A Goodly Heritage

Your faith has many a victory to gain . Faith is a battle - a mighty warfare . It is a fight against all that is natural to you , against everything around you , that you may live on Christ alone . Faith is a trampling upon all , a despising and hating of all that comes between you and a fully revealed Christ , a suffering the loss of all things to win Christ , and to be found in Him . Be not surprised to find obstructions in the walk of faith . You will find them every hour . It is no slight grasp that must be taken of the kingdom of heaven in order to make a man safe amid the ruin and wreck of a perishing world . Believe me , it is not with folded hands and drowsy consciences , and hearts full of the cares of this life , but by denying ourselves , taking up the cross , bearing the reproach , and by following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth , that we shall enter the kingdom.

Nothing that is good can exist which God did not will to be , and nothing that is evil can exist which God did not will to allow . The will of God goes before all other wills ; it does not depend on them , but they depend on it .  Its movements regulate them . The " I will " of Jehovah is the spring and origen of of all that is done throughout the universe , great and small , among things animate and inaminate . It was this " I will " that brought angels into being and still sustains them . It was this "I will " that was the origin of salvation to a lost world . It was this " I will " that provided a redeemer and accomplished redemption . It was this "I will " that begins ,carries on and ends salvation in each soul that is redeemed . It is this "I will " that opens the blind eye and unstops the deaf ear .  It was this "I will that awakens the slumberer and raises the dead . I do not mean that , merely generally speaking

Sinners from ignorance of the supreme majesty of the government of God , have such high views of their own importance , as to imagine , that God will not inflict the punishment which he has threatened in His holy Word ; but that they shall meet with indulgence , and that He will show some respect to them .  In this way they think that God is altogether like themselves , not considering that He is a great King , and that the greatest of creatures are as nothing before Him , for he made them all for his own glory ; and his glory he will not lose

Perhaps God designs to deepen your humility . Thankfulness to God rises highest in the happy days of spiritual joy ; but humility is often strengthened most in the dark hours of spiritual distress . Then when the Christian sees utter unworthiness clinging to all he is , and all he does ; then when he discerns such a world of iniquity in his heart , that the sight surprises and alarms his soul ; thenit is , that he sinks into the depths of self - abasement , and feels that salvation is all of grace . Perhaps you need to sink there , to strip you of spiritual pride , or to wean you from all self dependence , and to make you feel your utter helplessness , wretchedness and ruin . Something of this the Christian learns when he is convinced of sin , and enters the way of religion by receiving the Saviour ; but the important lesson is often taught him more impressively in the dark day of spiritual sorrow , than in the hours of his early penitence .

(4) Faith

It is far more needful for us to have our spirits humbled under the cross , than to have the cross removed . The removal of the cross is needful only for the ease of the flesh , the humbling for the profit of our souls , to purify them , and bring them into a state of health and cure .The humbling of the spirit will have a mighty good effect on a crossed lot , but the removal of the cross will have none on an unhumbled spirit . The humbling will lighten the cross mightily for a time , and in due time carry it cleanly off. But the removal of the cross is not a means to humble the unhumbled ; though it may prevent irritation , yet the disease still remains . Think how dangerous and hopeless a case it is to have the cross removed before the spirit is humbled ; that is , to have means of cure pulled away and blocked up from us , while the power of the disease is yet unbroken ; to be taken off trials before we have given any good proof of ourselves , and so to be given over to our Physici

Humility is a part of the image of God . Pride is the master-piece of the image of the devil . Let us view him who was the express image of the Father's person , and we shall behold Him meek and lowly in heart , Matthew 11 29. None more afflicted , yet His spirit perfectly brought down to His lot . Isaiah 53 :7 "He was oppressed , and He was afflicted , yet He opened not His mouth ." That is a shining part of the Divine image ; for although God cannot be low in respect of His state and condition , yet He is of infinite condescension , Isaiah 57 :15 . None bears as He , nor suffers patiently so much contradiction to His will ; which is proposed to us for our encouragement in affliction  , as it shone in Christ . " For consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself , lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds ."Hebrew 12: 3 .      Pride on the other hand is the very image of the devil , 1 Timothy3:6 . Shall we value ourselves on the heigh

There is but one answer to that question . No one can . The very angels veil their faces before the insufferable glory of his face . "The first born sons of light Desire in vain his depths to see ; They cannot reach the mystery , The length , the breadth , the height." Do not be surprized then , if there should be matters in the Bible , in your own life , and in the Providential government of the world , which baffle your thought . Remember , you are only a little child in an infant class, and it is not likely that you can comprehend the whole system of your instructor . God would cease to be God for us , if by searching we could find Him out . But though we cannot find out God by the searching of the intellect , we may know him by love . " He that loveth , knoweth God , for God is Love ."There is a way of knowing God ,which is hidden from the wise and prudent , and revealed to babes . Seek to strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man . Let Christ

Our life must be to a large extent be a mystery , our peace pass understanding , and our motives be hidden . The sources of our supply , the ground of our confidence , the reasons for our actions , must evade the most searching scrutiny of those who stand outside the charmed circle of the face of God ; as it is written , "Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard ......what God hath prepared ."  We all ought to have secrets which the world cannot penetrate . Doubt your religion if it all lies on the surface , and if men are able to calculate to a nicety the considerations by which you are actuated. We must be prepared to be misunderstood and criticised , because our behaviour is determined by facts which the princes of the world know not . We do not look up to the hills , because we look beyond them to God ; we do not trust in silver or gold , or human resource , because God is our confidence . We cannot but seem eccentric to the world , because we have found another centre , and ar

"Brethren , if any man be overtaken in a fault , ye who are spiritual , restore such a one in the spirit of meekness , considering thyself , lest thou also be tempted ."   Although the world at once rejoices when it sees one single stain upon a Christian , a single speck of rust upon the highly polished steel , - seek rather to be guided by a charitable spirit , which " rejoiceth not in iniquity , but rejoiceth in the truth ,which beareth all things , believeth all things , hopeth all things , endureth all things .". And even if your love be as imperfect as the faith and piety of Moses , still , my fellow Christians , raise your heads aloft and view the heavenly Canaan , whose gates will not be shut against you for your daily stumbling , but if you confess your falls each day , before the Lord , in all sincerity of heart . Within God's heavenly city , stumbling is a thing unknown ; and sin has been forever banished from the living waters that flow out from the