A Goodly Heritage

“KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE, FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE.”—Proverbs 4:23. O Christians! I fear your zeal and strength have run in the wrong channel; I fear that most of us may take up the Church’s complaint: “They have made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vine-yard have I not kept.” Two things have eaten up the time and strength of the professors of this generation, and sadly diverted them from heart-work. First:—Fruitless controversies, started by Satan, I doubt not for the very purpose of taking us off from practical godliness, to make us puzzle our heads when we should be inspecting our hearts. How little have we regarded the observation: “It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, and not with meats,” (that is, with disputes and controversies about meats,) “which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” How much better it is to see men live exactly, than to hear them dispute with subtlety! These unfruitful quest

“KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE, FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE.”—Proverbs 4:23. You have seen that the keeping of the heart is the great work of a Christian, in which the very soul and life of religion consists, and without which all other duties are of no value in the sight of God. Hence, to the consternation of hypocrites and formal professors, I infer: 1. That the pains and labors which many persons have undergone in religion are of no value, and will turn to no good account. Many splendid services have been performed by men, which God will utterly reject: they will not stand on record in order to an eternal acceptance, because the performers took no heed to keep their hearts with God. This is that fatal rock on which thousands of vain professors dash and ruin themselves eternally; they are exact about the externals of religion, but regardless of their hearts. O how many hours have some professors spent in hearing, praying, reading and conferring! and yet, as to th

"Little children,  keep yourselves from idols ." 1 John 5:21 Idolatry  is a sin very deeply rooted in the human heart. We need not go very far to find of this the most convincing proofs. Besides the experience of every age and every climate, we find it where we would least expect it—the prevailing sin of a people who had the greatest possible proofs of its wickedness and folly, and the strongest evidences of the being, greatness, and power of God. It amazes us sometimes in reading the history of God's ancient people, as recorded in the inspired page, that, after such wondrous and repeated displays of his presence, glory, and majesty, they should again and again bow down before stocks and stones. That those who had witnessed all the plagues of Egypt had passed through the Red Sea by an explicit miracle, were daily living on manna that fell from heaven and water that gushed out of the rock, who had but to look upward by day to behold the pillar of the cloud, and by nig

 The Christian hope answers expectation to the full, and much beyond it, and deceives no way but in that happy way of far exceeding it. A  living hope —living in death itself! The world dares say no more for its device, than  ' While I breathe I hope'—but the children of God can add by virtue of this living hope, 'While I breathe my last, I hope.'  It is a fearful thing when a man and all his hopes die together.  Thus says Solomon of the wicked: When he dies, then die his hopes; (many of them  before , but at the utmost  then --all of them!) But the  righteous has hope in his death . Death, which cuts the sinews of all other hopes, and turns men out of all other inheritances, alone fulfils this hope, and ends it in fruition; as a messenger sent to bring the children of God home to the possession of their inheritance.  Leighton

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father.   Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world , says the Apostle James. He sees all things from the beginning of time, to the end of it, and beyond to all eternity, and from all eternity He foresaw them. But this foreknowledge here relates peculiarly to the elect. To 'know' in Scripture sometimes denotes love.  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous.  And again,  You only have I known of all the families of the earth.  And in that speech of our Savior, relating it as the terrible doom of reprobates at the last day,  Depart from me, I know you not--I never knew you . So then this foreknowledge is none other than that eternal love of God, or decree of election, by which some are appointed unto life, and being foreknown or elected to that end, they are predestinated to the way to it.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstb

Here is a sharp rebuke to such as are 'glittering dross' Christians, who only make a show of godliness, like Michal, who put 'an image in the bed', and so deceived Saul's messengers ( I Sam. 19:16 ). These our Saviour calls 'whited sepulchres ( Matt 23:27 ) - their beauty is all paint! In ancient times a third part of the inhabitants of this island were called Picts, which signifies 'painted'. It is to be feared that they still retain their old name. How many are painted only with the vermilion of a profession, whose seeming lustre dazzles the eyes of beholders, but within there is nothing but putrefaction! Hypocrites are like the swan, which has white feathers, but a black skin; or like the lily, which has a fair colour, but a bad scent. 'Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead' ( Rev. 3:1 ). These the apostle Jude compares to 'clouds without water' ( Jude 12 ). They claim to be full of the Spirit, but they are empty clouds; th

Is your soul exercised? If your soul is exercised, you will find it is unto godliness; and you will see at times a beauty in godliness, compared to which everything else shrinks into nothing. For Christ is himself godliness, the Author and the Finisher; the head and object; the beginning, the middle, and end; and therefore to have godliness, is to have Christ. A few words more, and I conclude.  Godliness has the promise also of "the life that is to COME."  It supports in life and in death; and takes the soul into a happy and blessed eternity; and therefore has "the promise of the life that is to come." Grace will end in glory; faith in sight; hope in fruition. The soul taught of God will see Jesus as he is. Thus godliness has "the promise of the life which is to come," when eternal peace shall abound, tears be wiped from off all faces, and grace consummated in endless bliss!  Philpott

Holiness is an essential attribute of God; it is his nature and essence; it is himself; he is holiness itself; "he swears by himself, because he can swear by no greater"; and he will not swear by any less, and yet he swears by his holiness, (Heb. 6:13; Ps. 89:35; Amos 4:2, 6:8) which places put and compared together show that the holiness of God is himself; and it has been thought to be not so much a particular and distinct attribute of itself, as the lustre, glory, and harmony of all the rest; and is what is called "the beauty of the Lord", (Ps. 27:4) as it is the beauty of the good angels, and of regenerate men; and, indeed, what is wisdom or knowledge, without holiness, but craft and cunning? or what is power, without it, but tyranny, oppression, and cruelty? but God is "glorious in holiness", (Ex. 15:11) this dives a lustre to all his perfections, and is the glory of them; and therefore none of them are or can be exercised in a wrong manner, or to any

One of our most heinous and palpable sins is PRIDE. This is a sin which has too much sway in most  ministers , but which is more hateful and inexcusable in us than in other men. Yet is it so prevalent in some of us, that it fills our discourses, it chooses our company, it forms our countenances, it puts the accent and emphasis upon our words. It fills some men's minds with aspiring desires, and designs. It possesses them with envious and bitter thoughts against those who stand in their light, or who by any means eclipse their glory, or hinder the progress of their reputation. Oh what a constant companion, what a tyrannical commander, what a sly and subtle insinuating enemy, is this sin of pride! It goes with men to the draper, the mercer, the tailor: it chooses them their cloth, their trimming and their fashion. Fewer ministers would ruffle it out in the fashion in hair and habit, if it were not for the command of this tyrannous vice. I wish that this were all, or the worst. Bu

Of the Spirit.  The word calls men externally, and by that external calling prevails with many to an external reception and profession of religion; but if it is left alone it goes no further. It is indeed the means of sanctification and effectual calling, as John 17:17,  Sanctify them through your truth;  but it does this when the Spirit, who speaks in the word, works in the heart, and causes it to hear and obey. The heart or soul of a man is the chief and the first subject of this work, and it is but slight false work that doesn’t begin there; but the Spirit  here is rather to be taken for the Spirit of God--the efficient cause of this sanctification. And therefore our Savior in that place prays to the Father, that He would sanctify His own by that truth; and this He does by the concurrence of His Spirit with that word of truth--which is the life and vigor of it, and makes it prove  the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes . It is a fit means in itself, but it is a p

 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.  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 honour to himself by and by in the dismal surprise w

It is one of the hardest conflicts in the spiritual life , when God himself appears , as a party , contending with his own children ; when he seems to set himself against them ; when instead of raising them up with his consolations , he casts them down with his terrors. And this procedure is especially intricate , when it is met with , in the way of holy, humble , and diligent faith and obedience ; so that God seems to run against his own promises , and to pursue a controversy, when there is is no  particular allowed provocation to be the ground of it . Such was Job's situation . He could discover no particular reason for God's severity against him . Yet he found not only the  Divine hand externally lifted up ; but he felt the arrows of the Almighty so within him that the poison of them drank up his spirit . In such cases , there is need of a very resolute faith, such as Job expressed , when he said "Though he slay me yet will  I trust him."And this faith naturally v

"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

The sermon which the Lord Jesus preached on the Mount astonished those that heard it. Who would have thought that the persecuted could rejoice? Yet Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you." There are a great many different kinds of persecution; but only one of them is mentioned in this place. It is a kind that some might not think very difficult to bear—the persecution of the  tongue.  "Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." But those who have endured this kind of persecution, know that it is very painful to the natural feelings. Yet all who follow Jesus must suffer it; for "if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" (Matthew 10:25.) Slander is a part of the martyr's portion. No man was ever yet put to death  as  a  good  man. His enemies take away his good name before they venture to m

This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose"— "He stays (restrains) His rough wind in the day of the east wind." Isaiah 27:8 This is a sheltering verse to those who, in a figurative sense, are exposed to the swoop of the hot desert wind. Under one of God's own Palms we can sit and calmly meditate on the blessed promise, here given under expressive imagery, that  He will never allow our trials or His discipline to go too far! "Man is born to trouble." Sorrow is the common heritage of a suffering world. And not only are the "rough wind" and the "east wind" ever and anon racing by, but He does not conceal that it is  He  who sends them. It is specially spoken of and designated here as  "His  rough wind." In the blighting of Jonah's gourd, we are told  "The Lord  prepared a vehement east wind:" and in the bold and sublime language of the Psalmist, He is similarly represented

IT is no small attainment to arrive at the full belief of the heart in the truth of the Divine record. I speak not now of the historical credence which an enlightened judgment may yield—I speak of a higher faith than this. Nor do I confine myself to that entire assent of the mind, and trembling belief of the heart, upon the grounds of which the soul may have ventured an humble reliance upon Christ, although this is no small attainment; but I allude to that firm, unmoved, and immoveable belief of the truth, which is often an after-work—a work of time and of deep experience, before the heart becomes thoroughly schooled in it. Let me not be supposed to undervalue the smallest degree of faith. To believe that God's word is true, and on the strength of that belief to be willing to renounce all other dependence, and to rest simply and implicitly upon its revealed plan of salvation, is a blessed attainment—an attainment only to be realized by the power of the Holy Spirit; but, to know it

The same doctrine on this subject is taught in other words when regeneration is declared to be a new birth. At birth the child enters upon a new state of existence. Birth is not its own act. It is born. It comes from a state of darkness, in which the objects adapted to its nature cannot act on it or awaken its activities. As soon as it comes into the world all its faculties are awakened; it sees, feels, and hears, and gradually unfolds all its faculties as a rational and moral, as well as physical being. The Scriptures teach that it is thus in regeneration. The soul enters upon a new state. It is introduced into a new world. A whole class of objects before unknown or unappreciated are revealed to it, and exercise upon it their appropriate influence. The "things of the Spirit" become the chief objects of desire and pursuit, and all the energies of the new-born soul are directed towards the spiritual, as distinguished from the seen and temporal. This representation is in acco

While denying that regeneration is a change either in the essence or acts of the soul, evangelical Christians declare it to be, in the language of Scripture, "a quickening," a  zwopoiei/n , a communication of a new principle of life. It is hard, perhaps impossible, to define what life is. Yet every man is familiar with its manifestations. He sees and knows the difference between death and life, between a dead and living plant or animal. And, therefore, when the Bible tells us that in regeneration God imparts a new form of life to the soul, the language is as intelligible as human language can be in relation to such a subject. We know that when a man is dead as to the body he neither sees, feels, nor acts. The objects adapted to impress the senses of the living make no impression upon him. They awaken no corresponding feeling, and they call forth no activity. The dead are insensible and powerless. When the Scriptures declare that men are spiritually dead they do not deny to