George H. Morrison's Old And Beautiful Devotions

[nChrist]

September 14

Filled with the Spirit - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place— Act_2:1
Be filled with the Spirit— Eph_5:18

Pentecost Was a Great Day for the Church

That the day of Pentecost was a great day for the Church is one of the plainest facts in Christian history. It is described, and not inaptly, as the Church's birthday. Up till that hour we were separate individuals putting their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have Nicodemus and Zacchaeus and Martha and Mary and the Magdalene. But now in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have separate individuals drawn together into the fellowship of faith and worship.

It Was Also a Great Day for the Disciples

But if Pentecost means a great deal for the Church, it also meant much for the disciples. There is a true sense in which we may regard it as the great day, even the birthday, of their lives. Just as for Paul there ever stood out one day when he had met with Christ on the Damascus road, just as for Luther there ever stood out one day when there had rung on his ear that "the just shall live by faith," so for the disciples, through all their after-history with its journeyings, its persecutions, its service, and its martyrdom, there stood out clear and definite the day of Pentecost. And it was not the excitement of the day that made it memorable, for they had passed through many an hour of high excitement. Nor was it the outward miracle of tongues of fire, for they had witnessed far greater miracles than that. What made it memorable was the profound overwhelming change within them that had been wrought by the ascended Christ when He filled them with the Holy

Pentecost for the Disciples Was Not the Beginning of Discipleship

We are to notice, then, that this filling with the Spirit was not the beginning of discipleship. These men had been disciples, loyal disciples, long before the day of Pentecost. With one exception, they had all been called by Christ in the days of His humiliation And they had heard the call, and followed Him, and shared in the unspeakable blessing of His intimacy. And they had gone apart into a desert place with Him and listened to all the riches of His wisdom, and then on that night on which He was betrayed, they had sat as His guests at the communion table. Nay, more, they had seen Him in His resurrection, and He had breathed on them the Holy Spirit then. He had come among them in the upper chamber and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And yet with all that wonderful experience of Christ as Teacher, Savior, and Friend, they were still waiting for a larger blessing. That blessing came to them beyond all question, and our text tells us when it came. It came when the day of Pentecost arrived, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. It was then that they were changed down to the depths, and it was then that everything was changed for them. They were new men, in a new universe, after the filling with the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian Ought to Be Filled with the Spirit

Now one cannot look abroad upon the Christian Church today without becoming conscious of the fact that multitudes of men and women have never reached the experience of Pentecost They too, like the disciples, have heard the call of Christ, and, like the disciples, have obeyed the call. And He has taught them, and He has breathed upon them, and they own Him sincerely as Prophet, Priest, and King And yet, with all their allegiance to the Lord and all their trust in Jesus as Redeemer, they have never known that Pentecostal blessing that makes a man in Christ a new creation. They have never been filled and flooded by the Spirit They have never been mastered by the living Christ. They have never felt themselves as empty vessels into which Christ was pouring grace and power. And so their lives, however loyal and dutiful and however blessed in their willing service, are not the Christ-filled and Christ-empowered lives that are the peculiar creation of the Gospel. For Pentecost, as I understand the Scripture, is not a mere matter of Church history. It is a privilege which every believer ought to claim. it is a blessing which every believer ought to have. Pentecost is the filling with the Spirit, and we are commanded in Scripture to be filled with the Spirit, just as plainly as we are commanded there to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

=============================See Page 2

[nChrist]

Filled with the Spirit - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

The Holy Spirit Changes Our Spirits

With that remark, then, I proceed to ask what change did Pentecost work in the disciples, and in the first place we shall observe how mightily it changed their Spirit. As a simple matter of historical fact, that hour in the upper chamber of Jerusalem gave a new heart and a new outlook to every member of the company. It was not that it led them to believe in Christ; they had believed in Christ for many a day. It was not even that it led them to love Christ; for one had cried, "Thou knowest that I love Thee." But it was that in the filling with the Spirit, everything was so vitalized and vivified that old beliefs seemed new men shadowy as dreams and they felt themselves in a new world. Before Pentecost they had been uncertain; after Pentecost they bore unfaltering witness. Before Pentecost they had been dimly groping; after Pentecost they were in full assurance. Before Pentecost they had been afraid and gathered in silence not knowing what might happen; and after Pentecost, like Christian knights, they were ready for battle with the world. When you contrast that quiet upper chamber with its door shut against intruding feet, with its seclusion, with its shrinking from publicity, with its avoidance of the big and bitter world, when you contrast that scene with the scene that immediately follows it of men aflame and fearless and heroic facing the crowd, lifting up their voices, coveting the opportunity of preaching— I say when you contrast these scenes and think that both belonged to the same day, you know that something mighty had occurred. And it was not anything outward or spectacular, such as a shaken house or tongues of fire. It was the promised fullness of the Holy Spirit filling every nook and every cranny of these rich natures that had been prepared for it by faith in Christ and fellowship and prayer.

The Fullness of the Spirit Belongs to Every Believer.

So when to any man who names the name of Christ there comes in the goodness of God the hour of Pentecost, in him there is repeated this old miracle and he knows himself a new creature in Christ Jesus. He does not become a believer, for he had through many a believed cloudy day. Nor does he then begin to love his Savior, for he has truly loved Him and striven to obey Him. But, filled now with the Spirit of Him who lives, everything is energized and vitalized, and his old faith, in which he sought to serve, seems shadowy and unsubstantial as a dream. Now comes the time of which the apostle speaks in that magnificent chapter, the eighth of Romans, "The law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death." So the old conflict is practically ended, and peace reigns and liberty and joy, "Not by might and not by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." All this in a magnificence no words can utter, is the purchased inheritance of every Christian. No man who names the name of Christ should rest till he receives that fullness of the Holy Ghost. And sometimes God leads His children by strange ways, and by dark and devious and humbling paths, that He may bring them in His infinite mercy to the full blessing of the day of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit Gave the Disciples a Fuller Comprehension of the Truth

The second thing we must observe is this, and it is equally evident with what I have now said. It is how mightily the day of Pentecost the disciples apprehension of the truth. Not only did it affect changed their nature, but it had a profound effect on their comprehension of the truth, Now we should have expected that it would be so, for they had the promise of Jesus that it would be so: When he, the Spirit of truth, is come he shall guide you into all truth and again, as if to interpret that great promise, "He shall take of mine and shew it unto you"— He shall take of what you have all seen and heard in Me and shall shew you what it really means. If ever a promise was literally fulfilled, brethren, it is that promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. For, as a simple matter of historical fact, that is precisely what Pentecost achieved. It did not teach the disciples any new truth, but it brought to their remembrance all the old; it so quickened it and showed its meaning that it became a gospel for the world. You read the sermon that Peter preached on the morning of the day of Pentecost, and there is not a thought in it but you shall find embraced in the teaching and the life and death of Jesus,. And yet to think of Peter preaching that before his filling with the Holy Spirit is a thing that is utterly incredible. Think of John not knowing what spirit he was of, then go and read the Epistles of St. John. Think of Peter crying, "I go afishing," and then go and read the First Epistle of Peter. Something has happened— something mighty and wonderful has happened. And that something so mighty and so wonderful is the promised fullness of the Holy Ghost.

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[nChrist]

Filled with the Spirit - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

The Holy Spirit Creates in Us an Infallible Spirit

And so when a Christian man comes to his Pentecost, he too shares in the promise of his Lord. The Spirit not only makes him a new creature, but He guides him into all truth In that great experience of blessing, a man is not taught what he did not know before. The life of Jesus, His death, His resurrection— all that he has long known and studied. But when the promised Spirit is vouchsafed all that, and all the doctrine it involves, becomes so living and so intensely real that it is grasped as it never was before. The Spirit witnesseth with our spirit, and in that twofold witness we have a great assurance. Taught by the Holy Ghost, we apprehend what intellectually we failed to grasp. We find in our own experience the truth of what we had read for many a year in Scripture, and reading, had striven humbly to believe, on the authority of the Word of God. Now we no longer struggle to believe. Now, to disbelieve would be impossible. The outward witness of the Word of God is confirmed by the inward witness of the Spirit. And we need no argument to prove the truth nor any commentary to explain it to us. It is within us a living, mighty thing through the blessed indwelling of the Holy Ghost. What does a man want with an infallible church who has that infallible witness in his heart? The only fallible church is in the soul which is illuminated by the Holy Spirit let a man seek the authority of councils when he is still groping and wandering in darkness. He will never seek it, and he will never need it, when God in His mercy has brought him to his Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit Gave the Disciples New Power to Serve

And then, lastly, I ask you to observe what is also equally and singularly evident. It is how Pentecost, coming to the disciples, mightily changed them in their power for service. Not only did it revivify their natures; not only did it illuminate their minds; it gave them an actual power for service such as they had never had before. Of course they had all been used before; they had been used from the hour when they were called. From the very beginning of their following of Jesus they had been honored to be the Master's instruments. Long before a man has come to Pentecost he may have faith as a grain of mustard seed, and Christ has told us what a man can do if he has a faith like that. Let not a syllable fall from my lips to disparage the earlier toils of these disciples. Would God that you and I were found as faithful as they were in the Galilean ministry. And yet think of that earlier ministry, and them compare it with the later ministry, and it is all as moonlight unto sunlight and as water unto wine. Think of the mighty effects of Peter's sermon— three thousand were converted in one day. Think of the churches that sprang up and grew in the teeth of the most terrific oppositions. Think of the Gospels and letters that they wrote that came with such power to a dying world and which the world will not willingly let die. My brother, it was not the atonement that did it. It was not the resurrection or ascension, It was the Holy Spirit taking the atonement and making it a mighty thing It was the day of Pentecost that gave the power, and that too had been foreseen by Christ, for "Tarry ye here." He said to His disciples, "till ye receive power from on high..

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

September 17

Peter and John before the Council

The priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus— Act_4:1, Act_4:2, Act_4:13

Miracle and Sermon Distasteful to the Rulers

An old writer has said that a miracle was like the bell before the sermon, it caught the attention of the people and brought them together for the preaching of the Word. Now that was true of the miracle at the Gate Beautiful. As with the summons of some clear-toned bell, it brought a vast congregation to the disciples. And in the closing part of the third chapter, we have the sermon that Peter preached to them. But the miracle and the discourse which followed it were very abhorrent to the ruling powers. They thought that they had triumphed over Jesus, and here was His cause more visible than ever. Peter and John were apprehended instantly. They were going to the Temple and were taken to prison instead. I think that Peter and John sang hymns that night as lustily as Paul and Silas did at Philippi. Then in the morning they were led before the rulers. The council of state was set, and they were stationed in the midst of it. And they were asked (as if the questioners did not know) by what authority or name they had done this. Peter, briefly, respectfully, and manfully, declared that the power had been the power of Jesus. He showed his auditors how prophecy was fulfilled. He declared that there was no salvation out of Christ. And though to the hearers this was hateful doctrine and though they would willingly have silenced it forever, yet there was the lame man— lame no more— among them, and that was an argument not to be gainsaid. What could be done? Was there no help for it? Could none devise means for stopping the rising tide? That most august and venerable council revealed their impotence in the course they took. They laid a charge on Peter and on John that the name of Jesus was not to pass their lips. They might as well have charged the breaking sea to cease its thundering when the tempest blew. Peter and John were bound to disobey. Even as Jews, must they not be loyal to God? So they were loosed, and being loosed, they went (as we all do) to their own company (Act_4:23).

Ready to Envy Others' Influence

Now the first thing that arrests us here is this, how ready we are to envy others' influence. You would have thought that the Pharisees and priests, having the interests of their land at heart, would have been heartily glad to get a lame man healed. You would have thought that they might have argued like this, "Whoever did it is a secondary matter; the great thing is that suffering has been ended, so let us all give thanks to God for that." Instead of that we read that they were grieved. They were heart-harassed; they were quite sick with envy. If one of their own rank had wrought the miracle, it had been well. But it was all wrong when Peter and John did it. Do you think that that spirit has quite died away? Sometimes we call that spirit party-spirit, but in its essence it is nothing less than envy. It would have been sweet if we could have done this or that, but—someone else has done it and it is torture. We must remember that God has many instruments. We must pray and struggle for a new humility. We must take as our spiritual motto that "God fulfils Himself in many ways."

You Can Tell Who Has Been with Jesus

The next thing that we observe is this, there is no mistaking one who has been with Jesus. When they saw the boldness of Peter and of John, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That is not the mere statement of a fact of history. It does not mean that it dawned on the council then that these men had been in Jesus' company. John was on friendly terms with the authorities, and I fancy that all of them had heard of Peter. It means that when they saw the boldness of the two, they recognized the spirit of Jesus Christ. Like a flash, the demeanor of Christ upon His trial rose up before them; it was He who spoke through the two prisoners. There is no mistaking one who has been with Jesus. He may speak out as Simon Peter did, or like John he may not open his lips, but the world has an instinct for the Master's presence and can tell when a man has truly been with Christ. I dare say you have all heard the eastern story of the lump of clay that exhaled an exquisite fragrance. And when someone asked it how it smelled so sweet, it replied that it had been lying near a muskrose for days. There is an unmistakable fragrance in a life that dwells continually near the Rose of Sharon.

Loyalty to God Our First Duty

Again this noble truth breaks from these verses, that loyalty to God is our first duty. It must have been hard for Peter to disobey the council. I think it would be harder still for John. They were both Jews both steeped in Jewish feeling, nor had they lost their reverence for Jewish rule. Now comes the moment of crisis in their history. They are faced by the greatest choice to which a man is called. On the one hand is the past— the world— authority. On the other hand is the clear will of God. We know what Peter and John chose in that hour. It was very simply and very quietly done. Yet the future would have been far different for them both, and the story of Christendom would have been altered, had they swerved from the will of God in that decision. We can never tell the issues of our choices. They reach far further than we ever dream. We only know that when we choose as Peter did, we may leave the future with John's and Peter's Lord. The scene reminds us of Luther at the Diet, refusing to comply or to retract, and saying "Here stand I. I can do nought else. God help me. Amen."

Factual Demonstration of the Resurrection

Lastly, we mark this in the story, the great arguments for a risen Christ are facts. It was not the preaching of Peter that silenced the council. It was the presence of the man who had been healed. It was a man, touched by the power of heaven, who was the sure witness of an ascended Lord. It is by facts that we prove the resurrection. It is by the long history of Christendom. It is by the experiences of countless hearts that are inexplicable save for a living Christ. Men may deny that rising from the dead. They may think it is but an idle tale. But when they behold the man who has been healed, like the Jews they can say nothing against it.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

September 18

Peter and John before the Council

The priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus— Act_4:1, Act_4:2, Act_4:13

Miracle and Sermon Distasteful to the Rulers

An old writer has said that a miracle was like the bell before the sermon, it caught the attention of the people and brought them together for the preaching of the Word. Now that was true of the miracle at the Gate Beautiful. As with the summons of some clear-toned bell, it brought a vast congregation to the disciples. And in the closing part of the third chapter, we have the sermon that Peter preached to them. But the miracle and the discourse which followed it were very abhorrent to the ruling powers. They thought that they had triumphed over Jesus, and here was His cause more visible than ever. Peter and John were apprehended instantly. They were going to the Temple and were taken to prison instead. I think that Peter and John sang hymns that night as lustily as Paul and Silas did at Philippi. Then in the morning they were led before the rulers. The council of state was set, and they were stationed in the midst of it. And they were asked (as if the questioners did not know) by what authority or name they had done this. Peter, briefly, respectfully, and manfully, declared that the power had been the power of Jesus. He showed his auditors how prophecy was fulfilled. He declared that there was no salvation out of Christ. And though to the hearers this was hateful doctrine and though they would willingly have silenced it forever, yet there was the lame man— lame no more— among them, and that was an argument not to be gainsaid. What could be done? Was there no help for it? Could none devise means for stopping the rising tide? That most august and venerable council revealed their impotence in the course they took. They laid a charge on Peter and on John that the name of Jesus was not to pass their lips. They might as well have charged the breaking sea to cease its thundering when the tempest blew. Peter and John were bound to disobey. Even as Jews, must they not be loyal to God? So they were loosed, and being loosed, they went (as we all do) to their own company (Act_4:23).

Ready to Envy Others' Influence

Now the first thing that arrests us here is this, how ready we are to envy others' influence. You would have thought that the Pharisees and priests, having the interests of their land at heart, would have been heartily glad to get a lame man healed. You would have thought that they might have argued like this, "Whoever did it is a secondary matter; the great thing is that suffering has been ended, so let us all give thanks to God for that." Instead of that we read that they were grieved. They were heart-harassed; they were quite sick with envy. If one of their own rank had wrought the miracle, it had been well. But it was all wrong when Peter and John did it. Do you think that that spirit has quite died away? Sometimes we call that spirit party-spirit, but in its essence it is nothing less than envy. It would have been sweet if we could have done this or that, but—someone else has done it and it is torture. We must remember that God has many instruments. We must pray and struggle for a new humility. We must take as our spiritual motto that "God fulfils Himself in many ways."

You Can Tell Who Has Been with Jesus

The next thing that we observe is this, there is no mistaking one who has been with Jesus. When they saw the boldness of Peter and of John, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That is not the mere statement of a fact of history. It does not mean that it dawned on the council then that these men had been in Jesus' company. John was on friendly terms with the authorities, and I fancy that all of them had heard of Peter. It means that when they saw the boldness of the two, they recognized the spirit of Jesus Christ. Like a flash, the demeanor of Christ upon His trial rose up before them; it was He who spoke through the two prisoners. There is no mistaking one who has been with Jesus. He may speak out as Simon Peter did, or like John he may not open his lips, but the world has an instinct for the Master's presence and can tell when a man has truly been with Christ. I dare say you have all heard the eastern story of the lump of clay that exhaled an exquisite fragrance. And when someone asked it how it smelled so sweet, it replied that it had been lying near a muskrose for days. There is an unmistakable fragrance in a life that dwells continually near the Rose of Sharon.

Loyalty to God Our First Duty

Again this noble truth breaks from these verses, that loyalty to God is our first duty. It must have been hard for Peter to disobey the council. I think it would be harder still for John. They were both Jews both steeped in Jewish feeling, nor had they lost their reverence for Jewish rule. Now comes the moment of crisis in their history. They are faced by the greatest choice to which a man is called. On the one hand is the past— the world— authority. On the other hand is the clear will of God. We know what Peter and John chose in that hour. It was very simply and very quietly done. Yet the future would have been far different for them both, and the story of Christendom would have been altered, had they swerved from the will of God in that decision. We can never tell the issues of our choices. They reach far further than we ever dream. We only know that when we choose as Peter did, we may leave the future with John's and Peter's Lord. The scene reminds us of Luther at the Diet, refusing to comply or to retract, and saying "Here stand I. I can do nought else. God help me. Amen."

Factual Demonstration of the Resurrection

Lastly, we mark this in the story, the great arguments for a risen Christ are facts. It was not the preaching of Peter that silenced the council. It was the presence of the man who had been healed. It was a man, touched by the power of heaven, who was the sure witness of an ascended Lord. It is by facts that we prove the resurrection. It is by the long history of Christendom. It is by the experiences of countless hearts that are inexplicable save for a living Christ. Men may deny that rising from the dead. They may think it is but an idle tale. But when they behold the man who has been healed, like the Jews they can say nothing against it.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

September 19

Elective Affinity - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And being let go, they went to their own company— Act_4:23

After a Miracle, a Sermon, an Arrest and Release from Prison

The healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful of the Temple had stirred an intense excitement in Jerusalem. Like the church bell which summons people to church, it had attracted a crowd to the disciples. And Peter, who never saw a crowd but he longed for the opportunity to preach to it, began to preach— there were about five thousand gathered— and many of his hearers were converted. The priests and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees were very indignant at this powerful doctrine. They put an arrest on Peter and John and committed them to prison for the night, and the next day they had them out and examined them on their authority for this miracle. We know how bravely and nobly Peter answered: what a change from that night of denial before Calvary! We know into what a sorry pass the council came: they threatened Peter and John, and let them go. So by the narrative of facts we reach our text, "And being let go, they went to their own company."

When We Are Released from Our Particular "Prisons"

I wish, then, to spiritualize our text, for it seems to me to be full of rich suggestion. It hints at facts which lie very near to us, and which are worthy of our observation. None of us are prisoners in a literal sense. We are not immured in the dark or damp of dungeons. The age of persecution in its barbaric forms has fled from our land of liberty forever. But for all that there are shackles which still bind us, and we are under many constraints from day to day, and it is true of us as of Peter and John that being let go, we go to our own company. Like the carrier pigeon which, freed from it cage, wheels for its bearings and then starts for home; like the mountain stream which the little child may dam but which when released goes hurrying to the sea— so all of us are subject to constraint, but being let go, we go to our own company. That is the thought on which I wish to dwell.

When Freed from Home

First, then, I think of the constraint of home. It is the earliest pressure which we know. In the years when we are climbing towards maturity, we are in the sweetest of all earth's imprisonments. We are engirded by love then and by a father's ordering. We have to yield our wills up to another's will. It is not the child who chooses or decides; it is the father and the mother who do that. But the day comes when a young man leaves home. Like Peter and John in our story, he is let go. He has to face the world now on his own resources, and the day of authority and of command is over. It is in such a time, when the restraints are gone which were the safety and the strength of home, that a man steadily goes to his own company. What were the thoughts that were smoldering and burning under the gentle but firm constraint of home? What kind of life was being lived in secret under the quiet routine and through the family worship? What sort of ideal was glimmering and forming of which the mother knew absolutely nothing? It is not their liberty that wrecks men— what we call wreck is often revelation— it is the kind of life which they have led in secret before the hour of liberty arrives. The bonds of authority are broken now. There is no will to consult but a man's own. So being let go, with many a "God bless you," and hidden tears and prayers to a father's God, for all that is noblest or for all that is poorest, men go to their own company.

The Prodigal

You know the parable of the prodigal son by heart. Did you ever think of the story in this light? I am sure you would never have guessed how vile that youth was if you had seen him living with his father. But no man becomes a prodigal in one swift hour. If he went to the harlots he had been dreaming of them. There was not a hillside and there was not a field at home but could have told stories of his unclean heart. Then came the tales of his wild life abroad, and his brother said, "I could not have believed it." But in the sight of God the riot was revelation; being let go, he went to his own company.

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[nChrist]

Elective Affinity - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Example: Jesus As a Boy

And you have often read of Jesus in the Temple. Did you ever think of that story in this light? Has it not been preserved for us out of these voiceless years because of its exquisite glimpse into that boyish heart? I doubt not that, as the companies turned homeward, other sons besides Jesus were missing from the crowd, and other mothers besides Mary of Nazareth went back to Jerusalem to look for them. And one would find her son among the soldiers, and another would find her son in the bazaars; Mary alone found her son in the Temple. As naturally as the sunflower to the sun, the heart of Jesus turned to that holy place. There was nothing on earth of such concern to Him as to ask and hear about eternal things. His mother thought that her dear son was lost, and she knew not where amid the crowds to find Him; but being let go, He had gone to His own company.

When Freed from Work

Again, I think of the constraint of work. There was a little book published some time ago with the attractive title Blessed be Drudgery, and I think that most of us, as the years pass, learn gladly to subscribe to that beatitude. What moods and whimsies does our work save us from! How it steadies us and how it guards us! If it were not for that bondage of our toil, how intolerable some of us should be to live with! I have known busy men who through the week would have scorned the very suggestion that they ailed, yet somehow they often ailed on Sundays. Of course there come seasons when such bondage irritates. We have all known how difficult it is in the summertime. When the cloudless mornings come and the shimmer of heat, and we hear the calling of field and lake and river, it is not easy then with quiet heart to get to the study and the office desk. But for all that, work is a wise constraint and a happy circumscription of God's finger, a narrowing of our way with such a hedge as will blossom into beauty by and by.

Where You Go after Work Shows Your Makeup

But being let go, we go to our own company. Every evening in a great city explains that. Men are imprisoned all day in the routine, but when the evening comes, they gravitate to their own. Here are three young fellows who work at the same desk. They are fellow clerks in the same city office. You will find all of them at the desk during the day; but the question is, where will you find them at night? You will find one of them in the dancehall, that most uninspiring of all haunts. You will find one at home with his few prized books around him, superbly happy in his Shakespeare or his Stevenson. You will find one down in the mission-hall, enthusiastic over his Boys' Brigade. What is your company? Where do you gravitate? When you can follow your own sweet will, where will it lead? Say to yourself when work is done tomorrow, "Being let go, I go to my own company"— and then thank God for it, or be ashamed.

When Freed from Self lnterests

Once more, and touching on more delicate matters, I think of the constraint of our self-interest. I speak of the bondage which everybody knows and which arises from our social system. No man is free, in an intricate society, to say and do exactly what he pleases. The most uncharitable people I ever met were the people who took pride in being candid. I grant you that in the heroic nature the thought of self-interest has hardly any place. But I am not talking about heroes now; I am talking of the average man in the average Christian city. And what I say is that he is so interlocked in this great mechanism which we call society that something of the rough and vigorous and outspoken liberty which characterized our forefathers is gone. It is expensive for the average citizen to speak out his whole mind. There are accommodations and compliance's and silences that are well understood on every exchange and market. And one of the hardest tasks for any man is to keep a clean conscience and an unsullied heart while bowing to those restraints of self which society or wise self-interest demands.

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[nChrist]

Elective Affinity - Page 3
by George H. Morrison

But that bondage is not a perpetual bondage. All are released from it in various ways. If action be fettered, thought at least is free, nor is there any veil by the fireside at home. Or it may be that when a man has made his fortune he feels that at last he can dare to be himself, for he no longer depends for his advancement on the kindly offices of any brother. The question is what are you then? What judgements do you pass by the fireside? Are you less courteous and kindly now that you are made, than in the years when your career was making? Being let go from social entanglement and from the grim and ceaseless pressure of self-interest, steadily and silently and surely men go like the apostles to their own.

When Freed from Evil Habit and Sin

Again I think of the constraint of evil habit. One of the most arresting of Christ's miracles is the curing of the Gadarene demoniac. In his isolation and in his lonely misery the man is a type of sin's separating power. He had been very happy once in Gadara; his wife had loved him, and so had his little children. He was well thought of in his little village, and the evenings were pleasant there when work was done. Then fell on him the curse that ruined him, wrecking his intellect and all his happiness and driving him apart from those he loved until that hour when he was faced by Christ. In that great hour it was farewell to bondage. His fetters were broken and he was a man again. Fain would he have followed his deliverer and shared the fortunes of his Galilean healer. But Jesus said to him, "Go home again. Thy wife has been praying for thee and thy children love thee." So being let go from the tyranny of sin, the poor demoniac went to his own company.

And that is always one of the plagues of sin. It separates a man from his own company. We may be under the same roof as our own company, and yet be a thousand miles away from them. There is a burst of temper, and then misunderstanding, and then the pride which will never ask forgiveness— and hearts that were fashioned in eternity for one another go drifting apart like ships upon the sea. Sin separates the father from the son. Sin separates the mother from her child. From all that is ours by birthright of humanity we are barred out by the tyranny of evil. And then comes Christ and gives us spiritual freedom, rescuing us from the bondage of the years, and being let go we go to our own company. For the best is our true company and not the worst. We were made for goodness; we were not made for evil. It is love and tenderness and purity and light which are the true society of a God-created spirit. So when a man is released from sin's imprisonment by the word and present power of his Redeemer, being let go, he hastens to his own.

When Freed from the Constraint of Life

Then lastly, I think of the constraint of life, for there is a deep sense in which this life is bondage. We are the children of immortality and not of time, and here we are cribbed and cabined and confined. Nothing is perfect here, and nothing rounded. We are not built to the scale of three score years. There is no such thing as ultimate success here; the only success is not to give over striving So are we fettered and hampered and imprisoned, and the bird is beating its wings against the bars; but when death comes, the spirit is set free, and being let go, it travels to its own. Did you ever think of eternity like that? It is an arresting and an awful thought. It is far wiser to think of it like that than to go about saying you do not believe in hell. I never read that even Judas went there. I read that Judas went to his own place. Being let go by his own act of suicide, he went to his own company— the rest is silence. God grant us all such love for what is good, such kinship of heart with the brave and the pure and the lowly, such secret comradeship with all who are wrestling heavenward in the living fellowship of Jesus Christ, that when death comes and the prison doors are opened and we go to our own company at last, we may go to be forever with the Lord.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

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[nChrist]

September 20

Philip and the Ethiopian

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert— Act_8:26

God Removed Philip from the Middle of Evangelistic Success

Philip was in the full tides of work for Christ when the message came from God that he must leave it. He had been preaching in Sebaste, the old city of Samaria, and his preaching had been crowned with wonderful success when suddenly there came the angel of the Lord with this summons to get southward towards Gaza. It was a strange command, swiftly and well obeyed. There was nothing of the spirit of Jonah about Philip. Perhaps Philip remembered Jesus in the desert and thought he was going to meet his Master there. Then came the hour when the chariot rolled by. It was a very picturesque and lordly equipage. Its occupant was the chancellor of the Nubian exchequer, and he was reading aloud, as the Eastern custom is. A few broken syllables fell on Philip's ear in the brief respites of the jolting and the jarring, and Philip (to whom the Old Testament was doubly precious now) recognized the priceless chapter of Isaiah. Did he remember the prophecy of the psalms, "Ethiopia soon shall stretch out her hands to God" (Psa_68:31). Here was the stretched-out hand of Ethiopia, and God had so ordered it that it was not stretched in vain. Philip ran up to the side of the chariot— it was going very slowly on that rough desert road. He asked the courtier if he understood the chapter. The answer came, "How can I, without a guide?" And the passage closes with the preaching of a Savior, and with the conversion, baptism, and joy of this true seeker from afar for God.

From Crowds to an Individual: the Value of an Individual

Note then the value of a single soul. It must have seemed very strange and dark to Philip that he should be summoned from his Samaritan work. The tide was with him; enthusiasm was heightening vast crowds were moved by the preaching of Christ crucified. It would have been hard to leave all that through sickness; it was doubly hard to do it when well and strong. Could no one else be found for that desert work? Was it right to leave the thousands in Samaria for the single chariot of a southern courtier? I am sure that Philip had many a thought like that, for he was a man of like passions with ourselves. Then gradually it would grow very clear to him that a single soul must be very dear to God. He would remember how the shepherd had left the ninety and nine that the one sheep in the desert might be found. From that hour on to the day he died, Philip held fast in all his work for Christ to the infinite worth, in the eyes of Christ, of one. We must never forget that in a busy city. Where God is, we are not lost in any crowd. We are separately precious and separately sought. In the love of Jesus we all stand alone. One by one we are found and led and humbled till the day break and the shadows flee away.

Disappointed in Jerusalem, the Courtier Did Not Quit

Again observe that the earnest do not despair when disappointed. There is something very noble in this courtier. There is a touch of true greatness in the man. In a heathen court and with everything against him, his life had grown into a great cry for God. Somehow, he had got his hands on the Old Testament. Never a Jewish trader came to Meroe but the chancellor had earnest converse with him until at last nothing would ease his heart but the resolve to journey to Jerusalem. The Temple was there, and the priests and scribes were there—would he not learn all that he craved for there? And now he is returning homeward, a weary, baffled, disappointed man. He had craved for bread— they had given him a stone. He had cried, like Luther when he first saw Rome, "Hail, Holy City"; and the holy city had brought no solace to him. How many a man, in such a disappointment, would have cast his Scripture to the winds of heaven? But the eunuch was of another mould than that. His was too great a heart to nurse despair. He must still seek; he must still read; he must still study. He was deep in Isaiah on that desert road. And it was in that hour when his journey seemed so useless and his hope was quenched and his heart was sick and weary— it was then that he stepped into the light of Christ. We must remember there are disappointments in all seeking There come times when we all seem baffled in our quest. We are tempted to ask, What is the use of it? Is it worth while? Had we not better give in? We are often brought to the point of losing heart. In such moods recall the Ethiopian. He would still hold to it in spite of all failure. And on the day when everything seemed vain, the footsteps of the dawn were on the hills.

God Ordained What He Thought a Chance Meeting

Then lastly, God is behind many a chance meeting. I think that the driver of this Nubian chariot was not a little startled to see Philip; it was an unlikely place to light on any traveler. And when he got home to the stables of his master and told the story by the fire at night, all would agree that this accidental meeting had been one of the strange chances of the road. But we know that the meeting was not that. The hand of God had ordered and prepared it. It had been arranged for in the plans of heaven, though it seemed an accident to the dusky charioteer. We must believe that it is often so. Our friendships and comradeship's do not begin haphazard. We seem to be thrown across each other's path, but the hand of God has been ordering the way. Two people meet— we call the meeting chance. But life will be different evermore for both. It were well to strike out chance from our vocabulary, and in its place to put the will of God.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

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(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
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of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
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[nChrist]

September 21

The Revelation of Duty

Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.— Act_9:6

Sudden Conversion but Gradual Revelation

The first thing to be taught us in these words is how duty is gradually revealed. Our blessed Lord, in His knowledge of our hearts, never overloads His revelations. It is characteristic of the great apostle that he should instantly react on his experience. Vitality is measured by reaction— when we fail to react, then we are growing old—and Paul, vital to his fingertips, instantly reacted to the Lord— "Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do? Tell me now. Make my future plain. Show me the service I can render Thee, and I shall do it even to the death." And it was then that Jesus answered him, "Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee there what thou must do." Suddenly was Paul converted. Gradually he learned what that involved. Paul found that illumination of the soul is different from illumination of the future. Step by step, duty after duty, each faithfully taken and performed, was the road to his service and his victory.

Obey As to Your Next Duty

That lesson which the apostle learned is one secret of victorious living still. The next duty is the key to everything. When the future is dark to us as it was dark to him, when we cannot discern the larger will of God, when we want to be used and cannot find the road, when we are dubious of our capacities, always for us as for this great apostle there is a present and commanded duty on the doing of which everything shall hinge. Often it is a very lowly duty, and that is where so many people fail. Dreams may be spun upon the looms of God, but remember that dreams may be our traitors. We dream of voices, heavenly voices, crying to us, "Arise, do big things worthy of your powers"; and the voice on the Damascus road is crying, "Arise and go into the city." Had Paul not gone, he would never have learned his mission. He learned it by obedience. He learned it by unquestioning acceptance of the first dull thing that was demanded. And whatever the particular service be that God has in store for anyone of us, we learn it just as the apostle did. Service is gradually given. Duty is gradually shown. Do the thing that is demanded now, and out of that the vision shall emerge. It was a poor, dull thing for that illumined soul to go tramping on another mile or two, but it led him to the service of his life.

New Vision for the Old Environment

The other profound lesson of the words is that new vision is for old environment. Converted, changed in his whole being, Paul has to step out on the old road. To Damascus the apostle had been journeying when he set out to persecute the Church. Then came the flood of new life within him and the overwhelming experience of conversion. And the beautiful and Christlike thing is this, that Paul was not swept into any new surroundings but bidden to hold on the old road. Wert thou making for Damascus, Paul? To Damascus thou art still to go. There is no new path for thee across the hills. There is nothing but the old familiar highway. Resume it. Set thy face to it again. Take up and prosecute thy interrupted journey. The new vision is for the old environment.

Shining in the Familiar Environment

Now that is a lesson we do well to learn if we want to handle life aright. For the old roads never seem so dusty as after some great stirring of the heart. There are long periods when we are content. We are happy in the daily round. We are satisfied with our nutshell, unlike Hamlet, because we have no dreams. But then some day to us there comes the vision— the light that never was on sea or land— and there is born the passion to escape. It may come when the glow of youth is burning, or when the beauty of the world has caught us, or when love has wakened with its divine unsettlement, or when the chair is empty and the grave is full. Who has not felt in seasons such as that the longing that arises in the heart to have done with the road that is leading to Damascus? It is not easy to go quietly on then. It is not easy to get back to duty. We hate the drudgery— it is intolerable— we crave a more congenial environment. And it is then that to our restless hearts Christ comes as He came that noonday to St. Paul, saying, "Arise and go into the city." He does not offer us a new environment. Vision is not given for new environment. It is given that we may take the glory of it and shine it on the old and the familiar. It is given that the common round, the irksome and unceasing drudgery, may be illuminated and transfigured.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
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(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
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[nChrist]

September 22

The Blindness of Vision - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

When his eyes were opened, he saw nothing— Act_9:8

It Was When His Eyes Were Opened That He Could See Nothing

Blinded by the flash of light from heaven, the apostle was flung prostrate on the ground. It was then that the Savior said to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me." For a little space his eyes were shut, as eyes instinctively shut in self-defense. That flash of light from heaven would have blinded him had it burst on the unguarded eyeball. And then in a moment or two the apostle rose and looked around him and scanned the heavens above him, and when his eyes were opened he saw nothing. Half an hour before he had seen everything: the road, the palms, the gleaming city walls. Now he saw nothing— no human face nor form— no battlement— no cloud upon the sky. And the singular thing is that this loss of vision, this forfeiting of the sweet sight of things, came to him when his eyes were opened.

Now that is a very remarkable conclusion; we are tempted to say it is absurd. It is so different from what we might have expected as a consequence of the opening of the eyes. There was a young man once, in Old Testament times, who was sorely frightened by an Assyrian army. And the prophet, in pity for him, prayed to God, "Lord, open the young man's eyes that he may see." And when the eyes of that young man were opened he saw a sight to make any coward brave, for the mountain was full of the chariots of the Lord That is the fitting consequence of vision. It reveals to us what we never saw before. It shows us in common hearts unlooked-for things and in common scenes an undiscovered glory. But here, on the road to Damascus, and at midday, it is the very opposite which meets us; when his eyes were opened he saw nothing The question is, in our own life' s experience is there anything analogous to that? Is there any opening of the eyes which leaves us with a vision forfeited? That is worthwhile pondering a little.

A Little Knowledge Blinds Us

In the first place, let us think of nature and of all that the world of nature meant to men once. There was a bygone time when nature was alive; when every wood had its dryad or its faun:

Rough satyrs danced, and fauns with cloven heel

From the glad sound would not be absent long

Such was the outlook of man on nature once. It was all haunted by mysterious life, in every spring, in every whispering forest, in every glade where shadows lay and lengthened. The great god Pan was moving with his music where the brooklets and the summer winds were calling, and sometimes he was nearer than they knew. Well, all that of course had had to go. Increase of knowledge has banished it for ever. No school child believes in fairies now. And I suggest, to those who have ears to hear, that there are thousands for whom a little knowledge just means that when their eyes were opened they saw nothing.

When We See the Larger Life, We Become Blind to Little Grievances

Putting the matter in another light, suppose we think of the little frets of life, of the little pinpricks and unkindness which most people experience as they journey. There are folk who brood upon such things as these, until they practically see nothing else. They tend and water all their little grievances till their blossoms would take prizes at a show. And what I have noticed of such folk is this, that when through the mercy of God their eyes are opened, of all these little pinpricks they see nothing Their eyes have been opened to what real suffering is. They were only playing before at being miserable. Their eyes have been opened to that larger life which is always given us in Christ. And the beautiful thing about that life is this, that worries which were overwhelming yesterday, somehow have vanished so that we cannot see them in the love commended on the cross. Every rock and ridge is clear and glistening in the Highland burn when it is low. But when the summer rain falls or the winter snow, then they become invisible. And I have found it so in many a man's life when a new tide of being has possessed him; things that were sharp and hard and hurt him yesterday, somehow have become invisible today. "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us"— they felt the sting of it and thought that He was unfilial. But when their eyes were opened they saw nothing; that filial ingratitude had vanished. So when we see, many a thing vanishes; many a thing which hurt and fretted us, and met us everywhere, and barred the sunshine out, and silences all the music in the dwelling.

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[nChrist]

The Blindness of Vision - Page 2
by George H. Morrison

Years Dim Our Vision toward Things Once Admired

Does not the same thing often happen also with that opening of the eyes which the years bring? We experience it in many different ways. Here, for instance, is a child who thinks the world of a certain picture. It hangs on the wall of the nursery at home and is perfectly beautiful to him. It is only a rough and inartistic daub— a crude, gaudy, glaring oleograph — but to the child it is a joy forever. Then the years pass, and the little brain is educated, and these two little eyes are taught to see — taught to distinguish what is really beautiful from what is only a travesty of beauty— and then the child comes back to that old oleograph which long ago was a very heaven of gladness, and now that its eyes are opened it sees nothing. We can mark our progress by our growing vision. We can also mark it by our growing blindness. Not only do we see more as the years pass; if we are spending them rightly, we see less— less in certain books we thought the world of and in certain societies we held delightful and in certain characters we thought ideal. How many a madly infatuated girl had had the experience of our text. In spite of the warnings of a mother's love, she insisted on idealizing somebody. And perhaps she married him, and then her eyes were opened in the long dusty highway to Damascus, and when her eyes were opened she saw nothing— nothing of the manhood she had dreamed, nothing of the strength that she had conjured; nothing but selfishness where she had looked for service; nothing but coldness where she had looked for love. May heaven be very merciful to such on the desert-road when the ideal has vanished, for it is always a perilous season on life's journey.

When Your Eyes Are Opened, Old Philosophies Vanish

Then our text, as it seems to me, applies again to many of those messages with which the world is ringing. There are faiths and philosophies which vanish when you see. When the sun is shining on you and the world is beautiful, you go, for instance, to hear a certain preacher. You have never been plunged into the depths yet and have never felt your utter need of Christ. And the man is artistic, or he is intellectual, or he has the fire and passion of the orator, and you feel as if you would never want another message. My brother, if the sun were always shining, it may be that that message would suffice you. But this is a strange, grim world, with lightning flashes and storms that cry havoc and waves that cruelly beat. And when these days come and you feel your need of Christ and of an arm to lean on and a hand to save you, no charm of speech— no intellect nor artistry— can reach and grip and satisfy the soul. You want a power to hold you out of hell. You want a love that goes unto the uttermost. You want a heart on which to lean securely though the whole universe should fall in ruin. And whenever through trial and suffering and sorrow your eyes have been opened to see that, then in the fine artistic preaching you see nothing. Nothing to pluck you from the miry clay. Nothing commensurate with sin and hell. Nothing that can be heard across the battle, like the voice of the trumpet summoning to victory. That is why your old and chastened saints who have suffered and struggled, battled, conquered, fallen, feel sometimes that there is not a word for them in preaching which may be exquisite as music.

When the Eyes of the Disciples Were Opened, They Could Not See Jesus

I want also to say in passing that our text has got another application. It applies to the recognition which we give to men— too late. I think of two, long centuries ago, who were joined by a third as they journeyed to Emmaus. And though He opened the Scriptures to them till their hearts were burning their eyes were holden and they did not know Him. And then they invited Him in to share their evening meal, and in the breaking of the bread their eyes were opened, and they knew Him and He vanished from their sight. When their eyes were opened they saw nothing The One who was all the world to them was gone. There was the cup He had drunk from in their company, and there the couch on which He had reclined. Thou son or daughter, here in this church tonight, with a mother who loves thee with all a mother-love, see that thy recognition of her presence be not a gazing at vacancy like that. Thou takest her as a matter of course this evening Thine eyes are holden; thou dost not recognize. Thou dost not dream what pleasure thou couldst give by a little self-sacrifice for her who loves thee so. I bid thee awaken, while the days are flying lest when it is all too late and thou are motherless, thine eyes should be terribly opened and see nothing.

When Our Eyes Are Opened, We Cannot See Our Good Works

I close by suggesting that in the case of Paul, and in the case of many a man since Paul, this is what happens when through the Holy Ghost our eyes are opened to see that we are sinners. There was a Pharisee once who came up to the Temple, and he thanked God he was not as other men. He fasted and was an exemplary person; he was proud of all he was and all he did. And in that same temple was a publican whose eyes had been opened by the grace of God, and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. Nothing of all his fasting and his tithing nothing of all he had ever striven to do. His best was sinful. His life had been a failure. "God be merciful to me a sinner." My brother, when you see nothing, you see Christ. When you see that your best is rags, you see His riches. When you see at last that you have naught to plead, you are ready for all the gladness of His grace.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

September 23

Aeneas and Dorcas

And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints who dwelt at Lydda— Act_9:32

In the City, Peter Found One Who Needed Healing

When the fierce fires of persecution had died out, Peter set forth on a tour of visitation. He was eager to find how the churches had been faring Jesus was whispering to him, "Feed my lambs." He went from town to town and village to village, comforting, cheering and inspiring and it was in this tour that Jesus led him to the bedside of the palsied disciple in Lydda. Lydda was some thirty miles from Jerusalem on the high road from the capital to the coast. It is a little town that has had a strange and chequered history; its story is full of sieges and assault. Tradition tells us that St. George was born there— St. George, who fought with the dragon; but it is not through St. George, it is through St. Peter, that the name is so familiar to our ears. Aeneas, then, lived in Lydda, and Peter found him there (Act_9:33)— found him, I take it, because he was looking for him. It is the things we look for that we are quick to see, and Peter had won the eyes of Jesus now. If a Jewish merchant had come down to Lydda, he would have discovered much, but never Aeneas. It took a Christian missionary, filled with love, to find this sickbed and show it to the world. What do you find when you go to a strange place? What do you see when you travel in foreign countries? Is it only the mountains and the waterfalls and castles and the dresses so different from those at home? A Christ-touched spirit will see far more than that— it will see the need of saving and of healing The man of science finds new species of plants; the explorer finds strange customs and observances; but the apostle finds a certain man who has been eight years bedridden with the palsy. The boys who read Homer or Virgil have heard of another Aeneas. He was the hero and the champion of Troy. And once, when that Aeneas had been wounded, he was healed by the intervention of the gods. All that is fable; but this story is no fable. Peter said to Aeneas, "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." And his palsy left him that very hour, and he arose immediately.

Peter in Joppa Raises Dorcas and Stays with Simon the Tanner

A few miles from Lydda lay the town of Joppa, and Joppa was the seaport of Jerusalem. Those who have read Charles Kingsley's Heroes, and who remember how Perseus rescued Andromeda, will be interested in knowing that the old world believed that it was at Joppa that Andromeda was chained. It was here that the materials were landed which were used in the building of the Temple. And it was from the port of Joppa that Jonah sailed when he thought to fly from the presence of the Lord. Here, then, lived Tabitha called Dorcas, and Tabitha means gazelle. The gazelle was one type of beauty for the Jew. And whether Tabitha was beautiful in face or not, we all know that she was beautiful in character. Probably she had been a fine sewer as a girl; but in her girlish days it would be fancy work. The fancy work never became real work till the pity of Jesus touched her womanly heart. She was not a speaker; she never addressed meetings. I dare say she envied the ladies who could speak. But she learned that there was a service quite as good as that, and that was the service of a consecrated needle. In the glimpse which our verses give of Tabitha, we see how deeply and sincerely she was mourned. And we can picture the joy of many a home in Joppa when the news came that Tabitha lived again. The tidings traveled through all the town, we read, and many believed in the Lord. And then our passage closes with telling us that Peter lived for a long time with the tanner Simon. Do you know why the Bible tells us Simon's occupation? It is because the Jews thought tanning disgraceful work. No rigid and formal and self-respecting Jew would ever have demeaned himself by lodging there. And the narrative wishes to show us Peter's mind and how he was rising above Jewish prejudice, and how he was getting ready for the vision that we shall have to consider in our next lesson.
Peter in Raising Tabitha Imitates His Lord in the Raising of Jairus' Daughter
Now let us note the close resemblances between the raising of Tabitha and the raising of Jairus' daughter. Peter had never forgotten that memorable hour, and now he could not follow his Lord too closely. Peter had been boastful and self-willed and impetuous once; he had loved to suggest and dictate and take the lead. But now, with all the past graven on his heart his passion is to follow in Jesus' steps. Had Jesus put all the mourners from the room? Then Peter must be alone with Tabitha. Had Jesus said Talitha cumi? Then Peter will say Tabitha cumi. Had Jesus taken the maiden by the hand, and given her back again to her rejoicing friends? Then Peter will present Tabitha alive. The one point of difference that I find is this: our verses tell us that Peter knelt down and prayed. In that one clause there lies the difference between the work of Jesus and that of His disciple. For the power of Peter was delegated power. It was Christ who was working and to Christ he must cry. But Jesus was acting in His inherent sovereignty. In His own right He was Lord of life and death.

Three Little Lessons

Three minor lessons shine out from these incidents.

(1) We may witness for Christ even in making a bed The first sign of power demanded of Aeneas was that he should arise and make his bed. Now the words may not quite mean what we understand by them. His bed was a carpet and had to be stowed away. But they do mean that in a little act like that—the rolling up and disposing of a rug—a man may show that Christ has dealt with him. You remember the servant girl who was asked by Mr. Spurgeon what evidence she had to show that she was a Christian, and she replied that she always swept under the mats now. I dare say she never thought about Aeneas, but the two arguments for Christ are close akin. (2) The sight of a man may be better than a sermon. "All that dwelt in Lydda saw him, and turned to the Lord." And (3) We must help with our hand as well as with our prayer. When Peter was left alone beside dead Tabitha, we read that he kneeled down and prayed. Had he not prayed, he had not wrought the miracle. But when Tabitha sat up, wrapped in her strange garments that hampered her limbs and made it hard to move, then Peter gave her his hand and lifted her up. I wonder if he remembered how Jesus had said, "Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee," and then, on that wild night upon the lake, had put forth His hand and held him up? The heart and hand of Jesus had saved Peter. The heart and hand of Peter won back Dorcas. And it takes both the he art that prays and the hand that helps to bring the kingdom even a little nearer.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

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[nChrist]

September 24

Peter and the Angel

And behold, an angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shone in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands— Act_12:7

Plotting Versus Praying

At the time when Christianity was spreading and getting its first welcome in the pagan world, Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, began to persecute the disciples in Jerusalem. James, one of the three whom Jesus had drawn closest to Him, was sent to be with Christ (which is far better); and then to conciliate the Jews, who were mightily annoyed at Peter's traffic with the Gentiles, Herod had an arrest laid upon Peter also. Now Peter had broken prison before. It would never do that that should happen again. Sixteen soldiers were thereupon sent off to watch him, between two of whom (taken in turn) Peter was chained. Everything looked very black for Peter then. His execution after Easter seemed inevitable. The king was against him, and the guard of soldiers, and the thick walls and bolted gates of the prison. What could a little band of well-wishers effect in the teeth of great worldly powers like these? Had they been faithless, they would have taken to plotting; but being faithful, they took to praying instead. We can often accomplish a great deal more by prayer than by all the plots and plans that seem so clever. For on the night before his execution Peter was sleeping and dreaming perhaps of heaven in the morning, when suddenly the ward was filled with light, and Peter stood up to find himself at liberty. The angel of the Lord had come to him; it all seemed like a dream to Peter. They passed out under the open sky, and after going through one street, the angel left him. And then the passage closes in the house of Mary, and I am sure that no one in that house of Mary would ever doubt the power of prayer again.

No Squandering of Divine Power in Any Miracle

First note, then, that there is no squandering of divine power in any miracle. When Peter rose up, his chains fell from his hands. It took the power of heaven to do that. And as he passed from the first ward to the second and through the iron gate into the street, the way was opened by divine assistance. Peter was powerless to achieve his liberty, and God did what Peter could not do. Still, there were many things that Peter could do, and heaven did not interfere in these. He had to gird himself and bind on his own sandals and cast his garment about him and step out. God was ready to do His proper work, but nobody but Peter must do Peter's. Now, the point I want the reader to observe is the economy of power in Bible miracles. That is one mark of the authentic miracle in contrast with the cheap marvels of a corrupted Church. At Cana, Jesus used the water pots and called on the servants who were standing there. In raising Lazarus the stone had to be rolled away, but no word of Jesus made the stone remove. At the feeding of the thousands on the hillside, the provisions of the young lad were taken, and the food was distributed by human hands. No one could have supplied the wine but Jesus; no one else could have brought Lazarus to life; no one could have fed the famished thousands— if these things are to be done, Jesus must do them. But there, as here, there is much that man can do. There are helping touches that human powers may give. And in the very heart of every miracle where the divine power is most signally in exercise, we find that these human powers are employed. That is the spiritual side of the old proverb that God helps those who help themselves.

Angels Depart When Their Work Is Done

Next, note that the angels depart whenever their work is done. The angel led Peter out of the prison ward; he was too dazed to grope his way in the dark corridors. And then they passed on through one street together under the first flushing of the Easter sunrise. Meanwhile the chill air was striking on Peter, he was coming to himself in the still street. He heard his own footfall echoing in the stillness; he recognized this house and that. It took the swift walk through one street to do it— swift, for I don't think that angels ever lag. But by the time one street was traversed, Peter was cooled and steadied, and forthwith the angel departed from him (Act_12:10). Now, sometimes the angels leave us, for our sin. It would stain the whiteness of their wings to walk with us. We live so meanly and have such unworthy thoughts that we are not fit company for angels. But there is another doctrine of the departing angel. They leave us as they left Peter, for our good. It would be very sweet to walk beside an angel. We should be certain never to take the wrong turn. We should move on through all the streets of life with never a tremor, under that angel guidance. But then— why has God given us our faculties? And what is our reason for, and what our will? You may depend upon it these would never waken, nor grow into their strong and godlike fulness if the white wings were always on ahead. If manhood is to come, childhood must go. There is no liberty where the angel is. It is where the spirit of the Lord is that there is liberty. So we all pass out of that angel street, to think ourselves alone in the chill morning But we are not alone, for God is with us; and we shall reach the door we are seeking as did Peter.

Even Our Gladness May Become a Hindrance

Last, note that even our gladness may become a hindrance. When Samuel heard the voice of God in the sanctuary, he got up in the morning and opened the Temple doors. But when Rhoda heard the voice of Peter, she left the door shut in Peter's face. Was she afraid to open at that hour? Like the sister in Comus, she was too innocent to fear. She opened not the door for gladness. It was her joy that kept her from her duty. Joy, then, may sometimes hinder duty. Do we ever read of joy hindering faith? When the disciples were gathered together within closed doors and suddenly the risen Jesus stood in their midst, Luke tells us that they believed not for joy (Luk_24:41-45). Now, joy is a serious and holy thing. Christ wants us all to be sharers in His joy. But remember there is a joy that sometimes hinders duty, and there is a joy that sometimes hinders faith. May not that be the reason why in our spiritual life God sometimes has to take our joy away? It is so supremely essential that we do our duty; it is so imperative that we believe. Perhaps some mother, glancing at this page, thinks of the child she used to call "my joy." It may be a little plainer to her now why the flower was transplanted to the brighter garden.

____________________

George H. Morrison Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

September 25

The Angel and the Sandals - Page 1
by George H. Morrison

And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals.
And so he did— Act_12:8

Peter, the Prison-breaker

There is a vividness of detail about this story which assures us that facts are being recorded. No imagination, however lively, could have conceived the scene that is presented here. When a man has played a part in some great hour or been an eyewitness of some memorable action, there is a note in his telling of it, no matter how he blunders, which is better than all the periods of historians. And unless we be blinded by a foolish prejudice which deadens the literary as well as other faculties, we cannot but distinguish that note here. Peter had been in prison once before, and once before he had escaped miraculously. Now, having in their hands again this prison-breaker, the authorities were determined there should be no more miracles. But when prayer arises like a continual incense and when God puts out His mighty arm to help, "stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." Behold, the angel of the Lord came upon Peter, and a light shined in the darkness of the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, and the chains fell off from his hands and he was free. Then dazed with the sudden light as Peter was, thinking he dreamed and that his dream was idle, the angel said to him, "Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals."

Asleep the Night Before His Execution

These words are rich in spiritual suggestion. In the first place, they are the angel's argument that what had happened was actually true. Peter was fast asleep when the light shone; asleep, and it was the night before his execution. A man must have a very good conscience, or a very dead one, to be able to sleep on such a night as that. Then in a moment the cell was all resplendent, and the glory of it pierced the sleep of Peter, and he opened his eyes, and the visitant was there, and he was dazed and "dark with excessive bright." Was this a dream, and waking would be vain?— "Peter, bind on thy sandals, gird thyself. Art thou in doubt as to whether it is real? Employ the light I bring to tie thy shoe-latchet. Do not seek to handle me; do not inquire my name. Do not wait there wondering if it is all a dream. Gird up thy mantle and bind thy sandals on, and thou wilt speedily discover all is true." I do not think that Peter, however long he lived, would ever forget that lesson of the angel. Every morning as he stooped to tie his sandals he would say, "Even this may be an argument for liberty." Not by remarkable and striking proofs nor by the doing of anything uncommon, not in such ways was Peter made to feel that all that had happened to him was reality. It was by doing an ordinary deed— girding his cloak and putting on his shoes— but doing it now in the light the angel brought, a light that "never was on land or sea."

Using the Sight We Have in Ordinary Deeds

Now I think that that angel-argument with Peter is one that ought to be powerful with us all. There is no such proof that the new light is real as just the use of it for common deeds. We are all tempted to put things to the test in ways that are remarkable and striking We want to say to the puddle, "Be thou dry," as Bunyan did in his untutored youth. But the voice of the angel says to us, "Not so; but buckle thy mantle and bind thy sandals on, and prove in the quiet actions of today that the vision which shone on thee was not a dream." It may be a mighty proof of a man's patriotism that he is willing to drain his veins for his dear country; but to fight for that country's welfare day by day, in the face of abuse and slander, is a greater. It may be a mighty argument for love that one would lay himself down and die for Annie Laurie but to be courteous and kind to Annie Laurie daily is the kind of argument that all the angels love. (I refer of course to the refrain of the exquisite and anonymous song, "Annie Laurie" — "And for bonnie Annie Laurie; I'd lay me down and dee.") Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Use the light to tie the sandal on. Be a better father among your growing children. Be a better sister to your provoking brothers. I think that Peter would always have such thoughts when he recalled all that had happened in the prison.

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