IT is frequently related of Moses that he
went up from the plain on which the
thousands of Israel were assembled and
hid himself in the solitudes of Mount Sinai.
Down below, he had on his shoulders the bur
den of a nation; to him every dispute which
might occur in the utmost corner of the camp
was brought ; and he was fretted with a thou
sand cares. But the weight lifted off him as he
climbed the steep and got out of sight ; peace
came to him in the lofty valleys where no
human eye followed him; and there he held
communion with God.
PERSONAL,VALUE,
CONTENTS
I. Our Future Home the Place Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
I. Our Future Home the Place
Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
A verse by verse commentary on the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 dealing with Jesus complaining of being a prophet without honor, and then he sends out the Twelve to preach repentance and to heal. John the Baptist is beheaded, and Jesus feeds the five thousand after which He walks on water to rescue His Apostles.
I THE QUESTION OF MISGIVING, , . I
What lack I yet ?
II THE QUESTION OF DOUBT, . . IQ
A rt thou He that should come f
III THE QUESTION OF FAILURE, , , 39
Why could not we cast him out f
IV THE QUESTION OF POVERTY, . . 6I
Whence should we have so much bread f
V THE QUESTION OF REMONSTRANCE, . 78
Goest Thou thither again ?
VI THE QUESTION OF AMBITION, . . 98
Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of
heavenf
VII THE QUESTION OF FOLLY,
Are there few that be saved!
I. “We Beheld His Glory”
II. “Behold, the Man!”
III. “Behold, your King!”...
IV. “Behold, how He loved him”
V. “Behold, a Voice”
Vf. “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
PERSONAL,VALUE,
CONTENTS
I. Our Future Home the Place Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
I. Our Future Home the Place
Where He Is 7
II. This Earth-Life Our Preparation for Being Where He Is 15
III. The Personal Value of Being Where He Is . . .29
IV. Life Consummated in Being Where He Is 37
A verse by verse commentary on the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 dealing with Jesus complaining of being a prophet without honor, and then he sends out the Twelve to preach repentance and to heal. John the Baptist is beheaded, and Jesus feeds the five thousand after which He walks on water to rescue His Apostles.
I THE QUESTION OF MISGIVING, , . I
What lack I yet ?
II THE QUESTION OF DOUBT, . . IQ
A rt thou He that should come f
III THE QUESTION OF FAILURE, , , 39
Why could not we cast him out f
IV THE QUESTION OF POVERTY, . . 6I
Whence should we have so much bread f
V THE QUESTION OF REMONSTRANCE, . 78
Goest Thou thither again ?
VI THE QUESTION OF AMBITION, . . 98
Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of
heavenf
VII THE QUESTION OF FOLLY,
Are there few that be saved!
I. “We Beheld His Glory”
II. “Behold, the Man!”
III. “Behold, your King!”...
IV. “Behold, how He loved him”
V. “Behold, a Voice”
Vf. “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
1. NO OTHER DOCTRINE-INTRO TO I TIM. I Tim. 1:1
2. REVELATION IS SUFFICIENT Based on I Tim. 1:1-4
3. THE END IS LOVE Based on I Tim. 1:5
4. LAW AND GOSPEL Based on I Tim. 1:7f
5. LAW AND GRACE Based on I Tim. 1:8
6. PATRIOTIC IN PRAYER Based on I Tim. 2:1-8
7. THE ATONEMENT Based on I Tim. 2:4-6
8. LEARNING FROM YOUTH Based on I Tim. 4:12
9. THE PARADOX OF MONEY Based on I Tim. 6:3-10,17-19
10. THE LOVE OF MONEY Based on I Tim. 6:6-10
This is a study of Jesus humiliating His opponents. He healed on the Sabbath and was criticized for it, but He humiliated them by telling them they do for their donkeys what He did in healing the sick woman, and they felt ashamed.
''Lord show us the Father and it sufficeth
us." This request of Philip is the request a
thousand times repeated by the faithful of
the ancient covenant, it is the cry of the
prophets, it is the prayer of the Israel of God.
It is even more than this. It expresses the
longing of humanity as a whole, it is the
most profound desire of every human heart,
it is the secret sigh or open aspiration of your
own heart.
This is a study of Jesus being sarcastic. Some record 4 times he used sarcasm, but others have a longer list. He used this type of language in a humorous way, and also in a very serious way. Read and see for yourself.
The walk, conversation and character of jesus christGLENN PEASE
CONTENTS
I. THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON . • II
II, THAT HOLY THING . . . . . 1 9
III. THE CIRCUMCISION AND THE NAMING OF
THE HOLY CHILD .... 29
IV. THE GROWTH OF THE HOLY CHILD IN
STATURE AND IN SPIRIT . . . 40
V. THE CHILD JESUS SITTING IN THE MIDST OF
THE DOCTORS BOTH HEARING THEM, AND
ASKING THEM QUESTIONS . . , 50
VI. ABOUT HIS father's BUSINESS ... 59
VII. HE WENT DOWN WITH THEM AND WAS
SUBJECT UNTO THEM .... 67
VIII. JESUS HIMSELF BEGAN TO BE ABOUT THIRTY
YEARS OF AGE ..... 76
IX. JESUS ALSO BEING BAPTIZED, AND PRAYING,
THE HEAVEN WAS OPENED ... 86
X, JOHN LOOKING UPON JESUS AS HE WALKED,
HE SAITH, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD . 95
JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD
XI. AND IMMEDIATELY THE SPIRIT DRIVETH
HIM INTO THE WILDERNESS . . . I05
XII. OUR lord's FIRST TEXT . . , . II5
XIII. A TEACHER COME FROM GOD . . . 1 24
XIV. HE TAUGHT THEM AS ONE HAVING AUTHORITY
AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES . . . I34
XV. OUR lord's DISBELIEF IN MANY WHO
BELIEVED IN HIS NAME . . . 142
XVI. HOW HIS ZEAL ATE HIM UP . . . 151
XVII. HE SPAKE OF THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY . 1 62
XVIII. GOD GIVETH NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT BY
MEASURE UNTO HIS SON . . . I70
XIX. OUR LORD AS A BELIEVING MAN . . 181
XX. HIS MEAT ...... 193
In not a few respects Job is the most remarkable
book either in the Bible or out of it. Looked at
merely as an effort of genius, apart altogether from
inspiration, it is allowed by the best judges to have
no equal in the profundity of its ideas, the sublimity
of its imagery, or the abundance and variety of the
materials which it has built' up into a perfect whole.
" It will one day perhaps," says a secular writer,
" when it is allowed to stand on its own merit, be
seen towering up alone, far away above all the poetry
of the world."
This is a study of Jesus responding to Herod's threat. He was told that Herod wants to kill Him, and He said go tell that fox that I will keep on healing and on the third day I will reach my goal.
I. THE PARABLE OF THE TREES . .13
n. THE PAEABLE OF THE THISTLE AND THE CEDAE ..... 24
III. THE PAEABLE OF THE LOST PEISONEE 33
IV. THE PAEABLE OF THE EWE LAMB . 43
V. THE PAEABLE OF THE WOMAN OF TEKOAH 64
VI. THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD . 64
Letters of Oliver Cowdery to W. W. Phelps on the origin of the Book of Mormon and the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Includes the famous (to those interested in Book of Mormon geography) Letter VII.
I. Making Ready for Life
II. Character Building
III. Growing like Christ
IV. Ministering by the Way
V. Serving the Lord
VI. Ourselves and Others
VII. Helping by Unselfishness
VIII. Home Lessons
IX. Life among the Lowly
1. NO OTHER DOCTRINE-INTRO TO I TIM. I Tim. 1:1
2. REVELATION IS SUFFICIENT Based on I Tim. 1:1-4
3. THE END IS LOVE Based on I Tim. 1:5
4. LAW AND GOSPEL Based on I Tim. 1:7f
5. LAW AND GRACE Based on I Tim. 1:8
6. PATRIOTIC IN PRAYER Based on I Tim. 2:1-8
7. THE ATONEMENT Based on I Tim. 2:4-6
8. LEARNING FROM YOUTH Based on I Tim. 4:12
9. THE PARADOX OF MONEY Based on I Tim. 6:3-10,17-19
10. THE LOVE OF MONEY Based on I Tim. 6:6-10
This is a study of Jesus humiliating His opponents. He healed on the Sabbath and was criticized for it, but He humiliated them by telling them they do for their donkeys what He did in healing the sick woman, and they felt ashamed.
''Lord show us the Father and it sufficeth
us." This request of Philip is the request a
thousand times repeated by the faithful of
the ancient covenant, it is the cry of the
prophets, it is the prayer of the Israel of God.
It is even more than this. It expresses the
longing of humanity as a whole, it is the
most profound desire of every human heart,
it is the secret sigh or open aspiration of your
own heart.
This is a study of Jesus being sarcastic. Some record 4 times he used sarcasm, but others have a longer list. He used this type of language in a humorous way, and also in a very serious way. Read and see for yourself.
The walk, conversation and character of jesus christGLENN PEASE
CONTENTS
I. THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON . • II
II, THAT HOLY THING . . . . . 1 9
III. THE CIRCUMCISION AND THE NAMING OF
THE HOLY CHILD .... 29
IV. THE GROWTH OF THE HOLY CHILD IN
STATURE AND IN SPIRIT . . . 40
V. THE CHILD JESUS SITTING IN THE MIDST OF
THE DOCTORS BOTH HEARING THEM, AND
ASKING THEM QUESTIONS . . , 50
VI. ABOUT HIS father's BUSINESS ... 59
VII. HE WENT DOWN WITH THEM AND WAS
SUBJECT UNTO THEM .... 67
VIII. JESUS HIMSELF BEGAN TO BE ABOUT THIRTY
YEARS OF AGE ..... 76
IX. JESUS ALSO BEING BAPTIZED, AND PRAYING,
THE HEAVEN WAS OPENED ... 86
X, JOHN LOOKING UPON JESUS AS HE WALKED,
HE SAITH, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD . 95
JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD
XI. AND IMMEDIATELY THE SPIRIT DRIVETH
HIM INTO THE WILDERNESS . . . I05
XII. OUR lord's FIRST TEXT . . , . II5
XIII. A TEACHER COME FROM GOD . . . 1 24
XIV. HE TAUGHT THEM AS ONE HAVING AUTHORITY
AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES . . . I34
XV. OUR lord's DISBELIEF IN MANY WHO
BELIEVED IN HIS NAME . . . 142
XVI. HOW HIS ZEAL ATE HIM UP . . . 151
XVII. HE SPAKE OF THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY . 1 62
XVIII. GOD GIVETH NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT BY
MEASURE UNTO HIS SON . . . I70
XIX. OUR LORD AS A BELIEVING MAN . . 181
XX. HIS MEAT ...... 193
In not a few respects Job is the most remarkable
book either in the Bible or out of it. Looked at
merely as an effort of genius, apart altogether from
inspiration, it is allowed by the best judges to have
no equal in the profundity of its ideas, the sublimity
of its imagery, or the abundance and variety of the
materials which it has built' up into a perfect whole.
" It will one day perhaps," says a secular writer,
" when it is allowed to stand on its own merit, be
seen towering up alone, far away above all the poetry
of the world."
This is a study of Jesus responding to Herod's threat. He was told that Herod wants to kill Him, and He said go tell that fox that I will keep on healing and on the third day I will reach my goal.
I. THE PARABLE OF THE TREES . .13
n. THE PAEABLE OF THE THISTLE AND THE CEDAE ..... 24
III. THE PAEABLE OF THE LOST PEISONEE 33
IV. THE PAEABLE OF THE EWE LAMB . 43
V. THE PAEABLE OF THE WOMAN OF TEKOAH 64
VI. THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD . 64
Letters of Oliver Cowdery to W. W. Phelps on the origin of the Book of Mormon and the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Includes the famous (to those interested in Book of Mormon geography) Letter VII.
I. Making Ready for Life
II. Character Building
III. Growing like Christ
IV. Ministering by the Way
V. Serving the Lord
VI. Ourselves and Others
VII. Helping by Unselfishness
VIII. Home Lessons
IX. Life among the Lowly
Christ placed emphasis on courage, not
cowardice ; on purity, not lust ; on peace, not
discord ; on hope, not despair.
There is one nature common to all these
qualities that Christ emphasized: the nature
of the affirmative, the constructive. The prin-
ciple of emphasis Christ thus would teach us
is '* emphasis on the affirmative."
The meaning of the Scripture is the Scripture. Be saturated with the Word of God.... daily.
Meditate the Scripture
Meditate the Word of God
Daily Study
Daily Reading
Daily Devotion
Daily Verse
Daily Scripture
Daily Bread
Daily Guide
Commentary
Bible Commentary
Bible Verse Commentary
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
I. Why Would We See Him ? 7
11. Where Can He Be Found? 10
III. Who Is He? 16
IV. What Shall the Doubter Do ? 23
V. Will You Look at This Singular Man ? 30
VI. Can Our Eyes Be Opened ? 37
VII. How Peter Saw Him 44
VIII. How John Saw Him 52
IX. How Paul Saw Him -59
X. How Pilate Saw Him 66
XI. Look Around You ^2
XII. See Him at Your Door 80
I. Death, the Ceaseless Tragedy of Life 11
II. Those in Touch of Heart with
God Who Have Died — What Can
We Know Certainly About Them? ..^ 17
III. The Others Who Have Died —
What Can We Know Certainly
About Them? .... 93
IV. Can We Have Communication With the Dead? .... 124
CONTENTS
I. ADAM
II. EVE
III. CAIN
IV. ABEL
V. ENOCH
VI. JUBAL
VII. NOAH
VIII. HAM
IX. NIMROD .
X. TERAH
XI. ABRAHAM
XII. LOT
XIII. SARAH
XIV. ISAAC
XV. ESAU
XVI. REBEKAH .
XVII. JACOB
XVIII. JOSEPH . . , 194
The imperative claims of christ upon his followersGLENN PEASE
Let us lay to heart the truth. The half-
hearted are not fit for the kingdom of God.
Are they fit for any kingdom worth the hav-
ing? No man can make a scholar who is not
prepared to scorn delights and live laborious
days. No young man will be successful in
business if his chief thought all day is of the
hour when he may escape from the office to
his football or golf. Ay, no man can be a
king in the sphere of athletics unless he is
prepared to pay the price of self-control and
severe training.
PREFATORY NOTE.
Some ten or twelve of the brief treatises
embodied in this book have already appeared in
the pages of The Christian World. The remainder,
on the author's death, existed only in the blind-
type characters which constituted his own peculiar
" Braille." His secretary, however, has contrived
to render this MS. into ordinary copy, word for
word; and, at the publishers' request, the dis-
courses are here offered in collective form. They
represent some of the ripest fruit of the author's
intellect, as they are largely the product of his
latest hours ; should any one " Message " bring
" Hope " to the weary and heavy-laden, George
Matheson's latest labours will not have been in
vain.
Blessed be God! there is one being who
changes not. And it is of Jesus Christ our
Lord, ''the chief among ten thousand" and
"the one altogether lovely," that this match-
less word is spoken.
So, if we wish to know what Jesus is, we
only need to find out what He was, when He
walked among men. What He was in the
yesterday of His earthly life, He is in the
to-day of His heavenly life, and shall be for-
ever.
I. The Heavenly Trade-winds, 9
II. The Conditions of a Fragrant Life, .... 25
III. The Thirst of Life and its Satisfaction, . . 42
IV. A Nineteenth Century Christian, 56
V. A Great Door and Many Adversaries, ... 70
VI. Out of the Mire into the Choir, 85
VII. The Hero and the Suicide, ' • 99
VIII. Christian Citizenship, 116
Let us, then, try and see
Him in those eighteen hidden
years. The two verses that I
have read are the only two
that give us any definite or
detailed account of what Jesus
was doing from the time He
was twelve until He was about
The thirty. Take the two state-
ments and fix them on your
minds for a moment: "Thou
art My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased." "Is not
this the carpenter.? " These
two passages supply the story
of the eighteen years. Jesus
was a carpenter pleasing God.
IV. The Strength of Jesus .... 41
V. His Sincerity 53
VI. His Reasonableness 67
VII. His Poise 83
VIII. His Originality 93
IX. His Narrowness 105
X. His Breadth 119
XI. His Trust 133
XII. His Brotherliness 145
XIII. His Optimism 157
XIV. His Chivalry 171
XV. His Firmness 187
XVI. His Generosity 199
XVII. His Candor 213
I. God the God of the Living
11. Believing and Becoming
III. Gleaming as Crystal .
IV. Heart Enlargement .
V. He Restoreth my Soul
VI. Addition and Multiplication
VII. A Conference on Death
VIII. Christ will take All .
IX. Strong Crying ....
X. The Sentinel of the Heart
Jesus was urging us to pray and never give upGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus urging us to pray and never give up. He uses a widow who kept coming to a judge for help and she was so persistent he had to give her the justice she sought. God will do the same for us if we never give up but keep on praying.
This is a study of Jesus being questioned about fasting. His disciples were not doing it like John's disciples and the Pharisees. Jesus gives His answer that gets Him into the time of celebration with new wineskins that do away with the old ones. Jesus says we do not fast at a party and a celebration.
This is a study of Jesus being scoffed at by the Pharisees. Jesus told a parable about loving money more than God, and it hit them hard. They in anger just turned up their noses and made fun of His foolish teaching.
Jesus was clear you cannot serve two mastersGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus being clear on the issue, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money at the same time because you will love one and hate the other. You have to make a choice and a commitment.
Jesus was saying what the kingdom is likeGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus saying what the kingdom is like. He does so by telling the Parable of the growing seed. It just grows by itself by nature and man just harvests it when ripe. There is mystery here.
Jesus was telling a story of good fish and badGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling a story of good fish and bad fish. He illustrates the final separation of true believers from false believers by the way fishermen separate good and bad fish.
Jesus was comparing the kingdom of god to yeastGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus comparing the kingdom of God to yeast. A little can go a long way, and the yeast fills the whole of the large dough, and so the kingdom of God will fill all nations of the earth.
This is a study of Jesus telling a shocking parable. It has some terrible words at the end, but it is all about being faithful with what our Lord has given us. We need to make whatever has been given us to count for our Lord.
Jesus was telling the parable of the talentsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling the parable of the talents, There are a variety of talents given and whatever the talent we get we are to do our best for the Master, for He requires fruit or judgment.
Jesus was explaining the parable of the sowerGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the sower. It is all about the seed and the soil and the fruitfulness of the combination. The Word is the seed and we need it in our lives to bear fruit for God.
This is a study of Jesus warning against covetousness. Greed actually will lead to spiritual poverty, so Jesus says do not live to get, but develop a spirit of giving instead,
Jesus was explaining the parable of the weedsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds. The disciples did not understand the parable and so Jesus gave them a clear commentary to help them grasp what it was saying.
This is a study of Jesus being radical. He was radical in His claims, and in His teaching, and in the language He used, and in His actions. He was clearly radical.
This is a study of Jesus laughing in time and in eternity. He promised we would laugh with Him in heaven, and most agree that Jesus often laughed with His followers in His earthly ministry. Jesus was a laugher by nature being He was God, and God did laugh, and being man, who by nature does laugh. Look at the masses of little babies that laugh on the internet. It is natural to being human.
This is a study of Jesus as our protector. He will strengthen and protect from the evil one. We need His protection for we are not always aware of the snares of the evil one.
This is a study of Jesus not being a self pleaser. He looked to helping and pleasing others and was an example for all believers to look to others need and not focus on self.
This is a study of Jesus being the clothing we are to wear. To be clothed in Jesus is to be like Jesus in the way we look and how our life is to appear before the world.
This is a study of Jesus being our liberator. By His death He set us free from the law of sin and death. We are under no condemnation when we trust Him as our Savior and Liberator.
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
The PBHP DYC ~ Reflections on The Dhamma (English).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma Reflections for the PBHP DYC for the years 1993 – 2012. To motivate and inspire DYC members to keep on practicing the Dhamma and to do the meritorious deed of Dhammaduta work.
The texts are in English.
For the Video with audio narration, comments and texts in English, please check out the Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2g_43NEa0
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptxCelso Napoleon
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way
SBs – Sunday Bible School
Adult Bible Lessons 2nd quarter 2024 CPAD
MAGAZINE: THE CAREER THAT IS PROPOSED TO US: The Path of Salvation, Holiness and Perseverance to Reach Heaven
Commentator: Pastor Osiel Gomes
Presentation: Missionary Celso Napoleon
Renewed in Grace
What Should be the Christian View of Anime?Joe Muraguri
We will learn what Anime is and see what a Christian should consider before watching anime movies? We will also learn a little bit of Shintoism religion and hentai (the craze of internet pornography today).
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
Homily: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday 2024.docxJames Knipper
Countless volumes have been written trying to explain the mystery of three persons in one true God, leaving us to resort to metaphors such as the three-leaf clover to try to comprehend the Divinity. Many of us grew up with the quintessential pyramidal Trinity structure of God at the top and Son and Spirit in opposite corners. But what if we looked at this ‘mystery’ from a different perspective? What if we shifted our language of God as a being towards the concept of God as love? What if we focused more on the relationship within the Trinity versus the persons of the Trinity? What if stopped looking at God as a noun…and instead considered God as a verb? Check it out…
Homily: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday 2024.docx
In the mount and on the plain
1. IN THE MOUNT AND ON THE PLAIN
BY JAMES STALKER
PROFESSOR of Church history in the
United Free Church College, Aberdeen,
Scotland, since 1902; born, Crieff, Feb
ruary 21, 1848; educated, universities of
Edinburgh, Halle and Berlin, and New
College, Edinburgh ; minister of St. Bryce-
dale church, Kirkcaldy, 1874; St. Matt
hew s, Glasgow, 1887; delivered the Ly-
man Beecher lectures on preaching at
Yale University, 1891; was Cunningham
lecturer, Edinburgh, 1899; Gay lecturer,
Louisville, Ky., 1904; author of "The
Life of Jesus Christ," " The Life of St.
Paul," "Imago Christi," "The Preacher
and His Models," " The Two St. Johns,"
" The Four Men," " The Christology of
Jesus," " The Seven Deadly Sins," " The
Seven Cardinal Virtues," "John Knox,
His Ideas and Ideals," etc.
IN THE MOUNT AND ON THE PLAIN
1
2. PROF. JAMES STALKER, D.D.
Edited by Glenn Pease
"And look that thou make them after their pattern,
which was shewed thee in the mount." Exod. 25 : 40.
IT is frequently related of Moses that he
went up from the plain on which the
thousands of Israel were assembled and
hid himself in the solitudes of Mount Sinai.
Down below, he had on his shoulders the bur
den of a nation; to him every dispute which
might occur in the utmost corner of the camp
was brought ; and he was fretted with a thou
sand cares. But the weight lifted off him as he
climbed the steep and got out of sight ; peace
came to him in the lofty valleys where no
human eye followed him; and there he held
communion with God.
Jesus exactly repeated this ancient ex
ample. At night He would disappear from
the multitudes by which He was surrounded
2
3. and plunge into the solitudes of nature; or,
rising up a great while before day, He would
steal out of the company of His still sleeping
disciples and climb to the mountain-top.
Down below there were so many coming and
going that He had not time even to eat ; when
He crossed from one side of the lake to an-
other, the people ran along the shore, to meet
Him as He disembarked; they brought the
sick and deformed from every quarter and
laid them in the streets where He was to pass.
But the mass of men do not climb mountains :
they keep to the level ground and the beaten
track; so that anyone who climbs gets the
world up there to himself; and Jesus made
constant use of this secret.
It is one of the advantages of living in the
country that one is tempted to acquire this
habit, the solitudes being always near at
hand ; and, no doubt, some who were born and
brought up in the country can remember a
mountain top or a hidden valley or a wood,
where they used to ponder and to pray. Even
3
4. now, when, in a holiday-time, you get away to
the country, you naturally look for such a
haunt; and even a single visit to such a soli
tude may leave in the memory a lifelong fra
grance. I remember a day thus spent, on the
top of a hill that rises behind Inveraray: in
front, as far as the eye could reach, stretched
Lochfyne, shining like a silver mirror; one
could see the people in the streets of the town
below, moving about like ants ; but, up above,
there was a silence that could be felt, and the
vast arch of heaven was over all.
But what are we to do for solitude in the
city ? Well, if the solitude of space is denied
us, we can at least obtain the solitude of time.
There is the night-time : wakefulness may, in-
deed, be a morbid condition, and then it is
one of the most formidable of terrors; but
there is a delightful wakef ulness, when the
mind reverts to its favorite ideas when :
I do thee upon my bed
Remember with delight,
4
5. And when on thee I meditate
In watches of the night.
Then, there is the Sabbath : what Mount Sinai
was to the wilderness round about it for Moses
or what Mount Tabor was to the plateau of
Galilee round about it for Jesus, that may the
Lord s Day be to the remainder of the week
for us. And so, in particular, is a communion
Sabbath a solitude of time a mountain-top
of the spirit, to which we are invited to as
cend; and in the deep silence amidst which
the bread and the wine are circulating, the
individual may be almost rapt out of the
body. Indeed, at any time prayer is a sort of
solitude; it has been called a passing out of
time into eternity; were it even in the busy
street that prayer were offered, we have, for
the time, left the world behind us and are on
the mountain-top, alone with God.
These are only slight hints as to the culti
vation of a habit, without which there will
never be any richness of experience or any
5
6. depth of character.
When He was on the mountain-top, Moses
saw visions. The special vision referred to in
61
MODERN SERMONS
the text is that of the tabernacle, the pattern
of which was shown to him up there. Some
have thought that, as on the screen of a magic-
lantern, God caused a model of the tabernacle
in its completeness to stand out, against the
cloud of the morning or on the mist of the
evening, before his bodily eyes; but, I incline
to think, the vision was internal. The narra
tive speaks as if God described the structure,
point after point, by word of mouth; but I
should not wonder if this is only a way of
6
7. stating that the mind of Moses worked out the
design under the inspiration of the Spirit of
God. At any rate, you may depend upon it,
Moses was not passive, whilst it was shown to
him : on the contrary, his mind was intensely
active, enjoying all the excitement of inven
tion and discovery.
Do you know this joy of thinking what it
is, in solitude, to work out a design in your
mind, selecting this and rejecting that, adding
part to part, adapting means to ends, until
the pattern, whole and perfect, stands visible
before the mind s eye ? Thus the shipbuilder
sees in his brain the image of the ship, before
it is built; thus the general sees the plan of
the campaign, before a blow is struck; thus
the composer hears the oratorio, before the
score is written. I have read somewhere that
George Stephenson, when he had any great
design on hand or any stupendous difficulty to
solve, used to go to bed, not to sleep, but to
be absolutely sequestered, till he had thought
it out to the end.
7
8. There are more important things, however,
the pattern of which may be presented to the
mind in the mount. One of these is charac
ter. The most important question about
every one of us is, what sort of man he is to
be. Our time on earth is mainly given us to
ripen character; and year by year our char
acter is assuming the shape which it will re
tain forever. When it is completed, what will
it be? A failure, or a success? Sometimes
this question comes to a man in the mount,
and he sees the image of what he ought to be
so clearly that it inspires and guides him for
the rest of his life. Happy if the ideal which
he sees is the character of Christ. There is
the pattern, blinding in its majesty, dazzling
in its purity, but captivating and irresistible,
and I cannot help choosing as my goal the imi
tation of Christ.
Another thing of which the pattern may be
seen in the mount is one s life-work. In the
hours of solitude and reflection a man says to
8
9. himself: I am sent into this world for a few
years; I have received from my Maker cer
tain abilities and opportunities; what am I
going to make of them ? is the world to be any
the better of my being in it ? When all is over
and I appear before the judgment-seat, how
shall I answer for the trust committed to me ?
And then there may rise before the mental
vision the pattern of what he would like to do
in the world, and he comes down from the
mount inspired with a purpose, which may
thenceforward be his guiding-star.
No reflections are more worthy than these
of a rational being. Have they ever, in any
form, come to you? Have you ever, for ex
ample, had any vision of what you would like
to do for others? Do you feel how mean it
would be to live only for yourself ? Have you
ever felt a throb of ambition to do something
for the land of your birth, or the city of
which you are an inhabitant, or the church
with which you are connected ? Not long ago
I chanced to go into the library of a college
9
10. principal, and I found his room littered with
circulars which he was sending out for the
means to extend, on a large scale, the institu
tion of which he is the honored head. He
told me that one of the first circulars he sent
out was to a gentleman he had never seen nor
with whom he had ever had any communica
tion, but whom he knew to be a native of the
town. By return of post he received from
him a check for twenty thousand pounds, ac
companied with a kind letter, in which the
donor stated that he remembered, one Sun
day, as a boy sitting in one of the churches of
the place beside his widowed mother, when a
sermon was preached on Joseph, and what he
did to save the famine-stricken Egyptians and
to bless the land of Egypt, and the preacher
took occasion to speak of patriotism and pub
lic spirit, and said, there might at that moment
be listening to him a boy who would, one day,
have the means of blessing his native city or
country. That kindled a wish which had re
mained with him all his life ; and the receipt
of the circular had shown him how it could be
10
11. fulfilled.
The pattern seen by Moses in the mount
was an ideal ; it had no existence except in his
brain; but he was sent back to the plain be
neath to convert it into reality.
This was no easy business. There were end
less things to be procured, without which no
tabernacle could be constructed. Here are a
few of them, enumerated in the chapter from
which our text is taken : * * gold and silver and
brass ; and blue and purple and scarlet ; and
fine linen and goats hair; and rams skins
dyed red, and badgers skins; and shittim-
wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anoint
ing oil and for sweet incense ; onyx stones and
stones to be set in the ephod and in the breast
plate." Why, it sounds like the catalog of a
bazaar. Moses did not possess these things
himself; they were in the hands of the peo
ple, especially of the rich and noble amongst
them; and, before these would part with
them, their minds had to be impregnated with
11
12. his ideas and inspired with his enthusiasm.
Then, when the materials had been procured,
they had to be fashioned into the different ar-
tides required ; and for this the necessary skill
had to be obtained. Bezaleel, the son of Uri,
had to be discovered and Aholiab, the son of
Ahisamach, brought out of his obscurity. But
Moses was equal to the occasion. The taber
nacle was soon the talk of the entire camp ; an
enormous collection of materials took place,
the nobles coming forward with such liberal
ity that Moses had to tell them to stop ; and
the brains and the hands of the wise-hearted
wrought without ceasing, till, down there on
the plain, in actual, tangible reality, the struc
ture stood which had once been only a vision
of the brain on the top of the mount.
It is no easy matter to get the ideal trans
lated into reality. Yet, till it is so translated,
it is nothing ; it is only a dream, only a castle
in the air. As it is said that the way to hell is
paved with good intentions, so there is no
brain without its ideals, but the question to be
12
13. asked about everyone is, what he is doing to
make his ideals real? Without this, ideals
only deceive, producing a consciousness of vir
tue which is only an illusion. You must
bring your vision down from the mount and
build it on the plain, where it can be seen and
handled.
This is always laborious work, with many
obstacles to encounter from without and hin
drances from within. When John Bright was
sitting in a stupor of grief, mourning for his
dead wife, Richard Cobden came to him and
tenderly condoled with him. But, after doing
so, he, endeavoring to turn his thoughts away
from himself and, reminding him of what tens
of thousands were suffering from the cruel
incidence of the corn laws, invited him to
come away and devote his life to the abolition
of this public wrong. A cause well fitted to
stir a generous mind ! and forth the two cham
pions went. But for many a year the work
involved fatigue, obloquy, persecution; it
meant forming associations, raising money, at
13
14. tending committees, cajoling lukewarm sympa
thizers, associating with the crackbrained and
the impracticable. Such sordid details attend
the realization of every great idea. We talk
with emotion about the poor, and everyone ad
mires work done for them. But what is such
work, when you look close ? It is leaving our
comfortable homes, encountering smells, risk
ing infection, and performing a hundred
mean and nameless services. How unlike the
ideal on the mountain-top, which is so beauti
ful and perfect ! Yet the reality is a thousand
times preferable for one reason, namely, that
it is reality.
Still more dangerous, however, are the hin
drances that come from within. " Look that
thou make them after the pattern, which was
shewed thee in the mount." He was not to
forget what he had been shown, and he was
not to take it upon him to introduce altera
tions. Many a life begins well; the man
knows what it is to be on the mount with God ;
he has seen the vision and felt the thrill of the
14
15. ideal. But he forgets, and he modifies his
ideal, when he finds how different it is as ex
pected from him by the world. Passion over
powers him, or worldliness carries him away,
or the love of money masters him; and the
vision of his early days survives in his mem
ory only as a pain and a reproach.
Such is the history of many a life ; how may
we prevent it from being ours? I know of
no other remedy but this to be often in the
mount, there to reinspect the pattern and cor
rect our impressions, to revive our enthusiasm
and renew our resolutions. Jealously guard
your Sabbaths from interruption; make your
communion-seasons events that will be remem
bered; and cultivate the habit of ejaculatory
prayer.
That vision of Moses was a noble one a
house in which Jehovah might dwell amongst
His people and, when it was converted into
a reality, it was fair to see. But where is it
now ? Dust and ashes ; ages ago swept into
15
16. the lumber-room of forgetfulness. Not so our
ideal, if it be made real ; it will endure when
the sun is old and the stars are cold. Why?
Because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost ;
* for ye are the temple of the living God ; as
God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. "
16