A Goodly Heritage

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you. Hosea 5:1 Here is a summons to all sorts of judgment. Three classes are named, "priests, people, house of the king." All sorts are cited to judgment, for corruption was gone over all. 1.  When God comes in ways of judgment, He expects we should seriously incline our minds to what He is doing. We should not only "hear," but "hearken," and "give ear." We are bound to hearken and to give ear to God's commanding word; but if we refuse it, He will have us to hear and give ear to His threatening word; and if that be refused, He will force us to hear and give ear to His condemning word. 2.  Generality in sins is no means to escape God's judgments. With men "one and all" is a word of security. Men think, I do but as others do, and I shall escape as well as they. With men this is somewhat, with God it is ...

[In the Sermon on the Mount]  Christ begins with the poor and ends with the persecuted, when he would shew who are the most blessed men in the world. My brethren, see whether the wisdom of Christ be like the wisdom of the world, yea or no. When you would describe a blessed man, would you begin with the  poor  and end with the  persecuted?  Oh the wisdom of Christ! It is not according to the wisdom of the world. The thoughts of Christ concerning blessedness are not according to the thoughts of the world. And then, secondly, this is to be wondered at, that Christ should have need to speak of the blessedness of those that are persecuted, after he had mentioned the blessedness of the former. What! Blessed are the  peacemakers , and blessed are the  persecuted?  What agreement is there between these two or what connection can there be? For if a man be of a peaceable disposition, who will harm him? Why, surely they will escape persecution of all men...

Christ teaches self-denial and how that brings contentment. 1. Such a person learns to know that he is nothing.  He comes to this, to be able to say, 'Well, I see I am nothing in myself.' That man or woman who indeed knows that he or she is nothing, and has learned it thoroughly will be able to bear anything. The way to be able to bear anything is to know that we are nothing in ourselves. God says to us, 'Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not' ( Proverbs 23:5) speaking of riches. Why, blessed God, do not you do so? you have set your heart upon us and yet we are nothing. God would not have set our hearts upon riches, because they are nothing, and yet God is pleased to set his heart upon us, and we are nothing: that is God's grace, free grace, and therefore it does not much matter what I suffer, for I am as nothing. 2. I deserve nothing.  I am nothing, and I deserve nothing. Suppose I lack this and that thing which others have? I am sure that I deser...

"It may be a use of a great deal of encouragement to all the ministers of God to preach to people. It may be that sometimes even they are discouraged, and think to themselves, "Lord, how hard are the hearts of men, and how difficult it is to work upon the hearts of men! I have labored with all my might. I have studied and sought to invent all the arguments I possibly could, the most moving arguments that I could possibly imagine. When I have been in my study, I have thought to myself, 'Surely if the Lord is pleased to bless these truths that I am to deliver, they will work upon the hearts of people.'" And when it comes to the preaching of that sermon, perhaps the minister finds that they are not at all stirred one whit. "Why, Lord, what shall I do then? I cannot think ever to speak things that are more powerful than those that I have spoken, and those have done no good. Therefore I am afraid I shall never do good." "Oh, no, do not say so and do...

"Secondly, In that Christ that is God-man, in one person, calls us to come to him: hence we have this Meditation, That certainly, the Lord is infinitly inclined to do good unto the Children of men, this is a mighty encouragement for all poor Souls to come to Christ, for when thou hearest, that Christ the Son of God is made man in one person, by that thou mayest gather this for thy encouragement, that certainly God is infinitly inclined to do good unto the Children of men, God would never Have wrought so strange a work, as to unite our Natures into one person with his Son, if he had not meant to do some infinite good unto mankind; the Lord hath given a most evident demonstration of it, in uniting mans Nature to his own Son. As if the King should be pleased to marry his Son to one that is the nearest Kinswoman you have, you would by that gather such an argument as this, and all your friends would conclude, surely the King doth intend much good to this family, that he is strongly i...

"It may be a use of a great deal of encouragement to all the ministers of God to preach to people. It may be that sometimes even they are discouraged, and think to themselves, "Lord, how hard are the hearts of men, and how difficult it is to work upon the hearts of men! I have labored with all my might. I have studied and sought to invent all the arguments I possibly could, the most moving arguments that I could possibly imagine. When I have been in my study, I have thought to myself, 'Surely if the Lord is pleased to bless these truths that I am to deliver, they will work upon the hearts of people.'" And when it comes to the preaching of that sermon, perhaps the minister finds that they are not at all stirred one whit. "Why, Lord, what shall I do then? I cannot think ever to speak things that are more powerful than those that I have spoken, and those have done no good. Therefore I am afraid I shall never do good." "Oh, no, do not say so and d...

The gospel of Christ is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ. As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in the chains of eternal darkness, yet He has thought upon the children of men and has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again. The second Person in the Trinity takes man’s nature upon Himself, and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with sin. He answers for it by suffering what the law and divine justice required, and by making satisfaction for keeping the law perfectly. This satisfaction and righteousness He tenders up to the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls that are given to Him. And now this mediation of Christ is, by the appointment of the Father, preached to the children of men, of whatever nation or rank, freely offering this atonement unto sinners for atonement, requiring th...

I say the poorest Christian who lives is raised to a position above all creatures in the world except angels, and above them in many respects too- and yet discontented! That you who were as a firebrand of hell, and might have been scorching and yelling and roaring there to all eternity, yet that God should raise you to have a higher excellence in you than there is in all the works of creation that ever he made except angels, and other Christians, who are in your position! Indeed, you are nearer the Divine nature than the angels, because your nature is joined in a hypostatical union to the Divine nature, and in that respect your nature is more honored than the nature of the angels. And the death of Christ is yours. He died for you and not for the angels, and therefore you are likely to be raised above the angels in many respects. You who are in such a position as this, you who are set apart to the end that God might manifest to all eternity what the infinite power of a Deity is able to...

The Devil is the most discontented creature in the world, he is the proudest creature that is, and the most discontented creature, and the most dejected creature. Now, therefore, so much discontent as you have, so much of the spirit of Satan you have. It was the unclean spirit that went up and down and found no rest; so when a man or woman's spirit has no reset, it is a sign that it has much of the unclean spirit, of the spirit of Satan, and you should think with yourself, Oh, Lord, have I the spirit of Satan upon me? Satan is the most discontented spirit that is, and oh! how much of his spirit have I upon me who can find no rest at all? 12. IF YOU HAVE A MURMURING SPIRIT, YOU MUST THEN HAVE DISQUIET ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE.