The School of Obedience

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1899. Excerpt: ... 'Through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous'; or Phil. ii. 8, 'He became obedient unto death, therefore God hath highly exalted Him'; or Heb. v. 8, 9, 'He learned obedience and became the Author of salvation to them that obey Him? and you see how the whole redemption of Christ consists in restoring obedience to its place. The beauty of His salvation consists in this, that He brings us back to the life of obedience, through which alone the creature can give the Creator the glory due to Him, or receive the glory of which his Creator desires to make him partaker. Paradise, Calvary, Heaven, all proclaim with one voice: 'Child of God! the first and the last thing thy God asks of thee is simple, universal, unchanging obedience.' II. LET US TURN TO THE OLD TESTAMENT. Here let us specially notice how, with any new beginning in the history of God's kingdom, obedience always comes into special prominence. 1. Take Noah, the new father of the human race, and you will find four times written (Gen. vi. 22; vii. 5, 9, 16), 'According to all that God commanded Noah, so did he.' It is the man who does what God commands, to whom God can entrust His work, whom God can use to be a savior of men. 2. Think of Abraham, the father of the chosen race. 'By faith Abraham obeyed' (Heb. xi. 7). When he had been forty years in this school of faith=obedience, God came to perfect his faith, and to crown it with His fullest blessing. Nothing could fit him for this but a crowning act of obedience. When he had bound his son on the altar, God came and said (Gen. xxii. 12, 18), 'By Myself have I sworn, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee; and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.' And to Isaac He spake (xxvi. 3, 5), 'I will...