Gold Nugget 324 - Self Control

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      If we let our feelings carry our judgment along with them, we shall be sure to do that which we shall afterwards regret and which may be quite irreparable.  Nor is any man at liberty to say that he is constitutionally impulsive and cannot control himself.  It may be a more difficult duty in some natures that it is in others; but it is every man’s serious and sacred obligation to rule his own spirit, to maintain a mastery over his affections and his impulses and his resentments.  This is to be the excellent result of daily discipline, of strenuous endeavour, of constant prayer. 

 

The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles p. 276, II Chronicles 23:11-15 (W. Clarkson)

 

Gold Nugget 324

Self Control

 

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Gold Nugget 323 - The Rights of Maturity

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      In our earliest years the river of our life flows between high and narrow banks.  We are well fenced in, and must move according to our surroundings.  But later on the banks are lower, the restrictions are weaker, and we may overflow, may cut out a new channel for ourselves.  At first we are under commandment from hour to hour; we do that which is prescribed for us; we shun that which is interdicted.

      Then comes a time when we disengage ourselves from this position; it has become bondage; we demand to enter upon the rights of maturity, to form our own judgment, to act according to our own choice.  It is at this point, when the father’s authority is no longer paramount, that we need to act under counsel.  We urgently need the help of those who will advise, though they do not assume to direct us.  We want the guidance of those who will say to us, not, You shall, but You should.

      We require the advantage of the experience of men who have gone through the ways and that now lie before us; of men whose wisdom will equip us for the new duties that have to be discharged, for the new burdens that have to be borne, for the new dangers and difficulties that have to be faced and fought, for the new temptations that have to be met and mastered.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles p. 265, II Chronicles 22:4, (W. Clarkson)

 

Gold Nugget 323

The Rights of Maturity

 

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Gold Nugget 322 - With Kindness

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      Strongest affections often grow in most untoward clime and place.  They throw their roots down and with vigorous determination, in stony, rocky places.  The little soil they find in grove, chink, fissure, is often good and rich, however, and they use it well, and ere long make the rift larger, and acquire thereby more moisture and more deposit of soil.  And it is so with kindness. 

      The most diverse nature will appreciate it most.  Sometimes just because it is unexpectedly offered to the foreigner, the outcast, the despised, the undeserving, the notorious sinner, the man whom a thousand gave up as a hardened hopeless man, for one who entertains a contrary thought, it takes amazingly to the soil, and becomes ere long a vast and fruitful growth.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, I Chronicles p. 310, I Chronicles 29:1-19, (P. C. Barker)

 

Gold Nugget 322

With Kindness

 

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Gold Nugget 321 - A Dead Weight

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      How very little all possible worldly good can do for a man unless there is a process of spiritual renewal and culture going on, which will enable him to sanctify all to the highest purposes!  Yea, more.  If worldly prosperity is not sanctified to God and by him, it will be as a dead weight upon the spirit.  It will engender first resistance, then deadness, then estrangement, then idolatry!  This is the sure and certain effect of an accumulation of worldly good, when its possessor is not led by Divine grace to use it wisely and piously.  It is an evil much to be lamented that so many glory in the accumulation of things, while neglecting the culture and education of their souls.

      Why, even in common life, there are no more awkward, ungainly, and impracticable beings then those who have grown rich while neglecting to educate themselves.  They have acquired a prodigious strength of self-will, without the knowledge of self-government.  And of all men in the world, they are of the least use to their generation. 

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 506, Deuteronomy 32:15-18, (C. Clemance)

 

Gold Nugget 321

A Dead Weight

 

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Gold Nugget 320 - The Difficulty Within

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      Dishonest minds are wont to plead that religious truth is recondite, self-contradictory, hard to be understood.  Its obligations too, they aver, are impracticable, beyond the power of man to fulfill.  Self indulgence and impiety have never yet failed to frame excuses for their rejection of the Divine Word.  But excuses avail them nothing.  The indolent man has for long ages past learnt to say, “There is a lion in the path.”  Honest investigation soon finds the truth of God “worthy of all acceptation.” …

      Its essential truths are within the compass of every mind.  Every man knows what it is to love; that love is due from each man to his Maker.  Every child knows what obedience means; that obedience is due to the Father of our spirits.  Truly, some facts concerning the eternal world are so profound, that, like ocean-depths, human reason cannot fathom them.  But these are not the facts which lie at the foundation of man’s safety and hope. 

      The practical duties which appertain to virtue and well-being are so plain that even a child may understand.  Whatever difficulty lies in the way of human obedience, it does not lie in the haze or uncertain meaning of the revelation.  The difficulty is within a man, not without him.  The objects of faith are clearly revealed; we want only an eye to discern them. …

      Religious truth is not revealed to gratify a prurient curiosity, not to afford matter for speculation, but solely to promote obedience.  To know God’s requirements will bring us no advantage unless we heartily and loyally do them.  Accurate and orthodox beliefs convey, in themselves, no life nor joy.  Right belief is barren and abortive until it brings forth active obedience.  We are not judged at God’s tribunal for our opinions or theories, not for our religious creeds; we are to be judged of “the deeds done in the body.”  “I was hungry, and ye gave me meat,” will be the grounds of the judicial verdict.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 472-473, Deuteronomy 30:11-14, (D. Davies)

 

Gold Nugget 320

The Difficulty Within

 

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Gold Nugget 319 - Not Enough

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      It is not enough to have good intentions or gracious dispositions; mind, as well as heart, must be in active exercise.  A foolish man is a curse to society.  Wisdom is greatly needed to produce a prosperous life, and to make a man useful to others.  Eli was a good man, but exhibited great folly in the management of his sons, and disaster came thereby upon Israel.  Reason is entrusted to every man to be used, and if the powers of intelligence are allowed to rust, the result is loss to ourselves and calamity to others. 

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 366, Deuteronomy 22:8, (D. Davies)

 

Gold Nugget 319

Not Enough

 

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Gold Nugget 318 - The First Importance

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      It is of the first importance that a child should begin life well.  A twist in the young stem will develop into a gnarled and crooked tree.  A slight divergence at the onset of a voyage may end in a complete reversal of the ship’s course. …

      The human body is to be the servant of the mind.  If the appetites and lust of the body are allowed to rule, the mind becomes a slave, and all the better principles are manacled and enfeebled.  We begin life as dependent children, and the fresh sense of loving obligation should be an antidote for selfishness.  But if we set out in life with a resolve to please self, we are already on the way to ruin.  Reverence for the parental character, and regard for parental authority, are the only solid foundations for a noble life.  To feel unduly the body, and for gratification alone, is to starve the soul.  Sensuality fosters self-will. …

      The medicine that does not do good, does harm.  The flame that does not melt, hardens.  Parental chastisement, when needed, is an imperative duty, but should be administered with wisdom, self-restraint, and pity.  The obstinacy of the son is not unfrequently due to the foolish leniency or unrestrained severity of the parent.  Chastisement is a serious experiment, and always produces some effect, either favourable or unfavourable.  We are not the same men after trial or pain that we were before.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 353, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, (D. Davies)

 

Gold Nugget 318

The First Importance

 

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Gold Nugget 317 - Trifling with Destinies

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      The Spirit of God stirreth in every man to move his sluggish nature that it may rise toward heaven.  Materialism merges the man into his accidents.  Pantheism drowns him in the All.  Deism hides him in vastness.  Ultramontanism smothers him in the Church.  Caesarism makes the State all, the individual nothing.  Christ rescues the one from being lost in the many, and cries aloud, “It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” …

      We should take every opportunity of warning men that, if ever they trifle with the interest and destinies of their brother man, God will call them to account at his bar.  The voice of Abel’s blood cried unto God from the ground.  If a neglected, mutilated, slain body of any one, however obscure, was found in Israel’s fields, they were responsible to the God of nations for inquiry and for expiation.

      No on is at liberty to cry, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  When he maketh inquisition for blood, he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.  And terrible beyond all power of expression, will the shame and dismay, at the bar of God, of those who have trifled with human interest, and who go into eternity laden with the guild of their brothers’ blood!

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 340, Deuteronomy 21:1-9, (C. Clemance)

 

Gold Nugget 317

Trifling with Destinies

 

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Gold Nugget 316 - Idolizing Nature

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      When men are not watchful, they live by sight and forget the life of faith.  Others make the senses the only organs of knowledge, and base their so-called philosophy upon sensation.  It is not to be wondered at, in such circumstances, that nature-worship prevailed in olden times and prevails still. 

      A great deal of the antitheistic science of the present time is, when analyzed, just nature-worship.  When men in their headstrong self-confidence attribute independent powers to nature; when they maintain – on what grounds they do not tell us, for it is a matter of faith not sight – that the “reign of law” is workable without God, then they are really idolizing nature. …

      The nature-worship and manifold idolatries are amenable to the treatment of enlightened love.  Let us study candidly and carefully the case, and administer with all tenderness the remedy.   It may be that in some cases the old picture may be reversed.  Instead of the imposition of hands in order to destruction, it may be an imposition of hands in ordaining to Divine work those who formerly ignored God altogether.  However this may be, our duty is clear to try to overcome this particular evil by good.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 296, Deuteronomy 17:1-7, (R. M. Edgar)

 

Gold Nugget 316

Idolizing Nature

 

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Gold Nugget 315 - The Universal Empire

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      That in the course of time the essence of religion may have evaporated, and its place so taken up by forms and ceremonies, that the connection between religion and justice may seem to be lost, must be admitted to be a possibility, but it does not alter the principle here enunciated.

      This guarantee of justice between man and man is found in a power of appeal on both sides to a law of immutable right mutually acknowledged.  To such a law conscience, the regulative faculty, points with a steady finger.  Such law obeyed, she approves the obedience, and when disobeyed, she condemns the disobedient.  Both the approval and the condemnation of the voice within are witnesses to the existence and government of a Great Judge of all, who seated on the throne of universal empire, issues his mandates to the world!  And in the appeal from human acts to the judgment of the Great Supreme, lies the safeguard of justice between man and man.  In a word, religion is the sole adequate guarantee of morality. … Religion is righteousness towards God; morality is righteousness towards man. 

      If man ever comes to regard himself as the supreme existence, empowered to make right and wrong, instead of regarding himself as subject to the everlasting laws of right, the best and dearest privileges of the human family will be in imminent peril, and at best can endure but for a while!

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy p. 289, Deuteronomy 17:8-13, (C. Clemance)

 

Gold Nugget 315

The Universal Empire

 

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