1. He has friends among men.

2. He reveals to His friends His plans, His hidden purposes.(1) Because God had great things in store for him, He would take Abraham into His cabinet council.(2) Another reason was that Abraham was a wise and faithful parent.

II. GOD TESTS THE WICKEDNESS OF MEN TO SHOW WHETHER OR NOT IT IS RIPE FOR JUDGMENT.

III. THIS NARRATIVE DISCLOSES IMPORTANT TRUTHS CONCERNING, INTERCESSORY PRAYER. The first solemn prayer on record is an intercession, a plea for sparing a wicked city. We see here:

1. The encouragements to intercessory prayer. God made known to Abraham what He was about to do, and thus invited his intercession. He has made known to us the purposes of His government. He has disclosed the issues of sin and holiness. Does He not thus invite us to intercede with Him in behalf of sinful men?

2. We see here the qualifications for intercessory prayer. Power in prayer is in proportion to holiness. The best men are nearest to God, and most powerful in prayer. Faith strengthened his petition. Humility made his approval pleasing to God. Charity enforced his plea. Earnestness characterized his intercession.

3. We see here the grounds for intercessor, y prayer. Abraham did not approach God thoughtlessly, or without good reasons which he was prepared to plead. He urged the value of righteousness. He also urged God's perfect justice as a reason for his petition. God would not destroy the innocent with the guilty. The Almighty is pleased to invite us to urge upon Him reasons for granting our requests, though they are at the beginning perfectly plain to Him. If to these reasons we add also His mercy displayed in the sacrifice of Christ, may not our prayers be irresistible?

IV. WE LEARN THAT THERE ARE LIMITATIONS TO INTERCESSORY PRAYER. Why did not Abraham ask that the judgment be averted from Sodom for the sake of five righteous men? God draws out from him the inanity of his intercessory spirit; and as the suppliant approach up nearer acquaintance with God, he gains a better understanding of the Divine judgments. He is led to a new insight into the condition of Sodom, and the forbearance and justice of God. Abraham appears at first to have been shocked at the destruction with which God threatened Sodom. His justice had not been outraged. His love had not been abused. But intimate communion with God reconciled him to the punishment which God inflicted. The point at which he ceased to plead came sooner than we might have expected. But the failure of his intercession, if he regarded it as a failure, resulted from his ignorance of the depths of sin, and an inadequate conception of the mercy of God. Men are often shocked at God's threatened punishment of the wicked. But the true way to comprehend the meaning of His threats is, not to argue against the justice of God, not to explain away His threatenings, and presume to interpret them in violation of the ordinary laws of language; but go and plead with Him for the lost, and as you approach nearer to Him in the increasing earnestness of petition, you shall gain such clearer insight into His wisdom and mercy as shall content you with His purposes.

(A. E. Dunning.)

II. IT IS SUPPORTED BY THE THOUGHT OF THE DIVINE JUSTICE.

III. IT IS MARKED BY THE SPIRIT OF BOLDNESS.

1. This boldness was based upon the conviction that God would stay judgment upon wicked communities for the sake of the righteous few among them.

2. This boldness was based upon a sense of the Fatherhood of God. Without a sense of this filial relationship with God no man could presume so much.

3. This boldness is tempered by humility. Abraham speaks as one who can hardly realize his right to speak at all (ver. 27). He remembers what he is in the sight of his Creator. Our high privilege does not destroy the reasons for awe and reverence.

IV. WE MUST RECOGNIZE THE FACT THAT IT HAS PROPER LIMITS.

1. The moral limits of the Divine clemency. The long-suffering and forbearance of God may be tempted too far,

2. By a sense of what is due to the Divine honour. The dignity of God's character and government must be upheld.

3. By our recognition of the Divine sovereignty. God rules all things supremely by a righteous will. It is not given to us to adjust the exact proportions of justice and mercy in God's dealings with mankind. To attempt this would be presumption.

4. By the confidence which we ought to have in the Divine character. Abraham felt that he had no need to go further. He had seen enough already of God's favour and willingness to save. Therefore he might hope and trust for the future.

(T. H. Leale.)

II. THE IMPRESSION WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MADE ON ABRAHAM'S MIND.

1. There was a natural anxiety about his kinsman, Lot.

2. There was also a fear lest the total destruction of the cities of the plain might prejudice the character of God in the minds of the neighbouring peoples.

III. THE ELEMENTS OF ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION.

1. It was lonely prayer.

2. It was prolonged prayer.

3. It was very humble prayer.

4. This prayer was based on a belief that God possessed the same moral intuitions as himself.

5. This prayer was persevering.

IV. OBSERVE ONE OF THE GREAT PRINCIPLES IN THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. A whole city had been spared if ten righteous men had been found within its walls. Ungodly men little realize how much they owe to the presence of the children of God in their midst.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

II. A CHIEF BLESSEDNESS OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER IS THAT WE CAN USE IT FOR THOSE WHOM WE LOVE AND CARE FOR WHEN WE CAN SERVE THEM IN NO OTHER WAY. Their distance, their very nearness, their unbelief, their pride, their dignity, their resentments, their desperation, may render our other helps — helps of the hand. or tongue, of counsel or cheer or warning — of the most delicate generality or the friendliest sympathy, impossible or futile. We stand by the sufferer, the blind wanderer, the ungrateful child, the hardened sinner, in speechless agony and dismay. The patriarch doubtless felt that to go down into Sodom and preach against sodomy would be waste, or worse. But there is one gracious benefaction which no possible hindrance can stay; one gracious office which cannot lose its grace by opposition, or apathy, or rejection, or scorn; one heavenly charity which we can bestow at our own free will, everywhere, under all outward conditions, in spite of any infirmity or rebuff or discouragement, in health or sickness, by ejaculation or continued entreaty, as long as we live.

III. Notice THE JOINING OF THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE CHRISTIAN LOVE, THE LOVE OF THE BROTHER MAN WITH THE LOVE OF THE FATHER.

(Bishop F. D. Hutington.)

1. A good man cannot forget his own past life.

2. He has now a clear view of the nature and effects of sin.

3. He desires the extension of the kingdom of God. Hence his intercession for Sodom was —

I. MARKED BY GREAT IMPORTUNITY. Importunity an element of successful prayer. Jacob wrestled till the break of day. The blind man (Mark 10:48) cried "so much the more." Our Lord enforced importunity in His teachings (Luke 18:1; see also Luke 11:5; Luke 21:36; Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Abraham was importunate. Prayed six times, and obtained six distinct answers.

II. CHARACTERIZED BY WONDERFUL HUMILITY.

1. Did not presume upon the distinguished relation in which he stood to God. Always referred his request to the will and character of God. He prayed because a good man ought to pray; not because being good he deserved to be answered.

2. Acknowledged he was but "dust and ashes" in the presence of God. The Pharisee and the Publican.

III. FILLED WITH LOFTY REGARD FOR THE CHARACTER OF GOD.

1. He assumed that the wicked ought to be punished. Of this he expresses no doubt. Adopts this as the inevitable determination of infinite justice. Yet earnestly desires that the righteous may be spared. Would have men know that the righteous God distinguished between the good and the bad. Would rather the wicked should be mercifully spared than that the righteous should be unrighteously destroyed.

IV. SIGNALIZED BY A WIDE CHARITY. Would fain believe that there were fifty righteous souls even in Sodom (com. with those who thought that nothing good could come out of Nazareth). Still clung to the hope that there might be some, however few, good men in that vile place. Charity hopeth all things. Would sooner believe too much that was good of Sodom than too little.

V. DISTINGUISHED BY PROFOUND ACQUIESCENCE IN THE WILL OF GOD. Was afraid to go beyond that will. "Suffer me to speak," &c. Went as far as he felt that he dared. Found, as he proceeded, that God would be merciful as well as just; even to the worst. Was willing to save many for the sake of a few (see Matthew 13:28, 29). LEARN —

1. TO pity sinners, and hate sin.

2. To prize the righteous. "The salt of the earth."

3. To intercede for one's own house especially (Job 1:5).

(J. C. Gray.)

I. That God holds inquest upon the moral condition of cities.

II. That God is accessible to earnest human appeal.

III. That the few can serve the many.

IV. That human prayer falls below Divine resources.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

(Dean Vaughan.)

II. THE FRIEND OF GOD HAS ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE RECTITUDE OF HIS ACTS. Abraham's remonstrance, if we may call it so, embodies some thoughts about the government of God in the world which should be pondered. His first abrupt question, flung out without any reverential preface, assumes that the character of God requires that the fate of the righteous should be distinguished from that of the wicked. Another assumption in his prayer is that the righteous are sources of blessing and shields for the wicked. Has he there laid hold of a true principle? Certainly; it is indeed the law that "every man shall bear his own burden," but that law is modified by the operation of this other, of which God's providence is full. Many a drop of blessing trickles from the wet fleece to the dry ground. Many a stroke of judgment is carried off harmlessly by the lightning conductor. The truest "saviours of society" are the servants of God. A third principle is embodied in the solemn question, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? He is Judge of all the earth, and therefore bound by His very nature, as by His relations to men, to do nothing that cannot be pointed to as inflexibly right. But true as the principle is, it needs to be guarded. Abraham himself is an instance that men's conceptions of right do not completely correspond to the reality. His notion of "right" was, in some particulars, as his life shows, imperfect, rudimentary, and far beneath New Testament ideas. Conscience needs education. The best men's conceptions of what befits Divine justice are relative, progressive; and a shifting standard is no standard. It becomes us to be very cautious before we say to God, "This is the way: walk Thou in it"; or dismiss any doctrine as untrue on the ground of its contradicting our instincts of justice.

III. THE FRIEND OF GOD HAS POWER WITH GOD. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" The Divine Friend recognizes the obligation of confidence. True friendship is frank, and cannot bear to hide its purposes. On the human side, we are here taught the great truth that God's friends are intercessors, whose voice has a mysterious but most real power with God. If it be true that, in general terms, the righteous are shields and sources of blessing to the unholy, it is still more distinctly true that they have access to God's secret place with petitions for others as well as for themselves. The desires which go up to God, like the vapours exhaled to heaven, fall in refreshing rain on spots far away from that whence they rose. In these days we need to keep fast hold of our belief in the efficacy of prayer for others and for ourselves. God knows Himself and the laws of His government a great deal better than anybody else does; and He has abundantly shown us in His Word, and by many experiences, that breath spent in intercession is not wasted. In these old times, when worship was mainly sacrificial, this wonderful instance of pure intercession meets us, an anticipation of later times. And from thence onwards there has never failed proof to those who will look for it, that God's friends are true priests, and help their brethren by their prayers. Our voices should "rise like a fountain night and day" for men. But there is a secret distrust of the power and a flagrantly plain neglect of the duty of intercession nowadays, which needs sorely the lesson that God "remembered Abraham" and delivered Lot. Luther, in his rough, strong way, says: "If I have a Christian who prays to God for me, I will be of good courage, and be afraid of nothing. If I have one who prays against me, I had rather have the Grand Turk for my enemy."

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

1. He knew his Maker's purpose.

2. He felt his Maker's presence.

3. He heard his Maker's voice.

II. THE WONDERFUL INFLUENCE WHICH A GOOD MAN MAY HAVE OVER HIS MAKER. Abraham's prayer was —

1. Definite.

2. Unselfish.

3. Trustful.

4. Humble.

5. Importunate.Lessons:

1. The spiritual blessedness of a good man.

2. The social value of a good man.

(Homilist.)

1. Infinitely great.

2. Incomprehensibly glorious.

3. Transcendently holy.

4. Unboundedly benevolent.

II. THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE BEST WORSHIPPERS. "Dust and ashes." The terms seem to indicate —

1. Our origin and mortality. Formed of the dust; residents of the dust; travellers to the dust.

2. Our depravity. Dust and ashes. Ashes are only the refuse of what was once more valuable. Now man is fallen, debased, and worthless.

III. IN WORSHIP GOD ALLOWS US TO SPEAK UNTO HIM. Now, we do this —

1. In adoration and praise.

2. In confession of sin.

3. In supplication and prayer.

(1)With reverential fear. "In Thy fear will I worship."

(2)With deep self-abasement.

(3)With resignation to His divine will.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

1. Abraham at Mature. Lot in Sodom.

2. The peaceful entertainment in the tent of Mamre. The disturbed hospitality of Sodom.

3. The purity of country life — the corruptions of the city.

4. Abraham's prayer for others — Lot's prayer for himself.

5. Sodom was destroyed — Zoar was saved.

II. THE VALUE OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

1. TO pray for others a duty.

2. To pray without discouragement.

3. Its value to others.

4. Its value to ourselves. Our religious life will register itself in prayer.

III. THE RELATION OF GOOD MEN TO THE WORLD.

1. They are "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world."

2. Cities and nations attain to true greatness and permanence when they have righteous men in them.

3. With their decline, they decline; and with their extinction they perish. Sodom was safe so long as Lot remained in it.

IV. LESSONS:

1. The unselfishness of a religious life.

2. To live near to God.

3. To make the right use of religious knowledge.

4. To run our prayers along the line of God's character, and to base them upon Divine precepts and promises.

5. That prayers may be denied in their letter, but answered in their spirit.

(Lewis O. Thompson.)

1. Abraham's characteristic courtesy.

2. The revelation of Divine purposes.

II. THE ARGUMENT OF ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION.

1. An appeal to Divine justice.

2. An appeal to Divine compassion.

III. THE REASON OF THE FAILURE OF ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION.

1. His intense humility, which would not allow him to go beyond a certain limit.

2. His inadequate conception of Divine mercy.

3. His knowledge of the unworthiness of the Sodomites, for whom he pleaded.

4. His spiritual conception of the demerit of sin, and of the perfection of the Divine attribute of justice.Lessons:

1. The possible important consequences of things trifling in themselves: Abraham's courtesy led to the most sublime scene of human intercession on record.

2. The high estimate that God places upon family instruction.

3. God's readiness to answer prayer is greater than the faith of the greatest believer.

4. So long as Abraham interceded, so long Jehovah tarried to listen.

5. There is nothing more acceptable to God than the intercession of His saints.

(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

2. He does not plead that the wicked may be spared for their own sake, or because it would be too severe a proceeding to destroy them; but for the sake of the righteous who might be found amongst them. Had either of the other pleas been advanced, it had been siding with sinners against God, which Abraham would never do. Wickedness shuts the mouth of intercession; or if any should presume to speak, it would be of no account. But how then, it may be asked, did Christ make intercession for transgressors? Not by arraigning the Divine throne, nor by alleging ought in extenuation of human guilt; but by pleading His own obedience unto death!

3. He charitably hopes the best with respect to the number of righteous characters even in Sodom. At the outset of his intercession, he certainly considered it as a possible case, at least, that there might be found in that wicked place fifty righteous: and though in this instance he was sadly mistaken, yet we may hope from hence that in those times there were many more righteous people in the world than those which are recorded in Scripture. The Scriptures do not profess to be a book of life, containing the names of all the faithful; but intimate, on the contrary, that God reserves to Himself a people, who are but little known even by His own servants.

4. God was willing to spare the worst of cities for the sake of a few righteous characters. This truth is as humiliating to the haughty enemies of religion as it is encouraging to its friends, and furnishes an important lesson to civil governments, to beware of undervaluing, and still more of persecuting, and banishing men whose concern it is to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world. Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a remnant of such characters, we might ere now have been as Sodom, and made like unto Gomorrah! If ten righteous had been found in Sodom, it had been spared for their sakes: but alas, there was no such number! God called Abraham to Haran, and when he left that place, mention is made not only of "the substance which he had gathered," but of "the souls which he had gotten." But Lot, who went to Sodom of his own accord, though he also gathered substance, yet not a soul seems to have been won over by his residence in the place to the worship of the true God.

(A. Fuller.)

1. The cry was very great. A cry of blood, like that of Abel's from the ground, for vengeance against the murderer (Genesis 4:10). Murder, no doubt, was rife in Sodom; and He who had demanded blood for blood, could not overlook it. A cry of proud defiance against God, as represented in Ezekiel 16:49, 50; and that God knows too well what is due to Himself to disregard. A cry of oppression, injustice, and wrong. The cry of defrauded labourers, which the Apostle James says, "enters into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth" (James 5:4). A cry of cupidity, drunkenness, and revelry, such as went up to Jehovah from those whom He had called to be His people, and to whom "He looked for judgment, but beheld oppression; for righteousness, but beheld a cry" (Isaiah 5:7). And shall we not add, a cry from the vexed spirit of righteous Lot — a cry of filial supplication mingling its music, so agreeable to the ears of a loving Father, with the hoarse discord of angry passions and self-inflicted woes? Doubtless that cry from Lot brought down the Omnipotent avenger; and the accumulated cry from the multitude "which no man could number," of His blood-bought people, who have complained to Him of their treatment from a Satan-ruled world, in every generation since, shall at last bring Him down again, to teach the persecutors that they have persecuted not them but Him (Acts 9:4).

2. Their sin was very grievous, or heavy. Like a black cloud, gathering increased density from accumulated vapours of human wickedness until it becomes so charged with rain, thunder, lightning, and tempest, that it must at length empty itself upon the devoted earth over which it lowers. Thus sin cannot be suffered to press upon God's creation for ever — sooner or later it shall be removed, and all who have their life in it must perish.

3. The signal destruction of Sodom and her kindred cities was resolved on. God is a Sovereign Judge and Ruler. To Him vengeance belongs. "He can create and He destroy." "To Me," says God, "belongeth vengeance and recompense" (Deuteronomy 32:35); and His people are taught to address Him in that character (see Psalm 94:1); and shall we say that "God is unrighteous who taketh vengeance"? (Romans 3:5). The sinner, in fighting against God, is labouring for his own destruction.

II. THE CERTAIN SALVATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

1. If this means those whom God shall find naturally righteous, when He comes to take account of such as shall be saved, then the whole human race must be excluded from its benefits, for never since the day of Adam's fall, was there a man, woman, or child on the earth whom God would or could admit to be righteous in themselves

2. No inspired writer, either of the Old or New Testament, has failed to describe man as a sinner, and far from righteousness.

3. And yet have God's righteous ones, in every generation, had a place and a mission in the earth. God speaks of them as actually existing human beings. The Bible is full of their history, position, character, proceedings, and prospects.

III. THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD TOWARDS THE WICKED, FOR THE SAKE OF THE RIGHTEOUS, Under this head we are called upon to consider —

1. That God has a people whom He calls peculiarly His own, mingled among the mass of dead, ignorant, and ungodly human beings composing what is called the world; just as righteous Lot was placed in Sodom, in the city, but not of it, residing in the midst of its depraved inhabitants, yet not identified with their wicked ways or deeds of darkness, "but rather reproving them." We have a perfect illustration of the external mingling, yet spiritual separation, that exists between Christ's redeemed ones and the subjects of Satan's rule in this world, in the parable of the tares and wheat, supplied by our Lord for the instruction and consolation of His people in their present state. And in referring to the value of intercessory prayer for our beloved country at such a time as this. Abraham pleaded for Lot. He remembered him when God announced to him the overthrow of Sodom, where Lot dwelt.Observe:

1. Lot was dear to the heart of Abraham. He called him his brother (Genesis 13:8; Genesis 14:14); and he probably thought there would have been found at least ten righteous persons in his household, for whose sake Sodom would be spared. Thus our Divine Mediator loves those whom "He is not ashamed to call His brethren " (Hebrews 2:11), and claims for their sake the suspension of Almighty judgment pronounced against an apostate world.

2. Lot had accompanied Abraham out of the land of idolatry into the land of promise. He was, therefore, identified with him in his pilgrimage state, and this formed a link between them, which, notwithstanding their present local separation, rendered them objects of tenderest interest to each other. Thus Jesus included in Himself, on the cross, and at the sepulchre, all that the Father had given to Him. They were crucified with Him, and they are risen with Him (Romans 6:6; Colossians 2:12). Thus they are one with Him, and He is one with them.

3. But the tie between Abraham and Lot had been drawn still closer by the devoted affection exhibited by the former in rescuing his kinsman from the hands of the spoiler. Sodom had been attacked by the confederate kings, taken, and pillaged. Lot and his family were carried away captives, and his property fell into the hands of the conquerors. Abraham pursued the captors, and at great risk to himself succeeded in delivering the objects of his fraternal interest, and all that belonged to them, out of their hands. Our Divine Champion has done more than this. He has sacrificed His precious life to redeem His beloved ones from eternal captivity, and their inheritance from the confiscation of Almighty justice. The link cannot be more close or inseparable that binds them to their Deliverer and their Head.

4. Abraham obtained all that he desired — not impunity for the guilty citizens of Sodom, but safety for righteous Lot. The Lord was merciful to him (Genesis 19:16). "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given me; for they are Thine," and ascribe their salvation from present and eternal evil to the principle of unconditioned grace embodied in that prayer; while feeling satisfied that, as regards God's dealing with nations or individual members of the human family, merely as such, "the Judge of all the earth will do right" (Genesis 18:25).

(S. A. Walker, M. A.)

(E. Stock.)

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

(J. Spencer.)

     1511   Trinity, relationships in

Genesis 18:16-32

     4275   Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 18:16-33

     1095   God, patience of
     5077   Abraham, character

Genesis 18:17-33

     4224   cities of the plain

Genesis 18:20-32

     4113   angels, agents of judgment
     7150   righteous, the

Genesis 18:20-33

     5076   Abraham, life of
     6655   forgiveness, application

Genesis 18:22-25

     5567   suffering, emotional

Genesis 18:22-32

     6684   mediator

Genesis 18:23-33

     8613   prayer, persistence

'Because of his Importunity'
'And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him! For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Meditations for Household Piety.
1. If thou be called to the government of a family, thou must not hold it sufficient to serve God and live uprightly in thy own person, unless thou cause all under thy charge to do the same with thee. For the performance of this duty God was so well pleased with Abraham, that he would not hide from him his counsel: "For," saith God, "I know him that he will command his sons and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

There is a Great Question About Lying, which Often Arises in the Midst Of...
1. There is a great question about Lying, which often arises in the midst of our every day business, and gives us much trouble, that we may not either rashly call that a lie which is not such, or decide that it is sometimes right to tell a lie, that is, a kind of honest, well-meant, charitable lie. This question we will painfully discuss by seeking with them that seek: whether to any good purpose, we need not take upon ourselves to affirm, for the attentive reader will sufficiently gather from the …
St. Augustine—On Lying

Whether the Proofs which Christ Made Use of Manifested Sufficiently the Truth of his Resurrection?
Objection 1: It would seem that the proofs which Christ made use of did not sufficiently manifest the truth of His Resurrection. For after the Resurrection Christ showed nothing to His disciples which angels appearing to men did not or could not show; because angels have frequently shown themselves to men under human aspect, have spoken and lived with them, and eaten with them, just as if they were truly men, as is evident from Genesis 18, of the angels whom Abraham entertained. and in the Book of …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Epistle Lii. To Natalis, Bishop .
To Natalis, Bishop [1463] . Gregory to Natalis, Bishop of Salona. As though forgetting the tenour of former letters, I had determined to say nothing to your Blessedness but what should savour of sweetness: but, now that in your epistle you have recurred in the way of argumentation to preceding letters, I am once more compelled to say perhaps some things that I had rather not have said. For in defence of feasts your Fraternity mentions the feast of Abraham, in which by the testimony of Holy Scripture …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Miscellaneous.
THE SABBATH. THIS day is called the Lord's day, the day in which he rose from the dead. The Lord's day: every day, say some, is the Lord's day. Indeed this, for discourse' sake, may he granted; but strictly, no day can so properly be called the Lord's day, as this first day of the week; for that no day of the week, or of the year, has those hadges of the Lord's glory upon it, nor such divine grace put upon it, as his first day of the week. There is nothing, as I know of, that bears this title but …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

The Leaven.
"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."--MATT. xiii. 33. In the mustard-seed we saw the kingdom growing great by its inherent vitality; in the leaven we see it growing great by a contagious influence. There, the increase was attained by development from within; here, by acquisitions from without. It is not that there are two distinct ways in which the Gospel may gain complete …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

Sanctification and Justification.
"Yield your members servants to righteousness unto sanctification." --Rom. vi. 19. Sanctification must remain sanctification. It may not arbitrarily be robbed of its significance, nor be exchanged for something else. It must always signify the making holy of what is unholy or less holy. Care must be taken not to confound sanctification with justification; a common mistake, frequently made by thoughtless Scripture readers. Hence the importance of a thorough understanding of this difference. Being …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel
In order accurately to understand the position of woman in Israel, it is only necessary carefully to peruse the New Testament. The picture of social life there presented gives a full view of the place which she held in private and in public life. Here we do not find that separation, so common among Orientals at all times, but a woman mingles freely with others both at home and abroad. So far from suffering under social inferiority, she takes influential and often leading part in all movements, specially …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Debt of Irenæus to Justin Martyr
If we are to proceed with safety in forming a judgment as to the relation between Justin and Irenæus in respect of the matter which they have in common, it will be necessary not merely to consider a number of selected parallels, but also to examine the treatment of a particular theme in the two writers. Let us set side by side, for example, c. 32 of Justin's First Apology with c. 57 of the Demonstration. Justin has been explaining to his Roman readers who the Jewish prophets were, and then …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Difficulties and Objections
"Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My way equal? are not your ways unequal?" (Ezek. 18:25). A convenient point has been reached when we may now examine, more definitely, some of the difficulties encountered and the objections which might be advanced against what we have written in previous pages. The author deemed it better to reserve these for a separate consideration rather than deal with them as he went along, requiring as that would have done the …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Fifteenth Day for Schools and Colleges
WHAT TO PRAY.--For Schools and Colleges "As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LoThe future of the Church and the world depends, to an extent we little conceive, on the education of the day. The Church may be seeking to evangelise the heathen, and be giving up her own children to secular …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Prayer Taught and Encouraged.
(Probably Judæa.) ^C Luke XI. 1-13. ^c 1 And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. [Jesus had already taught his disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. This disciple probably thought that the prayer already taught was too brief to be sufficient, especially as Jesus often prayed so long. It was customary for the rabbis to give their disciples forms …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Sundry Exhortations.
HEBREWS xiii. Let love of the brethren continue. Forget not to shew love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are evil entreated, as being yourselves also in the body. Let marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Degrees of Sin
Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. He that delivered me unto thee, has the greater sin.' John 19: 11. The Stoic philosophers held that all sins were equal; but this Scripture clearly holds forth that there is a gradual difference in sin; some are greater than others; some are mighty sins,' and crying sins.' Amos 5: 12; Gen 18: 21. Every sin has a voice to speak, but some …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

In the Present Crusade against the Bible and the Faith of Christian Men...
IN the present crusade against the Bible and the Faith of Christian men, the task of destroying confidence in the first chapter of Genesis has been undertaken by Mr. C. W. Goodwin, M.A. He requires us to "regard it as the speculation of some Hebrew Descartes or Newton, promulgated in all good faith as the best and most probable account that could be then given of God's Universe." (p. 252.) Mr. Goodwin remarks with scorn, that "we are asked to believe that a vision of Creation was presented to him …
John William Burgon—Inspiration and Interpretation

The Baptismal Covenant Can be Kept Unbroken. Aim and Responsibility of Parents.
We have gone "to the Law and to the Testimony" to find out what the nature and benefits of Baptism are. We have gathered out of the Word all the principal passages bearing on this subject. We have grouped them together, and studied them side by side. We have noticed that their sense is uniform, clear, and strong. Unless we are willing to throw aside all sound principles of interpretation, we can extract from the words of inspiration only one meaning, and that is that the baptized child is, by virtue …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

"And There is None that Calleth Upon Thy Name, that Stirreth up Himself to Take Hold on Thee,"
Isaiah lxiv. 7.--"And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee," &c. They go on in the confession of their sins. Many a man hath soon done with that a general notion of sin is the highest advancement in repentance that many attain to. You may see here sin and judgment mixed in thorough other(315) in their complaint. They do not so fix their eyes upon their desolate estate of captivity, as to forget their provocations. Many a man would spend more affection, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul