A Goodly Heritage

The love of Christ is just as incomprehensible as the mysteries and glory of the Godhead itself . You see Him dwelling there in the bosom of the Father in bliss and glory unutterable , receiving the homage of a holy universe ; and then flinging all this aside , He comes down through all the ranks of the higher intelligences . lower and still lower , till He reaches the depths of suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross , and there pours out His blood that He may wash us from our sins . "From our sins, "- from their deep guilt , and so procuring our eternal forgiveness and God's favour ; and from their power and pollution , and so procuring ourr restoration to the holy image of God . It may well be believed that those for whom all this was done , those whom the Son of God so loved and washed in His own blood , however low and vile and guilty before , would be thus advanced to whatever of dignity and privilege it was in the power of omnipotence to bestow upon such creatures...

How futile all the opposition of earth and of hell to the church of Christ !And how constantly this truth thrusts itself in the sacred pages upon our attention and our faith ! It is one of the golden threads of heavenly truth that runs through and shines in all this book. Like the maddened Jews when they crucified Jesus , men and devils can only do with their wicked hands that which His hand and counsel determined beforehand to be done . How deep must be the guilt , and how fearful the ruin of all who refuse to bow to this Saviour ! How obstinate and wicked the unbelief that with holds from Him the heart's trust , and the life's obedience . Jesus Christ is king . He will rule . Every enemy shall be put down . Having offered Himself as the slain Lamb to redeem the world . "God hath highly exalted Him , and given Him a name that is above every name , that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow , and every tongue confess that He is Lord , to the glory of God the Father. ...

When a whole people have been formed into an army to resist aggression , or to conquer for themselves a home , and when the end is gained , and all enemies are conquered and destroyed , it can no more act as an army ; its existence as such ceases , and its individual soldiers are merged into the triumphant nation , for the fulfilment of those higher functions , and the enjoyment of those nobler activities and pleasures , which were the object of the previous conflict . So with the militant church . When the number of the redeemed is complete , and the conflict in each soul is ended , then the whole design , both of the visible church , and the present course of nature in our fallen world ends , and all these pass away together , and give place to that entirely new and infinitely glorious order of things represented by the New Jerusalem , in heavenly and mysterious splendours , descending out of heaven from God , where , by gradual accretions , she had been preparing for her final inher...

"Weep not" in heart-broken sorrow under the afflictions which may be pressing so heavily upon you.  These are all in the covenant ; every one of them is recorded in that book in the right hand of Him that sitteth on the Throne , as part of the process needed for you purification; and every one of them is administered by the Lamb that was slain for you .The same hand that was nailed to the cross unfolds your whole life's daily history , and does it with unerring wisdom , so as to secure the result promised in the everlasting covenant .     "Weep not" in view of the church's sad imperfections , impurities , and backsliding  , or of her calamities, and the power and hostility of the world, and the darkness of those dispensations of Providence which seem to remove far distant the period of anticipated triumph . All these apostacies and calamities , all opposition and conflicts , are written in that sealed book ; they are as the succeeding revelations fully prov...