# devotions

devotion:
<i> And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. - <a href='B:20 14:15'>Exo 14:15</a>. </i><p>WE may consider this command three ways:-First, In reference to the journey of the Israelites. Now, to judge of this command, we have only to reflect upon the condition of the people; the army of Pharaoh was behind them, and the sea was immediately before them, and to go forward would be to advance into the sea itself; but we may observe that God&rsquo;s commands are so many intimations and assurances of success. &ldquo;Go forward,&rdquo; saith God to Moses. Did he say, &ldquo;What, Lord, and be drowned in the sea?&rdquo; No; but they went forward, and the waters opened before them, and they passed through the sea as on dry ground. Now all this is very instructive and interesting. It teaches us to do all things in religion &ldquo;without murmurings and disputings,&rdquo; and that nothing more becomes us than a childlike disposition, exercising implicit confidence in God, and unquestioning obedience to his commands. And this will apply to declarations as well as to commands. What he has revealed we are to believe on the authority of the Speaker. It will also apply to the dispensations of divine providence. When any of these seem to be at variance with our views, we are to remember that &ldquo;all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, Let us consider this command in reference to ourselves, for if Christians, we are on our way from Egypt to Canaan, &ldquo;seeking a better country, even a heavenly;&rdquo; and it becomes us to be always advancing in &ldquo;the way everlasting.&rdquo; Christians are therefore enjoined to &ldquo;go forward.&rdquo; It is an awful thing when instead of this any go backward. The Ephesians went backward, and so were called to &ldquo;repent&rdquo; and do their &ldquo;first works,&rdquo; and to exemplify their &ldquo;first love,&rdquo; or lose the privileges with which they were indulged. Christian went back in order to find and fetch the roll which had dropped from his bosom while he slept in the arbour. Alas! how far many Christians have gone back and are ready to say- <p>&ldquo;Where is the blessedness I knew, <p> When first I saw the Lord?&rdquo; </i><p>It is also a sad thing for Christians, instead of going forward to be only stationary. Let us then go forward, fighting the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life.<p>Thirdly, Let us view this command in reference to the progress of time. Time is always advancing. The hour-glass, the day or week, the years all &ldquo;go forward.&rdquo; We are another year nearer now than at the beginning of the past year. Nearer where-what? Conscience, answer. But how are we to go forward?<p>Let us take the following admonitions for our march-first, go forward with humbleness of mind; let us not go strutting into the new year as if we had been acting wisely, worthily, or meritoriously throughout the past year, but with penitent reflections upon the sins of our weekday, and of our Sabbath-day sins, so that we may gratefully acknowledge that &ldquo;it is of the Lord&rsquo;s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.&rdquo;<p>And therefore, Secondly, With gratitude in remembrance of his mercies. They have been &ldquo;new every morning.&rdquo; What preserving, supplying, supporting, and satisfying mercies have we daily received. Thirdly, Under a sense of present aid; in opposition to our complainings and murmurings, distinguishing between our deserts and supplies.<p>Fourthly, With a firm confidence as to what may befall us in the future. His promises more than meet all our circumstances, and provide for all contingencies of futurity, for we know who hath said, &ldquo;I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,&rdquo; and that as our day so shall our strength be.<p>Fifthly, With earnest and constant prayer; neglecting prayer, our souls will be constantly exposed to danger, whereas if we abound in this, our souls will &ldquo;prosper and be in health.&rdquo; Let us then be coming daily to the &ldquo;throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace to help us in every time of our need;&rdquo; and, lastly, with frequent, thoughts of our journey&rsquo;s end. And it will have an end, and we are brought one year nearer to it.<p>We may die this year If we are Christians, we may this year get rid of a wicked world without, and a wicked heart within, and be introduced to Him whom our souls love, and see him as he is, and be like him, and be with him forever, evermore. 


devotion:
<i> And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. - <a href='B:620 3:15'>2Ti 3:15</a>. </i><p>THE Scriptures are a revelation from God, and are &ldquo;able to make us wise unto salvation.&rdquo; Let us therefore inquire what we owe to the Scriptures in a way of PRIVILEGE, and to do this let us view the advantages we derive from the Sacred Writings under seven aspects.<p>First, As inspired; &ldquo;for holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; Wise men, indeed, differ a little as to the mode of this inspiration; but this does not affect the reality nor the nature of the communications. All we meet with is acknowledged to be of divine origin; and of this we have internal evidence in the purity, in the dignity, and in the consistency of its contents; and we have external evidences in the numberless miracles openly performed in the presence of enemies who would have gladly denied them if they could. We have prophecies, many of which have been fulfilled, and others which are fulfilling under our own eye. And here we have something upon which we may rely, for our Saviour says, &ldquo;Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, As preserved. What immense multitudes of books have perished in the lumber of the world! Yet this book has been exposed to innumerable dangers peculiar to itself, from the malice of devils and the wickedness of men. The ark is in safe keeping, and the &ldquo;gates of hell shall not prevail against it.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, As translated. How much do we owe to the translation of the Scriptures! What would the Scriptures be to many in their original languages? only as a dark room filled with beautiful pictures, but none of them can be seen. They would be &ldquo;a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.&rdquo; Now every man can read in his own language &ldquo;the wonderful works of God.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, As printed. A copy of the Scriptures transcribed would cost as much as a man&rsquo;s labour during a lifetime. Now all may have a Bible either for a trifling sum or by donation. Now, while one copy of the Scriptures could be written by the pen, a million may be printed by the press.<p>Fifthly, As expounded. And how much we owe to many of those who have thus written! Calvin wrote as a commentator. It seems amazing that he should have succeeded so well, when we consider he had no one to follow. Yet he is seldom found to differ from those who followed him in the same course. &ldquo;What a glorious work is Scott&rsquo;s!-perhaps for ministers, superior to any other. But oh, dear Henry, thou prince of all expositors, nothing can ever equal thy commentary for personal profit and pious use.<p>Sixthly, As preached. We are far from undervaluing the reading of the Holy Scriptures; yet after all, generally speaking, &ldquo;faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.&rdquo; Nothing is capable of producing so much impression and effect as a living address from man to man.<p>Lastly, Let us view the Scriptures as experienced. There are many who have the Scriptures in their houses, in their hands, and some of them in their mouths, but not in their hearts; but in others they are as &ldquo;a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The gospel has come to them, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, and they have found these words to be &ldquo;spirit and life.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. - <a href='B:650 13:5'>Heb 13:5</a>. </i><p>THE gospel is a system of benevolence. Every thing in the gospel shows the value of this principle. How it enjoins it! &ldquo;As we have opportunity let us do good to all men.&rdquo; &ldquo;Be not weary in well-doing.&rdquo; And in our present motto, &ldquo;Let your conversation (that is, your habitual behaviour and course of action) be without covetousness.&rdquo; How it commends this principle! &ldquo;Faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity.&rdquo; &ldquo;Charity which is the bond of perfectness.&rdquo; &ldquo;We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.&rdquo; And saith the Apostle James, &ldquo;He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.&rdquo;<p>Here let us refer to the scenes of the judgment of the last day. &ldquo;Then shall the King say to them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.&rdquo; But what had they done? Were they robbers of temples, murderers of fathers, or murderers of mothers? Were they blasphemers, that they are thus accursed? No. No, they were hard-hearted, covetous, and close-fisted. They are those whose eyes and hearts never bewailed suffering and misery. &ldquo;I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Forasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me.&rdquo;<p>These, these, &ldquo;THESE shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.&rdquo; Nothing, therefore, can be so unbecoming the gospel, or so unworthy those who profess the gospel, as a selfish temper, as a grasping, sordid disposition; because persons of this disposition love in word only, and not in deed and in truth, and have not charity. They say, &ldquo;go in peace; be ye warmed, and be ye filled.&rdquo; But it is all in vain, inasmuch as they give nothing to alleviate the miseries or satisfy the wants of these sufferers. They sow only for this world&rsquo;s ends. The man who seeth his brother in sin and suffering, who seeth him in want, and yet &ldquo;shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?&rdquo;<p>Such men commonly give less-not only comparatively, but absolutely-much less than many of their poorer brethren. They give much less now than they did formerly. The good and the evil that men do live after them; and if shame and sorrow could enter heaven, how much would the covetous professor of the gospel have to suffer, if such persons do go to heaven, for which there seems no necessity, if they could look down and witness, and see the immediate result of their scrapings and their hoardings; whilst others, who have been constrained from love to Christ, and to do good to the souls and bodies of their fellow-creatures, will be able to look down and see how they are still making the widow&rsquo;s heart to sing for joy; how they are dropping the balm of comfort to those who are ready to perish; and how &ldquo;out of the mouth of babes and sucklings&rdquo; they are bringing forth praise.<p>The benevolence of the gospel has no limits; it is of necessity subject to no exclusiveness. But it has its preferences, and ought to &ldquo;abound in all wisdom and prudence.&rdquo; Charity to the soul is the soul of charity. The greatest evil from which we can deliver a man is sin-for sin involves every evil-and the greatest blessing we can bestow upon a fellow-creature is godliness, because &ldquo;godliness is profitable to all things,&rdquo; saith the apostle, &ldquo;having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.&rdquo; While the tendency of the gospel is to minister relief to every kind of misery, its chief blessings are &ldquo;spiritual blessings in heavenly places.&rdquo;<p>What is the body compared to the soul? What is time compared to eternity? 


devotion:
<i> But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. - <a href='B:130 29:14'>1Ch 29:14</a>. </i><p>GOD is to be acknowledged as the Source of all our supplies. However abundant the streams, or varied the channels, with him is the &ldquo;fountain of life.&rdquo; The silver and the gold are his; and whatever we possess, from him we have received it all. He it is that &ldquo;giveth power to get wealth.&rdquo; And early prosperity lacketh its firmest support, its loveliest ornament, its sweetest relish, if there is not a full acknowledgment of the fact, that it is his blessing alone that &ldquo;maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it.&rdquo;<p>Is this acknowledgment constantly and heartily made by us? What should we think of an individual who, when relieved by a fellow-creature, and supported in affluence, whose necessities were not only attended to, but all his wishes anticipated; what should we think of such a dependant if he should never wait upon, or send to, his benefactor, never speak favourably of him to others, never think of him-but should take all the goodness shown to him as a matter of right rather than of kindness, and act as if he would have all around him to believe that it was of his own producing or purchasing? Could we expect the kindness shown to be continued? and must not his conduct appear hateful and abominable to every one who witnessed it? Yet, alas, how little God is owned by us! We are too prone to sacrifice to our own net, and burn incense to our own drag. We ascribe, too frequently, our success to our own wisdom, to the power of our own arm, or to the interest we have in the favour of our fellow-mortals; or we act as though it were a matter of chance. God is not in all our thoughts. Continued enjoyment seems to give us a kind of prescription, and to induce self-reliance, and forgetfulness of God.<p>In reference to the benefits so frequently and so constantly bestowed upon us, let us sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Let us think of our duties, and compare our condition with that of others, and while we see that the &ldquo;lines have fallen to us in pleasant places,&rdquo; and that &ldquo;we have a goodly heritage,&rdquo; let us say, &ldquo;Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. - <a href='B:220 5:7'>Job 5:7</a>. </i><p>THUS we see there is an inheritance of grief, and to this patrimony all of Adam&rsquo;s kind are heirs. Its possession is as sure to all the seed, as the laws of nature are inviolable. Some portions of our appointed lot are less painful than others, but, under every aspect in which we may view our earthly condition, we find that every situation, more or less, exposes us to trouble and sorrow. Life is a warfare, and earth, at best, is a vale of tears. Solomon in all his glory was not exempt from its disappointments and griefs. He had sought pleasure in its most favoured spots and sunniest aspects. All that wealth could purchase, or that skill could devise, or power command, failed in procuring an immunity for him from trouble. After exhausting its envied resources, and studying its universal history, he thus records the result of his extended observation and personal experience:-&ldquo;All is vanity and vexation of spirit.&rdquo;<p>And who is there of the children of men that has purchased an exemption from trial and temptation, from danger and disease, from woe and want? On every hand we find foes that molest and oppose us; cares that corrode us; fears that dismay us; bereavements to grieve us; and disappointment to confound us. Yea, in our very comforts we find the elements of the bitterest grief; in our possessions the sources of greatest peril; in our successes the excitements of envy and detraction; in our affections the seeds of anxiety and anguish; and in our connections the pledges of apprehension and separation; and &ldquo;every drop of honey hides a sting.&rdquo; As this is the common lot of all men, the apostle enjoins upon all sufferers, &ldquo;not to think it strange concerning the fiery trials, as though some strange thing had happened unto them; knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren which are in the world.&rdquo; For &ldquo;there hath no temptation,&rdquo; saith he, &ldquo;taken you, but such as is common to man.&rdquo; Religion does not exempt us from suffering, but it prepares us for it, and shows itself most to advantage when all other resources fail us.<p>While David said, &ldquo;Many are the afflictions of the righteous,&rdquo; he also added, &ldquo;but the Lord delivers him out of them all.&rdquo; And our Saviour says to his disciples, &ldquo;In the world ye shall have tribulation;&rdquo; but he also says, &ldquo;In me ye shall have peace.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: - <a href='B:220 5:17'>Job 5:17</a>. </i><p>CHRISTIANS should be able to derive this confidence with regard to their afflictions. Although &ldquo;man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward,&rdquo; yet the believer is not only supported under his troubles, but he derives some of his choicest mercies from them through the sanctifying influence by which they are often accompanied. If a person has no outward troubles, his heart may be filled with inward bitterness, which is known only to himself. Well, but while the cup of affliction is going round from family to family, and individual to individual, while one is saying, &ldquo;I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed me;&rdquo; and while another is saying, &ldquo;Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness;&rdquo; he may find these afflictions to be very salutary. They may be so sanctified to us as to subserve and promote the very purpose of our salvation; and they are much more likely to do so than our successes.<p>The Christian&rsquo;s character is far more formed from his trials than his indulgences. &ldquo;Blessed is the man who endureth temptation.&rdquo; How many can bear similar testimony to David as to the benefits of affliction!-&ldquo;It is good for me that I have been afflicted; before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word.&rdquo; How many have found in &ldquo;the valley of Achor&rdquo; a &ldquo;door of hope;&rdquo; having met God at first in the chamber of sickness. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; says one, &ldquo;if it had not been for these trials and bodily infirmities, I might have gone further from God. I might have lived according to the course of this world, and perished at last along with it.&rdquo; &ldquo;Blessed,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;is the man whom thou chasteneth, and teachest out of thy law.&rdquo; Nor did he speak from reason or faith only, but from experience. Luther says, &ldquo;I never knew the meaning of the word till I was afflicted.&rdquo; &ldquo;We fear,&rdquo; says Bishop Hall, &ldquo;our best friends. For my part, I have learned more of God and myself in one week&rsquo;s extremity, than the prosperity of a whole life had taught me before.&rdquo;<p>If the vine had reason, it would be thankful for the sharpest cutting of the gardener&rsquo;s knife; or if the fallow ground had reason, it would be thankful for the ploughshare which tears it up, and is prepared by this process for the reception of the seed. Oh, to be able to say in our trouble, I know that these trials are &ldquo;working for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.&rdquo; Oh, what to the believer are all the afflictions of the present time, compared with the glory that shall be revealed in them?<p>What are all outward losses to those who can say, I &ldquo;have in heaven a better and an enduring substance&rdquo;? 


devotion:
<i> And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: - <a href='B:590 1:6'>1Th 1:6</a>. </i><p>THE gospel is a system of consolation and comfort. Here it is worthy of our notice, that the very word gospel signifies good news-glad tidings-great joy; and with this name the truth well agrees. What is its principal and distinguishing theme? Is it a matter of mere curiosity-the solution of a problem-a scientific theory, in acquiring the knowledge of which, it is merely necessary to inform the judgment? It is not only &ldquo;a faithful saying,&rdquo; but &ldquo;worthy of all acceptation.&rdquo; If it be any thing it is every thing; if at all important it is all-important. It is a message to the heart, and a message that contains all that the poor, wretched heart of man requires in his woes, wounds, and weaknesses. It is an answer to the questions, &ldquo;What must I do to be saved?&rdquo; &ldquo;Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?&rdquo;<p>It tells us how &ldquo;he remembered us in our low estate;&rdquo; that his thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, and not of evil; &ldquo;that he has sent his only-begotten Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved;&rdquo; that he has made peace by the blood of his cross; that he has wrought out and brought in everlasting righteousness, so that we may say, &ldquo;Poor as I am, I shall attain unsearchable riches; and degraded as I am, I shall rise to glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life.&rdquo; And how ought this gospel to be received?<p>We know that when the Roman conqueror proclaimed the liberty of the Grecian States, the people for hours together filled the air with exclamations of delight. And shall we not receive joyfully the word which proclaims peace, and brings glad tidings of great joy, that publisheth salvation, that says unto Zion, Thy God reigneth? The dispensation of the gospel is characterized by the prophets as a mission of joy. We find them employing every image to express the joyfulness of the scene.&rdquo; They tell us that then &ldquo;the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; that the lame man shall leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.&rdquo; They call upon the whole material creation to rejoice, for the Lord is come. &ldquo;Shout, ye lower parts of the earth, break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.&rdquo;<p>If we pass from the language of prophecy to that of history, we shall find that in this manner the gospel was originally received. When Philip preached Christ in Samaria, &ldquo;there was great joy&rdquo; manifested. When Paul went among the Galatians, they &ldquo;received him as an angel of God,&rdquo; and were ready to make every kind of sacrifice to such a messenger of mercy. And here the apostle states that the Thessalonians received the word &ldquo;with joy of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; And he describes the Philippians as &ldquo;rejoicing in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in flesh.&rdquo; And the Apostle Peter thus addresses believers:-&ldquo;Whom, having not seen, ye love, and in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. - <a href='B:290 66:13'>Isa 66:13</a>. </i><p>THE anxious, tender mother regards with affectionate solicitude all her children, but she is most concerned for the poor, weakly, sickly child. The knee, the bosom is for him, for him is the prepared delicacy, the noiseless room, and the breathless step, and the frequent watching and leaning over the bed of languishing, and the entreated reception of the offensive draught, accompanied with the sincere assurance-&ldquo;Ah, my child, how gladly would I take it for thee!&rdquo; And thus it is with the Lord&rsquo;s afflicted people.<p>The Lord has assured to them, and provided for them, very special privileges. As their day, so their strength is. And as the sufferings of Christ abound in them, their consolation also aboundeth by Christ; and thousands can testify that they have had clearer discoveries, richer communications, and tenderer supports, under their most painful trials and afflictions, than they ever experienced in seasons of ease and prosperity. And what do we need more than this to soothe and comfort us? If the Lord be my portion, what can I want beside? &ldquo;God,&rdquo; says the church, &ldquo;is our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of trouble.&rdquo; No creature can be substituted for him, but he is more than a substitute for every creature, and his presence peoples, and fertilizes, and gladdens the gloomiest desert.<p>&ldquo;Behold,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and there will I speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of old.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: - <a href='B:550 2:4'>Gal 2:4</a>. </i><p>THIS includes a freedom from the bondage of corruption. What a number of tyrants does every sinner serve! What a tyrant is Satan! The &ldquo;spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,&rdquo; who &ldquo;takes them captive at his will.&rdquo; He first seduces and then torments his victims. What a tyrant is the world! They who have faith overcome the world, but all others are overcome by it. We read of those who &ldquo;walk according to the course of the world,&rdquo; as if they were perfectly at liberty, but they are rather drawn or dragged along in that course. They are always disappointed, and complaining, and murmuring, and always speaking against the world, while yet they suffer themselves to be deceived and tantalized by it. Their time is not their own-their will is not their own. They must do and say as others do-they cannot do as they would.<p>What a tyrant is Sin! &ldquo;He that committeth sin,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;is the servant of sin;&rdquo; and though, as Peter says, sinners may boast of their liberty and utter great swelling words, yet, says he, &ldquo;While they promise to themselves liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage.&rdquo; Is he free who is under the dominion of pride and revenge, and envy and malice? What wretch upon earth drudges like one of these with whom reason remonstrates and conscience condemns-who sees and approves better things, but follows worse?<p>Oh, says the apostle, looking back to the days of his unregeneracy, Oh, says he, we were &ldquo;some time foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures-living in malice and envy-hateful, and hating one another.&rdquo; But after this the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared. And how did it appear?-&ldquo;Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo;<p>Grace never leaves its subjects as it finds them. It finds them slaves of Satan and of sin; but it says, &ldquo;sin shall not have the dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.&rdquo; &ldquo;Ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.&rdquo; &ldquo;Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.&rdquo; Why, these Christians are servants still! yes, but not slaves. They have a Master, and they obey him.<p>Our Master, who is in heaven, requires nothing of us but what is reasonable and righteous. His work is &ldquo;honourable and glorious.&rdquo; He draws by &ldquo;cords of love and with the bands of a man.&rdquo; His yoke is easy, and his burden is light; and his &ldquo;service is perfect freedom.&rdquo; We are upholden by his free Spirit; and we can say with David, &ldquo;We will walk at liberty, for we seek thy precepts.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. - <a href='B:570 1:19'>Phi 1:19</a>. </i><p>WHILE the Bible enjoins us to be humble, and forbids every thing like rashness and presumption, it admits of confidence and assurance; and what a recommendation of religion this is! Nothing is so distressing as uncertainty with regard to any very valuable interest, such as the issue of a malady, or the title to an estate, or the success of an enterprise. In what wretchedness must a Christian be who possesses no confidence and certainty with regard to those &ldquo;things which are unseen and eternal&rdquo;! But this confidence is attainable. The Christian can gain this confidence and certainty with regard to four things:-First, With regard to the doctrines of the gospel. He may not only have faith unfeigned, but be &ldquo;strong in faith.&rdquo; Take a Christian who has been in the ways of God forty or fifty years: he would say, &ldquo;I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.&rdquo; With regard to many circumstantial things and minor points of doctrine in religion, we may leave the mind open to conviction; here we cannot exercise too much candour; but nothing can be more pernicious than to apply this to the leading truths of Christianity. &ldquo;It is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to the privileges of the gospel. There is such a thing as enjoying the &ldquo;comforts of the Holy Ghost,&rdquo;-as &ldquo;peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,&rdquo; -as relief under a distressed conscience by the application of the &ldquo;blood of sprinkling.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to our personal interest in all this, and be able to say, &ldquo;Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.&rdquo; We do not affirm, indeed, that all the subjects of divine grace have this certainty, or we should &ldquo;break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax.&rdquo; But if it were not attainable we should not have heard Job saying, &ldquo;I know that my Redeemer liveth;&rdquo; nor David, &ldquo;Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory;&rdquo; nor John, &ldquo;We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, We may gain this confidence and certainty with regard to the end and issue of afflictive dispensations. &ldquo;I know that this shall turn to my salvation;&rdquo; and this is the very spirit of the motto. Those know who are exercised thereby, that sanctified afflictions may be very useful and subserve the very purpose of their salvation. We allow that there is sometimes a difficulty in gaining this conviction. The providence of God is sometimes very mysterious. Job said, &ldquo;Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him, on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him.&rdquo; And Jacob said, &ldquo;All these things are against me;&rdquo; while at the same time they were subserving his real welfare.<p>And we can gain this confidence, even now, being assured that though &ldquo;no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, yet nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? - <a href='B:660 2:5'>Jas 2:5</a>. </i><p>IN general the language of the Scriptures is most favourable to the needy and distressed; and what generous mind does not rejoice in this aspect of benevolent preference?-who does not read with pleasure?-&ldquo;I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and an afflicted people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.&rdquo; &ldquo;The poor have the gospel preached unto them.&rdquo; And here that God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?<p>But this is not true of them universally and exclusively; we are told that not &ldquo;many&rdquo; of the rich and the noble are called, but the very assertion proves there are some. But while the possession of earthly good may screen from dependence and embarrassment, and procure for them not only the necessaries but the conveniences, and indulgences, and embellishments of life, yet our Saviour said to his followers, &ldquo;If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.&rdquo; &ldquo;In the world ye shall have tribulation.&rdquo; Yet he also said, &ldquo;Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.&rdquo; The apostle, who taught that &ldquo;through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom,&rdquo; made no scruple to say, &ldquo;Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.&rdquo;<p>Religion, by its natural influence, as well as by the blessing of an overruling Providence, tends in various ways to advance the temporal welfare of men. While it is said, &ldquo;They that have riches shall hardly enter into the kingdom of God,&rdquo; it is also said, &ldquo;But with God all things are possible.&rdquo; We allow there is enough to alarm the prosperous; but they have no ground for despair, for while there is a diversity in human conditions, and that some are rich and others are poor, and while some are in honour and others are in obscurity and disgrace, God hath placed no condition under sentence of reprobation.<p>There is a way to heaven from all the diversities of human life; there is a passage to it from the mansion as well as from the cottage, though it is more narrow, and perplexing, and difficult. In a word, a Christian is never known by his condition, but he must be always known in it. 


devotion:
<i> Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. - <a href='B:230 51:13'>Psa 51:13</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the importance of the object sought, and the means by which it is to be accomplished. There is no evil from which a fellow-creature can be delivered compared to sin. The conversion of a sinner from the error of his way is an event of far greater importance than the conquest of a kingdom. There is no charity like charity to the soul. The conversion of sinners is not only important, but possible. The work is ascribed to God. He is indeed the efficient agent in every case; but he works by means, and it is by the instrumentality of his people that he principally carries on his cause in the world. They are his witnesses, they are his servants. He first makes them the subjects of his grace, and then employs them as means of communicating it to others. He changes rebels into friends, and then sends them on an errand of reconciliation, and by them beseeches sinners to be reconciled unto a God of mercy. And he has qualified them for this embassy; having &ldquo;tasted that the Lord is gracious,&rdquo; their own experience gives them earnestness and confidence in saying to their fellow-sinners around, &ldquo;Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.&rdquo;<p>There are many ways in which Christians may teach transgressors God&rsquo;s way, and of converting sinners from the error of their own way. By conversation, a word spoken in season, how good it is; by epistolary correspondence, recommending good books; by bringing persons under the preaching of the word-for &ldquo;faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.&rdquo; As soon as Andrew had become acquainted with the Saviour, &ldquo;he findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus.&rdquo; As soon as Philip knew the Lord, he findeth his friend Nathanael, and saith unto him, &ldquo;We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.&rdquo; As soon as the woman of Samaria had found him, and knew the Gift of God, &ldquo;she left her water-pot and went into the city, and saith to her neighbours, Come, see a man that told me all things ever I did; is not this the Christ?&rdquo; And we know that great numbers through her instrumentality were subsequently influenced by her statement, and induced to believe on the Saviour of the world.<p>Thus it is with Christians still-knowing the misery of a state of alienation from God, and the blessedness of a return to him, their compassion to souls is moved and their zeal inflamed, so that, with Paul, their hearts&rsquo; desire is that &ldquo;they might be saved;&rdquo; and, with David, they will be concerned to teach transgressors the ways of the Lord, and that sinners may be converted unto God. 


devotion:
<i> For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. - <a href='B:230 109:4'>Psa 109:4</a>. </i><p>DAVID was a man of prayer. We here read of his giving himself unto prayer; that is, he made it the leading business of his life. Now in this he is an example worthy of our imitation, for prayer is the very life of religion, without which it cannot exist, much less prosper, therefore we should be found much in the exercise of it. For this purpose we may take three views of it.<p>First, View it as a duty. Though God knows all things, and sees the end from the beginning, and works all things after the counsel of his own will, yet he hath said, &ldquo;For these things I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;&rdquo; thus they are commanded to &ldquo;seek the Lord and his strength.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, It is a due acknowledgment of his nature, and our dependence upon him, as our Benefactor, Preserver, and Governor, and &ldquo;the God of our salvation, to whom belong the issues of life.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, We may view it as an honour. We should deem it an honour if we had free and full access to an earthly sovereign-and is it nothing that we can have access at all times to the &ldquo;blessed and only Potentate, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords&rdquo;? Prayer places us nearly upon a level with the glorified spirits above, with this difference-they approach the throne of glory, and we the throne of grace. We can enter the secret of his pavilion here, we can come even to his seat, can pour out our hearts before him with more freedom than we can to the dearest friend or nearest relative upon earth.<p>Fourthly, Let us view it also as an advantage. &ldquo;It is good for me,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;to draw near to God.&rdquo; What a relief does the very exercise of prayer afford! How it eases the aching heart, and binds up the broken spirit! Oh, there are times and seasons in which every refuge seems to fail us, and God is our only resource; when we look inward, and perceive nothing but decaying affections and withered hopes. We go forth, and there we meet with an unfeeling and repulsive world. The mind is thrown upon futurity, and there we find a vast ocean, where we are wearied with winds, and waves, and without a compass, without a chart. It is then devotion comes, and wraps us up in&rdquo; its soft mantle, bearing us away to him in whom we may find an asylum into which no enemy can enter, and where no ill can approach. Thus we enjoy an emblem and earnest of that state &ldquo;where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.&rdquo;<p>Oh, the luxury of prayer! How relieving is it to pour our complaints into the bosom of a friend, who, having rejoiced with us when we rejoiced, does not suffer us to cry in vain, &ldquo;Have pity on me, have pity on me, O ye my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me.&rdquo; But how much more relieving and delightful is it to make God our Friend, and, like David, to pour out our hearts before him! And this is what he himself enjoins:-&ldquo;Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain thee.&rdquo; He would not have us struggle and turmoil with it ourselves, but we are commanded to roll our burden on the Lord, for we can roll what we cannot heave.<p>This is done by prayer, and each petition we offer takes off some of the load, and lays it upon him:-&ldquo;Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.&rdquo; The apostle also says, &ldquo;Be careful for nothing;&rdquo; but how is this to be accomplished? This is the way:-&ldquo;Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.&rdquo; The heathens allowed that care was an evil, and they wished to cure it: but all their efforts reached only to the paroxysms of the complaint; they knew not God, and that &ldquo;peace of God which passeth all understanding.&rdquo; But we can tell God all our complaints, and leave all with him; nothing will tranquillize the mind like this, but this will do it. He blesses us in the exercise of our various graces, and it is thus he prepares us for the manifestations of his love and the communications of his goodness. 


devotion:
<i> The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the divine sufficiency. This rises out of the relationship. A person, however, may be related to us, and he may even be with us, and yet not able to succour us. How often are we in conditions when, if the ear of friendship is not heavy that it cannot hear, the hand is shortened that it cannot save! But &ldquo;is any thing too hard for the Lord?&rdquo; says Abraham. &ldquo;Once have I heard, this yea twice,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;that power belongeth unto God.&rdquo; Once there was no earth: &ldquo;He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.&rdquo; Once there was no sun: he said, &ldquo;Let there be light, and there was light.&rdquo; And how is all this sustained? &ldquo;He upholdeth all things by the word of his power.&rdquo; Many frequently imagine that it is only the goodness of God they question, and not his power for they say, Who can question this? But did not the Jews question it, and after all the wonders which he had shown them?<p>Yea, they spake against God; they said, &ldquo;Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock that the water gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people?&rdquo; Yea, did not Moses himself question it? And Moses said, &ldquo;The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen, and thou hast said, I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month: shall the flocks and herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall the fish of the sea be gathered together to&rsquo; suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord&rsquo;s hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall not come to pass unto thee or not.&rdquo;<p>And do not we, too, often question it? If not, why is it that we despond when difficulties multiply around us? He never knew what a difficulty meant, and never will. How is it that we begin to despond when means fail us? If he does not find a way he can always make a way for our escape. And, therefore, Christians may bring their faith to the comprehension, or rather to the apprehension, of his power.<p>Let us call to mind the case of Abraham, who had received a promise from God, the execution of which involved in it natural difficulties, yea, natural impossibilities; but he &ldquo;staggered not at the promise through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.&rdquo; The experience of Paul testifies to the same truth. &ldquo;I am now,&rdquo; says he, in his address to Timothy, &ldquo;a suffering man, and shall soon be a dead one. I have finished my course, and the time of my departure is at hand, and I do not expect to depart from a bed of quietness, but from the axe of the executioner.&rdquo; &ldquo;Nevertheless I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.&rdquo;<p>And, oh, let. us remember he is &ldquo;the same yesterday, today, and forever.&rdquo; There is no corruption in us but he is able to subdue; no want but he is able to relieve; no desire but he is able to accomplish. He is able to make us &ldquo;more than conquerors.&rdquo; He is able to &ldquo;keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.&rdquo; And when our body drops into the grave, and returns to corruption, he can &ldquo;change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able to subdue all things unto himself.&rdquo; Praise we him therefore in the strains of the apostle:-&ldquo;Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. - <a href='B:230 116:1'>Psa 116:1</a>. </i><p>WE see much in the history of David which tells us that he must have observed the answers of his prayers, and that he was wise enough to improve them. It is the richest traffic under heaven. &ldquo;The merchandise thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof is better than fine gold.&rdquo; That God hears and answers the prayers of all his people is most manifest. This appears from the promises, which in this respect are exceedingly &ldquo;great and precious.&rdquo; &ldquo;Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.&rdquo; &ldquo;Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.&rdquo; We may see it also in the experience of God&rsquo;s people in all ages.<p>How many testimonies are there to the success of prayer! What did it for Abraham? for Joshua? for Hezekiah? What judgments has it not removed? What deliverances has it not accomplished? What blessings has it not obtained? And David observed the answers of his prayers. &ldquo;He hath inclined his ear unto me, he hath heard my voice and my supplications.&rdquo; He was sure of this. Balaam has said, &ldquo;Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,&rdquo; without ever regarding the way that led to the one, or the life which conduced to the other. And Pilate asked, &ldquo;What is truth?&rdquo; and never waited for an answer.<p>This is much like some persons, who by the appearance of devotion draw forth the divine attention, when they are regardless of his benefits. They knock at the door, and do not wait to see if it be opened, or whether they are likely to succeed. Is not this a solemn mockery? Is it not taking God&rsquo;s name in vain? Is it not offering the sacrifice of fools? Can we ever imagine that God will regard those prayers that we do not regard ourselves, or watch for an answer to?<p>God does not always answer prayer immediately. He does in some instances. In the case of Daniel and of Cornelius, their prayers were answered at the very time, and God has given us the promise, &ldquo;It shall come to pass, that, before they call, I will answer, and, while they are yet speaking, I will hear.&rdquo; At other times he delays. He &ldquo;waits that he may be gracious,&rdquo; and requires us to wait too. Every thing is beautiful in its season. &ldquo;It is good for a man that he both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.&rdquo; &ldquo;For he is a God of judgment, and blessed are all they that wait for him.&rdquo; We must not, therefore, fix a time, and say, if he does not come, &ldquo;Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?&rdquo; for he never delays but in order to render his blessings more useful; to ripen the mercies he is waiting to bestow. We are like foolish, eager children, who would gather the fruit before the sun has given it its fine complexion, its rich relish, or its nutritious quality. But, says the Psalmist, &ldquo;I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.&rdquo;<p>We should also remember, that there are various ways in which God answers prayer. We are prone to prescribe to him, and think that he must come in such a direction; but, while we stand gazing there, he passes by another way. Sometimes he grants the very blessings we pray for. This was the case with the Psalmist. &ldquo;Thou hast given,&rdquo; said the Psalmist, &ldquo;to him his heart&rsquo;s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; he asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him.&rdquo;<p>Sometimes he answers by an exchange of mercies. Instead of temporal he bestows spiritual blessings. This was the case with Paul:-&ldquo;He besought the Lord thrice, but his prayer was not answered by deliverance, but by support.&rdquo; &ldquo;My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.&rdquo; Sometimes God answers prayer by distressing things, by severe afflictions and trials; &ldquo;by terrible things in righteousness.&rdquo;<p>The reason why we do not perceive the answers to our prayers, is our indifference or inattention, for David says, &ldquo;Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.&rdquo; Flavel says, &ldquo;He that observes providences shall never want providences to observe.&rdquo; Sometimes we are looking for something too surprising, and remarkable, and sensitive; not remembering that God does not go out of the common course of nature and providence.<p>All hearts are open to him, all creatures are under his control, but we must use proper means, and, if we pray in faith, we may be sure that &ldquo;praying breath shall not be spent in vain.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. - <a href='B:490 10:41-42'>Luk 10:41-42</a>. </i><p>WE are here called upon to behold blemishes in character which we are to shun, excellencies we are to imitate, and advantages we are to acquire. Martha, who had mistaken our Lord&rsquo;s character and desires, and thinking nothing too good for our Lord and his disciples, had provided an entertainment which was not only unnecessary, but which engrossed all her time and attention, and thereby deprived herself of an opportunity to listen to our Saviour&rsquo;s discourse. In her anxiety to do all that she considered the occasion required, she was &ldquo;troubled about many things, being cumbered with much serving.&rdquo; While her sister Mary-all reverence, all attention, and all composure-was feeding on the doctrines of eternal life, sat at the Saviour&rsquo;s feet, thus wisely improving the opportunity given for the good of her soul, Martha rudely disturbed the devotions of the company, and interrupted our Lord&rsquo;s discourse, in her haste and heat loses her self-command; she condemns her sister as idle and indifferent, and asked the Lord to interfere, saying, &ldquo;Bid my sister that she help me.&rdquo; Jesus, instead of doing this, reproves her, while he applauded the conduct of Mary.<p>However anxious we may be about many things, one thing alone is really indispensable, and demands our attention. It is hearing the Saviour&rsquo;s words; it is an attention to the soul; it is religion. Other things are comparatively insignificant, and less than nothing and vanity; this is all-important. Other things are accidentally needful; this is essentially so. Other things are occasionally needful; this is invariably so. Other things are partially needful; this is universally so. Needful for prosperity and adversity; needful for the body and the soul; needful for time and for eternity. Some things are needful for some individuals but not for others, but this is needful for all. Needful for kings and subjects; needful for rich and poor; needful for old and young.<p>While the many seem to be prizing and pursuing every thing in preference to this, we find David and Paul reducing every concern into one. &ldquo;One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.&rdquo; &ldquo;This is one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before.&rdquo;<p>Observe, piety is a matter of personal conviction and choice. Thus, it is said, &ldquo;Mary hath chosen that good part.&rdquo; Thus, David says, &ldquo;I have chosen the way of truth.&rdquo; No man ever entered into heaven accidentally; no man was ever forced into it against his will. God makes us sensible of our need of salvation above every thing else, so that we desire it, we seek it, we pray for it, and then, when we obtain it, it makes us blest. It relieves our wants, fulfils our desires, and accomplishes our hopes.<p>Observe, lastly, real godliness is not only a necessary but a durable acquisition. &ldquo;Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her.&rdquo; Permanency adds bliss to bliss: some things, are not worth preservation: but an invaluable treasure, a thing absolutely needful, will awaken all our concern, and we shall be anxious not only to possess it, but to retain it.<p>The blessings we derive from godliness are ours forever, laid up where &ldquo;moth and rust cannot corrupt. nor thieves break through and steal.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>SAVE from what? This is not mentioned; this was not necessary. Save from penury-from the scourge of tongues-from bodily sickness-from family bereavements? Yes, if it be good for us. But there are cases which will require the sacrifice of these instead of their preservation. No; deliverance from temporal evil is not absolutely promised; it could not have been absolutely promised; if it had, it would have turned the promise into a threatening. Could we ourselves have wished God to promise temporal advantages, whether they should be good for us or whether they should he evil? Surely we could only have asked God to engage to give them if good for us, and to beg him to refuse if he foresaw they would be evil.<p>This he has promised, and so far they are sure. &ldquo;They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.&rdquo; &ldquo;No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.&rdquo; Christians will not be saved from death,-that is, from the stroke of death; but they will from the sting. They will not be saved from the grave,-that is, from entering it; but they will from continuing there. But we may observe that this salvation, though not exclusively, is principally, spiritual and eternal. &ldquo;Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.&rdquo; &ldquo;They shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end.&rdquo;<p>If guilty, then, this salvation shall justify us; if unholy, it shall renew us; if blind, it shall open our eyes, and make us wise unto salvation. If poor, it shall enrich us, and if destitute, it shall bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But are they not saved already? Does not the apostle say, &ldquo;By grace are ye saved&rdquo;- &ldquo;He hath saved you, and called you with an holy calling&rdquo;? Yes, assuredly they are saved already, because the whole of the salvation is insured, and the whole of the salvation is begun.<p>But yet there is a great difference between the purchase and the application of salvation-between the commencement and the completion of it. But, it may be said, if persons are saved, can they be more than saved? Not as to their state, but as to their experience. Surely they may know more of the salvation, feel more of it, rejoice more in it, and communicate more of it to others. What! can a man be more justified than the believer is now before God? No, but then he may apprehend him more clearly and fully, and realize the privilege, and no longer write bitter things against himself, and, knowing that he is justified by faith, have peace with God and peace within-peace in the court of conscience, as well as in the court of heaven.<p>Is not the Christian already sanctified? &ldquo;Among whom are ye the sanctified?&rdquo; says the Apostle Peter. But, though the work is begun, it is not perfected; it will be carried on against the day of Jesus Christ. Every thing here is progressive, whatever some may say to the contrary. There is first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. There is the dawn and the shining unto perfect day. The righteous &ldquo;hold on their way, and was stronger and stronger;&rdquo; they are &ldquo;renewed day by day,&rdquo; and are &ldquo;changed from glory into glory.&rdquo; Hence the church prays, &ldquo;Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.&rdquo;<p>And hence David pleads, &ldquo;Thou wilt perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the work of thine own hands.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>OBSERVE the permanency of Jehovah&rsquo;s love to his people. &ldquo;He shall rest in his love;&rdquo; that is, he shall feel fixed and changeless complacency and satisfaction. We do not always rest in our love, for love is often the offspring of ignorance and weakness&rsquo;- a mere impulse of passion; it often leaves no solace or contentment in the review; it is one of the things that are repented of; it varies with a thousand causes; it sometimes not only cools with indifference, but it terminates in the most perfect disgust and aversion.<p>But with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. &ldquo;I, the Lord, change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.&rdquo; Is he a friend? He &ldquo;loveth at all times.&rdquo; Is he a husband? &ldquo;I will betroth thee unto me,&rdquo; not &ldquo;until death us do part,&rdquo; but &ldquo;I will betroth thee unto me forever.&rdquo; Is he a father? &ldquo;Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.&rdquo; He will, indeed, correct them. This is dealing with them as with sons; for what son is he whom his father chasteneth not? But, though he chastens, he will not cast them off, he will not disinherit them; he will heal their backslidings and love them freely; and, when the rod has answered its purpose, it will fall from his hand upon the ground, and he will break forth and say, &ldquo;Is Ephraim, my dear son, is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still.&rdquo; Men fail in their natural affection-and women, they sometimes fail in their natural affection.<p>Yes, the mother sometimes forgets her sucking child, and has no compassion on the son of her womb. Yes, says God, who knows all things, this may be the case with her, but, nevertheless, &ldquo;I will not forget thee.&rdquo; &ldquo;Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Do good. - <a href='B:650 13:16'>Heb 13:16</a>. </i><p>GOD not only bestows good upon his people for their own sakes, but blesses some for the sake of others. He looks beyond the immediate possessors of his favours. These he designs shall not only be the subjects of his goodness, but the instruments; not only the recipients, but the diffusers. And how can we neglect to impart relief and comfort to others, which God is so graciously communicating to us:-&ldquo;Freely we have received, freely let us give&rdquo;?<p>It is in this way we may expect to have our mercies blessed, and this is the way also to have them increased. &ldquo;The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.&rdquo; The objects of our benevolent regards are numerous. &ldquo;As we have opportunity, we are to do good to all men, especially unto them that are of the household of faith.&rdquo; These are the fatherless and the widows, whom we are to visit in their affliction; we have the sick to heal, the naked to clothe, and the hungry to feed. But there are also the careless to awaken, the ignorant to instruct, the vicious to reclaim, and the backsliding to restore. The soul is of supreme importance, and it becomes us peculiarly to aid in supporting those institutions and efforts which have in view the spiritual and eternal welfare of men.<p>Christians not only see wants and miseries which distress them, but which excite in them a disposition to relieve according to their power; they are delighted to indulge a spirit of benevolence; and, with regard to the extension and promotion of the Redeemer&rsquo;s cause generally, they will endeavour to be accessory to its advance. And while they will be instant in praying that God&rsquo;s kingdom may come, and his word may have free course and be glorified, they will be forward in offering their aid, and will rejoice when those prayers are answered.<p>&ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; should be our anxious and prayerful inquiry; and, if we have prayed for these objects sincerely and earnestly, consistency requires, if we would not be condemned out of our own mouths, that we should be forward to make every sacrifice in our power for these attainments. 


devotion:
<i> I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. - <a href='B:230 116:1-2'>Psa 116:1-2</a>. </i><p>DAVID not only prayed, and observed the answers to his prayers, but improved those answers. We here see that he derived two things from the answers to his prayers. First, an excitement to love and gratitude. &ldquo;I love the Lord,&rdquo; &c. Some tell us (but who told them?) that real saving love to God must regard his perfections and not his benefits; that it must regard him, and what he is in himself, and not for what he bestows upon us. But are we to be wiser than the sacred writers? Do they not often enforce love to God by what he has done for us? Does not Paul say, &ldquo;We beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service&rdquo;? Does not John say, &ldquo;We love him, because he first loved us&rdquo;? And does not David say, &ldquo;Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing&rdquo;? It is impossible for the heart to be in a right frame, unless it excites us to inquire, &ldquo;What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?&rdquo; Why are we not more thankful? Because we are not more attentive to the instances of God&rsquo;s loving-kindness and tender mercies. These we should turn into so many songs of praise; this we find David doing. &ldquo;Bless the Lord,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.&rdquo;<p>This is not all. We should derive from it an encouragement to hope and confidence. &ldquo;Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.&rdquo; Success always emboldens the beggar; he loves to approach the door where he has been relieved again and again. Those who can say, &ldquo;A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary,&rdquo; will not be backward to repair to it again and again, that they &ldquo;may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.&rdquo; We now only see in part, and have but an imperfect view, for &ldquo;how we see through a glass darkly; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.&rdquo; Then &ldquo;in God&rsquo;s light shall we see light.&rdquo; Then shall we see that all his works and ways have been in harmony with his word; whatever apparent contradictions we may have imagined, we may be fully satisfied that all he does conduces to our advantage, however adverse some things may appear, and however we may, through unbelief, be induced to say, &ldquo;All these things are against me.&rdquo;<p>Then we shall see that he has been indeed a God hearing and answering prayer-that we never sought him in vain, but that, in some way or other, in some measure or degree, we have been benefited. Let us then be looking forward to that better world where we hope soon to arrive. Our waiting days will soon be over-and our praying days will soon be over, but <p>&ldquo;Our days of praise shall ne&rsquo;er be past, <p> While life, or thought, or being last, <p> Or immortality endures.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. - <a href='B:440 1:5'>Hag 1:5</a>. </i><p>THE religion of the Bible is a reasonable service; nothing can be more widely different from groundless belief, or opposed to the enthusiasm of ignorant impulses, a heated imagination, or excited unintelligible feelings. It commences with &ldquo;the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, so that we may see what is the hope of our calling;&rdquo; and all its subsequent processes are carried on through the medium of a mind renewed by the Spirit of God. &ldquo;Whatever is connected with love to God and obedience to his revealed will is the result of intention, and is influenced by corresponding motive. The Holy Spirit&rsquo;s influences do not operate in us like the cures of a charm, of whose efficiency no account can be given. A Christian is able to give a reason of the hope that is in him. We are not forced into religion as are the motions of a machine, insensible of its workings and results; nor as the varied operations of the functions of our physical being are carried on in our bodies, which act independently of the mind and will. We are not only subjects of religious influences, but also instruments in producing them in others. What is done in us is done by us. Therefore, says the apostle, &ldquo;Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure.&rdquo;<p>We are here taught that, while God is the Author of all good, and our progress in goodness is from him, yet he does not carry us along in the way everlasting, but enables us to walk. He works in us, but it is that we may will and do. We are not only impressed, but employed. Faith and repentance are gifts of God; yet we believe and repent, and not God.. Thus we see that all true religion arises from consideration. Therefore, God, complaining of the Jews, says, &ldquo;My people do not consider.&rdquo; Therefore, David says, &ldquo;I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.&rdquo;<p>The Christian&rsquo;s abhorrence of sin is not a thoughtless aversion. &ldquo;How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?&rdquo; His godly sorrow is not a thoughtless grief. &ldquo;Then shall ye,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;remember your own evil ways, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight.&rdquo; His confidence is not a thoughtless trust; it is the result of knowledge:- &ldquo;They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee.&rdquo; His hope is not a presumptive expectation. He has &ldquo;two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie,&rdquo; which give him sure anchorage for his hope, of which he is &ldquo;ready to give a reason to every one that asketh.&rdquo; His patience in trouble is not the result of natural hardihood, or stoical apathy, or a reckless desperation: it is the effect of thought,-scriptural, sanctified thought.<p>May we consider our ways, and the Lord give us understanding in all things! 


devotion:
<i> Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. - <a href='B:470 22:29'>Mat 22:29</a>. </i><p>IT is a sad thing that many persons, from whom better things might be expected, are so shamefully ignorant of the Scriptures. In consequence of not understanding them they are so liable to err-so liable to be led away with the error of the wicked, and carried away by every wind of doctrine, so as frequently not to know the way wherein they should walk, or the things they should do. It was of these errors arising from a deficiency of scriptural knowledge for which our Lord thus rebuked his own disciples. &ldquo;Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.&rdquo;<p>And, if the word of Christ dwell in some, it is not &ldquo;richly and in all wisdom.&rdquo; There may be an abundance of Scripture truths laid up in the memory, but there may not be the wisdom to apply it.<p>The apostle complains of some as not being &ldquo;skilful in the word of life, for they are babes.&rdquo; &ldquo;For when for the time,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.&rdquo; There are but few who do justice to the Scriptures in this respect. They are <p>&ldquo;A broad land of wealth unknown, <p>&ldquo;Where hidden glory lies;&rdquo; </i><p>for, as David says, &ldquo;they are exceeding broad.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;The cross, the manger, and the throne, <p> Are big with blessings yet unknown.&rdquo; </i><p>Let us seek to be better acquainted with them. &ldquo;Search the Scriptures,&rdquo; says our Saviour, &ldquo;for they are they which testify of me.&rdquo; Instead of imagining that we are very proficient in divine knowledge, let us pray with the apostle that we &ldquo;may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,&rdquo; and &ldquo;to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.&rdquo; But we are reminded that the duty of practising what the Scriptures teach and enjoin is not less than that of acquiring a knowledge of them.<p>We read of &ldquo;obeying the truth,&rdquo; and of &ldquo;walking in the truth.&rdquo; We can never regard the Scriptures properly until we find them to be &ldquo;a light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path.&rdquo; Every thing in the Scriptures has a practical aim and tendency. Its doctrines are &ldquo;according to godliness;&rdquo; its &ldquo;exceeding great and precious promises&rdquo; are given us, &ldquo;that by these we might be partakers &lsquo;of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world through lusts.&rdquo; And &ldquo;he that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure.&rdquo; Hume, the infidel, sneeringly said, &ldquo;The Bible was given to keep the poor in order.&rdquo; If believed and acted upon, its truths will keep us all in order. It says as much to the rich as to the poor-as much to the master as it does to the servant-to the husband as it does to the wife, and as much to professors as to those who have the form of godliness without the power.<p>We are servants: it is not for servants to dictate, but to obey. We are patients: it is not for patients to prescribe, but to submit. We are criminals offending: and it is the prerogative of the Sovereign offended to choose the way in which his mercy shall be exercised, or whether he shall exercise mercy at all. With regard to the mind and will of God concerning us, as revealed in the Scriptures, our only inquiry therefore should be, What may we hope to receive from God? and our prayer, &ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. - <a href='B:230 89:30-32'>Psa 89:30-32</a>. </i><p>GOD loves his children too well to allow them to act improperly, or suffer them to violate the discipline under which he has placed them, without visiting them with severe and loving rebuke. It were to suppose the greatest absurdity to imagine that God will suffer his authority to be despised and his law forsaken, his statutes broken and his decisions set at naught. The very discipline he exercises in his family shows that he has not abandoned them to their own wayward and foolish courses. He gives expression to his paternal tenderness towards his disobedient children:-&ldquo;How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together.&rdquo;<p>No; he will &ldquo;not cast away his people whom he foreknew;&rdquo; but this is the law of the house:-&ldquo;he will visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes.&rdquo; &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;my lovingkindness will I not take from him, nor cause my faithfulness to fail.&rdquo; And these corrections of our heavenly Father regard sins of omission as well as of commission. For he commands us to do as well as prohibits, and we forsake his law and break his statutes by neglecting to do what is enjoined upon us, as well as by doing what he has prohibited us from doing.<p>These corrections regard the state of the heart as well as the conduct of the life. Where no deviation from the path of obedience, no miscarriages in duty, are apparent to others, our heavenly Father discovers a falling away in our feelings and motives. What a forsaking of first love-what ingratitude-what unbelief and distrust- what prodigality of time-what a perversion of that which is good-what misimprovement of privileges-does he discover in his children! These defections in duty, these backslidings of heart, call frequently and loudly for the rod of correction; and can there be any reason for wonder or surprise that we are afflicted?<p>Surely we have more reason to sing, &ldquo;It is of the Lord&rsquo;s mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.&rdquo; &ldquo;He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our transgressions,&rdquo; but &ldquo;his strokes are fewer than our crimes, and lighter than our guilt.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them. - <a href='B:240 12:26'>Pro 12:26</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;HE that doeth righteousness is righteous,&rdquo; and we know who hath said &ldquo;the upright are his delight.&rdquo; This is the characteristic of a real Christian. &ldquo;The grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live righteously, soberly, and godly in the present world.&rdquo; It is thus &ldquo;Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.&rdquo; Therefore it is that a man under the influence of this principle of righteousness is declared in the Scriptures to be more excellent than his unrighteous neighbour, however in other respects that neighbour may be distinguished. And this decision is according to truth. Let us endeavour to justify it.<p>Who among the sons of the earth can be put in comparison with the real Christian. The rich? But he has the true riches,-durable riches and righteousness, &ldquo;the unsearchable riches of Christ.&rdquo; The honourable? But he is &ldquo;great in the sight of the Lord;&rdquo; he has the honour that cometh from God only. The learned? But he is made wise unto salvation; he has an unction from the Holy One, and knoweth all things. The conquering hero? But &ldquo;he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his own spirit, than he that taketh a city.&rdquo; He subdues enemies that vanquish all other victors,-he is more than a conqueror; and the Captain of his salvation thus eulogizes and rewards him. &ldquo;Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, and I will write upon him my new name.&rdquo;<p>Compared with a Christian, what was Adam in Paradise? What blessings are equal to the blessings of grace and redemption, the righteous man&rsquo;s portion? These deliver from sin, death, and hell. What was the Garden of Eden to the righteous man&rsquo;s home, &ldquo;the new heaven, and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness&rdquo;? What was the tree of life to the only true Source of a righteous man&rsquo;s immortality, who &ldquo;came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly&rdquo;?<p>We as creatures were made by an exertion of wisdom and power, but we are saved by the manifold wisdom of God, and by the &ldquo;exceeding greatness of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. - <a href='B:500 11:15'>Joh 11:15</a>. </i><p>IN the estimate of our Saviour there is nothing so valuable or important as faith. There is nothing he is so much concerned to promote in his people as their faith. &ldquo;To the intent ye may believe.&rdquo; Observe: First, From our Saviour&rsquo;s language, it is obvious that faith is no easy matter. They who think so have never made the trial. Oh, to take God at his word-to hang on an invisible arm-to confide in a Being we have never seen, and to confide in him when we are conscious that we have sinned against him, and deserve to suffer his righteous displeasure! Oh, where is the Christian that has not often cried out, with the father of the lunatic, &ldquo;Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief &rdquo;? We may see the difficulty of believing from the means he employs to promote it, so expensive, and from the persons for whom he here wishes it. Persons who had been with him from the beginning, and had seen his miracles,-these are the persons whom he upbraids for their unbelief, who cry, &ldquo;Lord, increase our faith.&rdquo;<p>The language shows-Secondly, That faith admits of increase. Why, they believed already, or they would not have forsaken all to have followed him. But they did not believe enough. What a difference there is between the faith of two Christians, and even in the same Christian at different periods! At one time it is like the mustard-seed, how small! At another time it is like the mustard-tree, how large! Some tell us that there is no such thing as growing in grace, though we are commanded to grow in grace, and though Paul says, &ldquo;Your faith and love groweth exceedingly.&rdquo; And may not faith be more powerful in its degree, and more free in its sacrifices? While this humbles it should stimulate us. The dawn is good, but our path should be that of &ldquo;the just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, The importance of faith is to be gathered from these words of our Lord. Some persons seem afraid to say much on faith, as if it were prejudicial to morality. Why, they should know that faith is the tree that bears all the fruits of holiness, the spring from whence all holiness flows. No Christian is so celebrated for his faith as was Abraham; and there are none so celebrated for obedience. And this should not surprise us; it is what we should reckon upon. We read of the &ldquo;analogy of faith&rdquo;-the &ldquo;law of faith&rdquo;-the &ldquo;work of faith&rdquo; -the &ldquo;obedience of faith&rdquo;-the &ldquo;fight,&rdquo; the &ldquo;prayer,&rdquo; the &ldquo;joy&rdquo; of faith. Everything has to do with this.<p>In proportion as we believe, God is glorified; for strong faith giveth glory unto God. We are filled with all joy and peace in believing. Are we sanctified? It is &ldquo;by faith that is in me.&rdquo; Are we purified? &ldquo;Purifying their hearts by faith.&rdquo; Do we conquer? &ldquo;This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.&rdquo; Do we stand? &ldquo;We stand by faith.&rdquo; Do we walk? &ldquo;We walk by faith.&rdquo; Do we live? Have we boldness and confidence? It is by faith. What says the apostle to the Ephesians? &ldquo;Above all, taking the shield of faith.&rdquo; What says Christ to Peter? &ldquo;I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.&rdquo;<p>Here we see what it was the enemy&rsquo;s aim to injure, and what Christ designed to save-it was faith; and then Jesus and Satan both proclaim the importance of faith. Hence Christ said to his patients, &ldquo;Be it unto you according to your faith,&rdquo; and to his disciples, &ldquo;Where is your faith?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. - <a href='B:500 11:15'>Joh 11:15</a>. </i><p>GOD can accomplish the purposes of his love, by ways peculiar to himself. The friends of Lazarus would have said he ought to have been there. The Jews thought that he should have repaired to the scene of woe. The sisters fully expected this. They walked up and down the room, wringing their hands, and they said, &ldquo;Where is he?&rdquo; They looked out of the windows, and said, &ldquo;Why is he so long in coming?&rdquo; Calling the ploughman who was passing, they said, &ldquo;John, go and look down the Galilean road, and see if Jesus is coming.&rdquo;<p>When he came, they could hardly help reproving him: Martha said, &ldquo;Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;&rdquo; and her sister Mary said the same. But Christ said, &ldquo;I know what I have been doing; I am not acting in darkness; you will see it is better that your brother should rise from the dead, than that he should remain sick. Thus he says, &ldquo;I will bring the blind by a way that they know not;&rdquo; &ldquo;Your ways are not my ways.&rdquo; I am not to be judged of by a human standard. His absence from these individuals was to show that his ways were not only different, but superior to theirs. &ldquo;As the heavens are high above the earth, so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts.&rdquo;<p>The case of Joseph seemed very hard, and, from the love the Lord bore to him, we might have supposed he would have been there, to have saved him from the pit. But I am glad for his sake-for his family&rsquo;s sake-for his country&rsquo;s sake-for the church&rsquo;s sake-for our sake-that he was not there.<p>Here are three Hebrews cast into a fiery furnace. We might have supposed the Lord should have been there to have saved them; but he was not, and I am glad that he was not. The flames only burst their bonds; the tyrant on the throne was divinely impressed, and constrained to adore. Wherever they went, persons turned and said, &ldquo;There goes one of the three young men who chose to go into the fiery furnace rather than sin against God.&rdquo;<p>How stripped and peeled was Job! When we see him the object of scorn and pity, we are ready to suppose the Lord had been there; but when we think of the end we are glad that he was not, and James says, &ldquo;Ye have heard of the patience of Job.&rdquo; When, therefore, our views and his dealings do not seem to harmonize, let us remember that he acts sovereignly-not arbitrarily:-&ldquo;but he gives no account of his matters.&rdquo; His judgments are far above, &ldquo;out of our sight.&rdquo;<p>Let us suspend our opinions-never set his sun by our dial, but always our dial by his sun. We can see his heart, if we cannot see his hand. Do you ask where? Why, at Calvary. &ldquo;He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?&rdquo; And can we doubt of his wisdom or his love? We should learn to judge by his views and by his testimony, and not by Other things. We know not what is good for us; we may judge wrongly:- <p>&ldquo;Blind unbelief is sure to err, <p> And scan his work in vain.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.&rdquo; If we look back we shall see how often we have desired what would have been our injury and ruin if we had obtained it! And how often have we sought to escape from what we now see to be our chief blessing! We have charged him almost with wickedness, where we have now reason to believe that his kindness was peculiarly at work for our happiness. And if we see it not now we shall see it hereafter. Is it for us to judge of the skill of the artist from the first rough sketch? Should we not wait till it has received his masterly touches? Should we judge of the building while all the materials are rudely scattered about, especially if we had never seen the plan?<p>No; we should wait till the topstone is laid thereon. &ldquo;Judge nothing before the time;&rdquo; God will give a good account of himself. The saints above shout, &ldquo;He hath done all things well!&rdquo; &ldquo;Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. - <a href='B:140 35:21'>2Ch 35:21</a>. </i><p>THESE words refer to war-one of the most fertile topics of all history. Ever since man became an apostate from his God, he has been an enemy to his brother; and from the death of Abel to this hour, our earth has been an &ldquo;Aceldama, the field of blood.&rdquo; But the sword shall not devour always. An hour cometh when Christ &ldquo;shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,&rdquo; at least so far as to pursue it as a profession. The words were spoken by the king of Egypt. He is called Necho; that is, the club-footed. Many sovereigns have derived their principal and best distinction from some bodily quality. Thus, one has been called the Fair, another, Longimanus, or the Long-handed, and so of the rest. Necho was now waging war with Nebuchadnezzar, who had subdued Assyria, and was now glorying much in the title of the king of Assyria. He designed to attack him at Carchemish, on the borders of the river Euphrates; but on his way hither, he was assaulted by Josiah, king of Judah, who went forth and fought him at Megiddo, forty-five miles from Jerusalem.<p>No reason is assigned for this action. All is not wise that wise men do; all is not good that good men do. There are seasons in which, in even wise and good men, both grace and sense are asleep. Josiah&rsquo;s action was rash; he intermeddled with strife not belonging to him. His best apology, perhaps, would be that Necho was marching through a part of Judea. But then, first, this part did not belong to him; and, secondly, if Necho had passed through, he might have done so, as Israel formerly desired to pass through the borders of Moab, engaging to commit no injury, and to pay for all they used.<p>But alas! Josiah consulted his feelings rather than his convictions; and passion is always a sad counsellor. It is obvious that he did not ask counsel of the Lord,-&ldquo;Shall I go up, or shall I forbear?&rdquo; And yet he had with him not only that famous prophet Jeremiah, but Zephaniah and Urijah, and a whole college of seers. Whenever we decline asking counsel, it betrays a secret consciousness that we are not doing right; and it is miserable to engage in any enterprise, especially an important one, without inward satisfaction. Whenever, therefore, we err, we should err conscientiously, in order that we may maintain peace within; and we should never think of prospering in any undertaking, unless we acknowledge God in all our ways.<p>Yea, Josiah not only refuses to ask counsel, but he rejects the fairest warnings and remonstrances; for Necho even sent ambassadors to him, saying, &ldquo;What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?&rdquo; He reasons with him, first, from a principle of equity:-&ldquo;I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have warred.&rdquo; And, secondly, he reasons with him from a principle of religion:-&ldquo;For God commanded me to make haste&rdquo; in this affair-from some dream, or some impulse which he had, and which he believed to be from God; and which probably was really from him, for we read in the words following that it was &ldquo;from the mouth of God.&rdquo; And, thirdly, he reasons with him from a principle of interest:- &ldquo;Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.&rdquo;<p>What was the result of all this? &ldquo;Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. - <a href='B:140 35:23-24'>2Ch 35:23-24</a>. </i><p>WE do not infer from thence that Josiah perished forever. Far from it; the manner of his death was indeed a divine correction; and this is the law of God&rsquo;s house. &ldquo;While the Lord in his dealings with his people takes vengeance on their inventions, yet, as David observes, &ldquo;He forgives their iniquities.&rdquo; He therefore received Josiah to himself; and his death, though a violent one, was in one sense even a privilege to himself, and so it had been spoken of in an earlier announcement, where God said, &ldquo;Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.&rdquo; He, therefore, died at peace with God, and was spared the sight of the desolation of Jerusalem, and the destruction of his country.<p>Thus, the Lord often removes his servants from the evil to come, and calls home his ambassadors before he declares war. But, though it was only a correction to himself, it was really a punishment to the people. They were unworthy of the reign of such a prince, and they were no longer to be borne with. Hence it was that God suffered him to be so infatuated as to expose his precious life, that by his death he might remove the hinderance that kept back the judgments of God which were ready to be poured in upon the land. For the godly are, as Jeremiah says, those who &ldquo;stand in the breach,&rdquo; and who keep back invading calamities. Yea, they are called &ldquo;the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in.&rdquo; Yea, they are called &ldquo;the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.&rdquo;<p>But observe the impression his death made:-&ldquo;And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel, and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations.&rdquo; Some may not wonder that Jeremiah should have mourned over him; he was &ldquo;the weeping prophet,&rdquo; and he foresaw what would be the consequence of this dispensation. But perhaps they do wonder that &ldquo;all Judah and Jerusalem&rdquo; should have so mourned, and that it was made even an ordinance to learn and to sing the mournful dirges for the occasion.<p>But good men have a witness in the consciences of bad men. Witness Balaam, who said, &ldquo;How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!&rdquo; &ldquo;Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.&rdquo; And want endears and increases worth. As Young says,- <p>&ldquo;How mercies brighten as they take their flight!&rdquo; </i><p>While the living minister is neglected, the dying one may be lamented, and lamented the more when dead because he was neglected while living. The children of Israel were always complaining of Moses, and frequently threatening him; yet they wept for him on the plains of Moab thirty days, and, we are persuaded, sincerely. 


devotion:
<i> Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.- <a href='B:500 11:16'>Joh 11:16</a>. </i><p>THE Saviour is never too late in his movements, or too confident in his resources. We often mistake: we undertake enterprises which we are not able to conclude. We begin what we are not able to finish. Then, there are different degrees of weakness and of strength. Bring two men to a staff: one will be able to break it, and the other not. But bring them to a mast, and they will both fail. But God has all power. &ldquo;Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength.&rdquo; &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;let us go to him.&rdquo;<p>Observe-to him; not to them. &ldquo;Why, for what purpose? It is too late-he is dead.&rdquo; &ldquo;It may be too late for you, but not for me. I turn the shadow of death into the morning. Your extremity is my opportunity. I love not only to do what is needful for my people, but to surprise them. I love to do for them above all they can ask or think. I love to help them when all helpers have withdrawn, and because they have withdrawn.&rdquo; &ldquo;Go to him?-why, he is laid out! he is dead!&rdquo; Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Can the grave praise thee? He cannot receive thy visit! &ldquo;But he can; he can hear me, he shall see me. He shall find that I am the resurrection and the life.&rdquo;<p>And did he go in vain? Ah! Christians have their spots to which they retire; they often go to the grave to weep. Ah! could they fetch out the remains there deposited? Could they bring back a mother, a sister, a wife? It is in vain they stand there. But Jesus said, &ldquo;Lazarus, come forth!&rdquo; and immediately he came forth. Oh, what a journey was that! Nevertheless, &ldquo;let us go unto him.&rdquo; Had you seen him you would only have seen one like yourselves. One of the disciples would here have stepped back and said, &ldquo;Do you know who that is?&rdquo; &ldquo;No.&rdquo; &ldquo;Why, &rsquo;tis Jesus of Nazareth. Lazarus, a friend of his, is dead, and he is going to make his lungs heave, and to cause his blood again to flow in his veins; and the next night he means to sup with him and a large party.&rdquo; Oh, you would have said, &ldquo;Let us go with him; he does all things well.&rdquo;<p>There are the Jews by the shore of the sea. They are to go forward. What! are they to go into the sea? Yes. What! are they to be drowned? No; he has all power, and will deliver them. Well, then, let us be no longer faithless, but believing. 


devotion:
<i> But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. - <a href='B:140 35:21'>2Ch 35:21</a>. </i><p>WE have already noticed these words in their connection. We now take them independent of the circumstances under which the command was originally given, and consider them as language which we may and ought to adopt as our own. God commands us also &ldquo;to make haste.&rdquo; Any truth may furnish us with matter for meditation; and, if there be a truth in the Bible, (and we cannot either deny or question this,) this is one, that God has &ldquo;commanded us to make haste&rdquo; concerning some things and principles.<p>But the question is, what is haste? Haste is not hurry. Hurry always implies a kind of disordered and confused effort, as if something had been forgotten or overlooked, and seems always to infer a single and transient exertion. This is not the same with speed, nor is it favourable to speed. &ldquo;I have too much to do,&rdquo; said one, &ldquo;ever to be in a hurry.&rdquo; There are some persons, indeed, who seem always to be in a hurry or bustle, and they would appear to be persons of business and despatch. No such thing; they are &ldquo;important nothings in a juggler&rsquo;s box.&rdquo; Some who ought to rise at six are coming to life about eight, and running for hours after their work, and then doing it superficially and slatternly too.<p>But by haste is meant application, diligence, zeal; something opposed not to entire omission or neglect, but to slow and careful performance requiring excitement. It means exertion; but it is that exertion which arises from reflection rather than that which is the result of impulse, and which was exemplified by David when he said, &ldquo;I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies; I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. - <a href='B:140 35:21'>2Ch 35:21</a>. </i><p>THERE are three things concerning which God &ldquo;commands us to make haste.&rdquo; The first is, to secure the salvation of the soul. This is to be our principal concern. Our first question is not to be, &ldquo;What shall I eat, and what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?&rdquo; But, says the Saviour, &ldquo;Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.&rdquo; Why, what is our condition? We are ready to perish. And what is it to perish! We are required therefore to &ldquo;flee from the wrath to come,&rdquo; like Lot and his family when the fiery deluge was coming down. God says to us, as he said to them, &ldquo;Escape for thy life; look not behind thee in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.&rdquo; We are to flee to Jesus, &ldquo;as the doves fly to their windows&rdquo; when they see the gathering storm coming. We are to &ldquo;flee for refuge to the hope set before us;&rdquo; as the manslayer, under the law, fled in order to escape the avenger of blood. A man may be considered in a state of salvation when he is pardoned, and when he is renewed in the spirit of. his mind. But this is not all which is to engage our attention and zeal.<p>This haste may be applied, Secondly, to a course of godliness. &ldquo;As we have received Christ Jesus the Lord,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;so walk in him.&rdquo; &ldquo;The grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world.&rdquo; Zeal is to appear in every thing here. Our faith is to be active as well as real; for unless it produce good works it is &ldquo;dead, being alone.&rdquo; Our hope is not only to be living, but lively. &ldquo;We are to love one another.&rdquo; But is this all? &ldquo;We are to love one another with a pure heart, fervently.&rdquo; &ldquo;We are to pray.&rdquo; But is this all? &ldquo;We are to pray and not to faint.&rdquo; &ldquo;Then shall they find me,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;when they seek me with all their heart.&rdquo; The apostle, in addressing the Romans, says, &ldquo;Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.&rdquo; The Greek word is &ldquo;boiling hot,&rdquo; in opposition not to coldness only, but to lukewarmness. And we should remember the address of our Saviour to the professors of Laodicea:-&ldquo;Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.&rdquo; We are engaged in running a race, and surely a race requires haste; and thus it is-that we are enjoined &ldquo;so to run that ye may obtain.&rdquo; But we are not to be concerned only to grow in grace ourselves, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, but this haste will apply,<p>Thirdly, to our efforts in seeking the welfare of others. This also has devolved upon us. We are required to &ldquo;look every man, not on his own things, but on the things of others.&rdquo; We are not only required to be diligent in gaining good, but in doing good. &ldquo;As we have opportunity,&rdquo; we are to &ldquo;do good unto all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.&rdquo; There are a thousand ways in which we may be useful, if we are so disposed; &ldquo;and be not weary,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not.&rdquo; We should be concerned to obtain the Saviour&rsquo;s approbation, who said of one of the churches, &ldquo;Thou hast laboured and hast not fainted; and I know thy works, and the last to be more than the first.&rdquo; And there should be no delay here- no indolence here. Solomon says, &ldquo;Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.&rdquo; We are commanded, therefore, to make haste to be useful. 


devotion:
<i> For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? - <a href='B:190 8:6'>Est 8:6</a>. </i><p>RELATIVE affection, so far from being sinful, is amiable and praiseworthy. Alas, there are but few Christians but have some irreligious friends and relations. Surely for them they may and ought to be peculiarly concerned. There is a father who is thinking of his unruly son, and saying, &ldquo;My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.&rdquo; There is a sister sorrowing over an ungodly brother; a believing wife mourning over an unbelieving husband. And how natural it is, how becoming, thus to say with Esther, &ldquo;How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?&rdquo; But the concern of the Christian is not to be confined here. It must reach others; it must extend to strangers, and even to enemies. It must cause us to resemble Paul, who said to Agrippa, &ldquo;I would to God that not only thou, but all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.&rdquo; This disposition is always the result of divine grace. Divine grace always produces a concern for the welfare of others. A Christian cannot conceal the rich and heavenly stores he has discovered, but will rather be for making them known. As the woman of Samaria felt, so will be his feelings and conduct: he will say,- <p>&ldquo;Now will I tell to sinners round <p> What a dear Saviour I have found; <p> I&rsquo;ll point to his redeeming blood, <p> And say, Behold the way to God.&rdquo; </i><p>Nor have Christians to go out of their own proper stations for this, but may preach to their children, their servants, their friends, and their neighbours. They need not go abroad as foreign missionaries, but they may be Home Missionaries,-such as our Saviour would make the delivered demoniac. He besought the Saviour that he might be with him. No, says he; but, &ldquo;Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.&rdquo; All Christians are under a twofold obligation to do this. First, An obligation of gratitude. Where much has been forgiven, the same ought to love much.<p>And, Secondly, An obligation of duty. We should, therefore, seek to be useful. We may go to our fellow-sinners and say, I was once in the same state with you; oh that you were now in the same condition with me! Oh that the Lord would open my mouth, that I might show you what a change I have experienced in having been delivered from this present evil world, from the Bower of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God&rsquo;s dear Son! Oh, come, taste, and see for yourselves &lsquo;that the Lord is good. Thus we have seen that a man cannot keep his religion to himself. If he has any it will show itself; &ldquo;for we cannot,&rdquo; said the apostles, &ldquo;but speak the things which we have seen and heard.&rdquo; &ldquo;And,&rdquo; says our Saviour, &ldquo;if these should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; - <a href='B:570 1:9'>Phi 1:9</a>. </i><p>AFTER all we know of Christ and divine things, how slight is our acquaintance with the one or the other! There is a hope laid up for the Christian in heaven, but what know we of it as yet? Believers partake of a joy, but that joy is &ldquo;unspeakable and full of glory.&rdquo; The Saviour, therefore, addressing Nathanael, says, &ldquo;Thou shalt see greater things than these.&rdquo; The apostle prays for the Ephesians, that they might be &ldquo;able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled with all the fulness of God.&rdquo; He allows that this love is incomprehensible, yet he prays that they may be able to comprehend it; he allows that it passeth knowledge, and yet desires that they may know it; that is, that they may have more enlarged and influential views of it.<p>There is not only a real but a wonderful difference as to knowledge between believers and others, and between their present and their future state,-as much difference as between night and day. But in God&rsquo;s light they see light; that is, they see things divinely; or, as Archbishop Usher expresses it, &ldquo;As the sun can only be seen by its own shining, so God can only be known by his own revelation.&rdquo; The apostle speaks of God&rsquo;s revealing his Son in him, as well as to him; and when the eyes of our understanding are enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ, there are no new revelations made to the mind; that is, no new revelations that are new in themselves: they are indeed new to us. They were, however, all in the Scriptures before we saw any of these things, but the Saviour promised to his disciples that the Spirit of truth should guide them into all truth; not only into the belief of it, but into the enjoyment of it, into the experience of it, and into the power of it.<p>Christians not only see the reality of the things revealed, but their infinite excellency. They are supremely enamoured with them. They feel their infinite value. They live under their influence. And thus they evince that they are &ldquo;neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - <a href='B:620 1:12'>2Ti 1:12</a>. </i><p>THE apostle, in the prospect of that day, deposited something in the Redeemer&rsquo;s hand. Let us inquire what this deposit was. It is evident it was something personal, and something in which he acted as a believer. And it is not necessary to exclude any thing from the transaction, but principally we are to understand the eternal concerns of the soul. And if this required any confirmation, it may be derived from Stephen the Protomartyr, who, when he was dying, said, &ldquo;Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;&rdquo; and from the experience of David, who in an hour of danger said, &ldquo;Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth.&rdquo; The act means, therefore, simply believing.<p>Various are the views given us, in the Scriptures, of faith in the Son of God. When the sacred writers spoke of faith, they never placed it before the people in the nakedness of metaphysical abstraction. They described rather than defined, and exemplified rather than described. One thing we may observe, that in all their representations of faith they made it to have to do immediately and expressly with the Lord Jesus. But then they held forth this faith as clothed in attributes and varied in its actings. Sometimes this faith was a &ldquo;coming&rdquo; to Christ -sometimes a &ldquo;fleeing&rdquo; to him-sometimes a &ldquo;receiving&rdquo; him -sometimes a &ldquo;trusting&rdquo; in him-and here a &ldquo;committing&rdquo; of the soul into his blessed hands; this is the evidence, this is the consequence, of real faith; and there is no one single term that enters so fully into the nature of saving faith, as confidence or trusting in Christ. The apostle&rsquo;s representation of faith here will remind us of several things. The committing our eternal all into his hand implies, in the first place, conviction. The man before was deluded by error and blinded by ignorance, but now the eyes of his understanding are opened. Now he is convinced of the value of his soul, and sees that the worth of it is beyond all comparison, according to the language of our Saviour:- «&rdquo;What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?&rdquo; He is now convinced of the danger of the soul: it is ready to perish,-not as to the physical destruction of its being or powers, but as to the destruction of its welfare, its happiness, and its hopes. And now, too, he is convinced of his inability to save his own soul; he sees and he feels that he cannot atone for his offences-that he cannot furnish for it a justifying righteousness in which to appear before God-that he cannot renew and sanctify it, without which it can never enter into the kingdom of God.<p>And this act implies also, Secondly, A concern for its security and welfare. His language now is, &ldquo;How shall I come before the Lord, and bow before the high God? What must I do to be saved?&rdquo; Before it was chiefly, &ldquo;What shall I eat? and what shall I drink? or wherewithal shall I be clothed?&rdquo; But a man who is acting as Paul did always, &ldquo;against that day,&rdquo; he would be ready to say, &ldquo;It is of little importance what becomes of this poor body: let the worms devour it, let flames consume it, let the sea engulf it, let wild beasts feed upon it, provided my soul is safe in the day of the Lord Jesus.&rdquo;<p>The act of committing the soul to Christ also implies application to the Redeemer for the purpose of salvation. O thou Restorer of the human race! let this ruin be under thine hand. O thou heavenly Physician, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. O thou Refuge from the storm, and Covert from the tempest, oh, receive and shelter me.<p>Fourthly, It implies submission. The man is resigned to his method of salvation. This committing of the soul to his hands is as much an act of resignation as it is of application; and it is absolutely necessary; for, though the Lord Jesus is ready to undertake our case, we should remember one thing:-that he will have the whole management of it, or he will have nothing to do with it. And a convinced sinner is brought to this; who is brought to say, &ldquo;Lord, I yield to thy pleasure; I must indeed be saved: but, O Lord, I am not come to dictate nor to prescribe; make known thy will, and I acquiesce.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - <a href='B:620 1:12'>2Ti 1:12</a>. </i><p>WE here see what satisfaction the apostle derived from his acquaintance with the great Depositary himself:-&ldquo;I know whom I have believed.&rdquo; But we should remember that the knowledge of which the apostle speaks is not the knowledge which he had. of him before he believed in him. Then, indeed, he knew him, or his faith would have been folly, whereas it is &ldquo;a reasonable service.&rdquo; When the apostle first trusted in him, he saw that there was the greatest reason for it in the world. It is therefore necessary that we should know him; we may love, and may rejoice in, an unseen Saviour, but not in an unknown one. Dr. Owen remarks that &ldquo;all the operations of the Spirit of God are commenced and carried on in the renewing of the mind.&rdquo;<p>Why would any person trust in another without some previous knowledge? Would they intrust a very valuable jewel in the hands of a perfect stranger? or would a person walk across a very deep abyss before he knew whether the plank was sound or rotten? Therefore we read that &ldquo;by his knowledge he shall justify many.&rdquo; How is this? Some may inquire, Do we not everywhere read in the Scriptures that we are &ldquo;justified by faith&rdquo;? Surely; but &ldquo;how can they believe on him of whom they have not heard?&rdquo; Knowledge, therefore, we see, must precede every thing; and this was the case with the apostle.<p>But then this knowledge is derived entirely from testimony, and from the testimony of the Scriptures. There is a knowledge derived from experience also, and &ldquo;he that believeth hath the witness in himself.&rdquo; The believer knows these things from his own experience. &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;that my poor soul was oppressed with a burden too heavy for me to bear, and I could obtain no relief till I applied to the blood of sprinkling,&rdquo; but by &ldquo;believing I entered into rest.&rdquo; I know that &ldquo;without him I can do nothing,&rdquo; and I know that &ldquo;through his strengthening me I can do all things,&rdquo; for I have made the trial of both. I know that &ldquo;it is good for me to draw near to God,&rdquo; for &ldquo;a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.&rdquo; He is a tried friend and Saviour. I have often tried him, and the more I have tried him the more I find that he corresponds perfectly with all that is said of him in the blessed book. I know whom I have trusted, and were it to do again I would so trust in him again. I have repented many things, but the longer I live the less am I disposed to repent of this. My views have changed with regard to many questions.-Oh! how I have been deceived, how I have been imposed upon, how I have been befooled by trifles in many things! But this does not apply to my trust in the Redeemer; here I have full satisfaction in the review of what I then did.<p>The Christian has &ldquo;tasted that the Lord is gracious;&rdquo; and no wonder, therefore, having this knowledge, that he is concerned to bring others to enjoy it; no wonder that he speaks so much better on this subject than others,-&ldquo;his heart teacheth his lips,&rdquo; as Solomon says; no wonder that he speaks with earnestness, and with confidence, and with feeling, and commonly too with success, for he can say, as the first Christians did, &ldquo;That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - <a href='B:620 1:12'>2Ti 1:12</a>. </i><p>WE have seen the states of action generally expressed, but here is a particular reference with regard to it. There is often a bar in the heart to the work of God, and it does not always consist in a contempt of him. There are many who feel fear, who are yet very desirous of being saved by him; and they resemble the father of the lunatic that came to our Saviour, and said, &ldquo;Lord, if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us and help us.&rdquo; We must, therefore, bring our faith not only to the perception of the Saviour&rsquo;s disposition, but to the apprehension of his all-sufficiency too. We must know that he is &ldquo;the mighty God;&rdquo; that he made and upholds all things by the word of his power; that he is all-wise to see the most concealed designs of his enemies against his people, and omnipotent to repel them. We must bring our faith to comprehend, not only his divine sufficiency, but his mediatorial sufficiency, and this peculiarly; that is, that &ldquo;all power in heaven and in earth is given to him;&rdquo; that &ldquo;his blood cleanseth from all sin;&rdquo; that, &ldquo;his righteousness can justify the ungodly,&rdquo; and give them a title to everlasting life; that nothing is &ldquo;too hard for the Lord,&rdquo; in the Way of renovation; that there is no want but he can supply; that there is no corruption but he can subdue; that there is no enemy but he can vanquish; so that, however trying our spiritual warfare may be, we may say nevertheless, &ldquo;in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us;&rdquo; so that, though errors abound, though apostasies multiply, &ldquo;the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal,-The Lord knoweth them that are his;&rdquo; so that under a sense of my daily guilt, under the pressure of infirmities and imperfections, in the weaknesses of my grace, and in the variations of my frame, I may know still that he is &ldquo;able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before his presence with exceeding joy.&rdquo;<p>Now, the last thing that the believer has to trust in him for is the resurrection of his poor body. This will be a miracle, and the greatest of all miracles, and we know who is to be the performer. He whom we have trusted shall &ldquo;change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.&rdquo; A period is approaching, when he will &ldquo;come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,&rdquo;-when he will give an account mediatorially of all the trusts which he undertook; and therefore it is called &ldquo;The revelation of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; Then will this almighty Guardian say, &ldquo;Here am I, and the children which thou hast given me.&rdquo; Then will he say, Here are all the pupils which thou hast given me to educate, and what scholars have I made them all! here are all the patients that were intrusted to me to cure, and I have flung off them every particle of disease, and I have restored them to immortal youth and endless life; here are all the sheep, my Father, that thou gavest me to feed and to keep; &ldquo;while they were in the world I kept them in thy name, and none of them is lost,&rdquo; not a lamb of them. And then, turning to believers, he will say, &ldquo;You trusted me with your eternal all; and did you trust me in vain? I often tried your confidence: did I ever disappoint you? And was not the trial of it &lsquo; found unto praise, and glory, and honour&rsquo;?&rdquo;<p>And they will exclaim, &ldquo;Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints,&rdquo; &ldquo;for thou hast done all things well.&rdquo; &ldquo;To whom be glory and dominion forever and ever.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. - <a href='B:130 16:34'>1Ch 16:34</a>. </i><p>IF we feel gratitude to our fellow-creatures for their favours, surely we shall not forget the boon of our salvation. There is nothing perhaps so vile as ingratitude in man&rsquo;s esteem. It is properly said, that if we call a man ungrateful we call him every thing that is vile. The Lacedemonians made ingratitude a punishable crime. There is nothing that we hate so much in others, perhaps, as ingratitude, especially when it is displayed towards us where we expect love, and therefore we soon show our resentment by discontinuing our favours. Why do we not hate it equally in ourselves when we discover its operations towards the blessed God? For, after all, what is the ingratitude of any one of our fellow-creatures, which we resent, compared with our ingratitude towards the Infinite Benefactor? If he were to discontinue his favours, would his sun any more shine? would his rain any more descend upon us,-his mercies any more be new every morning? or should we be daily loaded with benefits? In what a state of destitution and wretchedness should we then be found! But how are we to express our thanksgivings towards God? Gratitude consists in the return of a benefit received.<p>Among men it may be so expressed as that a full equivalent may be made for any favour we have received,-yea, more than an equivalent. But it can never be so expressed between God and man. We can never discharge our obligations to him. But we are to feel gratitude continually; and, though we cannot make an adequate return, yet we may make a suitable one. Gratitude will appear in this. We may be prompted to ask, &ldquo;What shall We render unto the Lord for all his benefits?&rdquo; &ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; Then this grateful concern will appear in the sentiments of the mind, in the disposition of the heart, in the language of the lip, but, above all, in the language of the life, for this speaks loudest. &ldquo;Thanksgiving,&rdquo; says Philip Henry, &ldquo;is good, but thanks-living is much better.&rdquo;<p>When &ldquo;we show forth his praise, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service, and walking before, him&rdquo; &ldquo;blameless in love.&rdquo; The best way in which we can show our gratitude is in the degree and the quality of the fruit we bear. What is the best way in which a scholar can testify the honour of his tutor? Why, by his proficiency. And our Saviour, alluding to both these images, says, &ldquo;Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye also be my disciples.&rdquo;<p>It is lamentable to find that there is so little of this thankfulness now. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;that men would praise the Lord for his goodness I&rdquo; We are backward to all the duties of religion, but sluggish as to praise. We are backward enough to pray; but our necessities urge us to pray, our difficulties urge us to the throne of grace, and, when we have succeeded, we are far too prone to act like the lepers:-&ldquo;Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?&rdquo; Where is Hezekiah? He was restored from his sickness, and was so affected that he wrote a fine hymn, and gave it to the leader of the band, and had it sung in the temple, and said, &ldquo;The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do to this day.&rdquo; But afterwards, it is said, &ldquo;Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefits done unto him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and all his children (Judah and Jerusalem.)&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. - <a href='B:500 8:51'>Joh 8:51</a>. </i><p>CHRISTIANS are mortal like other men. Will they not therefore die? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;they will not die.&rdquo; Death comes to them so changed, so glorious, so beatific, that we will not use the name. They &ldquo;shall not see death.&rdquo; What then? They shall go home; they shall be gathered to their own people; they shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better; they shall fall asleep in Jesus. &ldquo;Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.&rdquo; Oh, surely he is a conqueror of death who will be delivered from the state as well as the sting of death; and this is the case with regard to every Christian.<p>Mark, therefore, the language of the apostle in reference to them, when he says, &ldquo;The body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,&rdquo;-(here Paul attaches two limitations to the death of the believer, it only affects his poor body,)-&ldquo;the body is dead because of sin&rdquo;-the soul is not touched-&ldquo;the spirit is life because of righteousness,&rdquo; and it immediately joins the spirits of just men made perfect. Then in the next place he says it is only temporary; the part affected will not remain under its grasp; no, the body will be revived, and will live as well as the spirit, and become immortal:-&ldquo;But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.&rdquo; Thus the Christian has a prospect, therefore, not only of being delivered from the sting of death, but also from the very state itself.<p>When Jacob was going down into Egypt, though it was even to see his son Joseph, and he had said, &ldquo;It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive, and I will go down and see him before I die,&rdquo; yet when he came to the verge of Egypt his old withered frame began to tremble, so that God appeared to him and said, &ldquo;Jacob, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will surely bring thee up again.&rdquo; And this is what God says to every believer with regard to the grave:-&ldquo;Be not afraid to go down into the grave; I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up again.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? - <a href='B:530 15:55'>1Co 15:55</a>. </i><p>THE apostle here combines these two enemies together, because it is hardly possible to treat them separately. We find this figure employed even in the Jewish Scriptures. There Isaiah says, &ldquo;He shall swallow up death in victory.&rdquo; And thus God says by Hosea, &ldquo;I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues: O grave, I will be thy destruction, repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.&rdquo; Thus the apostle says, &ldquo;He hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo;<p>Now, as to this victory over death, we may remark that he certainly conquers death who is not and cannot be injured by it, and to whom it is therefore expressly harmless. This is the case with every Christian. The apostle tells the believing Corinthians that death was stingless with regard to them; that it stung once, and a dreadful sting it was; that it stung our Surety, who took our place for us; but, though it stung him, it left its sting in him, so that there was none for the Christian. The sting of death Was sin; he bore our sin in his own body on the tree, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and then, as Dr. Watts says,- <p>&ldquo;If sin be pardon&rsquo;d, I&rsquo;m secure; <p> Death has no sting beside: <p> Thy law gives sin its damning power, <p> But Christ my ransom died.&rdquo; </i><p>Yes, and that is not all: he who conquers death will be improved by it; he rises with a much better body than he lay down; the body will not be a burden-it will not be a clog-it will not require as now the greater part of our time in providing for its support-it will want no such provision-it will never want a surgeon&rsquo;s knife, or a physician&rsquo;s medicine, or the milliner&rsquo;s ingenuity, or a machine to drag the dulness hither and thither. Oh, what a change! so that the spirit itself, our spiritual body, will be an advantage to the soul. It will be reunited with the immaterial universe-from which it was severed before for want of a suitable organization-reunited to the immortal universe. Oh, what a world will that be which it will enter!-what sounds will charm it!-what fruits will it taste!-what abundance will be there! The model of the Christian&rsquo;s future body is that body which shone above the brightness of the sun at noonday, when it appeared on Mount Tabor-that body in which the Saviour will judge the world in righteousness-that body which he will wear forever, and through which we shall hold our communion with him. Once more. He has conquered death who rises above the apprehension of it, and realizes all this joy and all this blessedness even now.<p>The first Christian could say, with the apostle, &ldquo;We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.&rdquo; Verily, this looks like overcoming. &ldquo;Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ;&rdquo;-the victory over death and the grave. 


devotion:
<i> For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. - <a href='B:690 3:8'>1Jn 3:8</a>. </i><p>AND we know how he succeeded. When he had sent forth the seventy disciples, and had given them power over unclean spirits, he followed them as they went, and said, &ldquo;I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven;&rdquo; and, as the last hour and the power of darkness drew on, he said, &ldquo;The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.&rdquo; &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;is the judgment of this world.&rdquo; &ldquo;Now is the prince of this world cast out.&rdquo; &ldquo;And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.&rdquo; The world shall change Masters, and instead of following him they shall follow me. But it may be asked, &ldquo;Did he not fall in the struggle?&rdquo;<p>When a man is slain in the battle, why should you consider him as a conqueror? If it only produced such a conclusion as this, his triumph was short, it was but for a moment. It is true Jesus fell; but it was in falling that he conquered. &ldquo;He spoiled,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;principalities and powers; he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by his cross.&rdquo; And because &ldquo;the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.&rdquo; Thus our Lord delivers his people from the power of darkness, and brings them into his own kingdom. &ldquo;When a strong man armed,&rdquo; saith he, &ldquo;keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, he taketh from him all. his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoil.&rdquo; So that, from that period, properly speaking, the combat begins with him. Before this, Christians did not oppose him, and he did not oppose them.<p>Why did he not? Because he had them in safe custody; they were his bond-slaves, and they were led captive by him at his will. But when they were emancipated from his control, then he followed them as apostates from his cause,-then he burned with inextinguishable ire to overtake and destroy them. Then he pursued after them like Pharaoh; and, like Pharaoh, his attempt will issue, not in their destruction, but in his own. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; says the Apostle John, &ldquo;whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.&rdquo; Not touch the Christian! He has touched him a thousand times. How often does he awaken his fears!- how often does he distress his conscience! Not touch him; the devil not touch him! Not so as essentially to injure him-not so as to destroy him-not so as to overcome him.<p>We see an exemplification of this in the experience of Peter. &ldquo;Simon, Simon,&rdquo; says our Lord, &ldquo;Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.&rdquo; But did not Peter&rsquo;s faith fail? It did, indeed, as to its exercise, but not as to principle. It did fail for a minute, but it immediately recovered. The bough was bowed down by the violence of the wind, but it soon recovered its uprightness, and pointed towards heaven again.<p>It required but a look from Jesus, and all was in motion again as before:-&ldquo;He went out and wept bitterly.&rdquo; Yes; thus shall it be with all the Lord&rsquo;s people; and therefore, says the apostle to the Romans, &ldquo;The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. - <a href='B:230 119:136'>Psa 119:136</a>. </i><p>IT is the surest evidence of the renewed mind to which we can refer, when we are weeping for the sins of others, as they do not expose us to condemnation, and with it, if we mourn over them, it must be from a religious principle. God knows this; and God is so pleased, therefore, that we read in Ezekiel that the executions were stayed till the man with the inkhorn had impressed a mark on the foreheads of all who mourned and sighed for the abominations that were done in the land at Jerusalem. Wherever the Christian sees sin, he sees something that dishonours God-something that destroys a soul-something that crucifies the Lord of life and glory; and he can say, with David, &ldquo;I beheld the transgressors and was grieved.&rdquo; He cannot see God&rsquo;s law trampled upon-hear God&rsquo;s name blasphemed-witness the contempt thrown upon the sacred day and upon the glorious gospel of his Lord and Saviour-without feeling aggrieved.<p>The people of the world often reproach the Lord&rsquo;s people with being mopish and melancholy. Ungrateful beings! to reproach them for this, when they themselves are the cause of a great deal of their distress and sorrow. They weep because others never weep; they mourn, because others never mourn. They know the dangers to which sinners are exposed, though they themselves are not aware of it. They see that &ldquo;their damnation lingereth not- that their destruction slumbereth not:&rdquo; and when these things come near home-when they regard their own immediate connections- how can they help saying, with Esther, &ldquo;How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?&rdquo;<p>In the West of England, a pious man and woman resided, who had a son,-a favourite son, too; but he was of an infidel turn. A minister, who had some reputation for eloquence, was to preach in the place. They persuaded him to attend; and, as he was fond of good speaking, he complied with their invitation. The subject was the happiness of the heavenly world. All seemed charmed: but when he looked into a comer of the pew he saw his mother weeping and when he looked into another corner of the pew he saw his father weeping. When they arrived at home they asked him how he liked the preacher. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; he said, immediately, &ldquo;this is good natural speaking: but what in the world could induce you to weep, while all the rest seemed so delighted?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the mother, &ldquo;I wept not because I feared I should lose this blessedness, but at the thought, my son, of your being deprived of it.&rdquo; &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the father, &ldquo;seeing your mother weep, I wept also at the same thought.&rdquo; They said no more, (and nothing is ever gained by noise and wordiness:) he immediately retired, and in his chamber said, &ldquo;I have made my dear father weep and I have made my dear mother weep long enough: it is now time to weep for myself. God be merciful to me, a sinner.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Our vile body. - <a href='B:570 3:21'>Phi 3:21</a>. </i><p>HOWEVER we may pamper, or adorn, or indulge the body, it is what the apostle calls it:-a vile body,-or, as it is in the margin, the body of our humiliation.&rdquo; And how humble is it in the lowness of its appetites-in the multitude and importunity of its wants-in the frailty of its frame-in the numerous diseases to which it is exposed, the seeds of which are often in the constitution, and, by external circumstances, ripen and bring forth fruit unto death! How often can an accident dismember or confine us! A few grains of sand, by collecting together in the body, will produce an obstruction that will yield such excruciating torment that the man chooses strangling and death rather than life. &ldquo;Dropsy is drowning one, fever is burning up another, the palsy is benumbing a third, the ague is chilling a fourth.&rdquo; &ldquo;Am I not made to pass months of vanity?&rdquo; says Job, &ldquo;and wearisome nights are appointed unto me. When I lie down I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro, unto the dawning of the day.&rdquo;<p>Here is another picture: (never were there such painters as the sacred writers:) &ldquo;He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat, and his flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyer.&rdquo; Admitting that this be not the case, allowing the constitution to be ever so vigorous, age impairs it, and loads it with infirmity, so that the man says, I cannot see, I cannot hear: &ldquo;those that look out of the windows are darkened, the strong men bow themselves, the voice of the grinding is low, there is fear in the way, the grasshopper is a burden, desire fails because man goeth to his long home.&rdquo; And we may observe here, also, that these physical evils often becloud the mind; they often lead us to draw the conclusion that we have no part nor lot in the matter, and that our heart is not right in the sight of God himself. They often, also, deprive a Christian of the public means and ordinances of religion. He is the Lord&rsquo;s prisoner. He can say, &ldquo;When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude that kept holy day.&rdquo;<p>&ldquo;But we,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> When I would do good, evil is present with me. - <a href='B:520 7:21'>Rom 7:21</a>. </i><p>THE chief sorrows of Christians are those which arise from their sins and infirmities. Paul, who was a great saint, speaks of these as he does of none of his other imperfections. &ldquo;Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death! For a Christian to know that he is under obligation continually to do good, and yet to feel that when he would do good evil is present with him; to know that his progress is necessary, and to feel himself hindered at every step; to feel vain thoughts lodging within him; to feel cold affections in duty,-such as a want of faith, and spirit, and liveliness in devotional exercises, in the closet, and at the family altar, and in the sanctuary,-how greatly it distresses him! for he has a conscience that is living and awake. It is inconsistent with our new and spiritual nature to perceive our deficiencies and not be affected by them; to love purity and feel so much pollution; to have a faithful God and an almighty Saviour who is worthy to be trusted, and not be able to confide in him; to know that the promises &ldquo;are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus,&rdquo; and yet be unable to believe in them; to have an Infinite Benefactor, and yet cannot praise him; to be eager to go forward in their course, and yet be behind; to wish to be workmen that need not be ashamed, and never be able to put anything out of their hands that is not marred and spoiled as Boon as it is done, and unfit for the Great Master&rsquo;s use; to enter into the presence of a Being they so much love, and come thither with so much that they know he must hate; never to be able to lean on his dear bosom without piercing it.<p>Oh, says the Christian, how wretched I feel! for I have the best of masters, and he has the worst of servants in me; and, still more, so to oblige him to say, &ldquo;My sun of experience, like Joshua&rsquo;s, is standing still;&rdquo; or, worse, My sun of experience, like the dial of Ahaz, has been &ldquo;gone back ten degrees.&rdquo; This leads him to inquire,- <p>&ldquo;Where is the blessedness I knew <p> When first I saw the Lord? <p> Where is the soul refreshing view <p> Of Jesus and his word?&rdquo; </i><p>And by fresh trials, administered by the providence of God, he discovers fresh corruption, looks again into the chamber of imagery, and inquires, &ldquo;Lord, who can understand his errors? &ldquo;Cleanse thou me from secret faults?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost. - <a href='B:590 1:5'>1Th 1:5</a>. </i><p>WE need not be informed that all to whom the gospel comes do not receive it. The Scripture speaks of such persons as these under various awful representations: as neglecters of the grace of God, &ldquo;as turning away from him that speaketh from heaven,&rdquo; &ldquo;as treading under foot the Son of God,&rdquo; as making light of the message of his servants, and going their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. It addresses their eyes, but, alas! they are closed; It addresses their ears, but they are stopped up. It addresses their hearts, but they are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It addresses their passions, but they are all running mad after the things of the world.<p>But as to the Thessalonians, it came to them in the &ldquo;demonstration of the Spirit, and with power.&rdquo; They received it therefore as an immediate revelation from God, though delivered by man. To the Thessalonians it was a novelty, even in itself; to us, who are born in a land of vision, it is a novelty only as a matter of experience. But when the ministry of the word becomes the ministry of the Spirit, the man is then &ldquo;called out of darkness into his marvellous light;&rdquo; and, however acquainted with the things before, they now impress him as new. Thus he resembles one born blind, who, if his eyes were opened, would not see a new sun, but the same which has been shining from the beginning; but it would be a new sun to him, for he never saw it before.<p>There are some who receive the gospel more feelingly and suddenly; and they resemble Zacchaeus in the tree, who, as soon as he heard our Saviour say, &ldquo;Make haste, and come down, for today I must abide at thy house,&rdquo; made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. Some are more slow under admonition. The man is gradually impressed and enlightened; he has to feel and fight his way, and to drop his prejudices by degrees; he sets off, like the dawn, with a few rays, but his &ldquo;path is like the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.&rdquo; Another from no good motive goes to hear the word; he gives the preacher a look half wondering and half frowning. As the preacher proceeds, he begins to feel, and he blushes, as if he were &ldquo;known of all and judged of all.&rdquo; He is full of alarm and resentment, and yet he cannot leave the place. He goes home, and, being uneasy, is fretful and discontented. He betakes himself to his companions in dissipation, but they no longer please:- &ldquo;miserable comforters are they all.&rdquo; He hates the place where he was made so uneasy, yet he cannot keep away. Again he goes, and learns more of his depravity and danger. He determines, therefore, that he will mend, and that he will not only &ldquo;turn over a new leaf,&rdquo; but become &ldquo;a new creature.&rdquo; But soon he feels that he is unable to perform his vow; and now is the danger lest he should be induced to say, There is no hope; lest despair should link him effectually to an unconverted state. He goes again and now he learns that what hinders his salvation is not his depravity, is not his guilt, is not his weakness, but his unbelief and his pride. He finds that it is unnecessary to build a refuge of his own: there is a refuge already provided; he has only to enter it. Instead of furnishing himself with a righteousness, he has to submit only to the righteousness which is of God. He finds that &ldquo;to him that worketh not, but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness.&rdquo; Obedience he sees is required, but it is already provided for him in that dear One in whom he has not only righteousness but strength.<p>He now regards good-works, not as peace-offerings, but as thank-offerings; and, &ldquo;by the mercies of God, presents his body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God as his reasonable service.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. - <a href='B:590 1:6'>1Th 1:6</a>. </i><p>THE apostle alludes to the persecutions which these primitive believers met with from Jews and heathens, and of which we have some account in the Acts of the Apostles. This magnified their reception of the gospel, for they received it when they were exposed to losses, to imprisonments, to sufferings, and even to death. We know little of persecution; none of it is sanctioned in our happy country by law: but then we well know that law cannot remove the enmity of the human heart. There are many wives, and children, and servants, and workmen, and tradesmen, who hear the word under various menaces, and some privations, and some ill treatment, as far as it can proceed without being actionable. And &ldquo;the tongue can no man tame.&rdquo; Reproach is a species of persecution.<p>The Ishmaels will &lsquo;mock the Isaacs; and as it was then, so is it now: &ldquo;he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit;&rdquo; and &ldquo;if any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution.&rdquo; But we must remember that there may be much affliction when there is no persecution. Oh, how many a private sufferer is there whose heart &ldquo;knows his own bitterness&rdquo;! Yes; there are many now who &ldquo;receive the word in much affliction,&rdquo; personal and relative.<p>Observe, they receive the word, not only &ldquo;in much affliction,&rdquo; but with &ldquo;joy of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; Not a carnal joy, not a worldly joy, but that joy which is the fruit of the Spirit; that joy which much affliction cannot hinder,-the &ldquo;joy of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo;<p>Observe, Paul&rsquo;s religion made him suffer, but it did not deprive him of pleasure; yea, he says, &ldquo;I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ&rsquo;s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.&rdquo; When he and Silas had been scourged, and thrust into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks, at midnight they not only prayed but sang praises to God in the prison. &ldquo;And,&rdquo; says Paul, &ldquo;not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.&rdquo;<p>So we see peace in the Saviour, and tribulation in the world, are very compatible with each other. There must be, therefore, something in Christianity which is very congenial with joy, otherwise these things could not be true; and they are true. It brings us &ldquo;glad tidings of great joy, which are for all people.&rdquo; Thus it was originally understood and embraced. The Thessalonians received the word &ldquo;in much affliction,&rdquo; yet with joy &ldquo;in the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; Ah! they were then &ldquo;filled with all joy and peace in believing.&rdquo;<p>Nor is the gospel changed; the Saviour is the same now as he was then. There is the same efficacy in his blood, and completeness in his righteousness, and power in his arm, and love in his heart. If, therefore, we do not understand and receive the truth in the same manner as the Thessalonians had received it, there must be a mistake somewhere. &ldquo;Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> We love him because He first loved us. - <a href='B:690 4:19'>1Jn 4:19</a>. </i><p>DR. DODDRIDGE had a very amiable child who died under nine years of age: she was a universal favourite among all who knew her. And one day when her father asked her, &ldquo;How is it that all love you?&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;I cannot tell, unless it be that I love everybody.&rdquo; This was not only a striking answer for a child, but it was even a philosophical one, if I may so say. Seneca has given us a recipe for love, or a love-charm, prescribed by an old philosopher, and the only charm that ever did, or can, or will produce it, namely, &ldquo;Love,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;if you would be loved.&rdquo; Why, love is governed by certain laws, as well as every thing else in the universe.<p>It is not in our power to love an unlovely object; but, though not always in our power to love, it is always in our power to be loved if we choose. Most persons wish to be loved: some, indeed, are half angry, or at least grieved because they are not so much loved as some of their neighbours and acquaintances; but they do not remember that what they require of these towards them does not depend upon others but upon themselves. If any are filled with self-conceit and self-sufficiency, if they are hard-hearted and close-fisted, if they are mean and stingy and hoarding and grasping, and if in every thing they show only a regard to their own advantage, what mortal upon earth can love them? We do not refer now to benevolence, but to esteem and attachment. What mortal upon earth can love such persons? And how foolish and wicked must they be to expect it and exact it from a fellow-creature! &ldquo;He that will have a friend,&rdquo; says Solomon, &ldquo;must show himself friendly;&rdquo; and he that would be loved must show himself lovely. &ldquo;Let no man,&rdquo; says Paul to Timothy, &ldquo;despise thee.&rdquo;<p>How can I help this? Am I to be made answerable for the feelings of others towards me? Surely you are, says the apostle. No man can despise you unless you choose. One man may oppose you, another persecute you; but display the proper feelings and maintain the proper courage of a Christian and a Christian minister, and it will not be in the power of any individual to despise you. So said Paul. Suppose persons wished to be loved, and were to scold people for not loving them; suppose they were to order others to love them, and threaten them if they do not: would this secure the effect? This would drive them further off than before.<p>It is goodness alone that makes one man love another. Power may cause a man to be feared; authority, to be reverenced; wealth, to be envied; learning, to be admired; genius, to be praised; but it is only goodness that chains one heart to another:-&ldquo;For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet, peradventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die.&rdquo; It is absurd to think of ever producing love by a legal process. The law is indeed good, and the law requires us to love God with all our heart, and with all our mind, and with all our strength, and it can righteously require nothing less; but then it can never produce this. The law worketh wrath, and upon a mind conscious of guilt it can work nothing else till we have an assured hope of forgiveness. Love never was produced, and never can be produced, by a mere display of terror, or even authority. <p>&ldquo;Law and terrors do but harden <p> All the while they work alone; <p> But a sense of blood-bought pardon <p> Soon dissolves a heart of stone.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish, in the land, of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. - <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>. </i><p>TRUMPETS were much used among the Jews. Trumpets directed their journeys and animated them on their march. Trumpets roused them to arms against the invader, and sounded the dreadful onset to battle. Trumpets proclaimed the joys of victory, and called the people to divide the spoil. But on sacred as well as civil occasions was the trumpet used. Trumpets called the people together to the services of religion, just as our parish bells call people to church. One of these services in particular was called &ldquo;the feast of trumpets,&rdquo; when from the morning until the evening the trumpets sounded over the sacrifices. The feast of &ldquo;Jubilee&rdquo; is too remarkable to be passed over. It was called the &ldquo;acceptable year of the Lord;&rdquo; it was celebrated on the day of atonement. As the people were fasting and afflicting themselves before the Lord, the trumpet sounded &ldquo;throughout the land.&rdquo; And what were its announcements? It proclaimed relaxation from all servile work; the earth spontaneously yielded her increase, and of the produce all were allowed to partake. It announced that every insolvent debtor was discharged from his creditor; that every bond-servant was free; that every lapsed inheritance returned to its original owner: all this was typical. To this it is supposed David refers when he says, &ldquo;Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.&rdquo;<p>Yet we imagine the reference in the prophecy is not to this institution, and for this reason:-the Jubilee trumpet regarded the Jews in their own land, this, in other lands; it was to be heard in the &ldquo;land of Assyria&rdquo; and in the &ldquo;land of Egypt.&rdquo; The case was this:- From the common use of the trumpet among the Jews, its sound became typical of a proclamation of good. This prophecy refers especially to the proclamation of Cyrus. They were previously in circumstances of deep distress; they were oppressed by those who carried them away captive; they were worn down by fatigue and disappointment; and when God turned away their captivity they seemed like men that dreamed. Their deliverance was altogether unlooked for; tyrants are not prone to disgorge what they have once devoured. And who was to control Nebuchadnezzar? They had no arms, no property, no correspondence; all their efforts must have terminated in enlarged sufferings and increased distress.<p>But with God all things are possible: the signal is given, the great trumpet is blown, the proclamation is issued. &ldquo;Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, and build the house of the Lord; and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold.&rdquo; Thus they gained their freedom; the dispersed assembled together, they returned to Judea, and there they adored the God of their fathers. In consequence of this edict many thousands returned unto Zerubbabel; they all appeared before God in Zion, and came to worship at Jerusalem.<p>Let us then, in subsequent exercises, contemplate the grandeur of the gospel; its dispensation; the condition of those whom it addresses; its attraction, and the effect of its influence. 


devotion:
<i> A dispensation of the gospel. - <a href='B:530 9:17'>1Co 9:17</a>. </i><p>HERE we have for our contemplation &ldquo;a dispensation of the gospel.&rdquo; The great trumpet is to be &ldquo;blown.&rdquo; For what use would a trumpet be otherwise? And what is the reasoning of the apostle? &ldquo;Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher!&rdquo; And &ldquo;when the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.&rdquo; Our Saviour himself, when on earth, preached personally; &ldquo;he preached peace to them that were far off and to them that were nigh.&rdquo; By this it was that, in the beginning of the gospel, nations were converted from Paganism to Christianity. By this, at the time of the Reformation, men were converted from Popery to Protestantism. What did Knox in Scotland? And thus has it been among us. More than a century ago, a band of men, whose hearts the Lord had touched, went forth to preach the everlasting gospel. Wherever they found a place or a congregation, they preached, and, &ldquo;Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!&rdquo; It is quite impossible now to calculate how great and extensive has been the influence of their labours. And how is it now?<p>Take the members of a Christian church: you will find most of them called to God by the instrumentality of a preached gospel. One would say, &ldquo;Ah, sir, you cannot imagine what a poor, dead, stupid creature I was as to all the things of God, till I heard a sermon which came to me like a clap of thunder, and led me to cry, What must I do to be saved?&rdquo; A second would say, &ldquo;You cannot imagine what a proud, self-righteous Pharisee I was, till I heard a sermon which, like a scythe, mowed down all my hopes, and left me at the foot of the cross, saying, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.&rdquo; But who is to blow this trumpet? Men, and not angels.<p>There is a difference between the administration of the law and the dispensation of the gospel. The law was &ldquo;ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.&rdquo; One produced the darkness, another shook the mountain, another rolled the thunders, another inscribed the law on tables of stone, &c. &ldquo;But unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak,&rdquo; that is, the economy of the gospel.<p>In reading the Acts of the Apostles we shall find that it was so all along. Though an angel appeared to Cornelius, it was only to tell him to send for Peter, who would instruct him in all that was necessary. An angel was employed to deliver Peter and John from prison. What a fine preacher he would have been had he gone among the people! But no; he said to the apostles, &ldquo;Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.&rdquo; We can never sufficiently admire the wisdom of God in this arrangement. Had angels been employed to preach the gospel, their greatness would have made us afraid; we should have been dazzled and overawed. But, now that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, the excellency of the power appears to be of God. The victory achieved over the proud foe appears more humbling now that he &ldquo;stills the enemy and the avenger, by ordaining strength out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.&rdquo;<p>Angels could not speak to us from experience, but, as some indeed do, by mere rote. They know nothing of godly sorrow for sin, or of the exercise of Christ for pardon. They are ignorant of the Christian warfare; they could not weep or sympathize with us in their addresses; the thing could not go from heart to heart as it is among us now. 


devotion:
<i> Ready to perish. - <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the condition of those to whom the gospel is addressed. &ldquo;Outcasts,&rdquo; and &ldquo;ready to perish.&rdquo; This is the figure; and what is the fact? &ldquo;Remember,&rdquo; says Paul, &ldquo;that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.&rdquo; It speaks of them as &ldquo;sitting in darkness,&rdquo; as being &ldquo;in the region of the shadow of death.&rdquo; One thing is allowed on all hands:-&ldquo;Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.&rdquo; Happiness does not result from the excellence of the object possessed, but from its adaptation to the feelings of the persons possessing it.<p>Nothing will make us happy which does not relieve our wants, and fulfil our hopes, and satisfy our desires. Oh, say some, we are not heathens: but let these turn to Scripture, and they will find that they are &ldquo;all by nature the children of wrath, even as others.&rdquo; &ldquo;In us,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing.&rdquo; We are cursed because we have not &ldquo;continued in all things written in the book of the law to do them.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is but a step between us and death.&rdquo; Is a sheep ready to perish in the midst of wolves? Is a diseased man ready to perish, who from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is covered with wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores? Is a traveller ready to perish who is fast asleep on the edge of one of the highest cliffs of Dover? Is a criminal ready to perish on whom the judge has pronounced sentence, and who is left for execution to-morrow? Is an infant ready to perish that is cast out into the open field on the day that it is born, and whom there is no eye to pity, none to have compassion?<p>But none of these are so ready to perish as sinners under the gospel are; the destruction of none of these is so great as their perdition, and from this state they are by no means able to help themselves. No hope of relief can be found but in the boundless grace of God. And why should they be ashamed that their state should be known? It is desirable that they should know it; to this, their condition, the whole gospel refers, and on this the whole of it is founded. It is also necessary that they should know it, else the gospel will be a repulsive system to them.<p>It will be like offering alms to the wealthy, or announcing liberty to those who are free, or entering a house to couch the eye of a man who can see,-unless they choose to strip the gospel of its fine character, as suited to sinners; unless, as some have done, they would reduce the gospel to a system of moral ethics. But is such a meagre representation the gospel? Does it come up to this representation?-&ldquo;The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.&rdquo; Or does it come up to this language? -&ldquo;God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> They shall come which were ready to perish. - <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>. </i><p>WE have here the attraction the gospel shall exert. Whatever knowledge the heathen had, they were utterly unable to carry it into effect, both for want of evidence and authority. None of them could speak in the name of that God who calleth the things that are not as though they were. Hence we find Plato complaining that he was unable, by all his instructions, to bring over the inhabitants of a single village. But if we go to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Colosse, to Ephesus, and survey the character of the inhabitants before they received the gospel, it is largely described by the apostle, and we cannot suppose that the devil himself could make or wish them worse. Yet the apostle stands forth and says, &ldquo;Such were some of you;&rdquo; &ldquo;ye were sometimes far off;&rdquo; you &ldquo;were dead in trespasses and sins;&rdquo; but &ldquo;you hath he quickened;&rdquo; &ldquo;instead of the thorn came up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier came up the myrtle-tree.&rdquo; &ldquo;Our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power also;&rdquo; &ldquo;the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.&rdquo;<p>Accordingly, the gospel is expressed evermore by images which indicate its efficacy. It is called the &ldquo;rod&rdquo; of God&rsquo;s power-a &ldquo;hammer&rdquo; to break in pieces-a &ldquo;two-edged sword&rdquo;-&ldquo;leaven&rdquo; which commences its operations in the centre, and extends them to the circumference until the whole is leavened-&ldquo;seed&rdquo; which, though it looks dead, yet fills the earth with its fruit, thirty, sixty an hundredfold. This success God himself has insured, or we could not reckon upon it. &ldquo;As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.&rdquo;<p>The gospel never leaves people as it finds them: it enlightens their understanding; it prevails on their wills; it purifies their affections; it makes them new creatures. How can we honour the gospel so much as by showing what it can do? What has the gospel done for multitudes? If they are as proud, and covetous, and revengeful, after hearing the gospel, as they were before hearing it, where is the change? Where is the conversion? In the passage before us the trumpet is blown, but it is heard,-it is answered:-they &ldquo;come.&rdquo; How do they come? &ldquo;With weeping and with supplication;&rdquo; they come eagerly, hastening, running, flying like doves to their windows when they behold the approaching storm. &lsquo;From whence do they come? From the dark dens of ignorance -from the lurking-holes of hypocrisy-from the false refuges of pharisaism-from the service of sin-from the bondage of Satan. To whom do they come? &ldquo;To whom coming as unto a living stone,&rdquo; &ldquo;to him shall men come.&rdquo; He is the only resource; and he says, &ldquo;Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.&rdquo; &ldquo;Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me.&rdquo;<p>What is faith, what is religion, but the soul in motion to him and negotiating all its affairs with him? 


devotion:
<i> But they made light of it. - <a href='B:470 22:5'>Mat 22:5</a>. </i><p>THE charge here made is that of making light of the provision and invitation of the gospel. The Jews did, and they well deserved the destruction it brought upon them. But is this applicable to us? Why not? There are four proofs which will substantiate the charge. The first will be taken from our thoughts. The thoughts are the first-born of the mind, and they always cling to their object as the bees to the hive, and for the very same reason,-because there they find the honey. &ldquo;Can a woman forget her sucking child?&rdquo; &ldquo;Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?&rdquo; &ldquo;Where the carcass is,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;there will the eagles be gathered together.&rdquo; But now, what a man makes light of he thinks very little of. Let us ask, then, how does this subject engage our hearts? Many persons know that it rarely ever engages them; they know that it never engages them spontaneously, but only by external presentation, and they know, too, that when it does enter them, it is not cherished and entertained; and therefore, like a guest who feels that he is not welcome, he soon looks to the door.<p>The second proof is to be taken from our words. That which we make much of we shall speak much of, for &ldquo;out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.&rdquo; Hear how those who value these things, instead of &ldquo;making light&rdquo; of them, are thus described by inspiration. &ldquo;All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee; they shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.&rdquo; Now, on the other hand, take men who &ldquo;mind earthly things.&rdquo; Suppose it be money: such persons, like Peter&rsquo;s fish, have money in their mouths; or, if it be the honour which cometh from men, they want nothing to excite them to enlarge. Oh, they seize the opportunity; they are at home here. But they never converse of &ldquo;the things of the Spirit;&rdquo; that is, of their own accord; that is, unless they have some purpose to answer; that is, never without irksomeness. Other company is much more relished than the company of those who know nothing &ldquo;save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.&rdquo;<p>The third proof may be taken from our actions. Those make light of a thing who take no pains and make no sacrifices in order to secure it. And is not this the case here? The man spoken of in the gospel, who found treasure hid in a field, did not &ldquo;make light&rdquo; of this thing, for he immediately went, and sold all that he had, and bought it. What are we ready to part with for this purpose? The pride of our reason -our self-righteousness-the possession of the world-the pleasures of sin? The best proof will be derived from our anxieties. It is well known that what we highly prize we shall always recommend, and be greatly concerned to make those we love partake of the same. Now, can our relations or our friends bear witness that we have urged upon them the care of the soul as the &ldquo;one thing needful&rdquo; in all our intercourse with them? Can they bear witness that we have sought to induce them to attend to religion? Have we prayed with them, and for them? Have we admonished them? Have we been anxious that they should fee &ldquo;renewed in the spirit of their mind&rdquo;? 


devotion:
<i> But they made light of it. - <a href='B:470 22:5'>Mat 22:5</a>. </i><p>THERE are four causes which lead numbers to make light of the gospel provision and invitation. First, ignorance. Hear what the Scripture says of this:-&ldquo;If our gospel,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;be hid, it is hid to them that are lost;&rdquo; that is, it follows that they will be lost hereafter; and it proves that they are in a perishing condition already. There is an ignorance which is unavoidable. This does extenuate and excuse; but these guests could not plead this ignorance, because a succession of messengers had been sent to them. There is also an ignorance which arises, not from the want of means, but the want of improving them. &ldquo;My people,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;do not consider.&rdquo; Now, ignorance never excuses, where knowledge is attainable. And yet there are many who are willingly ignorant: they turn away their ears from hearing God; they close their eyes. And therefore the Saviour says, &ldquo;Had I not come and done among them the works that none other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.&rdquo;<p>Another cause is insensibility. There are many who do not feel their need of these things: they are not &ldquo;poor in spirit;&rdquo; they do not &ldquo;hunger and thirst after righteousness.&rdquo; &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; says Solomon, &ldquo;the full soul loathes the honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.&rdquo; &ldquo;They that are whole,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;need not the physician,&rdquo; and therefore they are not disposed to repair to him. They may not oppose him, especially if he happen to be popular in their neighbourhood; yea, they may even recommend to him some who are very ill; but it is obvious that they will not value him on their own account. But it is otherwise with the sick. The person they want is not the merchant, the philosopher, the poet, the musician; but the man who can bring them &ldquo;health and cure.&rdquo;<p>Another cause is indisposition. &ldquo;The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.&rdquo; And the same may be said of the Saviour himself; men &ldquo;will not have this man to reign over them.&rdquo; Even in the character of a Saviour, natural men do not love him. David speaks of some who &ldquo;love his salvation.&rdquo; It is a fine expression, and ever to be remembered; but natural men, they do not love the manner of it, as it is free, and leaves us nothing to glory in before God; as it represents us, if wise, wise in another&rsquo;s wisdom; if righteous, righteous in another&rsquo;s righteousness; if strong, strong in another&rsquo;s strength; if rich, rich in another&rsquo;s riches; and however moral we may be, if saved, saved in the same way with the chief of sinners. And they do not love the nature of this salvation, as it is heavenly and holy. His name was called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins. He &ldquo;gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.<p>The fourth cause is worldly-mindedness. This was the case here: they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, and the other to his merchandise. 


devotion:
<i> This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. - <a href='B:690 5:4'>1Jn 5:4</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;BE of good cheer; I have overcome the world.&rdquo; Thus did our Lord assure to his disciples the victory over the world, as if he had said, I have found it from the beginning to be an enemy, but it has not conquered me and it shall not conquer you; I have overcome it for you, and, because I have overcome, you shall overcome also; and, &ldquo;because I live, ye shall live also.&rdquo; But what is the Christian&rsquo;s victory now over the world? It is not fleeing from the world,-fleeing is not fighting,-but it is their abiding in the situation and calling in which they are placed by God; discharging with diligence and zeal the duties pertaining to them; bearing with patience, and firmness, and privation, the trials incident to them; avoiding the snares and the corruptions that are inherent in them; resisting the temptations belonging to them, and using all the opportunities afforded them to &ldquo;do good as they have opportunity unto all men,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;serve their generation according to the will of God.&rdquo;<p>It is to be undismayed by the frowns of their adversaries, and to pursue their work however they may oppose, or threaten, or persecute. It is to be unseduced by their smiles, by their allurements, by their promises. It is to act independently of them, from conviction and disposition. It is not to be &ldquo;conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their mind.&rdquo; It is to dare to be singular, like Noah, in an ungodly world. It is to be able to say, with David, &ldquo;Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I will keep the commandments of my God,&rdquo; or with Joshua, &ldquo;Choose this day whom ye will serve; but, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.&rdquo;<p>The man who thus lives overcomes the world; the man who thus lives, though he is in the world, is not of it; he is in the world as the soul is in the body,-in it, indeed, but not of it,-in it, but of another quality. And however busy this man may be, however much he may be engaged in the things and with the men of the world, yet such a man as this is not carried away by what the apostle calls &ldquo;the cares of this world,&rdquo; and he is not acted upon by what he calls &ldquo;the spirit of the world.&rdquo; He has received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.<p>But now let us notice how the victory is achieved:- &ldquo;This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,&rdquo; and by no other means is it possible to overcome. It is only by faith that the secret is manifested to the conscience that &ldquo;the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God.&rdquo; It is faith that with a trumpet-voice says to the man, &ldquo;Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.&rdquo; &ldquo;For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world.&rdquo; It is faith alone that can loosen him from the dominion of things seen and temporal, by revealing to him the things that are not seen and eternal. It is this faith that not only brings heavenly grace within his view, but within his reach; and it enables him to say, &ldquo;God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,&rdquo;-when he can say, &ldquo;Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;When I can say my God is mine, <p> When I can feel his glories shine, <p> I tread the world beneath my feet, <p> And all that earth calls good or great.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. - <a href='B:680 1:14'>2Pe 1:14</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the Christian&rsquo;s present residence. &ldquo;We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened,&rdquo; says Paul; and here Peter says, &ldquo;I must put off this my tabernacle.&rdquo; By this tabernacle they mean the body. It is the same to the soul as a dwelling is to the inhabitant; but, you will observe, the apostles do not call it a palace, or a mansion, or even a house, but only a tabernacle. Paul was by craft a tent-maker; his hands, therefore, had been often employed in the construction of such residences as these. He well knew that a tent or a tabernacle had a roof but no foundation-was a temporary accommodation-a movable body, easily taken down, easily injured, easily destroyed.<p>Ah! do what we will with these bodies of ours, they are really no better than tabernacles,-earthly tabernacles. Nurse them as we please, pamper them, as some do, dress them, idolize them, indulge them in every kind of luxury, after all, dust they are, and unto dust they will return. &ldquo;Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before thee. Verily, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity.&rdquo; But let us now see how the apostles distinguish our souls from our bodies, and how they place them above our bodies. They speak as if our bodies did not even belong to our persons. Paul says, &ldquo;We that are in this tabernacle;&rdquo; and Peter here avails himself of the same allusion:-&ldquo;I must put off this my tabernacle;&rdquo; as if we could live and act without our bodies. This is possible, and the soul is the man, and the soul is the inhabitant that is in the body, but not of it; it is not of the same material, the same quality, the same origin.<p>Do what we will we can never save the tabernacle, but the tenant may be saved; and surely it must be our wisdom to make its salvation our immediate and our main concern; and, therefore, our Saviour, who well knew the value of the soul, from the price of our redemption which he paid for it, meets us in all our worldly pursuits, and asks, &ldquo;What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?&rdquo; Yet there are many persons who have no more regard for their souls than if they had none, or as if they deemed them unworthy of one moment&rsquo;s thought.<p>This is the case with them not only while they live but often even when they die. They discover the same indifference then; they employ the physician; they call in the lawyer; they dispose of their substance; they arrange their funeral; they tell their survivors where, and how, and when, they choose to be buried: but not a word escapes them concerning their soul, and not one of their cruel relatives, or attendants in the room with them, dares to break this delusion and say to them, Have you, then, no soul? Is the soul provided for? Is your soul safe? After death is the judgment: and where will you be in the day of the Lord Jesus? 


devotion:
<i> We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. - <a href='B:540 5:4'>2Co 5:4</a>. </i><p>NOW, from hence there are three things that may be remarked. The first is, that the primitive Christians were men of just the same passions as we are. We sometimes think they were a peculiar people, a superior kind of beings; at least, that they were strangers to all those feelings of ours which are fearful and wretched. No; they also were encompassed with infirmities. There was nature as well as grace in them; and, though God had made them holy, yet they felt the effects of guilt.<p>Secondly, we may observe that the fear of death does not show any want of religion. Dr. Conyers, one of the best of men, often used to say, &ldquo;I am afraid to die, though I am not afraid of death.&rdquo; There is much in this to intimidate some. As Dr. Watts says,- <p>&ldquo;The pains, the groans, and dying strife, <p> Fright our approaching souls away; <p> Still we shrink back again to life, <p> Fond of our prison and our clay.&rdquo; </i><p>Why, this is easily accounted for: &ldquo;no man,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it.&rdquo; Nature can never be pleased with its own dissolution. We see the aversion there is to it even in birds and beasts, as well as in us, though they have no dread with regard to a future state. The fear of death is as natural to us as hunger, or thirst, or sleep; and we are no more accountable for it; the chief thing is, only to have it properly guided and regulated. Why, Adam, in his state of innocency, felt this fear of death; and, therefore, the menace was addressed to him:-&ldquo;In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.&rdquo; Unless he had feared death this would have been no threatening at all. And our Lord and Saviour, who had a sinless humanity, who knew no sin as well as did no sin, our Saviour himself thus feared; and, therefore, the apostle says, &ldquo;He prayed unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, in that he feared;&rdquo; for he said, &ldquo;Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.&rdquo; Now, we can easily conceive that a man may be attached to a thing, may desire a thing, and not like the way by which it is gained. There is a man, we will suppose, who has a diseased limb, and the removal of it is essential to his recovery. What does the man want? Not amputation, you may be sure, but recovery. And can we question his desire for the one because he shrinks from the other? No; he longs for the cure, and only dreads the operation. A man may have a family, a lovely and attractive family, in America; he may long to be with them, but when he comes down and sees the Atlantic he may shudder. I do not question his wishing to be with them because he dreads the sea. Dr. Watts has also admirably expressed this in one of his hymns:- <p>&ldquo;Oh, could we make these doubts remove, <p> These gloomy doubts that rise, <p> And see the Canaan that we love, <p>&ldquo;With unbeclouded eyes!&rdquo; </i><p>(Ah! &ldquo;the Canaan that we love.&rdquo; We may love Canaan, we may long to be there, while we shudder at Jordan&rsquo;s stream that rolls between?)<p>Thirdly, We should endeavour to rise above these feelings; for we must remember that death, after all, is the only way by which we can enter into life. It is the only-and, we may be assured, the right-way to the city of habitation. What is impossible to nature may be possible to grace; we may, therefore, be raised above the depressing fear of death. And in order to this, we should endeavour to view death as much as possible under every sort of representation given of it in the Scripture. Death to the believer is falling asleep in Jesus-going home-departing to be with him, which is far better. Our minds should dwell, not upon what is forbidding, but upon what is beyond:- <p>&ldquo;Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood <p> Stand, dressed in living green.&rdquo; </i><p>Let us keep our eyes on that blessed state,-Immanuel&rsquo;s land,- and think less of the shadow of death which is to usher us into it. If it be a dark valley, it is a short one, and there is One who has engaged to go with us through it, whose rod and whose staff shall comfort us. 


devotion:
<i> Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. - <a href='B:230 103:1'>Psa 103:1</a>. </i><p>THERE are three things which should be regarded by us as a stimulus to gratitude. The first is to dwell upon the blessings we have received. We are affected by mercies; and it is well we are. We should dwell upon the suitableness of them,-their importance and value. Take the blessing of deliverance from all our spiritual enemies. Let us ask ourselves, What would have been the consequence if I had been left a victim of sin, or of the world, or death, or the grave? What do I owe to that Saviour who rescued me?<p>The second is to get an increasing sense of our own unworthiness. We shall always find that gratitude deepens humility, and that proud people are ungrateful for whatever is done for them: they consider it as only doing a duty, not conferring a favour. What reward have their benefactors? But take a man who is humble, and he will in the same proportion be thankful. When we are convinced that we are unworthy of all God&rsquo;s mercies, when we look not only to years of unregeneracy, but to years of conversion,-to years since we have known God, or rather &ldquo;been known of him,&rdquo;-what will be our language? &ldquo;Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!&rdquo;<p>Then, Thirdly, We should be greatly concerned to get an assurance of our own interest in the blessedness of the Lord. Yes, it will touch the spring of all our feelings and affections, when we can say, with David, &ldquo;I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication;&rdquo; or, as he says in the eighteenth Psalm, &ldquo;I will love thee, O Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.&rdquo; Thus expressing his property in God nine times in one verse; and no wonder, therefore, that he should say, &ldquo;I love thee, O Lord.&rdquo; It was thus that Peter, joining himself with the Christians of his day, could say, &ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.&rdquo;<p>Thus, therefore, we should walk before him &ldquo;in newness of life;&rdquo; thus we should ask continually, &ldquo;What wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; Thus by his mercies we should &ldquo;present our bodies a living sacrifice.&rdquo;<p>Oh! it well becomes Christians to be thankful. It is a pleasant thing to give thanks to the Lord. This is a part of heaven; it is the beginning of heaven, and that which will endure forever. The other parts of our religion will soon cease; faith will be swallowed up in sight, hope in fruition; there will be nothing for repentance when we are freed from all our evils; there will be no room for prayer when we are &ldquo;filled with all the fulness of God:&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;Then shall we see, and hear, and know <p> All we desired and wish&rsquo;d below, <p> And every power find sweet employ <p> In that eternal world of joy.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> They all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. - <a href='B:490 14:18-20'>Luk 14:18-20</a>. </i><p>OBSERVE, these characters do not flatly and positively refuse; they were ashamed to do this. Sin is always a shameful business, and men do not love to plead for it openly, till they have dressed it up in some false notion or name. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; they will say, &ldquo;covetousness is a very bad thing, but we are to lay up for the children.&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; they will say, &ldquo;pride is an abominable thing, but we are to show a proper spirit.&rdquo; And so of the rest.<p>Observe, also, that all these excuses were derived from things that were lawful,-yes, lawful in themselves; and it is by these things lawful in themselves that thousands perish. The last step of a virtue and the first step of a vice, are contiguous. The space which separates between a duty and a sin is often no more than a hair&rsquo;s-breadth. At this barrier the enemy takes his station, that when he finds us coming to the verge of permission, he may as easily as he can, draw us over, and induce us to transgress. So the first says, &ldquo;I have bought a piece of land, and I must needs go and view it.&rdquo; Would it not have been wiser to have seen it before he bought it? But men are always fools when they plead for irreligion. The second says, &ldquo;I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.&rdquo; Why did he not prove them before he bought them? Suppose, after he had bought them, he should find them blind, and lame, and diseased: what would he have done then? The third is bolder still:-&ldquo;I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.&rdquo; Why could he not have come? Could he not have brought his wife along with him? Was there not room enough for them both? Would she not have been as welcome as himself? Or was the lady indisposed to go? This is not likely; women are always more inclined to religion than the men. But, if this had been the case, he should have gone alone.<p>Oh, how often are we injured and ruined by improper regard to our fellow-creatures, our friends, our relations! There are persons who suppose that error may destroy; but they forget that truth may destroy also, and that we read that the gospel itself may become &ldquo;the savour of death unto death.&rdquo; They know that the devil can damn them, but they forget that a child can do the same, or a mother, or a father, and that our Saviour has said, &ldquo;He that loveth father, or mother, or son, or daughter, more than me, is not worthy of me.&rdquo; Because Felix saw that it pleased the Jews, he left Paul bound. Because Herod saw that his murdering James pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take Peter also. The young man in the gospel was humble and inquiring, and gained the Saviour&rsquo;s affections; but he went away sorrowful, &ldquo;for he was very rich.&rdquo;<p>The seed sown among the thorns sprang up in time; but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked it, and it became unfruitful. 


devotion:
<i> We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. - <a href='B:540 5:4'>2Co 5:4</a>. </i><p>AND burdened with what? How numberless are the evils under which believers groan, and by which they are pressed down to the ground! It would be endless to particularize them, but we may arrange them under two classes. First, Those evils which Christians endure in common with their fellow-creatures. &ldquo;For man,&rdquo; says Job, &ldquo;is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, The burdens of the Christian comprehend those painful things that are peculiar to themselves,-the persecutions for Christ&rsquo;s sake which they experience from the world, the temptations of Satan, and, above all, they groan, being burdened with their sins. &ldquo;Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth me.&rdquo;<p>At the beginning of the Christian life, we are enabled, by application to the blood of sprinkling, to have the &ldquo;conscience cleansed from dead works to serve the living God,&rdquo; and to enter into rest with regard to justification; but then, after this, in the remains of them, sin continues to be burdensome to the Christian all through life, and will be increasingly burdensome in proportion as he is increasingly holy. Paul was a singular sufferer, but he did not speak of any of his sufferings as he did of this,-the sin that was still dwelling in him; that when he would do good evil was present with him; and how to perform that which was good he found not, and therefore he says, &ldquo;Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?&rdquo;<p>Christians therefore groan often under moral infirmities. While the people of the world sneer at them as if they were licentious, as if they were always ready to plead for sin, Christians groan under the burden of those infirmities which their adversaries never feel as sins at all. You may lay any heavy load upon a dead man, and he does not feel the burden; you may drive a sword through his body, and he will neither move nor cry; but a living body feels the least pressure, and a mote in the eye will make the sufferer wretched for the time. So it is with the Christian.<p>Oh, there is enough here to induce Christians to groan, being burdened! It is said of that beautiful bird, the bird of paradise, that being once caught and caged it never leaves off sighing till it is set free. That bird is the Christian; he never leaves off sighing till he enters the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 


devotion:
<i> He will joy over thee with singing. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>OBSERVE, here is not only joy felt, but it makes itself known. For this singing (what a thought! God singing over his people!) may be heard, and it is intended to be heard, and intended to be heard by themselves. God would have them, like Enoch, have the testimony of faith with them. &ldquo;The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.&rdquo; How often he says to the soul, &ldquo;I am thy salvation&rdquo;! Alone, in the house of God, in affliction, in the valley of the shadow of death,-with regard to all these, how often have Christians said,- <p>&ldquo;Oh! what immortal joys I felt, <p> And raptures all divine; <p> When Jesus told me I was his, <p> And my Beloved mine!&rdquo; </i><p>And God designs that his singing over his people should be heard by the world at large. Therefore by the prophet Isaiah he says, &ldquo;Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.&rdquo; How often has he made a visible distinction between them and others in the dispensation of his providence! as we see in the case of Noah in the deluge, and Lot in the overthrow of Sodom, and of the Israelites in the plagues of Egypt. And if his people are allowed in public calamities to suffer with others, they do not suffer like others, for he can indemnify them by inward supports and by eternal remuneration. But he causes this to be known to others by the dispensations of his grace as well as his providence.<p>We know how high the godly stand in the conviction and esteem of the wicked. In company they may join in the laugh and mockery against them; but oh! when we witness them when they are alone, and when they think on that eternity on the -borders of which they must know they continually stand, how often do we find them saying, with Balaam, &ldquo;How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.&rdquo; And if the wicked do not choose to hear their God making declarations of his love to them now in life,-if they choose to pass through life deceived,-another world will soon undeceive them, for &ldquo;then will he return to discern between the righteous and the wicked,-between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.&rdquo;<p>Wherefore, if God thus delights in his people, let others be careful how they oppose or injure them; for he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of God&rsquo;s eye, that is, the tenderest part of the tenderest of all beings. Who would strike the child of a giant whilst he was standing by? Who would strike a king&rsquo;s servant whilst he was present? Let men take care what they do with regard to God&rsquo;s children. He has bent his bow and made ready his arrow to shoot at the persecutors. On the other hand, they are so dear to him, that all that is done for them he considers as done for himself. He says, &ldquo;He that receiveth you receiveth me.&rdquo; &ldquo;Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto me.&rdquo; And let us be followers of God as dear children; let us judge according to God&rsquo;s judgment, and let us regulate our conduct by God&rsquo;s conduct.<p>In our eyes, let a vile person be contemned; but let us honour them that fear the Lord, whatever their external circumstances may be. Let us say, with. David, &ldquo;I am a companion of all them that fear thee, of them that keep thy precepts; the saints that are in the earth, and the excellent, in whom is all my delight.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> This is love, that we walk after his commandments. - <a href='B:700 1:6'>2Jn 1:6</a> </i><p>WHILE God is the Father of his people, he is also their Master. He is good to them, but his goodness does not deprive him of his authority. He maintains this inviolable, even for their own welfare, and he has therefore given us not only exceeding great and precious promises, but commands; and our apostle says, &ldquo;This is love;&rdquo;-that is, the effect, the experience, the evidence of love:-&ldquo;that we walk after his commandments.&rdquo; This fruit of love, according to our apostle, bears two characteristics.<p>First, He reminds us that it is practical, consisting in nothing less than walking. In Scripture you will observe that walking never refers to a single action, but to our conduct at large. &ldquo;And herein,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;is love.&rdquo; Not that we read, that we hear that we think his commandments, that we profess them, that we recommend them; but herein &ldquo;is love, that we walk after his commandments.&rdquo; Let us be assured of this,-that every thing else, however valuable, in connection with this, will be found vain without it. &ldquo;Love,&rdquo; says John, &ldquo;not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth.&rdquo; &ldquo;If ye know these things,&rdquo; says our Saviour, &ldquo;happy are ye if ye do them.&rdquo; Again, says our Saviour, &ldquo;Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.&rdquo; Yea, and again, (and nothing can be more awful than this:)-&ldquo;Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.&rdquo; So that even endowments and exertion will not be substitutes for obedience: if the man who prophesies does not pray-if he who speaks in other tongues does not glorify God in his own-if he who performs miracles is also a worker of iniquity, he shall have his portion with the devil and his angels.<p>Secondly, The other characteristic is, that it is prescribed as well as practical. Walking shows that religion is not a speculation, a notion, a pretence; for we are not merely to walk, but we are to &ldquo;walk after his commandments;&rdquo; not after the course of this world, not according to the lusts of men, not according to the imagination of our hearts, but to &ldquo;walk after his commandments.&rdquo; We may do many things which God has never enjoined, and he may pardon these; but he only rewards obedience, and obedience always and invariably regards a rule-a law. And he has told us what he requires of us; he has shown us what is good; we have it in his Word-his will; and therefore to this we are to appeal. Not to the decrees of councils, not to the creeds of men, but to the Scriptures. What saith the Scripture? should be the only inquiry with us. Every thing in religion that is destitute of the sanction of his authority is unbinding on the conscience. It is of the traditions of men, it is of will-worship, concerning which he will by-and-by say, &ldquo;Who hath required this at your hands?&rdquo; &ldquo;As many as walk according unto this rule, peace be on them, and mercy.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face. - <a href='B:590 3:10'>1Th 3:10</a>. </i><p>HERE we perceive the desirableness and advantage of personal intercourse and communion among Christians. How pleasing is it for Christians to realize these after long separation and absence!-especially to meet after such trying circumstances and perilous events as occurred in the experience of the apostle! And Christians are still exposed to imminent dangers. We stand in jeopardy every hour. Oh, how delightful it must have been for the apostle to have met again those whom he so dearly loved; after the perils among robbers, perils by sea and land; after his shipwrecks and manifold tribulations! What gushings of feeling, what eagerness of words, what tears, what joys, what acknowledgments! Thus Jacob and Joseph met after twenty years&rsquo; absence. How precious, too, is this intercourse among Christians in seasons of affliction and trouble! The face of a Christian friend, in such seasons, has appeared like the face of an angel. And how delightful it is when Christians meet in the sanctuary, there to mingle their songs and their supplications together in the exercises of devotion!<p>And how blessed will it be to meet in heaven at last! There will the fellowship of the saints be complete and permanent. Here, how short in duration, how liable to interruption, have been the sweetest and the most protracted seasons of communion we have enjoyed on earth! But there their joy will be full and undisturbed. Yes, the saints will rejoice to see each other&rsquo;s faces in heaven; for we cannot doubt of there being a mutual recognition of each other there. &ldquo;I am fully persuaded,&rdquo; says Baxter, &ldquo;that I shall love my friends in heaven, and therefore know them; and this principally binds me to them on earth. If I thought I should never know them more, nor, therefore, love them after death, I should love them comparatively little, as I do all other transient things; but now I delight in conversing with them, as believing I shall commune with them forever.&rdquo; So did Paul; for, said he, &ldquo;What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.&rdquo;<p>But how different will be the meeting of the saints on earth, to seeing each other face to face in glory! Here the most spiritually-minded Christian is the subject of great imperfection. They mistake each other, and offences will come. They have much to explain, much to forgive; but then they will be without fault before the throne of God and the Lamb. Here we meet in circumstances of trouble, affliction and grief; but there nothing is felt but joy and gladness, nothing heard but thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Here we meet to part again, but there parting will be known no more. 


devotion:
<i> That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. - <a href='B:520 1:12'>Rom 1:12</a>. </i><p>THERE is no such thing as independence. All are needful, all are useful. We are not only one body in Christ, but &ldquo;every one also members one of another.&rdquo; &ldquo;The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.&rdquo; &ldquo;And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.&rdquo; Man is designed and formed for society. His faculties, inclinations, and exigencies all urge him to associate. In his natural state he loves sinful society; in his renewed state he loves the society of the godly. Many things may often keep the partakers of divine grace asunder; but, being let go, they go to their own company, for each of them can say, &ldquo;I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.&rdquo;<p>No; it is not good for man to be alone, nor is it good for the Christian to be alone. Bunyan knew this; he has no solitary pilgrim. Though Christian began his journey alone, he soon enjoyed a fellow-traveller, and Hopeful was found to be his companion when Faithful was removed. Love delights in the presence of its object; and, as &ldquo;iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.&rdquo; Religion, so far from destroying the social principle, sanctifies and regulates and strengthens it. Like attracts like; and, when we become godly, our longing is for godly association. Yea, we &ldquo;choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.&rdquo;<p>Communion with saints falls in with our new views, and hopes, and fears, and joys, and sorrows. These are now our fellow-learners and fellow-labourers, fellow-travellers and fellow-warriors. And Christians feel themselves to be thus united to each other. Their principles lead them to &ldquo;rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them that weep;&rdquo; and, instead of envying and hating one another for their successes and endowments and comforts, they glorify God on each other&rsquo;s behalf. They feel it to be their highest privilege to guard each other&rsquo;s reputation, explore and supply each other&rsquo;s wants, soothe each other&rsquo;s sorrows, and soften each other&rsquo;s cares, being all partakers of the same &ldquo;common salvation,&rdquo; and realizing that they &ldquo;are all one in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; Every disadvantage is compensated for; thus,- <p>&ldquo;They share each other&rsquo;s woes, <p> Their mutual burdens bear; <p> And often for each other flows <p> The sympathizing tear.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. - <a href='B:650 4:16'>Heb 4:16</a>. </i><p>WE are to come to this throne boldly. But what can this boldness be? It is expounded by the objects for which we are to approach him,-namely, &ldquo;mercy and grace;&rdquo; for, if we come to the throne of grace sensible of our need of mercy and grace, the boldness can only be the boldness of penitence;-the boldness which is becoming those who know that they have no claim upon the Giver, whose language therefore must be, &ldquo;God be gracious&rdquo; -&ldquo;God be merciful to me, a sinner.&rdquo;<p>We may consider this boldness:-First, As opposed to that despair which very naturally arises from the conviction of sin. When a sinner is awakened and enlightened to see and reflect upon his character and condition, he must feel his need of Strong consolation at the thought of entering into the presence of a Being so great and glorious, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, &ldquo;and who can as righteously as easily destroy him.&rdquo; Dare I approach? and shall I succeed if I do? This is his experience; and to meet this the Saviour says, &ldquo;Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;&rdquo; and &ldquo;him that cometh I will in no wise cast out.&rdquo; To encourage such an approach, the Scripture places before us a number of persons, none of whom could possibly have any claim upon the Giver. We have a Manasseh, who sinned away all the advantages of a pious education, and became an idolater, a necromancer, a persecutor, and a murderer of the innocent and the righteous, and who made the streets of Jerusalem to run down with blood. We have the Corinthians, of whom the apostles give such an infamous character that Satan could not have made or wished them to have been worse than they were. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified as by the Spirit of our God.&rdquo; And the Apostle Paul, referring to himself, says, &ldquo;Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy;&rdquo; as much as to say, &ldquo;None should despair:-you cannot, for I have found mercy.&rdquo;<p>Then, Secondly, We may view it in opposition to the bondage of Judaism. God was much less accessible under the former dispensation than under the present economy. While God was upon Sinai, the Israelites were not suffered to approach without imperilling their lives. Into the holy of holies, where God dwelt between cherubims, only one person in the whole nation was allowed to enter, and he as high-priest was to go only once a year, and then stay there but a few minutes. God revealed himself then more as a sovereign than as the &ldquo;Father of mercies&rdquo; and &ldquo;God of all grace;&rdquo; and the disposition of the worshipper partook of the nature of the dispensation itself in a measure. &ldquo;Therefore,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.&rdquo;<p>Such is the difference, says he, between the Jew and the real Christian. &ldquo;Even so we when we were children in bondage under the elements of the world; but, when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons; and, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father; therefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and then an heir of God through Christ.&rdquo; Let us approach our Father&rsquo;s throne at all times.<p>Nothing is too little to bring before him, for we are encouraged &ldquo;in every thing, by prayer and supplication, to make our requests known unto God.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> In the year king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. - <a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a>. </i><p>KINGS, as well as meaner men, die, and all their greatness is enshrined in the tomb. Vanity and meanness are inscribed upon every thing human. Death is always a very important and affecting event in life; but by the frequency of the occurrence it has become very familiar, and loses much of its influence; and there are few things that excite so little attention. This was noticed and lamented so early as Job&rsquo;s days, by Eliphaz, who said, &ldquo;They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever without any regarding it.&rdquo; Yet surely this insensibility&rdquo; cannot be universal; surely death hath some kind of power to arrest the attention of the most thoughtless. And what does it say? &ldquo;The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.&rdquo;<p>We see the universality of the ravages of death; that death is the &ldquo;way of all the earth;&rdquo; that &ldquo;in this warfare there is no discharge.&rdquo; And should not the living, who know that they shall die, bring home the inevitable destination to themselves, individually reflect, and say, &ldquo;I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living&rdquo;? It is the end of all men, and all men ought to lay it to heart. We see how little human greatness is. There is in human grandeur a comparative reality, and it has its uses and its claims in the present state; and nature and providence conduce to the production of it, and the Scripture commands us to respect it always,-to render &ldquo;honour to whom honour is due, and fear to whom fear.&rdquo; But these often regard the office rather than the men. &ldquo;I said ye are gods, but ye shall all die like men, and fall like one of the princes.&rdquo; &ldquo;Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returns to the earth: in that very day bis thoughts perish.&rdquo;<p>Why, then, should those in the superior ranks of life despise others? And why should others ever envy them? Is their strength the strength of stones? Are their bones brass? Are they not made of the same clay with others? Are they not subjected to the same infirmities, exposed to the same accidents and diseases? Are they not inheritors of the same mortality? And are they not hastening to say &ldquo;to corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother and sister&rdquo;? Ah! says one,- <p>&ldquo;Whene&rsquo;er I feel my virtues fail, <p> And my ambitious thoughts prevail, <p> I&rsquo;ll take a turn among the tombs, <p> And see whereto all glory comes.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;I have seen the wicked great in power, spreading himself like a green bay-tree: he passed, and was not; I sought him, but he could not be found.&rdquo; Ah! what must death be to the great without religion? When Dr. Johnson was walking over the pleasure-grounds of Garrick, he said to him, &ldquo;Ah, Davy, these are the things that make men unwilling to die!&rdquo; Yes; what can make a man willing to resign the highest seat of power, and indulgence, and dignity? Suffering may indeed make him willing to depart, if he believes that there is no after-state; otherwise conscience, if it be alive, and if it be awake, must tell him that his present sufferings are only the beginnings of sorrow. It is only hope, a good hope through grace, therefore, that can effectually do it. This, indeed, can more than reconcile the possessor to the loss; this turns the loss even to a gain; and what, then, is a palace to &ldquo;a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens&rdquo;?<p>What is an earthly crown compared with the &ldquo;crown of glory that fadeth not away&rdquo;? Therefore David, who was a very mighty monarch himself, who had risen surprisingly in life, who had so much to leave behind him more than any other man in his day, was more than willing to resign it; he prayed to be delivered from men of the world, who had their portion in this life; &ldquo;for,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> There is another king, one Jesus. - <a href='B:510 17:7'>Act 17:7</a>. </i><p>WE have two epistles addressed to the Thessalonian believers, both of which raise them so high in our esteem, that we feel an interest in every thing which concerns them. We are here informed of the commencement of the church of Christ among them, by which, we need not say, is not meant the erection of a building, (for the early Christians had no place expressly appropriated to their worship till ages after,) nor the formation of a national establishment, (for it is well known that the civil, power did not attempt to aid Christianity till the close of the third century.) But we mean, that by the coming of the gospel some were converted, and these formed themselves into a voluntary and holy communion, to assemble together in the name of Jesus, to attend on his appointments, and to &ldquo;walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.&rdquo; &ldquo;Now, when Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.&rdquo; What was the result? Perhaps there never was a sermon yet preached that was useful to all who heard it. Not excepting the sermon Paul preached at Athens? No; for though some &ldquo;clave to him others mocked.&rdquo; Nor even the sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand were pricked to the heart, and cried out, &ldquo;Men and brethren, what shall we do?&rdquo; No; for some mocked, and said, &ldquo;These men are filled with new wine.&rdquo; &ldquo;Some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude; and of the chief women not a few.&rdquo; But others &ldquo;rejected the counsel of God against themselves,&rdquo; and commenced a furious persecution.<p>Now, we only observe here the calumny under which they endeavoured to justify the vileness of their proceedings; they accused Paul and Silas of being disturbers of the public peace: but they themselves had excited the riot by urging on a number of vagabond miscreants, who were always ready for any confusion or evil work. Paul and Silas preached quietly in the synagogue, and wherever they came they admonished men to be quiet and to mind their own business; to love &ldquo;one another; to follow peace with all men; to &ldquo;do good unto all men.&rdquo; And yet they are said to be those &ldquo;who turned the world upside down.&rdquo; They were also reproached as being opposed to the established government, and enemies to Caesar. They do things contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that &ldquo;there is another king, one Jesus.&rdquo; Now, had this been true, the Jews were the last people in the world who should have urged the charge; for it was well known that they hated Caesar, that they hated his government, that they endeavoured the destruction of both, and that they were looking for a Messiah who, according to their views, would entirely accomplish it; while nothing could be more untrue and slanderous than the insinuation itself, Jesus had said to his disciples, &ldquo;Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar&rsquo;s, as well as unto God the things that are God&rsquo;s;&rdquo; and his servants, wherever they came, enforced civil obedience. Neither was it contrary to the decrees of Caesar to say that &ldquo;there was another king, one Jesus.&rdquo; Though the emperor, with the senate, would not suffer any one to wear the name of king without their permission, yet many were allowed to retain the title as tributary, as under their dominion.<p>Jesus was called a king by his followers in such a sense as could not be included in the design of the imperial interdiction. He was indeed a King, but not an earthly king; his kingdom was not of this world. Oh, when will rulers learn to distinguish things that differ? When will they see that there is nothing in the example or doctrine of Christ to countenance the deposing of princes, or the depriving them of any of their lawful prerogatives?- yea, that in proportion as men submit to his laws they must be the best of men, the most enlightened and the most faithful subjects; because they are subject, &ldquo;not only for wrath, but for conscience&rsquo; sake&rdquo;? So we see that Paul and Silas, without contravening the designs of Caesar, could say, &ldquo;There is another king, one Jesus.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. - <a href='B:490 11:27-28'>Luk 11:27-28</a>. </i><p>THE Scriptures very aptly resemble the garden of Eden, where there was a fulness and freshness of every thing which could possibly be desired. In the Scriptures we have promises, consolations, encouragements, and cautions, &c.; all arranged in the most simple yet in the most interesting manner. We are shackled by no system, but have divine truth, mingled with history and biography. Children, we know, are more easily captivated by tales and facts; and man is but a child of greater growth.<p>We have here, First, The woman&rsquo;s exclamation:-&ldquo;A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice,&rdquo; &c. &ldquo;We may notice the cause of her exclamation:-the speaking of Jesus. His word, though powerful, is not a hurricane, but harmony; not a hammer, breaking the block into small portions or pieces, but leaving each severed piece with its old nature and original properties; but the word of divine truth acts as the sun in melting down the stubbornness and obduracy of the heart.<p>Observe, Secondly, On what her admiration turned. The cold-hearted Pharisee might have felt disposed to exclaim, &ldquo;What irregularity! What a breach of order!&rdquo; Jesus, however, was in no danger of being disconcerted in his discourse from any casual interruption, but was at all times fully at liberty to take advantage of every passing event; and we may readily imagine that, had such exclamations been made, he would have answered them by saying, &ldquo;Let these hold their peace!&rdquo; Then would &ldquo;the very stones cry out against them.&rdquo; The woman doubtlessly felt the higher honour which was conferred on Mary. Really, when we think of this young creature, only about sixteen years of age, honoured as the mother of him who should be the Saviour of the world, we could not feel surprised had she become vain and proud. Nothing but the grace of God could have preserved her from it, after it was said, &ldquo;Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.&rdquo; With regard, then, to the woman&rsquo;s exclamation, we need not be surprised. Indeed, I am often astonished that the more vulgar and uninstructed among us do not more frequently break the rules of order and general discourse when they first behold the glory of God. Jesus, however, was anxious to inspire her with hope, by telling her, &ldquo;Yea, rather, blessed are they that bear the word of God and keep it.&rdquo; On another occasion while Jesus was speaking, a whisper ran through the crowd,-&ldquo;His mother and brethren stand without.&rdquo; They felt the high honour bestowed on them; but Jesus, &ldquo;as his custom was,&rdquo; turned their attention from this subject by inquiring, &ldquo;Who is my mother?&rdquo; &c. &ldquo;Whosoever doeth my will.&rdquo; The Saviour knew how to touch every spring and affection of his auditors. We may remark, in reference to the high admiration of the woman, that the admiration of every one, when he first receives a correct view of divine truth, is singularly high. Such a one cannot pass the fields, the houses, the cattle, of such as live &ldquo;godly in Christ Jesus,&rdquo; without pronouncing his benediction upon them. He envies all who share in the intercourse and communion of such. Many a Christian among us would gladly have welcomed Christ to his table: this is not allowed us; but we may enjoy him in our hearts by faith.<p>Observe, Thirdly, our Lord&rsquo;s reply:-&ldquo;Rather, blessed are they that hear the word,&rdquo; &c. In this reply there is an admission of the truth the woman declared, and a blessing pronounced on those who hear the word of God and keep it. Unfortunately many content themselves with hearing. The religion of too many consists not merely in the form of godliness, but also in the form of knowledge. It has generally been found that those who have been most in the habit of running from preacher to preacher have been the most ignorant and uninstructed. Let us remember that hearing is only instrumental to salvation. Our knowledge, in a great measure, is obtained by hearing. Sin first entered by the ear into the heart. Salvation is communicated through the same medium. Faith comes by hearing, but the promise is not made to hearing but to doing. &ldquo;Hear, and your souls shall live.&rdquo; Hence we are exhorted not to be &ldquo;a hearer only but a doer of the word.&rdquo; Otherwise the blessing will prove a curse. But if the word be ingrafted in our hearts, and dwell richly in our minds by faith, we shall have peace with God; peace in believing, peace in life, in death, and peace forever and ever. &ldquo;Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all. - <a href='B:580 3:11'>Col 3:11</a>. </i><p>A POWERFUL writer has justly said that &ldquo;there are some persons who have no essentials, and there are others who have no circumstantials, in their creed.&rdquo; And this testimony is to a considerable extent true. There are many persons who seem altogether regardless of doctrinal sentiments and principles; all opinions are equally important with them. Then there are others who regard almost every thing as equally important in religion. They lay as much stress on the discipline of a church, as upon its doctrines; upon the mode of administering an ordinance, as upon the ordinance itself; they plead as much for the &ldquo;tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin,&rdquo; as for the &ldquo;weightier matters of the law,&rdquo;-&ldquo;judgment, mercy, and faith:&rdquo; while one of these parties has no room for faith, the other has no room for charity. The former are slaves of licentiousness, and the latter are the dupes of legality. We are, however, required to distinguish between things that differ; and to regulate our attention towards them by the degree of their qualities.<p>Surely there are differences between a speculative opinion and a practical truth,-between the ornament of a bridge and the keystone of the arch. We should, therefore, be concerned to regulate our opinions and conduct by those parts of the Scriptures which diminish the value of inferior things in religion and magnify the importance of superior ones,-those Scriptures which inspire us with &ldquo;everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace;&rdquo; which lead to reconcile Christians to each other, and embattle them only against a common foe; so that, if they must strive, they may be led &ldquo;to strive together for the faith once delivered to the saints.&rdquo; And such is the language of the apostle when he says, &ldquo;The kingdom of God is not in word but in power;&rdquo; and, again, &ldquo;The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; And, in this place, &ldquo;Christ is all, and in all.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Christ is all, and in all. - <a href='B:580 3:11'>Col 3:11</a>. </i><p>CHRIST is all in every thing. Such is the Greek, and so modern writers have rendered it; but in exemplifying this he &ldquo;is all and in all&rdquo; in the operations of divine grace. He &ldquo;came into the world to save sinners;&rdquo; this was his grand design, and he accomplished it himself. &ldquo;He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him,&rdquo; and &ldquo;there is salvation in no other;&rdquo; &ldquo;for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.&rdquo; No man cometh unto the Father but by him. Do we speak of Redemption? Here he is,-&ldquo;All and in all.&rdquo; &ldquo;He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.&rdquo; &ldquo;Ye are bought with a price,&rdquo; says the apostle; and this price is declared to be &ldquo;the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; &ldquo;In him, therefore, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.&rdquo;<p>Speak we of Justification? &ldquo;By him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.&rdquo; &ldquo;In the Lord therefore shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.&rdquo; &ldquo;Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.&rdquo; The righteousness which they mention to God as their only plea, and to others as their only boast, is his righteousness; and there is not one of them but can say,- <p>&ldquo;The best obedience of my hands <p> Dares not appear before thy throne; <p> But faith can answer thy demands <p> By pleading what my Lord hath done.&rdquo; </i><p>Clothed in his righteousness and sprinkled with his blood, both the persons and services of believers are &ldquo;accepted in the beloved,&rdquo; and he is &ldquo;all and in all&rdquo; in our reconciliation to God. &ldquo;He is our peace.&rdquo; &ldquo;He made peace by the blood of his cross.&rdquo; Hence it is said, &ldquo;The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.&rdquo;<p>Speak we of Renovation? Here, too, he is &ldquo;all and in all.&rdquo; If we are Christians indeed, we are &ldquo;new creatures in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; It is the &ldquo;Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which hath made us free from the law of sin and death.&rdquo; Indeed, we are said to live in the Spirit, and are led by the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, and worship God in the Spirit; but it is the Spirit of Christ. He procured it for us upon the cross, and he communicates it to us from the throne, and it is expressly declared &ldquo;that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis by the merits of his death <p> Who hung upon the tree, <p> The Spirit is sent down to breathe <p> On such dry bones as we.&rdquo; </i><p>Do we speak of Final Perseverance? We found our belief in this perseverance of the saints, upon their union with him who is the &ldquo;same yesterday, today, and forever;&rdquo; who is &ldquo;able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by him,&rdquo; for &ldquo;he ever liveth to make intercession for us;&rdquo; who has said, &ldquo;I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.&rdquo; So that, whatever enemies may assail them, or whatever fraud or force they may employ, in all these things they shall be &ldquo;more than conquerors through him that loved us.&rdquo;<p>Speak we of Glorification? Here he is &ldquo;all and in all.&rdquo; It is he who is with them in the valley, and by his rod and staff comforts them there; that will receive them to glory, as to their departing spirits after death; and it is he that will raise them up again at the last day; &ldquo;when he will change their vile bodies and fashion them like unto his own glorious body;&rdquo; and it is he who will acknowledge them as his before an assembled world:-&ldquo;Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.&rdquo; And &ldquo;they shall be forever with the Lord.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. - <a href='B:540 3:17'>2Co 3:17</a>. </i><p>LIBERTY has always been highly prized, and can never be prized too highly. Well, we have civil liberty as Britons and spiritual liberty as Christians,-a liberty &ldquo;unsung by poets, and by senators unpraised.&rdquo; Let us endeavour to exemplify our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. It will be found to include five things: First, Our freedom from the exactions and impositions of men in religion. Now, observe, we say in religion, because we do not here refer to civil things. We are willing to abide always by our Saviour&rsquo;s distinction:-&ldquo;Render unto Cæsar the things that are Caesar&rsquo;s, and unto God the things that are God&rsquo;s.&rdquo; Where religion is concerned, &ldquo;The Lord is our King, the Lord is our lawgiver; and, if any require us to believe or do what he has not enjoined us to believe or do, we are to obey God rather than man. The Saviour says, &ldquo;Call no man master upon earth; for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.&rdquo; When will men distinguish between civil governments and Christianity? The one regards us as citizens, the other as Christians.<p>Secondly, This liberty includes a freedom from the tyranny of Sin and Satan. As saith the apostle, &ldquo;What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, It includes a freedom from the condemnation of the law. &ldquo;The soul that sinneth shall die;&rdquo; and, saith the apostle, &ldquo;Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.&rdquo; And &ldquo;who has ever done this?&rdquo; Who has ever continued, from the first hour of reason, in avoiding every thing the law forbids and in doing every thing the law commands? But whose curse is it? The curse of Almighty God: and who knoweth the power of his anger? And the execution of this power is certain, unless-unless what? unless a surety be found; and such a Surety has been found, who has come forward and said, &ldquo;Deliver them from going down to the pit;&rdquo; I will give myself a ransom; I will bear their sins in my own body on the tree; I will suffer, &ldquo;the just for the unjust, to bring them to God.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; No; he has &ldquo;redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them.&rdquo; Now, &ldquo;therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, It includes freedom of access unto God. &ldquo;He is the greatest and best of Beings.&rdquo; The effect of sin is to separate between us and God. When the angels sinned in heaven, they were immediately banished thence; when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, they were driven out of it; and for sinning, the Jews were expelled from the land flowing with milk and honey. So many instances of actual fact show us-every one of them-what is the effect of sin:-that it is to separate between us and God, and to keep us from God. But now, through Christ Jesus, who is the Mediator between us and God, &ldquo;we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.&rdquo; The believer has the liberty of approach unto God at all times, in every place, under all circumstances; they have full liberty to hold communion with him in the fields, by the way, in their ordinary business; they have full liberty to enter his house, to come to his table, to hang upon his arm, to recline upon his bosom, to call him their Lord and their God,-the strength of their heart and their portion forever.<p>Fifthly, It includes freedom to partake of and enjoy the good things or nature and providence. Unscriptural self-denial and self-imposed severity, with regard to abstinence from the blessings of providence, have never promoted the mortification of sin or sanctification of heart. Here is our charter: the Scripture hath said, &ldquo;Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. - <a href='B:550 2:4'>Gal 2:4</a>. </i><p>CONCERNING which we have four admonitions to urge. First, Hold fast this liberty &ldquo;wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage.&rdquo; This is the admonition which the apostle himself gives to those Galatians. If Christians lose not their estate, they may lose some of its spirit; they may lose some of its enjoyments, and some of its noble profession; they may tremble when they should be bold, and temporize when they should be firm; they may conceal and cringe when they ought to be open as the day. &ldquo;If reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.&rdquo; It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his Lord.<p>Secondly, Do not abuse your liberty. &ldquo;Brethren,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.&rdquo; Remember, your liberty is not liberty to sin. Why, the thought of continuing in sin that grace may abound quite shocked the apostle, who said, &ldquo;God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, Improve this liberty. In one sense we cannot: its provisions surpass all expression and conception. But we mean we should make use of it and improve it. As to ourselves, we should be &ldquo;blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.&rdquo; We should seek to be exemplary-to be useful-and to show forth the praises of Him &ldquo;who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, Recommend this liberty to others only. We should be careful to exemplify what we recommend. Christians should show what their religion has done for them and what it has done in them, and then they may expect and hope that it will do something by them, for then our address to others will be effectual; if we hold forth the word of life by our tempers and conduct, it will not be difficult to hold it forth by our lips. It is when we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, we may go and say to others, &ldquo;Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.&rdquo;<p>&ldquo;Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - <a href='B:530 15:57'>1Co 15:57</a>. </i><p>THERE is something very interesting, very poetic, in this chapter, arising partly from the principle of association. For where is the person who has not in the mansions of the dead, and when attending the funeral solemnities of some near neighbour, or esteemed friend, or bereaved relation, heard the words, &ldquo;Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive&rdquo;? And who can ever forget them? The most peculiar, and indescribable, and melancholy of all sounds, even in this vale of tears, is that made when the earth falls upon the little tenement of clay, and is followed with the declaration, &ldquo;Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.&rdquo;<p>The interest of this chapter arises partly also from the nature of the subject of which it treats-a subject the most important-a subject in which we are all personally and deeply concerned-the resurrection of the dead. All will rise! &ldquo;All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.&rdquo; But to the wicked it can hardly be considered an advantage to rise from a bad state, conscious that they will go to a worse; and therefore, because the wicked derive no benefit from the resurrection, the apostle does not consider it in reference to them at all; he views it only in connection with those who &ldquo;sleep in Jesus,&rdquo; and that not as a mere event, but as an inestimable privilege, arising from their union with him, and evidenced and pledged by his own resurrection from the dead. &ldquo;Every man in his own order, Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ&rsquo;s at his coming.&rdquo; &ldquo;For if we believe,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.&rdquo; How sublime are the words immediately preceding our motto! &ldquo;Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.&rdquo; &ldquo;Behold, I show you a mystery.&rdquo;<p>Now, this mystery regards all the men that shall be living when he shall come. What is to become of these? They die not, and therefore they cannot be raised from the dead. But the apostle says&rdquo; they experience a change which is equivalent to dying,- such a change as was experienced by Enoch and Elijah. &ldquo;We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, &ldquo;Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - <a href='B:530 15:57'>1Co 15:57</a>. </i><p>VICTORY supposes warfare. Various are the metaphorical characters under which Christians are held forth in the Scriptures of truth. Sometimes they are labourers in God&rsquo;s vineyard, sometimes they are travellers, sometimes they are merchants, sometimes they are racers, sometimes wrestlers; very frequently they are soldiers, good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and they fight not as one that beateth the air. The combat in which they are engaged is not an imaginary one, but a real, and a strenuous one too; but they have this incomparable advantage,-they war a good warfare, and in it &ldquo;no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth up against them they shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Victory, we have said, supposes warfare, and so warfare supposes enemies. The enemies of the Christian are sin, the world, Satan, death, and the grave. Let us notice the acquisition. How is this victory obtained? In other cases winning a victory is gaining a victory; but here observe: First, It is given:-&ldquo;Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; It is true we gain it, but he giveth it. It is true we fight, but it is equally true that he &ldquo;causeth us to triumph.&rdquo;<p>He not only furnishes the crown, but he also gives us the capacity by which we acquire it: therefore, Secondly, It is dispensed through the mediation of the Lord Jesus. From the beginning to the end of our salvation, the propriety, the expediency, the necessity of Jesus as a mediator is not for one moment left out. Is God well pleased with us? &ldquo;In him,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;I am well pleased.&rdquo; Have we &ldquo;exceeding great and precious promises&rdquo;? They are all &ldquo;yea and amen in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; Are we redeemed? &ldquo;In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.&rdquo; Are we heirs? &ldquo;In him,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;we have obtained the inheritance.&rdquo; Are we blessed? In him we are &ldquo;blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.&rdquo; In him &ldquo;it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell.&rdquo; Thus we see that light is around us, but not a beam is transmitted through any other medium. All is goodness around us, but there is not a blessing that comes to us through any other channel. He is ALL, and in ALL.<p>Not only is this victory; a divine donation, and dispensed through the mediation of the Son of God; but, Thirdly, It is gradually exemplified and accomplished. It is not said that he will give us the victory, though this is true, for that is already promised, but he giveth us the victory; and this is true, because it is gradually conferred and experienced. It is not the effect of an hour or a year. This victory is not achieved at once; it is carried on through the whole course of a believer&rsquo;s life, and is perfected in death, or rather in the resurrection of the dead. The apostle tells us that the good work is begun in us in the day of conviction; but he says, it is not performed &ldquo;until the day of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; Already the Christian has many a time overcome, and he says, as David said, when he thinks of the victories, he has obtained, &ldquo;By thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall.&rdquo; And this encourages believers, with regard to the future, to say, &ldquo;Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.&rdquo;<p>This victory, therefore, is both present and future: the future is the complete accomplishment; the present is the earnest in its gradual and partial accomplishment even now. 


devotion:
<i> Ye greatly rejoice. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>CHRISTIANS, then, are no strangers to joy; at least they ought not to be. <p>&ldquo;Who can have greater cause to sing- <p> Who greater cause to bless- <p> Than children of the heavenly King, <p> Who Jesus Christ possess?&rdquo; </i><p>Yea, they are commanded to &ldquo;rejoice in him,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;rejoice in him always,&rdquo; &ldquo;for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.&rdquo; &ldquo;The world knoweth us not,&rdquo; says John. They consider the lives of Christians to be &ldquo;madness,&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;their end to be without honour;&rdquo; and they commonly consider this madness as not of the most lively and cheerful kind either, but as made up of mopishness and melancholy in which we must bid adieu to every thing like happiness. And woe to those professors of religion who confirm their prejudices by wearing long faces, by groaning and sighing as if they were always at funerals; by their disconsolation in all their troubles, and their murmurings and repinings, and their sinking under their cares, for by these things &ldquo;the way of truth is evil spoken of,&rdquo; as well as by their falls and miscarriages. Christians should be careful not only to be, but to appear, not only the heirs of this joy, but the subjects of it too, evermore confirming the divine testimony:-&ldquo;Blessed are the people who are in such a case, yea, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.&rdquo;<p>If they are workers, they should be concerned to sing at their work in order to tell others that they do not find their employer a hard master, nor the work drudgery. Or, if they are travellers, they should go on their way singing,- &ldquo;singing in the ways of the Lord,&rdquo; as David has it,-to recommend them, and to say virtually to all around them, &ldquo;Come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.&rdquo;<p>Now we add another thing here. It may be conceded that religion does require us to give up the pleasures of sin (if they deserve the name of pleasures) and also the dissipations of the world; but then it substitutes other pleasures in their room infinitely superior to them. It only requires us to exchange the dunghill for the throne; the filthy puddle for the spring of living waters; the leeks, and garlic, and onions of Egypt, for the grapes of Canaan, and the produce of the land flowing with milk and honey. Oh! Christians may look the world in the face and say,- <p>&ldquo;The men of grace have found <p> Glory begun below; <p> Celestial fruits on earthly ground <p> From faith and hope may grow,&rdquo; </i><p>and do grow. <p>&ldquo;The hill of Zion yields <p> A thousand sacred sweets <p> Before we reach the heavenly fields <p> Or walk the golden streets.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Wherein ye greatly rejoice. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>IN what? This is the question, and it is answered,-&ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice.&rdquo; What then are we to do with all this? Leaving other particulars, we only observe two things.<p>First, The Christian&rsquo;s joy is not unfounded. There is a sufficient ground for it. It is not the picture of imagination; it is not the vision of enthusiasm; it is not the dream of fanaticism; it is not the expectation of folly. No, it is well grounded. The whole of the religion of Jesus is a reasonable service; and the Christian is able to give &ldquo;a reason for the hope that is in him;&rdquo; at least he has a reason, though he may not always be able to express it properly and satisfactorily. Is there, then, not a cause? Let us therefore look back again on the preceding verses, and see whether there is not enough to excite and more than justify the Christian&rsquo;s joy.<p>Observe, Secondly, That as this joy is not groundless, so it is founded principally upon spiritual and eternal things. For all the things here referred to are of the same nature. There is not one thing here mentioned, however otherwise valuable, that appertains to his outward condition. Not that a Christian is to be regardless of these outward blessings and comforts. The Christian does not undervalue, he feels the importance of them as long as he is here. But, after all, what is time to eternity? What is the body to the soul? <p>&ldquo;To thee we owe our life and friends, <p> Our health and safe abode; <p> Thanks to thy name for meaner things, <p> But they are not my God.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor, <p> And, with thee, rich, take what thou wilt away.&rdquo; </i><p>Yes, the Christian can say,- <p>&ldquo;Were I possessor of the earth, <p> And call&rsquo;d the stars my own, <p> Without thy graces and thyself <p> I were a wretch undone.&rdquo; </i><p>Let us, therefore, call to our remembrance, that when the disciples returned from a preaching-tour, and said to the Saviour, &ldquo;Lord, the very devils are subject to us through thy word,&rdquo; &ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; says he; &ldquo;I saw Satan falling from heaven;&rdquo; &ldquo;but,&rdquo; adds he, &ldquo;in this rejoice not&rdquo;-that is, in your external gifts and miraculous achievements-&ldquo;in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.&rdquo; Yes, &ldquo;he is the freeman,&rdquo; as Cowper says, &ldquo;whom the truth makes free.&rdquo;<p>We are never to think that we prosper, unless our souls prosper; we are never to think that we are rich, unless we are &ldquo;rich towards God;&rdquo; never to think that we are blessed, unless we are &ldquo;blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;&rdquo; or think that we are authorized greatly to rejoice, unless we are able to say with some humble hope, &ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, revealed in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, reserved through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.&rdquo; &ldquo;Wherein,&rdquo; says the apostle, addressing believers, &ldquo;ye greatly rejoice.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. - <a href='B:10 43:14'>Gen 43:14</a>. </i><p>PAUL speaks of &ldquo;the comforts of love;&rdquo; and he that does not know the comforts of love does not yet know the difference between a brute and a man. The highest pleasures of which our nature are susceptible are derived from social endearments. Ah! we may also say, and are not a thousand pangs derived from the same source? Do we not pay dearly for all our relative delights?<p>Are they not expensively taxed with the pain of sympathy, the dread of separation, and the anguish of loss? It has been poetically imagined that the roses in Paradise had no thorns: however this may be, we well know that our roses are not without them, but, as Dr. Watts says,-<p><i> &ldquo;Our roses grow on thorns, and honey hides a sting.&rdquo; </i><p>Our possessions render us fearful and anxious, and expose us to loss; all through life in proportion to our affections will be our afflictions; and we shall always suffer more from friends than enemies,-from our own connections than from strangers. Alas! what sighs oppress the minds of many! There has gone to the house of God one who had formerly a fellow-Christian for a friend. They unbosomed themselves to each other in all their pleasures and griefs. There was but one heart, only it occupied two bosoms. And now he is exclaiming, &ldquo;Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.&rdquo; They strengthened each other&rsquo;s hands in God, and found the truth of Solomon&rsquo;s words:-&ldquo;Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.&rdquo; &ldquo;Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth a man his friend by hearty counsel.&rdquo;<p>Here is a Rachel: she was viewing the growing charms of her babe, and was saying, &ldquo;This same shall comfort us;&rdquo; but the blossom withered into dust, and she has been laying aside its little clothes with her own hand, and, sitting by the side of the drawers in the chamber, weeps for her child, and refuses to be comforted. The father viewed the son as his image, his representative, his heir; but he has been to the mouth of the grave, where he sighed, &ldquo;Thou destroyest the hope of man; childhood and youth are vanity.&rdquo; Here returns to her place the widow and the mother. She had a husband,-she had children; but she is now saying, &ldquo;Call me not Naomi: call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord brought me home again empty.&rdquo; Here is Martha at the feet of Jesus, saying, &ldquo;Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.&rdquo; And here is Jacob, shaking his gray hairs, and saying, &ldquo;Joseph is not, and Simeon is not: all these things are against me. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> How then can man be justified with God? - <a href='B:220 25:4'>Job 25:4</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the question as implying a perfect negation. This is evidently what the speaker intended. &ldquo;How then can man be justified with God?&rdquo; as though it were an utter impossibility that it could be effected. And if we view man without any reference to the Lord Jesus, or the economy of grace, it is apparent that his justification with God is impossible. There are two things to be considered in a man,-his sins and his services,- his worst and his best things.<p>Now, it is evident that he cannot be justified by his worst things; but it is equally apparent that he cannot be justified by his best, for his obedience is imperfect. If not defective in principle, it often is in spirit. There is such a mixture of motive, so much coldness of feeling, so much worldliness of thought and carnality of desire, that a Christian can never refer, with any composure or complacency, to that obedience to the will of God which he is enabled to render. We make our appeal to the provision which God has made in the gospel of his Son, in order to show that it is impossible for a man, without reference to Christ, to be justified before God. Never would Christ have descended from heaven, assumed our nature, submitted to poverty, experienced every indignity, endured inconceivable sufferings, and eventually bled and died on the cross, if man&rsquo;s justification with God could have been effected without his intervention.<p>We may refer to the express decisions and testimonies of Scripture to illustrate that a man without Christ cannot be justified with God. And in relation to the doctrine of justification, it is evident that a man can gain a clear and satisfactory reply to the question of the text from no other quarter than the word of God; and its statements on this subject are precise, minute, full, and most satisfactory. 


devotion:
<i> Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. - <a href='B:520 5:1'>Rom 5:1</a>. </i><p>THE apostle is here referring to a matter of unspeakable importance. The blessing of free justification and its consequent privileges will apply to the believer exclusively; and in his esteem, in his constant experience, it is a doctrine of the deepest interest and of incalculable value. Let us view the man who is justified with God in five respects. First, With regard to his enemies. They are very numerous, subtle, powerful, and malignant; but all their plans will be disconcerted, all their assaults will prove abortive and without avail. The man who is justified with God enjoys a sure, permanent, and immutable defence.<p>Secondly, With regard to his duties. His services, however defective in themselves, are accepted in the Beloved. They rise to the throne of God like grateful offerings; and the mediation and atonement of Christ always render them acceptable. Besides, not only is the justified man accepted in the performance of duty, but he is aided also. He has divine power afforded that he may serve God appropriately; and, as his exigencies arise, so spiritual energy is imparted.<p>Thirdly, With regard to his enjoyments. His tranquility is abiding and divine. He realizes the sublimest happiness amidst all the fluctuations and distresses of the wilderness. His mercies are all sweetened by the conviction that they proceed from a God of love; and he can drink his wine or water &ldquo;with a merry heart,&rdquo; because he is conscious that all his supplies flow from that beneficent Being who is his covenant God and Father, by virtue of the blood and intercession of Jesus Christ.<p>Fourthly, With regard to his trials. Those trials may be numerous, diversified, often exceedingly severe, but the Christian knows that they are all desirable and indeed requisite; and he rejoices in the assurance that all his afflictions are sent by an indulgent Parent, who is acquainted with his case, who knows what he requires, and who appoints every trial and calamity for his benefit and happiness. The man who is justified knows that there is nothing that is penal connected with any of the trials he realizes.<p>Lastly, With regard to death. The Christian may sometimes tremble when anticipating his mortality; but when his graces are in lively exercise he is all composure. The thought does not alarm him. He recognises in death a friend. Hence Dr. Gouge was accustomed to say, &ldquo;I have two friends, Christ and death; Christ is my first friend, and death my second.&rdquo; This is the sentiment of the justified man. 


devotion:
<i> That day. - <a href='B:620 1:12'>2Ti 1:12</a>. </i><p>WE have here presented to our notice an awful period. It is not mentioned by name, but the apostle only calls it &ldquo;that day.&rdquo; What day? &ldquo;The day of death, when the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it&rdquo;? Or the day of judgment? Doubtless the day of judgment. This is often in the Scriptures called &ldquo;that day,&rdquo; in order to show us that it is a very important, a very remarkable, a very distinguished day. Therefore it is called &ldquo;the last day,&rdquo; because it is to terminate the present system, and the angel will then &ldquo;swear, by Him that liveth forever and ever, that there shall be time no longer.&rdquo; Hence also it is called &ldquo;the great day,&rdquo; to signify that the magnitude of its proceedings is inexpressible, and because it is the day of final decision.<p>It is a very solemn thing for a man to appear in an earthly court to be judged, and to stand before a human tribunal with his property, or his reputation, or his liberty, or his life, at stake; but here every thing is at stake, and forever. &ldquo;All that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.&rdquo; &ldquo;The heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.&rdquo; &ldquo;We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.&rdquo; &ldquo;Before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left: then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; and then shall he say also unto them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.&rdquo; And are these things so?<p>Surely such a period demands the most serious attention. The first Christians knew that, and they thought much of it. It was not necessary in addressing them to mention the period by name; they were looking for it, they were loving it, they were waiting for it, they were hastening towards it. In the scales of that day they weighed every interest; they made it the test by which they tried their riches, their honours, their treasures, and their anxieties too. Hence their temperance in all their worldly possessions and enjoyments:-&ldquo;Let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand.&rdquo; Hence their diligence in duty:-&ldquo;The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.&rdquo; Hence their freedom from envy and ill will:-&ldquo;Grudge not one against another, brethren: behold, the judge standeth before the door.&rdquo; Hence the little impression made upon them by their trials: the &ldquo;light affliction which was but for a moment was working for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,&rdquo; while they &ldquo;looked not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.&rdquo;<p>In a word, &ldquo;They walked by faith, not by sight;&rdquo; that is, they could not see the day, but they believed it, and it influenced them just as if they could. The world that now is has an intimate and inseparable connection with that which is to come. It does not depend on us whether the present shall have this relation to the future. God has determined it, and it arises from the very nature of the case; it is the relation between a way and an end,-between &ldquo;seed-time and harvest;&rdquo; and &ldquo;whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.&rdquo;<p>Let us ever think of this. &ldquo;I paint for eternity,&rdquo; said the artist, to justify his attention and his accuracy. We too are all acting &ldquo;for eternity;&rdquo; and not a fictitious eternity, but a real one. We are reading, and hearing, and talking, and training, against &ldquo;that day.&rdquo; Have we made provision for it? Alas! how many provide for a temporal who disregard an eternal futurity! They provide for a futurity that only may occur, and then overlook a futurity that WILL occur, and that MUST occur!<p>The grand question is, What have we done against &ldquo;that day,&rdquo; the certainty of which cannot be denied, the importance of which cannot be disputed, the approach of which no one can hinder, and in which we are to be not only spectators, but parties concerned? Is it our chief concern &ldquo;to find mercy of the Lord in that day&rdquo;-to be safe in &ldquo;that day&rdquo; -to be happy in &ldquo;that day&rdquo;-to be inheritors in &ldquo;that day&rdquo; of a new heaven and a new earth, &ldquo;wherein dwelleth righteousness&rdquo;? 


devotion:
<i> A glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. - <a href='B:560 5:27'>Eph 5:27</a>. </i><p>THE church, when presented to the Saviour by himself, will be glorious. And is not his church glorious now? It is. It is not a glorious church indeed in the eyes of the world, for the world knoweth them not; they are often like their Lord, &ldquo;despised and rejected of men;&rdquo; but they are glorious in the eyes of the Lord. The Judge of all, even when he sees them &ldquo;wandering in goatskins and sheep-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,&rdquo; says, &ldquo;Of them the world is not worthy.&rdquo; We may turn to the language of God in one of the Psalms:-&ldquo;Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.&rdquo; What are the mountains of prey? Why, those empires that love war,-that live on the spoil or the prey. Nothing is so splendid in the view of carnal men as these mountains of prey.<p>We see how the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman empires were presented by God to Daniel. He saw them as &ldquo;four great beasts coming up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle&rsquo;s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man&rsquo;s heart was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear; and it raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.&rdquo;<p>But though the church is now &ldquo;glorious,&rdquo; and &ldquo;more glorious than the mountains of prey,&rdquo; yet its glory is partially prevented and obscured now. It is so by the fewness of its numbers. Here we can only see the Lord&rsquo;s army in its recruiting state, or as learning its exercise, or as practising in small detachments. But when the whole shall be completed, oh, then may it well be said, &ldquo;Who is this that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?&rdquo; Its glory is now partially prevented and obscured by inter-mixtures. The lilies are among the thorns; the tares are among the wheat. &ldquo;Among my people,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;are found wicked men;&rdquo; and now we very well know the few will often characterize the many, and the false will throw suspicion on the true, and the bad will serve to disgrace the good. &ldquo;But then,&rdquo; says our Saviour, &ldquo;the angels shall gather together out of his kingdom everything that offends;&rdquo; and then he will cast them into a furnace of fire; &ldquo;there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth;&rdquo; and &ldquo;then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.&rdquo;<p>It is now also partially prevented and obscured by their outward condition. They are now often poor; then shall they &ldquo;possess all things.&rdquo; They are often despised now; then their very enemies will exclaim, &ldquo;We fools counted their lives madness, and their end to be without honour; now are they numbered with the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.&rdquo; Now they are often oppressed; many rise over their heads; but &ldquo;the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning.&rdquo; Now they are judged, (how falsely judged often!) but then they will be the judges:-&ldquo;What, know ye not that the saints will judge the world? Know ye not that saints shall judge angels?&rdquo; Now they &ldquo;groan, being burdened;&rdquo; then they will be freed from the burden of the flesh, and those vile bodies shall be fashioned like the Saviour&rsquo;s own glorious body.<p>Above all, the glory of the church is now partially prevented and obscured by moral infirmities. They are, indeed, made to differ from others, and from their former selves; but they are not yet fully sanctified. But the apostle tells the Colossians that they who have been &ldquo;sometime alienated, and enemies in their minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present them holy and unblamable in his sight.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. - <a href='B:220 23:14'>Job 23:14</a>. </i><p>WE are here assured that our afflictions are not casual or accidental. Nothing in any of our trials occurs by chance. With us there may be contingencies, seeing we are not acquainted with the plan to be developed and executed in the arrangements of an all-wise Providence; but all events are &ldquo;determined by him who sees the end from the beginning, and who is working all things after the counsel of his own will.&rdquo; Nothing transpires without him. He strikes no random blows: his arrows never miss their object. He is performing the thing that is appointed for us; and the appointment is in all respects perfectly equitable.<p>The Lord has not only a right to ordain, but in doing so he cannot pervert justice. He is not only too wise to err, but too good to be unkind. He who is bringing to pass the appointments of his providence so loved us as not to spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. And we are not only allowed but invited, yea, required, to cast all our cares on him, with the assurance that he careth for us. Let us take this principle with every allotment, with every circumstance of life, and say, &ldquo;The cup which my Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?&rdquo; It is &ldquo;the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.&rdquo; &ldquo;I will cry unto God most high, unto God who performeth all things for me.&rdquo; It is also intimated that these afflictions are not peculiar. &ldquo;Many such things are with him;&rdquo; and when writing to the Thessalonians the apostle says, &ldquo;The same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world.&rdquo;<p>Providence will not in any case deviate from the treatment of all the other branches of the household of faith; &ldquo;for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.&rdquo; To which of the saints, in Scripture or history, can we turn in refutation of this decision:-&ldquo;What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?&rdquo; But consider, these appointments of the rod are remedial, and not penal. They are corrections; and are inflicted, not by the sword of the Judge, but by the rod of a Father. Believers sometimes misapprehend them, and, fearful of their being messengers of justice, may say unto God, &ldquo;Do not condemn me.&rdquo; But the apprehension is groundless; we are &ldquo;chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world.&rdquo; And, besides, the apostle has declared that it is &ldquo;through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.&rdquo; &ldquo;In the world ye shall have tribulation,&rdquo; says the Saviour himself: &ldquo;but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.&rdquo;<p>And with respect to the final results of these dispensations,-these &ldquo;light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,&rdquo;-while our heavenly Father is performing the thing that is appointed for us, we know that &ldquo;all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. - <a href='B:230 25:4'>Psa 25:4</a>. </i><p>BY the &ldquo;way&rdquo; and &ldquo;paths of the Lord,&rdquo; concerning which the Psalmist sought divine instruction and direction, we understand the way in which his people walk in regard to him; and these are called his ways, because he appoints them, and because he enjoins us to walk in them. Thus the apostle says, &ldquo;We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.&rdquo; Our walking in them means our obedience to his commands. We read of &ldquo;walking in the fear of the Lord,&rdquo; and of &ldquo;walking in love.&rdquo; We read also of the &ldquo;way of truth,&rdquo; of the &ldquo;way of holiness,&rdquo; and of the &ldquo;way everlasting.&rdquo; When, therefore, David said, &ldquo;Teach me thy way, O God; I will walk in thy paths;&rdquo; &ldquo;I will meditate on thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways;&rdquo; &ldquo;Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I will keep it unto the end,&rdquo;-in all these instances he means the way in which we walk with regard to God, when we are yielding obedience to his injunctions.<p>There are persons who speak much of God&rsquo;s commandments under the Law, who yet despise the chief of them under the gospel. For, as the Apostle John says, &ldquo;This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.&rdquo; Now, until this command of God be complied with, it is in vain to urge upon people their obligations to obedience; but when we are in Christ, walking in a state of union and communion with him, by faith receiving succours from him as our Head of influence, as well as supplies from him as our Head of government, then, with regard to walking in the way of his statutes generally, we are furnished with inclination as well as with ability; and then, when the Saviour says, &ldquo;Deny thyself; take up thy cross and follow me;&rdquo; when we are commanded to &ldquo;pray without ceasing;&rdquo; when he says, &ldquo;Repair to my house; come to my table; walk so as to please me, and abound therein more and more;&rdquo; when any Of these injunctions thus come from him, oh, then it is pleasing to walk in his ways, and the Christian can say, &ldquo;Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;Make me to walk in thy commands; &rsquo;<p>Tis a delightful road; <p> Nor let my head, or heart, or hands, <p> Offend against my God.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. - <a href='B:230 32:1'>Psa 32:1</a>. </i><p>WHEN David looked around to find a truly happy man, he does not say, blessed is he whose grounds bring forth plentifully; blessed is the man who governs the nations with a nod; blessed is the man who achieves victory after victory; blessed is the man who is admired for genius and science. To many of these distinctions he himself was no stranger. He was a musician, a poet, a hero, and a king; but these distinctions were not sufficient to give him happiness; and therefore he prayed, &ldquo;Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.&rdquo; For &ldquo;Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance, in thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.&rdquo; And here he exclaims, &ldquo;Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.&rdquo;<p>The Psalmist here intimates that the enjoyment of forgiveness of sins is a present blessing; not that a man shall be blessed at some future time, but he says, &ldquo;Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven,&rdquo; &c. The man who realizes by faith that his transgressions are forgiven has the true notion of blessedness, and the reality. Happiness, present, future, and eternal, is hereby insured to him, and in the enjoyment of this distinguished privilege he has everlasting blessedness begun. They are indeed truly blessed to whom this blessing is assured; for, while our safety depends upon our state, our consolation principally depends upon our knowledge. How many of the Lord&rsquo;s family, for want of this &ldquo;full assurance of hope,&rdquo; go mourning all their days!<p>Those who are favoured to &ldquo;know the joyful sound&rdquo; are blessed in their duties, blessed in their comforts, blessed in their trials. To them affliction has no curse, death has no sting, eternity has no terrors. 


devotion:
<i> Who hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. - <a href='B:620 1:10'>2Ti 1:10</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;CONJECTURE and opinion,&rdquo; says Paley, &ldquo;are not knowledge; and in religion nothing more is known than is proved.&rdquo; Thus, while the heathen philosophers had these surmisings concerning a future state, and brought forward some strong probabilities in its favour, and some fine and worthy sentiments escaped them, they neither understood nor taught &ldquo;life and immortality&rdquo; as a doctrine; they never employed it as a principle and motive. But had not life and immortality been a matter known to and believed in by the Jews? We unhesitatingly reply in the affirmative. Jacob, when dying, said, &ldquo;I have waited for thy salvation.&rdquo; David says, &ldquo;Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.&rdquo; How explicit was Job&rsquo;s profession!- &ldquo;I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.&rdquo;<p>How, then, it may be asked, could life and immortality be brought to light through the gospel? We answer, the gospel may be taken generally for divine revelation at large. It was thus Paul used the word. &ldquo;The gospel,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;was preached to the Jews, but the word preached did not profit them.&rdquo; The word gospel may also signify the evangelical dispensation, including the personal ministry of our Lord and the inspired communications of the apostles. In the former sense, to the Jews, life and immortality was brought to light really; in the latter sense, we understand that the gospel brought life and immortality to light preeminently; and in this sense it is required to be taken in this place.<p>The dawn was visible before; now the day appeared. To the Jews the Sun of righteousness was below the horizon; on us he has risen with healing under his wings. Hence our Saviour said to his disciples, &ldquo;Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things that ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.&rdquo; Therefore, while it is to the Scriptures only we repair for a knowledge of life and immortality, we must look peculiarly and principally to the New Testament for clearer decisions and fuller representations concerning it, where we are furnished with illustrations and pledges thereof in a risen and glorified Saviour?<p>How transcendentally glorious, with what unrivalled excellence, does Christianity appear, compared with ancient and modern heathenism! How unsatisfying, how cold, how mean, how gross, how absurd, how disgusting, are the intimations of Deism, the Elysian fields of Pagan poetry, the rewards of Hinduism, the paradise of Mohammedanism, when placed by the side of the &ldquo;life and immortality brought to light through the gospel&rdquo;! 


devotion:
<i> It doth not yet appear what we shall be. - <a href='B:690 3:2'>1Jn 3:2</a>. </i><p>ALTHOUGH we read, in one place, that &ldquo;life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel,&rdquo; yet we read in another place of the &ldquo;glory that shall be revealed in us.&rdquo; Of the saint&rsquo;s future state of blessedness, we have been supplied with sublime and glorious intimations; for &ldquo;God hath revealed unto us the things which he hath prepared for them that love him by his Spirit;&rdquo; so that, while we know something of the heavenly state, much, very much, remains hidden. As yet we are able only to survey its dawnings: for the full disclosures of its blessedness and glory we are not yet prepared. There is a natural and a moral prevention. It would not be proper, if it were possible; and it would not be possible, if it were proper.<p>As the only-wise God has attempered our senses to our present condition, the knowledge we possess of the heavenly world is adjusted in conformity to the claims of our present sphere of action and happiness. Some duties, if they do not entirely result from our ignorance, are enforced by it. Hence our Lord said unto his disciples, &ldquo;Watch, for you know not the day or the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.&rdquo; We are to &ldquo;walk by faith, and not by sight;&rdquo; and are to honour God by obeying and trusting, him. Fuller developments of the glory that shall be revealed would derange the present order of things. The revelation would be so engrossing and overwhelming as to render our present engagements insignificant and uninteresting, and so loosen and detach us from the necessary and every-day duties of life that we should be both indisposed and unable to abide with God in our calling. Our station would become deserted, and other agents would be required to carry on these concerns.<p>The full knowledge of the future blessedness of the righteous would also be dangerous and destructive. Our physical powers are very limited, and we are unable to bear very powerful excitement. The Queen of Sheba fainted at seeing the glory of Solomon. When the angel approached Daniel, there was no strength in him; and though John had reclined on the Saviour&rsquo;s bosom, yet when he appeared to him at Patmos he fell at his feet as dead. No; we are now unable to bear up under that exceeding weight of glory which shall be revealed in us. Nor is the full knowledge more practical than it is expedient. We have no adequate medium of receiving the communication. Our modes of apprehending and feeling are not refined and exalted enough to take hold of objects so peculiar and spiritual. Even our thoughts, that seem to &ldquo;leave dull mortality behind,&rdquo; here labour and strive in vain. The sublimest genius, aided by inspiration, could only say, &ldquo;Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!&rdquo;<p>Yet, with all our deficiencies, we are not ignorant of the reality of this glory, nor are left without such a knowledge concerning it as our duty and welfare allow and require; for though &ldquo;it doth not yet appear what we shall be, yet we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. - <a href='B:610 1:11'>1Ti 1:11</a>. </i><p>THE glory of the gospel is derived from its Author. It is the &ldquo;testimony of Christ,&rdquo; as it is called, &ldquo;that has digged down the altars;&rdquo; it is this which has rescued the captives; it is this which has destroyed the works of the devil; it is this which draws all to the side of Christ. What wonder that the angels, who are &ldquo;proverbial for knowledge, yet make this the theme for study! They pass by the sun, and moon, and stars, to drop round the cross. They are nowhere represented as being philosophers or astronomers, but they are Christian students; they &ldquo;desire to look into these things,&rdquo;-&ldquo;the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.&rdquo;<p>Oh! the gospel dignifies every place it enters. Capernaum was a poor despicable fishing-town; but Christ preached in it, and hence he speaks of it as being &ldquo;exalted to heaven.&rdquo; When the gospel enters a country, it is said, &ldquo;Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.&rdquo; Wherefore was this earth formed? and why is it perpetuated? Was it only to be a promenade for Satan, a laboratory for the chemist, a counting-house for the merchant, a field of battle and slaughter for the hero, a cabinet for the intrigues of princes, an observatory for the star-gazers? Was it for this that Christ rejoiced in its habitable parts?<p>No; but because the knowledge of him was to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; because the mountains were to bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness; because he should come down as rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth; because he should live, and to him should be given of the gold of Sheba; because his name should endure forever,- his name should be continued as long as the sun; men should be blessed in him, and all nations should call him blessed. And blessed be his glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen. 


devotion:
<i> Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. - <a href='B:290 27:7-8'>Isa 27:7-8</a>. </i><p>THE afflictions of the Lord&rsquo;s people are never unalloyed. However severe the trial or painful the affliction, there are many alleviations. Let us take our condition, however trying, and we shall see whether there is nothing in the time, the place, the manner, or the nature of the affliction that is not calculated to alleviate the suffering, or lessen its pressure. Let candour, let gratitude, let truth, examine into the circumstances of the case, and we shall discover that it might have been much worse, much more painful, and more difficult to bear. If we take our case and lay it by the side of our desert, what should we have suffered had he &ldquo;dealt with us after our sins, or rewarded us according to our iniquities&rdquo;? And, if we place our trouble by the side of the condition of others, we shall find that, though we may have lost much of our substance, they have nothing left.<p>Some may have buried one of their children, but the grave has written others childless in the earth. Some walk upon crutches, but others are bedridden. Some have months of vanity, but others have wearisome nights, and the multitude of their bones is filled with strong pain. But, oh, let us think of the sufferings of Jesus,-think of his dignity, of his pre-existent state, of his innocency. We suffer justly, for we suffer the due reward of our deeds; but he did no evil. He could say to his most inveterate foes, &ldquo;Which of you convinceth me of sin?&rdquo; Yet see him. We suffer partially, but he suffered in every part that was capable of pain. We suffer occasionally, and for hours and days of pain we have weeks and months of ease and pleasure. His sufferings extended from the manger to the cross. He was &ldquo;a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.&rdquo;<p>Our sufferings are unforeseen by us; his were known from the beginning, and he bore them in prospect before he endured them in reality; and what tongue can express-whose imagination can conceive-what he endured when &ldquo;he began to be sore amazed, and very heavy&rdquo;? when his &ldquo;soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death&rdquo;? when &ldquo;his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground&rdquo;? when he exclaimed, &ldquo;My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;Now let our pains be all forgot, <p> Our hearts no more repine; <p> Our sufferings are not worth a thought <p> When, Lord, compared with thine.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> I will be with him in trouble. - <a href='B:230 91:15'>Psa 91:15</a>. </i><p>MANY are the afflictions of the righteous, but they have not to bear their trials, endure affliction, or to tread the path of tribulation, alone. Knowing the anxieties and fears of his people, the Lord has graciously assured to them the comfort and help of his presence in every time of trouble. &ldquo;When thou passest through the waters,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee.&rdquo; He is a Friend that more than realizes the expectations of his people. &ldquo;Confidence in an unfaithful man in the time of trouble,&rdquo; says the Wise Man, &ldquo;is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.&rdquo; These are worse than useless, for not only do they fail us but cause us much pain.<p>Job found it so; and so did Paul, when he said, &ldquo;At my first answer no man stood by me, but all men forsook me.&rdquo; But the Lord had not forsaken him; for he adds, &ldquo;Notwithstanding, the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.&rdquo; Yes, whoever fails or forsakes us, &ldquo;he abideth faithful.&rdquo; Jacob found him so in Bethel. Driven from home, and travelling through a desert land, in a forlorn and solitary condition, and full of anxious forebodings, he &ldquo;lights on a certain place and tarries there all night, because the sun was set:&rdquo; -the darkness was his curtain, the ground his bed, and a stone his pillow. There he falls asleep. There God assured him that he would be with him in all places, and would not leave him until he had done all he promised him.<p>Thus his people now find him to be better than their fears, and surpassing in lovingkindness their highest hopes. He is with his people really, efficiently, and peculiarly, in the day of trouble. If, therefore, we &ldquo;faint in the day of adversity,&rdquo; it is by losing sight of Him whose grace is always sufficient for us, whose strength is made perfect in our weakness. In all times of trouble, therefore, let us make the language of Doddridge our own:- <p>&ldquo;If thou, my Jesus, still be nigh, <p> Cheerful I live, and joyful die; <p> Secure, when mortal comforts flee, <p> To find ten thousand worlds in thee.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> That he might present it to himself. - <a href='B:560 5:27'>Eph 5:27</a>. </i><p>IN the Scriptures we find a threefold presentation of believers spoken of. The first of these presentations is what we call personal, and this is made by themselves. Of this the apostle speaks when he admonishes the Romans, saying, &ldquo;I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.&rdquo;<p>In the experience of every believer there is a solemn sense in which he has acknowledged God&rsquo;s claims: he has asked, &ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; and has said, with resolution and zeal, &ldquo;Lord, I am thine; save me.&rdquo; &ldquo;Other Lords besides thee have had dominion over me, but henceforth by thee only will I make mention of thy name.&rdquo; To thee I dedicate myself. My understanding is thine to know thee; my will to choose thee; my heart to love thee; my conscience to fear thee; my memory to retain thee. Thine are mine eyes to behold thy glory; mine ears to hear thy voice; my tongue to show forth thy praise; and my feet to walk in thy ways. Thine is my time, and my substance, and my influence; and if I had the innocence of Adam in Paradise, the meekness of Moses, the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the fervour of Paul, the perfection of angels, they should be equally, they should be more, thine, than these poor imperfect offerings which I now present. I have only two mites to cast into the treasury, -a body and a soul: my all is too small, and my best is too bad, for thine acceptance; but, Lord, &ldquo;receive me graciously and love me freely.&rdquo; Can we say, in the words of Dr. Doddridge, which, says Montgomery, seem to be almost inspired,- <p>&ldquo;Oh, happy day, that fix&rsquo;d my choice <p> On thee, my Saviour and my God! <p>&ldquo;Well may this glowing heart rejoice, <p> And tell its raptures all abroad. <p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis done; the great transaction&rsquo;s done: <p> I am the Lord&rsquo;s, and he is mine; <p> He drew me, and I follow&rsquo;d on, <p> Charm&rsquo;d to confess the voice divine.&rdquo; </i><p>The second of these presentations is official; and these are made by ministers. This is what the apostle means when he says, &ldquo;Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; Ministers have a charge. It is to endeavour to bring souls to Christ. And when they have executed their commission they return to Him who employed them; and how painful is their case if then they can only present him with their complaints, and say, &ldquo;Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?&rdquo; &ldquo;I have besought them in Christ&rsquo;s stead to be reconciled to thee; but they have loved idols, and after them they will go.&rdquo;<p>But oh, it is their joy and crown of rejoicing when they can prevail on sinners to hearken, and they can present them as converts, and at his table, saying, &ldquo;Lord, here is another who has forsaken the foolish and now desires to walk in the ways of understanding. Lord, here is another who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Lord, here is another weary of the world, and seeking to know, and love, and serve, and enjoy thee forever.&rdquo;<p>The third is divine. And this is here intended; and the presentation here unquestionably regards a future day,-that day for which all other days were made, and which is more than once so emphatically called &ldquo;the day of Christ.&rdquo; The presentation is a very peculiar one, for you see it is by and to the very same Being:- &ldquo;that he might present it to himself.&rdquo; It is by him he presents it, and it is to him. How is this? By him, for he shall present them. They are presented by him now in the capacity of Mediator, having received them as so many scholars to educate, so many sheep to feed, so many patients to heal, so many captives to ransom; and, having finished the work that was given him to do, he comes and presents them all, not one failing. But then it is also to him, &ldquo;that he may present it to himself.&rdquo; &ldquo;They are presented to him, as he is God over all, blessed forever,&rdquo; to whom they originally belonged, and to whom they are now restored as to their Lord to serve and their portion to enjoy. 


devotion:
<i> That he might present it to himself a glorious church. - <a href='B:560 5:27'>Eph 5:27</a>. </i><p>SUCH is the final aim of the Saviour in giving himself a ransom for us,-an aim worthy of himself, worthy of his character, of his wisdom, and of his love. It is infinitely honourable to himself, and will draw forth the everlasting admiration and adoration of the heavenly world. And how delightful is it to his people now, while in the contemplation of the all-important scheme their minds are borne along from view to view, from wonder to wonder, from blessing to blessing, from glory to glory, till that which is perfect is come, and that which is in part is done away!<p>How shall we be presented? Shall we be presented with the sheep on the right hand, or with the goats on the left? What a question is here! For there will be a presentation of the wicked, as well as of the righteous. They will be presented to Satan,-the god and the prince of this world, whose subjects they are, and as his children,-for the devil was their father, and his lusts they would do; they will hear the sentence, -&ldquo;Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.&rdquo;<p>Oh, shall we then be presented with the sheep or with the goats? How can we ascertain this? Why, thus:-Which of these do we now resemble? Which of these do we now choose? Who are now our loved companions? For at death every man will go to his own company, God sanctifies always before he glorifies: what he completes in heaven he always begins on earth. We must be &ldquo;children&rdquo; before we are &ldquo;heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.&rdquo; Before we possess heaven we must be &ldquo;wrought,&rdquo; as the apostle says, &ldquo;for the selfsame thing,&rdquo; and have &ldquo;the earnest of the Spirit.&rdquo;<p>The presentation of believers by the Saviour to himself should animate and comfort all his followers. Christians do not feel so much under their abasements and sufferings as they do under their remaining moral and spiritual infirmities. No; this it is which makes them groan. &ldquo;When I would do good, evil is present with me,&rdquo; and &ldquo;oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?&rdquo; The work of grace begun in them will not be left unfinished. Each believer can say, &ldquo;Thou wilt perfect that which concerneth me; thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the work of thine own hands.&rdquo;<p>Oh, what a blessed change is here! What a change of state! What a change of experience! To feel no more danger from spiritual enemies! to feel no more barrenness of consolation, or lightness in duty, or wandering of thought, or coldness of affection! to wake up and find no darkness of understanding, no rebellion in our wills, no earthly-mindedness in our affections; but all peace, all purity, all assurance, forever! It also should soothe us under the removal of those who sleep in Jesus. Jesus said to his disciples, who were sorrowing, &ldquo;If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father; for my Father is greater than I.&rdquo; He said to the daughters of Jerusalem, &ldquo;Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.&rdquo;<p>So our dying connections in reality say, &ldquo;Weep not for us, but for yourselves.&rdquo; &ldquo;You are in the conflict; our warfare is accomplished. You are out at sea amid the winds and the waves; we have entered the desired haven.&rdquo; We miss them by the way; we miss their friendship, their prayers, their counsels, and their admonitions; but, since it is their gain, we will not indulge in selfish grief; and while we mourn we will not &ldquo;sorrow,-sorrow as those who have no hope; we will remember that we have not long to mourn, that the separation is not perpetual, and that a time of reunion is approaching, when we shall rejoin those who are gone before us, and who are waiting to receive us into everlasting habitations.&rdquo;<p>Lastly, How are we bound to the Saviour, who has destined such glory for us and is now preparing us for it! We, who are undeserving the least of all his mercies, yet he not only spares, but pardons and enriches us, and will glorify us forever with himself. Oh, where but in the gospel could we ever read of such gracious dealings as these? Oh, who could have procured such blessings for us but the Lord of life and glory? Who would have undertaken the work in the view of such sufferings, but one <p>&ldquo;Whose heart is made of tenderness, <p> Whose bowels melt with love&rdquo;? </i><p>Let us be daily giving ourselves to Him who gave himself for us, and glorify him on earth who is now advancing our glory in heaven. Let us take our station at the foot of his cross, and there thus judge:-&ldquo;That if One died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen. - <a href='B:720 1:24-25'>Jud 1:24-25</a>. </i><p>WE here see with what this presentation will be accompanied. He will &ldquo;present them with exceeding joy.&rdquo; That is, with exceeding joy to himself; for he will then &ldquo;see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied;&rdquo; and also exceeding joy as to themselves; for if now, when they see him not, yet, believing, they are able to &ldquo;rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,&rdquo; what will it be when they stand before him,-when they shall &ldquo;see him as he is&rdquo;?<p>Why, they will resemble the Queen of Sheba: it was a good report which she heard of Solomon&rsquo;s fame; it lessened her attachment to home, and induced her to take a long and expensive journey. Her own expectation seemed grand before; but when she was presented at the court of the Jewish monarch she &ldquo;had no more spirit in her,&rdquo; and when she came to herself she exclaimed, &ldquo;The half was not told me.&rdquo; So will the reality exceed all the Christian&rsquo;s previous expectations.<p>This is not the representation of man&rsquo;s excited imagination, but it is the result of divine inspiration; and here is no inconsiderable evidence of the divinity of our Lord and Saviour; for we read expressly that we are &ldquo;redeemed unto God by his blood,&rdquo; and that, finally, &ldquo;God will be all, and in all.&rdquo; And this can only be explained by the admission of his own testimony:-&ldquo;I and my Father are one: he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.&rdquo; We see where the presentation shall be made:-&ldquo;before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.&rdquo; This implies some distance or absence at present,-a want of some present recognition and acknowledgment. And so, while they are at &ldquo;home in the body,&rdquo; they are &ldquo;absent from the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Indeed, there is now a connection and a communion between them; but the distinction is rather this:-he is now with them, hereafter they will be with him. They are now in a kind of confinement; they are called his &ldquo;prisoners.&rdquo; He comes to them, and views them through the bars, and smiles and speaks; and sometimes also he comes in and converses freely with them, and leaves many a token of kindness behind, and tells them, moreover, that shortly he will &ldquo;come and receive them to himself, that where he is they shall be also.&rdquo; And so, by-and-by, his chariot is heard approaching, the doors are opened, the fetters fall off, and he conveys them to his court and his palace above, to be presented there, not for an hour or for a day, but to go no more out,-to &ldquo;be forever with the Lord.&rdquo; &ldquo;He, therefore,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;shall receive me into glory.&rdquo; He will say himself then, &ldquo;Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.&rdquo;<p>We see, also, in what state they will be presented:-with &ldquo;exceeding joy,&rdquo; before his presence; he will present them &ldquo;blameless.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Sin shall not have dominion over you. - <a href='B:520 6:14'>Rom 6:14</a>. </i><p>ONE of the Christian&rsquo;s most inveterate enemies is sin. This is the cause of all his other evils and enemies. Sin is nothing to some, and they are well aware of it. They neither hate nor fear it; they do not oppose the stream, but they are sailing down by it, and often singing as they go, though they are moving down to the gulf of perdition.<p>The name of Jesus was imposed upon the Saviour at his birth, because he was to save his people from their sins, and his people consider sin as their chief enemy, and they rejoice in the persuasion that the Saviour gave himself for them, not only &ldquo;to redeem them from all iniquity, but to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.&rdquo; It will be acknowledged that sin, even now, is to be found in a believer. Paul speaks of sin dwelling in him: he says, &ldquo;I delight in the law of God, after the inward man; but I find another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?&rdquo;<p>But, though sin lives in the Christian, the Christian does not live in sin, and, though sin be not destroyed in him, it is dethroned in him; it shall no longer reign in his mortal body, that he should fulfil it in the lusts thereof; and he has this assurance given him:-that &ldquo;sin shall not have dominion over him, for he is not under the law, but under grace.&rdquo; And grace deserves its name: it is able to subdue every other principle; it occupies the place which sin had done before; it &ldquo;reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord;&rdquo; and though there be sin in the Christian, yet it is resisted, it is abhorred. A Christian is not only restrained from the practice of sin while his inclination attaches him to it, but he has mortified it; he is &ldquo;dead unto sin but alive unto God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; A change took place at the foot of the cross: he saw by faith Him whom he had pierced, and he mourned for it. Hear his language:- <p>&ldquo;Furnish me, Lord, with heavenly arms <p> From grace&rsquo;s magazine, <p> And I&rsquo;ll proclaim eternal war <p> With every darling sin.&rdquo; </i><p>How little his fellow-creatures know of him! They that receive not the things of the Spirit of God judge of Christians by themselves, and because they love sin they think the Christian loves it, and, therefore, that he embraces particular doctrines because they favour licentiousness. Why, he does not desire a license to sin; why, he is not a swine, and therefore does not deem wallowing in the mire any privilege. He loves purity, and therefore dislikes impurity, and prays that he may be &ldquo;cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.&rdquo;<p>There is as much difference between sin found in a Christian and sin found in a natural man, as there is between poison found in a serpent and found in a man. Now, poison is found in a serpent, but it does him no injury. Why? Because it is natural to him; it is part of his system: but poison in a man makes him sick; it is no part of his nature. And so it is with regard to the Christian. Sin in him will always be abhorred, and he cannot be happy until he be entirely delivered from it; he therefore abhors it in his heart and resists it in his life. But he will not be called to resist it always, nor to resist it long. Now &ldquo;the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.&rdquo; Now he rises to a daily conflict, but the conflict will soon be over:- <p>&ldquo;Sin, his worst enemy before, <p> Shall vex his eyes and ears no more; <p> His inward foes shall all be slain, <p> Nor Satan break his peace again.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Wherein ye greatly rejoice. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>THERE are only three things really great in the universe,- God, the soul, and eternity; and, as religion has to do with them all, its dealings have something peculiar and superior to them all.<p>For instance, Do Christians hate themselves as they are depraved and defiled creatures? This hating is nothing less than loathing and self-abhorrence. Hence it is said, &ldquo;They shall loathe themselves for all their abominations.&rdquo; Hence Job says, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile; wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes.&rdquo; Or do they mourn? They &ldquo;look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and are in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born!&rdquo; Or do they fear? &ldquo;He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints.&rdquo; Or do they rejoice? &ldquo;Wherein they greatly rejoice.&rdquo;<p>What more expressive of the greatness of this joy can we have than the language of David, when he says, &ldquo;Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted &ldquo;? And in his admonition, &ldquo;Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.&rdquo;<p>Why, it is expressed by the joy of harvest and of victory. &ldquo;They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil!&rdquo; It is held forth by the joy of marriage. &ldquo;Behold king Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.&rdquo; And by the mother&rsquo;s joy, &ldquo;who forgetteth her anguish in the joy that a man is born into the world.&rdquo;<p>So we read in the Scripture that this joy is everlasting also; and that it is &ldquo;strong consolation;&rdquo; strong enough to invigorate the trembling heart; strong enough to wean the soul from the world; strong enough to bear it up under its losses and distresses; strong enough to enable the believer to say, &ldquo;Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, the and fields shall yield no meat; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall he no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.&rdquo;<p>Yea, and &ldquo;though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.&rdquo; 


devotion:
 His great love wherewith he loved us. - <a href='B:560 2:4'>Eph 2:4</a>.<p>THE Saviour is always alive to the welfare of his people; and hence we here read of the greatness of his love towards them. What is love? Some are so insensible as to be incapable of feeling it, or of comprehending its nature; and for their sakes we say what it is. Love leads us to look out for objects of distress, labours to do them good, and exults when it succeeds. We talk of love: there are tender, very tender, hearts to be found in our world. But you Jonathans and Davids-yes, and you mothers- must all cease comparison here.<p>Here is love beyond compare! Is he abased? &ldquo;For our sakes he became poor.&rdquo; Does he suffer? He bears our sorrows, and for us he dies. Does he go away? It is expedient for us. Does he appear in heaven? He appears in the presence of God for us. Does he establish the ministry of the gospel? It is for the perfecting of the saints. Are they succoured? &ldquo;Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.&rdquo; Are they injured? &ldquo;He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye.&rdquo; Are they afflicted? &ldquo;In all their afflictions he is afflicted.&rdquo;<p>Why does he express himself pleased with their progress and grieved at their deficiencies? &ldquo;Can a man be profitable to God?&rdquo; Can their goodness extend to him? No; but he knows that they only who walk uprightly walk surely; he knows that if they forsake him they despise their own mercies; he knows that they cannot fall without breaking their bones. Why, &ldquo;he takes pleasure in his people;&rdquo; he makes all things subservient to their welfare.<p>Other people are the subjects of his providence; but his people are at the end of it. For them his &ldquo;eyes run to and fro through the earth.&rdquo; In all their perplexities, distresses, and losses, in all their trying circumstances, in all that is painful and grievous to them, he has a regard to their salvation. &ldquo;Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,&rdquo; but not as the fathers of our flesh: &ldquo;they chasten us for a few days for their own pleasure, but he for our profit,&rdquo; &c. His object is the salvation of the soul.<p>He prunes the tree not to injure it, but to make it more fruitful; he lops off the suckers that would steal the sap; he uses the ploughshare that he may break up their hearts; he uses the crucible to clear away the dross, that the pure metal may appear to his glory; he brings them into the wilderness, that he may &ldquo;speak comfortably to them, and give them vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> When Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. - <a href='B:500 13:1'>Joh 13:1</a>. </i><p>THERE is something peculiar here. He knew the time of his departure, and had his eye upon it, and regulated his measures by it, from the beginning; but we know not the day of our death. We have our hour of departure appointed us. Infinite wisdom and goodness have placed us here, and we are not to undervalue a state in which, we enjoy so many comforts and are favoured with so many means of grace and blessed and dignified with opportunities of usefulness; but the voice cries, (and we are always to be in a state of readiness to listen to it,) &ldquo;Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest, because it is polluted.&rdquo;<p>We are not to throw down our implements and run out of the field before the work of the day is done. But what will it then be but a departure out of this world, this vain world, this vexing world, this defiling, this tempting world,-this world which crucified the Lord of glory,-in which we walk by faith, and in which we so often exclaim, &ldquo;Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar!&rdquo; What will it be but a departure out of this world &ldquo;unto the Father&rdquo;? For those who are &ldquo;the sons and daughters of the Lord almighty&rdquo; are going to their Father too.<p>No disaster shall hinder the Christian from arriving at his Father&rsquo;s house in peace. And that house is replenished with every attraction which can draw us forward. When the venerable Mede, whose gray hairs were a &ldquo;crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness,&rdquo; was asked how he was, resting upon his staff, he cheerfully answered, &ldquo;Why, going home as fast as I can; as every honest man ought to do when his day&rsquo;s work is done: and I bless God that I have a home to go to.&rdquo; What is dying now but the coming of our hour to depart out of this world unto the Father?- <p>&ldquo;There is my house and portion fair <p> My treasure and my heart is there, <p> And my abiding home; <p> For me my elder brethren stay, <p> And angels beckon me away, <p> And Jesus bids me come.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. - <a href='B:530 2:2'>1Co 2:2</a>. </i><p>CHRIST is all and in all in the gospel ministry. He is the grand theme. If we turn to the first preachers of the gospel, we shall find each of them saying, with the inspired apostle, &ldquo;We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.&rdquo; If they would persuade men by the terrors of the Lord, they were his terrors; if they spake of the wrath of the Almighty, it was the great day of his wrath. &ldquo;Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.&rdquo; Did they speak of the divine perfections? they made them shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ. Did they speak of providence? they placed the reins of universal empire in his hand, and made him &ldquo;Head over all things, to his church which is his body.&rdquo; Did they speak of heaven? they made it to consist in seeing his glory,-in seeing him as he is, and in &ldquo;being forever with the Lord.&rdquo; Did they speak of repentance? they never thought of fetching this water out of the millstone of man&rsquo;s natural heart; they knew that the tear of penitence could only drop from the eye of faith, in sight of the cross; as it is written, &ldquo;They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and they shall be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.&rdquo; If they called upon persons to pray, it was to ask in his name. &ldquo;Yea,&rdquo; said they, &ldquo;whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.&rdquo;<p>The difference between an evangelical and a legal preacher is not that the one enforces holiness and good works, and the other not; but the difference is, the one makes them the source of our salvation, the other as evidences; the one lays them as the foundation, the other employs them only as the superstructure. Both admonish, both exhort, their hearers; but here is the difference:-the one waters his dead plants, the other waters living ones, and they produce &ldquo;the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He is risen. - <a href='B:470 28:7'>Mat 28:7</a>. </i><p>HERE is a pact admitted: this is the resurrection of Christ. That he was dead-really dead-is a fact that cannot be questioned. The soldier&rsquo;s spear pierced his heart, and forthwith flowed there out blood and water. His body, taken down from the cross, embalmed, and buried by people in his new tomb,-what became of it? &ldquo;If Christ be not risen, then,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Ye are yet in your sins, and then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.&rdquo; But if he is risen, then the reproach of the cross is rolled away; then his divine mission is clearly evinced, and he is declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead; then is established the perfection of his sufferings; then he hath accomplished salvation for all who believe; then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; then death hath ceased to be the king of terrors, and the grave has become the avenue to life and immortality. &ldquo;Remember,&rdquo; therefore, says the Apostle Paul to Timothy, (as if this was the chief thing,) &ldquo;remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel.&rdquo;<p>Ecclesiastical history tells us that it was customary for the first Christians, when they met on a Lord&rsquo;s-day morning, to exclaim, &ldquo;He is risen!&rdquo; By the over ruling providence of God, many circumstances transpired to render the resurrection of Christ most obvious and undeniable. &ldquo;They rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre.&rdquo; They sealed the tomb. They appointed a Roman watch. But on the morning of the third day, as it was dawning, behold, there was a great earthquake, for &ldquo;the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said to the woman, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, as I have told you.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If ye then he risen with Christ. - <a href='B:580 3:1'>Col 3:1</a>. </i><p>HERE is a privilege supposed. It is that of a believer being risen with Christ. This is to be understood four ways. Observe, First, Christians are risen with Christ professedly. By joining his church and coming to the table of the Lord, they &ldquo;show forth the Lord&rsquo;s death until he come.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, Representatively. There is a union subsisting between Christ and his people which is both vital and federal,-a union which no distance of time can affect, and which no power can alter. &ldquo;Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?&rdquo; So, then, when he died they died, when he arose they arose also. He both died and rose as the Head and Representative of all his people. Hence the apostle speaks of them as being &ldquo;quickened together with Christ,&rdquo; and &ldquo;raised up together with Christ, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, Spiritually. This regards the soul only, and is accomplished by divine agency. As says the apostle, &ldquo;You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.&rdquo; Every resurrection necessarily supposes a previous death. The widow who had been living in pleasure the apostle declared to be dead while she lived; that is, morally and spiritually dead. This is the condition of all men before conversion. They are dead; they have no spiritual life; they perform no spiritual actions. But some are delivered from this state. &ldquo;Likewise,&rdquo; saith the apostle, &ldquo;reckon ye also yourselves to be alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.&rdquo; Through his raising them from the death of sin, they live a life of righteousness, a holy, a divine life, a life of faith, a life of dedication to his service and to his glory.<p>Fourthly, Believers are risen with Christ by anticipation. Though the souls of departed saints are living in a separate state, that state is not final nor perfect; only one part of the Christian is living, and therefore a separate state cannot but be an imperfect one. The body is an essential part of human nature, and was purchased by the Saviour as well as the soul. Therefore, when the Scriptures speak of the Christian in complete and perfect blessedness, they pass on at once to the resurrection. &ldquo;I will raise him up,&rdquo; says our Lord, four times in one chapter,- &ldquo;I will raise him up at the last day.&rdquo; Now, our Saviour&rsquo;s body is the model of our resurrection-body, and he is able and engaged to conform us to it; therefore &ldquo;we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, by the working wherewith he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.&rdquo;<p>This state of glorification with Christ is not only assured to the Christian, but is even at present commenced; they have pledges of it, and earnests of it, and the first-fruits of it; they have foretastes of the glory which shall be fully and completely revealed in them hereafter. <p>&ldquo;The men of grace have found <p> Glory begun below; <p> Celestial fruits on earthly ground <p> From faith and hope may grow. <p> The hill of Zion yields <p> A thousand sacred sweets <p> Before we reach the heavenly field <p> Or walk the golden streets.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Seek those things which are above. - <a href='B:580 3:1'>Col 3:1</a>. </i><p>HERE is a duty enjoined. The things themselves which are to engage the Christian&rsquo;s attention are not described by their nature, but by their residence; but the one involves the other. Their residence shows their excellency, for unless they were excellent they would not be admitted there, &ldquo;where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.&rdquo; There is no night, no pain, no sin, there; every thing is pure and attractive. &ldquo;There is a peace which passeth all understanding, a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.&rdquo; Here we &ldquo;see through a glass darkly, but then face to face;&rdquo; but &ldquo;when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.&rdquo; There are our beloved connections, with whom we &ldquo;took sweet counsel and walked to the house of God in company.&rdquo; There are the spirits of the just made perfect; there are patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and the noble army of martyrs. There is the innumerable company of angels; there He is who is fairer than the children of men:- <p>&ldquo;Nor earth, nor sky, nor sun, nor stars, <p> Nor heaven, his full resemblance bears; <p> His beauties we can never trace <p> Till we behold him face to face.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;In his presence is fulness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore.&rdquo; It is therefore easy to see why we should &ldquo;seek those things which are above,&rdquo; because they are necessary. While many things are desirable, and some things are important, one thing is absolutely needful. As Dr. Watts sings,- <p>&ldquo;Without his graces and his self <p> I were a wretch undone.&rdquo; </i><p>Whatever earthly possessions we might be able to command, they could never afford satisfaction. Earthly things can never fill the void in the immensity of a man&rsquo;s expectations and desires, but God can fill the soul with all spiritual blessings in Christ. We should seek the things above, because they are attainable. We are not sure of success in our pursuits after earthly good; but here grace insures success, and if, like Mary, we have chosen the good part, it shall not be taken from us.<p>Observe the manner in which the things above are to be sought:- Diligently; the &ldquo;sluggard desireth and hath not, because his hands refuse to labour.&rdquo; Consistently; &ldquo;Balaam said, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,&rdquo; regardless of any concern to live the righteous man&rsquo;s life. Pilate asked, What is truth? but waited not for a reply. With earnestness; &ldquo;Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.&rdquo; This seeking must be supreme and immediate. Our Lord says, &ldquo;Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,&rdquo;- first, in point of importance and precedence. Intensely; &ldquo;Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.&rdquo; Obediently; It is in a course of well-doing. Perseveringly; We are to seek for glory, honour, and immortality, until we obtain eternal life. 


devotion:
<i> We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. - <a href='B:520 5:11'>Rom 5:11</a>. </i><p>WHATEVER the people of the world may imagine, religion is the highest wisdom: &ldquo;her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;&rdquo; and &ldquo;wisdom is justified of all her children.&rdquo; The service religion demands is founded upon principles that will bear the strictest investigation. It is a reasonable service, and hence it is enjoined on all Christians to be &ldquo;always ready to give a reason of the hope that is in them with meekness and fear.&rdquo; And the Christian&rsquo;s joy proceeds from knowledge; and therefore David says, &ldquo;Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: in thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.&rdquo; There is no joy-not even the joy of hope-apart from the gospel.<p>Now, when a man is convinced that he is a sinner, and condemned by the righteous law of God, which says, &ldquo;Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them,&rdquo; it is impossible for him to rejoice, even in hope, till he can see God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses; nor can he be happy until he knows that he is &ldquo;justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.&rdquo;<p>Oh, what a burden is laid upon the conscience when we are thus awakened!-a burden too heavy for us to bear. What a burden had poor Christian, as he travelled on from day to day, till he came within sight of the cross,-when he saw this his burden was loosed from off his shoulders and rolled into the sepulchre! To dismiss allegory, the Christian is thus &ldquo;justified by faith, and has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo; Yea, &ldquo;he rejoices in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh.&rdquo; Thus, as Cowper says,- <p>&ldquo;To see the law by Christ fulfill&rsquo;d, <p> And hear his pardoning voice, <p> Changes the slave into a child, <p> And duty into choice.&rdquo; </i><p>Though our safety does not depend, yet our comfort does, upon clear and full views of the gospel, of our acceptance with God, of the manner of our justification, of our safety, and of the certainty of our perseverance even to the end, and of our becoming more than conquerors &ldquo;through him who hath loved us.&rdquo; Therefore we joy in God in proportion as we are receiving this knowledge of salvation by Jesus Christ. Therefore it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace,-that is, the doctrine of grace: and thus may we go on our way rejoicing. 


devotion:
<i> This do in remembrance of me. - <a href='B:490 22:19'>Luk 22:19</a>. </i><p>HOW many persons who would be considered Christians live in the neglect of this command! Sometimes this neglect may be greatly influenced by superstition; it may arise from the disproportionate share of solemnity and danger they attach to the same in distinction from all other religious ordinances and exercises. They read that &ldquo;he who eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord&rsquo;s body;&rdquo; and they do not remember that he who sings, and that he who reads, and he who hears, and he who worships, and that he who attends any other religious ordinance or exercise, unworthily, also increases his sin and condemnation. And if these persons were to act consistently they would turn their backs upon them all.<p>We read in the Gospel of Matthew, &ldquo;When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment; and he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away and cast him into outer darkness.&rdquo; This they read; but why do not they read what the king did to those who did not comply with the invitation? What did he do with these? &ldquo;He sent forth his armies and destroyed them.&rdquo; Therefore neglect is as critical and dangerous, yea, it is more so than improper attendance.<p>Is there any thing hard in this command? If we had a dear departed friend who had left us an emblem or memorial of himself, should not we highly prize it? Suppose it to be the picture of that friend, and that it represented him in the act of dying in consequence of his endeavouring to save us from fire or from flood; and suppose he delivered this to us with his own dying hand, saying, &ldquo;When this you see, remember me,&rdquo; and we should throw it into the lumber-room, and there leave it, and never wipe off the dust or bring it forth to look upon it and kiss it and weep: what would be thought of our kindness to the memory of that friend? And such a memorial have we in the Lord&rsquo;s supper. It is the only representative of him he has left in the church. He exhibited it when dying. He delivered it on the same night in which he was betrayed. Jesus then took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, &ldquo;Take, eat this my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.&rdquo;<p>Is he not worthy of everlasting remembrance? Is not his death of such importance that it can never be exhibited enough, exposed enough? Have not his people found that walking in this commandment has been profitable and delightful, in reference to which they have said, &ldquo;I sat under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet unto my taste&rdquo;? And when the dear picture has been presented before them, they have been thrilled with holy joy, and have said,- <p>&ldquo;Let all our sacred passions move <p> While we rehearse his deeds.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin. - <a href='B:500 16:8'>Joh 16:8</a>. </i><p>LET us here notice the Author and medium of this discovery and method. As to the Author, we have here our Saviour&rsquo;s own declaration that it is the Spirit of the blessed God. All that is really good in the souls of the children of men is from him. From him comes the first pulse of life, the first breath of life, the first desire after holy things, the first instance of real dedication to God. It is he &ldquo;that works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure.&rdquo;<p>Now, as to the medium, or the instruments, we would observe that these are principally the law and the gospel. The law is one of the principal instruments, for &ldquo;by the law is the knowledge of sin.&rdquo; &ldquo;Sin is the transgression of the law.&rdquo; &ldquo;I had not known lust,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;unless the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.&rdquo; &ldquo;I was alive,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;without the law; but when the commandment came sin revived, and I died.&rdquo; When he speaks of his being without the law, he does not mean without the law itself, (for he had it,) but without the knowledge of it; and therefore when he saw the spirituality of it,-when he saw that it required a perfection of obedience in its principles, in its extent, and in its duration, and found that it reached to the heart as well as to the life,-that it ranked lust with adultery, and anger and malice with murder,- when he found that &ldquo;cursed is every one that continueth not-in all things written in the book of the law to do them,&rdquo;-what was the consequence?<p>Why, says he, &ldquo;sin revived.&rdquo; It seemed dead before; it now awakened. Sins that he had forgotten before now rushed into his remembrance as if they had been recently committed. Things which once appeared innocent now appeared criminal; things which once seemed to him meritorious, and deserving of reward, now appeared deserving only of condemnation. &ldquo;Sin revived, and I died&rdquo; as to all persuasion of my safety for eternity or acceptance with God. Or, as Watts expressed it,- <p>&ldquo;My hopes of heaven were firm and bright; <p> But, when the gospel came <p> With a convincing power and light, <p> I found how vile I am.&rdquo; </i><p>The law is always to be used so; and for this purpose the gospel teaches us the nature of our disease by showing us the nature of our remedy. It teaches us the desperateness of our disease by the vastness of the remedy that has been employed. Oh, says the awakened and enlightened dinner, what must have been my bondage if such an infinite price was necessary for my redemption! Oh, how deep must my guilt and depravity have been if such a sacrifice was necessary for my pardon and renovation! And then,-what adds to this,-Oh! what a wretch! that after all I should have neglected, I should have despised, this remedy! Oh, how ungrateful and vile! after all this love to turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven! That I should disregard such a Deliverer, and crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame!<p>Observe the mode in which it is accomplished. This is gradual. The thing does not take place all at once: it is effected by degrees. Usually, indeed, it begins with a charging home of one single sin upon the conscience of the man,-the sin to which he has been peculiarly addicted, and by which his conscience, therefore, is now alarmed. But the thing does not terminate here. From one evil the man is led on to the discovery of another. From the life he is led to the heart; from the stream he is led to the foul fountain. The Christian, therefore, is making progress in this discovery continually. It is increased by the various events and by the various dispensations of Providence. Little do we know of ourselves, indeed, until we are enlightened, until we meet with our own proper trial. We little imagine that there is so much mud in us, until the waves become excited and throw up the mire and dirt.<p>The Christian is often brought to feel wonder as well as distress. Oh, says he, I little imagined that I was so impatient till I was required to wait. I little thought I was so proud till I was called to stoop. But so it is: &ldquo;behold, I am vile.&rdquo; The Christian, therefore, often supposes that he is worse, because he is wiser than he was. Because he sees more of his inward corruptions he thinks there are more. &ldquo;I have heard some people,&rdquo; says Mr. Newton, &ldquo;pray that God would show them all the wickedness of their hearts. I have said to myself, It is well that God will not hear their prayer, for if he did it would drive them to madness or despair, unless at the same time they had a proportionate view of the work and the ability and the love of their Lord and Saviour.&rdquo; No one could bear all the discovery at once; and therefore it is revealed by degrees; therefore he shows us our vileness by little and little as we are able to bear it. 


devotion:
<i> My sin is ever before me. - <a href='B:230 51:3'>Psa 51:3</a>. </i><p>SIN was to the Psalmist a more plentiful source of grief than all his suffering from other causes. Not only his great sin in his fall, but his daily, hourly failures. &ldquo;Who,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.&rdquo; He does not mean faults secret from others and known to himself; this would be hypocrisy; but faults unknown to himself, which he yet knew were in existence, and with which he wished to become acquainted. Paul was preserved from falling into many vices after his conversion; it is a mercy to be preserved so far; but we find him even then saying, &ldquo;I find a law, that when I would do good evil is present with me. To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.&rdquo; And then he exclaims, &ldquo;Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?&rdquo;<p>Can a Christian now help seeing his imperfections and his remaining corruptions whenever he compares himself (and he ought to compare himself) with his obligations, or his professions, or his privileges? and can he see these and not be affected by them? He will not, indeed, give up his hope: this has another foundation; he is not required to abandon this: but surely will give up his pride and his self-righteousness. Surely after such views he will &ldquo;rejoice only in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.&rdquo; Surely, not only the thought of God as a gracious and forgiving but as a holy and pure God will lead him to say, with Job, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile: what shall I answer thee? Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.&rdquo; And David wept for the sins of others as well as his own. &ldquo;I beheld the transgressors,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;and was grieved.&rdquo; &ldquo;Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law.&rdquo;<p>A Christian can never be a stranger to this; he knows that in every sin there is something exceedingly sinful, that it is an &ldquo;abominable thing, which God hates.&rdquo; He knows that whenever sin is committed there is a soul destroyed, a God dishonoured, a Saviour opposed and set at naught. Can he help feeling? Is he a citizen? He is also a patriot: he will love his country, and therefore he will mourn for the abominations that are done in the midst of the land. Is he a member of a Christian community? he will be &ldquo;sorrowful for the solemn assembly, and the reproach of it will be a burden.&rdquo; Has he irreligious relations? he will say, with Esther, &ldquo;How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?&rdquo; Has he ungodly children walking the downward road? Like David, he will with a broken heart exclaim, &ldquo;O Absalom, my son, would to God I had died for thee!&rdquo; and, like Abraham, his prayer will be, &ldquo;Oh that Ishmael may live before thee!&rdquo; yes, and, with Paul, their heart&rsquo;s desire and prayer to God for these beloved ones will be &ldquo;that they may be saved.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. - <a href='B:530 15:6'>1Co 15:6</a>. </i><p>WE here find the Saviour in the very mysterious passage of his life which elapsed between his resurrection and his ascension. Where he was during these intervening weeks, and how he was employed, it is impossible for us to conjecture. All that we know is, that he maintained an occasional intercourse with his disciples, &ldquo;to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.&rdquo; To one of these interviews we are here led. &ldquo;Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted.&rdquo;<p>Who were these doubters? As all the apostles had seen him before, and as Thomas, most incredulous of them all, expressed himself perfectly satisfied, it could not be any of the eleven. But there were others now present; and this is the season to which the apostle refers when he says, &ldquo;After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.&rdquo; The case was this. Though he had repeatedly appeared to his apostles separately and collectively, all these appearances were unexpected; whereas this interview was appointed. Jesus ordered his disciples to go away to a particular mountain in Galilee, and promised there to be seen of-them. Now, knowing this, and not willing to share their privilege alone, they called upon their neighbours and friends to accompany them on this occasion. This series to account for the largeness of the assembly, and for the hesitation of some who, not so accurately remembering his features, could not instantly identify him, (an instance of the impartiality and fearlessness of the sacred historians in recording all that happened, whether it could be deemed favourable or unfavourable to their cause) And we read that Jesus &ldquo;came and spake unto them.&rdquo; &ldquo;Came&rdquo;? Was he not there with them before? Dr. Campbell therefore renders it, &ldquo;And Jesus drew near&rdquo;-that is, he approached the eleven in the presence of the five hundred-&ldquo;and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Put thou my tears into thy bottle. - <a href='B:230 56:8'>Psa 56:8</a>. </i><p>SOME have supposed here a reference which I think is not well founded. It is well known that the Romans had little vessels called lachrymals, which were filled (as the word signifies) with tears, and commonly buried with the friend whose death drew them forth, as it was supposed it would add to his comfort to know that he was not forgotten or disregarded by those who were left behind him. Some of these are to be seen in the cabinets of the curious now. There are several of them in the British Museum. When the grave of Marcus Tullius Cicero was dug up in the year 1544, there were found in it two glass urns, the larger filled with a kind of earth, and the lesser with a fluid: one was supposed to have contained his ashes, and the other these tokens of friendship.<p>The image, indeed, is a very tender one. See the mother bending over the breathless body of her cherub boy and endeavouring to secure in her little urn the tears which are gushing from her streaming eyes. See the widow weeping by the side of the corpse of the guide of her youth,-her beloved,-leaning on whom she was going out of the wilderness; but now thrown back to walk alone the rest of the way, and endeavouring to secure those precious drops to preserve as a pledge, or rather to inter with the beloved remains. But we do not know that such a custom ever obtained among the Jews, and especially at this very early period; nor is it necessary to have such an allusion. Nature is the best expositor of Scripture. If we could but throw off from us the loads of difficulties which learned men have oppressed it with, and could but bring common sense, and explain it by a reference to our own feelings, it would be more easy to understand it.<p>The thing here is simple enough; the meaning is, Let my sorrows-the very expression of my sorrows-be dear to thee; and, as a precious fluid is valued and preserved, &ldquo;put thou my tears into thy bottle;&rdquo; or, by a change of metaphor, says he, &ldquo;Look upon mine afflictions and my pain, and forgive all my sins;&rdquo; &ldquo;remember me with the favour which thou bearest unto thy people,&rdquo; and &ldquo;say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.&rdquo; How soothing and encouraging is the presence and attention of a friend in distress, standing by ready to comfort, ready to wipe off with a soft hand the falling tear. Many have been there; many have said to those around, &ldquo;Pity me, pity me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me.&rdquo;<p>Some are perhaps ready to say, &ldquo;Well, I have shed tears enough, God knows!&rdquo; Nay, but he does not know it! you have not shed enough, or you would not be shedding them now. &ldquo;He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men;&rdquo; and not one of those tears shall be shed in vain, and not one of them is forgotten before God. 


devotion:
<i> I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. - <a href='B:230 119:113'>Psa 119:113</a>. </i><p>THOUGH the Jews lived under a dispensation which abounded with carnal ordinances, many of them were very far from being carnal men. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews holds forth some of them as examples for Christian imitation, and commands us &ldquo;not to be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.&rdquo;<p>Now, there are persons who seem to imagine that the religion of the Jews consisted in the paternity of Abraham, the rite of circumcision, numerous sacrifices and ceremonial observances. But it consisted in none of these; it was essentially the same with the Christian. The difference was not in the body, but in the dress; not in the reality, but in the degree:-&ldquo;God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.&rdquo; They worshipped the same God; their theology is our theology; their morality is our morality; and the book of Psalms is a magazine of Christian experience, and especially this psalm. Now, this belongs to what we call experimental religion.<p>Experience means knowledge derived from experiment, in contradistinction to speculation and theory. Much has been said, especially since the days of Bacon, of experimental philosophy; and why may we not say much also of experimental religion? Is not the one as capable of trial and realization as the other? It is pleasing to hear men talk of things through which they have actually and feelingly passed,-the pilgrim of his travels, the soldier of his wars, the patient of his cure; especially if we are in the same relation, if we are travellers, if we are soldiers, if we are patients: we are then desirous of hearing something that suits our circumstances, and on which we can rely. &ldquo;I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.&rdquo; David here speaks of his hatred and of his love. These are two very powerful passions and principles. We are all the subjects of them; and if a man does but know what to do with his hatred and his love that is, where to place them, and how to exercise them-he may be called a wise man. You remember the language of Solomon: -&ldquo;A wise man&rsquo;s heart is at his right hand, but a fool&rsquo;s heart at his left.&rdquo; How is this?<p>Why, physically considered, every man&rsquo;s heart is at his left hand; but Solomon uses the word &ldquo;heart&rdquo; metaphorically; he means by it the affections; and when he says, &ldquo;A wise man&rsquo;s heart is at his right hand,&rdquo; he means that he rightly exercises them, or dexterously; the word dexterous being derived from dexter, the Latin word for the right hand. The object of hatred should be always something bad; the object of love should be always something good. And this would be the case in a perfect being. This was the case in man before the fall; but the fall perverted every thing, and, in consequence of it, men have been lovers of evil and haters of good. But the design of the gospel is to rectify all this confusion, and to put things in proper order again.<p>In the Acts, the apostles are spoken of as &ldquo;men who are come to turn the world upside-down;&rdquo; and the testimony is very true; not indeed in the sense-the factious, seditious sense-of their accusers, but in their own sense, and with regard to their own aim, which was &ldquo;to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;&rdquo; and to make men &ldquo;new creatures;&rdquo; with whom old things had passed away, and all things had become new.<p>Let us, therefore, endeavour to consider and improve what David says of his aversion:-&ldquo;I hate vain thoughts;&rdquo; and what he says of his affection:-&ldquo;But thy law do I love.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I, even I, am He that comforteth you. - <a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>. </i><p>HOW great and worthy of admiration is the condescension of God! The heaven of heavens cannot contain him, yet he dwells verily with men upon the earth. &ldquo;All nations are before him as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity.&rdquo; &ldquo;As for man; his days are as grass,&rdquo; &ldquo;his foundation is in the dust;&rdquo; he is &ldquo;of yesterday, and knows nothing.&rdquo; But this is not all: we are unworthy as well as mean, and guilty as well as poor; and therefore we may well exclaim, &ldquo;Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?&rdquo; How astonishing is the manifestation of this! How wonderful the way in which he himself by anticipation has represented in the Scriptures the condescension and tenderness of the divine regards, that he will &ldquo;put our tears into his bottle,&rdquo; and that he will &ldquo;write them in his book&rdquo;!<p>There is only one passage in the Scriptures where his condescension is represented in a still more wonderful way. It is where David says, &ldquo;Thou shalt comfort him upon the bed of languishing; thou shalt make all his bed in his sickness.&rdquo; There is the Eternal and the Almighty attending upon his sick child; and, as it is in the margin, &ldquo;He shaketh up the bed,&rdquo; and maketh his bed, so God chooseth to represent himself. Let us, as Young says,- <p>&ldquo;Not stop at wonder, but imitate and live.&rdquo; </i><p>There is implanted in human nature a principle of emulation, the design of which is to excite us at the view of whatever is noble and excellent; and, as God is the perfection and the source of all excellency, the ultimate design of the principle was unquestionably to excite us to an imitation of himself. But here now is the grand mistake: we wish to imitate God as the greatest of beings; whereas we ought to wish to imitate him as the best of beings. We are disposed readily enough to make him our model in his natural perfections, and would, if we could, know as he knows; we would &ldquo;thunder with a voice like his;&rdquo; we would have others under our management, like him.<p>But this imitation of God is the way to sink, not rise; this is the very essence of sin. Thus Adam and Eve fell, who wished to be &ldquo;as gods, knowing good and evil.&rdquo; This is the way that Lucifer fell. &ldquo;I will be,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;like the Most High.&rdquo; This is the way the devils fell: they abode not in their first estate, but must think of a better, and would not be content with such things as they had, and so in aspiring they were cast down to hell. We are required to make God our model in his moral perfections, to be holy as he is holy, patient as he is patient, to hold fast the profession of our faith because he is faithful that hath promised, to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful, to be like the Son of God: he was the &ldquo;image of the invisible,&rdquo; and when he was upon earth &ldquo;God was manifest in the flesh.&rdquo;<p>Let us contemplate him and seek to be like him. &ldquo;Be ye therefore,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour.&rdquo; Let all wanderers and weepers repair here. God is able to comfort us in all our tribulation. If, therefore, we are sufferers in any way, let us beware of worldly dissipation and of infidel reasonings. But let us draw near to the God of all grace and the God of all comfort. If we approach him in the Son of his love, he will receive us graciously and love us freely. Let us say, with David, &ldquo;All my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee.&rdquo; And in a little time we shall enter his presence, and be able to say, &ldquo;Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling,&rdquo; and &ldquo;I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living,&rdquo; and show forth all his praise. 


devotion:
<i> He is a babe. - <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>. </i><p>THE apostle does not refer to a babe by nature. This, indeed, is one of the most lovely, attractive, and interesting objects in creation. It seems impossible not to consider his destination and the powers in his nature not yet unfolded; we think of the spirit inspired by the Almighty, which dwells within the beauteous shrine. When we see the bud, we think of the flower; when we see the dawn, we think of the day; when we see a crown, we think of a king. How should we have felt towards a Newton, or towards a Milton, if, dandling them on our knee, we had known at the time all the splendours of fame to which they were born? But who knows what any babe may become, however humble its birth, or however mean his external condition? The princess opened the ark of bulrushes, and the babe wept; and she had compassion on him, and said, &ldquo;This is one of the Hebrew children;&rdquo; but that forlorn, friendless babe was to become the son of Pharaoh&rsquo;s daughter, the scourge of Pharaoh, the destruction of Egypt, the deliverer of the Jews, the king in Jeshurun, and the prophet of the Most High. But a babe is not to be a babe always: we expect to see him grow; and, indeed, we soon witness the process.<p>It is scarcely possible to look at such a being and not remember the exhortation, &ldquo;Despise not one of these little ones,&rdquo; or without calling Hannah to mind; and, above all, can we forget Him who &ldquo;grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man&rdquo;? But Paul refers not to a babe natural, but to a babe spiritual; for there is an infancy in the church as well as an infancy in the family,-an infancy morally as well as corporeally; and this religious infancy is twofold.<p>First, There is a real and proper religious infancy. We always look for it at the commencement of the divine life; for Christians are new creatures, and therefore they have a beginning, and the beginning is small. But they grow; they &ldquo;go from strength to strength;&rdquo; they &ldquo;wax stronger and stronger;&rdquo; they &ldquo;increase with all the increase of God;&rdquo; from babes they become young men, and from young men fathers in Christ.<p>Secondly, There is an improper and a reprovable religious infancy. It is this the apostle speaks of: for observe his language: he does not say, &ldquo;You were such as needed milk, and not strong meat;&rdquo; but &ldquo;Ye are become such.&rdquo; If we saw a man playing with toys, we should be ready to say, &ldquo;Why, you are too old and too big for this;&rdquo; but we should not say this if we saw a child. &ldquo;When I was a child,&rdquo; says Paul, &ldquo;I spake as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.&rdquo; And if, after a child is weaned and grown and put to a public school, he should cry after his mother, and by a supposable transformation become a babe, crying for the rattle and the knee, why, we should be shocked and offended. Such a thing is physically impossible, but not morally and religiously so; it is the very thing the apostle has in view: his language, indeed, is metaphorical, but there is truth in it, and let us get towards it.<p>Christians are commanded to advance in religion, and they are expected to grow in grace: but is this always the case? Is it commonly the case? Are there not many instances in which, instead of increase, there is decrease,- instead of going forward, there is going backward? We read of the &ldquo;first days of Israel;&rdquo; and does not the Saviour reprove the church of Ephesus, and say, &ldquo;Remember from whence thou art fallen, and do the first works&rdquo;? 


devotion:
<i> The word of righteousness. - <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the character here given of the gospel:- &ldquo;The word of righteousness.&rdquo; It is called so for two reasons. First, To hold forth the quality of it. The word of righteousness, then, is the righteous word,-a common mode of expression in the Scriptures; and it is so. It resembles the Author of it, who is &ldquo;holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works;&rdquo; and so we are told that &ldquo;holy men of God spake as they were, moved by the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; The more the book is examined, the more its contents will be found to be &ldquo;a doctrine according to godliness.&rdquo; Every word of God is pure; and, while the gospel brings salvation, it &ldquo;teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, It reminds us of the subject of which it treats; and this is righteousness. &ldquo;The word of righteousness.&rdquo; What righteousness? The righteousness of God. This is an essential attribute of his nature, and the Bible displays this; the Scriptures are full of instances of the faithfulness and truth of God, in fulfilling his threatenings and his promises, with regard to countries, families, and individuals; and, whatever difficulties may attend some of the divine dispensations, &ldquo;shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?&rdquo; &ldquo;Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid: how then shall God judge the world?&rdquo; &ldquo;Clouds and darkness are round about him; justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne.&rdquo; It is still moreover the righteousness of God as to the dispensation of his grace in the salvation of men. It is the word of righteousness; that is, it reveals the way in which God makes us righteous, both in state and nature. In answer to the question, &ldquo;How can man be just with God?&rdquo; or, &ldquo;How can he be clean that is born of a woman?&rdquo; it may be observed, that he is not &ldquo;just with God,&rdquo; but he can be made so. He is not clean, but he can be made so. How interesting must such a communication as this be!<p>Now, this &ldquo;word of righteousness&rdquo; shows us how it is that God accomplishes this work; how he makes us righteous in state; how he makes us righteous in a way of justification: that it is not by the deeds of the law, for &ldquo;by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified,&rdquo; but by &ldquo;the hearing of faith.&rdquo; &ldquo;To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted unto him for righteousness.&rdquo; This is what is called the &ldquo;righteousness of God;&rdquo; this is the everlasting righteousness which the Saviour wrought; this is the righteousness without the law, yet testified and witnessed by the law and the prophets, and, above all, by the apostles.<p>The righteousness of Adam in Paradise was only the righteousness of a man; and the righteousness of an angel in heaven is only the righteousness of a creature; it is therefore a finite righteousness: but the Christian&rsquo;s righteousness-the righteousness on which he depends, and which he pleads before God-is a righteousness divine and infinite, and therefore he is said not only in this righteousness to be justified, but in this righteousness to be exalted. And it shows us also how it makes us righteous in disposition, or righteous in a way of sanctification. This is by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that, as we are justified by the blood of Christ, so we are saved &ldquo;by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo;<p>God then works in us &ldquo;to will and to do of his good pleasure;&rdquo; he produces in us righteous views, principles, feelings, righteous hopes and fears, righteous joys and sorrows. And all this is necessary, not only in a way of evidence, but of qualification. In vain would God pardon our sins unless he subdued them. This work is equally of God with the former, and, through his operation in the first instance, is perfect at once; his operation in the second is gradual:-He has &ldquo;begun a good work,&rdquo; and he &ldquo;will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; Then the one will be as complete as the other; then he will &ldquo;present his people faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,&rdquo; and there will be nothing but righteousness. 


devotion:
<i> I hate vain thoughts. - <a href='B:230 119:113'>Psa 119:113</a>. </i><p>VAIN thoughts are foolish thoughts, wandering thoughts, unbelieving thoughts, worldly thoughts, self-righteous thoughts, sinful thoughts. For observe that vain thoughts here do not mean empty ones, but evil ones; as when our Saviour says, &ldquo;that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.&rdquo; By &ldquo;idle words&rdquo; he does not mean merely frivolous, silly, and trifling words, but words of moral blame, and which will serve to condemn us in the last day. By these &ldquo;vain thoughts&rdquo;<p>David means his own vain thoughts,-not the vain thoughts of others. He could not be conscious of the thoughts of others, but he could know his own. He was forbidden to judge the thoughts of others, but he was bound to examine his own. He was not employed in exploring the vineyards of others while he neglected his own; and it would be much better for us if we lived, morally, more at home, and less abroad with others. It is a fine and striking remark of one whose &ldquo;private thoughts&rdquo; have been long before the religious public. &ldquo;For many years back,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I have had nothing to do with the faults and failings of others, for I have had too many of my own to engage my time and attention.&rdquo; Now, with regard to these vain thoughts we are led to notice two things:<p>First, That he had vain thoughts: and who has not? There are indeed some persons who have not had a vain thought for many years; but they are to be found in heaven, where we read of &ldquo;the spirits of just men made perfect,&rdquo; where that which is perfect is come, and where that which is imperfect is done away. But who upon earth are free from these? who can say, &ldquo;I have made my heart clean; I am free from sin&rdquo;? Why, &ldquo;there is not a just man upon earth that does good, and sinneth not.&rdquo; Why, &ldquo;in many things we offend all.&rdquo; We are to pray for our daily pardon as well as for our daily bread. If we take a Christian,-not a novice, but one who has been for years in the school of experience; hear him: &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I have good objects enough to command and engross my attention, especially my God and Saviour, who is all my salvation and all my desire, my glory and my joy; the &lsquo;chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.&rsquo; <p>&lsquo;Why should I cleave to things below, <p> And let my God, my Saviour, go?&rsquo; </i><p>I love the Lord&rsquo;s day, and call &lsquo;the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the Lord, honourable.&rsquo; And I know that I am commanded not to walk in my own ways nor to think my own thoughts. But, alas! how will these intruders invade my golden hours! I enter my closet, and I wish to exclude the world; but, before I can shut to the door, in rushes a rabble along with them and often fills the best part of the room. I love the habitation of God&rsquo;s house, and repair to the place where his honour dwelleth; but there often I find it to be what he called the temple in the days of his flesh,-&lsquo;a house of merchandise,&rsquo; or &lsquo;a den of thieves.&rsquo; I then repaired to his table. If any thing could fix my roving heart, surely it must be my dying God before me, when Jesus Christ is evidently set forth crucified among us; and yet even there I cannot wait upon the Lord without distraction; even then I am more concerned with the &lsquo;outward and visible sign&rsquo; than with the &lsquo;inward and spiritual grace.&rsquo;&rdquo;<p>Secondly, Here is something else: he not only had vain thoughts, but he hated them:-&ldquo;I hate vain thoughts.&rdquo; This is the difference between the naturally and spiritually minded. Evil thoughts are common to both; but let us mark the distinction. The natural man loves these thoughts; he therefore encourages them: the spiritually minded man hates them. But how can a man evince that, though he has vain thoughts, he hates them? Why, he will be sure to be humbled before God; and then he will be sure to pray against them; and if these prayers be sincere and importunate, why, then he will strive against them. 


devotion:
<i> Thy law do I love. - <a href='B:230 119:113'>Psa 119:113</a>. </i><p>LET us consider two things,-the object of the Psalmist&rsquo;s attachment and the attachment itself. There are some who say they have nothing to do with the law; but let them take heed, or the law will have something to do with them by-and-by. And what do they mean by this antinomian sentiment? What is the law of God, that they thus view freedom from it as a very desirable privilege? Why, according to our Saviour, the law consists entirely in love,-loving God supremely, and loving our neighbours as ourselves.<p>Can we ever be free from obligation to this? Can any man, in a right temper of mind, deem it a privilege to have nothing to do with this? How is it with a real Christian? It is true he is often complaining: but then he complains not of the Master, but of the servant; he complains not of the strictness of the law, but of the baseness of the observance. He does not wish to bring down the perfection of God&rsquo;s law to his imperfection, but wishes to be raised up, and brought to a state of conformity to its highest excellencies; and he knows he cannot be entirely happy till he is entirely holy, and that he can never be entirely holy till God establishes this blessed law in all the powers of his soul.<p>The word &ldquo;law&rdquo; here means the Scriptures, or the word of God at large. We cannot but observe, in reading this psalm, how many terms David employs to express it:-his &ldquo;commands,&rdquo; &ldquo;precepts,&rdquo; &ldquo;statutes,&rdquo; &ldquo;judgments,&rdquo; &ldquo;testimonies,&rdquo; &ldquo;law.&rdquo; And the word &ldquo;law&rdquo; is not unusually employed in other places. Isaiah says, &ldquo;To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them;&rdquo; where, we see, the law of God clearly means his word, and his &ldquo;word&rdquo; is used as explanatory of it. So in the nineteenth psalm:-&ldquo;The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.&rdquo;<p>It is not the moral law which converts, but it is the gospel which converts. Paul speaks of &ldquo;the spirit of life, which makes us free from the law of sin and death;&rdquo; and James calls it &ldquo;the perfect law of liberty.&rdquo; The difference between the law and the gospel does not consist in this:-that the one commands and the other does not; but in the difference of the things commanded. The language of the one is, &ldquo;Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;&rdquo; the language of the other is, &ldquo;Do this and live.&rdquo; And therefore the Apostle John says, &ldquo;This is his commandment,&rdquo;-his grand, peculiar commandment:-&ldquo; That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.&rdquo;<p>Now, we shall do well to take this view of this precept. It will afford us encouragement and relieve us from distress. We may question our right to a promise, but we cannot question our right to obey a divine command. We never ask, May we love one another? We know that he has commanded it. Why then do we ask, &ldquo;May I trust in Christ? may I believe in him?&rdquo; when in the very same passage, in the very same words, it is equally commanded?<p>Now, as to his attachment to this law, we see the Psalmist here makes profession of it unto God himself, and makes God the witness of it. He could say, in sincerity and truth, &ldquo;I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Behold, I am vile. - <a href='B:220 40:4'>Job 40:4</a>. </i><p>LET us with regard to this self-accusation observe three things. In the first place, the quality acknowledged,-&ldquo;vileness.&rdquo; &ldquo;Behold, I am vile.&rdquo; &ldquo;Vile,&rdquo; says Johnson in his dictionary, is &ldquo;base, mean, worthless, despicable, impure.&rdquo; There is nothing in the world to which this will apply so much as to sin, and to sin Job referred when he said, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile.&rdquo; He does not call himself vile because he was a man reduced, poor, and needy: no man of sense ever would do so. Character intrinsically does not depend upon adventitious circumstances. As Young says,- <p>&ldquo;Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch&rsquo;d on Alps, <p> And pyramids are pyramids in vales.&rdquo; </i><p>If property were vileness, as by their discourse some people seem to think, how vile must the apostles have been who said, &ldquo;Even to this very hour we hunger and thirst, are naked, are destitute, and have no certain dwelling-place&rdquo;! And how vile must have been the Lord of all, who said, &ldquo;The Son of man hath not where to lay his head&rdquo;! Neither did Job call himself vile because he was now despised, and full of sores and boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. Why, he was never dearer to God than when he was among the ashes scraping himself with the potsherd. Paul calls our present body &ldquo;this vile body.&rdquo; &ldquo;Who shall change this vile body?&rdquo; says he: it is in the margin, &ldquo;this body of our humiliation.&rdquo; And, indeed, it is humble enough! How low are some of its appetites, how mortifying some of its infirmities, how trying some of its diseases,- requiring all the force of friendship to induce us to discharge towards a fellow-creature the duties of humanity! But no wounds, or braises, or putrefying sores, are to be compared to sin; nothing is so vile in the universe as this. How Vile must that be which leads a God of love to threaten to punish with everlasting destruction from his presence and his power, and which would not allow of his pardoning without the sacrifice of his own Son!<p>Secondly, Who made this confession? Surely it was some very gross transgressor, or some newly-awakened penitent. No; it was Job, a saint of no ordinary magnitude. &ldquo;Ye have heard of the patience of Job.&rdquo; God himself, the Judge of all, mentions him along with righteous Noah and Daniel. He himself tells us that he was a perfect man,-one that feared God and eschewed evil; that there was none like him in the earth.<p>What then do we learn from hence, but that the most eminent saints are the most remote from vain thoughts of themselves? We know that the nearer a man approaches to perfection in any thing, the more sensible he becomes of his remaining deficiencies, and the more hungry and thirsty he is for improvement. It is Job who cries, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile.&rdquo; Not that there is no difference between a saint and a sinner. Job does not mean to intimate that he loved sin, or that he lived in it. His friends accused him of this, which he denied, saying, in his address to God, &ldquo;Thou knowest that I am not wicked;&rdquo; &ldquo;behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.&rdquo; But he knew that sin, though it did not reign in him, yet lived in him, yet opposed him, yet vexed him, yet defiled him, so that he could not do the thing that he would; and, if he was preserved from gross evils, he felt within him an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, and knew by his own experience that &ldquo;the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, When was the acknowledgment uttered,-&ldquo;Behold, I am vile&rdquo;? It was immediately after God&rsquo;s interview with him; after God&rsquo;s thus addressing him:-&ldquo;Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee; and answer thou me.&rdquo; It was after God had further displayed himself in the perfection of several of his works,-it was then that Job answered and said, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile;&rdquo; and what does this teach us but that the more we have to do with God the more we shall feel and see our unworthiness? Yes; if any thing can make us feel our littleness, it must be a view of Jehovah&rsquo;s wisdom; if any thing can make us sensible of our weakness, it must be the view of his Almighty Sovereignty; if any thing can make us feel our depravity, it must be the view of his spotless purity,-the infinite purity of Him &ldquo;who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and in whose sight the very heavens are not clean.&rdquo;<p>How was it with Isaiah? Had it not the same issue with him? &ldquo;Woe is me,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.&rdquo; So Peter, upon the display of his power and goodness in the miraculous draught of fishes, exclaimed, &ldquo;Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.&rdquo; This arose not from aversion to his presence, for he trusted his happiness in him; but from a sense of his unworthiness contrasted with the exhibition of his glory. So says the sweet singer in our British Israel:- <p>&ldquo;The more thy glory strikes mine eyes, <p> The humbler I shall lie; <p> Thus, while I sink, my joys shall rise <p> Immeasurably high.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Behold, I am vile. - <a href='B:220 40:4'>Job 40:4</a>. </i><p>LET us observe the effects of this conviction. They are various. One of these effects is evermore wonderment. Nothing is more wonderful to the man than what he now sees of himself. That he should have acted in such an ungrateful, such a foolish, such a base manner as he has been doing! That he should have been so deluded as to suppose he was safe, and in a state of acceptance with God, when he was in the very jaws of destruction. That he did not see his danger and his depravity sooner. And then, again, he wonders that he sees it now, when he looks around him and sees so many who know nothing of it; who know not the gospel and the way of life, and &ldquo;have no fear of God before their eyes.&rdquo;<p>Humiliation will be another result of this discovery. Ignorance is a pedestal upon which pride always stands: down with the pedestal, and the idol must fall to the ground. Yes, self-abasement will always follow this self-acquaintance. Self-complacency then will be at an end, and the man will condemn himself, and say, &ldquo;Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.&rdquo; Self-dependence will now be at an end, and he will own that without the Saviour he can do nothing. Thus the day of conviction is always the day of self-abasement, in which the proud and lofty looks are brought low, and the Lord alone is exalted. The endearment of the Saviour is another result of this discovery.<p>Why is it that there are so many to whom he has no form, nor comeliness, nor any beauty, that they should desire him? that they can hear of him, that they can read of him, that they can talk of him, without feeling any attachment to him? &ldquo;Why is it, but that, to change the image, as Solomon says, &ldquo;The full soul loatheth the honey-comb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet&rdquo;? Or, to use our Lord&rsquo;s own expression, &ldquo;They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.&rdquo; These set a high value upon the Saviour, the Physician of souls; he is now the person to whom the awakened and humbled sinner repairs, throws himself at his dear feet, and cries, &ldquo;Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.&rdquo; Therefore, says the apostle, &ldquo;To them that believe he is precious.&rdquo;<p>Submission under afflictive dispensations is another effect of this discovery. When a sense of sin lies heavy upon the soul, the sense of trouble will be light. Such a man as this will say, &ldquo;Why should a living man complain,-a man for the punishment of his sins?&rdquo; &ldquo;I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.&rdquo; He no longer thinks that God deals hardly with him, but exclaims, &ldquo;It is of the Lord&rsquo;s mercies that I am not consumed!&rdquo; He will not wonder that his trials are so many, but that they are really so few; not that they are so heavy, but that they are so light.<p>Gratitude will be another result of this discovery of our vileness. The proud are never grateful. Do what you will, heap whatever favours you may upon them, what reward have you? what thanks have you? They only think you are doing your duty; they think they are deserving of all this. But, when a man feels that he is unworthy of the least of all his mercies, how will he feel with regard to the greatest of them? What will his feeling be when he says, with Paul, &ldquo;Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift,&rdquo; or with Peter, &ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him&rdquo;?<p>Charity and tenderness towards the faults of others will be a result from this conviction. The man who at the foot of the cross has been brought to say, &ldquo;Behold, I am vile,&rdquo; will not look for perfection in others, because he is conscious he is destitute of it himself. He will not have time for pulling motes from other people&rsquo;s eyes, because he will have so much to do in removing beams from his own. Or, if he calls for reproof, he will fall in with the injunction of the apostle:-&ldquo;Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If ye then he risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. - <a href='B:580 3:1'>Col 3:1</a>. </i><p>AS if the apostle should say, You will, by seeking those things which are above, evince that you are risen with Christ. And if you are Christians indeed, you will act becoming your condition and rank. Surely it is very desirable to be fully assured that we are thus risen with Christ. While many are seeking those things which are earthly, and which perish with their using, let us be concerned to say, &ldquo;Show me a token for good.&rdquo; &ldquo;Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.&rdquo; There are many who are building their hopes on a sandy foundation, trusting to partial reformations. Alas! how possible it is to be near the kingdom of God, and not in it!<p>There is no evidence of our being raised to this spiritual condition which can be depended upon separate from heavenly-mindedness, or from setting our affections on things above. For as we have borne the &ldquo;image of the earthly,&rdquo; we must also &ldquo;bear the image of the heavenly,&rdquo; or we cannot with safety indulge in a &ldquo;hope of the glory of God.&rdquo; Then, if we are seeking &ldquo;those things which are above,&rdquo; our practice must accord with our professions.<p>Hence there are such frequent exhortations in the Scriptures to &ldquo;walk worthy of God, who has called us unto his kingdom and glory.&rdquo; &ldquo;Walk worthy of the high vocation wherewith ye are called.&rdquo; Walking, here, is not meritorious, but implies suitableness and correspondence. Alexander, the conqueror of the world, said to a soldier who bore his name, &ldquo;Either drop my name, or act becoming it.&rdquo; So says the Apostle Paul: -&ldquo;Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.&rdquo;<p>How many are there who entirely disregard the things which are above! They are like Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright; or, like the Gadarenes, rather than lose their swine, would expel Christ from their coasts. Like Reuben and Gad, they are satisfied with their portion this side Jordan. But what a portion will it prove eventually! for &ldquo;What shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?&rdquo; But, blessed be God, there some who have weighed both worlds, and who prefer the &ldquo;things above&rdquo; to the things on the earth; who are able to say,- <p>&ldquo;Farewell, world; thy gold is dross: <p> Now I see the bloody cross; <p> Jesus died to set me free <p> From the law, and sin, and thee.&rdquo; </i><p>Such declare plainly that they &ldquo;seek a better country,&rdquo; and show that &ldquo;truly their fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. - <a href='B:470 28:18'>Mat 28:18</a>. </i><p>WITH regard to the Saviour&rsquo;s prerogative as here asserted by himself, there are three things to be observed. First, Its nature: -&ldquo;power.&rdquo; The question is, whether this power here means authority or ability, or both. Assuredly, both. These are not always co-equal. A man&rsquo;s ability may surpass his authority, and his authority may surpass his ability; but in our risen Redeemer they are equally combined, and his ability and authority are boundless.<p>Observe, Secondly, Its extent. &ldquo;All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.&rdquo; Much has been said of universal monarchy. We read of four monarchies to which this proud attribute has been attached,-the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman. But it is only by a stretch of language that either of them could be called universal, as to right, or as to fact; whereas Jesus is entitled to universal subjection, so that all creatures who do not obey him will be considered and treated as rebels and traitors. His empire, therefore, comprehends all the immensity of space:-&ldquo;He does according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth;&rdquo; there is no being in church or state, in heaven or earth, free from his control. Even wicked men and devils are under his control:-&ldquo;He is King of kings and Lord of lords;&rdquo; &ldquo;He is Lord of all;&rdquo; and he has a name given to him above &ldquo;every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, Its acquisition. &ldquo;All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.&rdquo; This, therefore, is not spoken of his essential dominion which he possesses as a Divine Person, &ldquo;whose goings were of old, from everlasting,&rdquo; and of whom John says, &ldquo;In the beginning he was with God, and he was God.&rdquo; This is not spoken, we say, of that dominion which he possessed as the Creator, but that which he obtained as Mediator, and which is always in the Scriptures spoken of as conferred, or given. Now, how was it given? Was it given in a way of merit, or in a way of bounty, or in a way of grace? The saints&rsquo; exaltation is given them in a way of grace; the exaltation of angels is given them in a way of bounty; but the exaltation of our Redeemer is given him in a way of merit,-pure, absolute merit. If there could be such a thing as merit, God would be sure to reward it, for it would only indicate an act of righteousness; but no creature can merit any thing, because, by the very law of his nature, all his powers and resources are due to God; and he is to employ them for his glory, whose he is and whom he is bound to serve; but &ldquo;worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and wisdom, and riches, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.&rdquo;<p>He deserves, he perfectly deserves, his exaltation and praise. He earned them meritoriously by the services he performed and the sufferings he endured. It is therefore said, that because he was &ldquo;obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,&rdquo; &ldquo;therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.&rdquo; This was &ldquo;the joy that was set before him,&rdquo; as the apostle says, &ldquo;for which he endured the cross, and despised the shame;&rdquo; and, having executed the tremendous condition on which it was suspended, he would meritoriously claim it. Yes, it was infinitely, in consequence of this, his due, and insured by covenant-engagement. For if &ldquo;his soul was made an offering for sin,&rdquo; he was to &ldquo;see his seed,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;prolong his days,&rdquo; and &ldquo;the pleasure of the Lord&rdquo; was to &ldquo;prosper in his hands.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour. - <a href='B:510 5:31'>Act 5:31</a>. </i><p>LET us view the Saviour&rsquo;s exaltation in reference to his PERSONAL CHARACTER. When an individual obtains elevation, we are all ready and anxious to know something of his qualities, not merely from curiosity, but on account of the influence he may thereby possess over others. There are four classes of men whom we should not wish to possess much power, for we are persuaded they would either misuse or abuse it.<p>We should not wish an ignorant man to possess power&rsquo;: he would, for want of wisdom and knowledge, err in a thousand things. But in him who has &ldquo;all this power&rdquo; are &ldquo;hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.&rdquo; He sees the end from the beginning. He sees actions in their very causes. He can distinguish between appearances and realities. He derives no information from either &ldquo;events or reports.&rdquo; He &ldquo;needs not that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in man,&rdquo; and therefore is not deceived, and never feels any perplexity in his government with regard to any of his measures or his means. While other rulers are often at their wits&rsquo; end, and are compelled to call in counsellors to advise with them, &ldquo;he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,&rdquo; and, while he does all things, he does &ldquo;all things well.&rdquo;<p>Nor should we like an unfaithful man to have power. He too would misuse or abuse it. We have instances enough of this. When God confers power he always commits a trust. In all the endowments he bestows, he looks beyond the receiver. The receiver is not to become a proprietor, but a steward; a receiver not for himself only, but for others. We may exemplify this with regard to property. He gives a man wealth, for what purpose? To be useful, to do good, to communicate. But he improperly hoards it, or improperly expends it; and so the goodness of the Benefactor is counteracted by the villainy of the trustee. But with regard to this Saviour-Prince, he will fulfil every responsibility; he is true to all his trusts; he is faithful to all that is deposited in his hands. The apostle tells us that &ldquo;it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell&rdquo; for the use of his church, and he will be faithful to the consignment of it. We are told that &ldquo;he received gifts for men, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them;&rdquo; and he will apply them accordingly; and he is delighted in the distribution of these benefits.<p>We should not wish an impatient man to have power. We know that he would ruin a thousand good plans and interests by his impetuosity, his passion, his haste. For as Solomon wisely remarks, &ldquo;He that is hasty in spirit exalteth folly.&rdquo; Now, with regard to our Saviour, he does not display slackness, as some people imagine, but he is &ldquo;long suffering to usward.&rdquo; He exercises patience; he is slow to anger; and therefore it is we are not consumed, and because his compassions fail not. Let us view him where Paul has placed him. Paul tells us that he is at the &ldquo;right hand of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.&rdquo; He is in a state of expectancy, and he is waiting for something there. He knows that he must reign &ldquo;from the river even to the ends of the earth;&rdquo; but he sees not at present all things put under him. He looks down and sees much of his own empire at present over run with ignorance, and error, and idolatry, and superstition, and the works of the devil; but he knows that he shall realize it all by-and-by, and &ldquo;in patience, he possesses his soul.&rdquo; We make haste; we are eager in many cases; we are ready to complain, and even murmur, if our prayers are not immediately answered. Why, many of the prayers which he offered in the days of his flesh are not answered to this very hour; but they all will be answered-every one of them-in due time and manner; and he knows this, and reposes in the determination of infinite wisdom, &ldquo;whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways.&rdquo;<p>Lastly, We do not wish an unmerciful, an unkind man to have power. Solomon tells us that &ldquo;as a roaring lion and ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.&rdquo; What does he know of their miseries? He never tasted their bitter bread. What cares he for any of their sufferings, provided he can roll in luxury, splendour, and ease? How often will he draw them from their peaceful homes, and expose them to hardships,- yea, sometimes lead thousands of them to the slaughter, -to gratify his ambition! But there is &ldquo;another King, one Jesus.&rdquo; This Prince does not sacrifice his subjects, but he sacrificed himself for their sakes; for precious is their death in his sight. &ldquo;My flesh,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I give for the life of the world.&rdquo; Ah, we here find that power, absolute power, is placed just where it should be placed.<p>We find infinite power lodged in the bosom of infinite benevolence. And we may easily forecast results; for him &ldquo;shall the wilderness and the solitary place be made glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.&rdquo; &ldquo;Men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> All power in given unto me in heaven and in earth. - <a href='B:470 28:18'>Mat 28:18</a>. </i><p>LET us view this prerogative of the Saviour, with regard to his friends; and there are two things it demands of us. The first is, that we should rejoice in it on his behalf. Love always exults in the prosperity of its object. The mother is never weary in hearing of the praises of her child; the father, in reading the gazette, fastens his eye upon the part which extols the bravery of his son and recommends him to promotion. If we had a dear connection raised from deep distress to high preferment in the state, why, we should be likely to hail him, and to feel, as it were, his success as our own. But there is no love like that which a redeemed sinner bears to his Redeemer; and there ought to be none like it: for who has done what he has done, or suffered for us what he has suffered, or bestowed on us what he has bestowed, or promised what he has promised? Nothing, therefore, belonging to him, can be indifferent to us; concerning whom we cannot help exclaiming,- <p>&ldquo;Let him be crown&rsquo;d with majesty <p> Who bow&rsquo;d his head to death; <p> And be his honours sounded loud <p> By all things that have breath.&rdquo; </i><p>And we may rejoice in the thought, that, as we have sympathized with him in the garden, we shall exult with him now he is upon the throne; that he who once had not a place where to lay his head is now in the possession of all things; that he whose face was marred more than any man&rsquo;s now shines like the sun in his brightness; that those dear hands, that were once nailed to the cross, now wield the sceptre of universal empire; and that he, our dear Saviour, who once on earth was despised and rejected of men, now in heaven attracts every eye, fills every heart, employs every tongue, both of saints and angels. If when his praises are told forth we could hold our peace, the very stones would cry out.<p>Secondly, We should be comforted by it on our own behalf. What may not Christians expect from the state and station, the resources and the power, of one to whom they are so dear, that he calls them his brethren, his sisters, and his mother? Surely, as he is possessed of unsearchable riches, he will never suffer them to want; surely, &ldquo;because he lives they shall live also.&rdquo; After suffering and dying for us, it is impossible for us to question his love; and therefore if we perish now it will not be because he is unwilling to save us, but because he is unable; for we may be sure that he will save us if he can. And can this be doubtful? Can it? Where is he now? What is he now? What has he now? All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth.<p>Oh, let Christians say, in consequence of this, In what state will not this comfort me? In what danger will not this defend me? What want is there but he can supply? What corruption but he can subdue? I am not staggered now at my being called to fight with &ldquo;principalities and powers.&rdquo; &ldquo;In all these things I shall be more than conqueror, through him that hath loved me.&rdquo; I am not terrified by mortality: he has the keys of hell and of death. I am not staggered at the thought that after my death &ldquo;worms shall destroy this body; I know that in my flesh I shall see God.&rdquo; And I am looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, from heaven, &ldquo;who shall change my vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He shall reign forever and ever. - <a href='B:730 11:15'>Rev 11:15</a>. </i><p>THE exaltation of the Saviour is a matter of joy and triumph to all his friends. Their wishes extend beyond themselves. All Christians &ldquo;look not on their own things only, but also on the things of others,&rdquo; and especially the &ldquo;things of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; They are, therefore, &ldquo;sorrowful for the solemn assembly,&rdquo; and the reproach of it is their burden. On the other hand, they rejoice when they see that his word has free course and is glorified; when many are added to his church of such as shall be saved. Their prayer is, that his kingdom may come, that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, that his cause may spread universally. For this they pray, and they have prayed for it ever since they have prayed in reality at all. And they add their exertions to their prayers. For this they employ their talents; for this they employ their resources; for this they endeavour to prevail on others to become workers together in this blessed cause along with them. And what are they doing? Are they building castles in the air? Are they &ldquo;labouring in the fire, and wearying themselves for very vanity&rdquo;?<p>They are labouring at a perfect certainty, and they are the only agents in our world who are so. Statesmen, warriors, merchants, all these may become ashamed of their hope; but as to the work in which Christians are engaged, this will succeed, for this &ldquo;King must reign and prosper.&rdquo; There are three cases in which the Saviour&rsquo;s administration justifies, and therefore should excite and increase, our zeal. The first is in cases of opposition, and opposition we may always reckon upon if we are engaged in the work of the Lord. But we should never be discouraged by it. It is very unbecoming in Christians ever to &ldquo;tremble for the ark of God:&rdquo; and yet how often is this the case! There are some now aghast at the prevalence of Popery, and some too who expect crosses to be erected at the roadside, and that the Smithfield fires are to be revived. Why, it is doomed; and, if the Scriptures had not foretold this, we might fully expect it from the operation of various agencies now in action.<p>Then we hear people frequently exclaim, &ldquo;The church is in danger.&rdquo;&lsquo; What church? There is one church that is not in danger,-that church of which the Redeemer says, &ldquo;Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.&rdquo; Suppose a number of persons leagued together to pull down the sun: what should we think of it? Should we be afraid of the plot? Should we fear on behalf of the sun? The sun would rise and laugh at their puny efforts, and go on in the greatness of his strength. Dioclesian erected a pillar, on which he inscribed,-&ldquo;In (such a year) the Christian heresy was extirpated.&rdquo; Was it? Julian the Apostate struck a medal, on one side of which he inscribed, &ldquo;The Christians flee before the Romans;&rdquo; and on the other side, &ldquo;Julian, the destroyer of the Christian name.&rdquo; This he did only a few months before, on his Persian expedition, he bit the dust, and exclaimed, &ldquo;Thou hast conquered me, O Galilean!&rdquo; &ldquo;So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; while they that love thee, let them be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.&rdquo;<p>The second is, when we want instruments. And instruments we always shall want, because he does not choose to work without them,-that is, immediately. He gives the increase; he works all in all; but Paul must plant and Apollos must water. Well, whatever instruments his cause demands, he can either find them or furnish them.<p>The last is, when the means seem inadequate to the end. And this indeed will always be the case with the instruments employed; they are all verily inadequate to the end. The most eminent minister or missionary upon earth is ready to exclaim, &ldquo;Who is sufficient for these things?&rdquo; and we answer, No one alone; but any one is if he hears the sound of his Master&rsquo;s footsteps behind him, and is accompanied by Him who has &ldquo;all power in heaven and in earth.&rdquo; Hence the admonition and charge to his disciples: &ldquo;All power,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;is given unto me: go ye therefore.&rdquo; &ldquo;Go ye;&rdquo; who? Ye few fishermen, without power to compel, or riches to bribe, or learning to perplex, or eloquence to persuade. &ldquo;Go ye therefore;&rdquo; and what to do? &ldquo;Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.&rdquo; Preach doctrines incredible to reason, and they shall be believed; enforce duties subversive of every evil passion, and they shall be obeyed; mention motives which require certainty to feel them, and they shall be felt.<p>Go on with this, in spite of the edicts of emperors, and the persecution of magistrates, and the subtlety of philosophers, and the covetousness and craftiness of priests, and the profligacies of the common people; &ldquo;and, lo, I am with you alway&rdquo; for this purpose, &ldquo;even unto the end of the world.&rdquo; And was he not with them? Did they not succeed? Is he not the same yesterday, today, and forever? Is not the residue of the Spirit with him? 


