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Scripture Studies:  Vol. VII, No. 4 - May 2000
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In this issue:

Old Testament Study - Zechariah 5:1-11
A Classic Study - Navigation Spiritualized, pt. 24, by John Flavel
New Testament Study - Matthew 8:28-34
A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 8
A Study of Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 7:23-29


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--------

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Old Testament Study - Zechariah 5:1-11
======================================

The Sixth Vision:  The Flying Scroll 
-------------------------------------


1I looked again-and there before me was a flying scroll! 


2He asked me, "What do you see?" 

I answered, "I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and
fifteen feet wide." 

3And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out
over the whole land; for according to what it says on one
side, every thief will be banished, and according to what
it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be
banished. 4The LORD Almighty declares, 'I will send it out,
and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of
him who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his
house and destroy it, both its timbers and its stones'"




The first five visions were primarily visions of
encouragement to the remnant in Israel.  But there are
situations when encouragement is not called for. 
Primarily, continuance in sin must not be encouraged in any
way.  Sin is hateful to God.  Sin will be judged by God. 
And though the remnant were carrying out a great work for
God at the time, this great work would not and could not
atone for any sin that was in the lives of God's servants.
"The central teaching point of this vision is that the
pervasiveness of sin and crime is enough to cancel out the
blessing that one would think might come from rebuilding
the temple of God... [O]ne work of obedience does not
offset the need for holiness in all aspects of living"
[Kaiser, 335].

Zechariah relates his vision:  "I looked again-and there
before me was a flying scroll!  He asked me, 'What do you
see?'  I answered, 'I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long
and fifteen feet wide'" (vss. 1-2).  The angel with
Zechariah tells him what is on the flying scroll:  "And he
said to me, 'This is the curse that is going out over the
whole land; for according to what it says on one side,
every thief will be banished, and according to what it says
on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be
banished'" (vs. 3).  The Lord Himself describes the action
that the curse on the scroll will bring:  "The LORD
Almighty declares, 'I will send it out, and it will enter
the house of the thief and the house of him who swears
falsely by my name.  It will remain in his house and
destroy it, both its timbers and its stones'" (vs.
4).

So, in this vision, Zechariah sees a flying scroll that
represents the curse that breaking the law brings.  We can
speculate about some of the symbolism in this vision.  Why
was the scroll flying?  Quite possibly so it would be seen
by all, sort of like a flying advertisement that we see
nowadays at football games.  The curse that sin brings is
not meant to be a secret kept by God.  He wants all to know
that sin is destructive.  Why is the scroll said to be
"thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide"?  Clearly, the
scroll is opened, not rolled up.  This may symbolize that
what is written on the scroll is openly proclaimed and,
again, not a secret.  Also, thirty feet by fifteen feet
long is the same dimensions as the porch of Solomon's
Temple (see I Kings 6:3).  It is said that on the porch of
Solomon's Temple, the law was often read [Moore, 78].  The
people in Israel at the time were rebuilding the Temple, so
they would probably have recognized the significance of
this dimension. 

The scroll, which itself "is the curse", most likely had the
Ten Commandments written on it.  Note that "according to
what it says on one side, every thief will be banished",
and "according to what it says on the other, everyone who
swears falsely will be banished."  These two sins are
representative in this vision of the whole law.  To "swear
falsely" is to misuse the name of God, which is a violation
of the third commandment.  The third commandment is the
middle commandment of the first half of the Ten
Commandments.  The first five commandments concern man's
relationship with God.  "Every thief", of course, breaks
the eighth commandment, which says we are not to steal. 
The eighth commandment is the middle commandment of the
second half of the Ten Commandments.  These commandments
concern man's relationship with other men.  The fact that
the scroll was written on both sides further connects it
with the law of God, which God Himself wrote on both sides
of the tablets given to Moses (see Ex. 32:15).  And so, the
"flying scroll" represents the curse which results from
breaking the law that is written on it.

When He gave the law to the children of Israel, God told
them that obedience to the law would bring blessings (see
Deut. 28:1-16), but He also told them that disobedience to
the law would bring curses (see Deut. 27:15-26; Deut.
28:15-68).  The curses that result from disobedience of the
law come directly from God.  He makes no secret about this.
 He Himself states in this vision:  "I will send it out"
(vs. 4).  God hates sin, and will punish sin.  For some
reason, many preachers of the Word of God nowadays are shy
to speak of this aspect of the character of God:  that He
hates sin, and will punish sin.  Could the reason that we
are shy to speak of these things be that we ourselves are
overly tolerant of sin?  Do we hate sin enough? "It is
needful to tell the love of God, to unfold His precious
promises, and to utter words of cheer and encouragement. 
But it is also needful to declare the other aspect of God's
character.  There is a constant tendency in the human heart
to abuse the goodness of God to an encouragement of sin. 
Hence, ministers of the gospel must declare this portion of
God's counsel as well as the other." [Moore, 80].

To understand God, and the things of God, we must be aware
of the curse of sin. "We need to realize in thought all the
terrors of the curse, in order that we may the more
intensely desire and seek deliverance from it.  If sinners
would think of the awful curse hanging over their heads and
ready at any moment to descend with the rapidity of the
lightning-flash, how gladly they would shelter themselves
under the cross of Him who bore the curse for us, and so
they would escape from the wrath to come." [JFB, 676].  God
deals with sin in two ways:  judgment of sin; or,
forgiveness of sin, by His grace, through His Son Jesus
Christ.  The good news is that we ourselves can choose
which way we would have God deal with our sin.  Do we want
to experience the curse of sin via the full measure of
God's wrath?  Or do we want to have our sins forgiven
through the loving gift of Jesus Christ His Son, who
Himself experienced the curse of sin on our behalf? 








The Seventh Vision:  The Woman in the Basket



 5Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and
said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is
appearing." 

6I asked, "What is it?" 

He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This
is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."


7Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket
sat a woman! 8He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed
her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down
over its mouth. 

9Then I looked up-and there before me were two women, with
the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a
stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and
earth. 10"Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the
angel who was speaking to me. 

11He replied, "To the country of Babylonia to build a house
for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in
its place." 



Whereas the sixth vision dealt with the curse that sin
brings upon individuals, this vision deals corporately with
the sins of the nation of Israel, and what will eventually
happen to sin in the nation of Israel:  "Then the angel who
was speaking to me came forward and said to me, 'Look up
and see what this is that is appearing.'  I asked, 'What is
it?'  He replied, 'It is a measuring basket.'  And he
added, 'This is the iniquity of the people throughout the
land.'  Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the
basket sat a woman!  He said, 'This is wickedness,' and he
pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover
down over its mouth" (vss. 5-8).  The "measuring basket",
literally ephah, was used in Israel like we use a bushel
basket:  both to measure, and to carry things.  In this
case, it carried (possibly, the full measure of) the
"iniquity" and "wickedness" of the people "throughout the
land" of Israel.  The woman in the basket, who personifies
"wickedness", seems to have been trying to get out, but the
angel "pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead
cover down over its mouth."  

Then, in the vision, iniquity and wickedness are
miraculously removed from the land:  "Then I looked up-and
there before me were two women, with the wind in their
wings!  They had wings like those of a stork, and they
lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.  'Where are
they taking the basket?' I asked the angel who was speaking
to me.  He replied, 'To the country of Babylonia to build a
house for it.  When it is ready, the basket will be set
there in its place.'" (vss. 9-11).  This vision looks
toward the end times, when the people of Israel will turn
to God, and the rebellion against God will be led by
Babylon (see Rev. 17-18).  Thus we see in this vision
"wickedness" and "iniquity" transported from Israel to
Babylon.  Kaiser summarizes: "Given the part that Babylon
plays in the eschatological drama of the closing days of
this present age, the removal of wickedness to Babylon
might have been in preparation for the final conflict
between good and evil.  Isaiah 13-14, and, especially,
Jeremiah 50-51, place a revived Babylonian empire at the
center of the final contest between God and 'all the
nations of the earth' that have been gathered into the Near
East for history's finale" [Kaiser, 340].  Consistent with
this vision, which speaks of the woman who "is wickedness"
being transported to Babylon, in Revelation 17, a woman who
is leading the rebellion against God has this title written
on her forehead:  "Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother
of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth" (Rev.
17:5).  And so, though the exact meaning and interpretation
of the visions in Zechariah and Revelation concerning the
end-times are not fully understood by us, the visions are
consistent with each other.






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A Classic Study - Navigation Spiritualized, pt. 24, by John Flavel
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A Classic Study by John Flavel (1628-1691)
------------------------------------------


[Here, we continue our reprint of excerpts from John
Flavel's book Navigation Spiritualized.  John Flavel was a
17th century minister in the seaside town of Dartmouth,
England.  A good many of his parishioners made their living
on the sea, and so Mr. Flavel wrote Navigation
Spiritualized, a book which draws parallels between things
of the sea and spiritual things.]-Ed.



	
-


Trade Winds to Heaven

	

Ships make much way when they a trade-wind get:

With such a wind the saints have ever met.
------------------------------------------




OBSERVATION.
------------


Though in most parts of the world the winds are variable,
and sometimes blow from every part of the compass (by
reason whereof sailing is slow and dangerous), yet about
the Equinoctial, seamen meet with a trade-wind blowing, for
the most part, one way, and there they sail jocund before
it, and scarce need to lower a topsail for some hundreds of
leagues.



 

APPLICATION.
------------


Although the people of God meet with many seeming rubs and
setbacks in their way to heaven, which are like contrary
winds to a ship, yet they are, from the day of their
conversion to the day of their complete salvation, never
out of a trade-wind's way to heaven:  "We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
 This is a most precious scripture, pregnant with its
consolation to all believers in all conditions, a pillar of
comfort to all distressed saints.  Let us look a little
nearer to it:

"We know" - Mark the certainty and evidence of the
proposition, which is not built upon a guess or remote
probability, but upon the knowledge of the saints.  We
"know" it, and that partly by Divine revelation (God has
told us so), and partly by our own experience (we find it
so).

"...that all things" - Not only things that lie in a natural
and direct tendency to our good (as ordinances, promises,
blessings, etc.), but even such things as have no natural
fitness and tendency to such an end (as afflictions,
temptations, corruptions, desertions, etc.):  all these
help onward.  They...

"...work together" - Not all of them directly, and of their
own nature and inclination; but by being overruled and
determined to such an issue by the gracious hand of God. 
Nor yet do they work out such goods to the saints singly
and apart, but as adjuvant causes or helps, standing under,
and working in subordination to the supreme and principal
cause of their happiness.

Now, the most seeming opposite things, yea, sin in itself,
which in its own nature is really opposite to their good,
yet eventually contributes to it.  Afflictions and
desertions seem to work against us, but being once put into
the rank and order of causes, they work together with such
blessed instruments, as word and prayer to an happy issue. 
And though the faces of these things that so agree and work
together look contrary ways, yet there are, as it were,
secret chains and connections of providence betwixt them to
unite them in their issue.  There may be many instruments
employed about one work, and yet not communicate counsels
or hold intelligence with each other.  Joseph's brethren,
the Midianites, Potiphar, etc., knew not one another's
mind, nor aimed at one end (much less the end that God
brought about by them).  One acts out of revenge, another
for gain, a third out of policy:  yet all meet together at
last in that issue God had designed to bring about by them,
even Joseph's advancement.  Even so it is here, Christian,
there are more instruments at work for thine eternal good
than thou art aware of.







REFLECTION.
-----------


Cheer up then, O my soul, and lean upon this pillar of
comfort in all distresses.  Here is a promise for me (if I
am a called one) that, like the philosopher's stone, turns
all into gold it toucheth.  This promise is my security;
however things go in the world, my God "will do me no hurt"
(Jer. 25:6).  Nay, He will do me good by every
dispensation.  O that I had but an heart to make all things
work for His glory, who thus causeth every thing to work
for my good.  My God, dost Thou turn every thing to my
advantage?  O let me return all the Thy praise; and if by
every thing, Thou work my eternal good, then let me in
everything give thanks.

But ah!  How foolish and ignorant have I been?  Even as a
beast before Thee.  How hath my heart been disquieted, and
apt to repine at Thy dispensations, when they have crossed
my will?  Not considering that my God faithfully pursues my
good, even in those things that cross, as well as in that
which pleases me.

Blessed Lord!  What a blessed condition are all Thy people
in, who are within the line of this promise!  All things
friendly and beneficial to them:  friends helpful, enemies
helpful, everything conspiring, and conducing to their
happiness.  With others it is not so:  Nothing works for
their good.  Nay, everything works against it:  their very
mercies are snares, and their properity destroys them (see
Prov. 1:32).  Even the blessed gospel itself is a savour of
death to them.  When evil befalls them, "it is only an
evil" (Ezek. 7:5), that is, not turned into good to them;
and as their evils are not turned into good, so all their
good is turned into evil.  As this promise hath an
influence into all that concerns the people of God, so the
curse hath an influence into all the enjoyments of the
wicked.  O my soul, bless the Lord, who hath cast thy lot
into such a pleasant place, and given thee such a glorious
heritage, as this promise is.






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New Testament Study - Matthew 8:28-34
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The Demon-Possessed Men
-----------------------


28When He arrived at the other side in the region of the
Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs
met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass that
way. 29"What do you want with us, Son of God?" they
shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the
appointed time?" 

30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.
31The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us
into the herd of pigs." 

32He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the
pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into
the lake and died in the water. 33Those tending the pigs
ran off, went into the town and reported all this,
including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they
saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.




In the previous section, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, brought
calm to the storm.  In this section, He brings peace to
raging, demon-possessed men:  "When He arrived at the other
side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed
men coming from the tombs met Him.  They were so violent
that no one could pass that way.  'What do you want with
us, Son of God?'  they shouted.  'Have you come here to
torture us before the appointed time?'  Some distance from
them a large herd of pigs was feeding.  The demons begged
Jesus, 'If you drive us out, send us into the herd of
pigs.'  He said to them, 'Go!'  So they came out and went
into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep
bank into the lake and died in the water" (vss. 28-32). 
The first thing to note concerning this passage is that
demon-possession is real.  Demons are real.  They are
depicted in the Bible as nothing but real.  They are
constantly working against God, and against us.     


In this passage, demons had possessed two men, causing them
to act violently so "that no one could pass that way" (vs.
28).  Their possession of the two men was so complete that
the demons themselves spoke through the men.  When they saw
Jesus, they shouted:  "What do you want with us, Son of
God?... Have you come here to torture us before the
appointed time?" (vs. 29).  These questions from the demons
to Jesus are fraught with implications about the spirit
world.  First, the demons knew and acknowledged who Jesus
was.  They called Him "Son of God".  They knew that Jesus
was more than just an itinerant preacher of the Word of
God.  They knew He had power over them.  They also knew
that eventually, at "the appointed time", Jesus would
"torture" them.  All this implies that Jesus was
pre-existent to the time He walked on earth, and that He
was well-known in the spirit world.  

It also implies that demons know about their ultimate fate. 
There is an "appointed time" for them, when they will be
"tortured".  Jude speaks of this:  "And the angels who did
not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their
own home-these He has kept in darkness, bound with
everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day" (Jude 6).
 Then, we learn in Revelation that, after the millennial
reign, "the devil, who deceived [God's people], was thrown
into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the
false prophet had been thrown.  They will be tormented day
and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10).  

But the demons knew that their "appointed time" to be
"tortured" had not yet come.  They knew that God, for a
time, was allowing them to do their evil work on earth. 
Nevertheless, they knew that Jesus had power over them, and
that Jesus' ministry on earth was special.  They also most
likely knew that Jesus healed all the sick and
demon-possessed that He came in contact with.  Thus, the
demons knew that Jesus would heal the men they were
possessing.  So, "the demons begged Jesus, 'If you drive us
out, send us into the herd of pigs'" (vs. 31).  "Devils
would sooner dwell inside swine than be in the presence of
Jesus" [Spurgeon, 96].  Apparently, the people in the area
raised pigs.  We can imply from this one of two things: 
Either the area was a Gentile area, or the Jews in the area
were in disobedience to the law, for it was illegal
according to the law for Jews to raise pigs (see Lev.
11:7).

Jesus' primary concern was for the well-being of the men. 
He did not show that same concern for the pigs.  The pigs
were secondary.  He allowed the demons to do with the pigs
what they would:  "He said to them, 'Go!'  So they came out
and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the
steep bank into the lake and died in the water" (vs. 32). 
Now, pigs hate water, so we can assume that the demons
drove them into the lake.  The destructive desire of the
demons not only operated upon the men, but also on the
pigs.  By the way, the destruction of the pigs by the
demons demonstrates that the malady of the two men was not
some psychological disorder, but was an actual case of
demon-possession.  When the demons left the men, the men
were healed.  That the demons left the men was demonstrated
by the fact that they went into the pigs and destroyed
them.

A possible motive for the demons' destruction of the pigs
(other than their inherent desire to destroy all that they
come in contact with) was to turn the townspeople against
Jesus.  In this, the demons succeeded:  "Those tending the
pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this,
including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 
Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.  And when they
saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region" (vss.
33-34).  How could people, who saw a demonstration of
Jesus' power over evil, beseech Him to leave?  The reaction
of the people showed that they were willing to endure the
presence of demons in their area, as long as their
money-making opportunities were not disturbed in any way. 
Should not the people rather have rejoiced that the
demon-possessed men were now delivered?  They would no
longer terrorize the area.  They would now be productive
citizens.  

Then also, was not their blame misplaced?  The townspeople
incorrectly blamed Jesus for the destruction of the pigs. 
It was not Jesus who destroyed the pigs, it was the demons.
 Why are we so quick to blame the Lord for the devil's
work?  And would not the departure of Jesus from their area
increase the chance that demons would be destructive in
their area?  

There is some irony in the way that Matthew describes the
town's reaction.  He says:  "Then the whole town went out
to meet Jesus."  After reading this sentence, we would
naturally assume that the town went out to worship Him. 
What a blessing!  A whole town coming out to meet Jesus. 
But then we read:  "And when they saw Him, they pleaded
with Him to leave their region."  How sad.  "A rare
occurrence-a whole city meeting Jesus, and that city
unanimous in their appeal to Him.  Alas, it was the
unanimity of evil!  Here was a whole city at a prayer
meeting, praying against their own blessing...  What a
mercy that our Lord does not hear every prayer of this
sort!" [Spurgeon, 98].










===========================================================

A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 8
========================================================



[Here we continue our series that has the goal of increasing
our love for God and the things of God, while decreasing
our love for the world and the things of the world.  In
this issue, we begin a multi-part study by Samuel Annesley,
in which he examines, in detail, the greatest
commandment.]-Ed.





How May We Attain to Love God

by Samuel Annesley (1620 -1696)
-------------------------------


"Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind.  This is the first and great commandment'" (Matt.
22:37-38, AV).  



It is fit this study should begin with a general
introduction.  I should be much mistaken, and so would you
too, should we think this text unsuitable:  let us
therefore, not only in the fear, but also in the love of
God, address ourselves to the management of it.

This command you have in Deut. 6:5:  "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might."  This command is not found in
Exodus, nor in Leviticus, but only in Deuteronomy; that is,
"the second law of Moses", which, as some express it, bore
a type of the second law, namely, the evangelical, to which
this command is proper:  for the old law was a law of fear
tending to bondage, and therefore Moses mentions the
incussion of terror in the giving of it; which when he hath
dispatched, he begins the following chapter with love,
noting that the Holy Ghost will cause the law of love to
succeed the law of fear.  And it is observable that the
Jews read this place with the highest observation; and
their scribes write the first and last words of the preface
to it with greater letters than ordinary, to amplify the
sense, and to note that this is the beginning and the end
of the divine law; and they read this scripture morning and
evening with great religion.





THE OCCASION
------------


The occasion of Christ's pressing this command upon them at
this time was this:  When the Pharisees heard how He had
baffled the Saducees, and stopped their mouths with so
proper and fit an answer that they had no more to say, they
consult how they may show their acumen and sharpness of
wit, to diminish Christ's credit concerning His doctrine
and skill in scripture; and therefore they choose out one
of their most accomplished interpreters of the law,
captiously to propose an excellent question.  They call Him
"Master," whose disciples they will not be; they inquire
after the "great" commandment who will not duly observe the
"least"; they thought Christ could not return such an
answer but that they might very plausibly except against
it.  If Christ should have named any one command to be the
greatest, their exception was ready:  "Why not another as
great as that?"  But Christ's wisdom shames their subtlety;
Christ doth not call any command great, with the lessening
of the rest; but He repeats the sum of the whole law, and
distinguisheth it into two great commands, according to the
subordination of their objects. 

Though the excellency of the subject calls for the
enlargement of your hearts, yet the copiousness of it
requires the contracting of my discourse.  To save time,
therefore, let me open my text and case both together.  The
case is this:-





CASE
----


What is it to love God with all the heart, and with all the
soul, and with all the mind; and how may we be able to do
it?

In short, we must love God, as near as it is possible,
infinitely.

For directions in this case, I shall follow this method:-


I.  Show you, what it is to love God with all the heart, and
with all the soul, and with all the mind.

II.  I shall endeavour to demonstrate, that it is our
unquestionable and indispensable duty so to love
God.

III.  I shall acquaint you what abilities are requisite for
the well-discharging of this duty, and how to attain
them.

IV.  I shall give you directions how to improve and augment
all the abilities we can get, that we may have a growing
love to God.

V.  I shall close with the best persuasives I can think of,
that you would be graciously ambitious of such
qualifications, and vigorously diligent in such
duties.







WHAT IS IT TO LOVE GOD?
-----------------------


I.  What is it to love God with all the heart, soul, and
mind?

We must not be too curious in distinguishing these words:  
the same thing is meant, when the words are used singly, as
David is said to follow God "with all his heart" (I Kings.
14:8); and doubly, Josiah made his people, as well as
himself, to covenant "to walk after the Lord with all their
heart and all their soul" (II Kings 23:3); and where three
words are used, as:  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might" (Deut. 6:5); and when four words are used, as: 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength" (Mark 12:30).  

Love to God must go through and possess our whole nature,
and all the powers of it.  The mind must think of God; the
will must delight in God; in short, our whole strength must
be employed to please Him.  We must love nothing more than
God, nothing equal with God; we must love God above all,
and that for Himself; [and love] all other things in God,
and for God.  We must be willing to lose all, yea, life
itself, rather than to admit anything contrary to the love
of God.  All these expressions denote the intenseness of
our affections, the unexpressibleness of our obligation,
and the contemptibleness of every thing that shall
challenge a share in our love.  All these expressions
admonish us of our infirmity, provoke us to humility, and
set us a-longing after a better life.  It is a notable
expression of one:  "The love of the heart is not
understood, but felt; the love of the soul is not felt, but
understood; because the love of the soul is its judgment. 
He that loves God as He is here commanded, believes that
all good is in God, and that God is all that is good; and
that without God there is no good.  He believes that God is
all power, and wisdom; and that without God there is
neither power nor wisdom" [author unknown].

But notwithstanding all that hath been spoken, no doubt but
there is a singular emphasis in the words; and the Holy
Ghost intends a more full declaration of the manner of our
love by these several expressions.  Though to be
over-critical in the distinguishing of these words will
rather intricate than explicate this great command; yet to
follow a plain scriptural interpretation will give light
into the duty.

Let us inquire therefore,  1. What it is to love.  2. What
it is to love God.  3. What it is to love God in that
manner here expressed.









WHAT LOVE IS
------------


1.  What is love?- "Love is an affection of union, whereby
we desire or enjoy perpetual union with the thing loved"
[Martin Luther].  

It is not a carnal love I am now to speak of.  The
philosopher could observe, that there can be no true love
among wicked men.

It is not a natural love, for that may as well be brutish as
rational, and divine love is transcendently rational.

It is not a merely moral love, for that consists in a mean,
but divine love is always in an extreme.

Divine love is a compound of all the former, but it adds
infinitely more to them than it borrows of them.  Divine
love is supernaturally natural:  it turns moral virtues
into spiritual graces.  It engageth men to attempt as much
for the glorifying of God as all the creatures besides,
from the highest angel to the most insensible
stone.



WHAT IT IS TO LOVE GOD
----------------------


2.  What is love to God?- Methinks a lax description best
suits my design.  This divine love,-it is the unspeakable
enlargement of the heart towards God; it is the ecstasy and
ravishment of the heart in God; it is the soul's losing
itself in God; it is the continual working of the heart
towards God.  Every faculty of the soul is actually
engaged; the mind is musing and plodding how to please God
and enjoy Him; the will is graciously obstinate, the policy
of hell cannot charm it off its object; the affections are
all passions in their eager motions towards God; the
conscience is a busy-body, necessitating the whole man to a
jealous watch.  I said, this love-it is the enlargement of
the heart towards God:  when the  "love of God is shed
abroad in the heart" (Rom. 5:5), it is as the breaking of a
ball of lightning, it sets all on a flame immediately.  It
is the unspeakable enlargement of the heart towards God;
the highest rhetoric is too flat to express it, as is
obvious in the Song of Songs, that Song of Loves.  I have
no way to set this out unto you but by words:  the plainest
and most intelligible expressions I can give you shall be
by several similitudes, which I shall pursue till they
leave me to admiration.  I shall borrow metaphors from
things without life, from plants, from sensitive creatures,
from man:

(1).  The soul's love to God may be a little shadowed forth,
by the love of the iron to the loadstone,-Which ariseth
from a hidden quality; though to say so, is but the hiding
of our ignorance.  The motion of the iron toward the
loadstone is slow while at a distance, but quick when near:
 and when it but touches it, it clings so fast, that,
unless forced, it will never part; and when it is parted,
it will, to the farthest part of the world, retain the
virtue of its touch.  So the soul:  while at a distance
from God,-it moves slowly; but as the Father draws, it
runs; and when once it comes to be graciously united, the
apostle asks, "Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?" (Rom. 8:35); not only, "Who shall hinder us from
partaking of God's love?", but, "Who can take us off from
our loving of God?"  Christ gives the answer, their union
with God, their enjoyment of God, is inseparable (John
10:28-29); and though they may (as sometimes they will in
their imperfect state) have some warping on their parts,
and some withdrawing on God's, yet their love to God, in
the lowest ebb, tremblingly hankers after him; the soul
cannot forget its alone resting-place (see Ps.
116:7).

(2).  Our love to God is like the love of the flower of the
sun to the sun.-It springs of a very little seed.  It is
not only our faith, but our love, that is at first like a
"grain of mustard-seed"; it grows the fastest of any flower
whatsoever.  It is not only faith, but love, that "groweth
exceedingly" (II Thess. 1:3).  It always turns and bows
itself towards the sun.  Our love to God is always bowing
and admiring; always turning to and following after God. 
It opens and shuts with the sun's rising and setting.  Our
love, when it is what it should be, opens itself to God,
and closes itself against all other objects.  It brings
forth seed enough for abundance of other flowers:  love to
God is the most fruitful grace, that when it "blossoms and
buds, it fills the face of the world with fruit" (Isa.
27:6).

(3).  Our love to God is like the love of the turtle dove to
her mate.-God's people are His turtle dove (see Ps. 74:19).
 I grant, they most properly resemble brotherly love; but
why not our love to God?  They never associate with other
birds:  the loving soul keeps fellowship with God, and, out
of choice, with Him only, and those that bear His image. 
The turtle dove never sings and flies abroad for
recreation, as other birds; but they have a peculiar note
for each other:  the soul that loves God flutters not about
for worldly vanities; no recreation so sweet as communion
with God; the soul's converse with God is peculiar.  When
one dies, the other droops till it dies, so that they do,
as it were, live and die in the embraces of each other:  so
the soul that loves God,-His "loving-kindness is better
than life" (Ps. 63:3); and there is nothing makes a saint
more impatient of living, than that he cannot while he
lives have a full enjoyment of God.

(4).  Our love to God should be like, though exceed, Jacob's
love to Benjamin (Gen. 42:38)-He will starve rather than
part with Benjamin; and when hunger forced him from him,
and he was like to be by a wile kept from him, Judah offers
to purchase his liberty with his own, because his father's
"life was bound up in the lad's life" (Gen. 44:30); so the
soul that loves God is not able to bear the thoughts of
parting with him; his life is bound up in enjoying the
presence of God.  I have been too long; but O, that I could
affect your hearts as well as inform your judgments, what
it is to love God!






===========================================================

A Study of Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 7:23-29
========================================

Obstacles to Wisdom
-------------------


23All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined
to be wise"-but this was beyond me. 24Whatever wisdom may
be, it is far off and most profound-who can discover it?
25So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to
search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to
understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of
folly. 

26I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man
who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will
ensnare. 

27"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered:
 Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of
things- 28while I was still searching but not finding-I
found one [upright] man among a thousand, but not one
[upright] woman among them all. 29This only have I found:
God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of
many schemes." 



In the previous section, Solomon talked about the "crooked"
things in life, things he did not understand.  Solomon
realized that God was in control even of the "crooked" 
things.  He said:  "Consider what God has done:  Who can
straighten what He has made crooked?"   These "crooked"
things in life that God has ordained made Solomon aware of
the shortcomings of his own reasoning ability.  Here he
says:  "All this I tested by wisdom and I said, 'I am
determined to be wise'-but this was beyond me.  Whatever
wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound-who can
discover it?" (vss. 23-24).  But Solomon does not give up. 
For a philosopher to say that wisdom is "beyond" him is a
grand admission of failure.  So Solomon redoubles his
effort to understand these things, to attain wisdom by his
own reasonings:  "So I turned my mind to understand, to
investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of
things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and
the madness of folly" (vs. 25).  Solomon resolves to use
every tool at his disposal:  to "understand", to
"investigate", to "search out".  

In his renewed attempt to overcome the shortcomings of his
wisdom, Solomon looks first at an obstacle to being wise: 
"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains.  The man
who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will
ensnare" (vs. 26).  One of the biggest obstacles to wisdom
is to fall into sexual sin.  It blinds one's heart and mind
to truth.  It turns one's heart away from God, hardening it
to the things of God.  As Solomon points out, sexual sin is
a "snare" and a "trap", not easily relinquishing its
victim.  

Now, in this area, Solomon would have done well to practice
what he preached.  Solomon stumbled into a state of sexual
gluttony, of sorts, which led him away from the Lord and
thus, away from true wisdom:  "King Solomon, however, loved
many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter-Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  They were
from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites,
'You must not intermarry with them, because they will
surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless,
Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred
wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his
wives led him astray.  As Solomon grew old, his wives
turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not
fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David
his father had been.  He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of
the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the
Ammonites.  So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he
did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had
done" (I Kings 11:1-6).

One of the best ways to avoid sexual sin is to cultivate a
strong relationship with God, and to spend one's time in
service to God.  Solomon intimates this:  "The man who
pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will
ensnare" (vs. 26).  

Continuing in his redoubled effort to find true wisdom,
Solomon deduces why men cannot by human endeavors achieve
true wisdom:  "'Look,' says the Teacher, 'this is what I
have discovered:  Adding one thing to another to discover
the scheme of things-while I was still searching but not
finding-I found one upright man among a thousand, but not
one upright woman among them all.  This only have I found: 
God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of
many schemes'" (vss. 27-29).  Solomon reflects on his
search for wisdom, and the people he had personally met in
his life.  He remembers only "one upright man" among them,
and no upright women.  Note, Solomon is not here making a
general statement concerning the morality of women.  He is
merely reflecting on his own life and the people he has
met.  Of them all, men and women, he remembers only one
whom he could call "upright".  In truth, there has been
only one truly "upright man" in all of human history.  This
one upright man was also the most wise of all who walked
the earth, because He perfectly put into practice the will
of God.  This man was, of course,  Jesus Christ. 


Jesus is a proof of the point that Solomon is trying to make
here.  Solomon has deduced that men cannot be truly wise
because they have strayed from God and the righteousness of
God.  As Solomon notes:  "This only have I found:  God made
mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many
schemes" (vs. 29).  The woes of man, the troubles we face,
the injustice we see day by day, can be traced to the fact
that "men have gone in search of many schemes."  They
reject the righteousness and morality of God, and run from
Him, though He "made mankind upright."  The problems in the
world, what is "crooked" in the world, are not due to
"divine injustice", but to "human perverseness" [Hubbard,
178].  God has blessed men with the supreme reasoning
abilities of all the creatures on earth, but rather than
using this ability to glorify God, "men have gone in search
of many schemes."  "Created in the image of God, man has
the ability to understand and harness the forces of God put
into nature, but he doesn't always use this ability in
constructive ways" [Wiersbe, 93].  Unfortunately, men are
very inventive in coming up with ways to sin, in figuring
out ways to be destructive.















Worship God
-----------


Lord, if Thy word had been 'Worship Me not,

		For I than thou am holier:  draw not near':

		We had besieged Thy Face with prayer and tear

And manifold abasement in our lot,

Our crooked ground, our thorned and thistled plot;

		Envious of flawless Angels in their sphere,

		Envious of brutes, and envious of the mere

Unliving and undying unbegot.

But now Thou hast said, 'Worship Me, and give

		Thy heart to Me, My child'; now therefore we

		Think twice before we stoop to worship Thee:

		We proffer half a heart while life is strong

And strung with hope; so sweet it is to live!

		Wilt Thou not wait?  Yea, Thou hast waited long.



					-- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
--------------------------------------