A Goodly Heritage

It is a Divine and supernatural act . It does not originate with sinners themselves , nor can it be ascribed to a mere human agency . It originates with God . He it is who directs the motions of the clouds , and gives to doves their instinct ; and He it is who draws sinners to the Saviour , who inclines and enables them to come to him . They never do so of their own accord . No doubt , when they do come , they always come willingly ; but it in the way of their being made willing . Of themselves they have neither inclination nor ability to come to Jesus , nor can ministers , or any human friend , induce them to do so .  Nay , though all the angels in heaven were to employ their powers of persuasion for this purpose , they could not effect the conversion of a single soul . This work none but God can accomplish , and accordingly it is invariably ascribed , both in the Old and New Testaments , to the direct agency of the Spirit . "Thy people shall be willing in a day of thy power .&qu

"Father save me from this hour ." "O my Father , if it be possible , let this cup pass from me ." These expressions are to be viewed as the dictates of his human feelings , and as merely indicating his aversion to suffering ; thereby showing that he was really and truly man , since he had all the natural sensibilities and feelings of a man .  But while shrinking with an instinctive dread from the bitter cup put into his hands , he expressed at the same time his readiness to drink it , if such was his Father's will . "O my Father , if this cup may not pass from me , except I drink it , thy will be done ."The object of his prayer was not deliverance from death otherwise than in the way of his actually enduring it . What he desired was , to be enabled to endure it , and thereafter and by that means to be delivered from it . . He had no ability in himself as man , to bear the curse of the law , and would have sunk under it if his humanity had not been d

(Lev. 9 : 23:24)      There are two fires to which the soul is subject - the fire of sin , and the fire of God . There is a fire which men call the fire of hell , and there is a fire which they ought to call the fire of heaven ; the one consumes the soul , and the other consumes everything that impedes the soul . The fire of sin comes because God is absent , but the fire of God comes only when He Himself is near . So was it with this congregation at the door of the tabernacle . They beheld a consuming fire , but they beheld it not because God was far away , but because He was at the door . It was only when the glory of God had appeared that the consuming fire appeared . Ther was no sacrifice to them , no sense of pain to them , no life surrender to them , until their eyes had rested on the vision of the divine glory . But when the vision of God's glory came the consuming fire came also ; the sacrifice and the pain followed the sight of God . " There came a fire out from before

No man knows how the heart of God stands towards him by his hand . His hand of mercy may be toward a man when his heart be against that man , as you see in the case of Saul and others . And the hand of God may be set against a man when the heart of God is dearly set upon him . as you may see in Job and Ephraim . No man knows either love or hatred by outward mercy or misery ; for all things come alike to all , to the righteous and the unrighteous , to the good and to the bad , to the clean and the unclean . The sun of prosperity shines as well on the brambles of the wilderness , as the fruit trees of the orchard ; the snow and hail of adversity light upon the best garden , as well as upon the stinking dunghill or the wild waste . Ahab's and Josiah's concur in the very circumstances . Saul and Jonathan , though different in their natures , deserts and deportments , yet in their deaths they were not divided . Health , wealth , honours ,crosses , sicknesses , losses , are cast upon

You who are indeed the Lord's people , redeemed not with corruptible things , such as silver and gold , but with the precious blood of the Saviour's body and the travail of his tender soul . what , in equity and gratitude , do you owe him for his generous interest in your happiness ? If love could ever beget a corresponding kindness , can the devotion of your lives , your time , your talents , and your substance , be at all an adequate requital of his unparelled friendship ? Study to increase his satisfaction by seeking the daily renewal of your spirits , the daily crucifixion of your lusts and passions , and a daily growing conformityto his lovely image . Let him see the fruit of his pain in your devotedness to his service , and your continued advancement in grace and godliness . Let your communion with him be constant . And remember that , though now in glory , he is not an indifferent spectator of your conduct . His eye is upon you . He still suffers when any part of his chu

Love in the creature ever presupposes some good , trrue or apparent in the thing loved , by which the affection of union is drawn . But the love of God on the contrary , causes all good to be produced in the creature . He first loved us in the free purpose of His will , and thence works good for us and in us . And hence comes the unchangeableness of God's love towards us because it is founded in Himself , and in the stableness of the good pleasure of His own will . And as we may be comforted as we onserve our love to Him ; yet it is far greater comfort drawn from the consideration of His love to us ; as being not only the ground of the other , but in Him also infinite , and unchangeable . And , hereupon , it was that the sisters of Lazarus seeking help for their sick brother sent Christ word , not that he ,who loved Him but that "he whom He loved , was sick .

"But now they desire a better couuntry , that is , an heavenly." Now this is what sought in desiring a heavenly country . They wanted something heavenly , something that tasted of God , savoured of God , smelt of God , and was given of God , a heavenly religion , a spiritual faith , a gracious hope , and a love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost ; something which came from heaven and led to heaven ; which gave heavenly feelings , heavenly sensations , heavenly delights , and heavenly joys , whereby the heart was purified from the love of sin , carnality and worldliness , by having something sweeter to taste , better to love , and more holy to enjoy . It is these heavenly visitations , droppings in of the favour , goodness , and mercy of God , which keep the soul alive in its many deaths , sweeten it amidst its many bitters , hold it up amidst its many sinkings , and keep it from being drowned while conflicting with many waters . A carnal mind has no taste for heavenl

And God blessed the seventh day , and sanctified it ; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made (Genesis 2 . 1-3. ) The rest of God is not physical repose after weariness or fatigue , nor is it absolute inactivity . During the period of his rest ,from that first day of rest downwards until now , he worketh still (John 5:17) ; and he must continually work for the continual  preservation of his creatures 9Psalm 104 . 28 :29 ). But he pauses from his work of creation ,- from the creation of new kinds and orders of beings ; though he still carries on his works of providence . He rests from all his works which he has made . He rests and is "refreshed " (Exodus 31: 17). And his original day of rest is blessed and sanctified .Into the rest of God , with all its blessedness and sanctity, man at first might enter ; and hence the seventh day , as the day which was the beginning of the rest of God , became the "Sabbath made for man"To the p

How admirable is the wisdom of God , how great his goodness , in ordering the constitution even of a fallen world !How manifold are his provisions of his care and kindness for alleviating the ills which sin has caused ! Far from leaving us to spend at random the season of his forbearance , as instinct or passion might blindly prompt  - God establishes a rule or system , whose salutary operation , even those who continue to set at naught its gracious design , are compelled practically to feel . It is that system - based on the principles of holy marriage , of lawful magistracy , and of laborious mastery over the soil that is to be cultivated , and the animals that may be slain , for food , - which alone hinders this globe from becoming a scene such as devils , and none but devils , could delight to witness . It is true that no mere external arrangements can of themselves secure the present or final welfare of any of Noah's children; all such arrangements are liable to perversion and

A saving apprehension or laying hold of Christ is not the simple thing so many suppose . Man must be humbled into the dust before he will , as a beggar , betake himself to the Redeemer . The Divine law is the appointed schoolmaster to drive sinners to Christ , but so many people play truant - run away from school . Not a few attempt to build upon Christ , but there has been no proper foundation work , and so in the day of testing the floods of opposition and persecution come in between their hearts and Christ , and temptations part them to the overthrow of their profession . By nature  our hearts are so filled with self-love and self-pity that there is no room for Christ . Many are willing to receive him for his benefits who have no love for his personand no resolution to bow to his Lordship , which is like a woman marrying a man solely for his money . Observe Paul's order : "For whom I have suffered the loss of all things , and do count them but dung , that I may win Christ ,

God delighteth in mercy. It is not drawn from Him unwillingly ; nor is it forced out of him by importunity ; it is not dragged out of his heart by the cries of his family ; but he delights in it as being his darling attribute , the very pleasure of God being in showing mercy to the miserable . How hard is for us to believe this untill mercy visits the soul and a sweet sense of it is felt in the conscience .  How we represent  to ourselves God in his anger , in his justice , in his terrible displeasure against sin and sinners ; how unable to believe that that there is mercy for us , and that he delights in manifesting mercy to poor , miserable . penitent sinners .  Who would ever have thought of mercy unless it had been first in the bosom of God ?Who could have ventured to entertain or suggest such a thought that " There is forgiveness with God " so he can "pardon iniquity ,and transgression , and sin ;" that he can cast all our sins behind his back , and blot them o

It will forever be esteemed a miracle of God's providence , that he should make the captivity or wicked sale of Joseph , by means of so many windings , perplexed mazes , and strange occurences , issue at last in his own exaltation , and the preservation of his brethren , who impiously sold him . But if any one , though endowed woith the tongue of angels and men , should attempt to describe the mystery of divine wisdom , whereby it is evident theat God exalts his own name , and not only recovers his former honour , but even raises it , manifests his justice , preserves inviolable his right and dominion in pardoning sin , wherewith he is highly pleased and incredibly delighted ( and unless this heavenly discovery , a truly God - like invention , had intyervened , he could not have pardoned even the least sin ), he must feel his language not only deficient , but the eye of the mind , overpowered with light , will fill him with awe and amazement . That which is the grearest , yea , the

God himself has laid the foundation on which the church of Christ is built . His own words are , " Behold , I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone , a tried stone , a precious corner - stone , a sure foundation . " This foundation is his dear Son .No other foundation was sufficiently strong or stable to bear the weight of the church . According to the eternal purposes of infinite grace , wisdom and truth , a glorious building was to be erected , in which God himself should dwell ; a holy temple , which should shine through all ages , illuminated with the glory of God . The apostle , therefore , addressing himself to the saints of God at Ephesus , says : "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners , but fellow citizens with the saints , and of the household of God ; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets , Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple of

The prevalence of error and heresy among professors of the Gospel . The holy Scriptures reveal to us an all-perfect and infallible rule of faith , worship and obedience , containing all the truths we need to know , and believe , profess and practice in religion . It has been the duty of the Church in every age to proclaim these truths from her pulpits , to set them forth in her public Confession and Testimony , and practically to carry them out in her administration and discipline . Special care should be taken by her when they are denied and opposed , to assert and maintain , and when misrepresented and corrupted , to explain and vindicate them . When this duty is neglected , or not faithfully and seasonably performed by the church , the leaven of false doctrine and of unsound opinions  and practices , is suffered to spread , without any effectual means being employed to counteract it , not only is much dishonour done to Christ , but the consequences must be deeply injurious to his p

But sin goeth in disguise , and thence is welcome ; like Judas it kisses and kills ; like Joab , it salutes and slays . George Swinnock . The arts that sin uses to disguise itself .  If sin were not an ugly thing , would it wear a mask? And if did not have evil designs , would it walk in disguise and change its name ? Truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness ; it can walk openly and boldly . Sin , on the contrary , is a cheat , a lie , and therefore lurks privily and puts on false names and colours ; for if it were to appear as itself - as it sooner or later do to all , either for conversion or confusion - it would frighten men into dying fits , as it did the Apostle , and when they come to themselves they would abhor and hate it , as Paul and the Prodigal did . Men would never be so hardy in sinning but that sin hardens them by deceiving them ; so the Apostle says , " Take heed lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin " [Hebrews 3: 13]     Ralph Venning

Romans 3 : 31.  That is by the doctrine of justification by faith; by this scheme of treating men as righteous , the moral law is confirmed , it obligation is enforced , obedience to it is secured . This is done in the following manner [1] God showed respect to it , in being unwilling to to pardon sinners without an atonement . He showed that it could not be violated without impunity ; that he was resolved to fulfill its threatenings . [2] Jesus Christ came to magnify it , and make it honourable . He showed respect to it in his life ; and he died to show that God was determined to inflict its penalty . [3] The plan of justification by faith leads to an observance of the law . The sinner sees the evil of transgression . He sees the respect which God has shown to  the law . He gives his heart to God , and yields himself to obey his  law . All the sentiments that arise from the conviction of sin ; that flow from gratitude for mercies ; that spring from love to God ; all his views of the s

There is a 'time to dance' , not with carnal revelry , not with those amusements that the devil has invented in order to drown souls in eternal perdition ; but to dance as David danced before the ark . Not as the daughter of Herodias danced , but as Miriam on the shore of the Red Sea . Not the dancing of the children of Israel round the golden calf , but of " the virgin of Israel who go fotrth in the dances of them that make merry ." [Jer. 31. 4.]The dancing of which the Psalmist speaks ,"Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing ";that is , to dance with inward joy , to leap in one's soul at the presence of the Lord , as the infant John leaped in his mother's womb , to dance before the Lord with solemnity of spirit , and yet feeling such powerful emotions within , as though the heart would dance in ones bosom .    Have you never felt , when the Lord dropped a sweet word of consolation into your conscience , what emotions filled your bosom beyond ut

The first creation in its order was a curious and glorious fabric . But everything depending immediately on God , by virtue of the principles of its own nature and the law of its obedience , all was brought to a loss by the sin of angels and men . But now everything that belongs to this new creation , even every believer in the world , as well as angels in heaven , being gathered togather in this one Head , the whole and all , and every part and member of it ,even every particular believer , are secured from ruin such as befell all things before . In this new Head they have an indissoluble consistency         For who can declare the glory of Christ ? Who can speak of these things as he ought ? I am so far from designing to set forth the whole of it , that I am deeply sensible how little a portion of it I can comprehend of the least part of it . Nor can I attain to any satisfaction in these meditations but what issues in a humble admiration . John Owen

Amos 6:7. A picture is given in the following chapters of the luxury and self indulgence of the people . Stretched on couches inlaid with ivory , choosing the rarest dainties , accompanying their voices on the lute , ,and drinking wine from flowing bowls , they were indifferent to the wounds from which the national life- blood was pouring . "They were not agrieved for the affliction of Joseph "  The same behaviour is only too common amongst ourselves . Indeed , this temptation besets us all . If only we are well supplied with the comforts and luxuries of life , we are apt to become thoughtless of the miseries of poverty and misfortune . If our own heaven is secure , we are apt to enwrap ourselves with an atmosphere of satisfaction and composure , without taking sufficiently to heart the needs of the great world of sin and sorrow around .    "The affliction of Joseph "reminds us of the scene at the pits mouth ; how Joseph's brethren sat down to eat bread , while

The love of Christ is just as incomprehensible as the mysteries and glory of the Godhead itself . You see Him dwelling there in the bosom of the Father in bliss and glory unutterable , receiving the homage of a holy universe ; and then flinging all this aside , He comes down through all the ranks of the higher intelligences . lower and still lower , till He reaches the depths of suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross , and there pours out His blood that He may wash us from our sins . "From our sins, "- from their deep guilt , and so procuring our eternal forgiveness and God's favour ; and from their power and pollution , and so procuring ourr restoration to the holy image of God . It may well be believed that those for whom all this was done , those whom the Son of God so loved and washed in His own blood , however low and vile and guilty before , would be thus advanced to whatever of dignity and privilege it was in the power of omnipotence to bestow upon such creatures

The glorious Church is Christs inheritance , and the apostle prays that we may more of the riches of his glory in this inheritance , that we may look beyond a few poor dying men and women , look beyond the wrappings of the creature , and see what a saint of God really is as dressed in immortal robes and made meet to sit down at the supper of the Lamb . We now see men and women wrapped in the miserable rags of our fallen humanity; but we do not see in them what they will be when resplendent with all the glories of heaven . But Christ sees them as we do not , comely in his comeliness and complete in him . If ,then , we were able to look a little beyond these mere trapping of humanity and these creature rags , which wrap up a mortal body and contain in the rags of mortality an immortal soul , and could realise that one day these rags of mortality will be changed into a glorious body, according to the pattern of the glorified body of Christ , we should enter a little into Christ's love

Although one kingdom differs from another in character and aim , all kingdoms are like each other in the method of their operation . The kingdom of darkness , like the kingdom of light , grows gradually from very small to very great . The kingdom of Satan hangs on and follows Christ's kingdom like a dark shadow , and the shadow depends upon the light . The first sin against God was a small seed , but the tree which sprang from if was the fall of man . "Thou shalt not eat ," is a small point - its smallness has sometimes supplied unbelievers with wit , if not with argument  -  but on that point a door was hung , which , turned this way , opened heaven and shut hell ; turned that way , opened hell and shut heaven . In its beginning the kingdom of evil was small ; but from that small seed a mighty tree has grown .        As there is no sin so great that the blood of Christ cannot blot it out , so there is no sin so small that it cannot destroy a soul . A little sin is like

The creation of the world is a shadow of the regeneration of a Christian . First , there was an earth without form , void , and a darkness upon the face of the deep . Predestination is this great deep , which cannot be discovered or discerned . There the  light was separated from the darkness ; here knowledge is separated from ignorance of the soul ; there is calling . Then was the sun created ; so here the bright beams of grace are diffused into our hearts which fill us with spiritual joy ; there is sanctification .  Lastly , Adam was created in the image of God , and placed in Paradise ; so the new man is conformed to the image of Christ , and shall be reposed in the paradise of everlasting glory .

Two seeds lie before us ,- one warmed in the sun , the other falls from the sowers hands into the cold dark earth , and there it lies buried beneath the soil . The seed which suns itself in the noontide beam may rejoice in the light in which it basks , but it is liable to be devoured by the bird ; and certainly nothing can come of it , however long it may linger above ground ; but the other seed , hidden beneath the clods in a damp, dark sepulchre , soon swells , germinates , bursts its sheath ,upheaves the mould , springs up a green blade , buds , blossoms , becomes a flower , exhales perfume , and loads the wings of every wind . Better far for the seed to pass into the earth and die , than to lie in the sunshine and produce no fruit ; and even thus for thee the future in its sorrow shall be a sowing in a fertile land ; tears shall moisten thee , grace shall increase within thee , and thou shalt grow up in the likeness of thy Lord unto perfection of holiness , to be such a flower of G

As the future coming of the Lord Jesus is the Church's hope , the present outpouring of the Spirit is the Church's heritage . The child of God can never cease to long for for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit , so long asd he feels any deadness in his own heart , or sees so many dead souls around . The love of Christ will constrain him to sigh after a closer walk with God himself , and will give him no rest till he see others walking in the light along with him . And let none of you think , that you are too young or too inexperienced , or too little advanced in the Christian life , to be entitled or called upon to be intercessors with God for the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh . The most acceptable offerings you can present to God , upon your own conversion , are the yearnings of your heart over dead souls , and your earnest pleadings for the promise of the Father . If your faith be weak , if your views be dark , if your hearts be straitened , rest assured nothing will te

The body shall be awaked out of its dead sleep , and quickened into a glorious immortal life . The soul and body are the essential parts of man ; and though the inequality be great in their operations that respect holiness , yet their concourse is necessary . Good actions are designed by the counsel and resolution of the spirit , but performed by the ministry of the flesh . Every grace expresses itself in visible actions by the body . In the sorrows of repentance , it supplies tears , in fastings , its appetites are restrained , in thanksgiving the tongue breaks forth into the joyful praises of God . All the victories over sensible pleasure and pain are obtained by the soul in conjunction with the body . Now it is most becoming the divine goodness not to deal so differently , that the soul should be everlastingly happy , and the body lost in forgetfulness ; the one glorified in heaven , the other remain in the dust . From their first setting out in the world to the grave they ran the s

The new man is put on when we put on the graces that belong to him . I observed , that the new man is called so as having the members of a man . These members are the various graces which he is enabled to exercise ; and the new man may be said to be put on when these graces act under a divine influence and power . When , for instance , we are enabled by the grace of God to believe in his dear Son , to receive the truth in the love of it , , to feel the power of his word upon our heart , - this is putting on the new man , for it is putting on a very essential member of the new man , which is faith . . Again , when in the exercise of a good hope through grace , we can look up and look out , and thus expect and wait for better days , if not now in the enjoyment of them , we may be said to put on the new man , for hope is a very conspicuous and active member of him . So , when we can feel a little going forth of love and affection toward the Lord , to his word , to his people , his ways ,

Our cleansing is to be managed by all holy things . Word and sacrament more wisely and spiritually used than commonly with us ; and private prayer that purifies and elevates the soul , takes it up into the mount and makes it shine ; and particularly supplicating for the Spirit of holiness and victory over sin is not in vain ; it optains its desires of God , the soul becoming that which it is fixedly set upon ; holy resolution :Christians much wanting in this , faint and lose their purposes ; the consideration of divine truths , the mysteries of the kingdom , the hope of Christians , yea , rich and great promises ; that is particularly here the motive . These are all the means , holy means they are , as their end is the perfection of holiness . Now consider whether it is better to be the slaves of satan or the sons of God ; measure delight in God with the low base pleasures of sense . Blessed are the pure in heart ,for they shall see God ; these gradually go on together , and are perfec

Hosea 10 :12:- There is a great deal of fallow ground in our hearts and lives ; it has borne no crops of righteousness . Weeds have covered the unfruitful acres with their rank growth , and have scattered their thistledown into other lots . The rain has fallen and the sun has shone in vain . In some cases our daily business life , in other cases our social life , is a blank , so far as religious usefulness in concerned . God gets no revenue from from these barren fallow tracts . But the prophet bids us ascertain what they are , and break up the hard , caked surface by ploughshare and spade .  It is time to seek the Lord . The days are passing over us so rapidly , and we shall be at the end before we are well aware . " It is high time to awake out of sleep ;.....the night is far past and the day is at hand ." May not the time past suffice us to have been barren and unfruitful ; and shall we not make the best of the time that remains ?   "He will come and rain " - Wha

Is it by labouring to purify the conduct , that we can reasonably expect to remove the ungodliness in which we are involved ; that we can render ourselves holy and acceptable in the sight of the Lord ; that we can obtain a mastery over all the unhallowed desires and propensities which bind us to a wicked and transient world , which obscure from our view the surpassing glory of eternity , and which are carrying thousands forward to the grave in a state of estrangement from God , and in a state of disobedience to the Gospel; of his Son ; and in short , is it by outward purification , that we can be turned into vessels fit for the masters use , or temples prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ? Of a truth , it were entirely in vain to confine our desires to external reformation ; to begin , to continue , and to end , with the lopping away of a few of these barren and unfruitful and evil branches , which are obvious to the world around us , or to seek to secure the favour of Jehov

"If thou knewest the Gift of God and who it is that saith to thee , give me to drink , thou would have asked of Him , and He would have given thee ."And if would add yet one word , it is that Christ in the glories of his person and offices and work , as revealed here and elsewhere in the Gospels , with his free message of salvation , is the very Saviour we need , and who alone can satisfy the soul's thirst . Christianity is to have no new phases or developements . Its glorious distinctive truths are not to be moulded and metamorphosed to suit the restless spirit of the times , to adapt themselves to new conditions of thought , and to square with modern theories and speculations . Jesus , from being the adorable God - man , "Immanuel , God with us , " is not to be dishohoured by merely having a place assigned Him as one of many deities in worlds Pantheon , - regarded merely as the human founder of one of earth's religions or philophies , and the doctrines of

The demerit of sin may be seen much more in Christ , a sacrifice to the awakened sword of  divine vengeance . Go to Golgotha , and see the man that is God's fellow drinking up the cup of his Father's indignation ! suffering unto blood  ! suffering unto death ! for God spared him not , being now in the room of sinners . Behold the earth trembling under the mighty load of this terrible wrath ! for there was a great earthquake while the sword of God's wrath was running through the man that was God's fellow . The heavens grew dark when this great spectacle was exposed ; the sun was eclipsed contrary to the common rules of nature , which made a heathen philosopher cry out , that either the frame of nature was dissolving , or the God of nature suffering . And what shall we that profess to be Christians say to these things ? What shall we that are sinners say concerning that abominable evil , sin , which wrought this bloody tragedy ? It was sin , and our sin too ; for he was w

The early disciples of the blessed Jesus derived no worldy advantage from the profession of their faith in him ; but on the contrary , they were exposed to manifold inconviences and hardships . The cross of Christ was the ensign , not of honour but of ignominy and reproach . " They had trial of of cruel mockings and scourgings ; yea , moreover of bonds and imprisonment ."Ye t among all the dangers and discouragements of their situation , these holy and devoted men - men of faith and men of prayer - experienced abundant and unfailing support , for their life was hid with Christ in God . The time was in our land , when those who loved the saviour and honoured his  name , met with the same harsh treatment as the Hebrew brethren to whom the Apostle refers . They were hunted like wild beasts on the mountains , even to the caves and fastnesses of nature's solitude , where they sought an assylum , they were followed by fiends of persecution . Often they had no covering but a can

It is natural to the soul to rest upon everything below Christ ; to rest upon creatures , to rest upon graces , to rest upon duties , to rest upon divine manifestations , to rest upon celestial consolations , to rest upon gracious evidences , and to rest upon sweet assurances . Now the Lord , to cure His people of this weakness , and to bring them to live wholly and solely upon Jesus Christ , denies comfort , and denies assurance etc , and for a time leaves His children  to walk in darkness . Christians , this you are always to remember , that though the enjoyment of assurance makes most for your consolation , yet the living purely upon Christ in the absence of assurance , makes most for Christ's exaltation. He is happy that believes upon seeing , upon feeling , but trice happy are those souls that believe when they do not see; that love when they do not know that they are beloved ; and that in the want of all comfort and assurance , can live upon Christ as their only all . He that

It lies at the foundation of all intercourse between God and man that God should Himself address us , and permit us to address Him , in expressions suited to our weak capacities and conceptions , rather than dictated by what were suitable to His infinite glory and searchless being . Does it follow that in thus condescending unto the weakness of our nature , He does injustice unto His own , - or misrepresents it ? That does not follow . God can speak of Himself after the manner of man , and what He thus speaks may yet be worthy of God . And when the proof of this is sought , let it be found in the glorious fact , that God made man in His own image ; and in fact , still more glorious , that One who was in the form of God , and thought it not robbery to be equal with God , was found in form and fashion as a man . Did Godhead and humanity in the one person of Emmanuel jostle , disagree , hamper or misrepresent each other ? God forbid . The man Christ Jesus is the brightness of His Father&#

There is faithfulness of God to his own work upon the heart . Why did he begin that work but to complete it ? Why did he call you by his grace , but to give you fellowship with his dear Son ? Having begun the work , , nothing will ever remove him from his determined purpose that his people whom he has called by his grace shall have fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord . You may not be now enjoying it , or not yet have attained to that distinguishing favour ; but he who has called you is faithful , and will renew it afresh , or bestow it in due time .  And how we need this faithfulness ! Many are the hindrances to this fellowship . Dark clouds gather over our minds . Temptations assail the soul ; sins vex and tease ; backslidings draw aside and entangle ; guilt presses hard and heavy ; deadness and coldnesschill and freeze ; Satan harasses ; the world allures ; doubt and fear distress ; the carnal mind frets and murmurs ; All these inward evils are sad hindrances to communion ,

The world knows of divine consolation , because it knows nothing of spiritual grief and sorrow . Hardened in sin , careless in self-righteousness , or steeped up to the lips in an empty profession ; what do men care to know about an inward Comforter ? Their religion , such as it is , has never cost them an hour's uneasinessor brought their heart down with trouble and distress . If , according to Paul's rule , "as the sufferings of Christ abound , so consolation also aboundeth by Christ [2Cor .1:5]where there is no suffering , there is no consolation. Not knowing ,then , for themselves anything of the inward consolation of the Spirit , they cannot believe there is such a thing known to the saint of God .  "Fanaticism , enthusiasm , madness, religious nonsense , bigotry , a bad spirit " any term that can be used , any which comes the easiest to hand , will be launched , with many an angry invective , against the religion which mainly consists in the love and power

Proverbs 25:20. Worldly mirth is so far from curing spiritual grief that even worldly grief , where tis great and takes deep root , is not allayed but increased by it . A man that is full of inward heaviness , the more he is compassed about with mirth , it exaspe rates and enrages his grief the more , like ineffectual weak medicine that removes not the humour , but stirs it and makes it more unquiet ; but spiritual joy is seasonable for all estates . in prosperity it is pertinent to crown and sanctify all other enjoyments , with this that so far surpasses them ; and in distress it is the only nepenthe , the cordial of fainting spirits . So Psalm 4:7 "He hath put joy into my heart ."This mirth makes way for itself , which other mirth cannot do . These songs are sweetest in the night of distress.

Of Archbishop Usher  it is related that a friend urged him to write his thoughts on sanctification , which he engaged to do ; but when the performance of his engagement was claimed , he replied to the effect : "I have not written , and yet I cannot charge myself with a breach of promise ; for I began to write , but when I came to treat of the new creature which God formeth by His Spirit in the regenerate soul , I found so little of it wrought in myself that I could speak of it only as parrots , or by rote , without the knowledge of what I might have expressed ; and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any further upon it ." His friend being amazed at such a confession from so eminently holy a person , he added " I must tell you what sanctification and the new creature are . It is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his will to the will of God , and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love , and as a whole

Although Christ is offered in the Gospel, the sinner cannot believe in Him . Saving faith is the faith of God's elect , the special gift of God to them , wrought in them by His Spirit . Salvation is offered to them that will believe in Christ , but how can you believe ? John 5:44. It is offered to those that will come to Christ ; but "no man can come to unto Him , except the father draw him ." It is to those that will look to Him , as lifted on the pole of the Gospel ; but the natural man is spiritually blind ; and as to the things of the Spirit of God , he cannot know them , for they are spiritually discerned . Nay, whosoever will ,he is welcome ; let him come ; but there is a day of power on the sinner , before he can be willing .Man naturally has nothing wherewithal to improve , for his recovery , the help brought in by the Gospel . He is cast away in a state of wrath , and is bound hand and foot , so that he cannot lay hold on the cords of love thrown out to him in th

Jesus tells His disciples that whatever they may have to suffer , they can be no worse off than He had been before them. "If the world hate you , ye know that it hated me before you ." Poor comfort , one is disposed to say ; yet it is not so poor when you consider the relative position of the parties . He who has already been hated is the Lord ; they who are to be hated are but the servants . Of this Jesus reminds His disciples , repeating and recalling to remembrance a word He had already spoken the same evening [John 15:20.]. The consideration ought  at least to repress murmuring ; and duly laid to heart , it might even become a source of heroic inspiration . The servant should be ashamed to complain of a lot from which his Master is not , and does not wish to be exempted ; he should be proud to be a companion in tribulations with One who is so much his superior , and regard his experience of the cross not as a fate , but as a privilege .

The believing child of God is in possession of eternal life. He is in present possession of it . He does not wait till he enter into glory to be in possession of everlasting life . He possesses it already . "He that believeth on the son of God hath ", even now , while sojourning in this estate of trial and probation , 'everlasting life' . He has already emerged for the shadow of death and entered on the realm of life genuine and true , life that is real and endless. The domain of death is behind him , not before him He has not to die ; that is past . True ,indeed he has to fall asleep in Jesus. He must put off this earthly tabernacle . But as to death in its high and awful meaning , as to death in its constituting essence and real power , regarded in the light of penalty on sin , he is done with it forever more . That is past , not to come ; it is behind him , not before him ; he is not advancing towards it , but triumphantly escaping from the very shadow of it . .

The Spirit's work of sanctification is the continuance and development of regeneration ; and is related to it as preservation is to creation in the natural world . But just as preservation differs from creation in this , that in it God works by means , and with the co-operation of the creatures ; so is the Spirit's work  of sanctification there is co-operation of the human will , such as cannot be admitted in regeneration . In implanting the new life at first , the Holy Spirit has to deal with a soul , that is indeed essentially active , but in regard to spiritual religion insensible or opposed to the call of God . Hence the work is entirely due to the divine power ; we are His workmanship , created in Christ Jesus unto good works . But in the preservation and development of the new life , the Spirit has to deal with a soul that is now spiritually alive , that is able and inclined to work in the same direction as His work . Hence in the process of sanctification we are called t

In acknowledgeing the claims which Jesus puts forward to your believing confidence , your gratitude and your cheerful service , let you whole heart rest with appropriating joy on his death and resurection . Feed upon the mystery and fulness of truth and grace implied in the oracle ; "Destroy this temple , and in three days I will raise it up again ." In yourself you are a guilty sinner ; a criminal doomed to die ; a useless barren fig tree ; and the cry has gone out , Destroy it , cut it down . The only hope is in an advocate who shall himself be your substitute . And behold the substitute ! Behold his vicarious , sacrificial death ! Behold his glorious , federal resurection ! Be thou buried with him by engrafting of faith into his death ; And like as he was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father , even so , shall you walk in newness of life . Ah! let the oracle about the Lord's death and resurrection thus test your spiritual state ;,  let it direct your spiri

It is only in moments of unselfishness that I am free . The iron chain that binds me is the thought of myself and of my own calamities ; if I could be but liberated from that , my captivity would be turned in an hour . If under the shadow of a cloud , I could remember that the shadow of the same cloud hovers over my brother - man the vision of his shadow would destroy mine . In the moment of prayer for him my burden would fall from me . I would seek it , and lo ! it would not be found ; it would be as if it had not been . O Thou Divine Spirit of self - forgetfulness , Spirit of Christ , Spirit of the Cross , it is in Thee alone that I find this freedom . Liberate me from myself , and instead of the iron chain , give me a chain of gold . It is not the chain that lowers me , it is the material of which it is made ; it is not the sorrow that makes me a captive , it is the centering of the sorrow round my own life . Help me to take up the burdens of others . Help me to know what it is to h

Blessed are the meek , Blessed are the poor in spirit , said the Lord . What is meekness , and why are meek and poor men signally blessed with joy ? Meekness is different from lowliness and humility . It is our attitude in the presence of detractors and persecutors - not retaliating , nor opposing force to force , but bowing in silence and submission before high- handed wrong . It was in such a spirit of meekness that Jesus suffered Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter ; and instead of calling for legions of angels , suffered Caiaphas' armed band to bind Him . This spirit is not natural to us . It is our nature to retaliate and avenge ourselves . We want to call for fire , or legions of armoured angels from the heaven of God . But this is not the way of peace or joy . But the Holy Spirit waits to reproduce in us the meekness of Jesus . Then , when you meet all injury and unkindness with an unfailing Christian courtesy , bending like a rush before the storm , to rise when it

Perhaps your soul may be at times , cast down and distressed ; but remember , when friends are absent , the Lord Jesus is present . The Chief Shepherd is forever near you ; and He who laid down His life for you , will doubtless make your comfort and welfare His care . Let your faith but repose aright upon the Saviour's love , and nothing will seem dark on this side of the grave , and all appear bright beyond it . If at times you sow in sorrow , you will doubtless reap in joy . Hear your Lord saying "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ." Above all ,hear Him saying "  my grace is sufficient for you . Lo I am with you always , even to the end of the world ." What more can you desire ? Jesus always with you - can you ever then want a counsellor ? Jesus always with you - can you ever then despair of final conquest ? He who laid down His life for you , ever attentive to your welfare - no moment passing in which He is absent . No moment coming when He shall leave

Jesus does rule . The kingdom of Christ is no fanciful phrase . The words He spoke , the deeds He did , have shaped the religious life and thought of the civilised world . But this is the lowest ground . He is supreme over all creation . In Him the Psalm is fulfilled "Thou hast put all things under His feet . All sheep and oxen , the fowl of the air , the fish of the sea , and the beasts of the field ." The Father hath set Him at His own right hand , far above all principality and power ; all angels do His bidding ; all evil powers are beneath His feet . But let us never forget that the foundation of His kingdom is His Cross . We want more than the truth , more than a guide to show us the way ; we need forgiveness , salvation , life ; and these are only possible through the death of the Redeemer . Satan offered Him the kingdom when he met Him in the wilderness , and He would not have it on such terms . With face set for Calvary , He went down the mountain to the valley of the

Would you have a revelation of the cross ? then you must take up your own cross  - not an imaginary cross, not a sentimental cross , not a cross in the air , but the common earthly cross that falls to the lot of every man . You must take up the little petty cares of daily life , the trivial annoyances that are often worse to bear because they are trivial , the commonplace troubles that await every step of life's walk and every pleasure of life's contact. You must take up , -above all - your own personal cross - that which men call your weak point , and which you would gladly exchange for the cross of your brother ; you must lift it and bear it manfully in the strength of the Son of Man . So shall you know Him ; your earthen vessel shall reveal to you a treasure of revelation , and that which seemed to be the source of your utmost weakness shall lead you to the highest goal - the light of the knowledge of God .

The whole creation groans , and God's children bear a part in the concert . They have their share in the world's miseries , and domestical crosses are common to them with other men in the world ; yea their condition is worse than others .  Chaff and corn are threshed on the same floor , but the corn is grinded in the mill and baked in the oven . Jeremiah was in the dungeon when the city was beseiged . The world hates them more than others . The world hates thenm because they are good , and God corrects them because they are no better . .

The seventy third Psalm , like the seventh chapter of Romans, is a specimen of spiritual autobiography. Cut out , at the crisis , a section of that self history of a soul ; "So foolish was I and ignorant , I was as a beast before thee . Nevertheless I am continually with thee ; thou hast holden me by my right hand . Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory ."Extremes meet here , the lowest and the highest touch each other . Within the compass of a few lines recording man's experience , we find a humility which depresses him beneath the level of man , and an honour which admits him into the presence of God . One moment the penitent feels himself to be brutish ;another , his glad forgiven spirit rises buoyant towards the throne like a flame of fire , or a ministering angel . These are the footsteps of the flock . It concerns us to know that we are on the same track ; for none other conducts us to safety . It is when a man is so purged of pride

Even though heaven's wide temple with all the dazzling glory of her angelic throng were disclosed to us and we were thus in sweet vision far aloft in the scale of creature excellence even of the seraphim or the archangel richest in the flood of grace and glory among heaven's holy ones  - still we would be but slightly  aided in our views of a glorified Emmanuel , for ,far above every name that is named and every throne that is set in heaven , sits the glorified body of the divine Redeemer , the highest and nearest seraphim veiling their faces with their wings , and the posts of heaven's gates moving and sounding even with the unbroken silence of his glory . Still , also this a communicated glory - not essential to his Godhead - bestowed upon his humanity . It is his humanity which is the subject of this honour and it is a portion of what Jesus prayed for when he said , "Father .....glorify thy Son " , and a portion of what the Father promised when he said " I

The man whose knowledge begins and ends with matter and its laws , has got a superstructure without a foundation . In that learning and enduring relations of man as an immortal have no place , and the fabric topples over when the breath of life goes out . But this beginning of knowledge , resting on the being and attributes of God , and comprehending all the relations of the creature , is a foundation that cannot be shaken . On that solid base more and more knowledge will be reared , high as heaven , wide as the universe , lasting as eternity . The knowledge of God is the root of knowledge . When branches are cut from a tree and laid on the ground at a certain season , they retain for a time a portion of their sap . But very soon the slender stock of sap is exhausted , and as there is no connection with a root , so as to procure a new supply , the buds wither away .How unlike the buds that spring from the branches growing in the living root ! This natural life is like a severed branch

Conversion is a turning , and it is one turning only , but it produces simultaneously and necessarily two distinct effects . Whereas his face was formerly turned away from God , and towards his own sins ; it is now turned away from his own sins , and towards God . This one turning , with its twofold result , is in Christ the Mediator , and through the work of the Spirit . As long as God is my enemy , I am his . I have no more power to change that condition than the polished surface has to refrain from reflecting the sunlight that falls on it . It is God's love , from the face of Jesus shining into my dark heart , that makes my heart open , and delight to be his dwelling place .The eye of the just Avenger I cannot endure to be in this place of sin ; but the eye of the compassionate Physician , I will gladly admit into this place of disease , for he comes from heaven to earth that he might heal such sin-sick souls as mine . When a disciple desires to be searched by the living God , h

Mahomet manifested great shrewdness in the conception of his paradise . If he mistook the kingdom of God , he comprehended well the appetites of men . He promised his followers the fullest gratification of their desires . But what if a foundation of eternal truth be found lying beneath all these abominations!The prophet's followers have a right principle in their hands , although by turning it upside down , they make it the most destructive of errors . It is true that heaven will give unbridled scope to all the appetites of all its inmates . There will be no crucifying of the flesh there ; no man will have will have his taste thwarted , or his supply is stinted there . Mohamet is right , in that as he says that in heaven every entrant will have his passions gratified to the full. The difference lies in this ; they expect that heaven's joys will be made to suit human  appetites ; we know that the tastes of the saved will be purified into perfect conformity with the joys that ar

God is to render to every one according to his works , and as there are various degrees of labour and suffering , so also shall there be of rewards . Nor let it be objected , that reference is made solely to works as distinguished between good and evil, and to the happiness of the good and the misery of the wicked , for this is not exclusively the sense of the words . The Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 3:8. says , "every man shall receive his own reward , according to his ownlabour ." If therefore the labours of different men are different , so must be the rewards . Prophets , apostles , martyrs , confessors and others of like heroic spirit in the church , have laboured and suffered more than others ; who does not perceive that inequity the reward of grace should be greater , as conferred on them ?

for Christs sake . There are inward things of which we must suffer loss . The loss of all our fancied holiness , of all our vaunted strength , of all our natural or acquired wisdom , of all our boasted knowledge ; in a word , of everything in creature religion , of which the heart is proud , and in which it takes delight . All , all must be counted loss for Christs sake ; all, all must be sacrificed to his bleeding ,dying love ; our dearest joys , our fondest hopes , our most cherished idols , must all sink , and give way to the grace , blood , and love of an incarnate God . And not only must they be counted as "loss" but lower still must they sink , worse still must they become ; they must be counted as dung , as street offals , or according to the literal meaning of the word , as garbage of the slaughter house cast to the dogs . What a strong expression of the Apostle ! How great the grace , how ardent the affection , that made him so abhor himself and love Jesus .

There is no moment of the spiritual life so painful and so dangerous as the weaning ; The hardest time to bear is neither Egypt or the Promised Land , but the desert that lies between . Egypt has the pleasures of sin , the Promised Land  has the pleasures of holiness, but the desert has no pleasures . It has given up the joys of Pharaohh , and it has not yet reached the delights of Canaan . It is only a stage of prohibitions ; it forbids the pleasures of the past , and it has as yet not even the grapes of Eschol to offer in their room.My soul , you cannot rest in the desert , you cannot be satisfied with a law which only says "Thou shalt not ."It is a hard thing to have the old cup snatched from your lips before any new cup is presented to you . It is a hard thing to have the old tenants expelled from your dwelling before any new guests are admitted there . It is a hard thing to have the house empty , swept , and garnished ere you have learned that it is empty for the recepti