A Goodly Heritage

My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity — Malachi 2:5-6. The state of the Jewish priesthood, at the time this prophet wrote, was profligate in the extreme. As men, they were ungodly and licentious; as priests, they were unfaithful; and as teachers, they “kept not the law of truth,” but “departed out of the way.” Through them the office became a scandal and a byword. The sanctuary was defiled and the name of God blasphemed. Very fearful are the charges which the prophets were commanded to prefer against them, in the name of the Lord. From the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to the days of Malachi, they had been receiving warning and rebuke, threatening and chastisement; yet, at the end of these two centuries, they were found even worse than at the

In Our Dying Hour The day may come when after a long fight with disease, we shall feel that medicine can do no more, and that nothing remains but to die. Friends will be standing by, unable to help us. Hearing, eyesight, even the power of praying, will be fast failing us. The world and its shadows will be melting beneath our feet. Eternity, with its realities, will be looming large before our minds. What shall support us in that trying hour? What shall enable us to feel, “I fear no evil” ( Psalm 23:4 )? Nothing, nothing can do it but close communion with Christ. Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith—Christ putting His right arm under our heads—Christ felt to be sitting by our side—Christ can alone give us the complete victory in the last struggle. Let us cleave to Christ more closely, love Him more heartily, live to Him more thoroughly, copy Him more exactly, confess Him more boldly, follow Him more fully. Religion like this will always bring its own reward. Worldly people may

BEARING THE CROSS "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "And He bearing His cross."—John 19:17. When did Jesus bear the cross? Not that moment alone, surely, when the bitter tree was placed on His shoulders, on the way to Golgotha. Its vision may be said to have risen before Him in His infant dreams in Bethlehem's cradle; there, rather, its reality began; and He ceased not to carry it, until his work was finished, and the victory won! A  cloud  of old, hovered over the mercy seat in the tabernacle and temple. So it was with the Great Antitype—the living Mercy-seat—He had ever a cloud of woe hanging over Him. "He  carried  our sorrows." Reader! dwell much and often under the shadow of your Lord's cross, and it will lead you to think lightly of your own! If  He  gave utterance to not one murmuring word, can you complain? "If we were deeper students of His bitter anguish, we would think less of the ripplings of our

Whence came the tree from which the cross was made? What has become of the particles of which it was composed? What hands were employed in preparing this instrument of a cruel death? To such questions no answer can be given--and none is needed. The cross was a common mode of punishment among several nations, and among the Romans was reserved for the punishment of slaves and the vilest malefactors. It was never made use of by the Jews. If they had had the power of execution in their hands when Christ suffered, the punishment for the offence alleged against him would have been stoning. But by the ordering of divine Providence, our Lord was put to death in that way which was  accursed , according to the Jewish law; for it was written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." The death of Christ on the cross may well be reckoned mysterious, for it was  at the same time a  cursed  and a  blessed  death . Christ was "made a curse for us," that he might deliver us fro

Then said Jesus unto His disciples—If any will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matthew 16:24 Before developing the theme of this verse, let us comment on its terms. "If any": the duty enjoined is for  all  who would join Christ's followers and enlist under His banner. "If any will": the Greek is very emphatic, signifying not only the consent of the will—but full purpose of heart, a determined resolution. "Come after Me": as a servant subject to his Master, a scholar his Teacher, a soldier his Captain. "Deny": the Greek means "deny utterly." Deny himself—his sinful and corrupt nature. "And take up": not passively bear or endure—but voluntarily assume, actively adopt. "His cross": which is scorned by the world, hated by the flesh—but is the distinguishing mark of a real Christian. "And follow Me": live as Christ lived—to the glory of God.

You can judge of the moral character of any amusement BY ITS HEALTHFUL RESULT, OR BY ITS BALEFUL REACTION. In proportion as a ship is swift, it wants a strong helmsman; in proportion as a horse is gay, it wants a stout driver; and people of exuberant nature will do well to look at the reaction of all their amusements. If an amusement sends you home at night nervous, so that you cannot sleep, and you rise up in the morning, not because you are slept out, but because your duty drags you from your slumbers, you have been where you ought not to have been. If any amusement sends you home longing for a life of romance and thrilling adventure, love that takes poison and shoots itself, moonlight adventures and hairbreadth escapes, you may depend upon it that you are the sacrificed victim of unsanctified pleasure. Our recreations are intended to build us up; and if they pull us down as to our moral or as to our physical strength, you may come to the conclusion that they are in the class spoken

THE CHARACTER OF TRUE PENITENTS. "If they be ashamed of all that they have done." Every principle of corrupted nature lies in direct opposition to penitential shame. Ignorance, pride, deceit, hostility against God, and self-righteousness, combine their influence in hardening the heart against the humiliation of sincere repentance. 1.  The shame here spoken of is the effect of a mighty, Divine influence, which entirely changes the views and dispositions of the soul. 2.  The radical effect of God's renewing grace, in this respect, consists in an abiding, gracious disposition of the heart towards penitential exercises. It discovers itself in a peculiar anguish under that darkness and hardness, — a high esteem of repentance for its own intrinsic beauty, — an ingenuity, diligence, and earnestness, in laying open the conscience to Divine light, and in imploring those breathings of the Almighty Spirit, which are effectual to thaw and dissolve the frozen heart. 3.  This gr