ISBN: 9781153701013

Excerpt: ...especially as they come to us from the Mount, as it were in judgment over against us, and reading verse by verse, fathom the depths of our hearts, and confess whether we are g… More...

Excerpt: ...especially as they come to us from the Mount, as it were in judgment over against us, and reading verse by verse, fathom the depths of our hearts, and confess whether we are guilty or no. Would we escape such guilt, we must study these instructions again and again, until, as Moses commanded of the laws of the elder Scripture, they shall be with us when we sit in our homes, or walk by the way, or lie down, or rise up. And we shall bind them for a sign upon our hands, and they shall be as frontlets between our eyes. And we shall write them upon the posts of our houses, and upon our gates. When we place the words of the Lord in judgment over against us, and feel compelled to acknowledge our unfaithfulness to their requirements, there is danger of our falling into despair through the consciousness that is thus forced upon us of our want of love for the law of the Lord. The indulgence of our own wills is so sweet to us, that we cannot see how it is possible that the yoke of the Lord can ever become easy to our stiffened necks. We feel as though an obedience that did not spring from true love could not be called obedience, nay, was almost a sin; for it seems to savor of hypocrisy. In this state of mind, our only refuge is in that faith which St. Paul tells us is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen; and then, unless this faith be strong enough to make us obey, though not from love, yet from a simple belief that at any rate obedience is better than disobedience, our state is wretched indeed. Our rationality tells us that obedience is naught unless we love to obey, but an inward conviction of the soul-may we not call it the voice of God?-entreats us, saying, this do, and thou shalt live. If, in the ardor of our faith, we can forget our rationality, and cry, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief; and if we force ourselves to do that which we are commanded, though at first it may appear to us an act purely external... Mary G. Chandler, Books, Health and Well Being, The Elements Of Character Books>Health and Well Being, General Books LLC<

ISBN: 9781153701013

No Synopsis Available The Elements of Character, 9781153701013, Book, Textbook Books > Fiction > Literary Paperback, General Books

ISBN: 9781153701013

The Elements of Character Paperback New Books, General Books