A Goodly Heritage

  Robert Murray M'Cheyne "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9). THERE ARE TWO WAYS in which men are called to believe the gospel. There is an outward and an inward calling, an earthly and a heavenly calling. All believers are "partakers of the heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1). The outward call comes to all who hear the gospel sound: "Many are called, but few chosen." Every time the church bell rings it is a call. It says, "Come away sinner, thy sabbaths are numbered. Eternity is at hand. God's people are hastening to the house of God, God's stewards are dealing out the bread of life. Sinner do not stay behind; Jesus is ringing for thee, inviting thee, wooing thee. If thou wouldst but listen, it would sound as joyfully as a marriage bell." Ah! there are multitudes in Scotlan

 Repent.] This is the main purport and end of God's messages to man in all times, by all whom he hath sent, (as has been already said,) prophets, apostles, Jesus Christ and his forerunner; and still, all His ministers under the gospel, have no other in effect to say, than to call men to repentance, to bring them home to God. Man is naturally turned away from God, and is still further running away and hastening to the pit; and God is calling after him, Do not destroy yourselves, I will receive and pardon you; Oh! return, why will ye die? And yet, men will not hearken, but run to their ruin. This word is daily preached; and yet, who almost is persuaded so much as to stop his course a little and consider what is propounded to him, much less to break off his course and return? Oh, the bountifulness and graciousness of God, who thus entreats, and still entreats base worms, whom He might tread on and crush in a moment! Oh, the wretchedness and madness of man who refuses, and still refuse

 Ver. 11. Fell down and worshipped him.] When a soul is busy asking after Jesus Christ, if it be inquired what would you do with him, Why this is my purpose, will it say, I would worship him. I would not only be saved by him, but I would fall down and adore him, and acknowledge him my king; and if I had any thing better than another, I would otter it him. But what hast thou? Hast thou rich presents for him? Alas! no. These are called wise men, and were, it seems, rich; had rich gifts. I am a foolish and a poor creature, and I have nothing to offer.—Nothing. Hast thou a heart? Yes: a heart I have; but, alas! there can be nothing more unfit for him, and unworthy of him: it is dark, and foul, and hard, all disorder and filthiness. Yet, wilt thou give it him as it is, and be willing that he use and dispose of it as it pleases him? Oh, that he would accept of it, that he would take it upon any terms! Here it is: if it would fly out from this offer, I would he would lay hold of it. Oh! that

It keeps the conscience tender, and the mind spiritual, and is the enemy of arrogance and pride. Hence the apostle joins these two together: Be not high-minded, but fear ( Romans 11:20 ). If we fear the Lord, we shall dread all formality and hypocrisy, and shall serve Him in sincerity and truth ( Joshua 24:14 ). It will also inspire us with courage and fortitude, and enable us to say as Nehemiah did in the face of the greatest danger, Should such a man as I flee? All lesser fears are swallowed up of this great fear, the fear of God. A heart fully impressed with it can neither sink into stupidity, or indulge in any unbecoming levity; will neither be too much elated with prosperity, or depressed by adversity. The fear of the Lord will also guard us against evil compliances, and criminal indulgences. It stands as a sentinel over the soul, warns it of approaching dangers, and suppresses the first risings of corruption, before they break forth into actual sins. I will do you no hurt, says J

W. Page-Roberts, B. A. I.  A chief part of the work of the pulpit is THE PLAIN AND FERVENT TEACHING OF DAILY LIFE MORALITY. There is no Gospel without morality, and the morality of Christ,  i.e. , a morality whose inspiration is the Spirit of Christ, is a very large part of the Gospel indeed. What of our Lord's own teachings? Are they chiefly moral teachings or theological? It is needless to answer the question. What do we mean when we talk of being saved from sin? Just what the words say, — that sin shall be taken away; that is, that men shall obey God's law instead of the devil's; that is, that they shall live pure, virtuous, and moral lives. II.  And do not MORALS OCCUPY A VERY FOREMOST PLACE IN THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. What is it makes the world often so miserable? It is sin, that is, immorality; and if we can do away with the sin and immorality, and bring in virtue and morality, then we shall do much to diminish the miseries of our fellow men. And if it is important tha

  There is scarcely a more striking evidence to be found of the corrupt and perverted state of the human heart than that which is furnished in the views which commonly prevail of the distinctive features of the Christian religion. The pageantry and pomp of a false religion it will admire and approbate; but the spirit of the true it has ever contemned and repelled as a spirit of weakness, fanaticism, or bigotry. The spirit which it so characterises and so contemns is what God in our text styles "a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty" to His people. The crown and the diadem are, in the eyes of the world, objects of great beauty and value. They are usually set with diamonds, and with the most brilliant and costly gems, and are worn not only as ornaments, but as the insignia of royal authority and power, Hence they are properly employed as emblems to represent that which God regards as the most precious and beauteous ornament of His people. He says He will be to them for a crow

  This is historically true and verifiable. In science we have a process called verification. A law of nature, however strong the induction by which it is supported may seem to be, is not regarded as scientifically or perfectly established till it is brought to the test of verification — that is, until men by experiment or new experience have put it to the trial, and found that their induction holds the field. And so in a sense we may say it has been with Jesus Christ. This stone has been tested by time, and we have now centuries of verification to fall back upon. In many ways, in nearly all possible ways, this stone has been tested, and it has come victoriously out of them all. It has been tried by the upheavals of society in times of the greatest social and political convulsion. It has been tried by the fires of persecution; for often have the rage and enmity of man done their worst against it. It has been tried by error and corruption — by the faithlessness of the builders themselve

  "There never was such affliction as mine," said a poor sufferer, restlessly tossing on a sick bed, in a city hospital. "I don't think there ever was such a racking pain." "Once," was faintly uttered from the next bed. The first speaker paused for a moment, and then began, in a still more impatient tone: "Nobody knows what I pass through; nobody ever suffered more pain." "One," was again whispered from the adjoining bed. "I take it you mean yourself, poor soul! but — Oh! not myself — not myself," exclaimed the other, her pale face flushing as if some wrong had been offered, not to herself but to another. There was a short pause, and then the sweet, gentle voice uttered the sacred words, "When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smot

  a glorious view does the death of Christians give us of the work of our Lord JESUS Christ , as the great peace-maker with God through the blood of his cross; as the destroyer of death; the Prince of life; the restorer of immortality; the compassionate High Priest of his people; their companion and helper in the mortal conflict; and their conductor to celestial glory! There it is—his mediatorial office; his redeeming work; his soul-saving power; his abounding mercy; not in a sermon, not in a book, no, not even in a verse or page of the New Testament—but in the glorious  result  and reality, embodied in that dying saint, set forth in that dissolving yet imperishable believer. Hear the comfortable words that fall from the lips of the departing Christian, as his voice, almost lost in death, still praises God, and sends forth expressions which seem more like the first sounds of the cherubim's song than the last words of mortal man. See the peace which spreads over the countenance, and

  " Thou art my God, who hast invited me to sacred intercourse with Thee: who hast inclined me to surrender myself and all my concerns into Thy hands, and to choose Thee for my God. Thou art my Father, who hast nourished and brought me up among Thy children. Thou art my Friend, who hast loaded me with a rich profusion of favours. Thou art the Portion that I have chosen, in the possession of which I shall enjoy the most permanent felicity. Thou art my God, and therefore my happiness shall be complete. I humbly claim from Thy all-sufficiency the supply of all my wants; from Thy wisdom, direction and conduct; from Thy power, assistance and protection; from Thy love, refreshment and consolation; from Thy mercy, forgiveness and blessing; from Thy faithfulness, stability and support; and from Thy patience, forbearance and long suffering. I cheerfully resign myself and all my interests to Thy direction and disposal; and, with dutiful affection, I consecrate all my powers and faculties to

  J. White Niblock, D. D. I.  WHAT IS MEANT BY BLOWING THE GOSPEL TRUMPET? Trumpets were and are used in martial music, and in festive song. Commissioned by the Lord, and in dependence on God the Spirit, the ministers of Jesus Christ come forth before their people, to offer them, in God's name, and on His own terms, pardon and peace, life and salvation, through Christ; or, if they reject these, to denounce to them, in His name, the sentence of death and destruction. This is "blowing the trumpet." Not content with this, ministers solemnly warn the self-righteous and the unrighteous, the professor and the hypocrite, and those who are "at ease in Zion," of their approaching danger. This is "sounding an alarm." But what reception have you given to this Gospel? II.  TO WHOM, AND WHERE, IS THIS TRUMPET COMMANDED TO BE BLOWN, AND THIS ALARM TO BE SOUNDED? Had he been sent to Nineveh, or to the profane part of his own people, we should not feel surprised, but

 Christ is the sun and centre of all divine and revealed truths: we can preach nothing else as the object of our faith, which doth not some way or other either meet in Christ, or refer to Christ. Only Christ is the whole of man’s happiness; the sun to enlighten him, the physician to heal him, the wall of fire to defend him, the friend to comfort him, the pearl to enrich him, the ark to support him, the rock to sustain him under the heaviest pressures; As an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of waters in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Only Christ is that ladder between earth and heaven, the Mediator betwixt God and man; a mystery which the angels of heaven desire to pry into. Here is a blessed subject indeed: who would not be glad to be acquainted with it? This is life eternal, to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. Come then! let us look on this Sun of righteousness; we cannot receive harm, but good, by such

 Faith  according to God's own appointment,  is the preliminary step of our being received into His favour. It is the constituted deed of entitlement. 2.  Faith alone can secure us victory over our spiritual enemies. Here, again, the value of faith depends on its being on God's will and promise linked in connection with spiritual conquest. Our foes, Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh, are all mightier than our wills. But God has said this is the victory that overcometh them all, even our faith. Nothing else has such a promise. 3.  Faith alone can impart peace to the soul. Such is its nature. For it is in fact just the belief that God is reconciled, attached to us, our Friend, our Father, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we be persuaded of this we cannot love Him. 4.  Lastly, faith alone can make us holy. If we believe Christ died for our sins, we shall feel the constraining influence of a motive that more than any other will excite us to obey the Divin

  John Owen, D. D. I.  IT IS A SIGNAL PRIVILEGE TO HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED UNTO US; TO BE EVANGELISED. — As such it is here proposed by the apostle; and it is made a foundation of inferring a necessity of all sorts of duties. This the prophet emphatically expresseth ( Isaiah 9:1, 2 ). II.  Barely to be evangelised, to have the gospel preached unto any, IS A PRIVILEGE OF A DUBIOUS ISSUE AND EVENT. All privileges depend as to their advantage on the use of them. If herein we fail, that which should have been for our good will be our snare. III.  THE GOSPEL IS NO NEW DOCTRINE, NO NEW LAW. It was preached unto the people of old. In the preaching of the gospel by the Lord Jesus Himself and His apostles, it was new in respect of the manner of its administration, with sundry circumstances of light, evidence, and power, wherewith it is accompanied. So it is in all ages in respect of any fresh discovery of truth from the word. formally bidden or eclipsed. But as to the substance of it, the gosp

 Never did a man see Jesus Christ by the eye of faith, but he is, by that sight of him, persuaded that there is none to be compared with him. No man is converted, and made a believer, but by a revelation of Jesus Christ. A man may be awakened with a view of God's glory; he may be alarmed by a sight of sin and hell; and may be roused out of his sleep of security, by the thunders of Sinai: but he is never converted, and made a Christian, but by a revelation of Jesus Christ, as glorious in his robes of salvation. Whence then is it that all believers on him do not own his manifesting himself to them, and their seeing of him? It is in part from the weakness of their sight, the greatness of the glory of him they see, and their strong desire to see him better. But for such as have spent their days about the throne of grace, and yet never saw Jesus Christ, and the glory of God in his face as a Saviour, so as to disgrace all things in comparison with him, so as to raise desires after more o

 Is there not a great decay amongst professors in real practical godliness? Are we like the old Protestants, or the old Puritans I I answer, That the decay and degeneracy is great, and heavily to be bewailed. But what is the cause? and what will be its cure ?, Is it because the doctrine of morality, and virtue, and good works, is not enough preached i This cannot be: for there hath been for many years a public ministry in the nation, that make these their constant themes. Yet the land is become as Sodom for all lewdness; and the tree of profaneness is so grown, that the sword of the magistrate hath not yet been able to lop off any of its branches. Is it because men have too much faith in Christ? or too little? or none at all? Would not faith in Christ increase holiness? did it not always so? and will it not still do it? Was not the holiness of the first Protestants eminent and shining? and yet they generally put assurance in the definition of their faith. We cannot say, that gospel-hol

Bp. Temple. The witnesses that God has set before the eyes of men are twofold, the witness of greatness and the witness of goodness, the witness of the hero and the witness of the saint. To name these two together is at once to put the one far above the other. Without any argument we feel at once that the hero and the saint belong to different spheres, the hero to nature, the saint to religion; the hero to the earth, the saint to heaven. if we examine what sort of a man we call great, we shall always find that it is one who leads his fellow-men. We do not call a man great simply for cleverness, nor for worldly success, the fruit of cleverness. Nor, again, do we call a man great for exceeding goodness, if he have nothing in him which makes that goodness a guide, and not merely a reverenced wonder to his fellows. A great man is he who stands out from others, not for some accidental difference, but for something which makes others follow his lead, acknowledge his power, accept his teachin

What does this unleavened bread mean? Two things, I think. 1. First, Christ; for He is the believer's food. The unleavened bread sets forth Christ in one aspect, as much as the lamb sets Him forth in another. In the Israelite feeding upon unleavened bread, we have presented to us the believer drawing his strength from Jesus, the spotless and Holy One — the unleavened bread. "I am the bread of life." 2. But there is another meaning of the unleavened bread, and that is holiness, uprightness, singleness of eye. Just as the bread was not the main staple of the Passover feast, but the lamb, so holiness is the accompaniment rather than the principal portion of the Christian feast. In the case of every believer the unleavened bread must accompany feeding upon Christ as the lamb. God has joined these two things together, let us not put them asunder. If we are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, let us live upon the unleavened bread; let us show forth the sincerity and truth whic

I. . The records of the Jewish nation, which have come down to us, abundantly prove this truth. 1. These words were especially spoken to the Church of old time. We must gather therefore great instruction herefrom, in respect to the community of God's people in all after time, and perhaps in our own days especially. 2. What is true in respect of the Church, considered as a community, is equally true in respect of all its members, if we consider them in their individual character. God teaches them separately, as He teaches the Church collectively, that upon Him they are to depend, and not upon human help. And in order that they may learn the lesson the more certainly, and that it may stay with them the more abidingly, God oftentimes brings them down into circumstances where human assistance can render them no avail. II. THE NATURE AND THE PROFIT OF PATIENT WAITING. In this way it is that God gives the instruction which the hearts of His people want. He suffers them oftentimes to