A Goodly Heritage

There is relish enough in the world for news except the best:- "Whene'er we meet you always say, What's the news ?what's the news? Pray, what's the order of the day? What's the news ? what's the news? Oh! I have good news to tell,- My saviour hath done all things well.- And triumphed over Death and Hell: That's the news , that's the news." It has been said that the writer of these lines was a "lunatic"; but if he was such a babe , a wisdom which is hidden from the wise and prudent  had been revealed to him. If by some film on his brain the lower lights were excluded or distorted , his soul was open upward, and the "Light of Life " came in .

We speak of a revival; we pray for it ; perhaps we long for it . But all this , and an hundredfold more in the same direction, will not bring it about. God's arm is not shortened: his ear is not heavy. Our iniquities separate between us and him. The way to invite his presence is to put away the evil of our doings ; for he cannot dwell with sin . And if anyone , conscious of his knowledge and jealous of orthodoxy , should say in opposition, it is God's presence , sovereignly vouchsafed , that makes the visited man put away his evil;  we answer , that is a glorious truth , but is not an argument against our injunction.  That is the upper end of a revealed truth which reaches from earth to heaven: it is too high for us :if you put forth your hand to touch it at the top , it will consume you. That high thing is for God to handle , and not man. The end that leans on earth and lies to your hand is -"turn you at my reproof." The only safe way  of moving the heaven-high extre

.................should not a people seek unto their God ? for the living to the dead? 20. To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21And they shall pass through it , hardly bestead and hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22And they shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

"They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord ; but such as are upright in the way , are his delight." To think of God only as "angry  with the wicked"is but half a truth; and half a truth sometimes becomes practically a falsehood. To picture our Father in heaven all in shade is to hide half His loveliness, and keep His creatures terrified away. There is another side of His character, and the two together make up the  divine perfection; the righteous God loveth righteousness. It is an encourageing and not a presumptuous thought , that the Holy one delights in every good thing  which grace has wrought in His children. "Ye are God's husbandry;"that field He watches and waters night and day. Many weeds grow there to grieve Him, and many spots lie barren; but our "Father is the husbandman;" the husbandman is a Father, and He suffers long . He bears with the barrenness  of  His garden; and in as far as it thrives, he tastes the fr

The right use of the Bible requires much judgement, much spiritual insight , the power of appreciating its general scope, and of bringing the drift of the whole to bear on the interpretation of the parts.  But the point more particularly to be insisted on is that the right use of the Old Testament requires that we be filled with the spirit of the New, and to be able to judge all that is written in the more ancient book in the light of its teaching. This amounts to saying that the Bible , instead of being a dead rule to be used mechanically, with equal value set on all its parts, is rather a living organism, which, like the butterfly, passes through various transformations before arriving at its highest and final form.. Therefore the final form is the standard by which all is to be judged. This truth has two sides. It means on the one hand, that we should find Christ in the Old Testament, as we find the butterfly in the caterpillar, and man ,the crown of the universe, in the fiery cloud

It is not mine to know your years, your warnings, or your calls. But years you have; and  warnings you have had; and every moment is a call. Say, then, has the goodness of God led you to repentance ? Let conscience answer.  Believe me, reprieves are not pardons. Execution delayed is not execution escaped. Agag is sparedd today only to die more signally tomorrow . If you are still a wanderer from God , let this hour see your tears, and hear your prayers; or soon you will never cease to weep, where prayer is never made.

Verse .9.I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds: 10. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains ,and the wild beasts of the fields are mine. 12. If I were hungry , I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fulness thereof. 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats? 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High: 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Preach Propitiation to sinners -the blood on the Mercy-seat, and God in righteousness and grace freely receiving all who will but come. Teach Substitution to believers - their sins confessed and borne by Christ, and never to be remembered.

True confession is made to God. The human spirit must come into direct contact with the Divine. The Father of our spirits permits the child to approach himself on such an errand; and the offspring man has faculties fitted for converse with God a spirit.   When confession is real it is complete. The same conviction which shows a sinner that he ought to confess, shows him that he ought to confess all. If it is not a confession of all, it is not a confession; it is the old trick of covering the sin.When the spirit of adoption in attained , the confessor , with the simplicitly of a little child, gives the keys of his heart to God , and welcomes the Omniscent Searcher into all its secret chambers.   True confession will produce actual forsaking of sin, as a living root sends up branches , spreads out blossoms , and nourishes fruit .If a son , far separated in residence, and long alienated in heart, relent at length  and humbly invite his father to forgie and visit him; and if evil men and