A Goodly Heritage

In one of Edna Lyall’s novels, We Two, we have the story of Erica Raeburn. Erica is the daughter of Luke Raeburn, the sceptic; and she has been taught from infancy to despise all holy things. But as life, with its stress and struggle, goes on, she finds that she cannot satisfy her soul with denials and negations, * At last,’ Edna Lyall says, ‘ Erica’s hopelessness, her sheer desperation, drove her to cry to the Possibly Existent.’ She stood at the open window of her little room, looking out into the summer night. Before she knew what had happened, she was praying ! ‘O God,’ she cried, ‘I have no reason to think that Thou art, except that there is such fearful need of Thee. I can see no single proof in all the world that Thou art here. But af Thou art, O Father, 7f Thou art, help me to know Thee! Show me what is true!’ A few days later the answer came. Erica was at the British Museum, making some extracts, in the ordinary course of her business, from the Lrfe of Livingstone. All at...

Matthew Henry. This may be understood, either figuratively, of the repose of the soul, in the assurance of God's grace, or literally, of the repose of the body, under the protection of His providence. The Psalmist having given the preference to God's favour above any good, having chosen that, and portioned himself in that, here expresses his great complacency in the choice he had made. Those who have the assurances of God's favour toward them, may enjoy, and should labour after, a holy serenity and security of mind. It is the privilege of good people that they may be thus easy and satisfied; and it is their duty to use the means appointed for the obtaining it. The Psalmist, after an anxious day, now retires to his chamber with the words, "I will lay me down in peace, and sleep." Here we have David's pious thoughts when he was going to bed. Observe his confidence in God, his composedness in himself Doctrine: As we must begin the day with God, and wait upon Him...

Of the honor of marriage in regard of the first institution thereof. Great reason there is why marriage should with such honor be solemnized. For it is a most honorable thing. Honorable in the institution, ends, privileges, and mystery thereof. No ordinance was more honorable in the first institution thereof, as is evident by the Author thereof, the Place where it was instituted, the Time when it was instituted, the Persons who were first married, and the Manner of joining them together. 1. The Author and first Institutor of marriage was the Lord God (Gen 2:18,21,22). Could there have been a greater, or any way a more excellent Author? 2. The Place was Paradise; the most fair, glorious, pleasant, honorable, commodious, and every way most excellent place that ever was in this world. Place, though it be but a circumstance, adds much to the honor of a thing. Solemn ordinances are made in honorable places. Thus with us marriages are solemnized in Churches, not in private houses. 3. The Tim...

. The spirit of brotherhood like dew David I. Brotherly love is SILENT, NOT DEMONSTRATIVE. Nothing in nature is more silent than the dew. The rain rattles, the wind howls, and the ocean booms, but the dew descends serenely and unheard. Genuine love is never noisy. The deepest emotions are always the most silent; the shallowest the most tumultuous. II. Brotherly love is VITAL, NOT MECHANICAL How refreshing is the dew! It gives new life and verdure to all it touches. Brotherly love is independent of organizations, it is independent of all social mechanisms. III. Brotherly love is DIVINE RATHER THAN HUMAN. Whence comes the dewy It descends from above. All true love comes from God, as all light from the sun. (David Thomas, D. D.)

The mercy of preservation, both from sin and danger: so in the text; "Keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me", which is explained, ver. 15. "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." We, in ours, and the saints that are gone, in their respective generations, have reaped the fruit of this prayer. How else comes it to pass, that our souls are preserved amidst such a world of temptations, and these assisted and advantaged by our own corruptions? How is it else, that our persons are not ruined and destroyed amidst such multitudes of potent and malicious enemies, that are set on fire of hell? Surely, the preservation of the burning bush, of the three children amidst the flames; of Daniel in the den of lions; are not greater wonders, than these our eyes do daily behold. As the fire would have certainly consumed, and the lions, without doubt, have rent and devoured, had not God, by the in...

1. So far as we are capable of judging, it was a thing in itself indifferent, having nothing in it of an intrinsically moral character. Now, in this view of it, it was peculiarly appropriate. It was a test of subjection to the Divine will; a test, simply considered, of obedience to God. 2. It has been remarked that the circumstances in which Adam was, at his creation, were such as to remove him from all temptations to, and, in some instances, from all possibility of, committing those sins which now most frequently abound amongst his posterity; "which is one thought of considerable importance to vindicate the Divine wisdom in that constitution under which he was placed." 3. We further observe that it was specially appropriate in this, that, from the comparatively little and trivial character of the action prohibited, it taught the important lesson that the real guilt of sin lay in its principle, the principle of rebellion against God's will; not in the extent of the misc...

7 HERE are six things in the life of Noah 1 The warning 2 The fear 3 The ark 4 The sal vation 5 The condemnation 6 The righteous ness I The warning The word is the same as is used regarding Joseph and the young child in a dream Matt ii 12 22 regarding Simeon Luke ii 26 regarding Cornelius by an angel Acts x 22 The warning was a divine one how given we know not whether by voice or vision or dream or angel As the sons of God still worshipped in front of Paradise where the shekinah rested it might be from the glory that the God of glory spoke to Noah as afterwards to Abraham The warning was explicit and unconditional regarding coming danger and destruction God announced that He meant to bring a flood upon the earth for total destruction whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished There has been a warning sounding through the ages Behold the Lord cometh It is the warning of a more terrible deluge than that of Noah a fiery deluge in the day of the vengeance of our ...