A Goodly Heritage

There are several thoughts in mend hearts about Christ's dying. 1. Some think of Christ's death as brought about by the wicked hands of sinners. This is a poor thought, if there be no more. This thought is natural to any that read the history of his death. Carnal men may hate Judas that betrayed him, Pilate that condemned him, the priests that cried Crucify Him, and the people that did it. If this be all, I may say, the devils have a higher thought of Christ's death, and that which comes nearer to the truth, than this sorry one. 2. Some go further, and think of Christ's death as it was a fulfilling of the purpose and word of God concerning him. This Christ teacher us in Luke xxi y. 26, 44, 46.; and the apostles frequently in their preaching of Christ. 3. There is a higher thought of Christ's death; and that is, That Christ died, by the stroke of God's law and justice, for his people. Justice roused itself against our Lord: Zech. xiii. 7. Awake, O sword, against ...

The song of the flock, View it-- I. AS EXPRESSING THANKFULNESS FOR THE PAST. Jehovah, all-sufficient, has been my Shepherd. Many there are who can see no better law or principle regulating the allotments of their daily life than accident and capricious fortune. They see the shuttles of apparent chance darting hither and thither in the loom of existence. They do not see that the shuttle is in the hands of the Great Artificer. Life is not a mere kaleidoscope. II. AS IMPLYING CONFIDENCE IN THE PRESENT. Jesus, all-sufficient, is my Shepherd. How blessed thus to repose our present in God, and to say, “Undertake Thou for me.” He does not consult our short-sighted wisdom in what He does. A necessary result of this confidence in the wisdom of God’s shepherd dealings will be contentment with our lot, whatever it is. And if we thus confide in God He will confide in us. III. AS EXPRESSING TRUST FOR THE FUTURE. Jehovah, all-sufficient, shall be my Shepherd. That dark future. How many are speaking ...

Saving grace respects and works on the new nature. Special grace not only change a man's state, nor his old corrupt nature only: but it works on this new nature wrought by grace. The special operation of the grace of God, in and from the fountain, is upon his own new creation in the hearts of his children. We cannot conceive it fully; our minds are not able to take in these depths of God. We hear from, . and read in the word, of the intimate correspondence the Lord entertains with them in whom he dwells. Christ dwells in the heart by faith, Eph. iii. 17. His Spirit dwells in his people, Rom. viii. 9, 10, 11. But what, is it in their hearts that he dwells in? He dwells in his own workmanship in their hearts, in his own new creation, in his own garden that he hath planted in them. There his presence is, and there his eye is, on that his hand is; this is that he waters, and carefully looks after. "When a believer comes to the throne of grace, for this grace, he comes to beg that ...

How wonderful redeeming love is. God so loved the world as to send his only-begotten Son to assume our nature, after it had been debased by sin. He laid help for us upon One who is mighty; and said concerning us, "Deliver them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." Consider who it was whom God the Father sent to redeem us. It was not an angel nor archangel; it was none of the naming seraphim around his celestial throne. Had he spared one of his own retinue from attending him, and given such a glorious servant as an angel for the redemption of such a sinful and despicable creature as fallen man, it would have been a bright display of love. But how immense, how astonishing his loving kindness! He gave not an angel, but the Lord of angels; not a servant, but a Son, a dearly beloved, an only-begotten Son! And how marvellous is the love of the dear Redeemer himself, in condescending to assume to himself our nature, with all its sinless infirmities, that he might be ca...