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Expositions of Holy Scripture - Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, - and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes by Alexander Maclaren
page 335 of 823 (40%)
beyond all else that a man has ever received. Nothing that you have is
half so much as that which you are. The possession of a soul that
knows and loves, and can obey; that trusts and desires; that can yearn
and reach out to Jesus Christ, and to God in Christ; of a conscience
that can yield to His command; and faculties of comprehending and
understanding what comes to them from Jesus Christ--that is more than
any other possession, treasure, or trust. That which you and I carry
with us--the infinite possibilities of these awful spirits of
ours--the tremendous faculties which are given to every human soul,
and which, like a candle plunged into oxygen, are meant to burn far
more brightly under the stimulus of Christian faith and the possession
of God's truth, are the rich deposit committed to our charge. You
priests of the living God, you men and women, you say that you are
Christ's, and therefore are consecrated to a nobler priesthood than
any other--to you is given this solemn charge: 'That good thing which
is committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in you.'
The precious treasure of your own natures, your own hearts, your own
understandings, wills, consciences, desires--keep these, until they
are weighed in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

And in like manner, taking the other aspect of the metaphor--we have
given to us, in order that we may do something with it, that great
deposit and treasure of truth, which is all embodied and incarnated in
Jesus Christ our Lord. It is bestowed upon us that we may use it for
ourselves, and in order that we may carry it triumphantly all through
the world. Possession involves responsibility always. The word of
salvation is given to us. If we go tampering with it, by erroneous
apprehension, by unfair usage, by failing to apply it to our own daily
life; then it will fade and disappear from our grasp. It is given to
us in order that we may keep it safe, and carry it high up across the
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