The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IVMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IV
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
But where is He to be known? This is, in very deed, a grave question.
Many a one has had to cry out, with Job, "Oh, that I knew where I
might find Him." Where is God to be found? Am I to look for Him in
creation? Doubtless, His hand is visible there; but ah! that will not
do for me. A Creator-God will not suit a lost sinner. _The hand of
power_ will not avail for a poor, guilty wretch like me. I want _a
heart of love_. Yes, I want a heart that can love me in all my guilt
and misery. Where can I find this? Shall I look into the wide domain
of providence--the widely extended sphere of God's government? Has God
revealed Himself there in such a way as to meet me, a poor lost one?
Will providence and government avail for one who knows himself to be a
hell-deserving sinner? Clearly not. If I look at these things, I may
see what will perplex and confound me. I am short-sighted and
ignorant, and wholly unable to explain the ins and outs, the bearings
and issues, the why and the wherefore, of a single event in my own
life, or in the history of this world. Am I able to explain all about
the loss of _The London_? Can I account for the fact that a most
valuable life is suddenly cut short, and an apparently useless one
prolonged? There is a husband and the father of a large family; he
seems perfectly indispensable to his domestic circle and yet, all in a
moment, he is cut down, and they are left in sorrow and destitution;
while, on the other hand, yonder lies a poor bed-ridden creature, who
has outlived all her relations, and is dependent on the parish, or on
individual benevolence. She has lain there for years, a burden to
some, no use to any. Can I account for this? Am I competent to
interpret the voice of Providence in this deeply mysterious
dispensation? Certainly not. I have nothing in or of myself wherewith
to thread my way through the mazes of the labyrinth of what is called
providence. I cannot find a Saviour-God there.
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