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  From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/6/2001 5:31 am  
To:  ALL   (1 of 10)  
 
  171.1  
 
Yes, all for you! 
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon, 
"Overwhelming Obligations" #910. Psalm 116:12. 
I bid you come to that famous garden, where 
in the dead of the night Jesus knelt and prayed, 
until in agony he sweat drops of blood. It was 
for you, for you, believer, that there the bloody 
sweat drops fell to the ground. 

You see him rise up. He is betrayed by his friend. 
For you the betrayal was endured. 

He is taken. 
He is led off to Pilate. 
They falsely accuse him; they spit in his face; 
they crown him with thorns; 
they put a mock scepter of reed into his hands. 
For you that ignominy was endured. For you 
especially and particularly the Lord of Glory 
passed through these cruel mockings. 

See him as he bears his cross, his shoulder is 
bleeding from the recent lash. See him, as 
along the Via Dolorosa be sustains the cruel 
load. He bears that cross for you. Your sins 
are on his shoulders laid, and make that cross 
more heavy than had it been made of iron. 

See him on the cross, lifted up between heaven 
and earth, a spectacle of grievous woe. Hear him 
cry, "I thirst!" and hear his cry more bitter still, 
while heaven and earth are startled by it, "Why 
have you forsaken me, my God, my God?" 

He is enduring all those griefs for you! 

For you the thirst and the fainting. 
For you the nakedness and the agony. 
For you the bowing of the head. 
For you the yielding up the spirit. 
For you the slumber in the cold and silent tomb. 

For you his resurrection when he rises in the glory 
of his might, and for you afterwards the ascension 
into heaven, when they sing, "Lift up your heads, 
O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors." 

For you his constant pleading at the right hand of the Father. 

Yes, all for you! 

What then, should be done for him? 
What tribute shall we lay at the pierced feet? 
What present shall we put into that nailed hand? 
Where are kisses that shall be sweet enough for 
his dear wounds? 
Where is adoration that shall be reverent enough 
for his blessed and exalted person? 

Daughters of music, bring your sweetest songs! 
You men of wealth, bring him your treasures! 
You men of fame and learning, come lay your 
laurels at his feet! Let us all bring all that we 
have, for such a Christ as this deserves more 
than all. What shall we render to You for all 
your benefits towards us? 
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The sole occupant of this boundless universe! 
(from "The Preciousness of God's Thoughts" by Octavius Winslow) 

It marvellous that God should think of us as He does. 
God is infinitely great and holy; all worlds, all beings, 
all events occupy His mind. Yet, He has individual 
thoughts of His children; not mere passing glances 
of the mind, but involving the pre-determination 
and pre arrangement of each event, circumstance, 
and step of our personal history, trivial though it 
be but the falling of a hair from our head. 

This is a truth too mighty to grasp were it not too 
precious to refuse, and too divine to disbelieve. 

Doubtless, you have often appeared, in your own 
estimation, so obscure and insignificant a being; 
a mere cipher in the great sum of human existence, 
a single drop in the vast ocean of human life; as to 
be almost at an infinite distance from God's notice. 

Isolated, poor and lowly as you may be, God, the 
great holy Lord God thinks of you, notices you, 
regards you, sets His heart upon you. His thoughts 
cluster around you, clinging to you with a grasp so 
fervent and intense as though He were solely and 
supremely absorbed with you and your concerns. 

Each child of God dwells in His heart, and 
engages His mind as though he were the 
sole occupant of this boundless universe! 

O child of God! The thoughts that God has 
of you are so vast that nothing can exceed, 
and so precious that nothing can equal them. 
The thoughts of the infinite God encircle you 
more closely and fondly than the ivy clasps 
the elm, or the mother the new born infant. 

There is not a moment that he is not thinking of you! 

Do not be cast down then, if God appears to 
forget you. "My way is hidden from the Lord," 
says the desponding Christian. 

"No!" says God, "I have engraved you on the 
palms of My hands; you are continually before Me." 
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

This Precious Anointing! 
(from "The Precious Anointing" by Octavius Winslow) 

This holy anointing of the Spirit will impart 
clearness to your mind, so that you shall 
have a right judgment in all things. 

It will impart sweetness to your temper; 
gentleness to your spirit, and will give you 
a lowly, loving, self condemning heart. 

It will make your behavior towards others 
more Christlike. It will fill you with charity 
and love; the grace of kindness will be in 
your heart, and the law of kindness on your lip. 

This precious anointing is so soul transforming, 
so 'Christ assimilating' in its influence, that it 
is impossible to partake of it in any degree and 
not be like Jesus. 

When you see a religious professor who is.... 
proud in heart, 
lofty in spirit, 
covetous in his aims, 
condemning others, 
justifying himself, 
unsympathizing, or 
harsh; 
you see one who is lacking this anointing. 

 
  
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From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/13/2001 7:52 am  
To:  ALL    
 
    
 
The flaming sword of justice quenched 
in the holy, loving bosom of Jesus! 
(From Octavius Winslow's "Contrition and Confession") 
The most significant and appalling demonstration 
of God's holiness that the universe ever beheld, 
infinitely distancing and transcending every other, is 
the sufferings and death of His only and beloved Son! 

The cross of Calvary exhibits God's hatred and 
punishment of sin in a way and to an extent 
which the annihilation of millions of worlds, 
swept from the face of the universe by the 
broom of His wrath, could never have done! 

"Who His own self bore our sins 
in His own body on the tree." 

Behold the most awful display of God's hatred 
of sin! Finding the sins of the Church upon Christ 
as its Surety, Substitute, and Savior, the wrath of 
God was poured out upon Him without measure! 

God finding the sins of His people laid upon His 
Son, emptied upon His holy soul all the vials of 
His wrath due to their transgressions! 

Go, my soul, to Calvary, and learn how holy 
God is, and what a monstrous thing sin is, and 
how imperiously, solemnly, and holily bound 
Jehovah is to punish it, either in the person 
of the sinner, or in the person of a Surety. 

Never was the Son of God dearer to the 
Father than at the very moment that the 
sword of divine justice, flaming and flashing, 
pierced to its hilt His holy heart! 

But it was the wrath of God, not against 
His beloved Son, but against the sins which 
met on Him when presenting Himself on 
the cross as the substitutionary sacrifice 
and offering of His Church. 

He "gave Himself for us." 

What a new conception must angels have 
formed of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, 
when they beheld the flaming sword of justice 
quenched in the holy, loving bosom of Jesus! 

And in what a dazzling light does this fact 
place the marvellous love of God to sinners! 

Man's sin and God's love; the indescribable 
enormity of the one, and the immeasurable 
greatness of the other; are exhibited in the 
cross of Christ as nowhere else. 

Oh, to learn experimentally these two great facts; 
sin's infinite hatefulness, and love's infinite holiness! 

The love of God in giving His Son to die; 
the love of Christ in dying; the essential 
turpitude and unmitigated enormity of sin, 
which demanded a sacrifice so Divine, 
so holy, and so precious! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The Arrow of Prayer! 
(From Octavius Winslow's "Prayer Out of Soul Depths") 

"Out of the depths have I cried 
unto You, 0 Lord." Psalm 130:1. 

Beloved, out of the depths of your difficulty, 
your need, your sorrow, cry mightily unto God. 

There is.... 
no depth so profound, 
no darkness so dense, 
no privation so pressing, or 
perplexity so great, but from it you may 
cry unto God; the Lord inclining His ear to 
the softest, faintest breathing of your soul. 

Sink the soul as it may, the arrow of prayer, 
feathered with a divine promise, springing 
from the bow of faith, and winged by the 
power of the Spirit, will overcome every 
obstacle, pierce every cloud, and fasten 
itself upon the throne of the Eternal God! 

Cries out of the depths of 'soul distress' have 
a peculiar eloquence and an irresistible success 
with God; just as the plaintive wail of a sick 
and suffering child reaches and penetrates a 
parent's heart more quickly and more deeply 
than all others. 

Tried and desponding soul, you can never 
sink below the everlasting arms of God! 

God frequently permits His children to descend 
into great "depths" of spiritual and mental conflict, 
and even temporal need, that He might display 
His love and power in stooping to their necessity. 
"I was brought low, and He helped me." 

We are but imperfectly aware how low the great 
God can bend to our case; how condescendingly 
Christ can stoop to our condition! 

We may be brought very low; 
our case sad and desperate; 
riches may flee; 
poverty may come upon us as an armed man; 
character may be assailed; 
children may try; 
friends may change; 
enemies may wound; 
death may bereave; and 
our soul be plunged as into fathomless depths. 

Nevertheless, sink deep as we may, we shall but 
sink more deeply into the embrace of 
Christ, 'the everlasting arms' still underneath us. 

"He sent from above, He took me; 
He drew me out of many waters." 

Oh we must descend into great depths 
of affliction, of trial, and of need, to 
fathom, in some measure, the soundless 
depths of God's love, of the Savior's 
fullness, of the Spirit's comfort! 

Your heavenly Father waits to enfold 
you to His loving and forgiving heart! 

Soon the soul desponding saint will ascend 
from the lowest depths of earth to the loftiest 
height of heaven. Long before the body springs 
from the dust, your soul, O believer, will have 
taken its place amid the blood-ransomed throng, 
clustering in shining ranks around the throne of 
God and the Lamb. And, reviewing all the way 
the Lord your God led you, through the wilderness 
and across the desert, you shall blend the old song 
of free grace with the new song of eternal glory! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A tragedy above all tragedies! 
(by A.W. Tozer) 

The average person in the world today, 
without faith and without God and without 
hope, is engaged in a desperate personal 
search throughout his lifetime. 

He does not really know where he has been. 
He does not really know what he is doing 
here and now. He does not know where he 
is going. 

The sad commentary is that he is doing it 
all on borrowed time and borrowed money 
and borrowed strength; and he already 
knows that in the end he will surely die! 

Man, made more like God than any other 
creature, has become less like God than any 
other creature. Created to reflect the glory 
of God, he has retreated sullenly into his cave; 
reflecting only his own sinfulness. 

Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies 
in this world that man, made with a soul to 
worship and praise and sing to God's glory, 
now sulks silently in his cave. 

Love has gone from his heart. 

Light has gone from his mind. 

Having lost God, he blindly stumbles on through 
this dark world to find only a grave at the end. 

The fall of man has created a perpetual crisis. 
It will last until sin has been put down and 
Christ reigns over a redeemed and restored world. 

Until that time the earth remains a disaster 
area and its inhabitants live in a state of 
extraordinary emergency. 

To me, it has always been difficult to understand 
those Christians who insist upon living in the crisis 
as if no crisis existed. They say they serve the Lord, 
but they divide their days so as to leave plenty of 
time to play and loaf and enjoy the pleasures of the 
world as well. They are at ease while the world burns! 
I wonder whether such Christians actually believe in 
the Fall of man! 

Let a flood or a fire hit a populous countryside and no 
able bodied citizen feels that he has any right to rest 
till he has done all he can to save as many as he can. 
While death stalks farmhouse and village no one dares 
relax; this is the accepted code by which we live. 

The critical emergency for some becomes an emergency 
for all, from the highest government official to the local 
Boy Scout troop. As long as the flood rages or the fire 
roars on, no one talks of "normal times." No times are 
normal while helpless people cower in the path of destruction. 

In times of extraordinary crisis ordinary measures will 
not suffice. The world lives in such a time of crisis. 
Christians alone are in a position to rescue the perishing. 
We dare not settle down to try to live as if things were 
"normal." Nothing is normal while sin and lust and death 
roam the world, pouncing upon one and another till 
the whole population has been destroyed. 

"I'm too often at ease and consumed with my self 
interests, Lord. Open my eyes to see the tragedy 
of friends and acquaintances on their way to a 
Christless eternity. Do it for Jesus' sake, Amen." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The medicine! 
The knife! 
Your song! 
(From Octavius Winslow's "Soul Heights") 

The believer has never known how deeply 
God loves him, how truly a child of God he 
was, and how tender and faithful his Father's 
love, until God has afflicted him. 

Then he sees love, and nothing but love... 
in the calamity that has impoverished, 
in the disease that has wasted, 
in the bereavement that has crushed, 
in the fickleness that has changed. 

The moment tried and sifted faith disentangles 
itself of 'second causes', and rests in God, that 
moment the bitter and unlovely bulb bursts into 
the sweet and beauteous flower, laden with the 
dew and bathed in the sunshine of heaven! 

It is thus that, sanctified sorrows yield to the 
believer the richest fruit; and that in the 'valley' 
he drinks from sweeter springs than flow from 
the mountain's top! 

But it is not always that the saints of God accept 
this discipline of trial without murmur and rebellion. 

They too often lose sight of.... 
the wisdom that appoints, and 
the faithfulness that sends the trial, and 
the immense good to themselves it was 
designed to accomplish. 

They do not see the hand of their Heavenly Father, 
beneath whose loving corrections they lie. 

As an old divine remarks, "The physician attacks 
the disease, and not the patient; his object is to 
cure him whom he causes to suffer. It is thus that 
God, whose mercy is infinite, chastises us only to 
bring us into the way of salvation, or to confirm 
our course in it. You are not angry with your 
physician when he applies the cautery or the 
knife to your gangrened limb; on the contrary, 
you can scarcely find language adequate to the 
expression of your gratitude; you keep repeating 
that he has saved your life by preventing the 
disease from spreading, and you pay him liberally 
for his attentions! 
Yet you murmur against the Lord, who wounds 
only for our good; and you are unwilling to 
acknowledge that the afflictions with which He 
visits us are the only means capable of restoring 
health to our souls, or of securing the continuance 
of it when it is restored to us." 

Expect, then, the happiest results from this 
curative process of your Divine Physician! 

The prescription may be unpalatable, and the 
excision painful; nevertheless, the richest 
blessing to you and the highest glory to God 
will be the happy and hallowed result! 

"every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that 
it may bring forth more fruit." In this light, view 
your present sickness, suffering, and sorrow. 

The medicine is prescribed by Jesus, 
the knife is in a Father's hand, and 
your song shall be, "He has done all things well." 

 
From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/15/2001 10:21 am  
To:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   (3 of 10)  
 
  171.3 in reply to 171.1  
 
Shadows! 
(From Winslow's "The Obscurations of Spiritual Life") 
All is shadow here below! 

The world is a shadow; and it passes away! 

The creature is a shadow; and the loveliest 
and the fondest may be the first to die! 

Health is a shadow; fading, and in a moment gone! 

Wealth is a shadow; today upon the summit 
of affluence, tomorrow at its base, plunged 
into poverty and dependence! 

Human friendships and creature affections are 
but shadows; sweet and pleasant while they 
last, but, with a worm feeding at the root of 
all created good, the sheltering gourd soon 
withers, exposing us to the sun's burning heat 
by day, and to the frost's cold chill by night! 

Oh, yes! 'Passing Away' is indelibly 
inscribed upon everything here below! 

Yet how slow are we to realize the solemn lesson: 
"What shadows we are, and 
what shadows we pursue!" 

Unconverted reader, what is your life but a vapor 
that passes away? and what are its pursuits but 
shadows; unreal, unsatisfying, evanescent? 
Your rank, your wealth, your honors, your pleasures, 
are but phantoms which appear but for a little while, 
and then are lost in the deeper shadow of the grave, 
and the still deeper and longer shadow of eternity! 
Oh, turn from these dreams and hallucinations, and, 
as a rational, accountable, immortal being, on your 
way to judgment, fix your mind upon your solemn, 
endless future! You are going to die! And, oh, when 
that dread hour comes, so real and appalling, how 
will your past life appear? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The wounded and wounding 
hand of the Savior! 
(From Winslow's "The Obscurations of Spiritual Life") 

There are some believers who only become 
fruitful in times of trial, who make no headway 
in their spiritual voyage but in a storm! 

Affliction times are 'fruit promoting' times 
to God's "trees of righteousness." 

Afflictions deepen the roots, and clothe the 
boughs with the foliage and fruit of righteousness. 

Oh, who can fully estimate the real advance of 
the spiritual life of the soul in one hallowed trial, 
through one sanctified sorrow? 

The slumbering spirit of prayer is roused! 

The truant heart is recalled! 

Trembling faith is strengthened! 

The spirit shaded with sorrow, and the soul 
bowed with calamity, turns to Jesus, and 
finds in the wounded and wounding hand 
of the Savior, the balm and the succor which 
'heals the broken in heart, and binds up their 
wounds.' 

When does the trial end? 
When, like a faithful servant, it has discharged 
its errand; when its 'heaven sent mission' is 
fully accomplished, it will dissolve into the light 
of joy, and issue in a new song of praise. 

"Weeping may endure for a night, 
but joy comes in the morning." 

 
  
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  From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/17/2001 5:04 am  
To:  ALL   (4 of 10)  
 
  171.4 in reply to 171.1  
 
Dying! 
It is the privilege of the child of God to "die daily." 
Dying to.... 
the power of inbred sin, 
the lusts of the flesh; 
the pride of life; 
the attractions of the world; 
the idolatry of the creature, and 
the still greater idolatry of self. 

(Winslow, "The Depression and Revivification of Spiritual Life") 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

This tremendous scene! 
(from Octavius Winslow's, "The Coming of the Lord, The Crown and Consummation of Spiritual Life" 

Pause, then, for a moment, and contemplate, with the eye of faith, or if you have no faith, with the eye of imagination, this tremendous scene! 

Look at that point, far away in the ethereal regions, where the gradually lessening form of our Savior disappeared from the gaze of His disciples, when He ascended to heaven. In that point see an uncommon, but faint and undefined, brightness just beginning to appear. It has caught the roving eye of yon careless gazer, and excited his curiosity. He points it out to a second, and a third. A little circle soon collects, and various are the conjectures which they form respecting it. Similar circles are formed, and similar objections made, in a thousand different parts of the world. But conjecture is soon to give place to certainty; awful, appalling, overwhelming certainty. While they gaze, the appearance, which had excited their curiosity, rapidly approaches, and still more rapidly brightens. Some begin to suspect what it may prove; but no one dares to give utterance to his suspicions. 

Meanwhile the light of the sun begins to fade before a brightness superior to his own. Thousands see their shadows cast in a new direction, and thousands of hitherto careless eyes look up at once to discover the cause. Full clearly they see it; and now new hopes and fears begin to agitate their breasts. The afflicted and persecuted servants of Christ begin to hope that the predicted, long expected day of their deliverance is arrived. The wicked, the careless, the unbelieving, begin to fear that the Bible is about to prove no idle tale. And now fiery shapes, moving like streams of lightning, begin to appear indistinctly amid the bright, dazzling cloud which comes rushing down as on the wings of a whirlwind. At length it reaches its destined place. It pauses. Then, suddenly unfolding, discloses at once a great white throne, where sits; starry, resplendent, in all the glories of the Godhead; the Man Christ Jesus! Every eye sees Him; every heart knows Him. 

Too well do the wretched, unprepared inhabitants of earth now know what to expect, and one universal shriek of anguish and despair rises up to heaven, and is echoed back to earth. But louder, far louder, than the universal cry, now sounds the last trumpet; and far above all is heard the voice of the Omnipotent, summoning the dead to arise and come to judgment. New terrors now assail the living on every side, no, under their very feet, the earth heaves as in convulsions; graves open, and the dead come forth; while, at the same moment, a change, equivalent to that occasioned by death, is effected by Almighty power on the bodies of the living. Their mortal bodies put on immortality, and are thus prepared to sustain a weight of glory or of wretchedness, which flesh and blood could not endure. 
Meanwhile, legions of angels are seen, darting from pole to pole, gathering together the faithful servants of Christ from the four winds of heaven, and bearing them aloft to meet the Lord in the air, where He causes them to be placed at His own right hand, preparatory to the sentence which He is to award to them, everlasting life. 

Christian, if you would gain more and greater victories over the world than you have ever done, bring this scene often before the eye of your mind, and gaze upon it until you become blind to all earthly glory. He who gazes long at the sun becomes unsusceptible of impressions from inferior luminaries; and he who looks much at the Sun of Righteousness, will be little affected by any alluring object which the world can exhibit. 


 
  
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From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/21/2001 5:19 am  
To:  ALL    
 
    
 
The human idol is removed! 
(Winslow, "Bereavement, The Submission and Solace of Spiritual Life") 
Bereavement is often the season of revived spirituality. 
Eternity is more solemnly realized; the mind is more 
withdrawn from the affairs of the present life; the 
heart is disengaged from the shadows of earth; and 
the things that are seen, and temporal, give place 
to the things that are unseen and eternal. 

Oh, see that this is one hallowed fruit of your present 
sorrow! God has sent it to revive His work in your soul; 
to draw off your thoughts and affections from those 
earth born things which have too much absorbed the 
vitality and impaired the vigor of your higher life your 
life for God; for heaven; for eternity! 

Bereavement is a time of prayer. If ever the solace 
of prayer is felt, the preciousness of the Mercy Seat 
is realized, it is now. Your heart, stricken with grief, 
turns to God. The sad and startling discovery is made; 
unsuspected while the light of God was upon your 
tabernacle; that too far and too long your heart had 
roved from God; your communion had grown distant, 
and your affections chilled; and, shyness of God and 
leanness of soul have supervened, as the natural 
consequence of your remote and careless walk. 

But now the shadow of death has darkened the 
sunshine of your life: the destroyer has invaded 
the sanctuary of your home, and has plucked a 
cherished flower from your bosom; or, has broken 
a 'strong and beautiful staff' at your side; or, has 
laid low a venerable oak spreading its branches 
beneath the roof tree of your dwelling; and your 
heart, bowed with grief, now bows itself in prayer 
to God, and the spiritual life of your soul throbs 
with a newer and more quickened pulse. 

Oh hail that as a heaven sent blessing; robed 
though it be with the habiliment of mourning; 
which wakes the slumbering spirit of prayer, 
and sets you upon the work of calling upon God! 

The human idol is removed, but 
the Divine Savior takes its place! 

Oh, it is so hard to yield what was most dear; to 
give back to God a loan, the possession of which 
seemed intertwined with every fibre of the heart, 
and the existence of which had become essential 
to life itself! 

But tracing a Father's hand and a Father's heart; 
His all wise and righteous government appointing 
the event, and His infinite and unchanging love 
sending it; your bewildered mind and bleeding 
heart bows in submission, with the words of 
Christ breathing from your lips; "My Father, if 
this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, 
may Your will be done." 

And thus, in this submission of your will to God, 
this terrible calamity has issued in such a 
development and growth of your spiritual life 
as leaves its reality without a doubt, and its 
luster without a cloud. And, as music sounds 
the sweetest in the still of night, and as flowers, 
when bruised, breathe their richest perfume; 
so, your night of weeping and crushing grief 
has issued in the sweetest song of your bruised 
spirit, and in the holiest fragrance of your spiritual life. 

Oh, who can adequately portray the perfect calm, 
the hallowed repose, the ecstatic joy, when the 
Divine will is supremely enthroned in the soul, 
and the sad heart nestles itself, as a child 
weaned of its mother, in the very bosom of God! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The slanderer! The backbiter! 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Power of the Tongue") 

The slanderer is not merely the idle gossip, he is more. He is the inventor, or, what is equally criminal, he is the propagator of calumny itself! Envious of a rival, resolved upon shading the luster, or bent upon the total extinguishment of a star circling in a wider and brighter orbit than his own, he either coins, or propagates a lie injurious to the character of some public servant of God, or the reputation and happiness of some private individual moving in the quiet and unobtrusive walks of usefulness. 

Is there not death in this unhallowed use of the tongue? Is there not 'slaying power' in that false report, that base insinuation, that cruel surmise, that "Soft buzzing slander, that eats an honest name"? Most assuredly! The treacherous moth is not a more insiduous and dangerous foe to the beautiful fabric it secretly and slowly destroys; nor the worm a more searching and wasting enemy of the costly vellum whose heart it pierces and devours, than he whose tongue is sharper than a sword, "Cutting honest throats by whispers." 

It has been remarked that against slander there is no effectual armor of defense. Nothing is easier than to invent a slander, and nothing more difficult than to annihilate it. It generally selects for its victims the most good and worthy, as the birds peck at and destroy the best and loveliest fruit. I do not think that Tophet boasts of a darker fiend, or man can deplore a fouler foe than he who deals in it. Like the Indian, it dips its arrows in deadly poison; like Judas, it betrays the innocent with the kiss of villainy. Assassination is its employment, the guiltless its victims, ruin its sport, and the loud laugh of hell its reward! It is a moral pestilence veiled in darkness; a thousand fall beside it and ten thousand at its right hand, so unmercifully and deeply wounded as often never to recover the anguish of heart it has occasioned. 

The backbiter is the destroyer of the absent one. Of all evil speaking this is, perhaps, the lowest, the most cruel and dastardly. Taking advantage of the defenseless position of his victim, asserting behind his back what he would not dare to utter before his face; by dark insinuations, by mysterious innuendoes, by a tragic tone; the backbiter will give affected importance and authenticity to what all the while he knows to be unfounded in truth; and by this despicable means do serious and, perhaps, irreparable injury to the character and good name of an innocent, and, it may be, useful servant of the Lord; who, by his absence, is precluded from either defending his innocence or confounding his calumniator. 

How sad and unenviable the character of the slanderer, the whisperer, the backbiter, the talebearer, the gossip! What are all these but domestic pests; propagators of a social moral plague? 

"Save me, O Lord, from lying lips 
and from deceitful tongues." 
Psalm 120:2 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The sins of our most holy things! 
(From Octavius Winslow's "Contrition and Confession") 

Beloved, all that we do for God, and for Christ, 
and for our fellows, is deformed and tainted by 
human infirmity and sin. 

A close scrutiny and analysis of our most saintly 
act would discover the leprosy of iniquity deeply 
hidden beneath its apparent loveliness and sanctity. 

How humbling, yet how true! 

We have need.... 
to weep over our tears, 
to repent of our repentances, and 
to confess our confessions. 

And, when our most fervent prayer has been breathed, 
and our most self denying act has been performed, 
and our most liberal offering has been presented, 
and our most powerful sermon has been preached, 
and our sweetest anthem has poured forth its music, 
we have need to repair to the "blood that cleanses 
from ALL sin," even the sins of our most holy things! 

How instructive and impressive the type! "You shall 
make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like 
the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord... 
And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron 
may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the 
children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; 
and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they 
may be accepted before the Lord." 

Thus has Christ, our true Aaron, made a full Atonement 
for the "iniquity of our holy things;" and the mitre is 
always upon His head, that our persons and our offerings 
may be ever accepted before the Lord. 

 
From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/27/2001 11:07 am  
To:  ALL   (6 of 10)  
 
  171.6 in reply to 171.5  
 
Nestle beneath His soft wing! 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Bereaved Home") 
"Jesus wept." 

Perhaps the most sublime spectacle of Jesus' life 
is His weeping at the grave of Lazarus. The Son 
of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the 
Maker of all things, the upholder of all worlds, 
in tears! 

Marvellous spectacle! 

Jesus stood the Chief Mourner at that grave. 

That very same Savior whose tears fell fast and 
warm upon the grave of His buried friend, who 
had tears for the mourning sisters, tears for the 
saddened disciples, and tears for the unbelieving 
Jews, has tears, sorrowing one, for you! 

The sympathy of Christ with our sorrows is 
not a mere sentiment, a transient emotion, 
a passing tear quickly shed, and as quickly dried. 

O no! His are the tears of a love that 
once wept tears of blood for us! 

His is a compassion that sustains, as well as 
comforts, that sanctifies as well as soothes. 

The sympathy of Christ has a soul transforming effect, 
a Divinely assimilating power, it makes us Godlike. 

Cling to the sympathy of Christ. Nestle beneath 
His soft wing; it will enfold and shelter you until 
these calamities be overpast. 

He who mourned with the loved ones in the home 
of Bethany, and wept over the grave of Lazarus, 
mourns and weeps with you. Turn from the gloom 
and mystery of your loss, and lose yourself and 
it in the loving, sympathizing Savior. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A soul satisfying spectacle! 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Desire to See Jesus") 

The sight of Jesus is a soul satisfying spectacle! 

The penitent soul is satisfied, for it 
sees in Jesus a free pardon of sin. 

The condemned soul is satisfied, for it 
receives in Jesus a free justification. 

The believing soul is satisfied, for it 
discovers in Jesus a fountain of all grace. 

The tried, tempted, sorrowful soul is 
satisfied, for it experiences in Jesus all 
consolation, sympathy and love. 

O, what an all satisfying Portion is Jesus! 

He satisfies every holy desire, for He realizes it. 
He satisfies every craving need, for He supplies it. 
He satisfies every sore grief, for He soothes it. 
He satisfies the deepest yearnings, the highest 
aspirations, the most sublime hopes of the 
renewed soul, for all these center and end in Him! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Meditation 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "Gracious Surprisals") 

"My heart grew hot within me, and as I 
meditated, the fire burned..." Psalm 39:3 

That is, while I was retracing all the way the 
Lord had led me; while I was meditating upon 
the fulness and preciousness of His Word; 
and while I was musing upon the great love 
with which He had loved me, the fire in my 
soul was enkindled. 

There are few more powerful aids to growth in 
grace, to progress in sanctification of heart, 
and humbleness of mind, than devout meditation. 

"Isaac went out to meditate in the field at evening." 

"I meditate on You in the night watches." 

Cultivate, my reader, this holy and useful habit. 

In a world of incessant action, and in an age 
of restless excitement, we have great need to 
imitate these holy examples, and to retire to 
the "calm retreat, the silent shade," and there 
abandon ourselves to devout meditation upon 
Divine, heavenly, and eternal things. 

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    8/27/2001 3:29 pm  
To:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   (7 of 10)  
 
  171.7 in reply to 171.6  
 
Hallelujah!!

 

Thanks for posting these Insightful meditations on Jesus.

 

I sure enjoy them and I am sure that others are Blessed by them also.

 

Thanks Again!!

 

God Bless You,

David





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/30/2001 6:21 am  
To:  ALL   (8 of 10)  
 
  171.8 in reply to 171.2  
 
This great world? 
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon, 
"The Drought of Nature, the Rain of Grace, 
and the Lesson Therefrom" #2115. Jer.14:3,4,22. 

Apart from God's preserving, the whole 
race of men would be turned to dust, 
and cease from the land of the living. 

All creation exists by the will of the Lord; 
and if his will should cease to send forth 
conserving power to maintain the created 
things in existence, they would all cease to be. 

This great world; the sun, the moon, the 
stars; would all dissolve; and, as a moment's 
foam dissolves into the wave that bears it, 
they would be lost forever. 

At the Lord's will the universe would be gone, 
as yonder bubble which your child was blowing 
but a moment ago, which now has vanished, 
and left no trace behind. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The heart of God will fly open! 

If as a poor lost sinner you repair to the Savior, 
all vile, guilty, unworthy, and weak as you are, 
He will receive you, and shelter you within the 
bosom that bled on the cross, to provide an 
atonement and an asylum for the very chief of 
sinners. Thus knocking at mercy's door, the 
heart of God will fly open, and admit you to all 
the hidden treasures of its love. (Octavius Winslow) 
 
  
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  From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   8/31/2001 7:23 am  
To:  ALL   (9 of 10)  
 
  171.9 in reply to 171.8  
 
It will engraft itself upon our holy things! 
The following is from Octavius Winslow's sermon, 
"Daily Cleansing, or Christ Washing His Disciples Feet" 
"...so He got up from the meal, took off his 
outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around 
His waist. After that, He poured water into 
a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, 
drying them with the towel that was wrapped 
around Him." John 13:4-5 

This lowly act of Christ is intended to 
inculcate the precept of humility. 

Here was the Infinite Majesty of heaven, the 
Maker of all worlds and the Creator of all beings, 
stooping to wash the feet of His disciples! 

What a needed precept, what a holy lesson this! 

The pride of our hearts is the deep 
rooted evil of our depraved nature! 

It is perpetually cropping up; notwithstanding 
all the prunings by which God seeks to keep it 
down, and lay it low. 

Its forms are many, its name is 'legion.' 

There is.... 
the pride of ancestry, 
the pride of rank, 
the pride of wealth, 
the pride of place, 
the pride of intellect, and the worst of all pride, 
the pride of 'self righteousness'. 

There is nothing too little and trivial 
with which pride will not plume itself! 

It can find its boast.... 
in a fine dress, 
in a beautiful face, 
in a splendid mansion, 
in tasteful furniture, 
in a rare picture, 
in any work of man's device! 

No, more, it will engraft itself upon our holy things! 
How much sinful, hateful pride of heart is intermixed 
with all our service for Christ! We are proud of our 
spiritual gifts and graces, proud of our ecclesiastical 
place and power, proud of our popularity and usefulness, 
we taint and shade and mar all we do for God. 

Pride compasses you about as with a chain; and 
that chain, unless broken by the power of God, 
will bind you down to regions of eternal despair! 

If you are to be saved by Christ, the pride of 
your heart, rising in rebellion against the doctrine 
of a gratuitous salvation, must be brought down, 
mortified, and slain root and branch. 
Christ, must receive all the honor and glory... 
of emancipating you from your sins, 
of delivering you from condemnation, and 
of bringing you to heaven. 

But the grace of Christ is all sufficient, and 
the believing soul will be entirely emptied, 
root and branch, of this hideous, this God 
abhorring sin, when it reaches that bright and 
holy world where all bow in the profoundest 
humility before the throne of God, and all the 
glory of the creature is lost in the splendor 
of the Lamb! 

 
  
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   From:  cajunhillbilly (Willard01)   9/3/2001 6:12 am  
To:  ALL   (10 of 10)  
 
  171.10 in reply to 171.9  
 
God's conscious comforting presence! 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "Beginning the Year with Jesus") 

Then Moses said to him, "If Your Presence 
does not go with us, do not send us up from 
here....." Exodus 33:15 

What a needed and solemn petition! 

God's presence, going with us! Such is the 
response of every true God fearing, Christ 
loving heart. The believer has learned to 
understand the nature of God's favor, to 
know the value of His presence, to test the 
wisdom of His guidance, and to experience 
the blessedness of the light of His countenance. 
And now, the one desire and prayer of his heart 
is, "Let Your presence go with me. Let it 
accompany me in all the chequered, changeful 
history of this year. May Your Presence.... 
counsel me in difficulty, 
soothe me in sickness, 
cheer me in solitude, 
keep me in danger, 
shield me in temptation, 
strengthen me in service, 
sustain me in suffering, and 
deliver me from evil." 

Let, then, the accompanying presence of God be 
the intense desire of your heart, and the principal 
element of your Christian experience. 

God's conscious comforting presence has 
been the experience and the solace of His 
people in all ages and in all circumstances. 
David felt it in the cave. 
Daniel in the lion's den. 
Jeremiah in the dungeon. 
Jonah in the whale's belly. 
Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, and 
John on the Island of Patmos. 

And why not you, O child beloved of God, 
in all the varied journeyings and trials and 
circumstances of your history? Earnestly 
covet this blessing: the sensible presence 
of God throughout your personal history. 

Realize that, whatever the varied incidents and 
afflictions in your experience may be, you are not 
alone, because your Father is with you. 

Live as in His continual atmosphere. 

Walk as before him, and be perfect. 

His presence is promised, His help is 
pledged. "Lo! I am with you always." 

Aspire after the Psalmist's enviable experience: 
"I am continually with You. You have held me 
by my right hand. You shall guide me with Your 
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." 

Thus robed with God's conscious presence, your 
walk will be so regulated as to please Him in all 
things. You cannot voluntarily sin against Him, 
standing as encircled by the halo of His Divine 
perfections. The place will be too awesome, the 
atmosphere too pure, the feeling too solemn, for 
Satan or sin to dare intrude. 

Our safety alone is in nearness to the cross; is in 
walking in close communion with God, in the holy, 
filial, happy enjoyment of His encircling presence. 

 
  
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