A Goodly Heritage

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