Blueridge Believer
Puritan Board Professor
"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted? Isa. 2: 22.
This precious text my dear Lord preached to my heart, day after day, upwards of twenty years ago; when it first pleased him to make me happy in his love: though not then, yet I have seen abundant cause for it. That soul is in good health, that can say, I am sick of sin, sick of men, and sick of myself. The Lord is teaching us this lesson day after day: it is a hard one to flesh and blood. For we are naturally prone to look to, trust in, and depend upon an arm of flesh. But this is to depart, in heart, from the Lord: a curse is denounced upon this, (Jer. 17: 5.) Consider, man’s breath is in his nostrils. The best of men are subjects of sin, and liable to the stroke of death: the breath that promises you to-day, ere to-morrow’s drawn, may be vanished into air, and all your hopes blasted: the arm of flesh, which to-day is strong and stretched forth in your service, tomorrow may be stiff in death, all your expectations buried in the grave of despair, and you left in disappointment and vexation. Whereof is man to be accounted? in his best estate he is altogether vanity. “Cease ye from man.”—Yea, from professors too. You are in danger of being hurt by them also: I have, and therefore speak from experience. Here is our danger; we are apt to think too high of ministers and professors. Even St. Paul cautions against this: “Lest any man think of me above that which he seeth me to be.” (2 Cor. 12: 6.)"
William Mason
This precious text my dear Lord preached to my heart, day after day, upwards of twenty years ago; when it first pleased him to make me happy in his love: though not then, yet I have seen abundant cause for it. That soul is in good health, that can say, I am sick of sin, sick of men, and sick of myself. The Lord is teaching us this lesson day after day: it is a hard one to flesh and blood. For we are naturally prone to look to, trust in, and depend upon an arm of flesh. But this is to depart, in heart, from the Lord: a curse is denounced upon this, (Jer. 17: 5.) Consider, man’s breath is in his nostrils. The best of men are subjects of sin, and liable to the stroke of death: the breath that promises you to-day, ere to-morrow’s drawn, may be vanished into air, and all your hopes blasted: the arm of flesh, which to-day is strong and stretched forth in your service, tomorrow may be stiff in death, all your expectations buried in the grave of despair, and you left in disappointment and vexation. Whereof is man to be accounted? in his best estate he is altogether vanity. “Cease ye from man.”—Yea, from professors too. You are in danger of being hurt by them also: I have, and therefore speak from experience. Here is our danger; we are apt to think too high of ministers and professors. Even St. Paul cautions against this: “Lest any man think of me above that which he seeth me to be.” (2 Cor. 12: 6.)"
William Mason
