A Goodly Heritage

I will also praise Thee with the psaltery, even Thy truth, O my God: unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel . Psalm 71:22-24 The praises of a Hebrew saint W. Scott Page. Dr. Sanday has remarked that, "on the great world-stage different races have different functions," and that "for the Hebrew it was reserved beyond all other peoples to teach the world what it knew of religion." I.  THREE FEATURES OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER. 1.  Holiness. "O Thou Holy One of Israel." The root idea is separation. The Most High forbids the people to follow certain practices then in vogue among the surrounding heathen, and the reason given is because He is holy, and they, His people, are to be like Him ( Leviticus 19:2 ). In every case where such prohibitions occur, we find that the practices condemned are morally alike, that they are mischievous and vile; and therefore by such teaching the Hebrew rose to the conception of a God altogether dif

We hold it as altogether one of the most forcible sayings of Holy Writ, that "the poor shall never cease out of the land." The words may be regarded in the nature of a prophecy; and we think their fulfilment has been every way most surprising. But our great business lies with the fact that poverty is the appointment of God. "The rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all." When we have fastened on the truth that God troth appointed poverty, we must set ourselves to show that God hath not overlooked the poor. The Gospel of Christ makes no distinction, whether preached in a palace or in a cottage — whether it addresses itself to ignorant men or to learned men. There is no variation in the message: it speaks to all as being born in sin and shapen in iniquity; and announces to all the same free and glorious tidings — namely, that "God hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." But

We read much in Scripture about the holy angels, how high and glorious their condition is. And we are told often how these holy angels do their work that we may learn how we should do ours. All God's works teach some lesson concerning Him, and His greatest works are especially rich therein. But in the lives of men we do not always see lessons and examples of what we ought to do and be. Oftener far do we see what we ought not to do and be. Therefore ought we to be glad and to prize it highly and thankfully, when God sets before us the examples of holy beings, such as the angels, who do so unchangeably His will. Now, the angels do what they do, not blindly and helplessly as the earth rolls round and bears her fruits, but knowingly and willingly. In this they are like to mankind. But see how the angels serve God. Take the story of Hagar: what an example for all servants of God in the conduct of the angel told of there — calling back those who have strayed from the path of duty, and h

by Archibald Alexander Heaven is a  reality , not seen by eyes of flesh, but made known by revelation, and received by faith. Heaven is a  rest  from toil, trouble, temptation, and sin. Such a rest is very desirable, if it were only a sweet sleep; but heaven is more. It is a state of delightful  activity . Every faculty and every affection will find appropriate exercise; and probably latent powers, not needed here, will there be waked into activity—powers suited to the new condition in which the soul exists. Heaven is full of  light ; all darkness and doubt are absent. Knowledge will there be clear, and will possess a transforming efficacy; still, knowledge in heaven will be progressive; the pleasure will partly consist in ever learning something unknown before. Heaven is a region of perfect  love ; all the heart and mind and strength will be exerted in love. And if the power of loving should, in the progress of the immortal soul, be increased a thousand-fold, all this incr

Genesis 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where  are  the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And they called unto Lot,.... With a loud voice, that he might hear, they being in the street, and he within doors; and perhaps there might be a court before his house, through which there was a passage up to it, as seems from  Genesis 19:6 , and said unto him, where are the men which came in to thee this night? for though they were angels, they appeared like men, and they seemed to be so to them who saw them go into Lot's house: bring them out unto us, that we may know them; not who they were, and from whence they came, and what their business was; nor did they pretend anything of this kind to hide and cover their design from Lot, but they were open and impudent, and declared their sin without shame and blushing, which is their character,  Isaiah 3:9 ; their meaning was, that they might commit that unnatural sin wit

If you had been in Sodom on that solemn, awful evening you would never have suspected it. There was nothing outwardly to show that terrible scenes were at hand, even at the door. No weird omens were observed that night; no strange sounds disturbed the superstitious. No fiery sword was seen hanging over the city, in token that the sword of the Almighty's wrath was at last unsheathed. No signs appeared in the sun as he sank peacefully to rest. The cattle came lowing home from the fields, and the sheep-dogs barked, and the voices of children at play were heard. And then darkness fell; and the chirping of a myriad insects rose on the stillness of the Eastern night; and the stars looked down upon the quiet scene; and the moon shone, for the last time, on the great doomed city. But within Lot's dwelling a solemn conference was being held, and Lot's heart was heavy and disturbed. Full of sadness was he for the heedless, unrepenting people; full of anxiety for those dear to him i

Intimacy with God is the very essence of religion, and the foundation of discipleship. It is in intercourse with Father, Son, and Spirit that the most real parts of our lives are lived; and all parts that are not lived in fellowship with Him, 'in whom we live, and move, and have our being,' are unreal, untrue, unsuccessful, and unsatisfying. The understanding of doctrine is one thing, and intimacy with God is another. They ought always to go together; but they are often seen asunder; and, when there is the former without the latter, there is a hard, proud, hollow religion. Get your teaching from God (Job 36:22; Jer 23:30); take your doctrine from His lips; learn truth upon your knees. Beware of opinions and speculations: they become idols, and nourish pride of intellect; they furnish no food to the soul; they make you sapless and heartless; they are like winter frostwork on your windowpane, shutting out the warm sun. Let God be your companion, your bosom-friend, your ins

"And I will also give him  the morning star ."— Revelation 2:18-29. He who speaks in Jesus Himself. He spoke to His Asian Churches once—He speaks to us now. He speaks directly—He speaks from heaven. 'I, Jesus, have sent;' and again, 'Behold, I come.' He is the speaker of these sure words of prophecy—'He who hat an ear, let him hear!' He speaks as a  promiser . It is to something future that He points the eye of His Churches—the things 'not seen,' the 'things hoped for,' in their sevenfold fullness and glory. His discourses on earth referred to these futurities in a very general way—and often not at all. The two great futurities of which He then spoke were, (1) the Holy Spirit, as the promise of the Father; and (2) His own return. Here His promises all pertain to the glory. He takes these things for granted, and proceeds to speak of others. He speaks a  giver . ' I  will give.' He has been a giver from the first. He was H

roverbs 8:4,5.  Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. These are the words of Christ. They are the words of Christ to men in general – “to the sons of man”. They are the words of Christ to all men – to every child of Adam, to hear and to be of an understanding heart. Now, we lay it down as part of divine truth, that all men are by nature dead in sin, and utterly impotent to spiritual good. And we lay it down as equally part of revealed truth, that Christ has a people, that He died for their redemption, and that their being brought out of their state of sin and misery, into a state of salvation, is the direct fruit of His suffering in their room and stead. If these things be so, if all men are dead in trespasses and sins, and yet all men are called – if Christ died for His people, to redeem them to God, and yet salvation is offered to all – it follows necessarily that an obligation

Him who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." —Revelation 2:1. The mention made of 'stars' and 'candlesticks' (or rather 'lamp stands') shows that it is night. It is the world's night; it is the Church's night. It is night all around. Day needs no lamps nor stars; night does both, for the outside earth and the inside chamber. Accordingly, both are provided, and shall continue burning, with more or less of brightness, until the day dawns, and the day star arises. The 'night' was far spent in the apostle's days; but it was not over, nor is it over yet. Just before the Son of man was betrayed, it is written, 'It was night' (John 13:30)—as if, in every sense of the word, night was reigning then; so, before the Son of man shall come again, when Antichrist, the representative of him who is 'the ruler of the darkness of this world,' shall be at his height, there shall be night—deep, dark night—night for th

We come to the indwelling of the Spirit in primeval man, which may be called the deep ground-thought of all right anthropology, as appears from these words: “ The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ”   (Gen. ii. 7). When God breathed into man the breath of LIFE (or LIVES, for it is plural), we must understand life in the Holy Spirit as well as animal and intellectual life. Calvin, and the mass of commentators since his day, have interpreted the words of the physical life, as if they intimated nothing more than the animation of the clay figure. The Patristic writers, Athanasius, Basil, Ambrose, and Cyril, refer the words to the occasion when God communicated the Spirit, the breath of the Almighty, the giver of the HIGHER as well as of the lower form of life. If further proof of the correctness of this interpretation were necessary, it is furnished by the contrast of DEATH threatened in the penalty, which certainly cannot be

If we would investigate the very doctrine of Atonement which God's Word sets forth, — avoiding arbitrary and capricious speculations, and illegitimate and useless trains of thought, — it must be laid down at the outset, as a proposition of transcendent importance, — That the Doctrine of the Atonement ought to be discussed and defended as inside the Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace. I. It will not be denied nor doubted that the doctrine of the Covenant of Grace is a larger category than the doctrine of the Atonement. It is wider; comprehending the Atonement within its provisions; affording to it also both explanation and support. Now it surely is extremely injudicious and impolitic for defenders of the faith to discuss any scriptural doctrine, and particularly to profess to do so fully and exhaustively, outside of any greater category to which the doctrine properly and natively belongs. For by doing so they place it in a position of unnecessary danger, and assign to themsel