A Goodly Heritage

"Go in and possess the land." – Deuteronomy 10:2 Israel passed through many changes in their history; but here we have its termination– the possession of the land. They were bondsmen, wanderers, outsiders, borderers; but they were not to remain such; they were to possess the land. Here their earthly history, which began with Abraham, ends. Let us learn from this something as to ourselves and our history. I. We are not to be without a land. We are to have a country and a city. When in the world, we have these in a certain way, but they are all carnal, they pass from us and we from them. The world's cities and possessions will not do for us. They cannot fill us, nor satisfy us, nor abide with us. Hence, even when in the world, we are truly strangers; landless, cityless, homeless. And after we have come out from the world we are strangers, though not as before; for a land, a city, a home have been secured to us. Sinners, God offers you the better Canaan! II. We are not to...

There’s nae Bible noo, lassie, There’s nae Bible noo ! The Buke abune a’ bukes, lassie, Is a’ broken through. There’s nae Confession noo, lassie, There’s nae creed ava’ ! They’ve a’ gaen by like gloamin’ ghosts ; They’ve melted like the snaw. There’s nae Sabbath noo, lassie, There’s nae Sabbath noo : The holy day our fathers loved Is a’ broken through. There’s nae Gospel noo, lassie, There’s nae Covenant blood : There’s nae altar noo, lassie, There’s nae Lamb o’ God. There’s nae Erskine branch, lassie, There’s nae Gillespie shoot; O’ a’ the Marrow plants, lassie, Not ane has taken root. There’s nae Chalmers noo, lassie, There’s nae gude M'Cheyne ; And the dear, dear cross they preached, lassie, The dear, dear cross is gane. Folks dinna want a cross, lassie, They’ve cutten doun the tree ; And naebody believes it, But fules like you and me. The narrow way to glory Is now a wide, smooth road ; The gate that was sae strait, lassie, They’ve made it big and broad. And a’ will get to hea...

The subject suggested by these words is, "lies, their fruit, and man's eating it;" or simply, "lies and their fruit." The word 'lie' is used in a twofold sense– a lie as to fact, and a lie as to doctrine; untrue reports and unsound teaching, false testimony and false knowledge (or theology). This falsity may be negative or positive, as "You shall not surely die," and "You shall be as gods." The lie comes sometimes from man, sometimes from Satan, but never from God, for God is not a man that he should lie; never from the works of God when rightly interpreted and understood. By two great lies man was led away from God. By the same two lies has the estrangement been kept up. On these two lies the world has been feeding ever since the fall. Their fruit has been woe and death. These lies are those referred to above– the one a denial of Godhead perfection; the other, an assertion of creature-perfection; the one saying, there is no such t...

The religious atmosphere of the present time is much changed from what it was in my younger days; and I may be allowed to note the difference. The theological crisis through which we are passing is a peculiar one, such as the men of fifty years ago would have thought very unlikely; and I wish to mark some of its more important characteristics. These are becoming more and more distinct in outline and “pronounced” in character every year. A quarter of a century ago, it was not quite evident what they meant or whither they were tending. Now there is less of reserve, and the repulsion between Revelation and much of modern thought is expressing itself in many ways, and through many channels. Man is now thinking out a Bible for himself; framing a religion in harmony with the development of liberal thought; constructing a worship on the principles of taste and culture; shaping a god to suit the expanding aspirations of the age. The process of evolution on all these points is so satisfactory ...

As thy days, so shall thy strength be;"—Deuteronomy 33:25. BELOVED, IT SEEMS A SAD THING that every  day  must die and be followed by a night. When we have seen the hills clad with verdure to their summit, and the seas laving their base with a silver glory; when we have stretched our eye faraway, and have seen the widening prospect full of loveliness and beauty we have felt sad that the sunlight should ever set upon such a scene, and that so much beauty should be shrouded in the oblivion of darkness. But how much reason have we to bless God for nights! for if it were not for nights how much of beauty never would be discovered. Never should I have considered the heavens the work of thy fingers, O my God, if thou hadst not first covered the sun with a thick mantle of darkness: the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, had never been bright in mine eyes, if thou hadst not hidden the light of the sun and bidden him retire within the curtains of the west. Night seems to...

In these passages of our Lord's Word, beloved in Him, we have first set down the earthly witnesses that came to the grave to seek our Lord after He was risen from the dead. And they be of two sorts. The first sort of them are public men in a public charge, Peter and John, the Lord's disciples; and how they sought Christ, and what speed they came in seeking Him! The second sort of persons are private persons coming to seek our Lord, Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had before cast seven devils. And good reason that such think meikle [much] of our Lord, who have gotten renewed souls, or any good thing from Him. Then we have the fruit that follows the apostles' seeking of our Lord. They go their ways home again and find Him not. Again you have the fruit of this woman's seeking of Him. She will not give over her seeking Him, albeit she cannot find Him at the first. Indeed it is a blessed thing for a poor soul to wait on still at Christ's door till they get Him, albeit t...