A Goodly Heritage

“We should get into the way of appearing lively in religion, more by being lively in the service of God and our generation than by the liveliness and forwardness of our tongues, and making a business of proclaiming on the house tops with our mouths the holy and eminent acts and exercises of our own hearts. Christians that are intimate friends would talk together of their experiences and comforts in a manner better becoming Christian humility and modesty, and more to each other's profit: their tongues not running before, but rather going behind their hands and feet, after the prudent example of the blessed apostle, 2 Cor. xii. 6. Many occasions of spiritual pride would thus be cut off, and so a great door shut against the devil. A great many of the main stumbling-blocks against experimental and powerful religion would be removed, and religion would be declared and manifested in such a way that, instead of hardening spectators, and exceedingly promoting infidelity and atheism, it wo

"And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Exodus 33:14. "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters." So speaks the Psalmist, in allusion to the church's passage through the Red Sea. In speaking so, he points out, not only the unsearchableness of God's procedure, but also the awful depth and greatness of those miseries, which give room for the display of God's redeeming love and power. As the whale cannot swim in a shallow, but wishes for open sea-room, so those, who see need of only a little trifling salvation, and a little trifling comfort, give no room for God to appear great, as the God of salvation. He will, therefore, if this blindness continues, appear great in their damnation and misery. The sorrows, and the comforts, of God's people are equally a mystery to the world. "The heart," says Solomon, "knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy."

"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 are struck down and astonished. Here is impenetrable darkness, arising from excessive glory in the very manner of God's existence. Confess thyself Atheist, thou, who rejectest mysteries in religion. Thy hell-born pride cannot pass over the very thr

I call on those who have, in some measure, believed the Trinity of Divine Persons, to consider, what majestic glory is in this name, I AM THAT I AM, when we remember that it belongs equally, in its full emphasis, to Three distinct persons. Low ideas of the Godhead itself, make the doctrine of the Trinity insipid and empty, to many who speculatively believe it. But, in proportion as our ideas of the Divine Essence are raised and expanded, so will our admiration and delight be increased, while we contemplate the Father, Son, and Spirit as each of them infinitely glorious in the possession of this wonderful abyss of perfection. Thus, the beams of divine glory come upon our minds with accumulated force; and all that is glorious and excellent in the Divine Essence, appears unspeakably more so, while we think that, as the inspired writer asserts, "There are Three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are One."

"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 are struck down and astonished. Here is impenetrable darkness, arising from excessive glory in the very manner of God's existence. Confess thyself Atheist, thou, who rejectest mysteries in religion. Thy hell-born pride cannot pass over the very thr

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me,  Fear not ; I am the first and the last; I am He who lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen—and have the keys of hell and of death." — Revelation 1:17, 18. The spirit of this book, as of all others written by God, is the 'testimony of Jesus.' It bears witness to him throughout—to His person, His work, His kingdom. Here are things both new and old concerning Him. He is the Revealer, and He is the revealed One; the Teacher and the lesson; the Sower and the seed. In the marvelous visions of this prophecy respecting Him and His kingdom, faith has much to rest on, and hope much to feed on. They are worthy of all study—and 'blessed is he who reads.'   "And when I SAW Him." That which John saw was real; so that of it he could say, 'That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you' (I John 1:1). He saw the Lord

A subject stands out on the face of this text which is one of the most solemn and heart searching in the Bible. That subject is  eternity. The subject is one of which the wisest man can only take in a little at a time. We have no eyes to see it fully, and no mind to grasp it; and yet we must not refuse to consider it. There is a depth of stars in the heavens above us, which the most powerful telescope cannot pierce; yet it is well worth it to look into them and learn something, even if we cannot learn everything. There are heights and depths about the subject of eternity which mortal man can never comprehend; but God has spoken of it, and we have no right to turn away from it completely. The subject is one, which we must never approach without the Bible in our hands. The moment we depart from "God's written Word," in considering eternity and the future state of man, we are then likely to fall into error. In examining points like these we must have nothing to do with

Speak for eternity. Above all things, cultivate your own spirit. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear and your heart full of God’s Spirit is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin. Remember that God, and not man, must have the glory. If the veil of the world’s machinery were lifted off, how much we would find is done in answer to the prayers of God’s children.—Robert Murray McCheyne

WHILE many private prayers, in the nature of things, must be short; while public prayers, as a rule, ought to be short and condensed; while there is ample room for and value put on ejaculatory prayer—yet in our private communions with God time is a feature essential to its value. Much time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. Prayer which is felt as a mighty force is the mediate or immediate product of much time spent with God. Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance. Jacob’s victory of faith could not have been gained without that all-night wrestling. God’s acquaintance is not made by pop calls. God does not bestow his gifts on the casual or hasty comers and goers. Much with God alone is the secret of knowing him and of influence with him. He yields to the persistency of a faith that know