Tuesday, June 20, 2006
'Sermons to the Spiritual Man' by William G. T. Shedd
From 'The glorification of God'.
'It is surprising to see, and no man sees it until he endeavors to get rid of evil, how intensely the soul of man resolves upon itself, and how difficult it is to desert itself and revolve around another. You, for example, give a sum of money to a poor and suffering family. The external act- what the schoolman would denominate the "matter" of the act- is good. And your fellow-men, who can only see only the outward appearance, praise you as an excellent person. But let us look into the heart, and see if there really be the moral excellence, the true holliness before God, that is supposed. When the gift had been bestowed, did you not begin to congratulate yourself upon what you had done? Did not the left hand begin to know what the right hand had been doing? In other words, did not pride and self-worship begin to fill the heart, and was not the act, so far as the inward nature of it- what the same schooman would call the "form" of it- is concerned, an egotistical one? Did you not worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, in this act- which is one of the best that you ever proformed? Was that not a "sin" in this "holy thing?" Did not the "dead fly" spoil the "apothecaries ointment?" For if the inward disposition had corresponded entirley to the outward act, in this transaction; if the act were really holy one; it would have been done for the glory of God, and there would have not been a particle of self-worship in your experience. You would not have had the least proud thought of self in the affair, but would have humbly thought of God. After giving the gift, you would have said as David did in reference to the gift which he and the people of Israel made to God in the building of the temple: "But who am I, and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willing, after this sort? for all things come from thee, and of thine own haave we given thee." You would have acknowledged that it is God who gives both the willingness to give, and the means of giving; that He is both the first cause and the last end of things. But, by the supposition, you did neither. You gave the sum of money as something which your intellect and hands had orginated, and you took the merit of the gift to yourself. You worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.
p. 106-107
We do have to be careful not to worship ourselves and not God.
Related Tags: God, worship, William G. T. Shedd, 'Sermons to the Spiritual Man', moral excellence, for the glory of God, self-worship
'It is surprising to see, and no man sees it until he endeavors to get rid of evil, how intensely the soul of man resolves upon itself, and how difficult it is to desert itself and revolve around another. You, for example, give a sum of money to a poor and suffering family. The external act- what the schoolman would denominate the "matter" of the act- is good. And your fellow-men, who can only see only the outward appearance, praise you as an excellent person. But let us look into the heart, and see if there really be the moral excellence, the true holliness before God, that is supposed. When the gift had been bestowed, did you not begin to congratulate yourself upon what you had done? Did not the left hand begin to know what the right hand had been doing? In other words, did not pride and self-worship begin to fill the heart, and was not the act, so far as the inward nature of it- what the same schooman would call the "form" of it- is concerned, an egotistical one? Did you not worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, in this act- which is one of the best that you ever proformed? Was that not a "sin" in this "holy thing?" Did not the "dead fly" spoil the "apothecaries ointment?" For if the inward disposition had corresponded entirley to the outward act, in this transaction; if the act were really holy one; it would have been done for the glory of God, and there would have not been a particle of self-worship in your experience. You would not have had the least proud thought of self in the affair, but would have humbly thought of God. After giving the gift, you would have said as David did in reference to the gift which he and the people of Israel made to God in the building of the temple: "But who am I, and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willing, after this sort? for all things come from thee, and of thine own haave we given thee." You would have acknowledged that it is God who gives both the willingness to give, and the means of giving; that He is both the first cause and the last end of things. But, by the supposition, you did neither. You gave the sum of money as something which your intellect and hands had orginated, and you took the merit of the gift to yourself. You worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.
p. 106-107
We do have to be careful not to worship ourselves and not God.
Related Tags: God, worship, William G. T. Shedd, 'Sermons to the Spiritual Man', moral excellence, for the glory of God, self-worship
Comments:
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You always post such excellent quotes!
"if the act were really holy one; it would have been done for the glory of God, and there would have not been a particle of self-worship in your experience. You would not have had the least proud thought of self in the affair, but would have humbly thought of God."
Excellent!
MDM
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"if the act were really holy one; it would have been done for the glory of God, and there would have not been a particle of self-worship in your experience. You would not have had the least proud thought of self in the affair, but would have humbly thought of God."
Excellent!
MDM
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