Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen… It is to be feared that to many (so habitually unmindful are they of what they have been permitted to witness, both in the wider sphere of public and the more contracted one of private life) experiences are somewhat like the stern lights of a ship, which serve to illumine only that part of the water over which she has just sailed. It is far otherwise when, through the agency of supernatural grace communicated in answer to the prayer of faith, experience is sanctified, for it then becomes strongly conducive to spiritual health. If it be the province of Hope to paint the bow of promise upon the cloud, it is that of Memory to gather rays of the light of direction from the past, and to cause them to shine upon the path of religious duty, which is beset by so many temptations that every encouragement is needed, lest the travellers "faint because of the way." Now, in directing your attention to some of the functions which a religiously disciplined memory performs in connection with the life of faith — I. I would first ask you to observe THAT IT IS ONE OF ITS OFFICES TO TEACH CHRISTIANS TO KEEP A MORE ACCURATE REGISTER OF THEIR MERCIES THAN THEY ARE NATURALLY DISPOSED TO DO; to train them in resistance of the dangerous tendency to dwell with circumstantial precision, and often even selfish exaggeration, upon their trials. It is Memory's office to embalm their blessings, to preserve them from the decay to which time and the influence of an evil world would otherwise subject them. II. MEMORY HAS ALSO FUNCTIONS OF MOMENTOUS IMPORTANCE IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRUE REPENTANCE to which we are called by Him who alone can enable us to "sorrow after a godly sort." It is the office of a rightly trained memory to remove the concealments by which we seek to hide our delinquencies from ourselves, to dwell with emphasis upon passages in our history from referring to which we would naturally desire to escape, to keep the unwelcome but wholesome truth of our unworthiness before us that we may really feel our need of pardon and earnestly seek it where alone it can be found. In cases, too (which it is to be feared are very far from uncommon), in which spiritual declension has begun — cases of "backsliding in heart" — the memory of the past has much to effect in connection with the restoration of those who have so declined. The contrast which memory would lead them to institute between the comparatively happy time when they kept in the way of duty and the troublous time when they forsook it has been one which, rendered practically influential by the operation of the Spirit of Grace, has led them back to tread that path in which only rest can be found for the soul. Scripture is replete with testimony to the value of the past in preparing us for doing God's will in that portion of the future which may be granted us, teaching those who are to take our places when we are called away by the inevitable summons to be in their time ready to "serve their generation according to that will." To this consideration, namely, that of the responsibility which rests upon us to do all that lies in our power to bring up "the rising generation" in the service of Christ, we are led by the words of the final clause, "Teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons." If those addressed in the words of the text could refer their children to the past for lessons of spiritual wisdom, they who are living under the new and better covenant cannot fail to find counsels in the retrospect of their experience to impress upon youthful minds. They may tell how they have seen evidences, how the fond hopes of religious parents can be blighted by the ungodliness of children, how they have seen health shattered by intemperance, brilliant prospects clouded by yielding to the allurements of a world at enmity with God! They may tell how they have witnessed exemplifications of the truth of those words quoted by an inspired Christian teacher from an heathen author, "Evil communications corrupt good manners." Or they may turn from painful to pleasurable reminiscences. They may tell of instances of the beneficial results of "the nurture and admonition" in which children were brought up to live for Christ. They may speak of homes lightened by the joy imparted to souls influenced by the grace of God. (C. E. Tisdall.) Parallel Verses KJV: Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; |
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