A Goodly Heritage

  .   CALAMITIES OF LIFE TO MEN STANDING ALONE. Without any faith in God, or idea of the gracious meaning there is in earthly trouble. How such men fret and chafe, and question why they have to suffer, and give way to rebellious thoughts! Too often troubles only harden them, and drive them further still from God. II.  CALAMITIES OF LIFE TO MEN UNDER GOD'S WRATH. These must take intense and severe forms. They must first crush and humble, breaking down proud wills and rebellious spirits. They must first look like overwhelming judgments, and then, if men will respond to them, they shall seem to be gracious chastisements and refinings. III.  CALAMITIES OF LIFE TO MEN UNDER GOD'S MERCY. This opens the whole subject of God's refining and purifying of his people. We all have so much tin and dross mingled with our gold, and it is so good of God that he will not let the dross stay. With his "fires" and his "lye" he will graciously refine us, until all the dross i...

  THE INEXCUSABLENESS OF UNBELIEF. As powerfully set forth by Jesus Christ in this passage, this is to be observed in three respects. 1.  Christ's words, his incomparable teaching, were a witness to his authority, and should have been received with reverence, gratitude, and faith. It should have been an all-sufficient witness to him who spake as never man spake. The truths he revealed, the laws he imposed, the promises he gave, were all such as would have commanded the respect of those morally prepared to appreciate the utterances of One who came from heaven. 2.  Christ's marvelous works were well fitted to second the impression produced by his words. They, indeed, appealed to an inferior faculty of human nature, but they were necessary in order to the completeness and justice of the impression to be made upon the minds of our Lord's contemporaries. His enemies did not deny the reality of our Lord's miracles, but they misinterpreted them, attributing them, by an absurd ...

Psalm 77:4 R. Tuck Comparing ver. 3, we find that, lying awake, the psalmist had "remembered God," or, more precisely, had "thought upon God." It is true that the thought had only brought him trouble, but the occupation was good, whatever it brought him. Comp.  Psalm 4:4 , "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still;"  Psalm 63:6 , "When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches." As the cause of less of sleep is generally a physical condition, and often brain disease of some kind, men usually at such times take sombre, dreary, and distressing views. They are never so ready to "write bitter things against themselves as when they lie awake at night." It is well to see clearly that the views taken at such times are almost always untrue and unworthy, and can seldom be hopefully made the guide of conduct or the basis of important decisions. And proper correction of gloomy night views should be made ...

  During the great Welsh revival, it is said a minister was marvellously successful in his preaching. He had but one sermon, but under it hundreds of men were saved. Far away from where he lived, in a lonely valley, news of this wonderful success reached a brother preacher. Forthwith he became anxious to find out the secret of this success. He started out, and walked the long and weary road, and, at length, reaching the humble cottage where the good minister lived, he said, “Brother, where did you get that sermon?” He was taken into a poorly furnished room, and pointed to a spot where the carpet was worn shabby and bare, near a window that looked out towards the solemn mountains, and the minister said, “Brother, that is where I got that sermon. My heart was heavy for men. One evening I knelt there, and cried for power to preach as I had never preached before. The hours passed until midnight struck, and the stars looked down on a sleeping valley and the silent hills; but the answer ...

  THE TRANSITORINESS OF ALL EARTHLY THINGS. All nature echoes the message of the grass. The winter snow falls lightly, and lies in its white purity - mystic, wonderful - over all the land; but too soon it soils, and browns, and sinks, and passes all away. The spring flowers that come, responsive to the low sunshine and the gentle breath, are so fragile, they stay with us only such a little while, and then they pass away. The summer blossoms multiply and stand thick over the ground, and they seem strong, with their deep rich colouring; and yet they too wither and droop and pass away. The autumn fruits cluster on the tree branches, and grow big, and win their soft rich bloom of ripeness; but they too are plucked in due season, and pass away. The gay dress of varied leafage is soon stripped off with the wild winds; one or two trembling leaves cling long to the outmost boughs; but, by-and-by, even they fall and pass away. Down every channel of the hillsides are borne the crumblings was...

  What is the “straight” line to heaven? Far, far away is the eternal, electing love of God. The visible starting-place is a sense of sin, and a sincere desire for pardon and peace with God. Next is a feeling of forgiveness through the mercy of God by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This leads on to peace. And then peace runs into love. And love goes on into a new and holy life,—a life dedicate, a life loving, a life of usefulness, a life for heaven. This line of life grows broader and broader as it goes on. And it also grows humbler and humbler, till it is all Christ, and no self. And so it brings the traveller to heaven. And not to stay there, but to go on, in the same line,  straighter still , perfectly “straight,” for ever and ever! Thus the “straight” line is—repentance, pardon, peace, love, holiness, usefulness, humility, heaven. Each runs into the other; and they make one line. J Vaughan

Spencer. Luther was offered to be made a cardinal if be would be quiet. He answered, "No, not if I might be pope," and defends himself thus against those that thought him haply a proud fool for his pains: "Let me be counted fool, or anything, so I be not found guilty of cowardly silence." The Papists, when they could not rule him, railed at him, and called him an apostate. He confesseth the action, and saith, "I am indeed an apostate, but a blessed and holy apostate — one that hath fallen off from the devil." Then they called him devil; but what saith he? "Luther is a devil; be it so: but Christ liveth and reigneth; that's enough for Luther: so be it." Nay, such was the activity of Luther's spirit, that, when Erasmus was asked by the Elector of Saxony why the pope and his clergy could so little abide Luther, he answered, "For two great offences — meddling with the pope's triple crown and the monk's fat paunches." And hen...