book_id
stringlengths 2
6
| title
stringclasses 1
value | author
stringclasses 1
value | conversations
listlengths 1
5.07k
|
|---|---|---|---|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quite cured, he said gravely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is saved in body and saved in soul. You say his wife, Madam, was a Saint: I think, Madam, that our friend is not very far from it now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Abbot or"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gilbert Lothian is coming here during this afternoon, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Bishop has specially asked me to arrange that he shall speak during the Conference. It seems he has come specially from Mullion in Cornwall to be present this afternoon. Father Joseph Edward has brought him. It seems that he has something important to say."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Such testimony as his, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Abbot --then indeed it would be extremely valuable. Thousands of people who had been"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and cured from drunkenness had"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes! Morton Sims said suddenly,"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Under the influence of that terrible amnesic dream-phase which our medical friends tell us of, the Judge said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As was my duty as an officer of the law I sent that man to his death. Under existing conditions of society I think that what I was compelled to do was the best thing that could have been done. But I may say to you, my lord, my lords, ladies and gentlemen that it was not without a bitter personal shrinking that I sent that poor man to pay the penalty of his crime. The mournful bell which Dr. Archdall Reed has tolled is his 'Study in Heredity' was sounding in my ears as I did so. That is one of the reasons why I am here this afternoon to support the only movement which seems to have within it the germ of public freedom from the devastating disease of alcoholism."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "May I ask, Sir Edward, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, he whispered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I knew all about him before his condemnation, the doctor replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In fact I took a special interest in him. I was with him the night before his execution and I assisted at the autopsy the next day."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You all have the printed programme in your hands, said the Bishop,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "his voice changed a little and became uncertain and had a curious note of apprehension in it--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have to ask you to give your attention to another speaker, whose wish to address the Meeting has only recently been conveyed to me, but whose right to do so is, in my judgment, indubitable. He has, I understand from Father Joseph who has brought him here, something to say to us of great importance."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is Mr. Gilbert Lothian, the Bishop went on,"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Gilbert Lothian, whose name all of you must know and whose works I am sure most of you, like myself, have in the most grateful remembrance, desires to address you."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Abbot of Mullion."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have only a very few words to say. I want what I say to remain in your minds. I am speaking to you, as I am speaking, for that reason. I beg and pray that this will be of help. You see-- he made an infinitely pathetic gesture of his hands and a wan smile came upon his face--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You see you will be able to use my confession for the sake of others. That is the reason----"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have come here, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I had everything; he said with difficulty,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God gave me everything, almost. I had money to live in comfort; I achieved a certain sort of fame; my life, my private life, was surrounded by the most angelic and loving care."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not know what measure of responsibility remained to me when I did what I did. But this I know, that I have been and am the blackest, most hideous criminal that lives to-day."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My wife-- The Bishop had risen from his chair and Father Joseph Edward was supporting the swaying figure with the pale, earnest face.--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My wife loved me, and kept me and held me and watched over me as few men's wives have ever done. I stole poison with which to kill her. I stole poison from, from you, doctor!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes! I stole it from you! You were away in Paris. You had been making experiments. In the cupboard in the laboratory which you had taken from old Admiral Custance, I knew that there were phials of organic poisons. My wife died of diphtheria. She died of it because I had robbed your bottles--I did so and took the poison home and arranged that Mary. . . ."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No! no! he stammered."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You mustn't say these things. You, you----"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is the influence of the Holy Spirit."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now we understand each other--Good-bye."
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Gilbert Lothian, I think,"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is only a short distance, Mr. Lothian, said the pleasant-looking man cheerfully,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not at all sure, he said,"
}
]
|
41139 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You know? he said, horror still struggling within him, much as he would have wished to control it,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just think how splendidly Gilbert Lothian is going to his shameful death."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, it won't be death. We shall make interest and it will be penal servitude for life."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As you will, she said,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Things new and old."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Notes on the Book of Genesis."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For even Christ _our_ passover is sacrificed _for us_. There, and there alone it will find a _perfect answer_ to its every claim; because there it will find, through believing, all ground of doubt and fear removed, the whole question of sin eternally settled, every divine requirement fully met, and a solid foundation laid for present, settled peace, in the presence of divine holiness: Christ"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "settles every thing. The moment we believe the gospel, we are saved, and ought to be divinely happy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He that believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He condemned sin in the flesh; that is, he there condemned the evil root of sin which is in our flesh,--our carnal nature. But he also"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--of the actual sins of every believer. Thus, between God and Christ alone the entire question of sin was gone into, and finally settled on the cross."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Simon Peter said unto him, Lord whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go _thou canst not follow me now_."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "IT IS FINISHED, the work was done,--God was glorified, the sinner saved, the whole power of Satan completely destroyed, and peace established on the most solid basis. Hence, we find,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The God of _peace_ brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He was the God of _judgment_ at the cross. He is the God of _peace_ at the opening grave. Every enemy has been vanquished, and eternal peace proclaimed, through the blood of his cross."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. He rose"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And all who believed on him as risen and glorified were immediately and eternally saved."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son: he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John v. 11, 12.) There is no blessing outside of, or apart from, the PERSON OF CHRIST--THE HEAVENLY MAN;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ever since that time, God has been placing before the sinner, in connection with _his_ gospel, a risen living Christ, as the ALONE object of faith, and"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, for all things are now ready; the question of sin is not raised,--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Christ, having perfectly satisfied God about sin, the only question now between God and your heart is this: _Are you perfectly satisfied with his Christ as the alone portion of your soul?_ This is the one grand question of the gospel. Christ has settled every other to the glory of God; and now the Father is going to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--to honor, exalt, and glorify him. Is your heart in full harmony with God's on this point? Work is not required at your hands; strength is not needed; fruit is not demanded. God has provided every thing, and prepared every thing. It is all grace,--the pure grace of God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Only believe;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, for all things are now ready. The marriage-supper; the wedding-garment, royal honors, the Father's presence, fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore--all are ready,--ready now--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dear reader, are you ready? Oh, solemn question! Are you ready? Have you believed the message? Have you embraced the Son? Are you ready to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Crown him Lord of all? The table is spread, the house is filling fast:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Already you have heard the midnight cry,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Notes"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Notes"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lovest thou me?... Feed my sheep. Such were the touching words of the departing Shepherd; and, assuredly, when they fall powerfully upon the heart, they must rouse all the energies of one's moral being to carry out, in every possible way, the gracious desire breathed therein. To gather and to feed the lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ are the most exalted services in which any one can be engaged. Not a single honest effort put forth for the achievement of such noble ends will be forgotten in that day"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The first sentence in the divine canon sets us in the presence of him who is the infinite source of all true blessedness. There is no elaborate argument in proof of the existence of God. The Holy Ghost could not enter upon any thing of the kind. God reveals himself. He makes himself known by his works."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handy-work."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. None but an infidel or an atheist would seek an argument in proof of the Being of One who, by the word of his mouth, called worlds into existence, and declared himself the All-wise, the Almighty, and the everlasting God. Who but"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God could"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "any thing."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath _created_ these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. (Is. xl. 26.)"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The gods of the heathen are idols, but the Lord made the heavens."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Here was, in good truth, a scene in which God alone could act. Man, in the pride of his heart, has since proved himself but too ready to interfere with God in other and far higher spheres of action; but, in the scene before us, man had no place until, indeed, he became, like all the rest, the subject of creative power. God was alone in creation. He looked forth from his eternal dwelling-place of light upon the wild waste, and there beheld the sphere in which his wondrous plans and counsels were yet to be unfolded and brought out--where the Second Person of the Eternal Trinity was yet to live, and labor, and testify, and bleed, and die, in order to display, in the view of wondering worlds, the glorious perfections of the Godhead. All was darkness and chaos; but God is the God of light and order."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God said, Let there be light: and there was light. How simple! And yet how Godlike!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. Infidelity may ask,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How? where? when? The answer is,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "we have nothing to do. We believe that all true discoveries, whether"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Here we have the two great symbols so largely employed throughout the Word. The presence of light makes the day; the absence thereof makes the night. Thus it is in the history of souls. There are"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is a most marked and solemn distinction. All upon whom the light of Life has shone,--all who have been effectually visited by the Day-spring from on high,--all who have received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,--all such, whoever and wherever they may be, belong to the first class, are"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "then you are, in very deed, a son of the day, and destined, ere long, to shine in that celestial sphere, that region of glory, of which"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "will be the central sun, forever. This is not your own doing. It is the result of the counsel and operation of God himself, who has given you light and life, joy and peace, in Jesus, and his accomplished sacrifice. But if you are a total stranger to the hallowed action and influence of divine light, if your eyes have not been opened to behold any beauty in the Son of God, then, though you had all the learning of a Newton, though you were enriched with all the treasures of human philosophy, though you had drunk in with avidity all the streams of human science, though your name were adorned with all the learned titles which the schools and universities of this world could bestow, yet are you"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and, if you die in your present condition you will be involved in the blackness and horror of an eternal night. Do not, therefore, my friend, read another page, until you have fully satisfied yourself as to whether you belong to the"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "or the"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ye, says the inspired apostle,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And again,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One star differeth from another star in glory."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let _them_ have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he _him_: male and female created he _them_. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. My reader will observe the change from"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We are not presented with the actual fact of the formation of the woman, until the next chapter; though here we find God blessing"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and giving"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "jointly the place of universal government. All the inferior orders of creation were set under their joint dominion. Eve received all her blessings in Adam. In him, too, she got her dignity. Though not yet called into actual existence, she was, in the purpose of God, looked at as part of the man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In thy book were all my members written, which, in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "According as he hath chosen us in him, _before the foundation of the world_, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Before a single member of the Church had yet breathed the breath of life, all were, in God's eternal mind, predestinated to be conformed to the"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The counsels of God render the Church necessary to complete the mystic man. Hence the Church is called"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is not good that _the_ man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And, again,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man; neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.... Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. (1 Cor. xi. 8-12.) Hence, it is no longer the mere question whether God can save a poor, helpless sinner,--whether he can blot out his sins, and receive him in the power of divine righteousness. God has said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He left not"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "without"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "neither would he leave the"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Second."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A deep sleep must fall on him, and a partner be formed, out of himself, to share his dominion and his blessedness."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The man was the object; and as to"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "(Eph. iii. 1-11.) Hence, in the Psalm just quoted, we have only"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "presented to us; but we know that the man and the woman are looked at under one head. All this will find its full antitype in the ages to come. Then shall the True Man, the Lord from heaven, take his seat on the throne, and, in companionship with his bride, the Church, rule over a restored creation. This Church is quickened out of the grave of Christ, is part"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He the Head and she the body, making one Man, as we read in the fourth chapter of Ephesians,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "in the margin, is [Hebrew: vayyven] which the LXX. render by [Greek: ôkodomesen]. A reference to the original of Eph. ii. 20, 22 will show the reader that the words rendered"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not that there is the slightest foundation for either the one or the other; for the whole subject is laid down in the Word, in the simplest possible manner. The distinct _commandment_, to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "will come before us, the Lord permitting, in our meditations on the book of Exodus. In the chapter now before us, there is no command given to man whatever; but simply the record that,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God rested on the seventh day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. There is no commandment given to man, here. We are simply told that God enjoyed his rest, because all was done, so far as the mere creation was concerned. There was nothing more to be done, and, therefore, the One who had, during six days, been working, ceased to work, and enjoyed his rest. All was complete; all was very good; all was just as he himself had made it; and he rested in it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The morning stars sang together; and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God rested: on the contrary, the word is,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The seventh day,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not believe that scripture furnishes any foundation for such an idea. Where is the divine warrant for such a statement? Surely if there is scripture authority, nothing can be easier than to produce it. But the fact is, there is none; on the contrary, the distinction is most fully maintained in the New Testament. Take one remarkable passage, in proof:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There remaineth a rest ([Greek: sabbatismos]) for the people of God. (Heb. iv. 9.) When the Son of Abraham, Son of David, and Son of Man, shall assume his position of government over the whole earth, there will be a glorious sabbath,--a rest which sin shall never interrupt. But now, he is rejected, and all who know and love him are called to take their place with him in his rejection; they are called to"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That rock was Christ,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "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."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. This is the last place in which we find the river. Its source can never again be touched,--its channel never again interrupted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The throne of God is expressive of eternal stability; and the presence of the Lamb marks it as based upon the immediate ground of accomplished redemption. It is not God's throne in creation; nor in providence: but in redemption. When I see _the Lamb_, I know its connection with me as _a sinner_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The throne of God,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "but also as standing in the place of personal responsibility. In the midst of the fair scene of creation, the Lord God set up a testimony, and this testimony was also a test for the creature. It spoke of _death_ in the midst of _life_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "now the word is,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And, as in Eden, the enemy sought to make void God's testimony, as to the result of eating the fruit, so now, he seeks to make void God's testimony as to the result of believing the gospel. God had said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely _die_. But the serpent said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ye shall not surely _die_. And now, when God's word plainly declares that"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "to prevail above the hiss of the serpent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "refers to"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and that the exiled apostle found himself carried forward, as it were, into the Spirit of the day of the Lord. I do not believe the original would bear such an interpretation; and, besides, we have in 1 Thess. v. 2, and 2 Peter iii. 10, the exact words,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "the original of which is quite different from the expression above referred to, being not [Greek: hê kyriakê hêmera], but [Greek: hê hêmera kyriou]. This entirely settles the matter, so far as the mere criticism is concerned; and as to interpretation, it is plain that by far the greater portion of the Apocalypse is occupied, not with"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lord God. There is much importance in the distinction. When God is seen acting in relation with man, he takes the title"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lord God, --(Jehovah Elohim;) but until man appears on the scene, the word"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lord is not used. I shall just point out three out of many passages in which the distinction is very strikingly presented."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as _God_ (Elohim) had commanded him; and the _Lord_ (Jehovah) shut him in. (Gen. vii. 16.) Elohim was going to destroy the world which he had made; but Jehovah took care of the man with whom he stood in relation. Again,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "&c. (1 Sam. xvii. 46, 47.) All the earth was to recognise the presence of Elohim; but Israel was called to recognise the actings of Jehovah, with whom they stood in relation. Lastly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Jehoshaphat cried out, and _the Lord_ (Jehovah) helped him; and _God_ (Elohim) moved _them_ to depart from him."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? This was Satan's crafty inquiry; and had the word of God been dwelling richly in Eve's heart, her answer might have been direct, simple, and conclusive. The true way in which to meet Satan's questions and suggestions, is to treat them as his, and repel them by the word. To let them near the heart, for a moment, is to lose the only power by which to answer them. The devil did not openly present himself and say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am the devil, the enemy of God, and I am come to traduce him, and ruin you. This would not be serpent-like; and, yet, he really did all this, _by raising questions_ in the mind of the creature. To admit the question,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thou shalt not eat of it. To this Eve adds her own words,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "These were Eve's words and not God's. He had said nothing about touching; so that whether her misquotation proceeded from ignorance, or indifference, or a desire to represent God in an arbitrary light, or from all three together, it is plain that she was entirely off the true ground of simple confidence in, and subjection to, God's holy word."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By the words of thy mouth, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hath God said? was followed by,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ye shall not surely die. That is to say, there was first the question raised, as to whether God had spoken, and then followed the open contradiction of what God had said. This solemn fact is abundantly sufficient to show how dangerous it is to admit near the heart a question as to divine revelation, in its fulness and integrity. A refined rationalism is very near akin to bold infidelity; and the infidelity that dares to judge God's Word is not far from the atheism that denies his existence. Eve would never have stood by to hear God contradicted, if she had not previously fallen into looseness and indifference as to his word. She, too, had her"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Phases of Faith,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ALL SCRIPTURE. The soul that is endowed with this has a triumphant answer to every objector, whether he issue from Rome or Germany."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is nothing new under the sun. The self-same evil which is now corrupting the very springs of religious thought and feeling, throughout the fairest portion of the continent of Europe, was that which laid Eve's heart in ruins, in the garden of Eden. The first step in her downward course was her hearkening to the question,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hath God said? And then, onward she went, from stage to stage, until, at length, she bowed before the serpent, and owned him as her god, and the fountain of truth. Yes, my reader, the serpent displaced God, and the serpent's lie God's truth. Thus it was with fallen man; and thus it is with fallen man's posterity. God's word has no place in the heart of the unregenerated man; but the lie of the serpent has. Let the formation of man's heart be examined, and it will be found that there is a place therein for Satan's lie, but none whatever for the truth of God. Hence the force of the word to Nicodemus,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ye must be born again."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was by shaking her confidence in God's love. He sought to shake her confidence in what God had said by showing that the testimony was not founded in love."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For, said he,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil. (Ver. 5.) In other words,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is positive advantage connected with the eating of that fruit of which God is seeking to deprive you; why, therefore, should you believe God's testimony? you cannot place confidence in one who, manifestly, does not love you; for, if he loved you, why should he prohibit your enjoying a positive privilege?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have the fullest confidence in God's goodness, and, therefore, I deem it impossible that he could withhold any real good from me. If that fruit were good for me, I should surely have it; but the fact of its being forbidden by God proves that I would be no better, but much worse off by the eating of it. I am convinced of God's _love_, and I am convinced of God's _truth_, and I believe, too, that you are an evil one come to draw my heart away from the fountain of goodness and truth. Get thee behind me, Satan."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Grace and truth, --the very things which man lost, in his fall,--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "(John i. 17.) He was"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "of what God was. (Rev. i. 5.) Truth reveals God as he is; but this truth is connected with the revelation of perfect grace; and thus the sinner finds, to his unspeakable joy, that the revelation of what God is, instead of being his destruction, becomes the basis of his eternal salvation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. (John xvii. 3.) I cannot know God and not have life. The loss of the knowledge of God was death; but the knowledge of God is life. This, necessarily, makes life a thing entirely outside of ourselves, and dependent upon what God is. Let me arrive at what amount of self-knowledge I may, it is not said that"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "though, no doubt, the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self will go very much together; still,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "is connected with the former, and not with the latter. To know God as he is, is life; and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "shall be"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "which three, as the apostle states, comprehend"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Those were the things presented by Satan to the Lord Jesus, in the temptation. He began by tempting the Second Man to take himself out of the position of absolute dependence upon God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Command these stones that they be made bread. He asked him to do this, not, as in the case of the first man, to make himself what he was not, but to prove what he was. Then followed the offer of the kingdoms of the world, with all their glory. And, finally, conducting him to a pinnacle of the temple, he tempted him to give himself, suddenly and miraculously, to the admiration of the assembled people below. (Comp. Matt. iv. 1-11 with Luke iv. 1-13.) The plain design of each temptation was to induce the Blessed One to step from the position of entire dependence upon God, and perfect subjection to his will. But all in vain."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But he had left out a material part of the truth, namely, that they should know good, without the power to do it; and that they should know evil, without the power to avoid it. Their very attempt to elevate themselves in the scale of moral existence involved the loss of true elevation. They became degraded, powerless, Satan-enslaved, conscience-smitten, terrified creatures."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The eyes of them both were opened, no doubt; but alas! to what a sight! It was only to discover their own nakedness. They opened their eyes upon their own condition, which was"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They knew that they were naked,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "because, as he himself confessed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was naked. Yes, naked, although he had his apron on him. But it is plain that that covering did not even satisfy his own conscience. Had his conscience been divinely satisfied, he would not have been afraid."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1 John iv. 17, 18.) But Adam knew not this, because he had believed the serpent's lie. He thought that God was any thing but love; and, therefore, the very last thought of his heart would have been to venture into his presence. He could not do it. Sin was there, and God and sin can never meet; so long as there is sin on the conscience, there must be the sense of distance from God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[6] ([Greek: theiotês]) but he had not told out all the deep secrets of his nature and character. Wherefore Satan made a grand mistake in coming to meddle with God's creation. He only proved to be the instrument of his own eternal defeat and confusion, and"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "shall forever"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "His _lie_ only gave occasion for the display of the full _truth_ in reference to God. Creation never could have brought out what God was. There was infinitely more in him than power and wisdom. There was love, mercy, holiness, righteousness, goodness, tenderness, long-suffering. Where could all these be displayed, but in a world of sinners? God, at the first, came down to _create_; and, then, when the serpent presumed to meddle with creation, God came down to _save_. This is brought out in the first words uttered by the Lord God, after man's fall."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? This question proved two things. It proved that man was lost, and that God had come to seek. It proved man's sin, and God's grace."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where art thou?"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom _thou gavest_ to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Here, we find him actually laying the blame of his shameful fall on the circumstances in which God had placed him, and thus, indirectly, upon God himself. This has ever been the way with fallen man. Every one and every thing is blamed but _self_. In the case of true conviction, the very reverse is exhibited."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is it not _I_ that have sinned?"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How did he know it? Was it by having access to the page of God's secret and eternal decrees? By no means. How then?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because ([Greek: hoti]) our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because thou hast done this. The serpent was the source of the ruin; and the seed of the woman was to be the source of the redemption. Adam heard all this, and believed it; and, in the power of that belief,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This was a precious fruit of faith in God's revelation. Looking at the matter from nature's point of view, Eve might be called,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, in the judgment of faith, she was the mother of all _living_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "His mother called him Ben-oni; (the son of my sorrow;) but his father called him Benjamin (the son of my right hand)."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Unto Adam, also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. We have here, in figure, the great doctrine of divine righteousness set forth. The robe which God provided was an effectual covering, because he provided it; just as the apron was an ineffectual covering because man had provided it. Moreover, God's coat was founded upon blood-shedding. Adam's apron was not. So also, now, God's righteousness is set forth in the cross; man's righteousness is set forth in the works, the sin-stained works, of his own hands. When Adam stood clothed in the coat of skin he could not say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was naked,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "he could bless the hand that had set them there,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "inasmuch as the same hand had opened a better, a safer, and a happier way to that tree. If the Cherubim and flaming sword stopped up the way to Paradise, the Lord Jesus Christ has opened"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "into the holiest of all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Godhead;"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That which is born of the flesh is (not merely fleshly, but) flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is, (not merely spiritual, but) spirit."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They were not innocent. Adam lost his innocence and never regained it. He can only be looked at as the fallen head of a fallen race, who, by his"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "were made"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "we partake of the nature of the latter. A newly-born infant, though entirely incapable of performing the act which reduced Adam to the condition of a fallen being, is, nevertheless, a partaker of his nature; and so, also, a newly-born child of God,--a newly-regenerated soul, though having nothing whatever to do with the working-out of the perfect obedience of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "is, nevertheless, a partaker of his nature. True it is that, attached to the former nature, there is sin; and attached to the latter, there is righteousness,--man's sin, in the former case; God's righteousness in the latter: yet, all the while, there is the actual, _boná fide_ participation of a real nature, let the adjuncts be what they may. The child of Adam partakes of the human nature and its adjuncts; the child of God partakes of the divine nature and its adjuncts. The former nature is according to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "(John i.,) the latter is according to"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "as St. James, by the Holy Ghost, teaches us,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What, therefore, made the vast difference? The answer is as simple as the gospel of the grace of God can make it. The difference was not in themselves, in their nature, or their circumstances; it lay, _entirely_, in their _sacrifices_. This makes the matter most simple, for any truly convicted sinner,--for any one who truly feels that he not only partakes of a fallen nature, but is himself, also, a sinner. The history of Abel opens, to such an one, the only true ground of his approach to, his standing before, and his relationship with, God. It teaches him, distinctly, that he cannot come to God on the ground of any thing in, of, or pertaining to, nature; and he must seek, _outside himself_, and in the person and work of another, the true and everlasting basis of his connection with the Holy, the Just, and only True God. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews sets the whole subject before us, in the most distinct and comprehensive way."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice ([Greek: pleiona thysian]) than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God bearing witness ([Greek: martyrountos]) to his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Here we are taught that it was, in nowise, a question as to the men, but only as to their"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. (Gen. iv. 3-5.) This passage sets the difference clearly before us: Cain offered to Jehovah the fruit of a cursed earth, and that, moreover, without any blood to remove the curse. He presented"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "simply because he had no faith. Had he possessed that divine principle, it would have taught him, even at this early moment, that"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He displayed entire ignorance in reference to divine requirements, in reference to his own character and condition as a lost and guilty sinner, and in reference to the true state of that ground, the fruit of which he presumed to offer. No doubt, reason might say,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "all his life; but it was his death that rent the veil. (Matt. xxvii. 51.) Naught but his death could have done so. Had he continued, to the present moment,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "the veil would have remained entire, to bar the worshipper's approach into"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hence we can see the false ground on which Cain stood as an offerer and a worshipper. An unpardoned sinner coming into the presence of Jehovah, to present"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "could only be regarded as guilty of the highest degree of presumption. True, he had toiled to produce this offering; but what of that? Could a sinner's toil remove the curse and stain of sin? Could it satisfy the claims of an infinitely holy God? Could it furnish a proper ground of acceptance for a sinner? Could it set aside the penalty which was due to sin? Could it rob death of its sting, or the grave of its victory? Could it do any or all of these things? Impossible."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Without shedding of blood is no remission. Cain's"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "like every other unbloody sacrifice, was not only worthless, but actually abominable, in the divine estimation. It not only demonstrated his entire ignorance of his own condition, but also of the divine character."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God is not worshipped with men's hands as though he needed any thing."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and, assuredly, God must have the more blessed place."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who hath _first_ given to him? God can accept the smallest gift from a heart which has learnt the deep truth contained in those words,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "but, the moment a man presumes to take the place of the"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "giver, God's reply is,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "for"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The great Giver of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "cannot possibly"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "nor can he, by aught that he can accomplish, alter that destiny. He may toil and labor; he may, by the sweat of his brow, produce an offering; he may make vows and resolutions; he may alter his way of life; he may reform his outward character; he may be temperate, moral, upright, and, in the human acceptation of the word, religious; he may, though entirely destitute of faith, read, pray, and hear sermons. In short, he may do any thing, or every thing which lies within the range of human competency; but, notwithstanding all,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "are before him. He has not been able to disperse those two heavy clouds which have gathered upon the horizon. There they stand; and, so far from being able to remove them, by all his doings, he can only live in the gloomy anticipation of the moment when they shall burst upon his guilty head. It is impossible for a sinner, by his own works, to place himself in life and triumph, at the other side of"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He hath abolished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light, through the gospel. (2 Tim. i. 10.) He has glorified God in the putting away of that which would have separated us, forever, from his holy and blissful presence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He has put away sin, and hence it is gone. (Heb. ix. 26.) All this is, in type, set forth in Abel's"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There was no attempt, on Abel's part, to set aside the truth as to his own condition, and proper place as a guilty sinner,--no attempt to turn aside the edge of the flaming sword, and force his way back to the tree of life,--no presumptuous offering of an"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The richest fruits, and the most fragrant flowers, in the greatest profusion, could not remove a single stain from the conscience. Nothing but the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God can give ease to the heart and conscience. All who by faith lay hold of that divine reality, will enjoy a peace which the world can neither give nor take away. It is faith which puts the soul in present possession of this peace."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. v. 1.)"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Cain had no faith, and therefore he offered an unbloody sacrifice. Abel had faith, and therefore he offered both"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "which, in type, set forth the presentation of the life, and also the inherent excellency of the Person of Christ."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The blood set forth the former;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "shadowed forth the latter. Both blood and fat were forbidden to be eaten under the Mosaic economy. The blood is the life; and man, under law, had no title to life. But, in the sixth of John we are taught that unless we eat blood we have no life in us. Christ is _the_ life. There is not a spark of life outside of him. All out of Christ is death."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In him was life,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. He did not say,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "because, in resurrection, he had not assumed into his sacred person the blood which he had shed out upon the cross as an atonement for sin."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood which maketh an atonement for the soul."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God testified of his _gifts_."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "but,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Having come to God"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was very wroth, and his countenance fell. That which filled Abel with peace, filled Cain with wrath. Cain, in unbelief, despised the only way in which a sinner could come to God. He refused to offer blood, without which there can be no remission; and then, because _he_ was not received, _in his sins_, and because Abel was accepted, _in his gift_,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And yet, how else could it be? He should either be received with his sins, or without them; but God could not receive him with them, and he would not bring the blood which alone maketh atonement; and, therefore, he was rejected, and, being rejected, he manifests in his ways the fruits of corrupt religion. He persecutes and murders the true witness,--the accepted, justified man,--the man of faith; and, in so doing, he stands as the model and forerunner of all false religionists in every age. At all times, and in all places, men have shown themselves more ready to persecute on religious grounds than on any other. This is Cain-like. Justification--full, perfect, unqualified justification, by faith only, makes God every thing, and man nothing: and man does not like this; it causes his countenance to fall, and draws out his anger. Not that he can give any reason for his anger; for it is not, as we have seen, a question of man at all, but only of the ground on which he appears before God. Had Abel been accepted on the ground of aught in himself, then, indeed, Cain's wrath and his fallen countenance would have had some just foundation; but, inasmuch as he was accepted, exclusively on the ground of his offering; and, inasmuch as it was not to him, but to his gift, that Jehovah bore testimony, his wrath was entirely without any proper basis. This is brought out in Jehovah's word to Cain:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If thou doest well, (or, as the LXX. reads it, if thou offer correctly, [Greek: orthôs prosenenkês],) shalt thou not be accepted?"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "in which way millions are at this moment rushing on. Such persons are not by any means divested of the religious element in their character. They would like to offer something to God; to do something for him. They deem it right to present to him the results of their own toil. They are ignorant of themselves, ignorant of God; but with all this there is the diligent effort to improve the world; to make life agreeable in various ways; to deck the scene with the fairest colors. God's remedy to _cleanse_ is rejected, and man's effort to _improve_ is put in its place. This is"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "prevails at the present moment. Though the world is stained with the blood of"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Abel, even with the blood of Christ; yet see what an agreeable place man seeks to make of it! As in Cain's day, the grateful sounds of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "no doubt, completely drowned, to man's ear, the cry of Abel's blood; so now, man's ear is filled with other sounds than those which issue from Calvary, and his eye filled with other objects than a crucified Christ. The resources of his genius, too, are put forth to render this world a hot-house, in which are produced, in their rarest form, all the fruits for which nature so eagerly longs. And not merely are the real wants of man, as a creature, supplied, but the inventive genius of the human mind has been set to work for the purpose of devising things, which, the moment the eye sees, the heart desires, and not only desires, but imagines that life would be intolerable without them. Thus, for instance, some years ago, people were content to devote three or four days to the accomplishing of a journey of one hundred miles; but now they can accomplish it in three or four hours; and not only so, but they will complain sadly if they happen to be five or ten minutes late. In fact, man must be saved the trouble of living. He must travel without fatigue, and he must hear news without having to exercise patience for it. He will lay iron rails across the earth, and electric wires beneath the sea, as if to anticipate, in his own way, that bright and blissful age when"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The fashion of this world passeth away. It will soon all be over, so far as the present scene is concerned."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The way of Cain will be followed by"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "in its consummated form; and then will come"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and what then?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The pit will open its mouth to receive the wicked, and close it again, to shut them up in"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "but, at last, it must be recorded that"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Death reigned from Adam to Moses. And, again,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is appointed unto men once to die."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By one man sin entered into the world, and _death by sin_. (Rom. v. 12.) Here we have the origin of death. It came by sin. Sin snapped asunder the link which bound the creature to the living God; and, that being done, he was handed over to the dominion of death, which dominion he had no power whatever to shake off. And this, be it observed, is one of the many proofs of the fact of man's total inability to meet God. There can be no fellowship between God and man, save in the power of life; but man is under the power of death; hence, on natural grounds, there can be no fellowship. Life can have no fellowship with death, no more than light with darkness, or holiness with sin. Man must meet God on an entirely new ground, and on a new principle, even faith; and this faith enables him to recognize his own position, as"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "yet, in another sense, it can be said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is no death in the sphere into which a risen Christ introduces his people. How could there be? Has not he abolished it? It cannot be an abolished and an existing thing at the same time and to the same people; but God's word tells us it is abolished. Christ emptied the scene of death, and filled it with life; and, therefore, it is not death, but glory that lies before the believer. Death is behind him, and behind him forever. As to the future, it is all glory,--cloudless glory. True, it may be his lot to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--to"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--but that is not death, but"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "the exception is,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Heb. xi. 5.) Enoch was"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and it is deeply interesting to find, that death was not suffered to triumph over"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "but that, in his case, God interfered, and made him a trophy of his own glorious victory over all the power of death. The heart rejoices, after reading, six times, the sad record,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "to find, that the seventh did not die; and when we ask, How was this? the answer is,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What separation and self-denial! what holiness and moral purity! what grace and gentleness! what humility and tenderness! and yet, what zeal and energy! What patience and long-suffering! and yet what faithfulness and uncompromising decision! To walk with God comprehends every thing within the range of the divine life, whether active or passive. It involves the knowledge of God's character as he has revealed it. It involves, too, the intelligence of the relationship in which we stand to him. It is not a mere living by rules and regulations; nor laying down plans of action; nor in resolutions to go hither and thither, to do this or that. To walk with God is far more than any or all of these things. Moreover, it will sometimes carry us right athwart the thoughts of men, and even of our brethren, if they are not themselves walking with God. It may, sometimes, bring against us the charge of doing too much: at other times, of doing too little; but the faith that enables one to"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "takes in all the details of actual life which lie between those two points."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Lord will give grace and glory; and between the grace that has been, and the glory that is to be, revealed, there is the happy assurance, that"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and these termini are prefigured in the sacrifice of Abel, and the translation of Enoch. The Church knows her entire justification through the death and resurrection of Christ, and she waits for the day when he shall come and receive her to himself. She,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "which is the proper hope of the Church, that many saints, at the present moment, seem unable to rise above the hope of the God-fearing remnant of Israel, which is to see"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "nor"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was taken away before any of these things occurred; and he stands before the eye of faith as a beautiful figure of those,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "(1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.) Translation, not death, was the hope of Enoch; and, as to the Church's hope, it is thus briefly expressed by the apostle,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To wait for the Son from heaven. (1 Thess. i. 10.) This, the simplest and most unlettered Christian can understand and enjoy. Its power, too, he can, in some measure, experience and manifest. He may not be able to study prophecy very deeply, but he can, blessed be God, taste the blessedness, the reality, the comfort, the power, the elevating and separating virtue of that celestial hope which properly belongs to him as a member of that heavenly body, the Church; which hope is not merely to see"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "how blessed soever that may be in its place, but to see"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The LXX. renders it by [Greek: aphethênai],"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "yet, God's judgment was quite different. He seeth not as man seeth. His thoughts are not as ours."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Such was man's condition before God,--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is great danger, at the present day, of compromising truth for the sake of union. This should be carefully guarded against. There can be no true union attained at the expense of truth. The true Christian's motto should ever be--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The principle of expediency, on the contrary, may be thus enunciated:--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Promote union at all cost; if truth can be maintained as well, so much the better; but promote union."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Lord said, I will destroy man. Nothing less would do. There must be the entire destruction of that which had corrupted God's way on the earth."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The mighty men, and men of renown, must all be swept away, without distinction."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All flesh must be set aside, as utterly unfit for God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The end of _all_ flesh is come before me. It was not merely the end of _some_ flesh; no, it was all corrupt, in the sight of Jehovah,--all irrecoverably bad. It had been tried, and found wanting; and the Lord announces his remedy to Noah in these words,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Make thee an ark of gopher wood."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The sound of the harp and the organ might send a thrill through the whole soul, while, at the same time, the ground was cultivated, and man's necessities were provided for in such a way as to contradict every thought in reference to approaching judgment. But, oh! those solemn words,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What a heavy gloom they would necessarily cast over the glittering scene! Could not man's genius invent some way of escape? Could not"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By faith Noah, being _warned of God_, of things _not seen_ as yet, moved with fear ([Greek: eulabêtheis]), prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Heb. xi. 7.) The word of God brings his light to shine upon all that by which man's heart is deceived. It removes, completely, the gilding with which the serpent covers a vain, deceitful, passing world, over which hangs the sword of divine judgment. But it is only"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "that will be"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "when the things of which he speaks are"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nature is governed by what it sees,--it is governed by its senses. Faith is governed by the pure word of God; (inestimable treasure in this dark world!) this gives stability, let outward appearances be what they may. When God spoke to Noah of judgment impending, there was no sign of it. It was"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "but the word of God made it a present reality to the heart that was enabled to mix that word with faith. Faith does not wait to _see_ a thing, ere it believes, for"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thus saith the Lord, settles every thing. A single line of sacred scripture is an abundant answer to all the reasonings and all the imaginations of the human mind; and when one has the word of God as the basis of his convictions, he may calmly stand against the full tide of human opinion and prejudice. It was the word of God which sustained the heart of Noah during his long course of service; and the same word has sustained the millions of God's saints from that day to this, in the face of the world's contradiction. Hence, we cannot set too high a value upon the word of God. Without it, all is dark and uncertainty; with it, all is light and peace. Where it shines, it marks out for the man of God a sure and blessed path; where it shines not, one is left to wander amid the bewildering mazes of human tradition. How could Noah have"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "for 120 years if he had not had the word of God as the ground of his preaching? How could he have withstood the scoffs and sneers of an infidel world? How could he have persevered in testifying of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "when not a cloud appeared on the world's horizon? Impossible. The word of God was the ground on which he stood, and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "under whatever head those works may range themselves. (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.) What rest for the heart! What relief from all Satan's imagery, and man's imaginations! God's pure, incorruptible, eternal word! May our hearts adore him for the inestimable treasure!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me.... Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Here was man's ruin, and God's remedy. Man had been allowed to pursue his career to the utmost limit, to bring his principles and ways to maturity. The leaven had worked and filled the mass. The evil had reached its climax."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All flesh had become so bad that it could not be worse; wherefore nothing remained but for God to destroy _it_ totally; and, at the same time, to save all those who should be found, according to his eternal counsels, linked with"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--the only righteous man then existing. This brings out the doctrine of the cross in a very vivid manner. There we find at once God's judgment of nature with all its evil; and, at the same time, the revelation of his saving grace, in all its fulness, and in all its perfect adaptation to those who have really reached the lowest point of their moral condition, as judged by himself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Day-spring from on high hath visited us. (Luke i. 78.) Where? Just _where we are_, as sinners. God has come down to the very deepest depths of our ruin. There is not a point in all the sinner's state to which the light of that blessed Day-spring has not penetrated; but, if it has thus penetrated, it must, by virtue of what it is, reveal our true character. The light must judge every thing contrary to itself; but, while it does so, it also"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The cross, while it reveals God's judgment upon"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All thy billows and thy waves have gone over me. (Ps. xlii. 7.) Here is a profound truth for the heart and conscience of a believer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "passed over the spotless person of the Lord Jesus, when he hung upon the cross; and, as a most blessed consequence, not one of them remains to pass over the person of the believer. At Calvary we see, in good truth,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "had been poured forth, while he himself was raised by those very outpoured billows into a region of cloudless peace. He floated in peace on that very water by which"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "was judged. He was put beyond the reach of judgment; and put there, too, by God himself. He might have said, in the triumphant language of Romans viii.,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If God be for us, who can be against us? He had been invited in by Jehovah himself, as we read in Chapter vii. 1,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; and when he had taken his place there, we read,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Here, assuredly, was full and perfect security for all within. Jehovah kept the door, and no one could go in or out without him. There was both a window and a door to the ark. The Lord secured, with his own omnipotent hand, the door, and left Noah the window, from which he might look upward to the place from whence all the judgment had emanated, and see that no judgment remained for him. The saved family could only look _upward_, because the window was"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "(Chap. vi. 16.) They could not see the waters of judgment, nor the death and desolation which those waters had caused. God's salvation--the"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who could open what God had shut? None. The family of Noah were as safe as God could make them. There was no power, angelic, human or diabolical, which could possibly burst open the door of the ark, and let the waters in. That door was shut by the self-same hand that had opened the windows of heaven, and broken up the fountains of the great deep. Thus Christ is spoken of as the One"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "(Rev. iii. 7.) He also holds in his hand"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "(Rev. i. 18.) None can enter the portals of the grave, nor go forth therefrom without him. He has"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and in him the believer is perfectly secure. (Matt. xxviii. 18; Eph. i. 22.) Who could touch Noah? What wave could penetrate that ark which was"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "the day of grace was over, the time of testimony closed, and that forever, so far as they were concerned. The same hand which had shut Noah _in_, had shut them _out_; and it was as impossible for those without to get in as it was for those within to get out. The former were irrecoverably lost; the latter, effectually saved. The long-suffering of God, and the testimony of his servant, had both been slighted. Present things had engrossed them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They did eat, they drank, they married wives, and were given in marriage, _until_ the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke xvii. 26, 27.) There was nothing wrong in any of these things, abstractedly looked at. The wrong was not in the things done, but in the doers of them. Every one of them might be done in the fear of the Lord, and to the glory of his holy name, were they only done in faith. But, alas! they were not so done. The word of God was rejected. He told of judgment; but they did not believe. He spoke of sin and ruin; but they were not convinced. He spoke of a remedy; but they would not give heed. They went on with their own plans and speculations, and had no room for God. They acted as if the earth belonged to them, by a lease, forever. They forgot that there was a clause of surrender. They thought not of that solemn"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God was shut out."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Some would have us to believe that ere the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven, this earth shall be covered, from pole to pole, with a fair mantle of righteousness. They would teach us to look for a reign of righteousness and peace, as the result of agencies now in operation; but the brief passage just quoted cuts up by the roots, in a moment, all such vain and delusive expectations. How was it in the days of Noah? Did righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea? Was God's truth dominant? Was the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord? Scripture replies,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ""
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All flesh had corrupted his way on the earth."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The earth also was corrupt before God. Well, then,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is plain enough."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Righteousness and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "are not very like each other. Neither is there any similarity between universal wickedness and universal peace. It only needs a heart subject to the Word, and freed from the influence of preconceived opinions, in order to understand the true character of the days immediately preceding"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let not my reader be led astray. Let him reverently bow to Scripture. Let him look at the condition of the world,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and let him bear in mind, that"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "it was then,"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "nor is it making"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "that all flesh may see the salvation of Jehovah. Civilization prevails; but civilization is not righteousness. The sweeping and garnishing are going forward; but it is not in order to fit the house for Christ, but for Antichrist. The wisdom of man is put forth in order to cover, with the folds of his own drapery, the blots and blemishes of humanity; but, though covered, they are not removed! They are underneath, and will, ere long, break out in more hideous deformity than ever. The painting of vermilion will soon be obliterated, and the carved cedar wood destroyed. The dams by which man sedulously seeks to stem the torrent of human wretchedness, must soon give way before the overwhelming force thereof. All the efforts to confine the physical, the mental, and the moral degradation of Adam's posterity within those enclosures, which human benevolence, if you please, has devised, must, in the sequel, prove abortive. The testimony has gone forth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The end of _all_ flesh has come before me. It has not come before man; but it has come before God: and, albeit, the voice of the scoffers may be heard, saying,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is the promise of his coming? for, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation; yet the moment is rapidly hastening on when those scoffers will get their answer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. (2 Peter iii. 4-10.) This, my reader, is the answer to the intellectual scoffs of the children of this world, but not to the spiritual affections and expectations of the children of God. These latter, thank God, have a totally different prospect, even to meet the Bridegroom in the air, before evil shall have reached its culminating point, and, therefore, before the divine judgment shall be poured forth thereon. The Church of God looks not for the burning up of the world, but for the arising of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "(2 Cor. vi. 2.)"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. (2 Cor. v. 19.) He is reconciling now, he will be judging by-and-by; it is all grace now; it will be all wrath then; he is pardoning sin now, through the cross; he will punish it then, in hell, and that forever. He is sending out a message of purest, richest, freest grace. He is telling sinners of an accomplished redemption through the precious sacrifice of Christ. He is declaring that all is done. He is waiting to be gracious."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The long-suffering of our Lord is salvation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We should accurately know our bearings. We should fully understand the direct tendency of all the principles now at work. We should be well aware of the vortex, toward which all the tributary streams are rapidly flowing on. Men dream of a golden age; they promise themselves a millennium of the arts and sciences; they feed upon the thought, that"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, oh! how utterly vain are all those thoughts, dreams, and promises. Faith can see the clouds gathering thickly around the world's horizon. Judgment is coming. The day of wrath is at hand. The door will soon be shut. The"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "will soon set in with terrible intensity. How needful, then, it is to raise a warning voice,--to seek, by faithful testimony, to counteract man's pitiable self-complacency. True, in so doing, we shall be exposed to the charge which Ahab brought against Micaiah, of always prophesying evil: but no matter for that. Let us prophesy what the word of God prophesies, and let us do this simply for the purpose of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The word of God only removes from beneath our feet a hollow foundation, for the purpose of placing instead thereof a foundation which never can be moved. It only takes away from us a delusive hope, to give us, instead,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It takes away"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "to give us the"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Rock of ages. It sets aside"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "to set in its place"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is true love. It is God's love. He will not cry"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "when there is no peace; nor"
}
]
|
37915 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And God remembered Noah. The strange work of judgment being over, the saved family, and all in association with them, come into remembrance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God made a wind to pass over the earth; and the waters assuaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. The beams of the sun now begin to act upon a world that had been baptized with a baptism of judgment. Judgment is God's"
}
]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.