A Goodly Heritage

The earthquake was a sign through which God caused the earth to pay royal homage to Jesus , when Jesus died . He" created all things by Jesus Christ ". The Son of God " by whom God made the worlds ,"having passed through the mystery of " the holy incarnation" and the greater mystery of death - at the dread moment when all was over , earth was made to display these signs in honour of her King . Let us have no more abuse of earth , such as it has been thought Christian to indulge in . "O ,call not the earth a barren spot !" Give up confounding the earth with the world of society living in it . We may say , to borrow , with some changes the words of another ; "Our earth owned not Satan but Christ . It felt the pressure of His foot ; its waters sustained His form ; its midnight sky rang with the song of His nativity ; its air bore Him up as He rose  to His Father ; In a golden cloud it provided the Conqueror with a chariot ; its waves and winds ...

1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite , and said 2.Dominion and fear are with him , he maketh peace in his high places . 3. Is there any number of his armies ? and upon whom doth not his light arise ? 4.How then can man be justified with God ?or how can he be clean that is born of a woman ? 5.Behold even to the moon , and it shineth not ; yea the stars are not pure in his sight . 6.How much less man , that is a worm ? and the son of man that is a worm?

In the black fog of one night in London , when with a crash the train came to a standstill near Blackfriars Bridge , "Jump!"said some voice out of the darkness to the guard ; and he answered in his panic , "Which way ?" In the freezing stillness of the last dead-stop , when you must let go from the body , you Christians will not have to say , "Which way?" There will be" hands " held out to catch ; hands that are familiar ; hands that no unassisted light of reason could ever find ; hands that the mighty sceptered souls of antiquity knew nothing of . Even Aristotle , one of the mightiest of them all , was only like a blind man feeling about in the darkness to find these hands , and saying pathetically , "Shamefully did I enter into the world , in anxiety have I lived , in perturbation I die ."    " Voices from Calvary "

The soul needs hourly food . And it is here , that it must seek refreshment . Rich indeed is the repast to which the Gospel calls ! The word , the promises  , the ordinances  , the sacraments ,  are spread as an abundant feast . But it is Christ who constitutes the essence of the nourishment . Apart from Him means of grace are but a choking husk .

The Father chooses the church in Christ , and blesses her with all spiritual blessings in Him . The Son accepts her as his Bride and inheritance , and when fallen , redeems her by his precious blood .The Holy Ghost quickens the souls thus chosen , and makes meet for the inheritance , and seals them for the present enjoyment of it in grace , and the futurt enjoyment of it in glory . And to what does all this redound ,but "to the praise of God's glory?"praise to the Father , praise to the Son , and praise to the Holy Ghost ; Praise to the Father who loved the church and chose her ; praise to the Son who loved the church and gave himself for her ; and praise to the Holy Ghost who loved the church , and seals her unto the glorious day when the purposes of God's grace will all be fulfilled , and the church reign with her covenant Head in glory for ever and ever.

They who have the Spirit of Christ filling them and continuously animating them with new supplies of knowledge , courage , and decision , such as can be traced in the first disciples , succeed in bringing men into living contact with God . The disciples were first visited with a new unction before the blessing spread to the impenitent ; and to look for a great awakening among masses of men before the labourers or preachers of the truth are themselves recipients of the baptism of the Spirit , is to expect the end without the means . It was so at Pentecost . Nothing is so calculated to strike the heart of a callous age as the the arresting spectacle of men filled with the Spirit  -  the awe inspiring spectacle of of men whose hearts the Lord has won , openly separating themselves from the world , that they may invite and persuade men to accept the great salvation . Unless this fresh baptism is maintained in its intensity , or repeatedly renewed , declension will certainly ensue ...