A Goodly Heritage

The glory of the cross of Christ produces powerful effects whereever it shines . . They who behold this glory are transformed into the same image (2 Cor,  3:18) It melts cold and frozen hearts , it breaks stony hearts , it pierces adamants , it penetrates through thich darkness . How justly it is called marvellous light . It gives to the blind to look to itself , and not only to the blind but to the dead . It is the light of life , a powerful light ; its energy is beyond the force of thunder , and is more tender than the dew on the tender grass . But it is impossible fully to describe all its effects , unless we could fully reckon up all the spiritual and eternal evils it prevents , all the riches of grace and glory it purchases , and all the divine perfections it displays . It has this peculiar to it , that as it is full of glory itself , it communicates glory to all that behold it aright . It gives them a glorious robe of righteousness ; their God is their glory ; it calls them ...

Let us be instructed where to look for the cure and rectification of all the evils which afflict the church in our day ! - to the love of the Spirit . By our misimprovement and abuse of our privileges , by our unchristian temper and carriage , by our worldly spirit and untender conversation , we have provoked the Spirit to withdraw from us , and the consequence has been that the glory has departed from our Israel , and ordinances have become in a great measure inefficacious and unsuccessful . " Who hath believed our report , and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ?" Who is convinced of sin ? Who cries out , "What must I do to be saved ?"Who receives the word gladly ?  Who brings forth fruit to perfection ?  Where are the fruits of the gospel , even where it is purely preached ? " Woe is me ! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits , as the grape gleanings of the vintage ; there is no cluster to eat ; my soul desired the first ripe fru...

The Psalms are often said to be deficient as a vehicle of evangelical truth and Christian feeling . Scarcely any charge could be more unfounded . The Psalms are full of Christ . When He himself first tasted the joy of His incarnation , and set His face upon the steep but pleasant path of obedience which ended in Joseph's tomb , He found the words which best described the willingness of His heart in the Book of Psalms . When He gave expression again to those awful sufferings which culminated in the agony of His dereliction , it was in the same portion of the sacred volume that He sought the fitting medium of utterance . And , on the other hand , when an inspired apostle seeks , in the Epistle to the Hebrews , to declare the glory and honour which the risen Saviour received from the hand of His Father as the reward of His redemptive service , it is to the Book of Psalms that He turns for the terms that most appropriately unfold the splendour of the Mediatorial Throne . Again , when ...

These words contain a promise of strength that will be continued to the end of life . It is strength according to our "days "- the use of the plural is significant . The word embraces the number of our days as well as their quality . In other words the Lord gives the assurance that He will sustain His people to the end . This is the crowning assurance of the Gospel , for it puts the seal of permenance on all other blessings of salvation . As the years pass away , the beleiver becomes conscious of failing powers . His eye becomes dim , and his natural force is abated . But although the outward man yields to the withering touch of time , the inward man is renewed day by day . The heart is sustained in hopeful;ness and courage , and the spirit triumphs over the infirmities of the flesh . The Lord will never forsake His peoplle , He will abide with them all their days , and at last , when the pilgrimage of life is ended , He will bring them safe home to be with Himself forever ....

Let us contend against that unbelief whereby the glory of God is darkened , and his fulness , as it were annihilated. If we reflect on the inward workings of our minds , - if we apply ourselves to look into our minds , - we will find great darkness in them ; so that , when we attempt to meditate upon God , we have no right apprehensions of him ; and we do not realise , in Divine things , a weight sufficient to outweigh all the joys and fears of this world , and to cause them to vanish away . The reason of this is , that we do not enter into just views of the glory of God ; and while we continue under this darkness , we are in danger of being deceived by the misrepresentations of unbelief concerning him ;- and are ready to believe , that there is nothing more in him that what we see. This is the case with all those that are in an unconverted state . After they have applied themselves to such thoughts for some time , and cannot attain to any satisfaction ; they are ready just to let the...

Those who are sincere in their profession of religion , are distinguished from hypocrites in this respect , that they entertain a particular solicitude and concern to have matters made sure between God and their souls ; whereas hypocrites , although they do not wish to appear to themselves or others under the character of the enemies of God , still they do not want to come near to him , or into close dealing with him . . They want to preserve a kind of half - religion , which will quiet their consciences and keep them at ease ; they do not truly desire to be brought under the bond of the covenant . For , although everything in the covenant of grace is highly sweetened and seasoned with the love of God ; yet this love is of so pure and exalted a nature , that the heart of the hypocrite cannot bear the splendour of its beams . It is a very important part of that dignity to which the children of God are exalted , and a part of their conformity to Jesus Christ , that they are permitted to...

There are seasons when the soul is truly influenced and led by the Spirit of God . The deceitfulness of the heart is not to be understood of its actings under the influence of the Holy Ghost . The saints are taught in Scripture , to rest and depend upon those things which are truly wrought in them by the Spirit of God . So it is said , 1 John 2 :27 "  But the annointing , which ye have received of him , abideth in you ; and ye need not that any man teach you ; but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things , and is truth , and is no lie and even as it hath taught you , ye shall abide in him ."Here the soundness and sufficiency of those things which the renewed soul has experienced , under the influence of the Holy Ghost , are clearly asserted . Still the deceit of the heart is apt to mingle itself with these actings , although they are under the influence of the Spirit of God ; but the farther the people of God press into these things - the more clearly and distinctly...