JM
Puritan Board Doctor
A man may err by carelessness; a man may err by over-carefullness. A man may "will and run", and err. A man may tempt God by heedlessness, or rashness, or indolence; "The foolishness of man perverteth his way; and his heart fretteth against the Lord." (Prov. 19:3) O the narrow way!
"By the word of God, and by prayer," by which, to the elect, the temporal and providential gifts of God are sanctified, is meant, not merely the letter of the word of Holy Scripture, but the hidden grace, sensibly experienced power, and felt value of the incarnate Word, in the soul, through the energy of the ever-blessed Holy Spirit. Unregenerate Calvinists, and Arminians, and such like, forget this, or rather, never knew it. Nor shall they ever know it, except through a work of divine grace on their souls, to their regeneration and conversion from the error of their ways.
I have sometimes felt one look with my eye to put all my sensibly felt re*ligion away instantly. O the difficulty of being enabled to please God!
A godly person has, not only like the Canaanitish woman, (Matt. 15:22) to call himself a dog, but also a fiend, in the greatness of his humility, fear of God, self-abasement, sense of sin, and terrors of God! "Jesus was asleep in the hinder part of the ship." A sense of this, when the winds and waves are high, threatening destruction, or a sense of God as a consuming fire; these things in the soul, make a vessel of mercy shriek out in his soul, "Lord, I am a dog and a fiend."
The gift of divine and spiritual humility is one of God’s greatest gifts to the ransomed soul, in the predestinated conformity to Christ Jesus’ image. Then the God-Man "riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." (John 13:4,5) "The Lord resisteth the proud." (James 4:6) Yes, and He ever will resist their pride, too! blessed be His name for it! And let such see how much good their pride will do them in the battle, with the Lord God Al*mighty for their Antagonist. "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty," (Psa. 131:1) said David, in some degree weaned from his viperous pride.
John Kay A Few Thoughts
"By the word of God, and by prayer," by which, to the elect, the temporal and providential gifts of God are sanctified, is meant, not merely the letter of the word of Holy Scripture, but the hidden grace, sensibly experienced power, and felt value of the incarnate Word, in the soul, through the energy of the ever-blessed Holy Spirit. Unregenerate Calvinists, and Arminians, and such like, forget this, or rather, never knew it. Nor shall they ever know it, except through a work of divine grace on their souls, to their regeneration and conversion from the error of their ways.
I have sometimes felt one look with my eye to put all my sensibly felt re*ligion away instantly. O the difficulty of being enabled to please God!
A godly person has, not only like the Canaanitish woman, (Matt. 15:22) to call himself a dog, but also a fiend, in the greatness of his humility, fear of God, self-abasement, sense of sin, and terrors of God! "Jesus was asleep in the hinder part of the ship." A sense of this, when the winds and waves are high, threatening destruction, or a sense of God as a consuming fire; these things in the soul, make a vessel of mercy shriek out in his soul, "Lord, I am a dog and a fiend."
The gift of divine and spiritual humility is one of God’s greatest gifts to the ransomed soul, in the predestinated conformity to Christ Jesus’ image. Then the God-Man "riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." (John 13:4,5) "The Lord resisteth the proud." (James 4:6) Yes, and He ever will resist their pride, too! blessed be His name for it! And let such see how much good their pride will do them in the battle, with the Lord God Al*mighty for their Antagonist. "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty," (Psa. 131:1) said David, in some degree weaned from his viperous pride.
John Kay A Few Thoughts
