Gold Nugget 284 - Grieve Not a Parent

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      Injuries to parents.  The command to honour father and mother, which is enough for the conscience, and which, if obeyed, would render all further laws upon the subject unnecessary, is here reinforced … to restrain those who do not scruple to disobey mere moral laws. …

      When it is considered that our parents represent God to us, that they are in a real sense authors of our being, that they protect and sustain us for years during which we could do nothing for ourselves, and that nature has implanted in our minds an instinctive reverence for them … the punishment of parent strikers … will not seem strange or excessive.  A son must have become very hardened in guilt, very reckless, very heartless, very brutal, who can bring himself to lift a hand against a father, not to say a mother.  There is as much moral guilt in a light blow dealt to one whom we are bound to love, honor, and protect from hurt, as in the utmost violence done to a stranger. …

      To curse a parent is almost as unnatural as to strike one.  All cursing is unsuitable to such a being as man – so full of faults himself, so liable to misjudge the character and conduct of others; but to curse those to whom we owe our existence is simply horrible.  The sin is akin to blasphemy, and is awarded the same punishment. …

      “Grieve not a parent” is the Christian paraphrase.  “Grieve him not by disobedience, by idleness, by extravagance, by misconduct of any kind.  Do not discredit his bringing up by misbehavior.  Do not stab his heart by ingratitude.  Do not wither up his nature by unkindness.”  A child may easily, without lifting a finger “bring down the grey hairs” of his father “with sorrow to the grave.”  He may “smite” him in half-a-dozen ways without touching him. …

      We do not now, unless we part with religion altogether, curse any one.  But we too often break the spirit of this law, notwithstanding.  We speak slightingly of our parents; we join in disrespectful comments on their manners or behavior; we use language to them, face to face, which is wanting in reverence and unsuitable.  If we would act in the spirit of the law, “curse not a parent,” we must avoid all disrespectful words, all disrespectful thoughts towards them or concerning them; we must give them the honour due to parents; we must seriously consider their counsels, and as a general rule follow their advice.  As temporal death was awarded to those who “cursed” parents by the Jewish law, so eternal death will be the portion of such as are determinately “disobedient to parents” under the Christian dispensation. 

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Exodus II. p 173, Exodus 21:15-17, (George Rawlinson)

 

Gold Nugget 284

Grieve Not a Parent

 

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Gold Nugget 283 - Their Common Glory

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Exodus II 158-159.doc (25 KB)
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      When a man by anticipation, or after marriage, breaks the marriage vow; when a woman acquiesces in the crime thus perpetrated, it is murder aimed at the collective life of the family.  Madness for society to make light of such a crime, which, if permitted, must destroy society.  For notice, the family, not the individual, is the ultimate social unit. …

      Tree covered with foliage:  individual leaves and blossoms are connected with twigs and boughs; you may kill a leaf without injury to the bough, but kill the bough, and what about the leaves? … Individuals are leaves and blossoms on the tree of life; it is through the family that they belong to the tree at all.  Adultery poisons the bough, and through that withers the leaves and blossoms. … A pure home is a sound spot in the social organism; corrupt its purity, and it becomes a centre of corruption. …

      According to the Divine ideal, “man” is “male and female;” it is in the union of the sexes that the “image of God” is reflected.  According to the human ideal, woman is rather man’s play-mate than his help-mate; he chooses her as he would a picture, because he likes the look of her.  She is thought his toy, his doll.

      In unchristian countries this low ideal of woman is universally prevalent, but even in Christian countries it is too often tacitly if not verbally accepted.  Such an ideal cannot but be mischievous. … Woman must exert influence; place her high and it will be ennobling, set her low and it will become degrading. …

      If woman is a toy, then that part of a man’s nature which can require such a costly toy, will be the most important.  The animal nature will be uppermost.  The desires will rule. … Man cannot live above the level of his own ideals.  If man is a mere animal, woman a mere toy, then marriage is a mere convention.  All its sanctity has evaporated.  A man will marry if he can afford a wife, if not he will take some cheaper substitute.

      In the light of the Divine ideal, marriage becomes a duty and a privilege; the completion of that Divine idea of which man unmarried is a mere torso. ... By the help of God’s grace, let man reverence woman, and woman reverence man, and each reverence in himself and in the other that ideal which is their common glory. 

The Pulpit Commentary, Exodus II p. 158-159, Exodus 20:14, (C. A. Goodheart)

Gold Nugget 283

Their Common Glory

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Gold Nugget 282 - Intelligence in the Cause of Truth

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Acts 416-417.doc (26 KB)
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      Bar-jesus may stand as the type of one class of foes with whom Christianity has to contend.  He is described as a “mage” and a “false prophet..”  It appears that he gave himself the title of Elymas … - “wise man” par excellence.  The essence of the magic calling is the pretension to override the laws of nature and providence in obedience to the wishes and phantasies and caprices of the individual.  It would make imagination and feeling the test of truth and right, rather than the fixed truth and Word of God. …

      If we really love the truth and possess it, we have no desire to divert the course of argument from other minds.  The more light and discussion, the better for the truth.  Suspect the man who tries to silence another by clamour or prejudice the ear of the audience against him. … There are times when denunciation may be used by the servant of Christ; for there are times when evil, stripped of its disguises, is manifest, and no terms can be held with it. 

      There is craft, guile, the design to deceive others for private ends.  There is a certain lightness and recklessness of conduct connected with this … The false teacher will respect no truth and no sanctity which stands in the way of his objects and ends … and the false prophet will stick at no lies to serve his ends.  He is the foe of all that is good, and must be; for the good and right, resting on the principle of truth, is deadly opposed to him, the living lie.  … While the servants of God proclaim, in the words of the ancient prohphet, the leveling of inequalities and the making of the crooked straight, the object of the deceiver is to twist the straight into crookedness, and bring back old chaos and disorder. …

      If we use not our intelligence in the cause of truth, we cannot expect to retain it in its clearness. … The fall of error means the establishment of a conviction in the mind.  The overthrow of a lie delights the spirit, which is made for truth..  Falsehood tempts and enthralls when it appeals to our passions; let the falsehood be exposed, and spiritual emancipation follows.

      Fear and astonishment are often the means God employs to break up the fatal slumbers of the soul.  They are like volcanic forces, which prepare for the working of the genial forces of nature.  Every conversion implies in the subject of it the knowledge of the superiority of truth over falsehood, the presence of the soul at a mortal victory.  Truth in conquering us, sets us free.

The Pulpit Commentary, Acts p. 416-417, Acts 13:4-12, (E. Johnson)

Gold Nugget 282

Intelligence in the Cause of Truth

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Gold Nugget 281 - A Majestic Might-Have-Been

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I Chronicles 133-134.doc (23 KB)
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      If ever a life had fair opening and opportunity, it was Saul’s.  Every personal advantage that could be desired was his.  Good looks above all in Israel; immense strength of bodily frame; mental qualities to match; wisdom and courage suitable for a king … Then his circumstances were of that sort that most persons would envy …

      He comes before us with many qualities which engage respect.  There is modesty, … generosity, … courage, … kindliness of heart.  Then there was some working of piety in him; not much, but still apparently some.  He had a sensitive nature ... Everything thus seems to concur to make life not only moderate but brilliant success. 

      Power, opportunity, circumstances, advantages, natural endowment, - all in favour.  And God, always waiting to make (the) best of us, sought to make the best of him.  And if he had but walked with God, what service he might have rendered, and what joy in life have won!  But, alas! Amidst all these supreme advantages and natural probabilities of success, there is one defect of character which mars everything. 

      There is a willfulness, which is left unrestrained; a habit of choosing his own path and keeping to it; impatience of any restraint of religion or duty. … Self-will, declining the restraints of religion, and those of conscience, early appears in him.  He is never humbly obedient, but picks and chooses what part of precept he likes, stopping short of a whole obedience.  Always feeling at liberty to revise and moderate the requirements of God, he thus comes short, through willfulness, of God’s requirements. 

      The self-will that declines to serve heartily soon ceases to serve at all. … The very energy which, restrained and ordered, would have been of vast service, unrestrained, becomes terror to his friends.  That firmness of nerve-formation which, consecrated, would have lain his nature open to God, unconsecrated lays him open to invasion of evil spirit, to madness and fury.  His action is disapproved by his best friends … by nation, by his own heart.  And wasting powers of nature … he sinks lower and lower, till eve of last battle finds him in sheer despair. … And disobedience leading to despair, the two soon lead to destruction. … And there is deplorable defeat where there would have been grandest victory. … And, instead of his ranking with great heroes that have wrought deliverance in the earth, he stands a majestic, melancholy might-have-been and nothing more.  A truncated life; a casting spoilt in the moulding.  The mere possibility of such a thing should rouse solicitude in all our hearts. …

      Your career may have every prospect of being honourable, useful, happy.  But probability is not certainty.  Whether probability (is) realized will depend altogether and exclusively on (the) degree of faithfulness you manifest. 

      We say, “We will do much, but not this.  We will sacrifice much, but not this.  We will follow, but will choose our own time and our own way.” … Let us beware of this self-will.  It has a look of force and energy; but it really destroys both.  It changes the may-be into the might-have-been. … Self-will never is allowed in any soul without consequences of saddest kind. …

      Man keeps back nothing from Christ save to his own hurt.  You give up nothing but you profit.  Don’t let our lives be mere might-have-beens.  But keep faithfully to the path of duty as shown by Christ, and then, although men of grandest early advantages and powers make grievous shipwreck, you, with no advantages and no special power, will find that “that which concerneth you God will perfect.”

The Pulpit Commentary, I Chronicles p. 133-134, I Chronicles 10:4, (R. Glover)

Gold Nugget 281

A Majestic Might-Have-Been

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Gold Nugget 280 - The Governing Power

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Jeremiah 288-289.doc (25 KB)
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      All human life is a “way,” a journey, a pilgrimage, through various scenes and circumstances, to the “bourn from whence no traveler returns.”  And, free as we may be and accountable for our own actions, there is a sense in which it is equally true that it is given to none of us to determine what that way shall be.  We are called on to recognize a governing power external to ourselves, above and beyond ourselves. …

      A man’s own judgment and impulse are not in themselves a safe rule for the conduct of his life.  He cannot always trace the mutual relation of interest and events, is liable to be deceived by appearances, blinded by the glamour of his own feelings, misled by the force of his own self-will.  The very complexity of the circumstances among which he “walks” is often a source of danger.  He is as one surrounded by the diverse interlacing paths of a forest; he needs both external guidance and internal influence to direct his choice.  The right way is not “in himself.” …

      No man has the actual power to determine altogether the course of his own life.  Free as he may think himself to be to take what “steps” he pleases, he is, after all, often ruled by circumstances over which he has no control.  He is not always master of his own movements, cannot do the thing that he would, constrained perhaps to do something totally different from what he intended.

      Who has not found himself to have been drifted, by the silent, unobserved current of events, into a position entirely other than he would have chosen for himself?  Who has not had to accept, as the issue of his own doings, something strangely unlike what he looked for?  “Man proposes; God disposes..” …

      Hidden as the power that governs our life may be, the teachable mind discerns ever more and more clearly the method of its working. …  Dark as our way may be, we cannot go far wrong if we follow the dictates of conscience.  Be true in everything to your own sense of right and to the clear lines of Divine Law, and you may safely leave all issues with God. …

      In the confused conflict of adverse circumstances, in the deep night of our sorrow and our fear, we hear a voice that whispers to us “All is well.”  It must be so if we believe that almighty Love is Lord of all.

The Pulpit Commentary, Jeremiah p. 288-289, Jeremiah 10:23, (J. Waite)

Gold Nugget 280

The Governing Power

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Gold Nugget 279 - Pride and Patience

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      Patience is to be distinguished from a dull indiscriminateness and from insensibility, to which one treatment is much the same as another; it is the calm endurance, the quiet, hopeful waiting on the part of the intelligent and sensitive spirit.  Pride is to be distinguished from self-respect; it is an overweening estimate indulged by a man respecting himself – of his power, or of his position, or of his character. …

      Few things are more spiritually beautiful than patience.  When under long-continued bodily pain or weakness, or under grievous ill-treatment, or through long years of deferred hope and disappointment, the chastened spirit lives on in cheerful resignation, the Christian workman toils on in unwavering faith, there is a spectacle which we can well believe that the angels of God look upon with delight.  Certainly it is the object of our admiring regard.

      On the other hand, pride is an offensive thing in the eyes of man, as we know it is in the sight of God.  Whether a man shows himself elated about his personal appearance, or his riches, or his learning, or his strength (of any kind), we begin by being amused and end by being annoyed and repelled; we turn away as from an ugly picture or from an offensive odour.

The Pulpit Commentary, Ecclesiastes p. 185-186, Ecclesiastes 7:8, (W. Clarkson)

See also:  Proverbs 8:13

Gold Nugget 279

Pride and Patience

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Gold Nugget 278 - Wisdom-Laden Sorrow

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Ecclesiastes 185.doc (25 KB)
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      There is pain of heart in visiting the house where death has come to the door, as there is in receiving the rebuke of a true friend; but what are the issues of it?  What is to be gained thereby?  What hidden blessing does it not contain?

      How true it is that it is … that the hollow laughter of folly is a very poor and sorry thing indeed compared with the wisdom-laden sorrow, when all things are weighed in the balances.  To have a chastened spirit, to have the heart which has been taught of God great spiritual realities, to have had an enlarging and elevating vision of the things which are unseen and eternal, to have been impressed with the transiency of earthly good and with the excellency of “the consolations which are in Christ Jesus,” to be lifted up, if but one degree, toward the spirit and character of the self-sacrificing Lord we serve, to have had some fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, - surely this is incomparably preferable to the most delicious feast or the most hilarious laughter.

      To go down to the home that is darkened by bereavement or saddened by some crushing disappointment, and to pour upon the troubled hearts there the oil of true and genuine sympathy, to bring such spirits up from the depths of utter hopelessness or overwhelming grief into the light of Divine truth and heavenly promise, - thus “to do good and to communicate” is not only to offer acceptable sacrifice unto God, but it is also to be truly enriched in our own soul.

The Pulpit Commentary, Ecclesiastes p. 185, Ecclesiastes 7:2-6, (W. Clarkson)

Gold Nugget 278

Wisdom-Laden Sorrow

Gold Nugget 277 - Character Stands First

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Ecclesiastes 184.doc (25 KB)
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      We are always judging one another; every act of every kind is appraised, though often quite unconsciously, and we stand better or worse in the estimation of our neighbours for all we do and are.  Our professions, our principles, our deeds, our words, even our manners and methods, - all these leave impressions on the mind concerning ourselves.  What men think of us is the sum-total of these impressions, and constitutes our “name,” our reputation.

      The character of a good man is constantly creating an atmosphere about him in which he will be able to walk freely and happily.  It is indeed true that some good men seriously injure their reputation by some follies, or even foibles, which might easily be corrected and which ought to be avoided; but, as a rule, the life of the pure and holy, of the just and kind, is surrounded by a radiance of good estimation, as advantageous to himself as it is valuable to his neighbours. …

      At “the day of one’s birth” there is rejoicing, because “am man is born into the world.”  And what may he not become? what may he not achieve? what may he not enjoy?  But that is a question indeed.  That infant may become a reprobate, an outcast; he may do incalculable, deplorable mischief in the world; he may grow up to suffer the worst things in body or in mind. …

      But when a good man dies, having lived an honourable and useful life and having built up a noble and steadfast character, he has won his victory, he has gained his crown; and he leaves behind him memories, pure and sweet, that will live in many hearts and hallow them, that will shine on many lives and brighten them.  At birth there is the possibility of good, at death there is a certainty of blessedness and blessing. …

      Reputation is not the very best thing of all.  Character stands first.  It is of vital consequence that we be right in the sight of God, and tried by Divine wisdom.  The first and best thing is not to seem but to be right and wise. …

      How dear to us is the good name of our parents, or our children, of our intimate friends! … How much weightier are the words of the man who has been growing in honour all his days, than are those of either the inexperienced and unknown man, or the man whose reputation has been tarnished!

The Pulpit Commentary, Ecclesiastes p. 184, Ecclesiastes 7: 1, (W. Clarkson)

Gold Nugget 277

Character Stands First

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Gold Nugget 276 - Calm Reasoning

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Ecclesiastes 182-183.doc (24 KB)
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      In how many instances may it be observed that a person is no sooner convinced that a certain object is desirable, a certain course is to be approved, than he will hear and think of nothing else!  Is liberty good?  Then away with all restraints!  Is self-denial good?  Then away with all pleasures!  Is the Bible the best of books?  The let no other volume be opened!  Is our own country to be preferred to all beside?  Then let no credit be allowed to foreigners for anything they may do! …

      Calm reasoning would check such a tendency; but the voice of reason is silenced by passion or prejudice.  Impulsive natures are hurried into unreasoning and extravagant opinions and habits of conduce.  The momentum of a powerful emotion is very great; it may urge men onwards to an extent unexpected and dangerous.  Whilst under the guidance of sober reason, feeling may be the motive power to virtue and usefulness; but when uncontrolled it may hurry into folly and disaster. …

      Who has not learned by experience that broad, unqualified assertions are usually false, and that violent, one-sided courses of action are in most cases harmful and regrettable?  There is wisdom in the old adage which boys learn in their Latin grammar, In medio tutissimus ibis. [In the middle of things you will go most safe.]

The Pulpit Commentary, Ecclesiastes p. 182-183, Ecclesiastes 7:16-17, (J. R. Thomson)

Gold Nugget 276

Calm Reasoning

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Gold Nugget 275 - The End Principle

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Ecclesiastes 180-181.doc (26 KB)
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      The end better than the beginning.  There are many persons, especially among the young and ardent, who adopt and act upon a principle diametrically opposed to this.  Every beginning has for them the charm of novelty; when this charm fades, the work, the enterprise, the relationship, have no longer any interest, and they turn away with disgust …  But the language of this verse embodies the conviction of the wise and reflecting observer of human affairs.

      The reason for this principle.  The beginning is undertaken with a view to the end, and apart from that it would not be.  The end is the completion and justification of the beginning. … thus we speak of means and end.  Aristotle commences his great work on ‘Ethics’ by showing that the end is naturally superior to the means, and that the highest end must be that which is not a means to anything beyond itself.

      The application of this principle.  It is well that the foundation of a house should be laid, but it is better that the top-stone should be placed with rejoicing.  So with seed-time and harvest; with a journey and its destination; with a road and its completion …

      The beginning may, in the view of men, be neutral; but, in the view of the religious man, the birth of a child is an occasion for gratitude.  Yet, if that progress be made which corresponds with the Divine ideal of humanity, if character be matured, and a good life-work be wrought, - then the day of death, the end, is better than the day of birth, in which this earthly existence commenced. …

      The history of the individual Christian is a progressive history; knowledge, virtue, piety, usefulness, are all developed by degrees, and are brought to perfection by the discipline and culture of the Holy Spirit.  The end must therefore be better than the beginning, as the fruit excels blossoms of the spring. …

      The lesson of this principle.  When at the beginning of a good work, look on the end, that hope may animate and inspire endeavour.  During the course of a good work look behind and before; for it is not possible to judge aright without taking a comprehsensive and consistent view of things.  We may trace the hand of God, and find reason alike for thanksgiving and for trust.

      Seek that a Divine unity may characterize your work on earth and your life itself.  If the end crown not the beginning, then it were better that the beginning had never been made.

The Pulpit Commentary, Ecclesiastes p. 180-181, Ecclesiastes 7:8, (J. R. Thomson)

Gold Nugget 275

The End Principle

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