CHAPTER IV. THE POINT OF DEPARTURE IN THE RIGHT COURSE. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves."-ROM. i. 20-24. PAGE The moralist, in giving us an insight into the corruption of human nature, stops short of its origin-but the Apostle lays his finger on the exact point, at which our nature diverged from the right path-man's degradation a retribution for his having degraded God in his conceptions of Him-nature might have given him true conceptions of God, but he could not rise to such conceptionsidolatry the fundamental sin-the quick deterioration of idolatry— if the point of departure for vice be an unworthy conception of God, the point of departure for virtue must be a worthy conception of Him-faith the spring of all virtue-how faith in God must flow out of, and resolves itself into, high conceptions of His characterthe child's faith in its parents analysed-the Syrophœnician's faith in Christ analysed—she had gained her conceptions of God from a devout observation of His dealings in Nature and Providencehow the Lord's Prayer teaches that lofty notions of God are the chief ingredient in forming the character to righteousness-the Psalmist's reference to the lessons taught by nature the reference to them in the Book of Job-error of Christians in despising the revelation made in Nature-on similar principles, they might despise the Old Testament, and make light of Our Lord's Parables-study the Gentiles' Bible, as well as that of the Jews and that of the Christians 35 H CHAPTER V. THE EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE END OF ALL CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR. "Increasing in the knowledge of God."-COL. i. 10. Time and energy saved by apprehending clearly, before we start, the end of religious endeavour-the end is such an appreciation of the beauty of God's character as satisfies the soul, in the absence of all earthly sources of happiness-St. Philip's petition to Christ, and its unconscious depth-unsatisfactoriness of created good-but there must be a good, which is capable of contenting the soul, because God creates no strong instinct without something corresponding to it—even the Atonement is only a means to communion with God-the question raised and answered, "Does not the Decalogue give us two ends of religious endeavour?"-how the love of our neighbour resolves itself into the love of God-practical use of the subject, as showing what religious exercises are likely to yield the largest return-I. how the knowledge of God may be gained by continually referring to Him in ejaculatory prayerII. also by constant meditation on Holy Scripture-III. also by the discipline of life, and God's providential dealings with us our knowledge of God is to be thought of as progressive on the other side of the grave as well as on this PAGE 48 CHAPTER VI. THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING IT IN VIEW. "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling." -1 TIM. i. 5, 6. a The metaphor used by St. Paul in speaking of the "end of the commandment"-corroborations of the sentiment from other parts of Holy Scripture-in order to a student's proficiency in any art, his object must be clearly defined-example drawn from oratory, and its special appropriateness-example drawn from painting- question raised, "What is the painter's true end?"-the end in religion is supreme love to God, and the same love to our neigh- bour which we bear to ourselves-the relation of ordinances to the end the relation of good works to the end-energy saved by bestowing it in the right quarter-the spirit which our actions evince of much greater importance than the thing done-how the perception that God's great requirement is a loving confidence in Himself simplifies our work in returning to Him after a fall— loving confidence, the only source of true repentance—– FAGE "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with The love of God being our end in religion, it is proposed to ploys-God's love, as evinced by the gift of Christ for us, begets love-III. the love of moral esteem-in it we love God, not for what He is to us, but for what He is in Himself-the moral excel- lence of God's character compared to the beauty of light-light, a compound of sombre and bright rays-holiness and love tempered together in God's character-the exhibition of both attributes in Christ's Cross-the exhibition of both attributes in Christ's Per- son-should we have admired the sterner, as well as the softer, side of Christ's character?-IV. the love of benevolence-benevo- lence, the feeling which prompts to beneficence-shown to be quite distinct from esteem-this sentiment will lead us to further God's cause to the utmost of our power-the petitioner in the Lord's Prayer is supposed to be animated by this spirit-to grow in grace "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. . . . Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ." The words of Christ satisfied a certain yearning in the souls of His hearers the secret affinity between parties in friendship, in virtue of which one supplies what the other needs-friendship results from the attraction of related dissimilars-affinities in Nature between totally distinct objects-affinity between God and man, by which they are reciprocally necessary to one another- I. man's need of God-need which all the creatures have of God, in order to their being and well-being-man's intellectual craving after the Infinite-man reaching forth after truth, but unsatisfied with every truth he reaches-God is Light, and He alone therefore PAGE can satisfy this craving-man's moral craving after the Infinite Good-how the hunger of man's spirit after good is shown in the excesses of intemperance, into which the lower animals do not fall-the purer and more refined forms of created good, and how they disappoint us--how our thirst after joy, after esteem, after sympathy, is satisfied by communion with God, and by that alone- II. God's need of man, as a field of display for His perfections- evil seems to have been permitted, that God may have scope for the exhibition of His mercy-the "deep" of man's misery calls to the "deep" of God's mercy-illustration from human life-the bountiful man needing an object of bounty-how Christ's invita- tion to the people to come to Him and drink shows Him to be God-go to Him, if you feel the hunger and thirst of the soul Man, alone of all creatures, made in God's Image-from the |
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