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March 18—Morning Devotion
"And Israel strenghened himself, and sat up on the bed."—Genesis 48:2 This was an interesting moment in the life, or rather the death, of the patriarch, and may serve, my soul, to shew what ought to be the conduct of the believer in his last expiring hours. The imagination can hardly conceive any situation equally momentous, in every point of…
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166 Atheist
ATHEIST One who denies the existence of God:--this is called speculative atheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting contrary to this belief, is called practical atheism. Absurd and irrational as atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the seventeenth century, Spinosa, a foreigner, was its noted defender. Lucilio Vanini, a native of Naples, also publicly…
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2 Thessalonians: Chapter 3, Verse 14
“And if any man obey not our word, &c.” Of command, to work quietly, and eat his own bread, now signified “by this epistle”, particularly in (2 Thessalonians 3:12), “note that man;” Some read this clause in connection with the preceding phrase, “by this epistle”, or by an epistle; and so the Ethiopic version, “show”, or “signify him by an…
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March 17—Morning Devotion
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."—I Peter 1:6 My soul! it is too difficult a task to flesh and blood, but it is among the most blessed triumphs of grace, to glory in tribulation, that the power of Jesus may rest upon the soul. Pause over the…
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165 Sect
SECT A collective term, comprehending all such as follow the doctrines and opinions of some divine, philosopher, &c. The word sect, says Dr. Campbell, (Prelim. Diss.) among the Jews, was not in its application entirely coincident with the same term as applied by Christians to the subdivisions subsisting among themselves. We, if I mistake not, invariably use it of those…
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2 Thessalonians: Chapter 3, Verse 13
“But ye, brethren, &c.” The rest of the members of the church, who were diligent and industrious in their callings, minded their own business, and did not trouble themselves with other men's matters, took care of themselves, and their families, and were beneficent to others: “be not weary in well doing;” Which may be understood generally of all well doing,…
