To the puritan, all things are impure. But to the pure, all things are pure.
A man is to be head of his house, not lord of it.
God's sovereignty and mans responsibility are like two parallel lines but they seem to converge
in the distance.
He, (Jesus) never ceased to be who he was by what he became.
The Christian is in the world but not of it.
He, (Jesus) was a real man but not a mere man.
To be like him (Jesus) where he was, I must have a link with him where he is.
Religion is for those who do not want to go to hell. Christianity is for those who have been there.
"Weak is the effort of my heart and cold my warmest thought,
But when I see thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought"
(J. Newton)
It is impossible to build happiness upon someone else's misery.
I will not weep that Spring is past and Autumn shadows fall,
These years although advanced, shall be the loveliest of all.
(I have carried the above with me for so many years that I cannot now accurately
attribute them to a particular person)
How is it that the Lord Jesus is fitted to be our High Priest?
It is what he was upon earth, not what he is now as a Priest that has fitted him for such a position. “Such
a High Priest became us” the Scripture says.
He has gone through all the trials and difficulties of a Godly and perfect man upon earth. He has known
every possible difficulty that a Godly man can find in his path in this world and all the trials too.
He suffered and as the Scripture says “Was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin”.
The scripture speaks of him “offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” such were
his feelings and “though he were Son” the scripture tells us, ”he learned obedience through the
things that he suffered”.
Why did Christ have to learn obedience?…Because it was his to command. He commanded everything through all eternity. I have to learn obedience because I have a wicked heart and and Will: He had to
learn it because even as a man he never ceased to be who he was “God over all' and therefore
obedience was new to him.
So we see him waiting for instructions morning by morning and he was put through all the difficulties
and trials that we could possibly go through right up to the cross and the enduring the wrath of God so
that we might never have to.
So what if I find difficulties and trials by the way?
Well, I now have this same person interceding for me. He has known how a soul can be comforted in its
time of trial so he pleads for me before his Father and intercedes even when I do not ask him to do so.
There is not a step of my life when God is not thinking of me and when I fail the all Divine persons act together to restore my soul.
He has trodden the path that we have to tread although in the suffering about our sins he was entirely
alone. Even God forsook him then.
J.N. Darby
How can I know that I have the Holy Ghost?
Do you fancy that God dwells in me, and I shall not find it out?
If He (Christ) dwells in you, let us see him in you
J.N. Darby
Nowadays, a great deal of current Christianity is characterised by knowing Christ after the flesh.
I remember when I was converted, all the Christians I met, were like people outside, and trusting they would be alright when they got in, instead of being already inside .
Before He could clear us from our sins, He must deal with God about them; He must die
and be "made sin" for us.
Our weakness and our dependence, and the trials and exercises which we go through here, find an echo in Christ's heart, and they become thus a link between our hearts and His.
J.N. Darby
