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THE RESULTS OF EFFECTUAL CALLING.

They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which, in this life, do either accompany or flow from them. IT is a common but very false opinion, that whatever may be the happy result of conversion in a future world, few are the advantages which flow from it in this; and that, so far from benefiting man as to the present, it calls him to all the privations and sacrifices of the most rigid austerity. Such is the picture drawn of it by those who know it not, or who wilfully misrepresent it to defend their hostility to it. Godliness, we are assured on the testimony of God, and of all who have chosen its ways, is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Those who are effectually called partake here of justification; for “to him shall men come, and in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” They are adopted, for God is faithf
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PSALM 89:15-16 ¶ Blessed is the people that know the joyful

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. (16) In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. A new subject is here opened. The sacred writer, having celebrated the praises of JEHOVAH in what had gone before, now speaks of the happiness of his people. Moses had long before observed, that there was no people like Israel; none who had privileges so great and distinguished as they had, in a covenant GOD to look up to, and to be happy in forever: and here the Psalmist points out in what that happiness consists. Observe: He doth not say, Blessed is the people that hear only, but they that know the joyful sound. Probably he alluded to the calling of the people up to the assemblies of divine worship, the new moon feasts, and especially the jubilee trumpet on the great day of release. And although this trumpet of the jubilee was never sounded but once in every fiftieth year, and conse
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PSALM 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:

for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. Happy and gracious conclusion of every truly regenerate soul, convinced of an interest in CHRIST, and a personal union with him. The beloved of the LORD shall dwell safely. Isaiah 32:18. REFLECTIONS READER! let you and I never lose sight of the LORD JESUS while reading this Psalm. He is the LORD our righteousness. And, therefore, in all our approaches to the mercy-seat, let us go there in a language corresponding to this, which calls JESUS the GOD of our righteousness. And while men of the world from the world are seeking their chief good, let us desire his favor which infinitely transcends corn and wine, and all the good things which perish in using. Yes! LORD, thy favor is better than life itself. Thou causest them that love thee to inherit substance, and fittest all their treasure, yea thou thyself art their treasure. And oh! thou gracious GOD and FATHER, hast thou in such a wonderful manner set apart one in our nature for thyself?
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Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked." Psalm 37:16

Hard may be your lot here below, you suffering saints of the most High, as regards external matters; painful may be the exercises through which you almost daily pass, through the rebellion and desperate wickedness of your carnal mind; grievous temptations may be your continual portion; many a pricking thorn and sharp brier may lie in your path; and so rough and rugged may be the road, that at times you may feel yourself of all men to be the most miserable; and so indeed you would be but for the grace of God in your heart now, and the glory prepared for you beyond the grave. Yet with it all, were your afflictions and sorrows a thousand times heavier, well may it be said of you--"Happy, thrice happy, are you, O Israel!" Whom upon earth need you envy if you have the grace of God in your heart? With whom would you change, if ever the love of God has visited your soul? Look around you; fix your eyes upon the man or woman who seems surrounded with the greatest amount of earthly hap
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THE SABBATH

The same kind Father who in his infinite goodness hath given the Sabbath that it may lead us to become recipients of his boundless grace, hath also warned us that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all that forget God. [Ps 9:17] You may profane the holy day now; you may slight all its blessed opportunities; you may rob God of the one day in seven which he has reserved to himself; you may use it for your own purposes, spend its sacred time in your own ways and for your own pleasure, and as you do this, the current of life may seem to flow smoothly on, and yet even if no other enemy appear to mar the even tenor of your way, sooner or later, the fearful chasm of death must confront your path; then as you are taking your leave of this earthly tenement of your soul or as you are making your way through the dark valley of the shadow of death, [Ps 23:4] how will you regard the lost opportunities of these earthly Sabbaths; or when you stand before the Judge of the quick and the dead [2 T
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Thirsting for God

A. Maclaren, D. D. Taken in its original sense, the words of our text apply only to that strange phenomenon which we call religious depression. But I venture to take them in a wider sense than that. It is not only Christian men who are east down, whoso souls "thirst for God." It is not only men upon earth whose souls thirst for God. All men, everywhere, may take this text for theirs. I. There is in every man AN UNCONSCIOUS AND UNSATISFIED LONGING AFTER GOD, AND THAT IS THE STATE OF NATURE. Experience is the test of that principle. And the most superficial examination of the facts of daily life, as well as the questioning of our own souls, will tell us that this is the leading feature of them — a state of unrest. II. There is A CONSCIOUS LONGING, IMPERFECT, BUT ANSWERED; AND THAT IS THE STATE OF GRACE — the beginning of religion in a man's soul. If it be true that there are, as part of the universal human experience, however overlaid and stifled, these necessities, the v
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Jesus, My Rock.

The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus — John Ross Macduff When the storm and the tempest are raging around me, Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock? There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me, A Refuge Eternal, -- 'Tis JESUS MY ROCK! When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me, To whom can I safely my secrets unlock? No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me, The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK! When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me, And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock, I will look up to HIM who hath felt it before me, And cleave all the closer to JESUS MY ROCK! Companions may smile, and the world may deride me, And with the cold finger of ridicule mock; But no trial, nor coldness, nor death shall divide me, From the Shelter of Ages! -- from JESUS MY ROCK! O Thou! who on earth, in the days of thy sorrow, Didst fold to thy bosom the Lambs of thy Flock, Prevent me (though young) puttin
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