A Goodly Heritage

That faith which is without spiritual light ,is not the faith of the children of light and of the day, but the presumption of the children of darkness . And therefore to press and to urge them to believe without any spiritual light or sight , tend greatly to help forward the delusions of the prince of darkness.................

When the apostle calls the gospel "the power of God "Romans 1 :16 and the preaching of Christ crucified , "the power of God ,"1 Cor. 1 : 24 , we have a statement which explicitely affirms that the Divine power of the Spirit goes associated with the proclamation of the atonement , but will not be associated with a style of teaching which substitutes any other theme .  Smeaton.

Small and apparently harmless Popery began ; with a power and perseverance of a principle in nature it spread and defiled the church. How completely that leaven penetrated the lump may be seen everywhere throughout Europe , in the architecture , sculpture , paintings , - in the laws , habits , and language that have come down from the middle ages to our own day . The evil spirit of Papacy has intruded into every place ; into the councils of kings , into the laws of nations , into the births , marriages , and deaths of the people . Between ruler and subject, between husband and wife  , between parent and child , comes the priest , gliding in like water through seamy walls , sapping their foundations . Into the inmost heart of maid , wife , mother creeps the confessional , tainting , souring , defiling society in its springs , - a leaven of malice and wickedness, a leaven at once of Pharisee and Sadducee , a superstition that believes everything  in alliance with a scepticism that believ

O the blindness of a heathen persecutor ! If he would find a place of exile to a Christian , he must find one  if he can , from whence Christ can first be banished ! If he would not that the Christian faith should be propagated , he must not drive the confessors from their houses, for they are heralds of Christ's kingdom whithersoever they go.   Cyprian.

"All praise and thanks be to the  Lord; For he hath magnified His wondrous works to me within Acity fortify'ed. "   This is the believer's song . He has a strong city. Salvation has God appointed for walls and bulwarks . He enters into Christ . He sits secure in an impregnable fort . No foe can pass the gates ,. No might can make impression on the walls . The foundations are exceeding strong . Serene in his fortress he learns many lessons  and feasts on precious truths . They all speak of mercy , grace , love ; and all these are wondrous

"Weep not" in heart-broken sorrow under the afflictions which may be pressing so heavily upon you.  These are all in the covenant ; every one of them is recorded in that book in the right hand of Him that sitteth on the Throne , as part of the process needed for you purification; and every one of them is administered by the Lamb that was slain for you .The same hand that was nailed to the cross unfolds your whole life's daily history , and does it with unerring wisdom , so as to secure the result promised in the everlasting covenant .     "Weep not" in view of the church's sad imperfections , impurities , and backsliding  , or of her calamities, and the power and hostility of the world, and the darkness of those dispensations of Providence which seem to remove far distant the period of anticipated triumph . All these apostacies and calamities , all opposition and conflicts , are written in that sealed book ; they are as the succeeding revelations fully prov

"Who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken , that he may declare it?"  Jeremiah : 9 : 12. A saintly soul has translated these words into music , which expresses their inner thought :- "Lord , speak to me , that I may speak  In living echoes of thy tone:  As thou hast sought , so let me seek  Thy erring children , lost and lone. O teach me Lord , that I may teach  The precious things thou dost impart : And wing my words , that they may reach  The hidden depths of many a heart." With such expressions of the disciples of the Lord, we could couple his sublime words: " Be not anxious how or what ye shall speak : for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak . For it is not ye that speak , but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you," And again he said : "What I tell you in the darkness , speak ye in the light: and what ye hear in the ear , proclaim upon the housetops. " Often we have run before we were sent.

And where is that thirst to be quenched ? Where else are the wells of water to be had , " Springing up into everlasting life ," but in the grace and promises of God as  revealed in his blessed word? -" I the Lord will hear them , I the God of Israel will not forsake them; I will open streams  in the hills and fountains in the low valleys ;" and like the waters seen by Ezekiel bursting from the threshold of the sanctuary, " Everything lives  whither the river cometh." In these days , when daring spirits , are rising up to decry the authority of Scripture , - to declare, in their arrogance and pride , that Christianity is an effete and worn - out superstition, and the utterances of her holy oracles cunningly devised fables, which an interested priesthood seeks to palm on the ignorant and the credulous; I would ask in all earnestness; what has ever quenched the longings of  the deathless soul but these same glorious revelations which they would now try to sup

"The way is dark, my Father! Cloud on cloud Is gathering thickly  o'er my head , and loud The thunders roar above me . See, I stand Like one bewildered !  Father , take my hand. The day goes fast , my Father  ! and the night Is drawing darkly down  . My faithless sight Sees ghostly visions ; fears , a spectral band , Encompass me .O Father ! take my hand. The way is long, my Father ! and my soul Longs for the rest and quiet of the goal. While yet I journey through this weary land , Keep me from wandering .  Father ! take my hand.'      ------------------------------------------- "The way is dark my child ! but leads to light ; I would not always have thee walk by sight, My dealings now thou canst not understand, I meant it so ; but I will take thy hand. The day goes fast my child ! but is the night Darker to me than day? In me is light! Keep close to me , and every spectral band Of fears shall vanish . I will take thy hand . The way is long m

"His music sang me of a gentler stream That rolls forever to a brighter shore, Whereof our God Himself is the sole sea, And Christ's dear love the pulsing of the tide, And His sweet  Spirit is the breathing wind. Something is chanted too of exiled men Seated in tears by that strange river , Life; Hanging the harp of their deep soul-desires To rest upon the willow of the Cross, And longing for the Everlasting hills ,- Mount Zion , and Jerusalem of God !"

Faith has two hands ; with one it pulls off its own righteousness, and throws it away , as David did Saul's armour ; with the other it puts on Christ's righteousness over the souls shame . as that in which the soul alone dares see God or be seen by Him . ______________One of the Fathers.