A Goodly Heritage

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