Elijah the Tishbite. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. VMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Elijah the Tishbite. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. V
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
It is one of Satan's masterpieces to lead professing Christians to
rest satisfied with looking to the Cross for salvation while remaining
in the world, or occupying a border position--"not going very far
away." This is a terrible snare, against which we most solemnly warn
the Christian reader. What is the remedy? True heart-devotedness to
and fellowship with a rejected and glorified Christ. To walk with
Christ, to delight in Him, to feed upon Him, we must be apart from the
godless, Christless, wicked world--apart from it in the spirit of our
minds and in the affections of our hearts--apart from it, not merely
in its gross forms of moral pravity, or the wild extravagance of its
folly and gaiety, but apart from its religion, its politics, and its
philanthropy--apart from the world in all that goes to make up that
comprehensive phrase.
But here we may be asked, "Is Christianity merely a stripping, an
emptying, a giving up? Does it only consist of prohibition and
negation?" We answer, with hearty and blissful emphasis, _No!_ A
thousand times, _No!_ Christianity is preeminently positive--intensely
real--divinely satisfying. What does it give us in lieu of what it
takes from us? It gives us "unsearchable riches" in place of "dung and
dross." It gives us "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and
unfading, reserved in heaven," instead of a poor passing bubble on the
stream of time. It gives us Christ, the joy of the heart of God, the
object of heaven's worship, the theme of angels' song, the eternal
sunlight of the new creation, in lieu of a few moments of sinful
gratification and guilty pleasure. And, finally, it gives us an
eternity of ineffable bliss and glory in the Father's house above,
instead of an eternity in the awful flames of hell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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