A Goodly Heritage

  Their words fly up, their thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go." The inclination of the head, the sackcloth and the ashes, - these make not the fast in the eyes of Jehovah. "It is not a mournful expression, a solemn dress, or a thin table that God so much regards. It is the heart, and not the stomach, that he would have empty; and, therefore, if a man carries a luxurious soul in a pining body, or the aspiring mind of a Lucifer on the hanging head of a bulrush, he fasts only to upbraid his Maker, and to disgrace his religion, and to heighten his final reckoning, till he becomes ten times more the son of perdition than those who own their inward love of sin by the open undissembled enmities of a suitable behaviour. Let a man not count himself to have fasted to any purpose, if by it he has not got ground of his corruption, in some measure supplanted his sin, and estranged his affections from the beloved embraces of sinful objects" (South).

I.  GOD'S PEOPLE, HIS CHILDREN, ARE A REPROVING LIGHT. They are called out of darkness into marvellous light, that they might reflect the, light of Him who hath "called them out of darkness into His marvellous light." But, beloved, there is another quality in light, there are many others indeed, but this one especially here to be noted, which is, that there is a detective and a reproving quality in light. We know not the beauty of an object but as the light unfolds it; we know not its faultiness, we see not its defects, they are to us unknown without the light; but the light reveals them. The Lord's people are especially called to stand; not merely as a reflecting light, not merely as a diffusing light, but as a reproving light, reproving the "darkness " around them. Whatever there is in a believer peculiar to him as a believer, is a light that reproves the world. Is it the life that he has, the life of faith? It is a reproving light to the world. If we look

  Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; And being made perfect,.... In his obedience, through sufferings; having completed his obedience, gone through his sufferings, and finished his sacrifice, and being perfectly glorified in heaven: he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; the salvation Christ is the author of is "eternal"; it was resolved upon from eternity, and contrived in it; it was secured in the everlasting covenant, in which not only a Saviour was provided, but blessings both of grace and glory: and it is to eternity; and stands distinguished from a temporal salvation, and is opposed to eternal damnation; it is the salvation of the soul, which is immortal; and it takes in both grace and glory, which are of a durable nature; and the continuance of it is owing to the abiding and lasting virtue of Christ's person, blood, and righteousness: and Christ is the cause or a

 The scheme of salvation through the sufferings of Christ gives the most gracious, benevolent, and amiable display of the divine perfections. This is evident at first sight, from this consideration, that by this scheme sinners, such sinners as we, may be saved. Oh the joyful sound! Salvation for the lost! Pardon for the condemned! Sanctification for the unholy! Life for the dead! What can be more agreeable to us? Angels contemplate this plan with eternal pleasure, though they do not need nor receive such blessings from it; and how much more should we who are so nearly interested! Goodness, grace, and mercy, are always the favorite attributes to guilty creatures such as we are; and where do they shine so bright in heaven or earth, as in the cross of our dying Jesus? Samuel Davies

 In Christ, as MEDIATOR, are reconciled the most opposite and seemingly contradictory characters. Things may be truly and consistently predicated of him, which cannot agree to any other being besides himself. As God-man, divinity and humanity united in one person; the Ancient of Days—yet not but 1760 years old; the everlasting Father—and yet the virgin Son, the child of Mary; the King of kings, and the Lord of lords—and yet the Servant of servants. The highest dignity and glory—and the lowest condescension and humility, meet in him. Here is justice punishing every the least sin—and yet grace to pardon the very greatest of sinners! Here are infinite majesty—and the most transcendent meekness! Here are the deepest reverence toward God—and a full equality with him! Here are infinite worthiness of good—and the most perfect patience under the suffering of evil! Here are a submissive, obedient spirit—and supreme and universal dominion! Here are absolute sovereignty—and humble resignation. Je

  J. Stoughton, D. D. I.  THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD IS THE SAME AS CHRIST'S — one of moral contrast as to character, principle, motive, inward life, whether it be the Jewish world, or the Greek, or the Roman. And it is the same now. Conceive the character of Christ, and place by the side of it that of a thoroughly worldly man, you will have the most striking contrast. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." And marks there are, plain and palpable, between the Church and the world. There are two kinds of changes possible with respect to these. 1.  They may be shifted.(1) The Church may push them out so as to take in more and more of the world, bringing in more and more converted spirits.(2) The world may push it in upon the Church, making inroads upon it, persecuting it. Moral ravages, too, may be made, and those who have been in the Church may backslide, and the number of the faithful may be thus diminished. 2.  They may be obliterated —(

  THE GARDEN WELL KEPT. Solomon gives a picture of what your soul should be, and Isaiah of what it should not be. Everything had been done for the Beloved's vineyard, and in return He received only wild grapes ( Isaiah 5 .). But the garden in the Song was stocked with all rich and beautiful things. It gave pleasure to every sense: its fine forms and colours gladdened the eye, its ripe fruits gratified the palate, its exquisite perfumes gave delight, and its leaves yielded an additional joy by their agreeable shade. A holy soul is compared to such a garden. It is the most beautiful thing in the world, a paradise of heaven on earth. "How can my soul be a fruitful garden of God?" do you ask. The answer is, by good cultivation; and that is the work of God and man. For "we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry" ( 1 Corinthians 3:9 ) All your powers should be gladly devoted to this God-like work of keeping your own vineyard. I remember visiting i

  WHO THAT INDIVIDUAL IS THAT CAN CLAIM CHRIST AS HIS OR HER FRIEND. And here we observe, that no person in a state of nature can make this claim, since Christ is neither beloved by such, nor are they acquainted with that friendship which dwells in His breast towards all those whom He has redeemed with His most precious blood. And as they are unacquainted with His friendship, they cannot claim Him as their Friend. Neither is it the privilege of every one who is called by grace to claim Christ as his Friend. Although every regenerate person has faith, yet every regenerate person may not have the full assurance of faith. When faith does rise to this full assurance, the possessor thereof can say as Paul did, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." Such can say with holy Job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" not the Redeemer, but my Redeemer; "and that He shall stand, etc. Such can say as Thomas did, "My Lord and my God" Such can say as the Church does, &q

 Holiness and immaculate purity, that, being polluted by no sin, he might not have to offer sacrifice for himself, but for us only, (Hebrews 7:26–27). Under these conditions, it was not unjust for Christ to substitute himself in our room, while he is righteous and we unrighteous. By this act no injury is done to any one. Not to Christ, for he voluntarily took the punishment upon himself, and had the right to decide concerning his own life and death, and also power to raise himself from the dead. Not to God the judge, for he willed and commanded it; nor to his natural justice, for the Surety satisfied this by suffering the punishment which demanded it. Not to the empire of the universe, by depriving an innocent person of life, for Christ, freed from death, lives for evermore; or by the life of the surviving sinner injuring the kingdom of God, for he is converted and made holy by Christ. Not to the divine law, for its honour has been maintained by the perfect fulfilment of all its demand

 The person who makes the atonement is here to be considered. As sin is to be viewed in the three-fold light of debt, enmity, and crime; and God in the three-fold light of creditor, party offended, and judge; so Christ must put on a three-fold relation corresponding to all these. He must sustain the character of a Surety, for the payment of the debt. He must be a Mediator, a peace-maker, to take away the enmity of the parties and reconcile us to God. He must be a Priest and victim, to substitute himself in our room, and make atonement, by enduring the penal sanction of the law. Again, that such an atonement may be made, two things are requisite:—1. That the same nature which sins shall make restitution. 2. That the consideration given must possess infinite value, in order to the removal of the infinite demerit of sin. In Christ, two natures were necessary for the making of an atonement: a human nature, to suffer, and a divine nature, to give the requisite value to his sufferings. Franc

John 8 D. Thomas, D. D. I.  HE WAS DEVOUTLY STUDIOUS. It was from the solitudes of Olivet where He had spent the previous night that He goes into the Temple. To preach the gospel three things are essential, and these can come only by solitude. 1.  Self-formed conviction of gospel truth. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation; but how is it to be wielded — by Bible circulation, recitation of its contents, or repeating the comments of others? All these are useful, but conviction is indispensable. Heaven has so honoured our nature that the gospel, to win its victories, must pass as living beliefs through the soul of the teacher. The men who teach it without such convictions — conventional preachers — can never enrich the world. They are echoes of old voices, mere channels through which old dogmas flow. But he who speaks what he believes and because he believes, the doctrine comes from him instinct and warm with life. His individuality is impressed upon it. The world never had it in

  "PREACH THE GOSPEL." i. " Preach the Gospel ," that is to say Jesus Christ, in His Person, His Work, His Offices,  His Teaching, all applied to the souls and lives of men. Would you truly and permanently attract, with an attraction which God will bless? Let that be your first condition. I do not dilate upon it here, but with all the earnestness possible I lay it upon my younger Brother's heart as we pass on. Preach the Gospel, that is to say the Lord, in all He is for man as man is a sinner, a mortal, a mourner, a worker. Do not let Christ be one subject among others. As little can the sun be one among the planets. He is  the  Subject; all others get their reality and importance for us preachers by their relation to Him. In particular I venture to say, do not let occasional, temporal, local topics, even very important ones, dislodge Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ of the whole Bible, from His royal place in your preaching; and do not forget continually (though n

 The Scriptures give us an account of the divine conduct towards two sorts of rational creatures: angels and men. And from thence, we may also learn the wise variety of the divine dispensations towards them. A part of the angels were preserved in their primitive state of holiness; and a part of them were allowed to fall into sin. But the whole human race was permitted to fall—and not one of them continued in their original state of integrity. A part of the angels are happy for ever; and so is a number of mankind. But here lies the difference: the angels are continued in a state of happiness, from which they never fell; but the saved from among men are recovered from a state of sin and misery, into which they fell—to a state of happiness, which they had entirely lost. The angels are entitled to happiness upon the footing of a covenant of works—to which they have yielded perfect obedience; but men are saved entirely upon the plan of the covenant of grace—on account of the righteousness o

  Lamentations 5:19-22 . Thus at last our attention is turned from earth to heaven, from man to God. In this change of vision the mood which gave rise to the Lamentations disappears. Since earthly things lose their value in view of the treasures in heaven, the ruin of them also becomes of less account. For the moment the poet forgets himself and his surroundings in a rapt contemplation of God. This is the glory of adoration, the very highest form of prayer, that prayer in which a man comes nearest to the condition ascribed to angels and the spirits of the blessed who surround the throne and gaze on the eternal light. The continuance of the throne of God is the idea that now lays hold of the elegist as he turns his thoughts from the miserable scenes of the ruined city to the glory above. This is brought home to his consciousness by the fleeting nature of all things earthly. God only remains, eternal, unchangeable. His is the only throne that stands secure above every revolution. The unw

It cannot be said that our position as a nation is like that of Israel in those days when she was tottering to her fall. But the same, or very similar, evils to those which proved the ruin of Israel exist among us to a deplorable degree. Those who are familiar with the prophecy will know what I mean when I say that evil is with us at the moth stage, not yet at the lion stage (see chap. Hosea 5.). The moth stage is when evil keeps eating like a canker into the vitals of a people, but where there is nothing, or very little, to attract attention; no noise, nothing to alarm. But let the moth stage go on, let corruption increase among the people, and presently the roar of a lion will be heard; there will be tumult and commotion, there will be the outbreak of open rebellion against the powers that be, in heaven and on earth too. Hosea has it for his great object throughout to show the cause and the cure of all these evils. The cause is unfaithfulness to God, and the cure is returning to Him

  In accordance with unbroken tradition of the Church from the beginning, we interpret this as a spiritual epithalamium or nuptial-song, in honour of the wondrous espousals whereby Christ the Son of God takes into most real, intimate, blissful and everlasting union and fellowship with Himself the Church of ransomed, regenerate, believing souls. I.  THE BRIDEGROOM (vers. 1-9). 1.  In His present qualities.(1) Comeliness of countenance ( Song of Solomon 5:10-16 ).(2) Gracefulness of speech. He was, indeed, in highest sense, "master of sentences" — possessor of noble and powerful gift of eloquence, which He employed in commending the true, the holy, the blissful, impressing on their attention and reception what was for health and joy to them now and for ever. 2.  In His warlike preparations and achievements. Peace and goodwill, benign, never-ending fellowship for all who choose to be loyal subjects of the King of kings, and faithful followers of "truth and meekness and righ

The temple was built when Malachi wrote, and the Divine ordinances were established there; but few were devout and sincere worshippers. The priests were given to secularising tendencies; many professed worshippers were guilty of sacrilege. This is a dark picture. It is relieved by the few "zealous for the Lord of hosts." These, by their invincible faith in God, by the oneness of their unity, and by the holiness and frequency of their fellowship, rebuked the infidelity of the period. I.  TRUE PIETY MAY EXIST IN A CORRUPT CHURCH. This Church was corrupt. The priests were unfaithful to their sacred trust. The people were guilty of treacherous dealing, of departing from the Divine ordinance, and of seeking to justify this manifold wickedness before God. But a few had genuine piety. 1.  They "feared the Lord." This was a filial fear. The sinner fears God because of the penal consequences of sin. The fear of the Christian springs from different considerations, filial not

It is the duty, and will be for the benefit of every true servant of God, occasionally to reflect, with due seriousness, on his own original state, on the rise and progress of religion in his own soul, and of the experience which he has thus individually had of the Divine power, goodness and mercy. I.  THE PERSONS HERE ADDRESSED. Those who "follow after righteousness" and "seek the Lord." How exactly does this description accord to the true people of God under the Christian Church? II.  THE EXHORTATION ADDRESSED TO THEM. "Look unto the rock," ete. The meaning is obvious, "Look back unto yourselves. Consider what you once were; in what a depth of misery you were originally sunk. Reflect on the natural hardness of your heart: on its insensibiliyt to spiritual things; on its dreadful alienation from God. See this state of things exemplified — 1.  In your original conversion to God. 2.  In your subsequent conduct towards God. Since the time in which you f

God is ever within the Church. Therefore the greatness of the Church is God. Not her wealth, prestige, orthodoxy, culture, or intelligence, but His inhabitation. I.  He is her greatness as A LIVING FORCE — attracting, new-creating, enlightening, and teaching men; as her Vital Energy moving and moulding individual character and national life (where it is allowed free course) to the high ideal of the Perfect Life. Gold, like steam in the locomotive, rightly used and directed, is a power for good. Without it the machinery will be idle. It is indispensable to the aggressive activity and beneficent service of the Church, to the carrying out of her plans of operation, and for the accomplishment of her benignant purposes. "Bring the tithes into the storehouse," saith the Lord of Hosts. But let the Church try to draw her life from her wealth, and she will be strangled in the very attempt. God is her life — not national approbation and prestige. What the soul is to the body, He is to

The text states not only a truth, but a necessity also. It is not only absolutely true — that is, true without any restriction whatever — that God reigns; but it is also equally true, that He must reign; and that He must reign everywhere — throughout His entire universe, and over all His creatures. I.  CONSIDER THE FACT, THAT "THE LORD REIGNETH." 1.  And in doing so, let it be understood, that nothing whatever is intended to be said by way of proof. That would be both useless and impertinent; for God has declared the fact. And when God speaks, it is the duty of men to believe, not to dispute or argue. 2.  But though it is not necessary to prove the truth of what God has said, or to explain its reasonableness, ere we receive it, it is of the utmost advantage to obtain suitable illustrations; as thereby, not only is a more sensible impression made upon the mind, but our faith also is greatly strengthened. 3.  The first idea suggested arises from a consideration of the person wh

The holiness of God is his glory and crown. It is the blessedness of his nature. It renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures. “Holy” is more fixed as an epithet to his name than any other. This is his greatest title of honor. He is pure and unmixed light, free from all blemish in his essence, nature, and operations. He cannot be deformed by any evil. The notion of God cannot be entertained without separating from him whatever is impure and staining. Though he is majestic, eternal, almighty, wise, immutable, merciful, and whatsoever other prefections may dignify so sovereign a being, yet if we conceive him destitute of this excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed with the least contagion of evil, we make him but an infinite monster, and sully all those perfections we ascribed to him before. It is a contradiction for him to be God and to have any darkness mixed with his light. To deny his purity, makes him no God. He that says God is not holy, speaks much wo

  BY J. C. RYLE “The times require at our hands distinct and decided views of Christian doctrine. I cannot withhold my conviction that the professing Church of the nineteenth century is as much damaged by laxity and indistinctness about matters of doctrine within, as it is by skeptics and unbelievers without. Myriads of professing Christians now-a-days seem utterly unable to distinguish things that differ. Like people afflicted with colour-blindness, they are incapable of discerning what is true and what is false, what is sound and what is unsound. If a preacher of religion is only clever and eloquent and earnest, they appear to think he is all right, however strange and heterogeneous his sermons may be. They are destitute of spiritual sense, apparently, and cannot detect error. Popery or Protestantism, an atonement or no atonement, a personal Holy Ghost or no Holy Ghost, future punishment or no future punishment, High Church or Low Church or Broad Church, Trinitarianism, Arianism, or

  Psalm 1 19 Thankfulness is a duty wherein we are all obliged to the Lord. It is good in regard of the equity of it. Since the Lord gives us good things, shall not we give Him praises again? especially seeing the Lord is content so to part all His works between His majesty and us, that the good of them be ours, the glory of them be His own. It is good to praise the Lord in regard of Himself, who is the object of our praises. Since He is the treasure of all good, the Author of all blessings, it cannot be but a good thing to bless Him. 3.  It is good in respect of our associates and companions in this exercise: the angels, cherubim and seraphim delight continually in His praises. Our elder brethren, that glorious congregation of the first-born, are described unto us falling down on their faces, casting their crowns at the feet of the Lord, to give Him the glory of their redemption. Now, seeing we pray that the will of God may be done in earth, as it is in heaven, why do we not delight i

In worldly affairs no weighty thing can be done without diligence; far less in spiritual. For three causes should we keep the commandments of the Lord with diligence: first, because our adversary, that seeks to snare us by the transgression of them, is diligent in tempting; next, because we ourselves are weak and infirm; by the greater diligence have we need to take heed to ourselves; thirdly, because of the great loss we sustain by every advantage Satan gets over us. For we find by experience that as a wound is sooner made than it is healed, so guiltiness of conscience is easily contracted, but not so easily done away. ( Bishop Cowper. )