The Coming Andrew MurrayThe Ministry of IntercessionForasmuch as Each Man is a Part of the Human Race1. 7. "Whatever concerns me," says he, "the Lord will perfect.". Then is the moment to choose whether or not we will live in the presence of God; then when the finger of conscience is pointing to Him and saying, "He is looking at you. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? For if God's exhaustive knowledge of the human heart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in another. This is what we need to impart interest to life. To Dominicus, Bishop. This is a prayer which you and I may well bring before God, whose workmanship we are. We become unconscious of everything by long use. II. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." G. T. Shedd, D. D.: One of the most remark. The Lord Will Perfect That Which Concerns Me. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy right hand shall save me."--PS. ad probam IV. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)God's presenceArchbishop Temple. The simple question, then, which meets us is, Wilt thou know thyself here, and now, that thou mayest accept and feel God's pity; or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until beyond the grave, and then feel God's judicial wrath? We become unconscious of everything by long use. Take heed unto me and hear me; how I mourn in my prayer and am vexed.--Psalm iv. ad probam IV. Take heed unto me and hear me; how I mourn in my prayer and am vexed.--Psalm iv. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN MIGHT, BUT DOES NOT, KNOW OF HIMSELF. Thomas AquinasOn Prayer and The Contemplative LifeEpistle Xlvii. To Dominicus, Bishop. "Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever; Forsake not the works of thine own hands." 2. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage [1454] . The simple question, then, which meets us is, Wilt thou know thyself here, and now, that thou mayest accept and feel God's pity; or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until beyond the grave, and then feel God's judicial wrath? 17, 18). He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. 19 III. We have received with the utmost gratification the letters of your Fraternity, which have reached us somewhat late by the hands of Donatus and Quodvultdeus, our most reverend brethren and fellow-bishops, and also Victor the deacon with Agilegius the notary. A History of the Half-Way Covenant. "I dwell with him that is of a humble and contrite heart, to revive the heart of the contrite ones."--ISA. But whatever does really concern me, and especially my soul's full salvation, I am sure the Lord will perfect. If we had such a window we should pray for shutters, and should keep them closed.God omniscientWeekly Pulpit. A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. And though we thought that we had suffered loss from the tardiness of their coming, yet we find gain from their more abundant charity; seeing that from this delay in point Saint Gregory the Greatthe Epistles of Saint Gregory the GreatThe Coming Revival"Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?"--PS. Verse 18: And Jesus will rescue me from every evil dead. The text, however, itself, is its own guard. "You saw me before I was born. Now do all of you who are just beginning life put yourselves and all your circumstances into God's hand and there leave them. It is a simple question of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, where the blood of Christ "freely" flows, or in the future world, where "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin."(W. 24).(W. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of friendship; on this account God willed to create all men out of one, in order that they might be held in their society not only by likeness of kind, but also by bond of kindred. We have received with the utmost gratification the letters of your Fraternity, which have reached us somewhat late by the hands of Donatus and Quodvultdeus, our most reverend brethren and fellow-bishops, and also Victor the deacon with Agilegius the notary. Therefore the first natural bond of human society is man and wife. There is no reason to mourn a son as lost who is a religious, still less to fear for his delicacy of constitution. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life Leo the GreatWritings of Leo the GreatHow those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN MIGHT, BUT DOES NOT, KNOW OF HIMSELF. I will ask you three questions suggested by the words themselves, and according to your answer to these three questions, shall be Charles Haddon SpurgeonSpurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859Question of the Contemplative LifeI. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius John Edgar McFadyenIntroduction to the Old TestamentLinksPsalm 138:8 NIVPsalm 138:8 NLTPsalm 138:8 ESVPsalm 138:8 NASBPsalm 138:8 KJVPsalm 138:8 Bible AppsPsalm 138:8 ParallelPsalm 138:8 Biblia ParalelaPsalm 138:8 Chinese BiblePsalm 138:8 French BiblePsalm 138:8 German BiblePsalm 138:8 CommentariesBible Hub, (1)Heaven. 13-16).4. He compasseth man's path, and his lying down, and is acquainted with all his ways. But if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then certainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. This is one of the most famous statements in the Old Testament, and rightly so because it expresses the heart of a great spiritual leader at the end of his life. He may be an uncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul may escape his notice; nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he arrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it; that he analyzes every sentiment as it swells his heart; that he scrutinizes every purpose as it determines his will; even if he should have such a thorough and profound self-knowledge as this, God knows him equally profoundly and equally thoroughly. A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up the eye in adoration and in hope. How shall we learn to walk by His side? 23, 24). The brilliant searchlight sweeping the broad ocean and revealing even the smallest craft on its surface is but a faint type of the Eternal Light from which no sinner can hide his sin. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. As Romans 8:28-30 says: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. In the day when I cried Charles KingsleyOut of the DeepWherefore a Few Witnesses, which the Lord Deigns to Suggest to My Mind32. Said Milton, speaking of his travels abroad when a young man: "I again take God to witness that in all places where so many things are considered lawful, I lived sound and untouched from all profligacy and vice, having this thought perpetually with me, that though I might escape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God."4. Why should not we have like confidence? Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? The thought will flash across us that God sees us. So we cannot but -. Chapter i. He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. "And among all the people" to say it another way "I will be glorified." So to see, to apprehend, and to reckon with his holiness (and, in some sense, to perceive it) is to see glory and, thus, to glorify him. He must be prepared for the Kingdom that has been prepared for him Saint Bernard of ClairvauxSome Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of ClairvauxThat the Ruler Should be Always Chief in Action. Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God, or in the Consideration St. God has made us so. You can speak to a dry hopeless situation and the spoken Word can effect a change (Ezekiel 37:1-10). The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops promotes the greater good which the Church offers humankind, especially through forms and programs of the apostolate fittingly adapted to the circumstances of time and place. The daily prayer in the closet, the endeavour to keep the attention fixed when praying with others, either in our regular services or in family worship. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple St. There is no reason to mourn a son as lost who is a religious, still less to fear for his delicacy of constitution. The word, "me," in the text, cannot be appropriated by any man, unless he, in some respects, resembles the character of David, who penned this psalm. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. Hence Paul Leo the GreatWritings of Leo the GreatSense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son. To Dominicus, Bishop. This Psalm is a Psalm of David. In the day when I cried Charles KingsleyOut of the DeepWherefore a Few Witnesses, which the Lord Deigns to Suggest to My Mind32. And this perpetual though not always conscious sense of God's presence would, no doubt, if we would let it have its perfect work, gradually act on our characters just as the presence of our fellow-men does. We cannot get away from God's presence. 5. How shall we learn to walk by His side? Darby Translation Jehovah will perfect what concerneth me: thy loving-kindness, O Jehovah, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands. )God and ourselvesW. We have received with the utmost gratification the letters of your Fraternity, which have reached us somewhat late by the hands of Donatus and Quodvultdeus, our most reverend brethren and fellow-bishops, and also Victor the deacon with Agilegius the notary. the regular habit of reading the Bible at a fixed time, the occasional reminders of ourselves that God is looking on, these are our chief means of learning to remember His presence. 1. The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of God's presence so perpetually at hand that it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted. Lectionary texts. And this will generally be just when we are tempted to do wrong, or perhaps just when we are actually beginning to do it: some secret sin of which no one knows or dreams perhaps, some self-indulgence, which we dare not deny that God condemns. [2105] And these without all controversy we take to be humble. We do not agree with Momus, neither are we of his mind who desired to have a window in his breast that all men might see his heart. Some are too small and some too distant. xviii. To Dominicus, Bishop. S. Thomas, On the Beatific Vision, I., xii. To reveal the supreme interest of human life. The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words. Then is the moment to choose whether or not we will live in the presence of God; then when the finger of conscience is pointing to Him and saying, "He is looking at you. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. 19-22).3. (Admonition 23.) It is a simple question of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, where the blood of Christ "freely" flows, or in the future world, where "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin."(W. In short, to live with God is to be perpetually rising above the world; to live without Him is to be perpetually sinking into it, and with it, and below it. Were man to scale the azure vault overhead, it would only confront him with the Divine personality; were he to sound unimaginable depths in the other direction, the result would be the same. Hilary of PoitiersThe Life and Writings of St. Hilary of PoitiersPsalmsThe piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It is perfectly plain from the elevated central point of view where we now stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be justified before God upon the ground of personal character; for that character, when subjected to God's exhaustive scrutiny, withers and shrinks away. And lest the presence of God should be too much for us, Christ has taken human nature on Him, and has provided that He will be always with us as long as the world shall last. This Psalm is a psalm of David. God has made us so. And so, as I thought and prayed about what I might bring to you in these wonderful days, I was drawn by the Holy Spirit . (4)In the dark as well as the light.3. But, and if the religion you have received is the work of God, then be certain that He who began the work will perfect it. But yet there is another, not less powerful than any, which deserves special mention. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me. 2. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy right hand shall save me."--PS. (Admonition 23.) Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? These included visiting the second longest beach in the world called