The Stages of Probation
Dean Goulburn. Deuteronomy 8:1-2 All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply… I. There has ever been A STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL PROCEEDING IN THE WORLD — a struggle in which some have arrayed themselves on one side, some on another. II. Again, THE WORLD GROWS IN EXPERIENCE, increases its stores of knowledge, and its power over matter. III. But now to come to a more definite illustration of the truth, THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS BUT THE SPECIES IN MINIATURE. Ever since the creation of man, God has been proving His rational creatures by various dispensations. 1. Man, when ejected from Paradise, had a certain limited degree of light and help. 2. Man was next put under the restraints of human law — the warrant for the whole compass of human law being contained in that sentence, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." This was a new help, a new light. Did man recover himself under it from the ruins of the fall? Alas, no! Consider that one saying to Abraham, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." It shows that mighty nations had sprung up upon the earth's surface who were forgetful of God, and among whom stalked oppression and lust, such as called down vengeance from heaven. 3. So a law was henceforth to be revealed from heaven, and to be made plain upon tables of stone, so that he who ran might read it. Surely when it was so explicit, when it had so manifestly the attestation of heaven, man's evil propensities would not dare to break through its restraints. But the third dispensation failed, as the two preceding ones had done. 4. Subsequently the precepts of the law were expanded and spiritualised by the prophets, those inspired preachers raised up in orderly succession to bear their testimony for God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Still, man was unreclaimed: walked, as ever, in the way of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes. The servants who were sent to receive of the fruits of the vineyard were sent away empty, beaten, stoned, slain. 5. A pause, during which the voice of prophecy was hushed, and then full of augury and hope, the new dispensation, with its covenant of pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace, broke upon a world, which had as yet been stricken down and foiled in its every conflict with evil. A revealed Saviour, joining, in His mysterious Person, man with God — this was the new Light. A revealed forgiveness through His blood, of every transgression — this was the new encouragement. A revealed Sanctifier, who should take up His abode in the abyss of the human will, and there meet evil in its earliest germ — this was the new strength. In the long-suffering of God this dispensation is still running its course. (Dean Goulburn.) Parallel Verses KJV: All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. WEB: You shall observe to do all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers.