A Goodly Heritage

 A word or two of consolation to all serious Christians who have sought to give themselves faithfully and closely to this heart work, but who are groaning in secret over their apparent lack of success therein, and who are fearful that their experience falls short of a saving one. First, this argues that your heart is honest and upright. If you are mourning over heart conditions and sins, that is something no hypocrite does. Many a one is now in hell who had a better head than mine; many a one now in heaven complained of as bad a heart as thine.  God would never leave you under so many heart burdens and troubles if He intended not your benefit thereby. You say, Lord, why do I go mourning, all the day having sorrow of heart? For long have I been exercised over its hardness, and not yet it is broken. Many years have I been struggling against vain thoughts, and still I am plagued by them. When shall I get a better heart? Ah, God would thereby show you what your heart by nature is, and

"Remember  the words of the Lord Jesus , how He said," "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever."  — John 14:16 When one beloved earthly friend is taken away — how the heart is drawn out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up the vast blank which His own absence was to make. His name was,  The Comforter;  His mission was, "to abide with them forever." Accordingly, no sooner had the gates of Heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than, in fulfillment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. "When I depart — I will send Him to you." Reader, do you realize your privilege — living under the dispensation of the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even &q

The general work of the Spirit of God consists of two parts - the regeneration of sinners, and the edification of his people. Under the latter, several special operations of his grace are included, which are distinctly mentioned in sacred Scripture, and which may be considered separately, as examples of the connection which subsists betwixt his grace and all our duties, and as evidences of the love and wisdom with which his blessed agency is adapted to all the wants and weaknesses of our nature. It is an animating and consoling thought, that the promised grace of the Spirit has respect to every duty which we can be called to discharge, and to every change that can possibly occur in the condition, the temptations, and the trials of his people: for whether we be called to fight against our corruptions, the Spirit is our sanctifier; or to endure affliction, the Spirit is our comforter; or to choose the path of duty in times of perplexity, the Spirit is our guide; or to engage in prayer,

According to the eternal purpose The whole of salvation, in which is displayed the great wisdom of God, is according to a purpose of his; the scheme of it is fixed in the council of peace; the thing itself is effected in pursuance of it; Christ, the Redeemer, was set forth in it; his incarnation, the time of his coming into the world, his sufferings and death, with all their circumstances, were decreed by God; and the persons for whom Christ became incarnate, suffered, and died, were appointed unto salvation by him; and the application of it to them is according to his purpose; the time when, the place where, and the means whereby souls are converted, are all settled in the decrees of God; the Gospel itself, the preaching of it by such and such persons, its use to make men see the mysteries of grace, and the fellowship of them, and to make known these things to the angels of heaven, are all according to a divine purpose: and this purpose is eternal, or was in the mind of God from a

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who taketh His name in vain!" Exodus 20:7 As the second commandment concerns the manner in which God is to be worshipped (namely, according to His revealed will), so this third commandment one bids us worship Him with that frame of heart which is agreeable to the dignity and solemnity of such an exercise and the majesty of Him with whom we have to do: that is, with the utmost sincerity, humility and reverence. "Fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD YOUR GOD" (Deuteronomy 28:58). O, what high thoughts we ought to entertain of such a Being! In what holy awe should we stand of Him! Anything pertaining to God, should be spoken of with the greatest sobriety. "The end of this Precept is that the Lord will have the majesty of His name to be held inviolably sacred by us. Whatever we think and whatever we say of Him, should savour of His excellency, corre

   And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 5:2    And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 5:3    Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5:4    Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5:5    Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 5:6    Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 5:7    Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 5:8    Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 5:9    Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 5:10    Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5:11    Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 5:12    Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward

. The things which have been spoken at this time give us a further view of the dignity and excellency of genuine holiness, and how far it is above the reach of corrupted nature; and consequently how precious those influences of the Spirit are which raise up the souls of men to such sweet and sublime exercises. Many people talk of holiness, and of the work of the Spirit, who are little aware of the true nature and glory of these things. 2. There is much reason to lament that cold death which is manifest in many professors of religion with respect to these things. How little of this genuine zeal for God, and love to men flowing from it, is to be found in Christian societies! Here the hypocrisy of many pretensions to faith is awfully discovered. Many who talk highly of religious comfort are so far from any vital experience of these holy exercises which I have been describing, that they cannot endure the mentioning of them. God will get honor to himself by and by in the dismal surp

Certainly the more Christ has suffered for us, the more dear Christ should be unto us; the more bitter his sufferings have been for us, the more sweet his love should be to us, and the more eminent should be our love to him.  Oh, let a suffering Christ lie nearest your hearts; let him be your manna, your tree of life, your morning star. It is better to part with all than with this pearl of price.  Christ is that golden pipe through which the golden oil of salvation runs ; and oh. how should this inflame our love to Christ! Oh that our hearts were more affected with the sufferings of Christ! Who can tread upon these hot coals, and his heart not burn in love to Christ, and cry out with Ignatius, Christ my love is crucified? Cant. viii. 7,8. If a friend should die for us, how would our hearts be affected with his kindness! and shall the God of glory lay down his life for us, and shall we not be affected with his goodness i John x. 17, 18. Shall Saul be affected with David's kindness

A man may begin preaching with a perfect knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; but he will do little or no good among his hearers unless he knows something of the cross. Never was there a minister who did much for the conversion of souls who did not dwell much on Christ crucified. Luther, Rutherford, Whitfield, McCheyne, were all most eminently preachers of the cross. This is the preaching that the Holy Spirit delights to bless: He loves to honor those who honor the cross. The doctrine of Christ crucified is the secret of all missionary success. Nothing but this has ever moved the hearts of the heathen. Just according as this has been lifted up missions have prospered. This is the weapon that has won victories over hearts of every kind, in every quarter of the globe: Greenlanders, Africans, South Sea Islanders, Hindoos, and Chinese, all have alike felt its power. Just as that huge iron tube which crosses the Menai Straits is more affected and bent by half an hour’s sunshine than by

Some people cannot understand why the  doctrinal preachers  of our day should not be as highly esteemed and as greatly blessed as the doctrinal preachers of the last century. They do not see the wide difference between receiving the truth at first hand and at second hand. When Toplady preached election, and Whitefield urged the new birth, they preached what their souls had received directly and immediately from God. It was not with them a second or third running, but the pure blood of the grape. Their souls had drunk of the wine of the kingdom; and, like the apostles on the day of Pentecost, they preached under its influence.  Peter  preaching Christ's resurrection at Jerusalem;  Athanasius  contending for the Trinity at Alexandria;  Luther  declaring justification by Christ's righteousness at Wittenberg;  Knox  thundering against Popery at St. Andrews;  Whitefield  pouring out his very soul in enforcing the new birth in Moorfields;  Toplady  urging election at Orange Street

The Psalmist pleaded his separation from the world as a reason for his obtaining clearer insight into the gracious purposes and holy will of God: "Open mine eyes that I may behold the wonders that are in your law. I am a stranger in the earth, hide not your commandments from me (Ps. 119:12). The more, also, will you love the worship, the house, the cause and kingdom of Christ upon the earth; and the more liberally, joyfully, and prayerfully will you give for the support and propagation of his gospel. For thus again spoke this same stranger on the earth, Israel's sweet psalmist and king: "For who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding? (I Chron. 29:14-15).  Nor will this be lacking to you in the hour of sorrow and anxiety,

The love of the Spirit is unquenchable. He is unwilling to depart. He despises not the day of small things; but He bids us look beyond and above them. Formalism, routine, and external religion, the excitements of mysticism,-these are poor substitutes for the life, and glow, and energy of the Holy Spirit. Nothing but His own presence can avail to lift us out of the unreal religiousness into which we have fallen; to transform creeds into realities, and the bodily bowing of the head, or bending of the knee, into spiritual worship; turning the "dim religious light" into the sunshine of a heavenly noon; drawing out of our hymnals the deep heart-music of divine and blessed song; delivering us alike from Rationalism and Ritualism, from a hollow externalism, and from an impulsive and unreasoning fanaticism. It is His presence only that can vitalize ordinances; clothe ministry with power; unite the broken Church; fill the void of aching hearts; impart to service, liberty

 This mighty God of Salvation calls His people, "with a holy calling."  And He says to them, "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation."  the word conversation has the meaning of all of life's relationships, departments and aspects.  We are to be separate from sin and dedicated to God in all that we do!  There may be no question about it whatsoever that we are indeed saints!  Not simply that we are church-goers, but holy children of God in word and in truth!  The apostle says in verse 14 that we are to do this as obedient children; children must always be characterized by obedience.  And since we are adopted into the family of God, our obedience must be unto Him.  We are called to love Him and seek Him.  We are called to love what God loves, and hate what God hates.  And the apostle warns us that we are not to conform ourselves to former lusts, to the motions of our sinful natures, to carnal, unlawful desires.  God has called us out of that and away from that

Consider to whom this affection should be extended. More generally to all men, as fellow-creatures; but particularly and especially to all who are begotten of God, as fellow-Christians. 'And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him,' 1 John 4.21, and chap. 5.1. 'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith,' Gal. 6.10. 'O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee: but unto the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight,' Psalm 16.2,3. And this consideration the Holy Ghost suggests to make us maintain love and unity. Love towards these runs in a purer channel:—'Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spir

He sits so low, thus he cannot fall lower: so a humble man's fall upon the ground is no fall indeed, but in the apprehension of others; but it is a heavy and bruising fall from off the tower of self-conceit. Now the example that is given us, 'Learn of me,' is certainly of greater force to persuade a man to this humble, composed, and quiet temper of spirit, than all the rules in the world. That the Son of God should come down and act it before our eyes, and cast us a pattern of humility and meekness; if this do not prevail to humble the heart, I know not what can. Indeed this root of bitterness, which is in all men's hearts by nature, is very hard to pluck up; yea, when other weeds of corruption are extirpated, this poisonable one, pride, groweth the faster, and roots the deeper. Suppose a man should be stript naked of all the garments of the old man, this would be certainly nearest his skin, and last to put off. It is so pestilent an evil, that it grows in the glass

Being  united to Christ, believers have fellowship with him in his sufferings and death, and are therefore said to be "crucified and dead with Christ."–Rom. vi. 6, 8. They have also fellowship with Christ in his resurrection; for they are "raised up together with him," and have communion with him in his life.–Eph. ii. 6; Gal. ii. 20. They have fellowship with him in his victories. He spoiled principalities and powers, overcame the world, destroyed death, and vanquished the grave for them; and they shall be made more than conquerors over all these enemies, through him.–Rom. viii. 37. They have communion with him in all the benefits which he purchased; hence they are said to be "made partakers of Christ," and to be "complete in him who is the head of all principality end power" (Heb. iii. 14; Col. ii. 10);–they have an interest in his righteousness, by which he fulfilled the law in their room, and are thus entitled to the blessing of justificati

Reader, deeply fix in your mind the certainty and importance of the transactions of this last, great day. Meditate upon it as a reality in which you have a momentous interest. Let every other day, as it passes, put you in mind of this in which all others will end. Consider also that is draws near. Every moment bears us on towards the great tribunal. Mockers may say, Where is the promise of his coming? "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent hear; the earth also, and the works therein, shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10. O reader, whoever thou art, let me entreat you to inquire without delay, whether you are prepared for the scrutiny and judgment of this coming day. Have you made you peace with God? Have you repented of all your sins? Are you in union with Christ by faith? Have you any clear scriptural evidence that your sins are pardoned? What says

Every religion has a doctrine or belief about the last things, however crude. This is because this is one of man's basic interests. Ironical as it may be, man is more interested in the end of his life here than in anything else about it. This is because he has a deep-seated belief- it may be a conviction, a hope, a dread - that the end of this life is the beginning of another life. Where he got this intuition, this instinct as it were, we cannot say. But he has it. He feels deep down within him that he belongs here and now to two worlds - that part of him belongs to some other sphere, and that when this world ends, he will be wholly in that other world, he will enter upon another form of life. What man is interested in is his destiny: he feels he is a creature of destiny and he wants to know - with a great eagerness - what that destiny is. That matter of destiny obtrudes itself into man's life in the here and now - it casts its shadow or its light upon the dai