# A Religion of Realities



## MW (Aug 26, 2011)

Hugh Martin (The Abiding Presence, Knox Press, pp. 173-175):

Would you have a _real_ religion? – a religion, not of airy shadows and mere thoughts; not of pious dreams and sacred theories; not of cold creeds and abstract speculative reasonings; but a religion, real, in which your soul shall rest as on a solid rock; or (to change the figure) in which your soul shall feed as on a solid and substantial repast; or, again, in which your soul shall clothe herself with armour as real as the warrior’s mail; or, once more (without a figure) in which you shall find justifying righteousness as real as your sin, and grounds of hope in your death as valid as your too real grounds of fear?

You need a religion such as this. Your present state in this world, and your prospects beyond it, render such a religion indispensable. Your sin is real. Temptation is real. Difficulty, perplexity, affliction, sorrow, are real – all too palpably and painfully real. And, O how real is death! – death as it comes, whether to yours or to you! And then, behind all – yon great white throne!

Oh! you need a plea as real as the sin to be forgiven, and as the sentence of death to be reversed. You need a pardon as real as that throne before which you will have to plead it.

I beseech you by the mercies of God that you content yourself with nothing less than a religion of realities. Do not dream about theories and thoughts, however accurate and good. But grasp the solid things of the Spirit of God, the things which are freely given you of God; and which (as coming from Him) are no empty phantoms truly, but the undeceiving and exhaustless realities which He has prepared for them that love Him. Ah! seek a real atoning sacrifice and a real forgiveness of sin thereby – a real justifying righteousness and real acceptance therein – a real title to heaven and a real preparation for it. Nor need you fear to miss them if you seek them. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly.”

But, remember, if you seek these things, that they become real to you – real in your perception of them, and in your reception of them – only by your receiving the Spirit. It is He that redeems your religion from all unreality. It is He that fills divine doctrines to you with the varieties of which they speak. It is He by whom you know the things that are freely given you of God. It is He that takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto you and makes them yours. For it is he who leads you through the Son even unto the Father’s bosom – that boundless bosom of redeeming love, where your forgiveness is not a theory but a fact, being there your Father’s real and eternal purpose of forgiving grace, the secret of the Lord which is now with you because you fear him. There your religion is real indeed. There you taste and see that the Lord is good.

Reactions: Edifying 1


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## derekf_2000 (Aug 27, 2011)

Morning, Pastor Matthew,

It's Sunday morning here and I read the above before going to church. It really helped me prepare my heart for worship and I have kept a copy for my journal.

Thank you so much

Derek


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## No Name #5 (Aug 28, 2011)

This is sensational; gets you right where it matters. I don't see how anyone could read it and not be immediately brought to God on their knees. I'm saving it and using it to evangelize with later. Left me absolutely breathless.


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## a mere housewife (Aug 28, 2011)

Rev. Winzer, I was wondering what this is taken from?


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## dudley (Aug 28, 2011)

Thank you Rev. Matthew Winzer, my PB brother in Christ. I have thanked God to have found a religion, real, in which my soul shall rest as on a solid rock; in which I have found find justifying righteousness in knowing my salvation is secured by the gift of faith which was granted to me by the grace of God when I was born again by professing my faith in Christ alone. 

By accepting the scriptures and the true Gospel as the final authority . I am reminded by this post this morning that I found a true faith and religion in the Reformed Protestant faith and as a Presbyterian. I thank almighty God for that wonderful gift to me. Thank you Matthew for this post. 

In faith, 
Dudley


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## MW (Aug 28, 2011)

a mere housewife said:


> Rev. Winzer, I was wondering what this is taken from?



It is taken from the Mother's Journal, 1860, pp. 33-34. I imagine it was derived from another source but I've searched in vain for an original.


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## a mere housewife (Aug 28, 2011)

Thank you, Rev. Winzer. The quote sounded similar to things he said in _The Abiding Presence_, but it seemed to have a somewhat different thrust; and I wasn't sure if it was just my memory malfunctioning.


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## MW (Aug 28, 2011)

a mere housewife said:


> Thank you, Rev. Winzer. The quote sounded similar to things he said in _The Abiding Presence_, but it seemed to have a somewhat different thrust; and I wasn't sure if it was just my memory malfunctioning.



"The Abiding Presence" is where I thought I had seen it also. I will have to give it another look through.


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## MW (Aug 28, 2011)

The original reference is "The Abiding Presence," pp. 173-175 (Knox Press ed.). I have edited the OP to include it.


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## Pilgrim Standard (Aug 30, 2011)

Thank you Pastor Winzer for posting this.


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## Sviata Nich (Aug 30, 2011)

Very humbling, thank you for sharing.


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