A Goodly Heritage

Let any man read the Psalms of David deliberately, let him look upon them as the honest expression of the writer's actual state of feeling: apart from the credit which he has been taught from his youth to assign to the Scriptures as inspired by the Holy Spirit, so as to form, simply and literally, the Word of God; let him simply contemplate with something like deliberation the state of heart, the character, the principle of conduct, the secret experiences which find vent in these wondrous compositions: and whether he has sympathy with the writer or not, he must come to the conclusion, "Assuredly this man was a stranger on the earth." The very revolt which the worldly mind feels from the sanctity and searching holiness of these spiritual songs is an involuntary confession that the writer of them must have been "a stranger on the earth," and the very reason why the ungodly man revolts and recoils from them, and never by any chance turns voluntarily to their pages

The hypocritical religion prevailing on every hand, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; the awful dishonour done to the truth of God by the false doctrines taught in countless pulpits; the divisions among the Lord's people, the strife between brethren, occasion continual sorrow of heart. The awful wickedness in the world, men despising Christ, the untold sufferings around, make us groan within ourselves. The closer the Christian lives to God, the more will he mourn over all that dishonours Him. With the Psalmist he will say: 119:53; with Jeremiah, 13:17; 14:17; with Ezekiel, 9:4. "They shall be comforted." This refers first of all to the removal of the conscious guilt which burdens the conscience. It finds its fulfillment in the Spirit's application of the Gospel of God's grace to the one whom He has convicted of his dire need of a Saviour. It issues in a sense of free and full forgiveness through the merits of the atoning blood of Chr

Genuine admiration of the cross of Christ - imbuing a man with the evangelical spirituality which is the lack of the age, and which alone has been found powerful enough to alienate us from the world at every point - makes him, there can be no reason to doubt, what the psalmist calls himself, "a stranger on the earth" (Ps. 119:19). Living by that faith which does not, and from the nature of things cannot, in this life "receive the promises, but sees them afar off, and is persuaded of them and embraces them," and realizes the splendidly dominating power of them, the man wakens up to the clear consciousness, and sees no reason for withholding the confession: "I am a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth" (Heb. 11:13); "a stranger and a sojourner as all my fathers were" (Ps. 39:12).  It is of some importance to vindicate this aspect of the Christian life from those objections which intelligent and average healthy-minded men of the world are not unnat

 The gospel call comes forth from the covenant, and summons sinners into it. It is a voice from within the covenant, addressed to those that are without, with the view of bringing them within. Its administration is itself one of the stipulations of the covenant: “Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knewest not” (Isa. lv. 5). And its success is equally guaranteed by the covenant: “And nations that knew  not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee” ( idem ). Such is the covenant intercommunion of the Father and the Son concerning the gospel call, stipulating that it shall be given, and that when given it shall not be without success. And it is, as it were, fresh from rehearsing and recording what he hath been a witness to between the Father and the Son concerning the gospel call, that the Spirit turns to us and ministers it to us, shining fresh in the light of covenant Divine counsels concerning it:— “See

Family Life  “There is a great deal in the way in which a man walks in his house. It will not do to be a saint abroad and a devil at home! There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet at a Prayer Meeting, but they are dreadfully sour to their wives and children. This will never do! Every genuine Believer should say, and mean it, ‘I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.’ It is in the home that we get the truest proof of godliness. ‘What sort of a man is he?’ said one to George Whitefield, and Whitefield answered, ‘I cannot say, for I never lived with him.’ That is the way to test a man—to live with him.”—1894, “Family prayer and the pulpit are the bulwarks of Protestantism! Depend upon it, when family piety goes down, the life of godliness will become very low. In Europe, at any rate, seeing that the Christian faith began with a converted household, we ought to seek after the conversion of all our families and to maintain within our houses the good and h

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32 I have thought sometimes of the sweet figure of Solomon, as a type of Christ, in his royal liberality to the queen of Sheba. We read of him that he "gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty." So our Royal Benefactor gives more to the sons of men than is in their heart to ask for. And what he gives, he gives freely, out of his royal bounty. As freely as the rain drops from the sky; as freely as the sun casts forth his glorious beams and ripens the fruits of the field; as freely as the wind courses over the earth; as freely as the dew drops upon the morning grass; so free are the gifts of God to his Church and people. Indeed, in giving Christ, God gave everything. The Apostle declares, he "has blessed us with  all  spiritual blessings i

"For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."  2 Corinthians 4:11 What is meant by the expression,  "our mortal flesh?"  It does not mean the carnal mind, but our earthly tabernacle; and the expression is similar to another in this chapter, "We have this treasure in  earthen vessels,  that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." It is, then, in this poor body, compassed with infirmities, that the life of Jesus is made manifest. This divine life will often spring up in fervent breathings after God, in the actings of living faith, in the sweet communion the people of God have with one another, in reading the Scriptures, in the application of precious promises, and under the preached word. From time to time it bubbles up like a spring from its source. Sometimes indeed it runs underground, buried as it were under the load of "our mortal

Satan labours with all his strength by false teachers, which are his messengers and ambassadors, to deceive, delude and forever destroy the precious souls of men. The prophet Jeremiah declared, "And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err." (Jeremiah 23;13). And through the prophet Micah, the Lord himself complained "Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err," (Micah 3.5a). They seduce them and carry them out of the right way into by-paths and blind thickets of error, blasphemy and wickedness, where they are lost forever. Jesus Himself warned, "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15) These scoundrels lick and suck blood of souls, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers," (Phil. 3:2) These evil men kiss and kill; they cry, "Peace, Peace" until souls fall into everl

By J. C. Philpot Nothing distinguishes the divine religion of the child of God, not only from the dead profanity of the openly ungodly, but from the formal lip-service of the lifeless professor—so much as  communion with God . How clearly do we see this exemplified in the saints of old. Abel sought after fellowship with God when "he brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof," for he looked to the atoning blood of the Lamb of God. God accepted the offering, and "testified of his gifts" by manifesting his divine approbation. Here was fellowship between Abel and God. Enoch "walked with God;" but how can two walk together except they be agreed? And if agreed, they are in fellowship and communion. Abraham was "the friend of God;" "The Lord spoke to Moses face to face;" David was "the man after God's own heart"—all which testimonies of the Holy Spirit concerning them implied that they were reconcil

To the humble, God delights to give grace, and they delight to return Him His glory. The more He gives, the more glory would they gladly return. And He does give more, and He receives it back again in thanks and praise. Blessed grace! by which this holy fellowship is maintained. Happy humility! by which the heart, being emptied of self, is made capable of receiving the fullness which is of God. Then is the promise fulfilled, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).it is theirs now: not only in title, but also in possession, for the kingdom of God is within them and they are partakers at present of its blessings and glories as truly, though not so perfectly, as they will be in Heaven. Meditate, O my soul, upon this Divine grace. Thou seest the necessity of it: O pray earnestly for it, and for more of it. The great idol self must be dethroned where God reigns. Thou canst not walk with Him unless thou art humble in heart. And if thou hast been w

What rich promises are made in the Gospel to humble souls! Jesus pronounced his first blessing on the poor in spirit. The Lord gives grace unto the humble. He fills the hungry with good things. He condescends to dwell in the lowly heart. He beautifies the meek with salvation. The scriptures abound with beautiful descriptions of the privileges and blessings which are the portion of every humble believer in Jesus. All who are truly convinced of sin by the powerful application of the law to their consciences; all who are led to see their awful state by nature, and to feel their need of Jesus as their only Savior; all who are enabled by the Spirit of truth to apprehend Christ by faith in all his offices and covenant relations, are clothed with humility.  Weaned from self-righteous dependencies, they trust in Christ alone for pardon and acceptance; and find rest unto their souls. Receiving a new taste and a spiritual appetite, they live upon Christ by faith, and derive daily strength and c

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel He had around Him." John 13:4-5 What a matchless picture of humility! At the very moment when His throne was in view—angel-anthems floating in His ear—the hour come "when He was to depart out of this world"—possessing a lofty consciousness of His peerless dignity, that "He came  from  God and went  to  God;" THEN "Jesus took a towel, and girded Himself, and began to wash the disciples' feet!" All heaven was ready at that moment to cast their combined crowns at His feet. But the High and the Lofty One inhabiting eternity is on earth "as one that serves!" "That  infinite stoop!  it sinks all creature humiliation to nothing, and renders it impossible for a creatur

It is somewhat remarkable that in the Lord's Supper (as in the passover) there is no reference to resurrection. The broken body and the shed blood are the Alpha and Omega of that ordinance. In it we have communion (not with Christ as risen and glorified, but) with the body of Christ and the blood of Christ (1 Cor 10:16), that is, Christ  upon the cross . "This do in remembrance of me." "As oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the  Lord's death  till He come." If, after we have been at the cross, we are to pass on and leave it behind us, as no longer needed, seeing we are  justified by the risen Christ in us , let those who hold that deadly error say why all reference to resurrection should be excluded from the great feast; and why the  death  of the Lord should be the one object presented to us at the table. "Life in a risen Christ" is another way of expressing the same error. If by this were only meant that resurrection has b

 Some of the marks which belong to those who know God's love. There is one place where all God’s people meet. They meet within the great declaration — “We love Him who first loved us.” This is, therefore, a reciprocating love. All whom Christ loved will come to love Christ. We know, of course, that there are degrees of this love within the Church of God, but, in this world, none can love Him in the measure in which He deserves. No, nor yet throughout eternity. Now, the love of Christ in the heart is not a mere emotion. It is certainly something which lodges in our heart, but which has also its outward manifestation in the life of all His people. To love Christ is to obey Him. “If ye love me keep my commandments.” And to His own His commandment is not grievous but joyous. God’s child loves God’s will as it is revealed in His Word, and, like David, when he or she sees God’s law disparaged and trampled under foot of men, “rivers of waters run down their eyes.” Those who love

Does not God have all the perfections within Himself which are able to engender reverence? He is majestic, glorious, omnipotent, holy, good, and awe-inspiring; that is His nature. How can anyone therefore be in the presence of God—without fear and reverence? Consider what has been expressed in the Word of God: "Who is like unto You, O Lord, among the gods? who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exo 15:11); "That you may fear this glorious and fearful name— the Lord Your God " (Deu 28:58); "For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods" (1 Chr. 16:25); "O Lord God of heaven, the great and dreadful God" (Neh 1:5). His wrath upon the sinner is dreadful. "Who knows the power of Your anger? even according to Your fear, so is Your wrath" (Psalm 90:11). His goodness begets reverence in order that He may thus be feared in love. "But there is forgiveness

All the affections of the soul have their opposites—as love and hatred; joy and grief; hope and fear. These, though seemingly antagonistic, can be shown to work harmoniously, and sometimes, as in the case before us, to accomplish the same object. There are many passages, as this treatise proves, in which the believer is called upon to hope, to hope perfectly, to have the full assurance of hope—and yet as many in which he is as earnestly called upon to fear. To say nothing of the texts of the Old Testament, which was a system of bondage and fear, there are many to the same effect in the New Testament, under which we have "not received the spirit of bondage again to fear—but the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind." "Work out your salvation," said the apostle, "with fear and trembling." "Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "Pass the time of your sojou

By the quickening breath of the Spirit, the soul is roused up to feel its own dignity, and high powers of enjoyment. This, being accompanied with some discoveries of the glory of God, opens the conscience to apprehend what vile debasement the soul hath been yielding itself to, while it hath been idolatrously pursing after vanity. The misery felt, in being kept at a distance from God, naturally introduces an inquiry into the causes of that misery. The soul says to itself, "Why am I thus? Why doth a God of infinite goodness keep at such distance from me? Why doth he withhold from me my only happiness? What mean these chains of darkness, which invisibly bind me?" Conscience, and the law of God, answer, "God is angry. Thou hast moved him to jealousy. There is no peace to the wicked. Be astonished, ye heavens, at this; for they have committed two evils: they have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hol

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 1:7). Happy the soul that has been awed by a view of God's majesty, that has had a vision of God's awful greatness, His ineffable holiness, His perfect righteousness, His irresistible power, His sovereign grace. Does someone say, "But it is only the unsaved, those outside of Christ, who need to fear God"? Then the sufficient answer is that the saved, those who are in Christ, are admonished to work out their own salvation with "fear and trembling." Time was when it was the general custom to speak of a believer as a "God-fearing man." That such an appellation has become nearly extinct only serves to show whither we have drifted. Nevertheless, it still stands written, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him" (Psalm 103:13). When we speak of godly fear, of course we do not mean a servile fear, such as prevails among t

The deceitfulness of sin appears in perverting and wresting the oracles of God, so as to make those words, which natively tend to the salvation of men, to be the occasion of their destruction. So, when a contentious sinner hears such a description of God as in the verse where the text lies, "God is love," he is disposed to make this inference from it, That, surely, under the government of such a God, there can be no such thing as hell. But they who understand the nature of that love which is here ascribed to God, will see that in proportion as it is true, so there must be in God an opposition to whatever is contrary to his infinitely benevolent nature. Therefore, he must hate and punish enmity against himself and his creatures. The more glorious and amiable that his nature is, the more inexcusable and hateful must all such enmity be. On the other hand, he who is love must be disposed to befriend, honour, and patronize that love to himself and to his creatures, which is the

1. After the general impressions concerning God , when we begin more closely to survey the wonderful title here exhibited, one of the first ideas presented to our minds is that of the self-existence, independence, and eternity of the Divine Being. "I AM THAT I AM." Whatever are the nature and excellencies of God, he possesses them in a manner entirely peculiar to himself. No other being shares with Him in the glory of existence underived, eternal, absolutely independent. We may, in our thoughts, anticipate the existence of all other beings; we may think of the time, when they were not; we may conceive of them as rising, in a moment, from the obscure abyss of nothing, and we may search for the powerful cause of their nature and excellencies; but all such inquiries respecting God are at once precluded by this sublime title, "I AM THAT I AM." He exists. He is, and was. But there is no superior cause, no origin, no beginning of his Being. Here, our understandings a

God comes near his people, so as to give them a sense of his attention, and perfect knowledge, respecting all their distresses. This was the comfort suggested to the ancient church in Egypt, Exod. 3:7. "And the Lord said, I have surely seen," (or, as it is translated by Stephen, in his dying speech), "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their task masters: for I know their sorrows." David, having tasted of the sweetness of this comfort, speaks thus: Ps. 31:7. "I will be glad, and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble, and thou hast known my soul in adversities." This stands opposed to the disconsolate apprehensions of sense and unbelief. It is an easy matter for those who are whole-hearted, to enter speculatively into this sentiment. But, I am speaking of things which concern persons who have been cast down, so as to appear to themselves, as it were, out of Go

Robert Murray M'Cheyne "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Psalm 85:6. It is interesting to notice the time when this prayer was offered. It was a time of mercy. "Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land." It was a time when God had led many to the knowledge of Christ, and covered many sins. "Thou has forgotten the iniquity of thy people." It was now they began to feel their need of another visit of mercy -- "Wilt thou not revive us again?" The thing prayed for. "Revive us again," or literally, return and make us live anew. It is the prayer of those who have received some life, but feel their need of more. They had been made alive by the Holy Spirit. They felt the sweetness and excellence of this new, hidden, divine life. They pant for more -- "Wilt thou not revive us again?" The argument presented. "That thy people may rejoice in thee." They plead with God to