Grace Gems

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The varied and rich profusion with which God had clothed His world!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

As we looked down on the pleasant scene, we were astonished at the varied and rich profusion with which God had clothed His world.

Nature, like Joseph, was dressed in a coat of many colors--gray, black and yellow lichens clad the rock.

The glossy ivy, like an ambitious child, had planted its foot on the crag, and, hanging on by a thousand arms, had climbed to its stormy summit.

Mosses, of hues surpassing all the colors of the loom, spread an elastic carpet around the gushing fountain.

The wild thyme lent a bed to the weary, and its perfume to the air.

Heaths opened their blushing bosoms to the bee.

The primrose, modesty shrinking from observation, looked out from its leafy shade.

At the foot of the weathered stone, the fern raised its plumes, and on its summit the foxglove rang his beautiful bells; while the birch bent to kiss the stream, as it ran away laughing to hide itself in the lake below, or stretched out her arms to embrace the mountain ash and evergreen pine.

By a very slight exercise of imagination, in such a scene one could see Nature engaged in her adorations, and hear her singing, "The earth is full of the glory of God! How manifold are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! In wisdom You have made them all."

Insects--as well as angels,
the flowers that spangle the meadow--as well as the stars that spangle the sky,
the lamp of the glowworm--as well as the light of the sun,
the lark that sings in the air--and the seraph that is singing in Heaven,
the thunders that rend the clouds--or the trumpet that shall rend the tomb
--these and all things else, reveal God's attributes and proclaim His praise!

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" Psalm 150:6

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The Bible!

(author unknown)

"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe!" 1 Thessalonians 2:13

The Bible contains . . .
  the mind of God,
  the state of man,
  the way of salvation,
  the doom of sinners, and
  the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines are holy,
its precepts are binding,
its histories are true, and
its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise,
believe it to be safe,
and practice it to be holy.

The Bible contains . . .
  light to direct you,
  food to support you,
  and comfort to cheer you.

It is . . .
  the traveler's map,
  the pilgrim's staff,
  the pilot's compass,
  the soldier's sword and
  the Christian's charter.

Here too, Heaven is opened--and the gates of Hell are disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject,
our good is its design, and
the glory of God is its end.

The Bible should . . .
  fill the memory,
  rule the heart
  and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully.

The Scripture is . . .
  a mine of wealth,
  a paradise of glory,
  and a river of pleasure!

It . . .
  is given to you in life,
  will be opened at the judgment,
  and be remembered forever.

The Bible . . .
  involves the highest responsibility,
  rewards the greatest labor, and
  will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents!

"Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in Heaven!" Psalm 119:89

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If you would adopt a swine to be your child!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will" Ephesians 1:5

"Beloved, now we are children of God!" 1 John 3:2

No man has any 'right' to be a child of God--it is an act of pure unmistakable grace!

If we are born into God's family--it is a miracle of mercy. It is one of the ever-blessed exhibitions of the infinite love of God, that has set itself upon us.

If you are this day an heir of Heaven--remember, man, you were once the slave of Hell. Once you wallowed in the mire of sin!

If you would adopt a swine to be your child--you would not then have performed an act of greater compassion, than when God adopted you.

And if an angel could exalt a gnat to equal dignity with himself--yet this would not be as great a privilege as that which God has conferred on you.

He has taken you from the dunghill--and He has set you among princes!

Remember that this is pure grace! Look back to the hole of the pit from where you were dug, and the miry clay from where you were drawn.

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The absolute necessity of experimental religion!

(Octavius Winslow)

"Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." 1 Thessalonians 1:5

The religion of the Lord Jesus is valuable only as its power is experienced in the heart. In this respect, and in this only, it may be compared to the physical sciences, which, however ingenious in structure, or beautiful in theory--yet, if not reduced or reducible to purposes of practical use, are of little worth. It is so with the truth of Jesus.
The man of mere taste may applaud its external beauty,
the philosopher may admire its ethics,
the orator may admire its eloquence, and
the poet may admire its sublimity--
but if the Spirit of God does not take His own truth, and impress it upon the heart, as to the great design of its revelation--it avails nothing.

What numbers there are who rest in the mere 'theory' of Christianity!
But as a practical principle--they know nothing of it.
As a thing experienced in the heart--it is a hidden mystery to them.
They speak well of it as a religious system; they believe its Divinity, and even defend its doctrines and extol its precepts--yet make no approaches towards a personal and practical obedience to its claims. In a word, they know nothing of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. It will surely appear to a spiritually-enlightened mind, a subject of vast and solemn importance that this delusion should be exposed--that this foundation of sand should be undermined--and that the absolute necessity of experimental religion, as necessary to an admission within the kingdom of glory, be strenuously and scripturally enforced.

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A spiritual instinct!

(J.C. Ryle)

"He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them--and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." John 10:3-5

We have in these verses, a peculiar picture of true Christians. Our Lord describes them as sheep who hear the voice of a true Shepherd, and know His voice--and as "sheep who will never follow a stranger--they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

The thing taught in these words is a very curious one, and may seem "foolishness" to the world. There is a spiritual instinct in most true believers, which generally enables them to distinguish between true and false teaching.
When they hear unsound religious instruction, there is something within them that says, "This is wrong!"
When they hear the real truth as it is in Jesus, there is something in their hearts which responds, "This is right!"

The careless man of the world may see no difference whatever between minister and minister, sermon and sermon. The poorest sheep of Christ, as a general rule, will "distinguish things that differ," though he may sometimes be unable to explain why.

Let us beware of despising this spiritual instinct. Whatever a sneering world may please to say, it is one of the peculiar marks of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As such, it is specially mentioned by John, when he says, "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." (1 John 2:20) Let us rather pray for it daily, in order that we may be kept from the influence of false shepherds. To lose all power of distinguishing between bitter and sweet, is one of the worst symptoms of bodily disease. In the same way, to be unable to see any difference between . . .
  the gospel--and the law,
  truth--and error,
  Protestantism--and Popery,
  the doctrine of Christ--and the doctrine of man,
is a sure proof that we are yet dead in heart, and need conversion!

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Wherever he turned, the sun was there!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

The dimness of sin impairs our vision, but were we to see Jesus, as we shall see Him in Heaven--I think it would happen to us as once it happened to a celebrated philosopher:

Pursuing his discoveries on the subject of light--he ventured on a bold experiment. He fixed his gaze steadily, for some time, on the sun--exposing his naked eyes to the burning beams of the fiery disc.

And such was the impression made on the organ of sight--that wherever he turned, the sun was there!
If he looked down, the sun was beneath his feet;
it shone in the top of the sky in the murkiest midnight;
it blazed on the page of every book he read;
he saw it when he shut his eyes--and he saw it when he opened them.
The sun was the last object which he saw when he passed into sleep--and it was the first to meet his waking eyes.

Happy would it be for us, if we got some such sight of Jesus, and the glory of that Sun of Righteousness were so impressed upon the eye of faith--that we could never forget Him, and, ever seeing Him, ever loved Him!

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!" Hebrews 12:2

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It was a serpent, not a Savior--which Eve pressed to her joyful bosom!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

"I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord!" Genesis 4:1

Most expositors think that Eve imagined Cain to be the promised seed that would bruise the head of the serpent. (Adam Clarke's Commentary)

Many suppose that Eve thought that this son was the promised seed, and that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as her words may be read, "I have gotten a man, the Lord!" (Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Eve cherished the hope that she herself would be the mother of the Messiah. Wrung with remorse for her incalculable crime, and eager to see its misery and mischief undone--she grasped at the fulfillment of the promise, but only to be disappointed--to catch only a mocking shadow. It is a common saying, What we eagerly desire--we easily believe.

Our poor mother Eve, hailing in her first-born, the promised seed, clasped Cain to her beating bosom. "I have gotten," she exclaimed, "the man"--the promised man, "from the Lord!" Never was mother so bitterly disappointed! Never more false was the bright happy vision that has floated round many an infant's cradle! It was a serpent, not a Savior--which Eve pressed to her joyful bosom!

Here, in this quiet bower where Eve is singing her boy asleep, he who cruelly shed man's blood to kill--is mistaken for Him who generously shed His own blood to save!

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I would not live here always!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

"Arise and depart; for this is not your rest--because it is polluted!" Micah 2:10

In his best hours, home, his own sinless home--a home with his Father above that starry sky--will be the wish of every Christian. He looks around him--the world is full of suffering; he is distressed by its sorrows, and vexed with its sins. He looks within him--he finds much in his own corruptions to grieve for. In the language of a heart repelled, grieved, vexed--he often turns his eye upward, saying, "I would not live here always!" (Job 7:16)
  Not for all the gold of the world's mines;
  not for all the pearls of her seas;
  not for all the pleasures of her flashing, frothy cup;
  not for all the crowns of her kingdoms--
would I live here always! Like a bird about to migrate to those sunny lands where no winter sheds her snows, or strips the grove, or binds the dancing streams--the Christian will often in spirit be pruning his wing for the hour of his flight to glory!

"I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23

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The less you think of yourselves--the more will you esteem Christ!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

I wish you to think little, very little of yourselves. Why?
Because the less you think of yourselves--the more will you esteem Christ.
Because the humbler you are in your own eyes--the higher you will stand in God's eyes.

The guest, who, coming modestly in, takes the lowest place at the table--is called up to the seat of honor.
None are so sure to lie in Jesus' bosom--as those who have been lying lowest at Jesus' feet.

Hence, brought by grace to see sin's vileness, and to feel its exceeding evil . . .
  the holiest men--have always been the humblest,
  the strongest men--have always felt the weakest in themselves,
  the best men--have always thought the worst of themselves.

David, the man after God's own heart, said, "I was as a beast before You!"

Job, the most remarkable character of his own or any age for piety and uprightness, said, as he shrank from his own image, "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes!"

And Paul, though the greatest of all the apostles, much too great as well as honest, to fish for compliments and depreciate himself that others might praise him--spoke of himself not as the least, but as less than the least, of all saints.

The tree grows best skyward, which grows most downward. Just so, the lower the saint grows in humility--the higher he grows in holiness. The soaring corresponds to the sinking.

The humble man's heartfelt prayer shall be, "O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to You! I am glad to enter Heaven at the back of the wicked Manasseh, or the immoral woman, or the thief of the cross. God be merciful to me a sinner!"

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A blind father sits by the dull fire with a blind boy on his knee!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

I can imagine few sadder sights than an entire family, parents and children, all blind--a home where . . .
  the flowers have no beauty,
  the night has no stars,
  the morning no blushing dawn,
  and the azure sky no glorious sun.
A home where they have never looked on each other's faces; but a blind father sits by the dull fire with a blind boy on his knee--and the sightless mother nurses at her bosom a sightless babe that never gladdened her with its happy smile.

How would such a spectacle touch the most callous feelings, and move to pity even a heart of stone!

But a greater calamity is ours. By nature, the eyes of our understanding are darkened!

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God!" 2 Corinthians 4:4

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the blindness of their hearts." Ephesians 4:18

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The journey which our Divine Lover took

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

The story of Christ's redeeming love surpasses anything related in the pages of the wildest romances. These tell of a prince, who, enamored with a humble maiden, assumed a disguise. Doffing his crown and royal state for the dress of common life, he left his palace, traveled far, faced danger, and fared hard--to win the heart of a peasant's daughter, and raise her from obscurity to the position of a queen!

Facts are more wonderful than fables. The journey which our Divine Lover took was from Heaven to earth. To win His bride, He exchanged the bosom of the eternal Father--to lie, a feeble infant, on a woman's bosom. The Son of God left the throne of the universe, and assumed the guise of humanity--to be cradled in a feeding trough and murdered on a cross!

In His people, He found His bride deep in debt--and paid it all. Herself under sentence of death--He died in her place. A lost creature, clad in rags--He took off His own royal robes to cover her. To wash her--He shed His blood! To win her--He shed His tears! Finding her poor and miserable and naked, He endowed her with all His goods--and heir of all things. Everything that He possessed as His Father's Son--she was to forever enjoy and share with Himself!

"May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully!" Ephesians 3:19

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Every groan of your wounded heart; your every sigh, and cry, and prayer!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

Were Jesus Christ a mere man--how could He guard the interests, and manage the affairs of His innumerable people, scattered far and wide over the face of the habitable globe?
What heart would be large enough to embrace them all?
What eyes could see them all?
What ears could hear them all?

Think of the ten thousand prayers pronounced in a hundred different languages that go up at once, and altogether, to His ear! Yet there is no confusion; none are lost; none are missed in the crowd.

Nor are they heard by Him as, standing on yonder lofty crag, we hear the din of the city that lies stretched out far beneath us, with all its sounds of cries, and rumbling wheels, and human voices--mixed up into one deep, confused, hollow roar--like the boom of the sea's distant breakers.

No! every believer may feel as if he were alone with God--enjoying a private audience with the King in His presence-chamber! Be of good cheer. Every groan of your wounded heart; your every sigh, and cry, and prayer--falls as distinctly on Jesus' ear as if you stood beside His throne, or, nearer still, lay with John on His bosom, and felt the beating of His heart against your own!

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

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As you tear yourself from the encircling arms of the enchantress!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

"She caught him by his cloak and said, 'Come to bed with me!' But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house!" Genesis 39:12

Let me warn you that such a holy life as the text enjoins, is impossible to all but those who are on their guard against the beginnings of evil. Take alarm at an evil thought, wish, or desire! These are the germs of sin--the floating seeds which drop into the heart, and finding in our natural corruption a fat and favorable soil, spring up into actual transgressions. These, like the rattle of the snake, or the hiss of the serpent--reveal the presence and nearness of danger!

The experience of all holy men proves that sin is most easily crushed in the bud--and that it is safer to flee from temptation than to fight it. Fight like a man when you cannot avoid the battle--but rather flee than fight.

Be afraid of temptation--avoid it--abhor it!

Let your answer, as you tear yourself from the encircling arms of the enchantress, and seek safety in flight--be that of Joseph's: "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God!" Genesis 39:9

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The greatest fool in the world!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

Sin is the greatest folly--and the sinner the greatest fool in the world! There is no such madness, even in the most degraded lunacy.

Think of a man risking eternity and his everlasting happiness--on the uncertain chance of surviving another year!

Think of a man purchasing a momentary pleasure--at the cost of endless pain!

Think of a dying man living--as if he were never to die!

Every Christian looks back upon his unconverted state, and says with Asaph, "I was foolish and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You!" Psalm 73:22

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Sin is their mother--and these are her hateful progeny!

(Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)

Men often talk of poverty, misfortune, disease, and bereavement, as evils. Yet there is no radical evil in this world, but sin. If you still persist in calling other things evils, remember that sin is their mother--and these are her hateful progeny!

No sin--no suffering!

No sin--no sorrow!

No sin--no death, no grave, no Hell!