Predicament

“ I abhor the doctrine of predestination, a doctrine, upon the supposition of which, if one could possibly suppose it for a moment, (call it election, reprobation, or what you please, for all comes to the same thing,) one might say to our adversary, the devil, “Thou fool, why dost thou roar about any longer? Thy lying in wait for souls is as needless and useless as our preaching. Hearest thou not, that God hath taken thy work out of thy hands; and that he doeth it much more effectually? Thou, with all thy principalities and powers, canst only so assault that we may resist thee ”

“ The New Testament idea of preaching involves three elements—the announcement of joyful tidings; the proclamation of truth as by a herald, urgently and authoritatively; and the conviction and persuasion of men to belief by means of arguments. The preacher is the ambassador of God, and the message must be delivered as coming from Him, in His name, and by His authority.
2. Admonitory.—“Warning every man” (ver. 28) . Sin has placed man in imminent peril, and its tendency is to deaden his sensibilities and render him oblivious of his danger. ”

“ By its immense206 number of specific precepts for particular relations and circumstances, revelation gives correctness, minuteness, and fulness of application to the general principles of duty asserted by the moral sense. In manifold cases the conscience would be in the dark, or have only obscure or partial view, without the instruction and guidance thus supplied. Scarcely a situation or emergency in life can be named for which precept and counsel have not been given. When the sun rises the eye sees not only farther, but more minutely and with more certainty. ”

“ In the Old Testament predestination is not to character or fate, to salvation or its opposite, to eternal life or eternal punishment, but to service, or some particular form of service, for God and man. ”

“ Faithful and beloved friends! You know that I faithfully instructed you for a long period, preaching to you the word of God without heresy and without errors, as you are aware: further, I always sought your salvation; I seek it now, and will seek it unto death. I had resolved to preach to you before starting on my journey to Constance, and in particular to declare to you the false testimonies and the false witnesses who gave evidence against me. ”

“ For preaching is not a profession; but a work of divine appointment, to be rightly discharged only by him who receives a commission from God, and fulfils it as under his eye, and in dependence upon his promise, Lo, I am with you alway.”
PREDESTINATION, according to some, is a judgment, or decree of God, by which he has resolved, from all eternity, to save a certain number of persons, hence named elect. Others define it, a decree to give faith in Jesus Christ to a certain number of men, and to leave the rest to their own malice and hardness of heart. ”

“ I will promise those who feel thus that they will never enter the celestial Kingdom of our Father and God. That is my business. It is my business to preach the truth to the people, and it will be my business by and by to testify for the just and to bear witness against the ungodly. ”

“ Many a preaching has God wared upon thee, but ere long God's judgments shall be as frequent as these precious meetings were, wherein he sent forth his faithful servants, to give faithful warning of the bazard of thy apostacy from God, in breaking, burning and burying his Covenant; persecuting, slighting and contemning the gospel; shedding the precious blood of his saints and servants! God sent forth a Welwood, a Kid, and a King, a Cameron, and a Cargil, and others, to preach to thee; but, ere long, God shall preach to thee by fire and a bloody sword! ”

“ THE PREACHER'S TECHNIQUE
"What skill doth every part of our work require, and of how much moment is every part! To preach a sermon, I think, is not the hardest part; and yet what skill is necessary to make plain the truth, to convince the hearers; to let in the irresistible light into their consciences, and to keep it there, and drive all home; to screw the truth into their minds, and work Christ into their affections ”

“ Although the life or salvation of a man, or the ruin of the state, should depend upon it, what is discovered in confession cannot be revealed. The secret of the seal—confession—is more binding than the obligation of an oath. ”

“ The doctrine of the high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election; so shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel. ”

“ Here is the ultimate secret of authoritative preaching—a first-hand knowledge, never inert and static, never dependent merely on remembered episodes, shining and decisive God-encounters long ago, but always dynamic and developing, always with insight added to insight, and wonder piled on wonder, from the moment when you first gird on your armour for the fray, until the last sermon is preached and the long campaign is over and your work on earth is done. ”

“ See how the sin of falsehood and deception runs riot there! How does the Lord look down and behold his Commandment broken every hour! We may judge what an age we live in, when truth, the guardian and preserver of all that is good and pure, is so little regarded. ”

“ The word “prophesying” in the New Testament signifies not only the prediction of future events, but the instructions of men inspired by the Holy Ghost, teaching Christian doctrines, revealing or explaining mysteries, exhorting to duties, consoling the sorrowing and afflicted. It is what we understand by preaching. It is not so much the prediction of events that are future, as it is the proclamation of duty that is instant. However exalted the believer may be in spiritual experience, however rich in faith and charity, it is still his duty to attend to preaching. ”

“ Surely one needs be no great philosopher to see that all which is wanting to give authority to the argument from prophecy, is, That we have reason to admit the delivery of a prediction—that we have reason to admit the completion of it—and that we have reason to think the agreement between the prediction and the event not fortuitous. ”

“ When the Lord wishes to give a revelation to His people, when He wishes to reveal new items of doctrine to them, or administer chastisement, He will do it through the man whom He has appointeth to that office and calling. ”

“ This great and perpetual office of the preacher is not discharged. Preaching is the expression of the moral sentiment in application to the duties of life. In how many churches, by how many prophets, tell me, is man made sensible that he is an infinite Soul; that the earth and heavens are passing into his mind; that he is drinking forever the soul of God? ”

“ Thus, the preacher who has doctrine—i.e., who uses the doctrine given him by God, and diligently preaches it, and communicates it to others;—doctrine and words, which he may speak and preach, will never fail him, for God will suggest them. ”

“ Now while the Apostle disputes from the promises to the gifts promised, he disputes from the testimony to the things testified, which kinde of argumentation he doth sufficiently intimate, when he puts things promised in stead of the promise. And the things promised are thus explained; 1. In general, by two adjuncts, that they are exceeding great and precious, that is, neither concerning small things, or things of little moment, nor concerning things that we have nothing to do with, or are little to be esteemed by us, but things of exceeding great weight, and of exceeding great price. ”

“ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17) .
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. ”

“ Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, by the word preached. Which is committed unto me. The ministry is a trust; none taketh this honour, but he who is thereunto appointed; and whoso is appointed and called must preach the word. 1 Cor. ix. 16, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Nonpreaching ministers are none of the apostle's successors. According to the commandment of God our Saviour. Preaching is a work appointed by a God as a Saviour. ”

“ To the law and testimony ought to be our Motto as Christians or believers in a divine revelation. If any of our religious opinions be contrary to scripture, we are bound by our regard to their authority to abjure them. ”

“ When, indeed, one remembers that the most striking practical application to life of the doctrine of objective certitude has been the conscientious labors of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, one feels less tempted than ever to lend the doctrine a respectful ear. ”

“ If any one will take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also; Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain, that they are, speaking generally, matters of counsel, not of direct precept; but if the salvation of our neighbour and the glory of God require them to be done, then they are of precept. ”

“ If God were not more mindful of his promises than we are of his precepts we should be undone. Our best pleas therefore in prayer are those that are taken from the promise of God, the word on which he has caused us to hope, Ps. cxix. 49.
2. He pleads the relation wherein of old they stood to God: "These are thy servants and thy people (v. 10) , whom thou hast set apart for thyself, and taken into covenant with thee. Wilt thou suffer thy sworn enemies to trample upon and oppress thy sworn servants? If thou wilt not appear for thy people, whom wilt thou appear for?" See Isa. ”

“ The facts on which revelation is predicated are unlike every thing of which we have any positive knowledge." "Of the truth of this proposition," you say I "must be sensible." You must indulge me, sir, in saying that you have made a mistake. I am insensible of the correctness of your statement. The FACTS on which the Christian faith is predicated, are of that description which come within the observation of the outward senses of men. ”

“ Now, what the Lord said in general of all the precepts of the law, that we have no occasion to seek beyond ourselves for the knowledge of them, but that they may be all accomplished in our heart and in our mouth, may more particularly be said of the precept of prayer, which is, as if the first and the most essential of all. ”

“ Help thy servants to say, with thy grace assisting them: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.
45 We know that thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy prophets terrible things concerning the wicked, in the last days—that thou wilt pour out thy judgments, without measure;
46 Therefore, O Lord, deliver thy people from the calamity of the wicked; enable thy servants to seal up the law, and bind up the testimony, that they may be prepared against the day of burning. ”

“ God's truth is set forth in sermons, and shewn in the preacher's life: with rather less exactness, but with sufficient truth, and with admirable suggestion, we may say that God's truth is set forth in the good life of a preacher, and shewn in his sermons. ”

“ What shall we do to advance the glorious cause of truth make ourselves useful, and fulfil the measure of our creation upon the earth? I answer, it is for us to be obedient, hearken unto the counsel of our parents and leaders, to keep the commandments of God. ”

“ PREDESTINATION. Synonyms:
Predestination is a previous determination or decision, which, in the divine action, reaches on from eternity. Fate is heathen, an irresistible, irrational power determining all events with no manifest connection with reason or righteousness; necessity is philosophical, a blind something in the nature of things binding the slightest action or motion in the chain of inevitable, eternal sequence; foreordination and predestination are Christian, denoting the rational and righteous order or decree of the supreme [283] and all-wise God. ”

“ For if foreknowledge signifies approbation, as it does in several parts of Scripture, then we confess that predestination and election do depend on God's foreknowledge. But if by God's foreknowledge you understand God's fore-seeing some good works done by his creatures as the foundation or reason of choosing them and therefore electing them, then we say that in this sense predestination does not any way depend on God's foreknowledge. ”

“ The work of the Old-Testament prophets was not only to foretel future things, but to warn the people concerning sin and duty, and to be their remembrancers concerning that which they knew before. And thus gospel preachers are prophets, and do indeed, as far as the revelation of the word goes, foretel things to come. Preaching refers to the eternal condition of the children of men, points directly at a future state. ”

“ So it is evident that the work of confession is nothing else than an occasion by which God is called to the fulfilment of His own promise, or by which we are trained to believe that we shall without doubt obtain the promise. ”

“ May God bless you, my brethren and sisters and friends, with his Holy Spirit, and give you faith in him, and in his revelations, that you may be led to do his will while you live upon the earth. But whether you live to be thus favored or not, my testimony is that they will have their fulfilment. ”

“ In an old book of morals we find the precept, "In relating anything extraordinary it is better, in case of doubt, to be within rather than beyond the line of fact"—a somewhat half-hearted precept this! ”

“ For the words of the apostle are the confession, not of the common herd, but of the eminently pious, just, and holy men: "If we say we have no sin, we [Pg 19] deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ”

“ I am pleased with the privilege of standing before the Saints to bear my testimony to the truth and to express some of my thoughts pertaining to eternal life. The knowledge of the truth should be prized by all Saints. ”