The God of patience and consolation; "the God of hope;" "the God of peace." The great object of Christ's coming into the world was to save sinners. He does this by revealing God. He is Emmanuel, "God with us." "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ reveals the Divine character. He reveals it in his teaching - the Divine holiness. He reveals it in his cross - the Divine mercy. He reveals it in his resurrection - the Divine power. Christ saves us also by reproducing or restoring in us the image of God. In the renewed nature God becomes part of us. He dwells in us and we in him. The law of heredity emphasizes the fact that children bear not only the bodily, but the mental and moral characteristics of their parents. The character of the parent reappears in the child. So the character of God reappears in his people. Three features of God's character St. Paul speaks of here, and wants his readers to think of them in relation to their own character and life.

I. THE GOD OF PATIENCE.

1. The Divine Being manifests patience in waiting. He waits patiently for the fulfilment of his plans. Thousands of years he waited for the sending of the Saviour. All that time he occupied in the training of Israel, and in the preparing of the nations, till, at the time when Jesus came, the world was ripe and ready for his coming. What a lesson for us! How impatient we are! If we do not see immediate results, we think our work is a failure. "Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

2. The Divine Being is patient in enduring. How he bore with Israel, with all Israel's backsliding and. repeated sins! How he bears with us, with our disobedience and our inconsistencies! His patience with us is in marked contrast with our impatience toward our fellow-men. How impatient we are with our subordinates or our fellow-workers, with the slowness and stupidity which they sometimes manifest! Let us imitate the patience of God. We need to learn how to bear with others. Strife is the result of impatience, of intolerance. Unity is the result of patience. This was the apostle's idea, and his practical purpose in referring to the patience of God. "The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus" (ver. 5). Let us be patient in enduring all suffering and trial.

"Angel of patience! sent to calm
Our feverish brows with cooling palm;
To lay the storms of hope and fear,
And reconcile life's smile and tear;
The throbs of wounded pride to still,
And make our own our Father's will!

"There's quiet in that angel's glance,
There's rest in his still countenance!
He mocks no grief with idle cheer,
Nor wounds with words the mourner's ear;
But ills and woes he may not cure,
He kindly trains us to endure.

"O thou who mournest on the way
With longings for the close of day:
He walks with thee, that angel kind,
And gently whispers; 'Be resigned;
Bear up; bear on; the end shall tell
The dear Lord ordereth all things well.'"

II. THE GOD OF HERE. Nature is full of hope. Day follows night. Spring follows winter.

"And ever upon old decay
The greenest mosses cling." The life of humanity is a life of hope. We are always looking forward. The little child looks forward eagerly to its school-days. The boy or girl at school looks forward to the time of manhood or womanhood. In hope the young man leaves his father's roof. Hope leads the emigrant across the seas. Yet nature and humanity unaided have no hope beyond the grave. The ancient heathen had indeed their goddess of hope. But the lamp of hope flickered as old age came on, and expired with the last breath that left the body. The heathen symbol of death is the broken column, or the torch of life turned upside down. But our God is in truth the God of hope. Do we enjoy life? He tells us of a better life beyond. Is this world fair and beautiful? He tells us of a better country, even an heavenly. Are we weary with the toils and burdens of this life? He tells us that there remaineth a rest for the people of God. Hope in itself can hardly with strictness be called a part of the Divine character, any more than faith. But it is part of the Divine character, and peculiar to it, that he produces in the human heart hope of the life to come. Hence he is truly called "the God of hope." We see the impress and influence of his Divine hope on God's people in all ages. Abraham and the patriarchs "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." And "they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country." The prophets in Israel's exile spoke of a hope which they knew they would never see fulfilled. The apostles and martyrs, and the missionaries of today, have laboured and suffered in hope. Here also is the practical influence of the Divine character in relation to the human. "The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope (ver. 13). In sorrow: in adversity; in the day when the wicked seem to triumph, and injustice and oppression seem to gain the upper hand - Christians, hope on! The truth will prevail over falsehood and error; purity over impurity; righteousness over wickedness. Abound in hope!

We hope in thee, O God,
In whom none hope in vain;
We cling to thee in love and trust,
And joy succeeds to pain." To the sinner also the message of Divine hope extends. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

III. THE GOD OF PEACE. "The God of peace be with you all" (ver. 33). Peace is essentially a part of the Divine character. No storms disturb his rest. No sinfulness is in his being, and therefore no conflict in his moral nature. If the God of peace is with us, then peace will pervade our own spirit and life. There will be not only the peace that comes from pardon, but also the peace that comes from the victory over indwelling and besetting sin. There is a striking phrase in the next chapter: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20). If the God of peace is in our hearts, we shall cultivate peace with our fellow-men. "Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:11). Thus we see how profitable it is to contemplate the character of God, the God of patience, the God of hope, the God of peace, so that endurance and forbearance, hopefulness and joy, unity and peace, may be manifest in our lives. - C.H.I.

When we say God is patient four things are implied.

I. PROVOCATION. Where there is nothing to try the temper there can be no patience. Humanity provokes God. The provocation is great, universal, constant. Measure His patience by the provocation.

II. SENSIBILITY. Where there is no tenderness or susceptibility of feeling, there may be obduracy and stoicism, but no patience. Patience implies feeling. God is infinitely sensitive. "Oh, do not this abominable thing," etc.

III. KNOWLEDGE. Where the provocation is not known, however great, and however sensitive the being against whom it is directed, there can be no patience. God knows all the provocations.

IV. POWER. Where a being has not the power to resent aa insult or to punish a provocation though he may feel it and know it, his forbearing is not patience, it is simply weakness. He is bound by the infirmity of his nature to be passive. God is all powerful. He could damn all His enemies in one breath.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

(text and Nahum 1:3): —

I. THE NATURE OF THIS PATIENCE, OR SLOWNESS TO ANGER.

1. It is a modification of the Divine goodness. While goodness respects all creatures, patience has as its object only the sinner.

2. This patience is not the result of ignorance. Every transgression is in full view of Him who is one Eternal Now. And yet the Lord delays His thunders!

3. This perfection does not result from impotence (chap. Romans 9:22; Numbers 14:17).

4. Neither does it result from a connivance at sin, or a resolution to suffer it with impunity.

5. It is grounded on the everlasting covenant, and the blood of Jesus. Why was not patience exercised to the fallen angels? Because Jesus had not engaged to atone for them, as He had engaged to become the surety of man.

II. SOME OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF IT.

1. When our first parents sinned, patience held them in being, gave them an opportunity of securing a better Eden, and pointed them to that Messiah who should repair the ruins of the fall.

2. When the old world had corrupted its way before God, for 120 years He bore with its enormities, sent His Spirit to strive with them, and His messengers to warn them.

3. When the Canaanites indulged in every abomination, He delayed for four hundred years to inflict on them the punishments they deserved.

4. When the Gentile nations, instead of adoring the God of heaven, had placed the vilest passions and the grossest vices in the seat of the Divinity, the Lord "left not Himself without witness" (Acts 14:17).

5. When the Israelites, notwithstanding His numberless miracles and amazing mercies, rebelled against Him, did He not bear with them? But why do I mention particular examples? There is not a spot on our globe, there is not an instant that has elapsed, there is not a human being that has existed, that does not prove the forbearance of our God. Consider the number, the greatness, and the continuance of the provocations against Him by His creatures whom He hath surrounded with blessings, for whose redemption He gave His Son.

6. Consider the conduct of God towards those whom He is compelled ultimately to punish. Before the judgment He solemnly and affectionately warns them. If they are still obstinate, He delays, gives new mercies, that their souls at last may be touched. If He must punish, He does it by degrees (Psalm 78:38). If at last He must pour out His vengeance upon the incorrigible sinner, He does it with reluctance. "Why wilt thou die?" "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?"

III. THE REASONS WHY HE EXERCISES SUCH LONG-SUFFERING. Lovely as is this attribute, its exercise has often appeared mysterious to the pious, and has been abused by the sinner. Yet a little reflection would have convinced them that in this, as in all the other proceedings of His providence, the manifold wisdom of God is shown. He is patient —

1. From His nature (Lamentations 3:33).

2. That this perfection may be glorified. There can be no exercise of it in heaven, since there will be nothing to require it; none in hell, since there will be nothing but wrath (Isaiah 48:9).

3. In consequence of the prayers of pious ancestors, and of the promises made to them and their offspring after them. Ah! careless children of pious parents, you know not how much you are indebted to them.

4. From the mixture of the wicked with the pious, and the near relations subsisting between them. From love to His dear children, He spares His enemies (2 Kings 22:18, 20).

5. Because the number of His elect is not yet completed, and because many of the descendants of these wicked men shall be trophies of His grace. Had a wicked Ahaz been cut off at once, a pious Hezekiah would never have lived and pleaded the cause of God.

6. Because the measure of their sins is not yet filled up (Zechariah 5:6, etc.).

7. That sinners may be brought to repentance (2 Peter 3:15).

8. That sinners who continue impenitent may at last be without excuse.

9. That God's power may be displayed; the greatness of His protection and providence be manifested in preserving the Church in the midst of her enemies.

10. That He may exercise the trust of His servants in Him, and the "patience of His saints"; that He may call forth the graces of the righteous, and try their sincerity.

IV. INFERENCES. Is God infinitely patient?

1. With what love to Him should the consideration of this attribute inspire us?

2. What a motive to the deepest repentance (Romans 2:4).

3. Let us imitate Him in this perfection of His nature.

4. What a source of comfort is this to believers.

5. Then how patient should we be in all the afflictions with which He visits us?

6. Who, then, will not grieve at the reproaches and insults that are cast upon him?

(H. Kollock, D.D.)

"It takes a brave soul to bear all this so grandly," said a tender-hearted doctor, stooping over his suffering patient. She lifted her heavy eyelids, and looking into the doctor's face, replied, "It is not the brave soul at all; God does it all for me."

I. THE TITLE HE GIVES TO GOD. "The God of patience and consolation," i.e., a God that —

1. Bears with us.

2. Gives us patience and comfort.

II. THE MERCY HE BEGS OF GOD.

1. The foundation of Christian love and peace is laid in likemindedness.

2. This likemindedness must be according to Christ.

3. It is the gift of God.

III. THE END OF HIS DESIRE. That God may be glorified —

1. By Christian unity.

2. As the Father of Christ.

(M. Henry.)

I. ITS NATURE. "Likeminded."

II. ITS MOTIVES.

1. The character of God.

2. The mind and will of Christ.

III. ITS SOURCE. God.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

1. Flows from the God of patience and consolation.

2. Is conformable to the mind and will of Christ.

3. Finds expression in the united praises of God, even the Father of Christ.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

How did the Christ look upon the lives of men? We may be sure that He saw all the strange minglings of comedies and tragedies which so confuse and exhaust us. If we feel at times the myriad multiplicity and infinite confusions of life, and wonder what it all means and is worth, we may be perfectly sure that the most sensitive and receptive soul that ever was found in fashion as a man felt life as we never have. He measured in His own experience our temptations, and His life took in Cana of Galilee, a sick room in Capernaum, the market-place before the temple, the streets of the city, the country towns by the sea, the Master in Israel, the multitude of the people, the whole world of His day and of all days — our world-age and God's eternity. Remembering thus that Jesus lived as never poet, philosopher, or novelist has lived, in the real world of human motives and hearts, with our real human life a daily transparency before His eye, open now these Gospels and see if you can find there in Jesus' view of our life, in His thought of us, any such sense of the emptiness, vanity, strangeness of life, as we have often felt resting like a shadow over our thoughts. Did not He look upon things as contradictory to goodness and God as anything we have ever seen under the sun? And with purer eyes? Did not He feel with larger sympathy and warmer heart the broken, tangled, bleeding lives of men? Did not He bear the sin of the world? Where, then, is our human word of doubt among His words? Where is the echo of man's despair among the sayings of our Lord? He could weep with those who mourned; but He spake and thought of life and the resurrection before the grave of Lazarus. You cannot say that He did not understand our sense of life's mystery and brokenness. He saw it all in Mary's tears. He read it in the thoughts of disciples' hearts. Why, then, did He never reproduce our common human weariness and doubt in His thought of life? It is not an endless wonder to Him. He sees our life surrounded by the living God. He sees, beneath our world, undergirding it, God's mighty purpose. He sees above the righteous Father. He sees the calm of eternity. And knowing life better than you or I do, knowing such things as you may have heard yesterday or may experience tomorrow — enough sometimes to make men wonder whether there be a God, or truth, or anything of worth — Jesus Christ, in full, open view of all life, said, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me." We begin to come now in sight of the conclusion to which I wish to lead. The evangelists could not possibly have omitted this common human characteristic if the character of Jesus had been the creation of their own imaginations. You will find shadow after shadow of our human questioning crossing the path of Buddha, and lingering upon the heights of human genius, but not the shadow of a passing doubt or fear over all Jesus' conversation with men. How could the Son of man look thus in the joy and triumph of a God upon such a strange thing as our life is? It was because He saw the coming order and the all-sufficient grace for life. It was because He knew that He was Lord of the creation from before the foundation of the world, and the world sooner or later is to be according to Christi According to Christi This is the keyword for the interpretation of the creation. Everything comes right, as it takes form and being according to Christ. Everything in life or death shall be well, as it ends in accordance with Christ. This is the keynote for the final harmony — According to Christ! We shall understand life at last, we shall find all its shadows turned to light by and by, if we take up our lives and seek to live them day by day according to Christ. Every man who can read the New Testament can begin, if he chooses, to order his life according to Christ. He may not understand the doctrines. But when he goes down to his office or store, and looks his brother-man in the face, he may know what things are honest and of good report according to Jesus Christ. When he goes to his home he may know what manner of life there is according to Christ. Yes, and when trouble comes, or sickness, or we near "the end, then we may know how we need not fear, nor be troubled, according to Christ. In our churches, too, we may be of many minds on many subjects, but we ought to know also how to be of the same mind, if we are willing to think and to judge all things by this one infallible rule — According to Christ.

(Newman Smyth, D.D.)

1. One God and Father.

2. One Lord and Saviour.

3. One heart and mind.

4. One mouth and language.

5. One object and aim.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

With our mind we must think the same things, ere with our mouth we can speak the same things. Were we then more slow to speak of the things on which we differ, and more ready to speak of the things on which we agree, it would mightily conduce to the peace and unity of the visible Church. The members of the Church at Rome differed in regard both to meats and days; and Paul as good as enjoined silence about these, when he bade, them receive each other, but not to doubtful disputations. But, on the other hand, he bids them join with one mouth, as well as one mind, in giving glory to God.

(T. Chalmers, D. D.)

In explanation of the command to glorify God — it may seem strange and presumptuous to speak of such poor, sinful, worthless beings as we are, as glorifying, or as capable of glorifying God. But the perfect Christian may be compared to a perfect mirror, which, though dark and opaque of itself, being placed before the sun reflects his whole image, and may be said to increase his glory by increasing and scattering his light. In this view, we may regard heaven, where God is perfectly glorified in His saints, as the firmament, studded with ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of mirrors, every one of them reflecting a perfect image o,f God, the sun in the centre, and filling the universe with the blaze of His glory.

(H. G. Salter.)

I have a clock on my parlour mantelpiece. A very pretty little clock it is, with a gilt frame, and a glass case to cover it. Almost every one who sees it, says, "What a pretty clock!" But it has one great defect — it will not run; and therefore, as a clock, it is perfectly useless. Though it is very pretty, it is a bad clock, because it never tells what time it is. Now, my bad clock is like a great many persons in the world. Just as my clock does not answer the purpose for which it was made — that is, to keep time — so, many persons do not answer the purpose for which they were made. What did God make us for? "Why," you will say, "He made us that we might love Him and serve Him." Well, then, if we do not love God and serve Him, we d o not answer the purpose for which He made us: we may be, like the clock, very p retry, and be very kind, and very obliging; but if we do not answer the purpose for which God made us, we are just like the clock — bad. Those of my readers who live in the country, and have seen an apple-tree in full blossom, know what a beautiful sight it is. But suppose it only bore blossoms, and did not produce fruit, you would say it is a bad apple-tree. And so it is. Everything is bad, and every person is bad, and every boy and girl is bad, if they do not answer the purpose for which God made them. God did not make us only to play and amuse ourselves, but also that we might do His will.

The time when Venn passed from the state of nature into the state of grace seems to have been, not when he threw away his cricket bat, but when, in the exercise of his ministerial function, he was arrested by an expression in the Form of Prayer, which he had been accustomed to employ, without, however, apprehending its true import. "That I may live to the glory of Thy name," was the expression. As he read it, the thought forcibly struck him, "What is it to live to the glory of God's name? Do I live as I pray? What course of life ought I to pursue to glorify God?" The prosecution of the inquiries thus suggested led to a juster conception of "the chief end of man," which, with characteristic conscientious energy, he straightway followed out by a corresponding change in his mode of life. We can imagine with what depth of sympathy and interest this circumstance would be listened to by Lady Glenorchy, who, at a later period of his life, was Venn's intimate friend, and whose religious life, like his, was dated from her serious attention to the noble answer given to the question which stands first in the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever."

I. HOW CHRIST RECEIVED US.

1. When we were weak and guilty.

2. Freely and heartily.

3. To fellowship in glory.

II. HOW WE SHOULD RECEIVE ONE ANOTHER.

1. Kindly, overlooking all infirmities and differences of opinion.

2. Sincerely, with the heart.

3. Into brotherly fellowship, as heirs together of the grace of God.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

I. THE REASONABLENESS OF THIS PRACTICE, whereby it will appear to be the duty of those who profess the religion of Christ to agree together, and form themselves into particular societies.

1. Without such an agreement to unite together in the practice of Christianity, there can be no such thing as public worship regularly maintained among Christians, nor public honours paid to God in the name of Jesus.

2. Without an agreement to keep up such societies for worship, the doctrines of Christ and His gospel could not be so constantly and extensively held forth to the world, and there would be no rational hope of the continuance or increase of Christianity among men.

II. THE ADVANTAGES OF SUCH AN AGREEMENT FOR CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.

1. It gives courage to every Christian to profess and practise his religion when many persons are engaged by mutual agreement in the same profession and practice.

2. It is more for the particular edification of Christians that such societies should be .formed, where the Word of Christ is constantly preached, where the ordinances of Christ are administered, and the religion of Christ is held forth in a social and honourable manner to the world.

3. Such a holy fellowship and agreement to walk together in the ways of Christ is a happy guard against backsliding and apostacy, it is a defence against the temptations of the world and the defilements of a sinful age.

4. Christians thus united together by mutual acquaintance and agreement can give each other better assistance in everything that relates to religion, whether public or private.

III. THE PERSONS WHO SHOULD THUS RECEIVE ONE ANOTHER IN THE LORD, OR JOIN TOGETHER IN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. All that Christ has receipted to partake of His salvation (Romans 14:1-3, 17, 18). This is the general rule: but it must be; confessed that there are some Christians whose sentiments are so directly contrary to others in matters of discipline or doctrine, that it is hardly possible they should unite in public worship. But let every person take heed that he does not too much enlarge, nor too much narrow the principles of Christianity, that he does not make any article of faith or practice more or less necessary than Scripture has made it, and that he does not raise needless scruples in his own breast, nor in the hearts of others, by too great a separation from such as our common Lord has received.

IV. THE DUTIES WHICH PLAINLY ARISE FROM SUCH AN AGREEMENT OF CHRISTIANS TO WALK AND WORSHIP TOGETHER FOR THE SUPPORT OF THEIR RELIGION.

1. All the duties which the disciples of Christ owe to their fellow Christians throughout; the world are more particularly incumbent upon those who are united by their own consent in the same religious society (Galatians 6:10).

2. Those who are united by such an agreement ought to attend on the public assemblies and ministrations of that Church, where it can be done with reasonable convenience; for we have joined ourselves in society for this very purpose.

3. It is the duty cf persons thus united to maintain their Church or society by receiving in new members amongst them by a general consent.

4. In order to keep the Church pure from sin and scandal, they should separate themselves from those that walk disorderly, who are guilty of gross and known sins (2 Thessalonians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 5:4, 5, 7, 11, 13).

5. It is necessary that officers be chosen by the Church to fulfil several offices in it and for it.

6. It is the duty of those whose circumstances will afford it, to contribute of their earthly substance toward the common expenses of the society. And each one should give according to his ability: this is but a piece of common justice.

7. Everything of Church affairs ought to be managed with decency and order, with harmony and peace (1 Corinthians 14:40; 1 Corinthians 16:14).

V. REFLECTIONS.

1. How beautiful is the order of the gospel and the fellowship of a Christian Church. How strong and plain are the foundations and the ground of it. It is built on eternal reason and the relations of things, as well as on the Word of God.

2. How little do they value the true interests of Christian religion, the public honour of Christ and His gospel, or the edification and comfort of their own souls, who neglect this holy communion.

3. How criminal are those persons who break the beautiful order and harmony of a Church of Christ for trifles.

4. When we behold a society of Christians flourishing in holiness, and honourably maintaining the beauty of this sacred fellowship, let us raise our thoughts to the heavenly world, to the Church of the first-born, who are assembled on high, where everlasting beauty, order, peace, and holiness are maintained in the presence of Jesus our common Lord. And when we meet with little inconveniences, uneasiness, and contest, in any Church of Christ on earth, let us point our thoughts and our hopes still upward to that Divine fellowship of the saints and the spirits of the just made perfect, where contention and disorder have no place.

(I. Watts, D.D.)

Esaias, Isaiah, Jesse, Paul, RomansAchaia, Illyricum, Jerusalem, Judea, Macedonia, Rome, SpainAccord, Accordance, Christ, Comfort, Consolation, Encouragement, Endurance, Example, Exhortation, Follow, Full, Giver, Gives, Grant, Harmony, Likeminded, Like-minded, Mind, Patience, Perseverance, Power, Spirit, Steadfastness, Strength, Sympathy, Towards, Unity, Waiting, Yourselves1. The strong must bear with the weak.
2. We must not please ourselves;
3. for Christ did not so;
7. but receive one another, as Christ did us all;
8. both Jews and Gentiles;
15. Paul excuses his writing;
28. and promises to see them;
30. and requests their prayers.

Romans 15:5

     1095   God, patience of
     5783   agreement
     5834   disagreement
     7025   church, unity
     8120   following Christ
     8209   commitment, to Christ
     8349   spiritual growth, means of

Romans 15:4-5

     8418   endurance

Romans 15:4-6

     8416   encouragement, promises

Romans 15:5-6

     7032   unity, God's people

December 20. "That I Should be the Minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, Ministering the Gospel of God" (Rom. xv. 16).
"That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God" (Rom. xv. 16). This is a very beautiful and practical conception of missionary work. There is a great difference in being consecrated to our God. We may be consecrated to our work and consecrated to our God. We may be consecrated and fitted to do missionary work, and utterly fail, if He should call us to do something different. But when we are consecrated to Him, we shall be ready for anything He may require …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 23. "The Fulness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ" (Rom. xv. 29).
"The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ" (Rom. xv. 29). Many Christians fail to see these blessings as they are centered in Him. They want to get the blessing of salvation, but that is not the Christ. They want to get the blessing of His grace to help, but that is not Him. They want to get answered prayer from Him to work for Him. You might have all that and not have the blessing of Christ Himself. A great many people are attached rather to the system of doctrine. They say, "Yes, I have …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July 13. "Even Christ Pleased not Himself" (Rom. xv. 3).
"Even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. xv. 3). Let this be a day of self-forgetting ministry for Christ and others. Let us not once think of being ministered unto, but say ever with Him: "I am among you as He that doth serve." Let us not drag our burdens through the day, but drop all our loads of care and be free to carry His yoke and His burden. Let us make the happy exchange, giving ours and taking His. Let the covenant be: "Thou shalt abide for Me, I also for thee." So shall we lose our heaviest …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

September 10. "Wherefore, Receive Ye one Another as Christ Also Received Us, to the Glory of God" (Rom. xv. 7).
"Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God" (Rom. xv. 7). This is a sublime principle, and it will give sublimity to life. It is stated elsewhere in similar language, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." This is our high calling, to represent Christ, and act in His behalf, and in His character and spirit, under all circumstances and toward all men. "What would Jesus do?" is a simple question which will settle every difficulty, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Joy and Peace in Believing
'The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.'--ROMANS xv. 13. With this comprehensive and lofty petition the Apostle closes his exhortation to the factions in the Roman Church to be at unity. The form of the prayer is moulded by the last words of a quotation which he has just made, which says that in the coming Messiah 'shall the Gentiles hope.' But the prayer itself is not an instance of being led away by a word--in …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Two Fountains, one Stream
'That we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.... 13. The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope.'--ROMANS xv. 4, 13. There is a river in Switzerland fed by two uniting streams, bearing the same name, one of them called the 'white,' one of them the 'grey,' or dark. One comes down from the glaciers, and bears half-melted snow in its white ripple; the other flows through a lovely valley, and is discoloured by its earth. They …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

A Sermon of the Reverend Father Master Hugh Latimer, Preached in the Shrouds at St. Paul's Church in London, on the Eighteenth Day of January, Anno 1548.
Quaeunque scripta sunt ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt.--Rom. xv. 4. "All things which are written, are written for our erudition and knowledge. All things that are written in God's book, in the Bible book, in the book of the holy scripture, are written to be our doctrine." I told you in my first sermon, honourable audience, that I purposed to declare unto you two things. The one, what seed should be sown in God's field, in God's plough land; and the other, who should be the sowers: that is …
Hugh Latimer—Sermons on the Card and Other Discourses

The Power of the Holy Ghost
We shall look at the power of the Holy Ghost in three ways this morning. First, the outward and visible displays of it; second, the inward and spiritual manifestations of it; and third, the future and expected works thereof. The power of the Spirit will thus, I trust, be made clearly present to your souls. I. First, then, we are to view the power of the Spirit in the OUTWARD AND VISIBLE DISPLAYS OF IT. The power of the Sprit has not been dormant; it has exerted itself. Much has been done by the Spirit …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

The God of Peace
I. First of all, the title. Mars amongst the heathens was called the god of war; Janus was worshipped in periods of strife and bloodshed; but our God Jehovah styles himself not the God of war, but the God of peace. Although he permits ware in this world, sometimes for necessary and useful purposes; although he superintends them, and has even styled himself the Lord, mighty in battle, yet his holy mind abhors bloodshed and strife; his gracious spirit loves not to see men slaughtering one another, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Seventh Day. Unselfishness.
"For even Christ pleased not Himself."--Rom. xv. 8. Too legibly are the characters written on the fallen heart and a fallen world--"All seek their own!" Selfishness is the great law of our degenerated nature. When the love of God was dethroned from the soul, self vaulted into the vacant seat, and there, in some one of its Proteus shapes, continues to reign. Jesus stands out for our imitation a grand solitary exception in the midst of a world of selfishness. His entire life was one abnegation of …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

Seventh Day for the Power of the Holy Spirit on Ministers
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Power of the Holy Spirit on Ministers "I beseech you that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me."--ROM. xv. 30. "He will deliver us; ye also helping together by your supplication on our behalf."--2 COR. i. 10, 11. What a great host of ministers there are in Christ's Church. What need they have of prayer. What a power they might be, if they were all clothed with the power of the Holy Ghost. Pray definitely for this; long for it. Think of your own minister, …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Undesigned Coincidences.
Between the letters which bear the name of Saint Paul in our collection and his history in the Acts of the Apostles there exist many notes of correspondency. The simple perusal of the writings is sufficient to prove that neither the history was taken from the letters, nor the letters from the history. And the undesignedness of the agreements (which undesignedness is gathered from their latency, their minuteness, their obliquity, the suitableness of the circumstances in which they consist to the places …
William Paley—Evidences of Christianity

From the Supplement to the Summa --Question Lxxii of the Prayers of the Saints who are in Heaven
I. Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers? II. Ought we to appeal to the Saints to intercede for us? III. Are the Saints' Prayers to God for us always heard? I Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers? On those words of Job,[267] Whether his children come to honour or dishonour, he shall not understand, S. Gregory says: "This is not to be understood of the souls of the Saints, for they see from within the glory of Almighty God, it is in nowise credible that there should be anything without of …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Prayer and Fervency
"St. Teresa rose off her deathbed to finish her work. She inspected, with all her quickness of eye and love of order the whole of the house in which she had been carried to die. She saw everything put into its proper place, and every one answering to their proper order, after which she attended the divine offices of the day. She then went back to her bed, summoned her daughters around her . . . and, with the most penitential of David's penitential prayers upon her tongue, Teresa of Jesus went forth …
Edward M. Bounds—The Necessity of Prayer

Brief Directions How to Read the Holy Scriptures once Every Year Over, with Ease, Profit, and Reverence.
But forasmuch, that as faith is the soul, so reading and meditating on the word of God, are the parent's of prayer, therefore, before thou prayest in the morning, first read a chapter in the word of God; then meditate awhile with thyself, how many excellent things thou canst remember out of it. As--First, what good counsels or exhortations to good works and to holy life. Secondly, what threatenings of judgments against such and such a sin; and what fearful examples of God's punishment or vengeance …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Scripture a Necessity.
"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."--Rom. xv. 4. That the Bible is the product of the Chief Artist, the Holy Spirit; that He gave it to the Church and that in the Church He uses it as His instrument, can not be over-emphasized. Not as tho He had lived in the Church of all ages, and given us in Scripture the record of that life, its origin and history, so that the life was the real substance …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Early History of Particular Churches.
A.D. 67-A.D. 500 Section 1. The Church of England. [Sidenote: St. Paul's visit to England.] The CHURCH OF ENGLAND is believed, with good reason, to owe its foundation to the Apostle St. Paul, who probably came to this country after his first imprisonment at Rome. The writings of Tertullian, and others in the second and third centuries speak of Christianity as having spread as far as the islands of Britain, and a British king named Lucius is known to have embraced the Faith about the middle of …
John Henry Blunt—A Key to the Knowledge of Church History

W. T. Vn to the Christen Reader.
As [the] envious Philistenes stopped [the] welles of Abraham and filled them vpp with erth/ to put [the] memoriall out of minde/ to [the] entent [that] they might chalenge [the] grounde: even so the fleshly minded ypocrites stoppe vpp the vaynes of life which are in [the] scripture/ [with] the erth of theyr tradicions/ false similitudes & lienge allegories: & [that] of like zele/ to make [the] scripture theyr awne possession & marchaundice: and so shutt vpp the kingdome of heven which is Gods worde …
William Tyndale—The prophete Ionas with an introduccion

The Personality of the Holy Ghost
I invite your attention to this passage because we shall find in it some instruction on four points: first, concerning the true and proper personality of the Holy Ghost; secondly, concerning the united agency of the glorious Three Persons in the work of our salvation; thirdly we shall find something to establish the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of all believers; and fourthly, we shall find out the reason why the carnal mind rejects the Holy Ghost. I. First of all, we …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

The Spiced Wine of My Pomegranate;
OR, THE COMMUNION OF COMMUNICATION. I would cause Thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate."--Song of Solomon viii. 2.And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."--John i. 16. THE SPICED WINE OF MY POMEGRANATE. THE immovable basis of communion having been laid of old in the eternal union which subsisted between Christ and His elect, it only needed a fitting occasion to manifest itself in active development. The Lord Jesus had for ever delighted Himself with the …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

But when He Might Use to Work, that Is...
15. But when he might use to work, that is, in what spaces of time, that he might not be hindered from preaching the Gospel, who can make out? Though, truly, that he wrought at hours of both day and night himself hath not left untold. [2518] Yet these men truly, who as though very full of business and occupation inquire about the time of working, what do they? Have they from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum filled the lands with the Gospel? [2519] or whatever of barbarian nations hath remained …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Letter Xliii a Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey.
A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. There is no reason to mourn a son as lost who is a religious, still less to fear for his delicacy of constitution. 1. If God makes your son His son also, what do you lose or what does he himself lose? Being rich he becomes richer; being already high born, of still nobler lineage; being illustrious, he gains greater renown; and--what is more than all--once a sinner he is now a saint. He must be prepared for the Kingdom that has been prepared for him …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Thirty-First Day for the Spirit of Christ in his People
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Christ in His People "I am the Vine, ye are the branches."--JOHN xv. 5. "That ye should do as I have done to you."--JOHN xiii. 15. As branches we are to be so like the Vine, so entirely identified with it, that all may see that we have the same nature, and life, and spirit. When we pray for the Spirit, let us not only think of a Spirit of power, but the very disposition and temper of Christ Jesus. Ask and expect nothing less: for yourself, and all God's children, …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Concerted Prayer
"A tourist, in climbing an Alpine summit, finds himself tied by a strong rope to his trusty guide, and to three of his fellow-tourists. As they skirt a perilous precipice he cannot pray, Lord, hold up my goings in a safe path, that my footsteps slip not, but as to my guide and companions, they must look out for themselves.' The only proper prayer in such a case is, Lord, hold up our goings in a safe path; for if one slips all of us may perish.'"--H. Clay Trumbull The pious Quesnel says that "God …
Edward M. Bounds—The Essentials of Prayer

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