A Goodly Heritage

Can we do anything to render our death—which cannot be far off—both safe and comfortable? No doubt, by God's grace, we can do much to accomplish these desirable ends if we will set about the work in good earnest. I know that there is a feeling of despondency habitually existing in the minds of some aged people of serious disposition, which leads them to conclude that, if they are not now prepared to die, they never will be. And from all the acquaintance which I have had with professors of religion, I am constrained to think that, as their near approach to the grave does not increase their impressions of the importance of eternal realities. In like manner, old age has no tendency to render the evidences of their union with Christ more clear and satisfactory. You may frequently inquire of a dozen such professors in succession, whether they have obtained a comfortable assurance of the goodness of their spiritual condition, and the probability is that four out of five, if not nine...

I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: Fear ye not.—Hag. 2:4, 5. When the Lord calls his people to great work, or grievous sufferings, he animates them with strong consolations; for as their day is, their strength shall be. This passage shines bright, as it manifests the most comforting views and clearest discoveries of covenant-grace and love to saints of old, engaged in a very arduous work of Jehovah. "Whatever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we might have hope."—Rom. 15:4. Our hope is established and strengthened through patience and comfort of the scriptures; and as they encourage our hope, they also forbid our fears; as if salvation was precarious and uncertain, as though the foundation of hope rested upon conditions we fulfil to secure it. Blessed be God faith hath a surer anchor-hold, even the word, the covenant, the oath of...

 nd Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him?—Judg. 6:31. When the Lord Jesus appears and manifests himself to the soul, it is so struck with his glory and grace, that it cries out in holy ecstasy, "What have I to do any more with idols?"— Hos.14:8—and an altar for spiritual worship is presently set up in the heart, and consecrated to Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord of peace. In this chapter is a sweet view of the zeal of Gideon for the true worship of Jehovah. He instantly obeyed the word of Jesus, the angel of the presence, the man, the PEACE who appeared to him, and at his command he threw down the altar of Baal. He expected opposition from his Father's household and from the men of the city, therefore he did it by night. A blessed instance of the obedience of faith joined to sanctified reason. As to the consequence after the work done, he "conferred not with flesh and blood;" he was "in nothing terrified by his adve...

Psalm 14. The fool says in his heart  , there is no God.  What does he say? "There is no God." Why, everything he sees, hears, touches, contradicts him. The very worm he treads on, yea, every blade of grass, affirms "There is a God." We are all ready to admit that he who denies this is a fool. But stop; observe in what way he says it. Not with his lips, but in his heart. How many things are said there but never spoken out, God and ourselves only know. And it is not the mind or the understanding which says it, but the heart, the affections. His understanding may not deny, but his heart does. In his affections, his desires, his thoughts, his life, his conduct are all as if there were no God. If the life be taken as proof, how many of these fools there are. For they never pray, they never regard God as the orderer of their lives. They speak of chance, accident, but put God out of the question. And they never think of asking His direction in any of their actions; His b...

Psalm 14. The heavy fact of widespread corruption presses on the Psalmist, and starts a train of thought which begins with a sad picture of the deluge of evil, rises to a vision of God's judgment of and on it, triumphs in the prospect of the sudden panic which shall shake the souls of all the "workers of iniquity," when they see that God is with the righteous, and ends with a sigh for the coming of that time. The staple of the poem is but the familiar contrast of a corrupt world and a righteous judge who judges, but it is cast in very dramatic and vivid form here. We listen first to the Psalmist's judgment of his generation. Eras of great culture and material prosperity may have a very seamy side, which eyes accustomed to the light of God cannot fail to see. The root of the evil lay, as the Psalmist believed, in a practical dental of God, and whoever thus denied Him was a "fool." Practical denial or neglect, of His working in the world, rather than a creed ...

The palm grows not in the depths of the forest or in a fertile loam, but in the desert. Its verdure often springs apparently from the scorching dust. "It is a friendly lighthouse, guiding the traveller to the spot where water is to be found." The tree is remarkable for its beauty, its erect aspiring growth, its leafy canopy, its waving plumes, the emblem of praise in all ages. Its very foliage is the symbol of joy and exultation. It never fades, and the dust never settles upon it. It was, therefore, twisted into the booths of the Feast of Tabernacles, was borne aloft by the multitude that accompanied the Messiah to Jerusalem, and it is represented as in the hands of the redeemed in heaven. For usefulness, the tree is unrivalled. Gibbon says that the natives of Syria speak of 360 uses to which the palm is applied. Its shade refreshes the traveller. Its fruit restores his strength. When his soul fails for thirst, it announces water. Its stones are ground for his camels. Its le...