A Goodly Heritage

"Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him."--  Isaiah 64:4 . THIS CHAPTER is a casket of precious jewels. Let us look at some of them! What wonder that St. Paul loved that fourth verse, which he quotes in  1Corinthians 2:9 ! Here we read that God works for those who wait for Him; to the Apostle these words conveyed the thought that those who wait for Him must be those who love Him, and that God has thought out His prepared plan, so that they have only to believe in Him and go forward, to find that the path has been levelled for them to walk in. Those that love God are not afraid of the mountains that block their way; they know that God will make them flow down, and will reveal a pathway for their steps. The men of this world, from of old, have never heard with the ear, nor perceived with the eye, what our God will do for His own! Often, a...

 THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY. When God's secrets break open, they do so in glory. The wealth of the root hidden in the ground is revealed in the hues of orchid or scent of rose. The hidden beauty of a beam of light is unravelled in the sevenfold coloUr of the rainbow. The swarming, infinitesimal life of southern seas breaks into waves of phosphorescence when cleft by the keel of the ship. And whenever the unseen world has revealed itself to mortal eyes, it has been in glory. It was especially so at the Transfiguration, when the Lord's nature broke from the strong restraint within which He confined it and revealed itself to the eye of man. "His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as light." So when we accept the fact of His existence within us deeper than our own, and make it one of the aims of our life to draw on it and develop it, we shall be conscious of a glory transfiguring our life and irradiating ordinary things, such as will make eart...

Amos 6:7. A picture is given in the following chapters of the luxury and self indulgence of the people . Stretched on couches inlaid with ivory , choosing the rarest dainties , accompanying their voices on the lute , ,and drinking wine from flowing bowls , they were indifferent to the wounds from which the national life- blood was pouring . "They were not agrieved for the affliction of Joseph "  The same behaviour is only too common amongst ourselves . Indeed , this temptation besets us all . If only we are well supplied with the comforts and luxuries of life , we are apt to become thoughtless of the miseries of poverty and misfortune . If our own heaven is secure , we are apt to enwrap ourselves with an atmosphere of satisfaction and composure , without taking sufficiently to heart the needs of the great world of sin and sorrow around .    "The affliction of Joseph "reminds us of the scene at the pits mouth ; how Joseph's brethren sat down to eat bread , while...

"O man greatly beloved ,fear not ; peace be unto thee, be strong , yea be strong ." Daniel 10 ; 19. Why should we fear ! We are loved , greatly beloved ; loved to God's uttermost ; loved to the gift of his Only begotten ; loved to tears ; loved to blood shedding and death . It is said that Jesus , having loved his own , which were in the world , loved them unto the end ; not to the end of his human ministry , but to the uttermost of what love can be (John 13 :1)  Why should we fear ? Has God done so much , and will he not do all ! Has he brought us out of Egypt to let us perish in the wilderness ? Is he so careful of the soul , and so careless of all beside ? There are mysteries - mysteries of life and death , of sin and sorrow , of this world and the next ; but fear not ; God is ours , and we are his by immutable and indissoluble ties .       Let us possess ourselves in peace . We cannot understand , but we can trust . we may not know the way we are goi...

Quietness amid the accusations of Satan . The great accuser points to the stains of our past lives , by which we have defiled our robes , and those of others ; he says we shall fail again and again ; he imputes evil motives to our holiest actions , and detects flaws in our most sacred services ; he raises so great a hub-bub that we can hardly hear another voice within our souls . Then the great Intercessor arises and says , " The Lord rebuke thee , O Satan; the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee ; I have loved thee with an everlasting love , I have paid the ransom."  So "He giveth quietness "   Quietness amid the dash of the storm .   We sail the Lake with Him still , and as we reach its middle waters , far from land , under midnight skies , suddenly a great storm sweeps down . Earth and hell seem arrayed against us , and each billow threatens to overwhelm .  Then He arises from His sleep , and rebukes the wind and the waves ; his hand waves benedictio...

Malachi 4.2.At the end of the Old Testament it is meet that the sun should break out .The morning that broke on Paradise was clear enough . It was without clouds . But the sky soon became darkened , and at last veiled , and only here and there a chink of the blue sky left . All through the dark succeeding centuries there have been gleams of sunshine to let man know that the sun was shining still . Every precious promise , every solemn type , every holy life , that was bathed in supernatural beauty , was like the shining forth of the sun through the bars of human darkness and sin . But evidently more was in store than Old Testament saints had dreamed ; and the time was coming when the reign of type , symbol , and parable would be succeeded by the clear vision of the face of God .     We live in days of open vision . Let us go forth and exult . We are to rejoice in every good thing He gives us . As the young calves of the spring manifest their exuberant life in their caper...

"Hezekiah the king , and the prophet Isaiah , prayed and cried to heaven" (2Chron. 32  20) It was the indignity done to Jehovah that stirred these two holy men to the heart . Not that their lives , and the lives of their people , and the beautiful holy city , were in danger ; but that Sennacherib  spoke against the God of Jerusalem , as against the gods of the people of the earth , which were the works of the hands of man . Oh that we were possessed with a similar zeal  for God , so that we might look at sin as it affects Him , and lament over the awful wrongs which are continually being perpetrated against his holy nature ! What an argument this would give us in prayer!   This constitutes a special reason why we should plead for a revival of religion throughout our land . Men speak and act so shamelessly , as though God had abdicated his throne , and was hardly to be taken account of . They sin against Him , with so high a hand , and treat his laws with so muc...

"The King and all the people came weary , and refreshed themselves there" . 2 Samuel 16:14. A great weariness often falls on our souls . We are wearied because of the greatness of our way, and inclined to say that there is no hope . Memory tires us ,perpetually casting up the record of past unfaithfulness and transgressions . The bitter way of the natural consequences of sin is toilsome and difficult to the feet . We faint before the averted eye of former friends and the pitiless criticism of foes . Longings for a vanished past , for life and love , for purity and peace , grind heavily in the soul . Our King has known something of human weariness , though not from all the sources that cause it in his subjects .   But amidst our weariness the voice of God may be heard saying , "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing ,"  There is rest for weary souls beneath the shadow of the cross , in the sight of which the burden roll...

Job. 5.  18. "He maketh sore and bindeth up; he woundeth , and his hands make whole " Has this been your experience lately ? Have you been made sore by the heavy scourge of pain , and wounded by the nails of the cross? Do not look at second causes . Men may have been instruments , but God is the agent . The cup has been presented by a Judas , but the Father permitted it ; and it is therefore the cup that the Father has given you to drink . Shall you not drink it ? How much he must love you , to dare to inflict this awful discipline , which makes your love and trust , that he values so infitely , tremble in the scale ! "despise not thou the chastening of the Lord , nor faint when thou art rebuked of him , and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth ."       So when the heart seems bleeding its life away , God is at work binding up and healing . Think of those dear and tender hands , that fashioned the heavens , and touched the eyes of the blind , as laid upo...

When the real life of God enters the soul , it persists there . Genuine religion is shown by its persistence . Anything short of a God given faith will sooner or later fail . It may run well for a time , but its pace will inevitably slacken till it comes to an end . The youths faint and are weary , and the young men utterly fall . The seed sown on the rock springs up quickly , and as quickly dies down and perishes . But where there is a rooting andd grounding in God , there is a perpetuity and persistence which outlives all storms and survives all resistance . You shall hold on your way because Jesus holds you in His strong hand . He is your shepherd ; he has vanquished all your foes , and you shall never perish . You shall hold your way because the Father has designed through you to glorify the Son ; and there must be no gaps in his crown where jewels ought to be .  You will hold on your way because the Holy Spirit has deigned to make you His residence and home , and He is within ...

O Lord , revive thy work in the midst of the years. Hab 3v2. When we are oppressed with the state of the church and the world , as Habakkuk was , there is no resource but to turn to God . It is of no use to say to our brother , "What shall we do. "Better at once to get into the presence of the Almighty . All conferences with flesh and blood are wasted breath , unless ther has been a previous one with God . Note the unselfishness of the prayer which precedes revival . We must not pray ,"Revive my work ,"lest the insidious temptation come in of using the stream of God's blessings to turn our own tiny water wheels for our own profit . Let us get beyond the narrow limits of our church or section and ask for a revival of GOD'S work everywhere . If any preach another Gospel than that which the Apostles preached , let him be accursed ; he is selling bran for wheat ; he is filling cartridges with sand. We want nothing but the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ ,...