A Goodly Heritage

8,6,8,6 The Lord’s call to his children. 2Cor 6:17,18 206 Let us adore the grace that seeks To draw our hearts above! Attend, ’tis God the Savior speaks, And every word is love. Though filled with awe, before his throne Each angel veils his face; He claims a people for his own Amongst our sinful race. Careless, awhile, they live in sin, Enslaved to Satan’s pow’r; But they obey the call divine, In his appointed hour. Come forth, he says, no more pursue The paths that lead to death; Look up, a bleeding Savior view, Look, and be saved by faith. My sons and daughters you shall be Through the atoning blood; And you shall claim, and find, in me, A Father, and a God.” Lord, speak these words to every heart, By thine all–powerful voice; That we may now from sin depart, And make thy love our choice. If now, we learn to seek thy face By Christ, the living way; We’ll praise thee for this hour of grace, Through an e

This was  Paul's highest attainment in the knowledge of self. To be a daily pauper living on alms is humbling to proud nature, which is always seeking to  be  something, and to  do  something. If this  self-nothingness  was wrought in us, we would be spared much pain, in wounded pride. People are building up religion all over the country, but there is not one of a thousand who has yet learned  the first lesson--to be nothing. Of all this noisy crowd, how few lie at Jesus' feet, helpless and hopeless, and find help and hope in Him! If you can venture to  be nothing , it will save you a world of anxiety and trouble! But proud, vain, conceited flesh wants to be something . . .   to preach well,   to make a name for one's self,   and be admired as a preacher. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;  of whom  I am the worst ." 1 Timothy 1:15 " I am less than the least  of all God's people." Eph. 3:8 " I am nothing ." 2 Corinthians 1

"The Lord  gave , and the Lord has  taken  away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21 Noble posture this; to kneel and to adore! To see no hand but ONE! Sabeans; Fire; Whirlwind; Sword; are all overlooked. The Patriarch recognizes alone "The Lord" who  gave  and "The Lord" who has  taken . What is the cause of so much depression, needless sorrow, unchristian murmuring in our hours of trial? It is a refusal to hear His voice; His own loving voice, mingling with the accents of the severest storm; " It is I !" "Is there  evil  in the city, and the Lord has not done it?" Is there a  bitter drop  in the cup, and the Lord has not mingled it? He loves His people too well to intrust their interest to any other. We are but clay in the hand of the Potter; vessels in the hand of the Refiner of silver. He metes out our portion. He appoints the bounds of our habitation. "The Lord God prepared the  gourd ." "The Lor

The coming of Christ to the judgement is a truth well known, firmly believed, and earnestly desired by all the saints. 1. That it is well known, the apostle produceth the testimony of Enoch: Jude 14, 'Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.' David often mentioneth it as a thing delighted in by believers; therefore, in a poetical, or rather prophetical strain, he calleth upon the heavens, earth, sea, and fields to rejoice 'before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth,' Ps. 96:13; and again, Ps. 98:9, he calleth upon the creatures to rejoice 'before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity;' passages which relate, not only to the kingdom of the Messiah, as it is exercised now in the world, but also to his final act of judging, till which time they are not fully verified. Solom

Christ's second coming will make an immense change to all members of Christ's Church, both good and bad. I draw that from the concluding portion of the parable, from the discovery of the foolish virgins, that their lamps were gone out, from their anxious address to the wise, "Give us some of your oil," from their vain knocking at the door when shut, crying, "Lord, Lord, open to us," from the happy admission of the wise who were ready to the marriage supper, in company with the bridegroom. All these points are food for thought. But I have no time to dwell on them particularly. I can only take one single broad view of all. To all who have been baptized in the name of Christ—converted or unconverted, believer or unbeliever, holy or unholy, godly or ungodly, wise or foolish, gracious or graceless—to all, the second coming of Christ shall be an immense change. It shall be  an immense change to the UNGODLY , to the mere nominal Christian. They will see the

Christ the Desire of All Nations by John Flavel " And the desire of all nations shall come. " -Haggai 2:7      T he first chapter of Haggai is mainly spent in reproving the negligence of the Jews, who, being discouraged from time to time, had delayed the rebuilding of the temple. In the meantime they employed their care and cost in building and adorning their own houses: but, at last, being persuaded to set about the work, they met with this discouragement, that such was the poverty of the present time, that the second structure would not match the magnificence and splendor of the first. In Solomon's days the nation was wealthy, but now it was drained; so that there would be no comparison between the second and the first. To this great discouragement the prophet applies this relief: that whatsoever should be lacking in external pomp and glory, should be more than recompensed by the presence of Jesus Christ in this second temple. For Christ, "the desire of

Without the consciousness of sin, the whole of the gospel will seem to be an idle tale. But how can the consciousness of sin be revived? Something no doubt, can be accomplished by the proclamation of the law of God, for the law reveals transgressions. The whole of the law, moreover, should be proclaimed.”  ―  J. Gresham Machen ,

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records.  They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. Alexander Hamilton

Religion cannot be made joyful simply by looking on the bright side of God. For a one-sided God is not a real God, and it is the real God alone who can satisfy the longing of our soul. The search for joy in religion seems to have ended in disaster. God is found to be enveloped in impenetrable mystery, and in awful righteousness; man is confined to the prison of the world, trying to make the best of his condition, beautifying the prison with tinsel, yet secretly dissatisfied with his bondage, dissatisfied with a merely relative goodness which is no goodness at all, dissatisfied with the companionship of his sinful fellows, unable to forget his heavenly destiny and his heavenly duty, longing for communion with the Holy One. There seems to be no hope; God is separate from sinners; there is no room for joy, but only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Yet such a God has at least one advantage over the comforting God of modern preaching - He is alive, H

“What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?”  ―  J. Gresham Machen ,  The Christian Faith in the Modern World

“Paganism is that view of life which finds the highest goal of human existence in the healthy and harmonious and joyous development of existing human faculties. Very different is the Christian ideal. Paganism is optimistic with regard to unaided human nature, whereas Christianity is the religion of the broken heart.”  ―  J. Gresham Machen ,  Christianity and Liberalism

Love is the everlasting grace that will continue in use and increase, even when other graces will have ceased. Some graces are particularly suited to our present state of imperfection in this world. At the present time, we live by faith, repent and mourn for sin, live in hope of the glory which will be revealed, and wait until we possess the mansions above. We patiently wait for all the good that is promised to us, but not yet conferred upon us. However, in the future faith will be turned into sight, hope into enjoyment, desires into gratification, and waiting into possession. When this happens, we will believe no more, hope no more, desire no more, and wait no more. But even then we will continue in love-- indeed, we will love more than ever, more abundantly, perfectly, and continually, without pause or alteration. We will love eternally. One reason why love is considered the greatest of the three Christian virtues, is that it will last the longest. "And now abide faith, hope,

Love shows the true character of a man, according to the object which he loves more than anything else: for as is the love, so is the man. According to his love, so might you confidently designate the man. If he is a lover of honour, he is an ambitious man; a lover of pleasure, a sensual man; and if he chiefly love the world, he is a covetous man. If a man loves righteousness, he is a religious man; if the things above, a heavenly-minded man; and if he love Christ with a pre-eminent love, he is a sincere man: "Rightly do they love you.," Song of Songs 1:4. If Christ has our love, he has our all; and Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he call

It is the object of Satan to keep those secure who are safe in his hands; nor does God see fit to disturb their quiet. But on the other hand, where Satan perceives a work of grace going on, where he sees the eyes sometimes filled with tears, where he hears the sobs heaving from the contrite heart, where he observes the knees often bent in secret prayer, where his listening ear often hears the poor penitent confess his sins, weaknesses, and backslidings before God, (for by these observations we have reason to believe Satan gains his intelligence,) wherever he sees this secret work going on in the soul, mad with wrath and filled with malice, he vents his hellish spleen against the objects of God's love. Sometimes he tries to ensnare them into sin, sometimes to harass them with temptation, sometimes to stir up their wicked heart into desperate rebellion, sometimes to work upon their natural infidelity, and sometimes to plague them with many groundless doubts and fears as to their re

It is true that Christianity in its truest expression has been awfully severe and it has realised the cost of holiness, “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire” (Matt. 18:9). Christianity must know severity, for it is a warfare not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Its war is with sin in all its agents and manifestations. But it is just for the reason that its war is with sin and the agents of sin that Christianity has been severely jealous not to dissipate its forces and miss its holy crusade by making war on the good gifts and blessings, ordinances and institutions, of God. Sin does not reside in the creatures and institutions of God but rather in the hearts of men and demons. And so Christianity has sought to encompass all of G

Gathering of the Flock. Let us remember this; it is "charity" in the true sense of the word, - love to God, generating all those loving virtues, of which love is the parent, which will decide our final bliss or woe. Religion, if true, can never be quenched in an unloving, selfish life. The criterion on "that day" will not be, what we have well said, but what we have well done! Semblances will be nothing then- party distinctions will be nothing then- appearing to be a Christian will be nothing then- flaming orthodoxy, the most evangelical creed in Christendom, apart from a loving nature, will be nothing then. It will be doers alone who will be justified. The demand will be, "Show me your faith by your works." Not that these works will unlock the gates of heaven. God forbid! In themselves, and as pleas of merit, they will be but "wood, and hay, and stubble." It is evident in this passage, and well worth noting, that from the righteous expressing t

1. Negatively. It is not a bare faithless mentioning of his name in our prayers, nor finishing our prayers with them, Matt. 7:21. The saints use the words, "through Jesus Christ our Lord," 1 Cor. 15:57, but often is that scabbard produced, while the sword of the Spirit is not in it. The words are said, but the faith is not exercised. Praying at His Command 2. Positively. To pray in the name of Christ is to pray, first, At his command, to go to God by his order, John 16:24, "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive." Christ as God commands all men to pray, to offer that piece of natural duty to God; but that is not the command meant. But Christ as Mediator sends his own to his Father to ask supply of their wants, and allows them to tell that he sent them, as one recommends a poor body to a friend, John 16:24, just cited. So to pray in the name of Christ is to go to God as sent by the poor man's friend. So it impli

As our great example in prayer, our Lord puts love as a primary condition—a love that has purified the heart from all the elements of hate, revenge, and ill will. Love is the supreme condition of prayer, a life inspired by love. The 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians is the law of prayer as well as the law of love. The law of love is the law of prayer, and to master this chapter from the epistle of St. Patti is to learn the first and fullest condition of prayer. Christ taught us also to approach the Father in His name. That is our passport. It is in His name that we are to make our petitions known. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater  works  than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask Me anything in My name, that will I do.” How wide and comprehensive is that “whatsoever.” There is no l

Brethren, I desire to deal closely with my own heart and yours. I beseech you to consider whether it will benefit us to speak of the grace of humility—while we possess it not; or to speak against the sin of pride—while we indulge in it? Have not many of us cause to inquire diligently, whether sincerity will consist with such a measure of pride as we have in our hearts? When we are telling the drunkard that he cannot be saved unless he becomes temperate, and the fornicator that he cannot be saved unless he become chaste; have we not as great reason if we are proud, to say to ourselves—that we cannot be saved unless we become humble? Pride, in fact, is a greater sin than drunkenness or whoredom; and humility is as necessary as sobriety and chastity. Truly, brethren, a man may as certainly, and more slyly, make haste to hell, in the way of earnest preaching of the gospel, and seeming zeal for a holy life—as in a way of drunkeness and filthiness. For what is holiness, but a devoted

Oh, my friends, do not despise the assembly of as few as two or three! Christ did not refrain from speaking to the woman of Samaria at the well. It was his meat and drink. Heaven will resound with the praises that took their origin from that meeting. The reverberations will be eternal. He did not despise the night meeting with Nicodemus, and the repercussions will be everlasting. From these meetings there began the ripples which have continued ever since in endless circles, and they break on the shores of eternity. Christ will assuredly be present in the assemblies gathered in his name, so do not miss an opportunity to meet with the firstborn from the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. The veracity of him who is the truth is pledged to the fulfillment of this promise. Where there are two, there are always three, and the third is the faithful witness, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And when there are two, there are always five. "That they all may be one,

The church and the world have never stood in greater need than today of the message of the sovereignty of God. The world is faced with impious proud claims that contradict the sovereignty of God, claims to the supremacy of race and people. Here is a godless philosophy that has brought upon us the awful cataclysm of bloodshed and tyranny witnessed in Europe and Asia. Before this avalanche many professing Christians have surrendered, and with fanatical zeal multitudes of men have joined in the onslaught on justice and truth and liberty. It is an unholy crusade, and knowingly or unknowingly they have taken “counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their banks asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Ps. 2:2, 3). In such a situation the message of the divine sovereignty must be thrust into the foreground, principally for two reasons. First, we must be reminded that in this universe God’s sovereign government is the only totalitarian go

It is true  that conformity to the will of God must be first a condition of the heart, created by the Spirit's regenerative grace and fostered by his sanctifying presence. Upright conduct can never coexist with impurity of heart. Merely external and servile conformity to precepts of law does not constitute obedience. Upon none did the anathemas of our Lord descend with such severity as upon the legalistic Pharisees who made clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but who were within full of malice and hypocrisy, who were like whited sepulchers outwardly beautiful but within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Without the inward condition of purity and the inward impulsion of love obedience is impossible. But in these watchwords of our modern exponents of the Christian ethic there is also devastating error. We are not saved  by  obedience to the law, but we are saved  unto  it. In their insistence upon love they have placed love in opposition to law. We

Our Christian faith is a body of fact and doctrine. It is not a vague sentiment, some mystical feeling of communion with the unseen. It produces true sentiment and results in communion with the great unseen God, but it is first of all a faith in certain well–defined and unchangeable data of fact and teaching. But as truly as it is a faith it involves a life. And just as there is the unchangeable and immovable in the realm of what we call faith, so there is the unchangeable and immovable in the norms and principles of life. God does not change; his moral perfections do not change; his moral law does not change. Times change; conditions change; we change. But under and through all there remains man's conscience, man's responsibility, and over all there is the unchanging holiness, justice, and authority of God, issuing in the commands that bind man's conscience and with a divine imperative must regulate his life, in one word, the moral law. Recognition of this datum of awf