Dead: As an Indian evangelist was preaching, he was interrupted by a man in the crowd. "You keep talking about 'the burden of sin,'" said the man; "I don't feel any burden. What weight is it? Eighty pounds? Ten pounds?" The preacher answered, "Tell me," he said, "if you laid a four hundred pound weight on a corpse would it feel the load?" "Of course not," scoffed the heckler, "a corpse is dead." "That spirit is also dead," said the preacher, "that feels no load and burden of sin."
Free Pardon: "Reader, never presume to balance accounts with Moses, without taking an imputed righteousness, and an all-sufficient atonement, in the hand of faith. If thou dost, thou wilt get thy feet in the stocks, and there thou wilt lie until thou lookest to that great Ransom which alone can deliver thee." (William Huntington).
Free Will: "In its best estate, free will was but a weather-cock which turned at the breath of a serpent's tongue. It made a bankrupt of our father Adam; it pulled down the house and sold the land, and sent all the children to beg their bread." (Samuel Rutherford)
A New Creature: Just before his death, John Newton's eyesight began to fail him so that he could no longer read and enjoy the pleasures of the printed page. If God's Word was no longer clear before his eyes, however, it was still abundantly clear to the heart. Being told on one occasion at the breakfast table that the text for the day was taken from Paul – "By the grace of God I am what I am," he made the following remarks upon the words. "I am not what I ought to be," he said, "Ah, how imperfect and deficient. I am not what I wish to be," he went on, "I abhor what is evil, and would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be, but I can truly say, I am not what I used to be – a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, 'By the grace of God I am what I am.'"
The Vicar of Bray: In Berkshire was a papist under Henry V111, a protestant under Edward V1, a papist again under Queen Mary, and a protestant again in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was accused of bringing scandal upon his office on account of his inconsistency, but maintained that he had not done so: "Although I have changed my religion," he said, "I have still kept true to my first principle, which is to live and die Vicar of Bray."
How the Scripture is often read: When a her small daughter was reading a book, her mother asked,
"What are you reading about dear?"
"I don't know, Mummy," replied the child.
"But you were reading aloud, my dear."
"Yes, Mummy, but I wasn't listening."
This Page Title – A Miscellany for Consideration The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 77 – placed on line March 2009 Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |