A Goodly Heritage

And shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." John xvii. 32. .......There is a relation between Christ and Christians, and a conformity founded upon it; so that what He says, they may subordinately adopt as their own language. There are cases in which they may be alone— and there are cases in which they ought to be alone—and there is one case in which they must be alone: and yet they are not alone, because the Father is with them. They may be alone, by the dispensations of Providence. By death, lover and friend may be put far from them, and their acquaintance into darkness; and bereavements may force from solitude the sigh, "I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the housetop." They have often been driven out of society by the wickedness of power. Their connexions have abandoned them through falseness, or deserted them through infirmity. And this is no inconsiderable trial. Our Saviour felt the desertion of his disciples;

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”—Psalm 90:12 Casting our eyes back upon the year now past and gone, are there no mercies which claim a note of thankful praise? It is sweet to see the Lord’s kind hand in providence, but sweeter far to view his outstretched hand in grace. Are we then so unwatchful or so unmindful of the Lord’s gracious hand in his various dealings with our soul as to view the whole past twelve months as a dead blank in which we have never seen his face, nor heard his voice, nor felt his power? “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness?” (Jer 2:31,) the Lord tenderly asks. Has he been such to us also for twelve long and weary months? What! No help by the way, no tokens for good, no liftings-up of the light of his countenance, no visitations of his presence and power, no breakings-in of his goodness for all that long and dreary time—for dreary it must indeed have been for a living soul to have been left and abandon

CHRIST'S GREAT GIFT, THAT OF ASSIMILATION TO HIMSELF. Coming to him, we become living stones. One can scarcely avoid seeing here some allusion to the apostle's own name, as if he would share whatever honor there was with all his brethren, and disown any special prerogative. "'Thou art Peter' was, indeed, said to me; but you are all living stones. 'On this rock' was, indeed, said to me; but Christ is the only Foundation." Peter's own understanding of these much-controverted words is no bad guide to their meaning. The image here but puts under one aspect the wide general principle that transformation into Christ's likeness is the great end of his work on us. Is he a Son? Through him we become sons. Is he "the Light of the world"? Illumined by him, we too become lights. Is he anointed with the Spirit? Through him we too receive that unction which invests us with his threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. We are one with him, and

Let me urge, then, this, that, as a matter of fact, a faith in eternal glory goes with and fluctuates in the same degree and manner as does the faith in the past sacrifice that Christ has made. He, and He alone, as I believe, turns nebulae into solidity, and makes of the more or less tremulous anticipation of a more or less dim and distant future, a calm, still certainty. We know that He will come because, and in proportion as, we believe that He has come. Keep these two things, then, always together, the memory and the hope. They stand like two great piers, one on either side of a narrow, dark glen, and suspended from them is stretched the bridge, along which the happy pilgrims may travel and enter into rest. A. Maclaren

Behaviour in church Homilist. I. THAT YOU SHOULD ENTER THE SCENE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP WITH DEVOUT PREPARATION. "Keep thy foot," etc. The mad whom Solomon addresses is supposed to be on his way to the house of God. The character of a man's step is often an index to the state of his soul. There is the slow step of the dull brain and the quick step of the intensely active; there is the step of the proud and the step of the humble, the thoughtless and the reflective. The soul reveals itself in the gait, beats out its own character in the tread. 1. Realize the scene you are entering. It is "the house of God." Whom are you to meet? "The high and holy One," etc. Draw not hither thoughtlessly. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet," etc. (Exodus 3:5). "How dreadful is this place!" etc. (Genesis 28:16, 17). Do not rush hither. 2. Realize the solemnity of the purpose. It is to meet with the Mighty Creator of the universe, whom you have offended

Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul" Pf. XXV. 1. It is not easy to do this. We are naturally sluggish and grovelling. Who has not reason to acknowledge with shame and sorrow, "my soul cleave unto the dust?" It is easy enough, in duty, to lift up our hands, and our eyes, and our voices; but it is another thing to come even to his seat, to enter into the secret of his tabernacle, and to hold intercourse with the God of heaven. And yet, without this, what is devotion? And how unanswerable will all our services be to the requisition of Him who is a Spirit, and such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth? And without this, a real Christian is no more satisfied than God. He will not, indeed, from a principle of duty, undervalue the means of grace, and neglect private and public devotion; but he is disappointed unless he can lift up his soul unto God. And this marks the spiritual worshipper. He is not distinguished by always enjoying liberty and fervour in his

When I saw Peter stepping forth upon the waters, I could not but wonder at his great faith; yet behold, ere he can have measured many paces, the Judge of hearts taxes him for little faith. Our mountains are but motes to God. Would my heart have served me to dare the doing of this that Peter did? Durst I have set my foot where he did? O Saviour, if thou foundest cause to censure the weakness and poverty of his faith, what mayest thou well say to mine! They mistake that think thou wilt take up with anything. Thou lookest for firmitude and vigour in those graces, which thou wilt allow in thy best disciples, no less than truth. The first steps were confident, there was fear in the next. O the sudden alteration of our affections, of our dispositions! One pace varies our spiritual condition. What hold is there of so fickle creatures, if we be left never so little to ourselves? As this lower world, wherein we are, is the region of mutability, so are we, the living pieces of it, subject to a p

“They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.” Psalm 107:4 “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way;”—a way not tracked; a path in which each has to walk alone; a road where no company cheers him, and without landmarks to direct his course. This is a mark peculiar to the child of God—that the path by which he travels is, in his own feelings, a solitary way. This much increases his exercises, that they appear peculiar to himself. His perplexities are such as he cannot believe any living soul is exercised with; the fiery darts which are cast into his mind by the wicked one are such as he thinks no child of God has ever experienced; the darkness of his soul, the unbelief and infidelity of his heart, and the workings of his powerful corruptions, are such as he supposes none ever knew but himself. To be without any comfort except what God gives, without any guidance but what the Lord affords, without any support but what springs from the everl

THE TRUE WAY TO MAKE THE SABBATH A DELIGHT. It was fitting that on the first sabbath of the Christian era there should be recorded an instance in which the day was spent as Christ would have it be. What a pleasant picture this of communion with Christ, of searching the Scriptures, of sitting down at the same table with him! We have here: 1. Communion with our Lord. About one-fourth of the whole day these favoured men were conversing with Christ, opening their minds and outpouring their hearts to him, telling him their hopes and their fears, and receiving kind and illuminating responses from his lips. So should our "fellowship be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," on the "day of the Lord." And as we may be sure that the way to Emmaus was marvellously shortened that afternoon, and the village houses showed themselves long before they were looked for, so will earnest and loving communion with our living Lord, so will our walking with Christ, make the hou

Life 1. Suppose we were asked any of the following questions:—Can you tell me in a word the subject of the New Testament? Or, can you explain, just as briefly, the object with which Christ came into the world? Or, can you indicate the final purpose of the multitude of various religious organizations and movements which we find at work all round us, many of them tending, like other kinds of modern machinery, to become more and more complex? Can you say why all the sermons are preached, why all the various services are held, why all our Communions are made? Will not a single word answer all these questions? Surely the one word “life” is a sufficient reply to them all. Is not life the one subject of all Christian teaching and study? Is not life the one object of every kind of Christian effort? 2. From time to time in the course of His ministry our Lord briefly, yet quite comprehensively expressed, by means of some pregnant phrase, His whole purpose and object. For instance, in the hear

A man like Peden, who recognized the hand of God in each event of life, could not fail to see and to adore that goodness which was so eminently displayed in this instance. We may easily conceive his feelings as he knelt in the gloom of the forest and raised his voice in thanksgiving and praise to the God of his life. It is also told of him that, being sorely pushed, and unknowing which way to turn, he kneeled down and asked God to deliver him, promising to keep it in remembrance, and to tell it in commendation of his goodness, pity, and compassion. No sooner had he risen from his knees, than dense volumes of smoke or mist rolled down from the tops of the mountains, and completely shrouded him from sight. Surely they are a blessed people whose God is the Lord, for in the time of calamity he is their help and their shield. "Many, 0 Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to u sward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I wou

Millions have loved it passionately who have cared nothing for any other literature, and it alone has been sufficient to lead them through life as with an archangel's hand. "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit"; in age after age , , John Huss, , St. Bernard, Luther, Melanchthon, Columbus, Francis Xavier, and I know not how many thousands more, have died with these words upon their lips. "That book, sir," said Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, pointing to the family Bible upon the table, as he lay upon his death-bed, "that book, sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests." "I have only one book now," said the poet Collins, "but that is the best." "Bring me the book, sir," said Sir Walter Scott to Lockhart on his death-bed. "What book?" asked Lockhart. "The book, the Bible," said Sir Walter, "there is only one." Every shallow and ignorant freethinker thinks he can demolish the Bib

Some years ago the captain of a Greenland whaling vessel found himself at night surrounded by icebergs and "lay-to" till the morning, expecting every moment to be ground to pieces. As the morning dawned he sighted a ship at no great distance. Getting into a boat with some of his men he carefully picked his way through the lanes of open ice towards the mysterious looking craft. Coming alongside he hailed the vessel with a loud, "Ship ahoy!" but there was no response. He looked through the porthole and saw a man, evidently the captain, sitting at a table as if writing in a log-book. He again hailed the vessel, but the figure moved not. It was dead and frozen! On examination the sailors were found, some frozen among the hammocks, others in the cabin. From the last entry in the log-book it appeared this vessel had been drifting about the Arctic seas for thirteen years — a floating sepulchre, manned by a frozen crew. And there are souls to-day who have refused the Divine

Bishop Latimer having one day preached before King Henry VIII. a sermon which displeased his majesty, he was ordered to preach again on the next Sabbath, and to make an apology for the offence he had given. After reading his text, the bishop thus begun his sermon: "Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king's most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest; therefore, take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease. But then consider well, Hugh, dost thou not know from whence thou comest — upon whose message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty God! who is all present! and who beholdeth all thy ways! and who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully." He then proceeded with the same sermon he had preached the preceding Sabbath, but with considerably more energy. The sermon ended, the Court were full of expecta

About the commencement of the persecution in Scotland, nearly three hundred and fifty ministers were ejected from their churches in the depth of winter, and driven with their families to seek shelter among the peasantry. - These ministers were forbidden to preach even in the fields, or to approach within twenty miles of their former charges; and the people as well as the pastors, who would not abjure their dearest rights, were denounced as traitors, their property confiscated, and they themselves hunted like heath-cocks upon the mountains. Not only this, but there was a prohibition laid upon any one who supplied them with food or who gave them the shelter of a roof; and those who in any way showed kindness to these friendless followers of Christ exposed their property and their persons to the avarice and cruelty of a wicked and injurious authority. Often in the moorland solitudes, concealed from the eyes of their persecutors, did these servants of the Redeemer bring from the wells of s

Among the many hiding-places to which this man occasionally retreated was the solitude of Sanquhar Glendale, about three miles to the east of Glendale stretches eastward, winding among the hills, for nearly three miles. The width of the glen at the bottom is in many places little more than five times the breadth of the brawling brook that rushes through it. Dark, precipitous mountains rise on either side from the level of the valley to an immense height. On the eastern extremity of the glen a cluster of hills gather to a point, and form an eminence of great height, from which a broad view of the surrounding country is obtained. Near the lower end of this defile, and where it terminates its winding course with one majestic sweep, reaching forward to the bleak moorlands beneath, Peen had selected for himself a place of refuge. This spot, deeply concealed by the green mantle of the forest, was known only to a few. It happened on one occasion that, having emerged from his covert, he stood

“Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?” Numbers 11:11 Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to try our faith. If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden. A faith which can say, in the direst trouble, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” is heaven-born faith. The Lord afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly glorified in the graces of His people, which are His own handiwork. When “tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,” the Lord is honored by these growing v

What a damper to spirituality what a rude extinguisher on all its feelings and contemplations is sin ! An unforeseen gust of anger will put them all to flight ; and the objective truth is lost in that disturbed and so darkened medium by which the subjective mind is encompassed. There is one lesson, however, to be gathered from the connexion which obtains between obedience and spiritual discernment on the one hand, between disobe dience and spiritual dimness or obscuration on the other. A strict and conscientious perseverance in the walk of known duty may at length conduct to those manifestations after which we aspire or, in other words, the humble do ings of our every-day obedience may prove a stepping-stone to the higher experiences of the divine life. Certain it is, that to cast off this obedience is to cut away the first round of the ascending ladder; and so to make a com mencement impossible. Ltt me then undervalue not the very least of the commandments. Let me be watchful and main

“That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:17 What perfection does the Holy Ghost speak of here? Certainly not perfection in the flesh; that is but a wild dream of free-will and Arminianism. But perfection here and elsewhere means a being well-established and grounded in the faith, as we find the Apostle speaking (Heb. 5:14), “Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age” (literally, as we read in the margin, “perfect”), “even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Christian perfection does not then consist in perfection in the flesh, but in having arrived at maturity in the divine life, in being what I may call a Christian adult, or what the Apostle terms “a man in Christ.” When Paul therefore says, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect,” he means “being no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,” but favoured with a measure of Christian wis

E. Erskine. I. CHRIST AS GOD'S ANOINTED, 1. He is a Redeemer and Saviour of God's choosing. 2. Called and sent of God. 3. Prophet, Priest, and King of His Church. 4. Thoroughly fitted and furnished for His work, by an unmeasurable effusion of the Holy Spirit. II. THE LAMP THAT GOD HAS ORDAINED. 1. This lamp was first set up in the purpose of God from eternity, or in the council of peace, when the whole plan of salvation through Christ was laid. 2. This lamp was first lighted in this louver world, immediately after the fall in paradise; when a dark and dismal night of woe and misery was spreading itself over our first parents, then a gleam of light began to break out in the first promise (Genesis 3:15): and afterwards unto Abraham (Genesis 22:18). 3. The lamp of the Gospel shone typically and prophetically during all the Old Testament period, before the coming of Christ in the flesh. It shone, as it were, under a veil, and only among the Jews. 4. After the coming of Ch

Urgently do we need a revival of personal godliness. This is, indeed, the secret of church prosperity. When individuals fall from their steadfastness, the church is tossed to and fro; when personal faith is steadfast, the church abides true to her Lord. We have in and around our own denomination many true-hearted servants of Christ, who are hardly put to it to know what to do. Their loyalty to their Lord and to his truth is greater than their love to sect or party, and they know not whether to abide in their present position, and fight out the great question, or to lift the old banner, and quit their apostatizing associates. Do whichever they may, it is upon the truly godly and spiritual that the future of religion depends in the hand of God. Oh, for more truly holy men, quickened and filled with the Holy Spirit, consecrated to the Lord, and sanctified by his truth! What can be accomplished by worldly professors, theater-going church members, semi-infidel teachers, and philosophical pr

These are the words of Ahab, and, so far as we know, the only wise thing he ever spoke. The saying was probably not his own, but a proverb common in his time. As a warning to Ben-hadad the words proved true, but Ahab's own conduct in going up to Ramoth-Gilead where he perished, showed a strange forgetfulness of his own saying. I. WE HAVE ALL A BATTLE TO FIGHT. We all know what is meant by "the battle of life," but that of the Christian is inward and spiritual — a battle within a battle. Conversion to Christ brings at once peace and warfare. Our peace with God means war with the world, the devil, and the flesh. II. WE HAVE ALL "A HARNESS" TO PUT ON. As the enemies we fight are spiritual so must be our armour. Some prefer an ostentatious profession, pride of intellect, and the weapons of human learning and science "falsely so called," but experience proves their insufficiency. The Divine armour must be "put on," we must take hold and keep hold

THE GLORY OF GOD "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Psalm 90:2 O My Soul! Seek to fill yourself with thoughts of the Almighty. Lose yourself in the impenetrable tracts of His Glory! "Can you by searching find out God?" Can the animalcule fathom the ocean, or the worm scale the skies? Can the finite grasp the Infinite– the mortal Immortality? We can do no more than stand on the brink of the shoreless sea, and cry, "Oh the depth!" "From everlasting!"- shrouded in the great and awful mystery of eternity. Before one star revolved in its sphere- before one angel moved his wing- God was! His own infinite presence filling all space. All time, to Him, is but as the heaving of a breath- the beat of a pulse- the twinkling of an eye. The Eternity of bliss, which is the noblest heritage of the creature, is in its nature progressive. It admits of advance in degrees of

“Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction?”—Psalm 88:10, 11 This is not the language of a soul dead in trespasses and sins, but it is the breathing of a living soul struggling and grappling with death. What a difference there is, where there is life working in and under death, and where death reigns absolutely! between the quickened soul and that in which there is nothing but death, death without one spark of spiritual life, death without one ray of heavenly teaching. There is no groan, no sigh, no lamentation, no piteous inquiry, no pouring out of the heart before God, where the soul is utterly dead, any more than there is life and breath in a corpse in the tomb. But wherever life is implanted in the soul from the Fountain of life, that life groans under death. It sighs from out of the grave; it gasps for breath, under the corpse which overlies it; and seeks to heave

As "God's husbandry," "planted in the house of the Lord," the roots of our life are "hidden with Christ in God." To him we must cling; around him every fibre of the soul must twine. Thus "rooted and grounded in love" because in Christ himself, we shall be safe against the gales of false doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), which would uproot our souls. The second figure is that of a house, "God's building," a more frequent figure (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:5). Edification is a gradual work, and in proportion to it shall we be "established in our faith." In the West Indies we have seen trees that seemed to combine the two figures of this verse. In the magnificent silk cotton trees (Eriodendrum) we see enormous trunks sometimes rising eighty or a hundred feet before they send forth any of their huge branches. The widespreading roots secure the safety of the vast superstructure from the wildest hurricane. But around the base of the

Extracted from the Life of the Reverend John Flavel. "Mr. Flavel being in London in 1673, his old bookseller, Mr. Boulter, gave him the following relation, viz. that some time before there came into his shop a fashionable gentleman to inquire for some play books; Mr. Boulter told him he had none, but shewed Mr. Flavel's Treatise on Keeping the Heart, entreated him to read it, and assured him it would do him more good than play books. The gentleman read the title, and glancing upon several pages here and there, broke out into these and such other expressions, 'What damnable fanatic was he who made this book?' Mr. Boulter begged him to buy and read it, and told him he had no cause to censure it so bitterly; at last he bought it, but told him he would not read it. 'What will you do with it then?' said Mr. Boulter. 'I will tear and burn it,' said he, 'and send it to the devil.' Mr. B. replied, 'Then you shall not have it.' Upon this the gent

Verse 2. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy.] The other Evangelists tell with what difficulty they did so, and how they overcame that difficulty with resolution and industry, which indeed overcome all. A strong bent towards Jesus Christ will not be hindered. Nor is their violence in uncovering the house, or their rudeness in interrupting his discourse, rejected or reproved, but all is accepted for the principle, faith, which was tempered with love to the sick, and even to Jesus Christ, as the person from whom they expected the cure. . And Jesus, seeing their faith]—It is needless to dispute that one may be benefited by the influence of another's faith. Surely, much may be done by it. Thus, it may bring and present a person, may recommend, may pray for him, and may be respected in the grant of mercy, not only in temporals, but in spirituals. But yet, the just lives only by his own faith, which no doubt this poor man had. For the word, theirs, excludes not, but r

Verse 1. "And be entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city". He who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, and commands them, (as ch. viii. v. 26.) is ferried over in some boat or small vessel. And was it not richly laden with this inestimable Pearl, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all fullness dwelling in Him? All the rich ships from both the Indies, were not to be compared to this. Leighton

Ecclesiastes 8:8 W. Clarkson The Preacher brings before us the familiar fact of - I. OUR POWERLESSNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF DEATH. There are evils from which large resources, or high rank, or exceptional abilities may secure us; but in these death is not included. No man may escape it. Some men have lived so long that "death has seemed to have forgotten them;" but their hour has come at last. Death is a campaign in which there is "no furlough" given. Therefore: 1. Let every man be in readiness for it; let us live "as those who today indeed are on the earth, but who to-morrow may be in heaven." Let not death surprise us with some urgent duty undone, he neglect of which will leave our nearest relatives or dearest friends in difficulty or distress. 2. Let us all measure the limit of our life; and let us feel that since so much is to be done by us if we can, for narrower and for wider circles, and since there is but a brief period in which to do it, let us ad

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, &quo

"Of Him, Through Him, And To Him Are All Things." Such is the sublime sentiment of this passage:—and it is in harmony with others which the pages of inspiration furnish,—both in its abstract truth, and in the spirit, or posture and emotion of mind, with which the sentiment is uttered. For in this Book, we many a time meet with sentiments, such as are in themselves noble and elevated,—but which are rendered still more lofty and impressive, by the form in which they are presented. Thus it is in the text. It is not the abstract sentiment of the divine supremacy merely that is didactically brought before us. We have it in union with the devotion which it is fitted to inspire. We see the effect of the contemplation of it on the mind of the writer. We see that mind expanding itself to its utmost enlargement, to take in the vast conception:—his heart, at the same time, swelling with rapturous emotion;—his soul, sinking under an abasing sense of its own nothingness,—and yet rising to

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In this song of thanksgiving, observe, (1.) All the joys, the honours, and happiness, of king David, founded in the perfections and gracious works of God, ver. 1-6. (2.) Full assurance of the stability of David’s throne, and of the discovery and destruction of his implacable opposers, ver. 7-12. (3.) Earnest supplications to God, for the exhilarating displays of his glory and power, ver. 13. But chiefly, my soul, behold here, the everlasting honours, joys, happiness, and blissful influences of thy Redeemer! Behold how fixed in his kingdom and dignity, in the infinite, everlasting, and unchangeable wisdom, power, mercy, equity, goodness and truth of the Most High! Behold, what inexpressible vengeance kindles upon and destroys his Jewish, his Heathen, his Antichristian, and other incorrigible foes! ­ Rejoice my soul, in this God thy Saviour. Rejoice at the glory wherewith he is crowned: at the life granted to, and lodged in him; and in his being

Believer! Can you now say with some of the holy transport of the apostle, “Whom having not seen we love”? What must it be when you come to see Him “face to face,” and that for ever and ever! If you can tell of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed affections, to see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on the Throne speaks to you now only by His Word and Spirit, – soon you shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing Him “as He is” – He Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and grace – leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living waters, and with His own gentle hand wiping the last lingering teardrop from your eye. Heaven an

Why is it that God grants to some nations the light of his gospel and the blessings of his worship, and leaves others in the darkness of nature to endure the horrors of a sottish superstition? None can give a wiser answer to this awful question than that given by the Redeemer: “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” We are compelled to resolve many things into the sovereign will of God, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, and giveth an account to none of his creatures.W S Plumer

Truth about Faith I shall not attempt a definition of faith. This only let me say in a few words, that the faith which goes no farther than the intellect can neither save nor sanctify. It is no faith at all. It is unbelief. No faith is saving but that which links us to the Person of a living Saviour. Whatever falls short of this is not faith in Christ. Hence, while salvation is described sometimes in Scripture as a “coming to the knowledge of the truth;” it is more commonly represented as a “coming to Christ Himself.” “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life”; “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Joh 5:40; 6:37). But whatever view of faith we take, one thing is obvious, that it is from first to last “the gift of God” (Rom 6:23). Make it as simple as you please, still it is the result of the Holy Spirit’s direct, immediate, all-quickening power. (Never attempt, I beseech you, my dear friend, to make faith simple, with the view of getting rid of the Spirit to produc

Heaven is not to be a blank existence. Even on earth there is a blessing in the law of labor—a blessing wrapped up in the very curse, "In the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread." The most wretched of lives is a life of compelled idleness. The most joyous is a life of active usefulness—the apostolic combination of diligence in business with fervency in spirit. And the same law will hold good in Heaven. It will be no dreamy, sentimental, Mohammedan Paradise. The Redeemed will be engaged serving God in active ministries of holy love. "They rest," and yet "they rest not." They rest in the perfect peace of God, the realized possession of His favor. But they rest not, in the labor of a faithful service.Their highest happiness is in doing His pleasure. They "serve Him day and night in His temple."J R Macduff

"God setteth the solitary in families." - Psalm Ixviii. 6 v. There are some lives to whom the nuptial torch is denied. They form no family ties, and, as the ties into which they were born are dissolved, one fears that they will be alone. They need not be. "God setteth the solitary in families." Religion supplies the place of marriage. Often have I thought of these words of the Master, "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father, which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." The soul surrendered to God is brother, sister, mother, to the race of Man. Who, think you, of merely human birth, had the widest heart for earthly ties? Was it not the solitary man of Tarsus? Who speaks of the family like Aim? Who legislates for the household like him? Who feels for the bereaved like him? And why? Because they who are united to Christ are wedded also to humanity. They have the ring and the robe. They have the bridal garment. They have the marriage

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; 10. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. The sentiment in these verses is evidently the same with that in verses $, 6. namely, that God preserves such as trust in him, after the pattern of the holy Jesus, from those evils, and from that perdition, which are reserved for the ungodly. Dr. Duracell translates the 9th verse, in the way of apostrophe, literally thus: "Surely, thou, O Lord, art my refuge; O Most High, thou hast fixed thine habitation;" i. e. in S ion, to be the protector of his servant. George Horne

Ralph Erskine puts it: “When risen with Christ you have a Treasure, a Treasurer, and a Treasury. ‘Your Life’—that is your Treasure; ‘is hid with Christ’—He is your Treasurer; ‘in God’—that is your Treasury. Your life is hidden for secrecy and for security. The world knows not the sons of God; they draw their strength and inspiration from a secret source, they fix their hopes upon things unseen. Their life is hidden from the eyes of men. This makes it all the more secure. The foundations are beyond the reach of pickaxe or dynamite. The believer’s security does not lie exposed to the malice of man or devil. It is the security of a union which cannot be dissolved, of a trusteeship which never fails, of a covenant which cannot be broken. God the Father is the author of the Covenant. God the Son is the faithful guardian or trustee. God the Holy Ghost is the bond of the union. Secure indeed are those whose life is hid with Christ in God.”

" He that eateth and drinketh of the water that Christ will give him, shall never thirst*." But from the very commencement of the divine life, all earthly things sink in the Christian's estimation, and are accounted as dung and dross in comparison of the Divine image. In this sense " Christ is all" to him b: and he can say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee."] 2. Constantly— [While other desires remain in the heart, they will of course occasionally rise in opposition to the better principle: but the prevailing desire of the soul is after holiness. "The flesh may lust against the Spirit," and seem for a moment to triumph over it: but " the Spirit will lust and strive against the flesh 0," till it has vanquished its rebellious motions. The needle may be driven by violence from its accustomed position: but its attractions are ever towards the pole; and it will never rest t

Psalm 84:5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee: in whose heart are the ways of them; Heb. the ways are in the heart of them. Not only are they pronounced blessed who dwell in the temple, but all they also who are travelling thither ward, (as the whole Jewish nation was wont to do three times in a year,) and who are therefore meditating on their journey, and on the way which leads to the holy city, trusting in God to strengthen, and prosper, and conduct them to the house of his habitation, the place where his glory dwells. Such a company of sojourners are Christians, going tip to the heavenly Jerusalem; such ought to be their trust in God, and such the subject of our thoughts.Psalm George Horne

When the Jews, according to God’s appointment, observed the Passover yearly throughout their generations, it was supposed that their children would ask them, ‘‘What mean you by this service?” (Exo 12:26), and they were directed what answer to give to that enquiry. The question may very fitly be asked concerning our gospel passover: What mean we by this service? We come together in a public and select assembly of baptized Christians, under the conduct and presidency of a gospel minister; we take bread and wine, sanctified by the Word and prayer (1Ti 4:5); and we eat and drink together in a solemn religious manner, with an eye to a divine institution as our warrant28 and rule in so doing. This we do often; this all the churches of Christ do, and have done in every age from the death of Christ down to this day. We doubt not but it will continue to be done till time shall be no more. Now, what is the true intent and meaning of this ordinance? What did Christ design it for in the institutio

Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Life is the greatest of earthly blessings, all others being included in it: " all that a man hath," saith Satan, " will he give for his life:" Not so the Psalmist. He knew a pearl of far greater price, namely, the loving kindness of Jehovah, on which is suspended not only the life which now is, but that which is to come. The sense of this loving kindness tuned the harp of the son of Jesse, and now tunes those of the spirits before the throne. George Horne

Go to the cross of Jesus Christ. It is not all our resolutions,, promises, vows, endeavours, without this, that will effect our conformity to Christ in his death; no, this conformity is a fruit of the death of Christ, and therefore whosoever would have this work wrought in him, let him first have recourse to Christ’s cross, 2. Look up to him that hangs upon it, contemplate the death of Jesus Christ; consider seriously his bitter, shameful, painful sufferings. Much hath been said, only here draw it into some epitome: as, 1. Consider who he was. 2. What he suffered. 3. Why he suffered. 4. For whom he suffered. 5. For what end he suffered. 6. With what mind he suffered. Every one of these will make some discoveries either of his graces, or of his gracious actings in our behalf; and who can tell how far this very look may work on us to change us, and transform us into the image of Jesus Christ? Isaac Ambrose

S. Charnock. : — Accustom yourself to a serious meditation every morning. Fresh airing our souls in heaven will engender in us a purer spirit and nobler thoughts. A morning seasoning will secure us for all the day. Though other necessary thoughts about our calling will and must come in, yet, when we have despatched them, let us attend to our morning theme as our chief companion. As a man that is going with another about some considerable business, — suppose go Westminster, — though he meets with several friends on the way, and salutes some, and with others with whom he has some affairs he spends some little time, yet he quickly returns to his companion, and both together go to their intended stage. Do thus in the present case. Our minds are active and will be doing something, though to little purpose; and if they be not fixed upon some noble object, they will, like madmen and fools, be mightily pleased in playing with straws. The thoughts of God were the first visitors David had in th

We have somewhere read of a traveler who stood one day beside the cages of some birds, that, exposed for sale, ruffled their sunny plumage on the wires, and struggled to be free. A way-worn and sun-browned man, like one returned from foreign lands, he looked wistfully and sadly on these captives, till tears started in his eye, and turning round on their owner, he asked the price of one, paid it in strange gold, and opening the cage set the prisoner free; and thus and thus he did with captive after captive, till every bird was away, soaring to the skies and singing on the wings of liberty. The crowd stared and stood amazed; they thought him mad, till to the question of their curiosity he replied—“I was once myself a captive; I know the sweets of liberty.”

There are three words, pregnant with precious and important meaning, commonly used by the apostles in their salutations and benedictions, GRACE, MERCY, and PEACE. These words include everything which man needs or can desire. Peace is the legacy which Christ gave to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." And after his resurrection, the first time he met with his disciples when assembled together, he said, "Peace be unto you." He gives peace not as the world gives. He is the PRINCE OF PEACE, and his gospel is the "gospel of peace." It is called "the peace of God," because he is its author. It is a sweet and gentle stream which flows from the fountain of life beneath his throne. Happy is he who has received this heavenly gift; it will, in the midst of external storms and troubles, preserve his mind in a tranquil state. It is independent of external circumstances. It is most exquisitely enjoyed in times of affliction and

6. When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Solitude and stillness render the night watches a fit season for meditation on the so often experienced mercies of God; which, when thus called to remembrance, become a delicious repast to the spirit, filling it with all joy, and peace, and consolation; giving songs in the night, and making darkness itself cheerful. How cheerful, then, will be that last morning, when the righteous, awaking up after the divine likeness, shall be satisfied with all the fullness of God, and praise him with joyful lips, in those eternal courts, where there is no night, and from whence sorrow and sighing fly far away! George Horne

8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Next to the blessing of forgiveness, is to be desired that joy and comfort in the conscience which forgiveness only can inspire: the effect of this, in repairing I he vigour of the spirit, decayed through sorrow and anguish, is compared to setting broken bones, and restoring them again to perfect strength. George Horne

Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. In the first verse, the Psalmist had declared his trust to be in Jehovah. After reciting the seasonings of his friends, he now proceeds to evince the fitness and propriety of such trust, notwithstanding the seemingly desperate situation of affairs. Jehovah is in his holy temple; into which, therefore, unholy men, however triumphant in this world, can never enter: Jehovah's throne is in heaven; and consequently superior to all power upon earth, which may be controlled and over-ruled by him in a moment; his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men; so that no secret wickedness can escape his knowledge, who scrutinizes the heart as well as the lives of all the sons of Adam. Why, then, should the man despair, who has on his side holiness, omnipotence, and omniscience? George Horne

Thus it appears from all history and experience, that conscience is so sensitive, that it will reject everything which may be offered to calm or heal it, till it finds repose and peace in the vicarious death of Christ; and no atonement will avail which is not infinite. Man discovered to himself, and aware of his wants, will fall into despair, if the growing sense of guilt is not stilled by the great redemption of the cross. It is true that mere conscience cannot of itself tell what is an adequate atonement; that it is but a dumb sense of want; and that it often tries false remedies and vain reliefs. The man is a prisoner under guilt, and knows it. God alone knows and provides the adequate atonement; and the unburdened conscience attests that it is adequate when it is found. But no one can persuade conscience that an atonement is unnecessary.George Smeaton

There is a sweet story in the "Bonny Brier Bush" about a young Scotch minister who, called upon to preach his first sermon, thrust the clever discourse he had prepared into the fire-grate when he remembered the dying words of his mother, "Oh, laddie, be sure ye say a gude word for Jesus Christ." The "gude word" from his heart brought the critical old Scotch folk to tenderness and tears, and made the kirk a very sanctuary that morning. Let us, wherever we are, and whoever we are, be ready with "a gude word for Jesus Christ."

ihave exalted one chosen out of the people; the same as before, the Messiah, God's elect, his chosen One, Isaiah 42:1 "chosen" to be the head of the church, to be the Mediator between God and man, and to be the Saviour and Redeemer of lost sinners; to be the foundation and corner stone in the spiritual building, and to be the Judge of quick and dead: and he was "chosen out of the people"; out of the vast number of the individuals of human nature God determined to create, there was a certain number which he selected for himself, for his own glory, and to be eternally happy with him; and out of these he singled one "individuum" of human nature, to be united to the eternal Word, the second Person in the Trinity; and which may be truly said to be the "chiefest among", or, as the Septuagint version has it, "chosen out of ten thousand", Sol 5:10, this the Lord "exalted" to the grace of union to the Son of God, whereby it became

. WILLIAM HANNAH, the Covenanter, lived in the parish of Sundergarth, in Annandale. He was made a prisoner for his faith, and was faithful to the end. Besides his other retreats, he had, when under persecution, a hiding place in his own barn. When he was lying on one occasion among the straw reading his bible, which he always carried with him as his sweetest companion in his solitariness, the house was visited by a party of soldiers in search of him. In his haste to flee from the place, he left his bible among the straw, and fled to a distance. The troopers, in the course of their searching, entered the barn, every corner of which they pried into, turning everything upside down, and tossing about the straw that had so recently been the bed of him whom they were so eagerly seeking. According to their custom, they thrust their long swords down through the heaps of straw and hay that lay on the floor, with the view of stabbing any one who might happen to be concealed beneath. In this proc

. THE Reformer Knox had many interviews with Mary Queen of Scots, and these brought out the character of both parties. In a sermon in St. Giles’s Church, when the Queen’s marriage was talked about, he said,—“Now, my Lords, to put an end to all, I hear of the Queen’s marriage. . . . Whensoever the nobility of Scotland professing the Lord Jesus consent that an infidel (and all Papists are infidels) shall be head to your sovereign, you do so far as in you lieth to banish Christ Jesus from this realm.” Mary as well as Knox knew that this was the hinge of the whole question, and the preacher was instantly sent for to the palace. On his appearance the Queen burst into a passion of tears. Never had Prince been handled as she was—she had borne with him, had listened to him, and had sought his favour—“and yet I cannot be quit of you. I vow to God, I shall be once revenged.” Knox stood unmoved, and then calmly reasoned that in the pulpit, and as preacher, he was not his own master, and was bound

. An Anecdote of Scotch Honesty. IT will be seen that trust begets trust Only by the same principle can true friendship exist. When human beings distrust and suspect each other, then good-bye to honourable friendships. There’s an end to the confidence and love attached to this beautiful silken tie that binds man to man, family to family, nation to nation. Two centuries ago it was thought an insult in the Highlands to ask a note from a debtor. It was considered the same thing as saying, “I doubt your honour.” If parties had business matters to transact they stepped into the open air, fixed their eyes on the heavens, and each repeated his obligation with no mortal witness. A mark was carved upon some rock or tree near by as a remembrance of the compact. Such a thing as a breach of contract was rarely met with, so highly did the people regard their honour. When the march of improvement brought the new mode of doing business, they were often pained by those innovations. An anecdote is hand

. An Anecdote of Ross-shire. ROBERT MACLEOD was an honest and ardent Christian, and lived in Killearnan, Ross-shire, and was much given to prayer. The story of his first prayer in Donald Macpherson’s family is worthy of repeating. To Robert’s bewilderment, his host abruptly asked him to pray at family worship, during a visit which he paid him. He dare not refuse; so turning on his knees, and addressing his Creator, he said—“Thou knowest that though I have bent my knees to pray to Thee, I am much more under the fear of Donald Macpherson than under the fear of Thyself.” Not, perhaps, a bad beginning. It was at once earnest and honest. A remarkable instance of Robert’s warm love to the brethren, and of his nearness to God in prayer, has been often repeated, and is undoubtedly true. The case of the godly John Grant was pressed closely on his spirit, along with an impression of his being in temporal want. He was strongly moved to plead with God for “daily bread,” for His child, and so const

 An Anecdote of the Rev. Robert Bruce. THE REV. ROBERT BRUCE, an eminent minister in Scotland, having to preach on a solemn occasion, was late in coming to the congregation. Some of the people beginning to be weary, and others wondering at his stay, the bells having been rung long, and the time far spent, the beadle was desired to go and inquire the reason, who, coming to his house, and finding his chamber-door shut, and hearing a sound, drew near, and listening, overheard Mr. Bruce often, and with much seriousness, say, “I protest I will not go except thou go with me.” Whereupon the man, supposing that some person was in company with him, withdrew without knock at the door. On being asked, at his return, the cause of Mr. Bruce’s delay, he answered he could not tell; but supposed that some person was with him, who was unwilling to come to church, and he was engaged in pressing him to come peremptorily, declaring he would not go without him. Mr. Bruce soon after came, accompanied with n

. NATURE has an unconscious influence on the mind of man. This is illustrated in the following facts which Dr. Macleod related at a meeting, held in reference to the establishment of schools in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland:—A friend of mine happened to be in a boat, by which a poor, simple-hearted man, from the island of St. Kilda was advancing, for the first time in his life, from his native rock to visit the world; and as he advanced towards the island of Mull—a world in itself in the estimation of the poor St. Kilda man—the boatmen commenced telling him the wonders he was so soon to see. They asked him about St. Kilda; they questioned him regarding all the peculiarities of that wonderful place; and rallied him not a little on his ignorance of all those great and magnificent things which were to be seen in Mull. He parried them off with great coolness and good humour. At length a person in the boat asked him if he ever heard of God in St. Kilda. Immediately he became grave a

  Man and woman must belong to the Lord before they belong to   each   other, and are to enter into the married state that they may help each other to be more entirely the Lord's. A Christian is not at liberty to marry one who is not a Christian (even in the hope of making him or her a Christian). A Christian even among Christians is to seek from the Lord. "And now, before the word we speak That knits the bond man must not break, We fain would know thy mind. Lord, be the sweet conviction given To both that thou thyself in heaven The hallowed bond hast twined." It is in that spirit that it ought to be contemplated. Without this there can be no security for happiness or for Christ being honored in connection with the union formed, - R.Finlayson

 THE REV. HECTOR M‘PHAIL AND HIS FAITHFUL WIFE. THE REV. HECTOR M‘PHAIL, of Resolis, was a minister for several years before his conversion. He had married a daughter of the godly Mr. Balfour, minister of Nigg. She had been one of Mr. Porteous’s hearers, and had profited greatly by his preaching. Feeling painfully the difference between her husband’s doctrine and that to which she had been accustomed, she told him, on a Sabbath morning soon after their marriage, that her soul was starving, and that, as all must give place to her care for its welfare, she had resolved to go on that day across to Kilmuir. He offered no opposition; he even accompanied her to the ferry. It was a sad journey the pious wife took that day to Kilmuir. Arriving at the manse before the hour for beginning the service in church, Mr. Porteous was not a little surprised to see her, and, on meeting her, asked very anxiously why she had come. She told him that as her soul was famished at Resolis, she was compelled to