INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 4
"We should always speak of the word & works of God with concern & seriousness & show ourselves affected with those great things of God which we desire others should take notice of." "God can reach the greatest of men with his terrors even when they are most secure, & think themselves at rest & flourishing." "Many persist in a false way only because they think they cannot in honour leave it." "The spirit of prophecy quite outdoes the spirit of divination" "Worldly prosperity in its highest degree is a very uncertain thing; & it is no uncommon thing for those that have lived in the greatest pomp & power to be stripped of all that which they trusted to & gloried in." "God in judgment remembers mercy" "When God gives us general warnings of his judgments we should be desirous to understand his mind in them, to hear the Lord's voice crying in the city." "Those that consult the oracles of God must be ready to receive them as they are, whether they be for them or against them, & must accordingly give their ministers leave to be free with them." "Then only we may expect comfortably to enjoy our right in, & government of, both ourselves & others, when we dutifully acknowledge God's title to, & dominion over, us & all we have." "It is necessary, in repentance, that we not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well, not only do no wrong to any, but do good to all." "God is long-suffering with provoking sinners, because he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. II Peter 3:9." "Pride & self-conceitedness are sins that most easily beset great men, who have great things in the world. They are apt to take the glory to themselves which is due to God only." "Those may justly be reckoned void of understanding that do not bless & praise God" "Woe to him that strives with his Maker, that says to him, What doest thou? Or, Why doest thou so?" "When men are brought to honour God, particularly by a penitent confession of sin & a believing acknowledgment of his sovereignty, then, & not till then, they may expect that God will put honour upon them, will not only restore them to the dignity they lost by the sin of the first Adam, but add excellent majesty to them from the righteousness & grace of the second Adam." CHAPTER 5 "Security & sensuality are sad presages of approaching ruin. Those that will not be warned by the judgments of God may expect to be wounded by them." "Let those who thus sacrilegiously alienate what is dedicated to God & his honour know that he will not be mocked." "They gave that glory to images, the work of their own hands & creatures of their own fancy, which is due to the true & living God." "God can soon awaken the most secure & make the heart of the stoutest sinner to tremble" "Let Daniel be called, & he will show the interpretation. By this it appears that Daniel was now forgotten at court. Belshazzar was a stranger to him, knew not that he had such a jewel in his kingdom." "...whatever men are, God is not unrighteous to forget the services done to his kingdom." "...the righteous shine forth out of obscurity, & before honour is humility." "Whatever degree of outward prosperity any arrive at, they must own that it is of God's giving, not their own getting." "Justly does God deprive men of their reason when they become unreasonable & will not use it, & of their power when they become oppressive & use it ill." "Kings must know, or shall be made to know, that the most high God rules in their kingdoms... & that he appoints over them whomsoever he will." "It is a great offence to God if our hearts be not humbled before him to comply both with his precepts & with his providences, humbled by repentance, obedience, & patience" "Sinners that are resolved to go on in sin are well enough pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know, for then they may sin securely; but they will find, to their confusion, that though those are the gods they choose those are not the gods they must be judged by, but one to whom all things are naked & open." "AS the sin of sinners is written in the book of God's omniscience, so the doom of sinners is written in the book of God's law; & the day is coming when those books shall be opened, & they shall be judged by them." "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin... He has numbered, he has weighed, & they divide." "'God has numbered thy kingdom..." "Thou art weighed..." "But thou art found wanting, unworthy to have such a trust lodged in thee" "At death, the sinner's days are numbered & finished; after death the judgment, when he will be weighed in the balance & found wanting; & after judgment the sinner will be cut asunder, & given as prey to the devil & his angels." "...deep are the counsels of God concerning his people, thus kind are his designs towards them." CHAPTER 6 "...honesty is the best policy, for it secures a reputation; & those who thus honour God he will honour." "Daniel is envied because he has a more excellent spirit than his neighbours." "We have all need to walk circumspectly, because we have many eyes upon us, & some that watch for our halting." "Daniel's adversaries could have no advantage against him from any law now in being; they therefore contrive a new law, by which they hope to ensnare him" "It is by prayer that we give glory to God, fetch in mercy from God, & so keep up our communion with God" "Does not every man's heart direct him, when he is in want or distress, to call upon God, & must this be made high treason?" "Every house not only may be, but ought to be, a house of prayer" "In every prayer he gave thanks. When we pray to God for the mercies we want we must praise him for those we have received. Thanksgiving must be a part of every prayer." "Daniel was a man famous for prayer, & for success in it (Ezek. 14:14), & he came to be so by thus making a conscience of prayer & making a business of it daily; & in thus doing God blessed him wonderfully." "We are to obey God rather than men." "See what need we have to pray for princes that God would give them wisdom, for they are often embarrassed with great difficulties, even the wisest & best are." "Those who serve God continually he will continually preserve, & will bear them out in his service." "If he (God) keeps their souls from sin, comforts their souls with his peace, & receives their souls to himself, he does in effect stop the lions' mouths, that they cannot hurt them." "Those who boldly & cheerfully trust in God to protect them in the way of their duty shall never be made ashamed of their confidence in him, but shall always find him a present help." "If we live in the fear of God... peace shall be upon us, peace shall be multiplied to us." CHAPTER 7 "Sometimes the valour of a nation strangely sinks, & it becomes cowardly & effeminate, so that what was the head of the nations in an age or two becomes the tail." "...the proud & cruel enemies of the church of God will certainly be reckoned with & brought down in due time." "The church shall continue militant to the end of time, & triumphant to the endless ages of eternity." "The design of Satan has been to wear out the saints of the Most High, that they may be no more in remembrance; but the attempt is vain, for while the world stands God will have a church in it." "The saints rule by the Spirit's ruling in them (& this is the victory overcoming the world, even their faith) & by making the kingdoms of this world to become Christ's kingdom." "The heart must be the treasury & store-house of divine things; there we must hide God's word, as the Virgin Mary kept the sayings of Christ, Luke 2:51. Daniel kept the matter in his heart, with a design, not to keep it from the church, but to keep it for the church, that what he had received from the Lord he might fully & faithfully deliver to the people." "It concerns God's prophets & ministers to treasure up the things of God in their minds, & there to digest them well. If we would have God's word ready in our mouths when we have occasion for it, we must keep it in our hearts at all times." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 1044 - 1077.
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AuthorCross Preaching Pentecostal Pastor. Husband to Tonia, Father to 3 beautiful girls, Monica, Zoe & Briana, & Grandfather to Wesley & Elliott Archives
September 2023
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