That you must either conquer or be conquered.

(R. Watson.)

Humboldt tells us that, after bathing among the noctilucae in the phosphorescent water of the Pacific, his skin was luminous for hours after. In a spiritual sense, is it not true that when we bathe, so to speak, mind and heart in the truths and influences of Christianity, allowing, seeking their appropriate effect upon us, the whole character shines with a heaven-given light and beauty, that we can bear. about with us into the common scenes and daily duties of life?

Paul, RomansRomeAdvance, Advanced, Almost, Arming, Armor, Armour, Aside, Cast, Clothe, Dark, Darkness, Dawn, Deeds, Lay, Let's, Nigh, Ourselves, Spent, Throw, Works1. Subjection, and many other duties, we owe to the authorities.
8. Love is the fulfillment of the law.
11. The acts of darkness are out of season in the time of the Gospel.

Romans 13:12

     4811   darkness, symbol of sin
     4836   light, and people of God
     4954   morning
     4957   night
     5209   armour
     5290   defeat
     5612   weapons
     8422   equipping, spiritual

Romans 13:11-12

     2565   Christ, second coming
     5533   sleep, physical

Romans 13:11-14

     5832   desire

Romans 13:12-13

     4921   day

Romans 13:12-14

     5924   quarrelsomeness
     6030   sin, avoidance
     6237   sexual sin, nature of
     7027   church, purpose
     8485   spiritual warfare, conflict
     8486   spiritual warfare, armour

November 23. "It is High Time to Awake Out of Sleep" (Rom. xiii. 11).
"It is high time to awake out of sleep" (Rom. xiii. 11). One of the greatest enemies to faith is indolence. It is much easier to lie and suffer than to rise and overcome; much easier to go to sleep on a snowbank and never wake again, than to rouse one's self and shake off the lethargy and overcome the stupor. Faith is an energetic art; prayer is intense labor; the effectual working prayer of the righteous man availeth much. Satan tries to put us to sleep, as he did the disciples in the garden; but …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

October 25. "Now it is High Time to Awake Out of Sleep. Let us Cast Off the Works of Darkness and Let us Put on the Armor of Light" (Rom. xiii. 11, 12).
"Now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom. xiii. 11, 12). Let us wake out of sleep; let us be alert; let us be alive to the great necessities that really concern us. Let us put off the garments of the night and the indulgences of the night; the loose robes of pleasure and flowing garments of repose; the festal pleasures of the hours of darkness are not for the children of the day. Let us cast off the works of darkness. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 13, 8-10. 8 Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; love therefore is the fulfilment of the law. CHRISTIAN LOVE AND THE COMMAND TO LOVE. 1. This, like the two …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Salvation Nearer
'... Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.'--ROMANS xiii. 11. There is no doubt, I suppose, that the Apostle, in common with the whole of the early Church, entertained more or less consistently the expectation of living to witness the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are in Paul's letters passages which look both in the direction of that anticipation, and in the other one of expecting to taste death. 'We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,' he says twice in one …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Soldier's Morning-Call
'Let us put on the armour of light.'--ROMANS xiii. 12. It is interesting to notice that the metaphor of the Christian armour occurs in Paul's letters throughout his whole course. It first appears, in a very rudimentary form, in the earliest of the Epistles, that to the Thessalonians. It appears here in a letter which belongs to the middle of his career, and it appears finally in the Epistle to the Ephesians, in its fully developed and drawn-out shape, at almost the end of his work. So we may fairly …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Love and the Day
'Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11. And that, knowing the time, that now …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

1 Peter iv. 8
And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves: for Charity shall cover the multitude of Sins. THE Design which I am now prosecuting, obligeth me to take notice of such Passages of Scripture as any professed Christians may, on any Account, be apt to interpret to a very bad Purpose: that is, to the giving themselves Encouragement to hope for God's future Mercy; for the Sake of his Son: even whilst they continue in the habitual Practice of known Sins. And the Words which I have now read …
Benjamin Hoadly—Several Discourses Concerning the Terms of Acceptance with God

The Beauty and Excellency of this World Consists, not Only in the Perfection and Comeliness...
The beauty and excellency of this world consists, not only in the perfection and comeliness of each part in it, but especially in the wise and wonderful proportion and union of these several parts. It is not the lineaments and colours that make the image or complete beauty, but the proportion and harmony of these, though different severally. And truly that is the wonder, that such repugnant natures, such different parts, and dissentient qualities, do conspire together in such an exact perfect unity …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Twenty-Seven Articles Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate.
Now though I am too lowly to submit articles that could serve for the reformation of these fearful evils, I will yet sing out my fool's song, and will show, as well as my wit will allow, what might and should be done by the temporal authorities or by a General Council. 1. Princes, nobles and cities should promptly forbid their subjects to pay the annates and should even abolish them altogether. For the Pope has broken the compact, and turned the annates into robbery for the harm and shame of the …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

The North African Church under the Vandals.
THE wild tribes of the Vandals--which, although outwardly professing Christianity, yet, instructed and guided by ignorant and fanatical priests, seem to have had no idea of its essence--overran North Africa, under their cruel and despotic king, Geiserich. A fanatical hatred to the confessors of another form of doctrine (the Vandals being the adherents of Arianism) was united with an insatiable avarice, for which it served as an apology. The depravity of the nominal Christians in the rich cities of …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Letter Lxi (A. D. 1138) to Louis the Younger, King of the French.
To Louis the Younger, King of the French. He endeavours to defend the election of Geoffrey, Prior of Clairvaux, to the See of Langres; to which the King had appeared adverse. 1. If the whole world were to conjure me to join it in some enterprise against your royal Majesty, I should still through fear of God not dare lightly to offend a King ordained by Him. Nor am I ignorant who it is that has said, Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God (Rom. xiii. 2). Nor yet do I forget how …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

A Sketch of the Life of St. Augustin.
It is a venturesome and delicate undertaking to write one's own life, even though that life be a masterpiece of nature and the grace of God, and therefore most worthy to be described. Of all autobiographies none has so happily avoided the reef of vanity and self-praise, and none has won so much esteem and love through its honesty and humility as that of St. Augustin. The "Confessions," which he wrote in the forty-fourth year of his life, still burning in the ardor of his first love, are full of the …
St. Augustine—The Confessions and Letters of St

Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in Matters Purely Religious, and Pertaining to the Conscience.
Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in Matters purely Religious, and pertaining to the Conscience. Since God hath assumed to himself the power and Dominion of the Conscience, who alone can rightly instruct and govern it, therefore it is not lawful [1226] for any whosoever, by virtue of any authority or principality they bear in the government of this world, to force the consciences of others; and therefore all killing, banishing, fining, imprisoning, and other such things which are inflicted …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

That Sometimes Lighter vices are to be Left Alone, that More Grievous Ones May be Removed.
But since, when the sickness of two vices attacks a man, one presses upon him more lightly, and the other perchance more heavily, it is undoubtedly right to haste to the succour of that through which there is the more rapid tendency to death. And, if the one cannot be restrained from causing the death which is imminent unless the other which is contrary to it increase, the preacher must be content by skilful management in his exhortation to suffer one to increase, to the end that he may keep the …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

One Metaphor and Two Meanings
'I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work.'--JOHN ix. 4. 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.'--ROMANS xiii. 12. The contrast between these two sayings will strike you at once. Using the same metaphors, they apply them in exactly opposite directions. In the one, life is the day, and the state beyond death the night; in the other, life is the night, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"If we Say that we have no Sin, we Deceive Ourselves, and the Truth is not in Us. "
1 John i. 8.--"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." "The night is far spent, the day is at hand," Rom. xiii. 12. This life is but as night, even to the godly. There is some light in it,--some star light, but it is mixed with much darkness of ignorance and sin, and so it will be, till the sun arise, and the morning of their translation to heaven come. But though it be called night in one sense, in regard of that perfect glorious perpetual day in heaven, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Therefore, Brethren, we are Debtors, not to the Flesh, to Live after the Flesh,"
Rom. viii. 12.--"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh," &c. All things in Christianity have a near and strait conjunction. It is so entire and absolute a piece, that if one link be loosed all the chain falls to the ground, and if one be well fastened upon the heart it brings all alongst with it. Some speak of all truths, even in nature, that they are knit so together that any truth may be concluded out of every truth, at least by a long circuit of deduction …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Concerning Christian Liberty
CHRISTIAN faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do, because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation. While he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write, …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

St. Augustine (Ad 354-430)
PART I The church in the north of Africa has hardly been mentioned since the time of St. Cyprian (Chapter VIII). But we must now look towards it again, since in the days of St. Chrysostom it produced a man who was perhaps the greatest of all the old Christian fathers--St. Augustine. Augustine was born at Thagaste, a city of Numidia, in the year 354. His mother, Monica, was a pious Christian, but his father, Patricius, was a heathen, and a man of no very good character. Monica was resolved to bring …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

How Christ is to be Made Use Of, in Reference to the Killing and Crucifying of the Old Man.
Having thus shortly pointed out some things in general, serving to the clearing and opening up the way of our use-making of Christ for sanctification, we come now more particularly to the clearing up of this business. In sanctification we must consider, first, The renewing and changing of our nature and frame; and, next, The washing and purging away of our daily contracted spots. The first of these is commonly divided into two parts, viz. 1st, The mortification, killing, and crucifying of the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

How to Use the Present Life, and the Comforts of It.
The divisions of this chapter are,--I. The necessity and usefulness of this doctrine. Extremes to be avoided, if we would rightly use the present life and its comforts, sec. 1, 2. II. One of these extremes, viz, the intemperance of the flesh, to be carefully avoided. Four methods of doing so described in order, sec. 3-6. 1. BY such rudiments we are at the same time well instructed by Scripture in the proper use of earthly blessings, a subject which, in forming a scheme of life, is by no mean to be …
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life

The Holy Spirit Forming Christ Within Us.
It is a wonderful and deeply significant prayer that Paul offers in Eph. iii. 16-19 for the believers in Ephesus and for all believers who read the Epistle. Paul writes, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Concerning Christian Liberty
Christian faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation; while he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write, …
Martin Luther—Concerning Christian Liberty

Letter Lvii to the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine
To the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine [87] He thanks them for having hitherto remitted customs [or tolls, but asks that they will see that their princely liberality is not interfered with by the efforts of their servants. To the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, sends greeting, and prays that they may so lovingly and purely rejoice in each other's affection that the love of Christ alone maybe supreme in them both. Ever since the needs of our Order obliged me to send for necessaries …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

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