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ALL OF "GRACE GEMS" FROM JANUARY 2004

By Grace Gems
ALL OF "GRACE GEMS" FROM JANUARY 2004 IN ONE FILE Untried, untrodden, and unknown (Octavius Winslow, "The Untrodden Path" 1860) "You have not passed this way before." Joshua 3:4 How solemn is the reflection that with a new cycle of time, commences a new and untrodden path with each traveler to Zion. New events in his history will transpire; new scenes in the panorama of life will unfold; new phases of character will develop; new temptations will assail; new duties will devolve; new trials will be experienced; new sorrows will be felt; new friendships will be formed; new mercies will be bestowed. How truly may it be said of the pilgrim, journeying through the wilderness to his eternal home, as he stands upon the threshold of this untried period of his existence, pondering the unknown and uncertain future, "You have not passed this way before." But there is another thought inexpressibly soothing. Untried, untrodden, and unknown as that new path may be, it is each step mapped and arranged, and provided for in the everlasting and unchangeable covenant of God. To Him who leads us, who accepts us in the Son of His love, who knows the end from the beginning, it is no new, or uncertain, or hidden way. We thank Him that, while He wisely and kindly veils all the future from our reach; all that future, its minutest event, is as transparent and visible to Him as the past. Our Shepherd knows the windings along which He skillfully, gently, and safely leads His flock. Oh! it is a thought replete with strong consolation, and well calculated to gird us for the coming year: the Lord knows and has ordained each step of the untrodden path upon which I am about to enter! The infinite forethought, wisdom, and goodness which have marked each line of our new path have also provided for its every necessity . . . each exigency in the new year has been anticipated; each need will bring its appropriate and adequate supply; each perplexity will have its guidance; each sorrow its comfort; each temptation its shield; each cloud its light; each affliction will suggest its lesson; each correction will impart its teaching; each mercy will convey its message of love. The promise will be fulfilled to the letter, "As your day so shall your strength be." Have we not leaned upon a thousand things? (J. C. Philpot, "The Laborer's Rest" 1845) "Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?" Song 8:5 Have we not leaned upon a thousand things? And what have they proved? Broken reeds that have run into our hands, and pierced us! Our own strength and resolutions; the world and the church; sinners and saints; friends and enemies; have they not all proved, more or less, broken reeds? The more we have leaned upon them, like a man leaning upon a sword, the more have they pierced our souls! The Lord Himself has to wean us . . . from leaning on the world, from leaning on friends, from leaning on enemies, from leaning on self, in order to bring us to lean upon Himself. And every prop He will remove, sooner or later, that we may lean wholly and solely upon Him. This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? (J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of John") "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" John 6:60 Murmurs and complaints of this kind are very common. It must never surprise us to hear them. They have been, they are, they will be, as long as the world stands. To some Christ's sayings appear hard to understand. To others they appear hard to believe. And to others, harder still to obey. It is just one of the many ways in which the natural corruption of man shows itself. So long as the heart is naturally . . . proud, worldly, unbelieving, and fond of self-indulgence and sin, so long there will never be lacking people who will say of Christian doctrines and precepts, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Fallen man, in interpreting the Bible, has an unhappy aptitude for turning food into poison. There is a melancholic anxiety in fallen man to put a carnal sense on Scriptural expressions, wherever he possibly can. He struggles hard to make religion a matter . . . of forms and ceremonies; of doing and performing; of sacraments and ordinances; of sense and of sight. He secretly dislikes that system of Christianity which makes the state of the heart the principal thing. There is a tendency in many minds to attach an excessive importance to the outward and visible parts of religion. They seem to think that the sum and substance of Christianity consists in public ceremonies and forms, in appeals to the eye and ear, and bodily excitement. Superabounding grace (J. C. Philpot, "The Superaboundings of Grace over the Aboundings of Sin", 1862) "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Romans 5:20 What are all the gilded toys of time compared with the solemn, weighty realities of eternity! But, alas! what wretches are we when left to sin, self, and Satan! How unable to withstand the faintest breath of temptation! How bent upon backsliding! Who can fathom the depths of the human heart? Oh, what but grace, superabounding grace, can either suit or save such wretches? "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Romans 5:20 Unless upheld by a heavenly arm (Henry Law, "Psalms" 1878) "Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live!" Psalm 119:116 Our natural strength is utter feebleness. Unless upheld by a heavenly arm, we cannot but fall. A sin that eats like a canker! (J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Mark" 1857) "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them." Mark 14:10 See what lengths a man may go in a false profession of religion! It is impossible to conceive a more striking proof of this painful truth, than the history of Judas Iscariot. If ever there was a man who at one time looked like a true disciple of Christ, and bade fair to reach heaven, that man was Judas. He was chosen by the Lord Jesus Himself to be an apostle. He was privileged to be a companion of the Messiah, and an eyewitness of His mighty works, throughout His earthly ministry. He was an associate of Peter, James and John. He was sent forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to work miracles in Christ's name. He was regarded by all the eleven apostles as one of themselves. He was so like his fellow disciples, that they did not suspect him of being a traitor. And yet this very man turns out at last . . . a false hearted child of the devil; departs entirely from the faith; assists our Lord's deadliest enemies, and leaves the world with a worse reputation than anyone since the days of Cain! Never was there . . . such a fall, such an apostasy, such a miserable end to a fair beginning, such a total eclipse of a soul! And how can this amazing conduct of Judas be accounted for? There is only one answer to that question. "The love of money" was the cause of this unhappy man's ruin. That same groveling covetousness, which enslaved the heart of Balaam, and brought on Gehazi a leprosy, was the destruction of Iscariot's soul. The Holy Spirit declares plainly "he was a thief." And his case stands before the world as an eternal comment on the solemn words, "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Let us learn from this melancholy history of Judas, to be "clothed with humility," and to be content with nothing short of the grace of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Knowledge, gifts, profession, privileges, church membership, power of preaching, praying, and talking about religion, are all useless things, if our hearts are not converted. They will not deliver us from hell. Above all, let us remember our Lord's caution, to "beware of covetousness." It is a sin that eats like a canker, and once admitted into our hearts, may lead us finally into every wickedness. Let us pray to be "content with such things as we have." The possession of money is not the one thing needful. Riches entail great peril on the souls of those who have them. The true Christian ought to be far more afraid of being rich than of being poor. The refuge! (by Newman Hall) "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2 The desert is dreary. The way is long. Heavily burdened, a weary traveler slowly drags onward his wounded feet. Faint by reason of the fiery blaze which smites him from the unclouded sky and the scorching sand, he eagerly looks around for shelter. He pants for even the muddiest pool where he may quench his raging thirst. In such "a weary land," how welcome "the shadow of a great rock," and the clear, cool fountain gushing up within its rugged clefts! But where can such a refuge be found for the soul; weary with wandering, crushed by care, groaning under guilt? Where can . . . its burden be taken off, its sorrows soothed, its mighty thirst assuaged? "And a Man will be as a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land." Isaiah 32:2 What we were, and what we now are! (From the letters of Mary Winslow) My heart is often overwhelmed at the thought of His avowing such a worthless worm as myself as one of His sheep for whom He shed His precious blood. Dear friend, let us never for a moment forget what we were, and what we now are! The gate of death, and the gate of glory, are one! (John MacDuff, "Meditations on the Glories of Heaven") "TODAY you shall be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43 The same moment in which I close my eyes on a world of sin and suffering, I open them in glory! The gate of death, and the gate of glory, are one! The uncaged spirit will all at once fly upwards to nestle in the golden eaves of Heaven! Let me look forward, then, with bounding heart, to the hour of death, as the hour of my entrance into endless bliss; the birthday of eternity! Oh, if there was "joy in heaven among the angels of God" at the hour of conversion, what will it be at the hour of glorification! If God the Father even on earth has joy in seeing His returning prodigal; what will it be when He welcomes him to his everlasting home! "He will rejoice over him with joy; He will rest in His love; He will rejoice over him with singing!" (Zeph. 3:17.) The Redeemer utters His intercessory prayer over the death bed on earth, "Father, I will that this one whom you have given Me be with Me where I am, to behold My glory." The prayer is heard; the angels are sent down; and, swift as lightning leaps from the cloud, THAT HOUR, and forever, he is "with Jesus in paradise!" "TODAY you shall be with Me in paradise." The weather (Henry Law, "Psalms" 1878) "He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from His storehouses." Psalm 135:7 The wild elements seem to unenlightened observation to act capriciously and without control. But His power holds them fast bound in His hands. No clouds arise, no lightning flashes, no rain descends, no wind blows furiously, but in accordance with His sovereign will. Let us bless God for His unbounded rule. It changes the tastes (Hannah More, "Christianity, a Practical Principle") The finest 'theory' never yet carried any man to heaven. Christianity is not a religion of 'notions which occupy the mind' without filling the heart. Such a religion is not that which Christ came to teach mankind. All the doctrines of the Gospel are practical principles. The Word of God was not written that Christians might merely obtain right views and possess just notions. Christianity is something more than . . . mere correctness of intellect, justness of thought, and exactness of judgment. It is a life giving principle. It must be infused into the life as well as govern in the understanding. It must regulate the will as well as direct the creed. It must not only cast the opinions into a right frame, but the heart into a new mold. Christianity is a transforming as well as a penetrating principle. It changes the tastes, gives activity to the inclinations, and, together with a new heart, produces a new life. In principles, in tempers, in fervent desires, in holy endeavors, consists the very essence of Christian duty. We cannot be said to be real Christians until Christianity becomes our animating motive, our predominating principle and pursuit; as much as worldly things are the predominating motive, principle, and pursuit of worldly men. The sovereign ruler of the world! (Jonathan Edwards, "The Final Judgment") Wicked men question the very existence of God, who takes care of the world, who orders the affairs of it, and judges in it. And therefore they cast off the fear of God. Yet at the conclusion of the world He shall make His dominion visible to all, so that even those who have denied Him shall find, that God is their supreme Lord, and Lord of the whole world! The blasphemies of the ungodly will be forever put to silence. God is the sovereign ruler of the world! He governs the sun, moon, and stars. He governs even the motes of dust which fly in the air. Not a hair of our heads falls to the ground without our heavenly Father. God also governs the brute creatures. By His providence, He orders, according to His own decrees, all events concerning those creatures. And rational creatures are subject to the His government. All their actions, and all events relating to them, being ordered by superior providence, according to absolute decrees, so that no event that relates to them ever happens without the disposal of God, according to His own decrees. God exercises the most sovereign dominion over the earth. He reigns and does all things according to His own will, ordering all events as seems good to Himself. God is the sovereign ruler of the world! The silkworm (Spurgeon, "The Deep-seated Character of Sin") Nothing is more pleasing to human nature than the attempt to do something by which it may merit salvation at the hand of God. Man is much like a silkworm, he is a spinner and weaver by nature. A robe of righteousness is wrought out for him, but he will not have it. He will spin for himself, and like the silkworm, he spins, and spins, and he only spins himself a shroud. All the righteousness that a sinner can make will only be a shroud in which to wrap up his soul, his destroyed soul, for God will cast him away who relies upon his works. The idol SELF must be dethroned! (Thomas Reade, "Christian Experience") Those who understand the nature of the Gospel, and live under its power, can enter into its blessed design. All its doctrines, precepts, and promises, are calculated . . . to abase the pride of man, to exalt the glory of Christ, to reveal . . . the malignity of sin, the beauty of holiness, the vanity of the world, the bliss of heaven; to show the sinner his utter helplessness, to reveal to Jesus an all sufficient Savior. Pride wants its share of merit in the work of redemption, but Truth levels the proud pretension in the dust. Proud man must be humbled, the idol SELF must be dethroned! Job's religion (J. C. Philpot) "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" Job 23:3 What a mere shallow pretense to vital godliness satisfies most ministers, most hearers, and most congregations! But there was a reality in Job's religion. It was not of a flimsy, notional, superficial nature. It was not merely a sound Calvinistic creed, and nothing more. It was not a religion of theory and speculation, nor a well-compacted system of doctrines and duties. There was something deeper, something more divine in Job's religion than any such mere pretense, delusion, imitation, or hypocrisy. And if our religion be of the right kind, there will be something deeper in it, something more powerful, spiritual, and supernatural, than notions and doctrines, theories and speculations, merely passing to and fro in our minds, however scriptural and correct. There will be a divine reality in it, if God the Spirit be the author of it. And there will be no trifling with the solemn things of God, and with our own immortal souls. The Good Shepherd (J. C. Ryle) "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me." John 10:11,14 Like a Good Shepherd, Christ knows all His believing people . . . their names, their families, their dwelling places, their circumstances, their private history, their experience, their trials; with all these things Jesus is perfectly acquainted. There is not a thing about the least and lowest of them with which He is not familiar. The children of this world may not know Christians, and may count their lives folly; but the Good Shepherd knows them thoroughly, and, wonderful to say, though He knows them, does not despise them. Like a Good Shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He provides for all their needs in the wilderness of this world, and leads them by the right way to a city of habitation. He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame. He guards and protects them against all their enemies; and of those that the Father has given Him He will be found at last to have lost none. Like a Good Shepherd, Christ lays down His life for the sheep. He did it once for all, when He was crucified for them. When He saw that nothing could deliver them from hell and the devil, but His blood, He willingly made His soul an offering for their sins. The merit of that death He is now presenting before the Father's throne. The sheep are saved forever, because the Good Shepherd died for them. This is indeed a love that passes knowledge! The heart of God's child (J. C. Philpot, "The Heir of Heaven Walking in Darkness, and the Heir of Hell Walking in Light") There is much . . . presumption, pride, hypocrisy, deceit, delusion, formality, superstition and self-righteousness to be purged out of the heart of God's child. But all these things . . . keep him low, mar his pride, crush his self-righteousness, cut the locks of his presumption, stain his self conceit, stop his boasting, preserve him from despising others, make him take the lowest room, teach him to esteem others better than himself, drive him to earnest prayer, fit him as an object of mercy, break to pieces his free will, and lay him low at the feet of the Redeemer, as one to be saved by sovereign grace alone! The way in which the Spirit of God works (J. C. Philpot, "Spiritual Times and Seasons" 1841) As pride rises, it must be broken down. As self-righteousness starts up, it must be brought low. As the wisdom of the creature exalts itself against the wisdom of God, it must be laid prostrate. The way in which the Spirit of God works is to lay the creature low, by bringing it into nothingness, and crushing it into self-abasement and self-loathing, so as to press out of it everything on which the creature can depend. Like a surgeon, who will run his lancet into the abscess, and let out the gory matter, in order to effect a thorough cure; so the Spirit of the Lord thrusting His sharp sword into the heart, lets out the inward corruption, and never heals the wound until He has thoroughly probed it. And when He has laid bare the heart, He heals it by pouring in the balmy blood of Jesus, as that which, by its application, cleanses from all sin. The world passes away, and the lust thereof ("The Love of the World and the Love of God", preached at Gower Street Chapel, London, on July 19, 1868, by J. C. Philpot) "The world passes away, and the lust thereof." 1 John 2:17 The world and all that is in it comes to an end. Where are the great bulk of the men and women who fifty, sixty, or seventy years ago trod London streets? Where are they who rode about in their gay carriages, gave their splendid entertainments, decked themselves with feathers and jewels, and enjoyed all the pleasures of life? Where are they? The grave holds their bodies, and hell holds their souls. "The world passes away." It is like a pageant, or a gay and splendid procession, which passes before the eye for a few minutes, then turns the corner of the street, and is lost to view. It is now to you who had looked upon it just as if it were not, and is gone to amuse other eyes. So, could you go on for years . . . enjoying all your natural heart could wish; lay up money by thousands; ride in your carriage; deck your body with jewelry; fill your house with splendid furniture; enjoy everything that earth can give; then there would come, some day or other, sickness to lay you upon a dying bed. To you the world has now passed away with all its lusts; with you all is now come to an end; and now you have, with a guilty soul, to face a holy God. "The world passes away, and the lust thereof." All these lusts for which men have sold body and soul, half ruined their families, and stained their own name; all these lusts for which they were so mad that they would have them at any price, snatch them even from hell's mouth; all these lusts are passed away, and what have they left? A gnawing worm; a worm that can never die, and the wrath of God as an unquenchable fire. That is all which the love of the world can do for you, with all your toil and anxiety, or all your amusement and pleasure. You have not gained much perhaps of this world's goods, with all your striving after them. But could the world fill your heart with enjoyment, and your money bags with gold, as the dust of the grave will one day fill your mouth, it would be much to the same purpose. If you had got all the world, you would have got nothing after your coffin was screwed down, but gravedust in your mouth. Such is the end of the world. "The world passes away, and the lust thereof." DEATH is the great and final extinguisher of all human hopes and pleasures. Look and see how man sickens and dies, and is tumbled into the cemetery, where his body is left to the worms, and his soul to face an angry God, on the great judgment day. "The world passes away, and the lust thereof." Many sorrows now; many sorrows forever! (Henry Law, "Psalms") "Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord." Psalm 32:10 Many sorrows now; many sorrows forever, must be the sinner's doom. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Justice demands it. A grace that all can understand (J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Luke" 1858) If there is one feature in Jesus' character more notable than another, it is His unwearied kindness and love. Let us, like Him, show kindness to everyone with whom we have to do. Let us strive to have . . . an eye ready to see, a hand ready to help, a heart ready to feel, and a will ready to do good to all. Let us be ready to weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. This is one way to recommend our religion, and make it beautiful before men. Kindness is a grace that all can understand. Kindness is one way to be like our blessed Savior. Kindness is one way to be happy in the world. Kindness always brings its own reward. The kind person will seldom be without friends. Weary? (J. C. Philpot, "The Laborer's Rest" 1845) "Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 The Lord's purpose in laying burdens upon us is to weary us out. We cannot learn our religion in any other way. We cannot learn it from the Bible, nor from the experience of others. It must be a personal work, wrought in the heart of each; and we must be brought, all of us, if ever we are to find rest in Christ, to be absolutely wearied out of sin and self, and to have no righteousness, goodness, or holiness of our own. The effect, then, of all spiritual labor is to bring us to this point: to be weary of the world, for we feel it, for the most part, to be a valley of tears; to be weary of self, for it is our greatest plague; weary of professors, for we cannot see in them the grace of God, which alone we prize and value; weary of the profane, for their ungodly conversation only hurts our minds; weary of our bodies, for they are often full of sickness and pain, and always clogs to our soul; and weary of life, for we see the emptiness of those things which to most people make life so agreeable. By this painful experience we come to this point: to be worn out and wearied; and there we must come, before we can rest entirely on Christ. As long as we can rest in the world, we shall rest in it. As long as the things of time and sense can gratify us, we shall be gratified in them. As long as we can find anything pleasing in self, we shall be pleased with it. As long as anything visible and tangible can satisfy us, we shall be satisfied with them. But when we get weary of all things visible, tangible, and sensible--weary of ourselves, and of all things here below--then we want to rest upon Christ, and Christ alone. "Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 Guilty, weak, helpless, ignorant, naked and filthy (John Kershaw, "Spiritual Blessings in Christ" 1848) The Lord brings His people to know that in His solemn presence they are altogether as an unclean thing, and that all their doings and righteousness are as filthy rags. We shall never find anything in ourselves but . . . sin and weakness, unworthiness and unprofitableness. As all the fullness of grace and salvation is treasured up in the Lord Jesus Christ; there must be corresponding weakness, emptiness and unprofitableness felt in us. When the sinner is brought to feel his spiritual destitution, wretchedness, guilt and misery; when he finds that the world cannot afford him any help; and that he cannot help himself; when all creature refuge fails him; when all the streams of earthly comfort dry up, and they are proved to be broken cisterns that can hold no water; then it is that he comes and falls prostrate before the Lord at His blessed feet. Those who come to Him . . . guilty, weak, helpless, ignorant, naked and filthy, without money and without price, He will never cast out. He knows your destitution, poverty and every spiritual blessing you stand in need of; and the supply is all treasured up in Himself, that you may receive grace upon grace. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephes. 1:3 Your children "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 13:3 (Mary Winslow) Did you but see your children standing on the edge of an awful precipice, and know that none but God could prevent their destruction, would you not cry day and night to Him? What can be compared to the eternal death that awaits them, if they die unconverted? Will you not pray, that your dear children may escape from the wrath to come? In proportion as you feel the infinite value of their immortal souls, you shall feel anxious for their salvation. The world (Henry Law, "Gleanings from the Book of Life") The world forges chains to bind its captives. The world is confessedly the enemy of God- "The friendship of the world is enmity with God." The exhortation is clear, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15 The power of this tyrant is mainly in its fascinating arts. The world coaxes, it entices, it allures. The world presents attractive baits. The world shows its votaries decked in enchanting guise. The world presents goblets filled to the brim with intoxicating draughts. The world points to the merry laugh and noisy revelries of its infatuated crowds. The world uses ridicule and scorn to deter those who venture to prefer another path. Frightful are its triumphs! How many have fallen slain at its feet! How many throng the cells of hell, enticed and ruined by its fascinations! >From this enemy Jesus makes the believer free. He sends His Holy Spirit, and then the enslaving chain is broken. He tears the deceiving mask from the world's features, and shows its native hideousness. He exposes . . . its hollow insipidity, its utter emptiness, its thorough insufficiency to give real peace. The believer sees that all its ways lead to disappointment and to shame. He mourns the folly of ever yielding to its poor fallacies. Oh, how religious he once used to be! (J. C. Philpot, "The Lost Sought and Saved" 1851) "And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those who are LOST." Luke 19:10 Oh, how religious he once used to be! How comfortably he could walk to church with his Bible under his arm, and look as devout and holy as possible! How regularly also, he could read the Scriptures, and pray in his manner, and think himself pretty well, with one foot in heaven. But a ray of heavenly light has beamed into his soul, and shown him who and what God is; what sin and a sinful heart is; and who and what he himself as a sinner is. The keen dissecting knife of God has come into his heart, laid it all bare, and let the gory matter flow out. When his conscience is bleeding under the scalpel, and is streaming all over with the gore and filth thus let out, where is the clean heart once boasted of? Where is his religion now? All buried beneath a load of filth! Where is all his holiness gone? His . . . holy looks, holy expressions, holy manners, holy gestures, holy garb; where are they all gone? All are flooded and buried. The sewer has broken out, and the filthy stream has discharged itself over his holy looks, holy manners, holy words and holy gestures; and he is, as Job says, 'in the ditch.' We never find the right religion, until we have lost the wrong one. We never find Christ, until we have lost SELF. We never find grace, until we have lost our own pitiful self-holiness. "And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those who are LOST." Luke 19:10 It is a creature of many lives! (J. C. Philpot, "The Lost Sought and Saved" 1851) Man is a strange compound. A sinner, and the worst of sinners, and yet a Pharisee! A wretch, and the vilest of wretches, and yet pluming himself on his good works! Did not experience convince us to the contrary, we would scarcely believe that a monster like man, a creature, as someone has justly said, "half beast and half devil," should dream of pleasing God by his obedience, or of climbing up to heaven by a ladder of his own righteousness. Pharisaism is firmly fixed in the human heart. Deep is the root, broad the stem, wide the branches, but poisonous the fruit, of this gigantic tree, planted by pride and unbelief in the soil of human nature. Self-righteousness is not peculiar to only certain individuals. It is interwoven with our very being. It is the only religion that human nature . . . understands, relishes, or admires. Again and again must the heart be ploughed up, and its corruptions laid bare, to keep down the growth of this pharisaic spirit. It is a creature of many lives! It is not one blow, nor ten, nor a hundred that can kill it. Stunned it may be for a while, but it revives again and again! Pharisaism can live and thrive under any profession. Calvinism or Arminianism is the same to it. It is not the garb he wears, nor the mask he carries, that constitutes the man. The believer's chief troubles (J. C. Philpot, "The Golden Chain of Tribulation and Love") As earth is but a valley of tears, the Christian has many tribulations in common with the world. Family troubles were the lot of Job, Abraham, Jacob and David. Sickness befell Hezekiah, Trophimus and Epaphroditus. Reverses and losses fell upon Job. Poverty and famine drove Naomi into the land of Moab. Trouble, then, is in itself no sign of grace; for it inevitably flows from, and is necessarily connected with, man's fallen state. But we should fix our eye on two things, as especially marking the temporal afflictions of the Lord's family: 1. That they are all weighed out and timed by special appointment. For though "man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards," yet "affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground." Job 5:6 2. That they are specially sanctified, and made to "work together for good" to those who love God. But the believer's chief troubles are internal, and arise from . . . the assaults of Satan, powerful temptations, the guilt of sin laid on the conscience, doubts and fears about a saving interest in Christ, and a daily, hourly conflict with a nature ever lusting to evil. A religion that satisfies thousands. (Philpot, "The Cry of Jonah out of the Belly of Hell") "Having a form of godliness but denying its power." 2 Tim. 3:5 Much that passes for religion, is not true religion at all. Much that goes for hopes of salvation, is nothing but lying refuges. Much is palmed off for the teaching of the Spirit, which is nothing but delusion. Vital godliness is very rare. There are very few people spiritually taught of God. There are very few ministers who really preach the truth. Satan is thus daily deceiving thousands, and tens of thousands. A living soul, however weak and feeble in himself, cannot take up with a religion in the flesh. He cannot rest on the opinions of men, nor be deceived by Satan's delusions. He has a secret gnawing of conscience, which makes him dissatisfied with a religion that satisfies thousands. Unseen, and unsuspected? (Thomas Reade, "The Evil of Pride") Pride is a principle deeply rooted in our fallen nature, and which nothing but the Holy Spirit can eradicate. Pride, assuming every form, either worldly or religious, can go with us into the sanctuary! Like a subtle poison, it can insinuate itself into our prayers and praises. Unseen, and unsuspected, it mars our best duties, and creates that 'self admiration'; that desire for human applause; which corrupts the heart, and steals it away from God. "O blessed Jesus, what need have I to look unto You for grace and strength. Save me from pride and vainglory. Often do I feel and lament their baneful influence. If I speak for You, O, how does the poison work unseen by every eye but Yours! As You alone can behold this hidden evil of the heart, so in mercy destroy its influence. To You, blessed Savior, do I look. You know what is in me. Your eyes are on all my ways. Oh! wash me in the cleansing fountain of Your precious blood. Purge me from this foul stain of corrupted nature. Make me truly humble and abased before You. Purify my soul, then shall I become as a little child in simplicity, teachableness, and humility. The work is all Your own. To You be all the praise." Then down they sink to the bottom! (Philpot, "The Blessedness of Divine Chastening") "Until the pit is dug for the wicked." Psalm 94:13 In Eastern countries, the ordinary mode of catching wild beasts is to dig a pit, and fix sharp spears in the bottom. And when the pit has been dug sufficiently deep, it is covered over with branches of trees, earth, and leaves, until all appearances of the pitfall are entirely concealed. What is the object? That the wild beast intent upon bloodshed--the tiger lying in wait for the deer, the wolf roaming after the sheep, the lion prowling for the antelope, not seeing the pitfall, but rushing on and over it, may not see their doom until they break through and fall upon the spears at the bottom. What a striking figure is this! Here are the ungodly, all intent upon their purposes; prowling after evil, as the wolf after the sheep, or the tiger after the deer, thinking only of . . . some worldly profit, some covetous plan, some lustful scheme, something the carnal mind delights in; but on they go, not seeing any danger until the moment comes when, as Job says, "they go down to the bars of the pit." The Lord has been pleased to hide their doom from them. The pit is all covered over with leaves of trees, grass, and earth. The very appearance of the pit was hidden from the wild beasts; they never knew it until they fell into it, and were transfixed. So it is with the wicked; both with religious professors and the profane. There is no fear of God, no taking heed to their steps, no cry to be directed, no prayer to be shown the way; no pausing, no turning back. On they go, on they go; heedlessly, thoughtlessly, recklessly; pursuing some beloved object. On they go, on they go; until in a moment they are plunged eternally and irrevocably into the pit! There are many such both in the professing church as well as in the ungodly world. The Lord sees what they are, and where they are. He knows where the pit is. He knows their steps. He sees them hurrying on, hurrying on, hurrying on. All is prepared for them. The Lord gives them . . . no forewarning, no notice of their danger, no teachings, no chastenings, no remonstrances, no frowns, no stripes. They are left to themselves to fill up the measure of their iniquity, until they approach the pit that has been dug for them, and then down they sink to the bottom!

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