A Goodly Heritage

I N  the Scriptures a special operation of the Spirit is mentioned, by which he aids his people in the exercise of  prayer ;   and it is spoken of as one that is common to all believers, and permanent through all ages of the Church. This cheering truth is implied in God’s promise of old, ‘I will pour upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,  the Spirit of grace and of supplications ;’   and it is implied also in the declared duty of all believers, which is described in the apostle’s exhortation, ‘Praying always with all prayer and supplication in  the Spirit. ’   But the most emphatic testimony on the subject is contained in the words of the apostle (Rom. viii. 26), ‘Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.’ That the Spirit of God does in some way ‘make intercession for the saints,’ is abundantly evident from t

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand upon the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, &c.—ISAIAH 11:6–9. I HAVE formerly, in divers sermons upon this scripture,* declared that it, by way of prophecy, foretelleth what shall be the fruits of Christ’s kingdom under the gospel, shewing that miraculous change Christ should make upon men, shadowed out in this scripture under the similitude of beasts, as lions, wolves, bears, leopards, &c. The sum whereof is, that God will take from us that fierceness, malignity, and bitterness of nature in us, and bring us, in place thereof, to a loving, swe

"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:9 What a blessed, what a glorious end is this; what a prize to win, what a victory to gain, what a crowning consummation of all that faith has believed, hope expected or love embraced! Whatever doubts and fears may have harassed the mind, whatever sore temptations may have distressed the soul, whatever deep afflictions, painful trials, heavy guilt, and hard bondage may have sunk it low, so low sometimes, as if it never would get over them or rise out of them, still that faith, which is God's gift and work, lives through all, and there is a blessed end in store for it--the salvation of the soul. And O, what does this not comprehend and imply? Think of what salvation is from; think of what salvation is unto. Neither the one nor the other can be fully known on this side of eternity. You may have had some glimpses of hell, you may have had some glimpses of heaven; some taste of the wrath to c

Mr. Read, missionary in South Africa, related, when in England, the following fact. It is the practice of some of the  Christian Hottentots , at some of the stations, in order to enjoy the privilege of secret prayer, with greater privacy and freedom than they could do in their own confined and incommodious dwellings, to retire among the trees and bushes, in the vicinity of their village; and that they may carry on their devotions without being intruded on by others, and also derive all that tranquilizing influence which would be produced by a spot, with which no other occupations, thoughts, and feelings are associated, than such as are holy, each individual selects for his own use a particular bush, behind which, and concealed by it, he may commune with his heavenly Father in secret, as Nathaniel did under his fig tree. By the rest, this bush is considered as an oratory sacred to the brother or sister by whom it had been appropriated; and which, therefore, is never to be violated b

One plague of our age is this widespread dislike to distinct biblical doctrine. In the place of it, the idol of the day is a kind of jellyfish Christianity – a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or sinew, without any distinct teaching about the atonement or the work of the Spirit, or justification, or the way of peace with God – a vague, foggy, misty Christianity, of which the only watchwords seem to be, “You must be liberal and kind. You must condemn no man’s doctrinal views. You must consider everybody is right and nobody is wrong.” And this creedless kind of religion, we are told, is to give us peace of conscience! And not to be satisfied with it in a sorrowful, dying world, is a proof that you are very narrow-minded! Satisfied, indeed! Such a religion might possibly do for unfallen angels! But to tell sinful, dying men and women, with the blood of our father Adam in our veins, to be satisfied with it, is an insult to common sense and a mockery of our distress. We need someth

All the affections of the soul have their opposites—as love and hatred; joy and grief; hope and fear. These, though seemingly antagonistic, can be shown to work harmoniously, and sometimes, as in the case before us, to accomplish the same object. There are many passages, as this treatise proves, in which the believer is called upon to hope, to hope perfectly, to have the full assurance of hope—and yet as many in which he is as earnestly called upon to fear. To say nothing of the texts of the Old Testament, which was a system of bondage and fear, there are many to the same effect in the New Testament, under which we have "not received the spirit of bondage again to fear—but the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind." "Work out your salvation," said the apostle, "with fear and trembling." "Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "Pass the time of your sojour

"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.' The three things in this passage which need our notice, are— (1) The vision. (2.) The apostle's alarm. (3.) The comfort administered by Christ. I. The VISION.   "And when