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LEGACY OF A LEGEND: The Spiritual Wisdom of Edward Payson
Edward Payson
WE ARE WORKING ON A NEW EDTION
Edward Payson (1783-1827) (Elizabeth Prentiss' father) was one of the greatest pastors and preachers of the early decades of America. This book is a compilation of his wise sayings about subjects like Love of God, Wisdom of God, The Folly of Unbelief, Man's Utter Dependence, Compassion and Condescension of Christ, and dozens of others.
"I highly recommend Legacy of a Legend. After reading it for myself and finding a treasure house of comfort and instruction for my own soul, we began to read it at our prayer meeting before we went to prayer. It flows so freely from the heart of Payson to the listener as it is full of scriptural truths without being laden with scriptural references. We have found it to be used by Holy Spirit to lead us in a more sincere time of prayer." - Andy Montoro, Pastor Oak Grove Baptist Church, Middleburg FL.
"Among the preachers of previous eras, Edward Payson stands tall. His profound meditation on God's Word gave his preaching and writing an unction that can lead men and women to be taken up more and more with the glorious being that is the triune God. Highly recommended." - Michael A.G. Haykin
"The wisdom of Edward Payson transcends time and place. Through his writings, and the writings of his daughter Elizabeth Prentiss, his legacy reaches over the centuries and graces our generation." - Susan Hunt
"This treasure is a miniature yet veritable Reformed systematic theology applied to mind and soul. Buy this book and read it slowly. Use it as a daily devotional. Meditate on small dosages. You will be well rewarded and concur that here is practical divinity in its purest form." - Joel Beeke
"Edward Payson entered deeply into the love of Christ, and reflected it to an eminent degree. Reading this book will surely bring blessings to the churches of our day." - Iain Murray
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MAN'S UTTER DEPENDENCE: If men are truly independent of God, it may, with safety, be asserted, that he is almost the only being or object in the universe, on whom they are not dependent. From the cradle to the grave, their lives exhibit little else than a continued course of dependence. They are dependent on the earth, on the water, on the air, on each other, on irrational animals, on vegetables, on unorganized substances. Let but the sun withhold his beams, and the clouds their showers for a single year, and the whole race of these mighty, independent beings expires. Let but a pestilential blast sweep over them, and they are gone. Let but some imperceptible derangement take place in their frail but complicated frame, and all their boasted intellectual powers sink to the level of an idiot's mind. Let a small portion of that food, on which they daily depend for nourishment, pass but the breadth of a line from its proper course, and they expire in agony. An insect, a needle, a thorn, has often proved sufficient to subject them to the same fate. And while they are dependent on so many objects for the continuance of their lives, they are dependent on a still greater number for happiness, and for the success of their enterprises. Let but a single spark fall unheeded, or be wafted by a breath of air, and a city, which it has cost thousands the labors of many years to erect, may be turned to ashes. Let the wind but blow from one point rather than from another, and the hopes of the merchant are dashed against a rock. Let but a little more, or a little less, than the usual quantity of rain descend, and in the latter case the prospects of the husbandman are blasted, while, in the other, his anticipated harvest perishes beneath the clods, or is swept away by an inundation. But in vain do we attempt to describe the extent of man's dependence, or enumerate all the objects and events on which he depends. Yet all these objects and events are under the control of Jehovah. Without his notice and appointment, not a hair falls from our heads, nor a sparrow to the ground. O how far is it, then, from being true, that man is not dependent on God!
CHRIST, THE BELOVED FRIEND: Does not our Friend as far excel all other friends, as heaven exceeds earth, as eternity exceeds time, as the Creator surpasses his creatures? If you doubt this, bring together all the glory, pomp and beauty of the world; nay, assemble everything that is great and excellent in all the worlds that ever were created; collect all the creatures which the breath of Omnipotence ever summoned into being; and we, on our parts, will place beside them our Savior and Friend, that you may see whether they will bear a comparison with him. Look, then, first at your idols; behold the vast assemblage which you have collected, and then turn and contemplate our Beloved. See all the fullness of the Godhead, dwelling in one who is meek and lowly as a child. See his countenance beaming with ineffable glories, full of mingled majesty, condescension and love, and hear the soul-reviving invitations which proceed from his lips. See that hand in which dwells everlasting strength, swaying the scepter of universal empire over all creatures and all worlds; see his arms expanded to receive and embrace returning sinners, while his heart, a bottomless, shore less ocean of benevolence, overflows with tenderness, compassion, and love. In a word, see in him all natural and moral excellence, personified, and embodied in a resplendent form, compared with whose effulgent, dazzling glories, the splendors of the meridian sun are dark. He speaks, and a world emerges from nothing. He frowns, and it sinks to nothing again. He waves his hand, and all the creatures which you have collected to rival him, sink and disappear. Such, O sinner, is our Beloved, and such is our Friend. Will you not then embrace him as your Friend? If you can be persuaded to do this, you will find that the one half, nay, that the thousandth part has not been told you.
All the excellency, glory and beauty, which is found in men or angels, flows from Christ, as a drop of water from the ocean, or a ray of light from the sun. If, then, you supremely love the creature, can you wonder that Christians should love the Creator? If you admire an image in a glass, is it strange that they should admire the sun by which it was painted? Can you wonder that those who behold the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, should be sweetly drawn to him by the cords of love, and lose their fondness for created glories? All that you love and admire, and wish for, in creatures, and indeed infinitely more, they find in him. Do you wish for a friend possessed of power to protect you? Our Friend possesses all power in heaven and earth, and is able to save even to the uttermost. Do you wish for a wise and experienced friend? In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Do you wish for a tender, compassionate friend? Christ is tenderness and compassion itself. Do you wish for a faithful, unchangeable friend? With Christ there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning; but he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His unchangeable love will ever prompt him to make his people happy; his unerring wisdom will point out the best means to promote their happiness; and his infinite power will enable him to employ those means. In all these respects, our Beloved is more than another beloved; for creatures are not always disposed to render us happy: when they are disposed to do it, they do not always know how; and when they know how, they are often unable. Better is it, therefore, to trust in Christ, than to put confidence in princes.
