A Goodly Heritage

Psalm 117v2.         The merciful kindness of the Lord is a boundless theme . We see it inscribed on all the works of creation . We see it shining in the glories of redemption . What could have been done more for his people that the Lord hath not done for us ? The great God , evenjesus , is our full salvation . Their is pardon in his precious blood for every sin . There is a covering robe in his righteousness for every transgression . There is sanctification and renewal in his Spirit for our cold hearts . The cup of grace , of mercy , and of love verily overflows . It could scarcely hold another drop . The promises of the covenant are all yea and amen in Christ . Could God give more ? Let , then , our grateful cry ever swell . Praise ye the Lord.

Proverbs 3:33. The contrast between the sinner and the saint , affects us , not only personally but relatively. The curse or blessing of the Lord follows us to our homes . Shall we then envy the wicked , with his cup of earthly joy filled to the brim ?"The curse of the Lord is in his house ."Let him think - It is my Maker's curse  - how awful , that my being and my curse should come from the same sacred source !. It is not the impotent wishing of ill . Could we trace its deadly work ,we would see the man wasting , withering , consuming under it . Is this an idle dream ? Surely -  but for the blindness of the heart , the wicked would see the naked sword hanging by a hair over his head , or the awful "handwriting on the wall ," solemnly proclaiming - "There is no peace - saith my God -- unto the wicked ."Vainly will the proud worm resist . Ahab multiplied his house beyond all human average , as if to set at defiance the curse pronounced against it . Yet

When I try to discover the meaning of the sorrow of Christ on the cross , I cannot escape the conclusion that He is somehow involved in this deep and dreadful darkness by the sins of the race whose nature He has assumed . If the dread with which He anticipated His death , and if the Divine desertion which made His death so awful , are to pass into doctrine , I can conceive of no other form in which they can appear than that which they assume in the Apostolic Epistles  -" He was delivered for our offences ." -" He died for our sins ." - He "suffered .....the just for the unjust ;  "He was made a curse for us ."  As I look , as I listen , I am driven to exclaim , "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows . He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities ; The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all ."  In no other way are His sufferings explicable .  To fulfil these words of ancient prophesy , He can en

Under the old covenant , when the church was still in its childhood , it was necessary to employ to a large extent the outward and material ; carnal elements had a prominent place in the immediate service of God ,and they could not fail to be much resorted to in the administration of the kingdom , so long as it had a political existence in the world . His people had then often to defend themselves with a carnal sword , and often in the successful exercise of this did God's power and goodness appear to his people . But the revelation of God in the person and work of Christ introduced an entire change in this respect . The spiritual element in the Divine character came thereby into fuller manifestation , and , as a necessary consequence , everything carnal fell into the background . Not that the Lord's people must therefore cease to operate upon the outward and material things around them , but that in doing so they  must bring more into exercise the higher elements of power . Th

Of all the institutions designed by heavenly mercy to promote the temporal and eternal welfare of mankind , there is no one of such immense importance , and productive of such immense benefits , as the Sabbath . "Wherever the Sabbath is not , there is no worship , no religion , . Man forgets God , and God forsakes man ." Where the Sabbath is not regarded , man degenerates to a brute , a heathen , an infidel or an atheist ; he hastens , with a rapid step , to the scene where he will bear all the character , and all the features of a fiend . Where the Sabbath is loved , venerated , and improved , peace smiles , hope blooms , piety matures and ripens , and the soul hastens on to the period when the Sabbaths of time shall be exchanged for the long Sabbath of eternity.

Perhaps God permits you to walk in darkness , that he may exercise and brighten your graces . Faith and love are exercised most in the dark and cloudy day of sorrow . To believe when all is pleasing , and peace smiles on the soul , and comforts bestrew the way , is an easy thing ; but to believe when all is dark and dreary , when no comfort is felt within , when no light is seen without  - this is the faith that God values . To love when the soul feels the assurance of God's love , and the joy that love imparts , is easy ; but to love when his love is withdrawn , when doubts and fears infest the soul , when hope is languishing , and comforts apparently dead  - this is love of a stronger , nobler kind . God doubtless often  exercises his children with spiritual trials , to call faith and love into such exercise . Thus they who are in heaviness through manifold temptations , are said to be so  "That the trial of their faith might be found unto praise , and honour , and glory , a

Prayer must be the key of the morning, and the lock of the night . We show not ourselves as Christians if we do not open our eyes with prayer , and shut them again with the same key when we lie down at night . Pray as often as you please besides .

" But who is he that is the King Of glory ? Who is this ? The Lord of hosts , and none but he The King of glory is ." This is he" whose goings forth have been of old , even from everlasting ." "without beginning of days , or end of life ;" "who was and is and is to come , the Almighty ." Know ye therefore , all people and  nations and tongues , that he who sitteth on the throne of the whole earth , and is in truth the Lord our God . He whom all are to serve with gladness , and into whose presence they are to come with singing , is Christ . It is he who made us and not we ourselves : " by him were all things created , that are in heaven , and are on earth ;" "all things were created by him and for him ; and he is before all things , and by him all things consist ."

When we shall see Him as He is , we shall behold a majesty inconcievably glorious !  Solomon in all his glory was nothing ; the unpretending lilies among our herbaceous plants take a precedence of all his earthly glory ; not so when the Maker himself of those lilies shall appear . He is Maker , and Monarch , and Saviour of all ,  "how great is his goodness , and how great is his beauty ."

The capzised platform "Alexander Kielland " Sadly 123 lives lost . March 1980

The gloom and sadness with which unbelief overcasts the future , supply Christians with a fresh arguement for humble thankfulness . "Because Christ lives , ye shall live also." Your life may be feeble ; for it is still the life of childhood ; but still it is ressurection life like His own ; if you are planted in the likeness of His death , you are also in the likeness of His ressurection . It has a pledge of growth ; it has the promise of manhood ; it has the germ of immortality . You are in truth greater than you know ; and this new born existence to which you have been begotten by Christ's word , and of which the forgiveness of sins is the first inheritance shall yet bear you amidst scenes of glory and joy , where sin shall be no more , where death shall be swallowed up in victory, and where through ages and cycles  "without number numberless ," Christ shall breathe upon you a new and ever rising inspiration of blessedness , and fill you with all the fulness o

Psalm 103 v 18 . This covenant is a promise by God , through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus to give us an eternal inheritance .  To keep this covenant , is to hold fast our confidence in his promise , for "he is faithful who hath promised " faith in this promise brings into immediate contact with God , on whose faithfulness we rest ; a full reconciliation with him is the consequence of our dependence , and thus we are brought back to God .   God's way with us , is , first to keep his covenant , and then to remember his commandments to do them . Man's way is the opposite :- first to remember his commandments , that we may be entitled , as a matter of merit to lay hold on his covenant . To obtain the inheritance by merit is consonant to the pride of the human heart , but none shall have it in this way , because all have sinned . It comes to us by grace ; it is a gift , and not the reward of merit , as it is said , " the gift of God is eternal life through

"He weakened my strength in the way ; he shortened my days . I said , O my God , take me not away in the midst of my days ."           It will be remembered that this Psalm from the !st to the 11th verse , is a prayer of Jesus in the days of his flesh , in the hour of deep affliction , most probably on that night , and at that time when in an agony the perspiration poured from his body , as it were , great drops of blood . The only part of the prayer recorded , is the utterance , "Father , if it be possible , let this cup pass from me ."but it is evident from concurrent circumstances , and from the time occupied , that it must have been a prayer of considerable length , and of great fervour ; " and there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening him ." The strength chiefly required was motive power ; setting before him the glory which would follow , when he should have drunk the cup which his Father had given him ; and we have supposed that , as a third

It is like some tall peak whose awesome form , resting on the earth , reaches the stars . It's heights are infinite , distant , dim , enveloped in clouds , but glorious in their obscurity and mystery . Those heights were not meant for mortal feet to tread . Only angels can breathe that ethereal atmosphere , or venture to explore the high and deep things of God . For you and me , those sublime heights are meant only that we may gaze , admire , adore . This is where the Bible touches God and heaven ; we must only look and be lost in the glory . But where the Bible touches the earth it touches our level ; here are no clouds or darkness ; all is light and plain and clear , because here lies the path of duty . True ,we may , as we become more and more familiar with God's truth , climb higher , get more extended prospects , truer views of the relation between the here and the hereafter , but even then we shall only be overwhelmed wit the depths of riches both of the wisdom and knowle

Exhortation to a minister newly ordained.

More from Lachlan Mackenzie

Kiltearn Church where Thomas Hog preached . Steps were to the pulpit

"We look to Him whom we have pierced , and we mourn ."    It is no wrong of others that is here recorded , but our own . It cannot grow old , while its causes are still fresh . The sorrows of Jesus gathered their bitterness from generations yet unborn ; and hence His cross shall stand in immediate contact with the latest sinner of our race , His dying countenance fix on him through the darkness with sad and distinct impression , His dying groan reach to his  very heart . "For thee too, and as the curse of thy sin , am I stricken , smitten of God , and afflicted !"

Thomas Hogs grave at Kiltearn Church

The Bible has been the instrument of producing all the true piety that has for many ages existed upon earth. Were the world deprived of the sun , light and heat and life would expire for want of its vivifying beams, and all would become one mass of barrenness and death .. Were the world deprived of the Bible, it would soon present one deplorable scene of unmingled wickedness . Nothing would meet the eye but pollution and crime . Hell might exult in a complete conquest , and claim this world as a province of its own . Among the myriads of mankind not one heir of heaven would be found ; but all thronging for destruction together , would rush from the darkness of spiritual night to the darkness of eternal perdition . It may confidently asserted that no one who slights the Bible is virtuous ; and that no one who loves it , feels its power on the heart , and conforms to its precepts ,is vicious . Infidels may rave at such assertions  - let them rave . They are monuments of the truth , which