A Goodly Heritage

Genesis 3:15  — “And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman, and between thy Seed and her Seed, it shall bruise thy Head, and thou shalt bruise his Heel.” On reading to you these words, I may address you in the language of the holy angels to the shepherds, that were watching their flocks by night: “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.” For this is the first promise that was made of a Savior to the apostate race of Adam. We generally look for Christ only in the New Testament; but Christianity, in one sense, is very near as old as the creation. It is wonderful to observe how gradually God revealed his Son to mankind. He began with the promise in the text, and this the elect lived upon, till the time of Abraham. To him, God made further discoveries of his eternal council concerning man's redemption. Afterwards, at sundry times, and in divers manners, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, till at length the Lord Jesus himself was manifested in flesh, and came

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." 2 Cor 13:14  Here, my soul, set up your pillar. Baptised as you has been into the joint name, love, praise, and adoration, of the Holy Three in One; and blessed as you has been, and are, in their joint mercies, grace, and favour; here every day, and all the day, seek your portion and blessing, as the united source of all your salvation. End the year, and begin the year, under those precious tokens of God in Christ; and daily keep up a lively communion and friendship with each, as the blessed cause of all your happiness.  Jehovah, in his threefold character of person, is working to finish what he has begun: and it is, and should be your happiness to be forever viewing the testimonies of it, in the holy Scriptures of truth. God your Father has so loved the church in Jesus, as to give him to the church, and the church to him; and God the Son has so loved the church,

I ASK you a plain question at the beginning of a new year: Are you ready? It is a solemn thing to part company with the old year. It is a still more solemn thing to begin a new one. It is like entering a dark passage: we know not what we may meet before the end. All before us is uncertain: we know not what a day may bring forth, much less what may happen in a year. Reader, are you ready? Are you ready for sickness? You cannot expect to be always well. You have a body fearfully and wonderfully made: it is awful to think how many diseases may assail it. "Strange that a harp of thousand strings Should keep in tune so long!" Pain and weakness are a hard trial. They can bow down the strong man and make him like a child. They can weary the temper and exhaust the patience, and make men cry in the morning, "Would God it were evening," and in the evening, "Would God it were morning." All this may come to pass this very year. Your reason may be shattered,-your sens

How many of us are longing and praying that the New Year may be a new beginning? How many sad hearts will make a vow of renewed consecration to God and will pray for a new revelation of God as January arrives? In order to understand what such a recommitment really means, we need to take in the lesson which this new beginning in Abram's life teaches. Genesis 13:14 And the Lord said unto Abram When we give ourselves afresh to God, let it be our first thought to listen for him coming to us and telling us what he wants us to say and do. Have open ears for God's voice. Do not imagine that because you are separated to God you now know how to serve him. I am deeply persuaded that the chief reason for the failure and feebleness of so many Christians is that they so seldom keep their ears open, waiting for God's voice and teaching, for the guidance of his Holy Spirit. The very first effect of a true consecration to God ought to be the deep sense that now God himself alone may say w

 Consider the UNCERTAINTY of your time! You may die the next year, the next month, the next week, the next day, the next hour, or the next moment! I once knew a minister who, while he was making this same point was made a striking illustration of it and instantly dropped down dead in the pulpit! When you look forward through the year now begun, you see what may never be your own. No, you cannot call one day of it your own! Before that day comes, you may be done with time and have entered upon eternity! Men presume upon time, as if it was guaranteed upon them for so many years; and this is the delusion which ruins multitudes! How many are now in eternity, who begun the last year with as little expectation of death, and hopes of long life as you have at the beginning of the present year? And this may be your doom!

Luke 13:3, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." When we consider how heinous and aggravating our offenses are, in the sight of a just and holy God, that they bring down his wrath upon our heads, and occasion us to live under his indignation; how ought we thereby to be deterred from evil, or at least engaged to study to repent thereof, and not commit the same again; but man is so thoughtless of an eternal state, and has so little consideration of the welfare of his immortal soul, that he can sin without any thought that he must give an account of his actions at the day of judgment; or if he, at times, has any reflections on his behavior, they do not drive him to true repentance: he may, for a short time, refrain from falling into some gross sins which he had lately committed; but then, when the temptation comes again with power, he is carried away with the lust; and thus he goes on promising and resolving, and in breaking both his resolutions and his promises,