A Goodly Heritage

Verse 4. Draw me, we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. B eing now more confirmed in her desire, from the reasons she hath laid down, she comes in the 4th verse more directly to propound and press her suit: for rationally insisting upon the grounds of grace, in pressing a petition, both sharpens desire, and strengthens the soul with more vigour and boldness, to pursue its desires by prayer. In the words we may consider, 1. The petition. 2. The motive made use of to press it. 3. The answer, or grant of what was sought. 4. The effects of the answer following on her part, suitable someway to her engagement. The petition is 'draw me,' a word used in the gospel, to set forth the efficacious work of the Spirit of God upon the heart, engaging the soul in a most sweet, powerful, and effectual way to Jesus Christ; 'None can come to me' (saith

The production of true faith is often spoken of in Scripture as amounting to the whole work of regeneration: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1Jo 5:1). And again, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Joh 1:12-13). Here, every one who really believes is said to be born of God; and as every true believer is a converted man, it follows that the production of saving faith is equivalent to the work of regeneration. But then it must be a real scriptural faith, such as is required in the Gospel: not the faith which the Apostle James declares to be dead, but that living faith that is described in Scripture as a well-grounded belief resting on the sure testimony of God. [It must be] a positive belief, not a mere negation or absence of disbelief, nor a doubtful and wavering opinion, but

"He shall swallow up death in victory." —Isa. 25:8. Victory is a cheering word! Joyous is the return to their own land of a band of warriors after a long and triumphant campaign. Inspiriting are the hosannas of welcome poured upon them by an applauding country; and sweeter still the music of home-voices. The memory of past toil and suffering is forgotten, or remembered only to enhance the gladness of reunion! What shall it be when the Christian, freed from the last conflict, enters the gates of the Heavenly City, the hosannas of angels and saints resounding through the streets of the new Jerusalem! Each toil-worn warrior bathing his wounds in the river of the water of life—death-divided friends gathered to welcome him to his everlasting home! Looking back from the heights of glory on earth's long battle-field; it is a gloomy and chequered retrospect of stern foes, stubborn temptations, mountains of difficulties that had to be climbed, valleys of humiliation that h

The difference betwixt the natural and spiritual knowledge of divine truth is not only real but great. It is as the difference betwixt darkness and light, or betwixt night and day. Every natural man, however educated, is ‘alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him.’ He may be more learned in the letter of the Scriptures, more thoroughly furnished with all literary erudition, more scientific in his dogmatic orthodoxy, more eloquent in illustration and argument, than many of those who are ‘taught of God;’ but ‘I say unto you, He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’ It is not a difference in  degree ,   but in kind. In that which is common to both, the natural man may have a higher degree of learning than the spiritual; but in that which is peculiar to such as are taught of God, there is no room for comparison; that kind of knowledge, although it, too, admits of degrees as it is possessed by the people of God, belongs to none else, to none

 I turn to the pages of unfulfilled prophecy. I find there a plain prediction that in the last days, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, there shall still be a Sabbath. "From one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord" (Isa. 66:23). The subject of this prophecy no doubt is deep. I do not pretend to say that I can fathom all its parts: but one thing is very certain to me -- and that is that in the glorious days to come on the earth there is to be a Sabbath, and a Sabbath not for the Jews only, but for "all flesh." And when I see this I am utterly unable to believe that God meant the Sabbath to cease between the first coming of Christ and the second. I believe He meant it to be an everlasting ordinance in His Church. I ask serious attention to these arguments from Scripture. To my own mind it appears very plain that wherever God has had a Church in Bible times, God has also had a Sabbath Day. My own firm conv

"It is good for me to draw near to God." Psalm 73:28. The more any object is to us a source of sweet delight and contemplation, the more strongly do we desire its presence, and the more restless are we in its absence. The friend we love we want constantly at our side; the spirit goes out in longings for communion with him; his presence sweetens, his absence embitters every other joy. Precisely true is this of God. He who knows God, who with faith's eye has discovered some of His glory, and, by the power of the Spirit, has felt something of His love, will not be at a loss to distinguish between God's sensible presence and absence in the soul. Some professing people walk so much without communion, without fellowship, without daily, filial, and close communion with God; they are so immersed in the cares, and so lost in the fogs and mists of the world; the fine edge of their spiritual affection is so blunted, and their love so frozen by contact with worldly influences

Now, there are nine easy ways to heaven, (as men think,) all which lead to hell. The common broad way, wherein a whole parish may all go abreadth in it; tell these people they shall be damned, their answer is, Then woe to many more besides me. The way of civil education, whereby many wild natures are by little and little tamed, and like wolves are chained up easily ‘while they are young. Balaam’s way of good wishes, whereby many people will [[60]] confess their ignorance, forgetfulness. and that they can not make such shows as others do, but they thank God their hearts are as good, and God for his part accepts (say they) the will for the deed. And, “My son, give me thy heart;” the heart is all in all, and so long they hope to do well enough. Poor deluded creatures thus think to break through armies of sins, devils, temptations, and to break open the very gates of heaven with a few good wishes; they think to come to their journey’s end without legs, because their hear

I. There is the strait gate of humiliation.  God saveth none but first he humbleth them. Now, it is hard to pass through the gates and flames of hell; for a heart as stiff as a stake to bow; as hard as a stone to bleed for the least prick; not to mourn for one sin, but all sins; and not for a fit, but all a man’s lifetime. O, it is hard for a man to suffer himself to be loaden with sin, and pressed to death for sin, so as never to love sin more, but to spit in the face of that which he once loved as dearly as his life. It is easy to drop a tear or two, and be sermon sick; but to have a heart rent for sin and from sin, this is true humiliation; and this is hard. 2. The strait gate of faith . (Eph. i. 19.) It is an easy matter to presume, but hard to believe in Christ. It is easy for a man that was never humbled to believe and say, It is but believing; but it is a hard matter for a man humbled, when he sees all his sins in order before him, the devil and conscience roaring upon him,

Conversion properly consists in a sinner being brought actually, intelligently, and cordially to close and comply with God’s revealed will on the subject of his salvation. Some conviction of sin being wrought in the conscience and some knowledge of God’s truth imparted to the understanding, the sinner is, at the time of his conversion, brought to the point: he comes to a final decision, a decision which implies at once a firm assent of the understanding in an act of faith and a full consent of the will in an act of deliberate choice.  He surrenders himself to the power of God’s truth.  He submits to God’s revealed will in the matter of his salvation. Convinced that he is a great sinner and that Christ is a great Saviour, a Saviour appointed by God Himself, qualified alike by the dignity of His divine nature, the tenderness of His human sympathies, and the efficacy of His meritorious work to save unto the very uttermost all that come unto God by Him, a Saviour exhibited…to every sin

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are revealed as concurring together in the whole purpose and plan of man's redemption; but as sustaining, each of them, a distinct office, and undertaking a different part of the work, in carrying that purpose and plan into effect. Their common purpose of saving sinners, and their harmonious co–operation in its accomplishment, might be inferred from the unity of the divine nature, which necessarily implies unity in the counsels of the divine will; but the personal distinctions of the Godhead could never have been so clearly revealed in any other way than by the distinct offices and operations, which are ascribed to them in connection with the work of salvation. It is to mark at once their harmony of purpose, and also their several agencies, in this work, that every believer is required to be baptized,-not simply into the name of God,-but 'into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19);' and that

When I respond to God's call , the call is God's and the response is mine ;and yet the response is God's too; for not only does He call me in His grace , but also by His grace brings the response to birth within my soul. The Holy Spirit is the real author and originator , not only of His address to me , but of my address to Him . For is He not the sole author of all good?   As the hymn says :-And every virtue we possess,                               And every victory won ,                                And every thought of holiness                                  Are His alone.

The Holy Spirit assists us in prayer, by working in us such  dispositions and desires  as make us to seek for those supplies of grace which we need, with earnest, importunate, and persevering supplication: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Naturally we nave no such disposition or desire. The carnal mind, which is enmity against God, is naturally averse from those spiritual blessings of which it stands in need. True, it is desirous of exemption from pain and punishment and danger; but whatever is spiritual is obnoxious to its taste, insomuch that, were an unrenewed mind supposed (if we may suppose a case which is never realised in actual experience) to be sensible, on the one hand, of its sin and misery and danger, and enabled to perceive, on the other, the number and variety of the blessings which have been purchased and offered by Christ; it wou

The Holy Spirit, besides disclosing to us our wants, our weaknesses, and our sins, makes known  the rich provision of all needful grace  which is treasured up in Christ; and this is as useful for our direction and encouragement as the discovery of our necessities is for awakening our desires, since it is, in a great measure, owing to our ignorance or unbelief in regard to the rich provision of the Gospel, that we “know not what we should pray for as we ought.” The Holy Spirit makes known to the believer, in all their fulness and variety, the inestimable blessings of redemption; for “he takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us;” and he is sent that we may “know the things which are freely given to us of God.” A clear discovery of the rich and glorious privileges which Christ has purchased for his people, is at once a means of direction and a source of encouragement in prayer: when they are placed before us in all their variety and extent, we feel how much we need them,