# devotions

devotion:
<i> Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? - <a href='B:520 7:24'>Rom 7:24</a>. </i><p>THIS acknowledgment, and this solicitude, is expressed by the Lord&rsquo;s people now; and there is abundant consolation for such. And we may mention four things to incite and animate them. First, they should remember that the complaint is not peculiar to them; they sometimes feel that no one ever sighed or groaned like them, or was condemned like them. But they are forgetting the lessons of Scripture. They do not remember that the Jews in their passage, when they crossed the Red Sea, came to Marah, where the waters were bitter, as well as Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and threescore and ten palm-trees. Or that in the immortal Pilgrim&rsquo;s Progress there were in the way of &ldquo;the shining light&rdquo; the Valley of Humiliation and the Valley of the Shadow of Death, as well as the Delectable Mountains. They forget that a very eminent servant of God has said, from his own experience, that &ldquo;the way to heaven was heaven and hell by turns.&rdquo; They forget that the emblem of the church is a bush burning with fire and not consumed; and that the motto of the church is, &ldquo;Without are fightings, and within are fears.&rdquo; They forget that in reading the Scriptures they have found one saying, &ldquo;I am cast out of his sight,&rdquo; and another, &ldquo;I am cut off from before his eyes,&rdquo; and another, &ldquo;I sink in deep mire where there is no standing,&rdquo; and another, &ldquo;On my eyelids is the shadow of death.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, We should remember that this experience is a mercy, and a great mercy; that it is essential to all real religion; that it is previous to all true consolation; that it is a proof of the divine agency. &ldquo;I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.&rdquo; That it is a pledge of the divine favour; that God says, &ldquo;To that man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.&rdquo; That the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart he will not despise. &ldquo;Is Ephraim,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? for, since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, we should remember that all in us is not evil now. We are liable sometimes to mistake in this matter. When we read the writings of Luther and the earlier reformers, we sometimes are rather surprised that they say so much against what they call good works. But we should remember that the good works they thus spoke against were the good works of Popery,-works uncommanded of God:-&ldquo;Touch not, taste not, handle not, which things have a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility.&rdquo; These they absolutely condemn, but not what we mean by good works, which proceed from a principle of divine grace, and are devoted to the glory of God: they never speak against these. When they were taken out of their places,-when they were placed in the room of Christ,-then indeed they spoke against them, but never otherwise; never as things by which divine grace is endeared, by which we glorify God and serve men, by which we are &ldquo;made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.&rdquo;<p>Let us beware, therefore, that we never depreciate not only what God has done for us, neither what he has done in us. The work of the Holy Spirit is called a &ldquo;good work in you;&rdquo; and it is a good work. &ldquo;I will put my Spirit in him,&rdquo; says God; and his Spirit is good. &ldquo;The water that I shall give him,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.&rdquo; The Christian, with all his complaints, has something in him more valuable than gold, and which God himself delights in; something which partakes of his image as well as of his own operations. Lastly, as all is not evil in the believer now, so nothing will be evil in him long. No: &ldquo;The night is far spent, and the day is at hand,&rdquo; and our warfare will soon be accomplished. <p>&ldquo;What though our inward lusts rebel? &rsquo;<p>Tis but a struggling gasp for life. <p> The weapons of victorious grace <p> Shall slay our sins, and end the strife.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Unskilful in the word. - <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>. </i><p>SOME persons are so ignorant and so unfamiliar with the sacred writings as not even to know what is the language of Scripture and what is not, when they hear it. Some are unskilful in finding it. How they fumble for parts of the Old Testament in the New, and for parts of the New in the Old! Some are unskilful in quoting it. Sometimes they misquote the meaning, frequently the words. Now, the meaning is unquestionably the main thing; but we love the very words, when they are the words the Holy Ghost uses.<p>Unskilful in defending it. A weak argument, instead of strengthening a good cause, always weakens it. It is like supporting a roof by a rotten pillar. How many doctrines are there which have been proved-that is, attempted to be proved-by passages of Scripture which have no relation to the subject! Persons have frequently endeavoured to prove the divinity of Christ by his miracles. He is divine, and we have proofs enough of it in his blessed book; but his miracles are proofs of his mission, not of his dignity. Moses performed miracles, but Moses was not divine; Paul performed miracles, but Paul was not divine.<p>Unskilful in applying it. &ldquo;Who would give strong meat instead of milk to a babe?&rdquo; says the apostle. &ldquo;Who, instead of milk,&rdquo; says Mr. Newton, &ldquo;would give to a babe the bones of controversy, either to pick or to bite?&rdquo; There are things in the Scripture &ldquo;hard to be understood:&rdquo; who would lead beginners to these? &ldquo;Who,&rdquo; as an old writer says, &ldquo;would lead sinners to the university of predestination, before they have entered the grammar-school of repentance?&rdquo; There are passages which regard the distressed and desponding; we should search after these, and ply them with such language as this:-&ldquo;Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth;&rdquo; &ldquo;Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.&rdquo; It requires, as Isaiah says, &ldquo;the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season.&rdquo; But there are some who are unwise in applying it to themselves as well as to others. &ldquo;There is no driving the dog out of the house,&rdquo; says a quaint author, &ldquo;without making the children cry;&rdquo; but some do not want to drive him out, and therefore they endeavour to soothe him, and say, &ldquo;l am not angry with you.&rdquo;<p>So it is here: when hypocrites are unmasked, and when heartless professors of religion are denounced, how often are the humble and sincere ready to seize all this, apply it to themselves, and conclude that they have no part or lot in the matter, and that their heart is not right in the sight of God! The apostle, therefore, after having uttered some very faithful things against backsliders in this epistle, by a fine turn immediately says, &ldquo;But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things which accompany salvation, though we thus speak.&rdquo;<p>There are some who are exceedingly fond of applying things to others which are suited peculiarly to themselves. A good woman said to her minister one Monday, &ldquo;Oh, sir, you gave it finely to Mrs. such-a-one yesterday.&rdquo; He only wanted to say, but could not, &ldquo;Dear madam, that was designed for yourself.&rdquo; And then, lastly, how unskilful are many in perusing the Scriptures! They are babes, and we do not expect skilfulness from babes. Excellency in every department is commonly the effect of much application and toil, and is to be looked for in those who have their senses exercised and their faculties employed. 


devotion:
<i> Unskilful in the word. - <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>. </i><p>LET us more particularly consider cases in which persons are very unskilful in using the word of righteousness. There are some things in the Scriptures which may appear to be contradictory to us as long as we remain in this weak state; and when this is the case, it is better for us to leave them than to destroy the plain, obvious meaning of others. We can see harmony between things which appear very contradictory to our little children; but they will see the harmony by-and-by. We can see the opposite ends of a chain thrown across a river, but we cannot see the connection in the middle; this is under water: if the water were lowered, or the chain raised, we should see the middle,- the connection,-as well as the two ends. Yet this reasoning may be pushed too far. The apparent opposition of many passages of Scripture arises entirely from inattention and ignorance in the reader: a little distinction would serve to harmonize.<p>Thus, it is possible and easy to reconcile such language as this:-&ldquo;Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit;&rdquo; &ldquo;Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.&rdquo; &ldquo;I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments;&rdquo; &ldquo;He that believeth maketh not haste.&rdquo; &ldquo;God repented that he made man;&rdquo; &ldquo;God is not a man that he should lie, nor the Son of man that he should repent.&rdquo; &ldquo;No man is tempted of God;&rdquo; &ldquo;God did tempt Abraham.&rdquo; In the same way, people have supposed that Paul and James are opposite to each other as to justification; whereas the one refers to God and the other to man; the one to justification as a reality, and this is by faith, the other as to its evidence and fruits, and this is by works.<p>Now, we find the Scriptures in the hands of some people nothing but confusion: we can never get two ideas or notions to lie straight in their brains. &ldquo;If,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;God works in us to will and to do, why should we work out our own salvation? If it be a duty, how can it be a privilege? If it be a promise, how can it be a command?&rdquo; Now, these things may be easily harmonized, and will be by those who are &ldquo;skilful in the word of righteousness.&rdquo;<p>Then they use the word of righteousness unskilfully who do not use it impartially. All religious parties have their separate portions and passages of Scripture, while there are others of which they are more or less heedless. They. do not, indeed, like to own this; but the thing is undeniable. It is a surprising thing to what a contracted part of the sacred writings the attention of some is confined; and, could they have their way, they would not suffer their preachers to move an inch from it. But we are to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ, &ldquo;and go through the length and breadth of the land of revelation.&rdquo; Why? &ldquo;All Scripture was given by inspiration of God.&rdquo; &ldquo;Whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope.&rdquo; Why did God give the whole of the Bible, if it were needless? Why, in all the Epistles, after the doctrines are laid down, are personal and relative duties so enforced? &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; we have heard some say, &ldquo;you need not preach upon these; the grace of God will teach people to do these.&rdquo; Why did not the apostles know this, and save themselves all the trouble of specification and enforcement? But the statement is not true: the grace of God is to enable, not to teach.<p>The Scriptures teach; the Bible contains all the information the church will ever possess in this world. The Spirit brings no new information to the mind, but he leads us into all truth. A man, therefore, in his proper state of mind, will not confine his attention to parts of the word of righteousness; he will not search it to find comfort only, but profit too; he will look not only after privileges, but duty; he will regard not only the promises, but also the commands; and will be able to say,- <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> Are they not in thy book? - <a href='B:230 56:8'>Psa 56:8</a>. </i><p>THAT is, are not my sorrows written and recorded there? What book? The book of his providence. Yes, they are all there; their quality is there, their degree is there; their duration is there, and all their sad memorial is there. The book of his remembrance, of which we have an account in the prophecy of Malachi:-&ldquo;Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name.&rdquo; We may herein see that the filial fear of God, which they cherished in themselves, was recorded; their words were recorded; yea, their very thoughts were recorded. But in these words of the Psalmist we have something more; here we find it extended to their tears: these also are in his book. But is it so? &ldquo;Are they not in thy book?&rdquo; &ldquo;I know they are!&rdquo; This is his meaning; the question is not a question of uncertainty, but of affirmation. The conclusion is drawn from three things: First, From relationship. Is he not our Father, our Husband, our Friend? And when he takes upon himself these relations towards us, does he not exemplify them,-and not only perfectly, but even divinely too?<p>Secondly, The conclusion is to be drawn from his promises. He cannot deny himself; he is a God of truth: &ldquo;heaven and earth may pass away, but my word shall not pass away.&rdquo; And what does this word contain? Why, this:-&ldquo;I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; I will be with thee in trouble. When thou passest through the waters 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;-I will be with thee, to sustain thee, to deliver thee, to succour thee. &ldquo;As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.&rdquo; The conclusion is to be drawn,<p>Thirdly, From his conduct. &ldquo;As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our God.&rdquo; Christians have seen it with regard to others, in their history and their experience; and have we not seen it in our own? What has he not done for us? Has he not given us his own Son, and thereby an assurance that he will also give us all things? Has he not loved us with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving-kindness drawn us to his throne, to his cross, to his house, to his table, to his service? Have we ever sought him and been disappointed? Have we ever, trusted in him and been confounded? Are we not ready to raise a fresh Ebenezer, and say, &ldquo;Hitherto the Lord hath helped me!&rdquo;-yea, more; to look back upon the many we have already reared, and say,- <p>&ldquo;His love in times past forbids me to think <p> He&rsquo;ll leave me at last in trouble to sink; <p> Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review <p> Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.&rdquo; </i><p>Thus we may, therefore, with David, be assured that all our sorrows are &ldquo;recorded in his book.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. - <a href='B:500 13:17'>Joh 13:17</a>. </i><p>WE ought to be thankful that we have the word of righteousness; that we are not left, as to the most important of all concerns, to the darkness of nature or reason, but that we have the word of God in our own tongue and in our own hands, and that we are not only allowed, but commanded, to &ldquo;search the Scriptures, for in them we have eternal life.&rdquo; The Scriptures are not given for mere speculation or to gratify curiosity, but to lead our feet in the path of peace. Would not a Jew have used unskilfully the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, if he had observed it only as a naturalist or a philosopher?-if he had said, from time to time, I wonder how it is caused; I wonder what its qualities are: whether it is at all palpable, or what would be the ingredients if it could be analyzed and so on. What was to be the design of that pillar? It was to be their conductor to lead them by the right way to a city of habitation; and then it was only well used when they obeyed its movements.<p>So it is here: the gospel is in the nature of a remedy, and it is to be used and applied. It shows a refuge, that we may run into it and be safe. It shows me a Saviour, that I may give up my poor lost soul into his hands, and say, &ldquo;Lord, save, or I perish;&rdquo; &ldquo;God be merciful to me, a sinner.&rdquo; What is the reason men, especially of talent and science, so err with respect to this volume? Why, they never go to it for the purpose of being made wise to salvation, (they do not feel their need of salvation,) but for some other purpose. If they went to it having in view the end God had in giving it,-if they went to it with the question, &ldquo;What must I do to be saved?&rdquo;-would the apostles and prophets keep them in a state of uncertainty for one moment? Would not all unite to exclaim, &ldquo;Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world&rdquo;? Oh, when we go to it with such an aim, (and we go to it with no purpose worth regarding, unless we go to it with this aim,) then it becomes plain enough; not only the scholar, but the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein. &ldquo;These things,&rdquo; says our Saviour, &ldquo;are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.&rdquo; And he came not only that we might have life, but that we might have it, more abundantly. No wonder, therefore, that Solomon should say, speaking of this blessed book, &ldquo;Bind it continually upon thine heart, and tie it about thy neck; when thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.&rdquo;<p>No wonder that Paul should say, &ldquo;Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.&rdquo; Let your love to the Scriptures increase; but let it increase &ldquo;in all knowledge and judgment,&rdquo; as the apostle says. Let us therefore seek after a growing acquaintance with it, and use for this purpose all the means in our power, (and we have many.) Above all, let us pray that our footsteps may be ordered by God&rsquo;s word. 


devotion:
<i> Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. - <a href='B:470 6:33'>Mat 6:33</a>. </i><p>RELIGION should be our supreme concern. A man who feels the infinite importance attached to the soul and eternity will be praying to the Lord, &ldquo;Give me a token for good;&rdquo; &ldquo;Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation;&rdquo; &ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; &ldquo;Remember me, O Lord, with the favour thou bearest unto thy people;&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh, visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, and glory with thine inheritance.&rdquo; And religion. should be our immediate concern. Our eternal happiness depends upon our relation to it and our interest in it. This life is our only opportunity to attain it, and this season is not only short, but uncertain. With some, while they have hesitated and lingered, the opportunity has been irrecoverably lost; therefore we are urged to &ldquo;seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near.&rdquo; And for our encouragement, the Scriptures have assured us that we shall not, cannot, seek in vain.<p>All things are now ready. He 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 unto me I will in no wise cast out.&rdquo; The things which we so earnestly seek after, concerning which we may think how happy we should feel if we could make them our own, are perishing in their using; they afford no satisfaction in the enjoyment. These things cannot profit us in the day of wrath, nor deliver us from death; and yet these are the things for which we are in danger of envying the men of the world, who have their portion in this life. Is it not time for us to grow wiser, and to regulate our desires and pursuits by the judgment of God, which is always according to truth? If we search the Scriptures we shall find that they, and they alone, are wise, safe, and happy, who, while many are saying, &ldquo;Who will show us any good?&rdquo; can say, &ldquo;Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased;&rdquo; who, while they are seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, find that these things also are added thereunto. 


devotion:
<i> Ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. - <a href='B:590 1:7'>1Th 1:7</a>. </i><p>WE have seen the people of God as receivers, as followers; we have now to view them as ensamples. It is very observable in nature that things in succession are alternately cause and effect, effect and cause. Thus, parents produce children, and children produce, in time, children; thus, those now obey who, by-and-by, command; thus, learners now become teachers, and those who were followers become leaders themselves. This was the case here; from following the apostles and the Lord Jesus, they &ldquo;became ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia.&rdquo; Indeed, what individual is there who is not more or less an ensample to some? Who is there that is entirely isolated? Who is not seen and heard of some? Who is not followed by some? All have some influence, though we are not, perhaps, sufficiently aware of our responsibility, or the use of it. Some speak carelessly before children and servants and neighbours, while the things they say at random may make impressions upon them that may never wear away. Alas! some word, some action, some gesture, some look of ours, years ago, may have given rise to some mistake which is now widely leading some of our fellow-creatures astray.<p>Oh! if we must be commentators, let us see that we are correct; let us see that we are not blotting; let us take especial care that we do nothing to induce people to err or sin. But how honourable was it for these Thessalonians! They were ensamples: to whom? &ldquo;To them that believe.&rdquo; Oh, it is easy to be ensamples to some! It is easy to have goodness enough to censure and condemn the grossly wicked; it is easy to have goodness enough to be considered righteous when compared with drunkards, and swearers, and thieves, and robbers; but these Thessalonians were ensamples to the good, to the godly, &ldquo;to them that believed,&rdquo;-yea, what is more, to all them that believed in Macedonia and Achaia; though it is very probable that many of these had been in the Lord before them, and had believed before them. There are many cases in which &ldquo;the first shall be last and the last shall be first.&rdquo;<p>There are those who set off in a religious course before others, and yet have been surpassed by those who followed after them; for alas! they relaxed in their vigilance or their zeal; they looked back instead of &ldquo;forgetting the things which were behind;&rdquo; they considered the work in them as already done, instead of praying, with David, &ldquo;Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me;&rdquo; or they were high-minded, instead of walking humbly with God,- and so God was provoked to leave them in a measure, and so they lost their unction and their vigour which once distinguished them, and suffered those who set off long after to pass them upon the road. For these others were more humble, more watchful, more diligent, more affected with a sense of the goodness of God towards them, more sensible that they had never done enough for him, and therefore they, after being &ldquo;followers,&rdquo; became &ldquo;ensamples&rdquo; to others, and &ldquo;to all that believed.&rdquo;<p>But how is this with us? The apostle reproaches the Hebrews, and says that for the time they ought to be teachers instead of learners; they had need that one should teach them what be the principles of the gospel of God; and, instead of being able to feed on strong meat, they were to be fed only with milk. Is not this the case with too many? Many are willing to take the lead in other things,-quite willing enough. Yes, to take the lead in cleverness of conversation, in knowledge, in wealth, in power, in authority,-here they have no objection to be leaders: but there is something better than all these, in which we should be concerned to take the lead. Oh that all were covetous!-that is, covetous of the unsearchable riches of Christ! Oh that all were ambitious!-that is, ambitious to obtain the honour that cometh from God only; ambitious not only to have the root of the matter, but for it to nourish; and that we might &ldquo;abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and the praise of God&rdquo;!<p>It is in such things as these that we should not wait, but take the lead, and induce others to follow us. 


devotion:
<i> Oh, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. - <a href='B:230 119:97'>Psa 119:97</a>. </i><p>DAVID, as we have already observed, here means by the &ldquo;law&rdquo; the Scriptures, or the word of God at large, including much less than we mean now by the word of God. He had only the five books of Moses, a few narratives, and a few of the prophets; but in addition to these we have all the prophets, we have the four evangelists, we have the Acts of the Apostles, we have the Epistles, and we have the Revelation of St. John. How, therefore, is our coast enlarged! and if David could say, &ldquo;I have rejoiced at thy word as one that findeth great spoil,&rdquo; what may we say? If he said, &ldquo;I have taken thy testimonies as my heritage forever,&rdquo; narrow and bounded as it was, what may we say of our heritage, expanded as it is? <p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis a brood land of wealth unknown, <p> Where springs of life arise; <p> Seeds of immortal bliss are sown, <p> And hidden treasure lies.&rdquo; </i><p>Observe, also, that there is enough to excite and justify the believer&rsquo;s greatest attachment to the Scriptures, because of the grand object and aim of the whole, from the beginning to the end. And what is this but to testify of the Saviour? It is this which makes the Christian so prize the book. He says,- <p>&ldquo;There my Redeemer&rsquo;s face I see, <p> And read his name who died for me.&rdquo; </i><p>There we can contemplate him in his person, relations, character, offices, influences, blessedness. &ldquo;Search the Scriptures,&rdquo; therefore, says the Saviour; &ldquo;for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.&rdquo; And then, how dear also, how delightful, are the histories of this book! and &ldquo;whatsoever things&rdquo; of this kind &ldquo;were written aforetime are written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.&rdquo; How delightful are the doctrines of this book!-the doctrine of God&rsquo;s everlasting and unchangeable love, of &ldquo;redemption by the blood of Christ,&rdquo; of justification by faith, of regeneration, not by baptism, but by the &ldquo;renewing of the Holy Ghost,&rdquo; of &ldquo;acceptance in the beloved,&rdquo; of the saints&rsquo; final perseverance, of the resurrection, and of eternal life. Then, how much there is to draw forth and justify our attachment to the promises of Scripture! &ldquo;These are exceedingly great and precious.&rdquo;<p>They are made to suit all our circumstances and exigencies; and then they are &ldquo;all yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us.&rdquo; So that when the Christian looks within him, and looks into the book, he finds something provided for all his evils, and for the removal of them. And if he looks forward and &ldquo;knows not what a day may bring forth,&rdquo; then he looks into the book and finds that &ldquo;all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that fear him;&rdquo; and that &ldquo;all things work together for good to them that love him;&rdquo; and that he has said, &ldquo;I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.&rdquo;<p>There is another thing which exceedingly attaches Christians to their Bibles; and that is, experience. In how many and in what various ways does this endear it to them! &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; says the Christian, &ldquo;how often have I quenched my thirst in a warm day, and in this weary land, at this spring of living waters! I have&rsquo; had many benumbings; but &lsquo;thy word hath quickened me.&rsquo; I have been exposed to many imminent perils; but &lsquo;by the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.&rsquo; Many a trial I have had personally and relatively, and often the greater part of my heart&rsquo;s bitterness has been known only to myself; but, &lsquo;unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.&rsquo;&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> This is love:-that we walk after his commandments. - <a href='B:700 1:6'>2Jn 1:6</a>. </i><p>HERE love is set forth as the principle of obedience. Obedience may arise from various motives:-from fear, from hope, reputation, recompense. But here we have Christian obedience, and this also we see proceeds from the principle of love. Let us consider the excellency of this principle.<p>First, Love, as the principle of obedience, renders it divinely acceptable. &ldquo;My son,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;give me thine heart.&rdquo; The Lord looketh at the heart, and where that is towards him he will pardon a thousand mistakes and infirmities, and say, &ldquo;It was well that it was in thine heart.&rdquo; &ldquo;Where there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not.&rdquo; Christ said of Mary, &ldquo;She hath done what she could.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, Love, as the principle of obedience, renders it delightful to ourselves. &ldquo;What are the most pleasing actions you ever performed?&rdquo; was a question once addressed to a man; who answered, &ldquo;The services I have performed for my friends.&rdquo; Jacob served for a wife: for a wife he kept sheep; for seven years he served, during which he had to endure the heat of the day and the cold of the night, and to bear all the casual losses of the flock and of the herd; and yet these seven years seemed to him only as so many days, for the love he bore to Rachel. It is this principle which reconciles the mother, and more than reconciles her, to numberless and nameless privations, attention, and self-denial, in rearing her infant charge. &ldquo;Love is strong as death: many waters cannot quench it, nor can the floods drown it.&rdquo; Religion made Paul a sufferer, but it did not deprive him of pleasure, because he was actuated by love to Him whom he served, and therefore, says he, &ldquo;I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo; And when Peter and John had been stripped and scourged ignominiously in the council, they withdrew, rejoicing &ldquo;that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.&rdquo; Christians are men wondered at; and perhaps nothing excites more surprise in the minds of the poor blinded people of the world, who have their portion in this life and think of nothing else, than to see their zeal and their ardour in a cause that confers on them no secular advantages. The fact is, they know the motion, but they are perfectly unacquainted with the mainspring that produces it. The love of Christ constraineth them to live, not unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them and rose again.<p>Once more, love, as the principle of obedience, renders it impartial. &ldquo;Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments.&rdquo; Nothing but love will ever produce this. Other considerations may induce persons to avoid some sins, especially those to which they have little constitutional tendency,-those to which they are but little tempted by any thing in their station or calling. But what is to make a man crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts? What is to enable a man to pluck out a right eye or cut off a right hand? &ldquo;What is to induce him to say, with Ephraim, &ldquo;What have I to do any more with idols?&rdquo;<p>Other things may induce a man to regard some duties, and especially those which are agreeable and easy,-those which will bring peace or profit; but it is love only that will throw down the will at the feet of Jesus, that will lead us to ask, &ldquo;Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He is altogether lovely. - <a href='B:260 5:16'>Son 5:16</a>. </i><p>THERE is only one Being in the universe to whom, for one moment, these words will apply. &ldquo;He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.&rdquo; &ldquo;He came to his own, but his own received him not;&rdquo; and he is still &ldquo;despised and rejected of men.&rdquo; But this is not universally the case; there are some blessed exceptions; there are some who know his name and put their trust in him, to whom he is fairer than the children of men, yea, &ldquo;he is altogether lovely.&rdquo; Peter says,&rdquo; To them that believe he is precious.&rdquo; With regard to these admirers we have two remarks to make.<p>First, We hope their number is increasing. We hope, by means of the instruction given to the rising generation, numbers of children will be heard in the temple, crying, &ldquo;Hosanna! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!&rdquo; We hope, by the endeavours made, that the poor will have &ldquo;the gospel preached to them.&rdquo; We hope, by the efforts put forth to translate the Scriptures and to send forth missionaries, that he will soon have &ldquo;the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession;&rdquo; that &ldquo;every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain;&rdquo; &ldquo;And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, Their attachment to him is well founded. The world, indeed, knoweth him not; they consider their religion as enthusiasm: but it is a &ldquo;reasonable service;&rdquo; they can give a reason of the hope that is in them; they know whom they have believed, and he is every way worthy of their blessing and praise. He is every thing with them, because he is every thing to them. He is their Rock and their Refuge, their sun and their shield, their righteousness and their strength, their only and all-sufficient resource in every time of need! And this is their testimony:-&ldquo; And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He that is spiritual. - <a href='B:530 2:15'>1Co 2:15</a>. </i><p>THE spiritual man is opposed to the natural man. A natural man means a man in his unregenerate state, under the power and influence of those principles and affections which are natural; a spiritual man is one who is renewed by the Spirit of God, the Author and Source of all real goodness and holiness. Hence we read of being &ldquo;born of the Spirit,&rdquo; of &ldquo;living in the Spirit,&rdquo; of &ldquo;walking in the Spirit,&rdquo; of &ldquo;being led by the Spirit,&rdquo; of &ldquo;praying in the Spirit,&rdquo; of being &ldquo;filled with the Spirit,&rdquo; of being &ldquo;strengthened by the Spirit,&rdquo; and &ldquo;bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.&rdquo; No wonder, therefore, they are called spiritual. From the Spirit of God they derive a character, and become themselves what they naturally were not. They have spiritual appetites; they &ldquo;hunger and thirst after righteousness.&rdquo;<p>Hence they hope and fear and mourn and rejoice accordingly. They have spiritual senses, as the apostle says, which are &ldquo;exercised to discern good and evil.&rdquo; They have spiritual eyes; they&rsquo; can see the Saviour-King on his throne, and the land that is very far off: they have spiritual ears; they know his voice: they have spiritual lips; they show forth his praise: they have spiritual taste; and therefore they can savour the things which be of God. But let us more particularly examine ourselves by the tests which are laid down in the Scriptures whereby we may ascertain whether we are of the number of &ldquo;the spiritual.&rdquo;<p>We may judge of our character by our thoughts. The thoughts are the first-born of the mind, and always resemble it: a spiritual man&rsquo;s thoughts cling and cluster round the cross as bees do around the hive, and for the same reason,-for there is the honey. &ldquo;How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!&rdquo; Not that all his thoughts are good; yet he can say, with David, &ldquo;I hate vain thoughts.&rdquo;<p>Then there are the desires: &ldquo;there be many who say, &ldquo;Who will show me any good?&rdquo; These seek happiness in the pleasures of sin, or in the things of time and sense only; but the spiritual man is saying, &ldquo;Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me;&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh, visit me with thy salvation, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation; that I may glory with thy inheritance,&rdquo; and with Paul, &ldquo;that I may win Christ, and be found in him;&rdquo; or with the church they are saying, &ldquo;Our desire is to thee, and to the remembrance of thy name.&rdquo;<p>Another test is gratitude. While a spiritual man overlooks none of God&rsquo;s mercies, he blesses him for his daily bread, but much more for the bread which cometh down from heaven,-for corporeal favours, but much more for spiritual blessings. He sings, with Watts,- <p>&ldquo;To thee we owe our wealth and friends, <p> And health, and safe abode: <p> Thanks to thy name for meaner things, <p> But they are not my God.&rdquo; </i><p>We may take another test from the use of creature possessions. The Christian regards all these as the purchase of his Saviour&rsquo;s blood. He finds a sacredness in them which the natural man knows not of, and enjoys them with a sense of special favour. And <p>&ldquo;How sweet our daily mercies prove <p> When they are season&rsquo;d by his love!&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Keep me from evil. - <a href='B:130 4:10'>1Ch 4:10</a>. </i><p>A MAN who utters this prayer must know that he is liable to fall into temptation and sin. He may neglect or he may restrain prayer before God: this is sin. He may trust in man, or make flesh his arm: and this is sin. He may fall into vice; indeed, there is nothing too vile for him to fall into, if left to himself. The believer is most sensible of his danger when he thinks of Satan, the adversary of his soul, who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is peculiarly sensible of it when he thinks of the world in which he lives, which is full of evil. What errors are there in it to deceive! what smiles to seduce! what frowns to menace! what examples to pervert! &ldquo;The whole world lieth in wickedness.&rdquo;<p>The Christian is also sensible of his danger when he thinks of himself; for, though there is a difference between him and others, and between himself formerly and now, and though there is a work begun in him, yet he is only sanctified in part. He knows there are internal traitors, holding correspondence with external enemies; therefore, having so much sin dwelling within him, he feels that he stands in jeopardy every hour. And there is nothing in which we may have any concern through the day which may not prove the occasion of our falling into sin: &ldquo;Yea, our table may become a snare;&rdquo; and the things ordained for our welfare may become &ldquo;a trap.&rdquo; Knowledge may puff up; liveliness and enlargement in duty may engender spiritual pride. Even Paul, with all his progress, was in danger of being elated by his manifestations, and therefore he says, &ldquo;Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me.&rdquo; No wonder, therefore, the Christian, knowing the character of his enemies, and sensible of his own weakness, should pray, with Jabez, &ldquo;Keep me from evil;&rdquo; or that our Lord should teach his disciples, when they pray, to say, &ldquo;Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;&rdquo; and in his own prayer for them to say, &ldquo;Keep them from the evil.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. - <a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>. </i><p>WAS God, then, disappointed? He was, and he was not. We must make a distinction. We must distinguish between disappointment in fact, and disappointment in right. As to disappointment in fact, God is never liable to it. His understanding is infinite; he sees the end from the beginning. But as to disappointment in right, observe, if a man expect a crop by sowing upon the sand of the sea, it would be very unreasonable; but not so if he manured and improved the soil, and gave it every kind of advantage and culture: he would have a right then to look for produce according to his expenditure and pains. So it is here, and therefore God may justly complain. He is denied his right. To the same purpose is the parable of our Saviour. He one day said, &ldquo;A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he, answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.&rdquo;<p>We are not told whether this intercession was successful; but we have every reason to believe that it was, and that the vine-dresser did not pray in vain, for the Father &ldquo;heard him always,&rdquo; and God is long-suffering, &ldquo;not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.&rdquo; Some years ago, a minister had in his garden a tree that never bore. One day he was going thither with the axe in his hand to fell it: his wife met him in the pathway, and pleaded for it, saying, &ldquo;Why, the spring is now very near; stay and see whether there may not be some change, and if not, you can deal with it accordingly.&rdquo; As he never repented following her advice, he yielded to it now: and what was the consequence? In a few weeks the tree was covered with blossoms, and in a few weeks more it was bending with fruit. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this should teach me; I will learn a lesson from hence, not to cut down too soon; that is, not to consider persons incorrigible or abandoned too soon, so as to give up hope, and the use of means and prayer in their behalf.&rdquo;<p>A member of the church at Broadmead, Bristol, had behaved very improperly, and when reproved was very perverse, and showed such a disposition that at the church meeting it was resolved to excommunicate him. The Sabbath before, Caleb Evans, the pastor, preached in the morning from the words, &ldquo;Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?&rdquo; and the man was there, and seemed hardened and resentful. But it so happened that a stranger was engaged to preach in the afternoon, and, without knowing what had occurred, he took the following words:-&ldquo;Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.&rdquo; The man was again present, but now his very heart was broken, and he wept bitterly, and went into the vestry, and confessed freely his guilt, and threw himself upon the mercy of the church, and they were satisfied with only suspending him for a season. Here we may see how the goodness of God leadeth to repentance. 


devotion:
<i> The Lord thy God in the midst of thee. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>THE name of the church is Jehovah-shammah,-the Lord is there. &ldquo;But will God in very deed dwell with men upon the earth?&rdquo; This was the language of Solomon at the dedication of the temple; and it was not the language of uncertainty and doubt, but of wonder and admiration. When we reflect upon God&rsquo;s greatness, his excellency and his holiness, and upon our meanness and vileness, we may well exclaim, with Solomon&rsquo;s father, &ldquo;Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?&rdquo; But is he not everywhere? &ldquo;Do I not fill heaven and earth?&rdquo; saith the Lord. &ldquo;Whither can we go from his Spirit, or flee from his presence?&rdquo; David recognises him as about his path, and as being acquainted with all his ways, and words, and thoughts. Yes, and we should remember that when his presence is spoken of in a way of promise and privilege it is to be always distinguished from the perfection of his nature or his omnipresence. It is his special and gracious presence which is then intended, in which sense he is said to be &ldquo;far from the wicked,&rdquo; but &ldquo;nigh unto all them that call upon his name, to all that call upon him in truth.&rdquo; Not as a mere observer and witness,-this is common to the wicked, as well as to themselves,-but as their Friend, their Helper, and their Saviour. &ldquo;The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.&rdquo;<p>Thus he is in the midst of the church universal; and thus he is in the midst of every assembly of his people; and thus he is in the midst of every individual believer, dwelling in his heart by faith. Thus he is in the midst of them, as the sun is in the midst of a garden, producing the fragrance, and the flowers, and the fruits; and in the midst of them as the soul is in the midst of the body, enlivening every member and penetrating every part. Upon this principle it was that Isaiah called upon the church to praise God:-&ldquo;Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.&rdquo; Hence their security and happiness:-&ldquo;God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.&rdquo;<p>Hence the great groundlessness of the believer&rsquo;s fears:-&ldquo;Fear not, for I am with thee;&rdquo; &ldquo;He is at thy right hand, and therefore thou shalt not be moved.&rdquo; The disciples in the storm imagined they were going to the bottom, and they repaired to the Saviour, saying, &ldquo;Master, carest thou not that we perish?&rdquo; What faithlessness! what folly! Was not he on board? If they sunk, he must sink too. His presence, therefore, was their security; and it is ours; and, &ldquo;because he lives, we shall live also.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. - <a href='B:570 2:4'>Phi 2:4</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;EVERY one for himself, and God for us all.&rdquo; Now, this is a pernicious maxim; and yet we are continually hearing it, and it contains the experience, it breathes the very soul of the philosophy, the morality, the religion, of thousands in this fallen, selfish world. But we are not to follow a multitude to do evil; we are to follow after righteousness, and things by which we may edify one another; to act from principle, and from Christian principle, too. And therefore our attention is directed to another maxim, and instead of saying, &ldquo;Every one for himself, and God for us all,&rdquo; we say, &ldquo;Every one for another, and God for us all.&rdquo;<p>This was the maxim of the inspired apostle; whence his address to the Corinthians:-&ldquo;Let no man seek his own, but every man another&rsquo;s wealth;&rdquo; and also the words before us:- &ldquo;Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.&rdquo; If a female were urged to be virtuous, or a man exhorted not to love money, or not to steal, it would probably be considered a charge, or, at least, an insinuation. But exhortation does not always imply censure or reflection; yea, it is not always an excitement to begin, but frequently an encouragement to persevere and to increase, in well-doing; for when a thing is lovely we always wish it to be more so, and we naturally desire that excellency of every kind may have &ldquo;free course and be glorified.&rdquo;<p>Hear the language of the apostle to the Thessalonians:-&ldquo;But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it towards all the brethren which are in Macedonia; but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.&rdquo; And to whom was the passage before us addressed? To the Philippians,-a church remarkably dear to the apostle, and whose members were preeminent for the qualifications here named. This is the only one of the apostle&rsquo;s epistles that contains nothing of blame; and never was there a people more disinterested than these Philippians.<p>Let us observe this one particular instance in their liberality towards the apostle himself:-&ldquo;Now, ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only.&rdquo; &ldquo;But I have all and abound; I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; These very people, these unselfish and generous souls, these are the people he admonishes in the words:-&ldquo;Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.&rdquo;<p>How is this to be understood? Why, he explains himself; we are not to look upon them exclusively or only. &ldquo;Look not every man on his own things, but every man also&rdquo; (this is the interpretation) &ldquo;on the things of others.&rdquo; It is much therefore like the second commandment:-&ldquo;Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.&rdquo; Our Lord, too, confirms the requisition:-&ldquo;All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets.&rdquo;<p>Self-preservation- including the promotion of our welfare, as well as the conservation of our being,-self-preservation has been called the first law of nature, and it is so; and if man were a solitary creature it would be the only law of nature. There would be no other for him to care for than his own dear self; but now, man is variously associated and related, and therefore he is made a social being, and consequently is required to be social. Therefore he is told that &ldquo;no man liveth to himself,&rdquo; and only a Cain will ask, &ldquo;Am I my brother&rsquo;s keeper?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. - <a href='B:570 2:4'>Phi 2:4</a>. </i><p>LET us inquire,-First, How are we to look on the things of others? In answer to this we would observe, we are not to look upon them inquisitively. We are not to pry into other people&rsquo;s history, their condition and circumstances, from mere curiosity, or vanity of mind, or in order to furnish materials for the tongue. If this be not absolute vice, it is a great vexation, and great impertinence; and it is found to prevail principally among women who have no families, and men who have no business, and all those who do nothing and have nothing to do; for, as Watts observes,- <p>&ldquo;Satan finds some mischief still <p> For idle hands to do.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;And,&rdquo; says Bishop Hall, &ldquo;our idle days are always the devil&rsquo;s busiest ones.&rdquo; Paul therefore says, speaking to the Thessalonians, &ldquo;We hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.&rdquo; If persons will conduct themselves uncivilly, if they will draw upon themselves reproach by meddling with the concerns of every one rather than their own, let them bear the consequences; but let it not be supposed that it is religion that makes them uncivil, but the want of it. Let them remember the language of the Apostle Peter: -&ldquo;Lot none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men&rsquo;s matters.&rdquo;<p>Again, we are not to look upon them enviously. &ldquo;Be not thou afraid,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his own soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.&rdquo; It is as if he should say, Envying others on account of the distinctions and acquisitions around you is not worthy of you. What is man the better for them? But, oh, what evil is there in that temper to the person himself! It is earthly, sensual, devilish. Milton describes Satan as looking on the happiness of Adam and Eve in Paradise, and then turning away with a malignant leer. What a wretched, cursed disposition is this, for a man to be uneasy because another is at his ease; to be miserable because another is happy, and to dislike him just in proportion as by his excellency and success he should love and rejoice in him! Yet this principle is so common, it is so powerful and subtle in its various workings, that Solomon says, &ldquo;Who can stand before envy?&rdquo;<p>We are not to look upon the things of others unconcernedly, but so as to feel for them, so as to have an interest in them by sympathy, so as to make them in a sense our own, so that if the subjects of them rejoice we may &ldquo;rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.&rdquo; Common sense tells us what must be the meaning of the apostle here; that when he says, &ldquo;Look on the things of others,&rdquo; he cannot mean with such a look as the priest and the Levite gave to the poor, wounded traveller, and then went to the other side; but he must mean such a look as that the eye should affect the heart; such a look as should awaken commiseration and produce corresponding emotions and exertions. 


devotion:
<i> Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. - <a href='B:610 6:8'>1Ti 6:8</a>. </i><p>HAPPINESS does not depend upon external things, but upon the principle and disposition of the mind, and therefore its acquisition is as possible to us, in our present condition, as in any imaginable one. If we make our observations of those who have risen from poverty to affluence, shall we find that they have advanced in contentment as they have increased in wealth or honour? They have gained by their ascent greater and more awful responsibility-more arduous duty-more anxious solicitude -more exposedness to temptation. But what have they gained in solid satisfaction, or in mental tranquillity? How often have they thought of the &ldquo;dangers that are past&rdquo; with regret? What says Solomon, after a thousand trials?-&ldquo;All is vanity and vexation of spirit.&rdquo;<p>The things of earth were never designed to satisfy us. God never intended his people should find happiness in any thing short of himself. In vain, therefore, do we &ldquo;seek the living among the dead.&rdquo; In every such pursuit we resemble children ascending hill after hill to catch the sky, which rests on none of them; or a number of patients who, by a change of posture, are seeking relief which can only come from an inward cure. We too frequently blame our position for what is wrong in ourselves, and forget that the ground of our discontent is not our wants, but our wishes. There is scarcely any condition so low but may satisfy our wants, and there is none so high as to satisfy our desires. If we live according to the laws of nature, reason, and religion, we shall never be poor; if we live according to those of fancy and opinion, we shall never be rich.<p>Let us, therefore, cultivate happiness within, not seeking it in a superior station, but in a contented mind, reducing our wishes rather than enlarging our means; making the most of present enjoyment and of actual possession, in distinction from future and imaginary. Let us learn with the apostle &ldquo;both how to be abased, and how to abound,&rdquo; in all our affairs confiding in the providence of our heavenly Father, as concerned in fixing the bounds of our habitation, and as engaged in making &ldquo;all things work together for our good.&rdquo; We should ever remember that &ldquo;this is not our rest;&rdquo; that we are only strangers and pilgrims upon earth; and that in a very little time it will be a matter of indifference to us whether we have been poor or rich, splendid or obscure.<p>A well-grounded hope of heaven will reconcile us to any privations we maybe called to bear upon earth; and, should we even walk in the midst of trouble, this will revive us, and we shall be enabled to say, &ldquo;I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. - <a href='B:530 2:15'>1Co 2:15</a>. </i><p>WE have here a distinction to exemplify:-&ldquo;Yet he himself is judged of no man.&rdquo; This distinction may not be so peculiar as at first it may appear. A person has acquired a certain art, and another, ignorant of that art, calls in question the other&rsquo;s proficiency in it; and he says, &ldquo;I am not to be judged by such as you.&rdquo; The higher and more peculiar the sphere in which any one moves, the more difficult must it be to judge him. How could Handel be judged of properly by a clown or a novice in the principles of music? It is always peculiarly difficult to judge a man morally and religiously, for we are ignorant of a thousand things which may lead to extenuate or condemn; therefore our Saviour says, &ldquo;Judge not,&rdquo; and afterwards applauds judgment:-&ldquo;Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.&rdquo;<p>But the spiritual man is absolutely inexplicable to the natural man. He is &ldquo;a new creature,&rdquo; and not, therefore, to be judged of by the old rules and principles. His &ldquo;life is hid with Christ in God.&rdquo; The Saviour says, &ldquo;To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, which no man knoweth save he who receiveth it.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.&rdquo; That is, he knows them, but they know not him. He has been in their condition, but they have not been in his. He is no stranger to their experience, but they are perfect strangers to his. He knows their language, but they do not understand his. No; the greater part of his religion must be secret and unobserved by the world. &ldquo;The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I am as a wonder unto many. - <a href='B:230 71:7'>Psa 71:7</a>. </i><p>WHAT the Psalmist here says concerning himself may be said by Christians now, for &ldquo;they are men wondered at.&rdquo; The men of the world wonder at the Christians&rsquo; preferences. They think it strange that they run not with them to the same excess of riot; that they can so readily dispense with those diversions and amusements which seem almost necessary to their very existence: but they know not what it is that has weaned them from it all, -that it is the discovery of something infinitely superior; otherwise they would not wonder that a man should leave the filthy puddle for the spring of living waters, or quit the dunghill to ascend a throne. Then they wonder that Christians should find such delight in the exercises of the Lord&rsquo;s day; that they should hail it as the day the best of all the seven, &ldquo;and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honourable,&rdquo; while they are saying, &ldquo;What a weariness it is! when will it be over?&rdquo; They know nothing of the spiritual taste Christians possess, nothing of their love to God; otherwise they would not wonder that they find such delight in approaching unto him, while they say, &ldquo;Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee.&rdquo;<p>Their expressions under affliction often perplex the people of the world. They see them in their patience possessing their souls, that while they moan they do not murmur. They see their afflictions, but they do not see their consolations; they see their various burdens, and often wonder they do not sink under them; but they know nothing of the everlasting arms underneath them; how that the &ldquo;eternal God is their refuge, and that he has made with them an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure,&rdquo; when he makes not other things to grow. They know not how they call upon him in a day of trouble, and that he &ldquo;strengthens them with strength in their souls, and that while in the world they have tribulation in him they have peace.&rdquo;<p>Their conduct is often equally puzzling to them. They wonder to see them following a course which is not likely to gain them worldly advantage, but which exposes them to endure reproach and self-denial. They know not the lever that moves them, and are unacquainted with the love of Christ, that sets all in motion: if they knew this, they would not wonder that it should constrain them to love him in return. Neither can they judge of the system of doctrine which they hold: the truths and promises seem in their view to lead to licentiousness; yet the believers of them lead the strictest of all lives, and their liberality is known unto all.<p>Thus it is that Christians perplex others and cause them to wonder. It is to their honour and their distinction that they are &ldquo;wonders unto many.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. - <a href='B:580 1:19'>Col 1:19</a>. </i><p>CONCERNING this fulness we may observe that it may be characterized as human, divine, and mediatorial. First, As human, the Saviour had in him a fulness of personal qualifications to prepare him for his work and office. Of these mention is made by the Prophet Isaiah:-&ldquo;And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.&rdquo; Thus the Spirit is given without measure unto him.<p>Secondly, As divine, he possessed the fulness of divine perfections. If there be any truth or meaning in the Bible, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, holiness, goodness, and truth are all attributes of him who was laid in a manger and who died on the cross, for &ldquo;in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;&rdquo; and indeed, unless he was divine as well as human, he could not have an all-sufficiency in his work to obtain eternal redemption for us,-of efficacy in his blood to wash away all our offences, and of power in his arm to succour and preserve us. But all this he possesses; and he will ultimately bring all his people to himself in glory, where they shall be filled with eternal satisfaction and enjoyment.<p>Thirdly, He possessed a fulness as mediator. He had a fulness of communicative grace. Paul said to the Galatians, &ldquo;Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.&rdquo; For we may observe that one design of the Saviour&rsquo;s sacrifice was to lodge the whole dispensation of the Spirit-in its miraculous gifts, in its ordinary operations, and in its enlightening, sanctifying, comforting, and sealing influences- in the hands of the Redeemer, and to annex the administration of it to his office forever. Therefore the apostle said to the Jews, &ldquo;Him being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.&rdquo; &ldquo;God hath exalted him at his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.&rdquo; &ldquo;He received gifts for men. even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.&rdquo; &ldquo;He ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.&rdquo;<p>Hence we may compare his fulness with the fulness of the saints, for there is a fulness ascribed even to them in the Scriptures. Stephen is said to be &ldquo;full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; Paul tells the Romans that they were &ldquo;filled with all knowledge and goodness;&rdquo; and he tells the Philippians that they were &ldquo;filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.&rdquo; But there is an immense difference between his fulness and their fulness. Their fulness is but as a lamp; while his fulness is a sun, always shining with undiminished rays. Their fulness is a vessel, while his is a fountain, always flowing and always full. They have some things in them good, while he has every thing in him that is excellent. All that is in them is defective; every thing in him is complete. They have only enough for themselves; he has enough for others and for all, enough for evermore. 


devotion:
<i> For it pleased the father that in him should all fulness dwell. - <a href='B:580 1:19'>Col 1:19</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the reasonableness of this appointment. &ldquo;It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.&rdquo; And what pleases him should always please us. We should always remember, though he acts as a Sovereign, and the reason of his proceedings may be &ldquo;far above, out of our sight,&rdquo; that he has reasons which are all satisfactory to him, and will be satisfactory to us when they are developed. Our Lord therefore says, in his intercessory prayer, &ldquo;I thank thee, O Father,&rdquo;-not because thou wilt, but-&ldquo;because it seemed good in thy sight.&rdquo; What seems good to us may be evil; but what seems good to God must be good, for &ldquo;his understanding is infinite.&rdquo; With regard to his dispensations, therefore, when we cannot walk by sight we should seek to walk by faith, knowing that he cannot do any thing but what is right. There are three reasons which may be assigned why it &ldquo;hath pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell.&rdquo;<p>First, To render it most secure. God trusted one man, but he will never trust another. He left Adam to his own standing; but he soon fell a victim to temptation, became a bankrupt, and ruined all his posterity. But the everlasting covenant made between himself and his Son is &ldquo;ordered in all things and sure;&rdquo; and we are &ldquo;blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.&rdquo; Thus all true believers in him are safe and secure:-&ldquo;they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of his hand.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, To render it more encouraging. &ldquo;Speak thou to us, and we will hear; let not God speak to us, lest we die,&rdquo; said the Jews to Moses, when they were filled with terror at the display of God&rsquo;s majesty. When we consider God&rsquo;s greatness and his purity, we feel our need of a mediator between us and him; but we do not need a mediator between us and Christ; and it is well we do not. &ldquo;We may come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.&rdquo; We may come to him just as we are,-ungodly to be justified, unholy to be sanctified, and impoverished to be enriched. And what a pleasing consideration is it that in all the concerns of religion we have immediately to do with Him <p>&ldquo;Whose heart is made of tenderness, <p> Whose bowels melt with love&rdquo;! </i><p>Then, thirdly, &ldquo;It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell,&rdquo; to render it most beneficial. Thus is established an important intercourse between him and us. This state of things brings us continually to him. If we have any trial to bear, any duty to discharge, or any enemy to conquer, we must always away to him. Now, of what importance is this! Take a child that cannot sustain itself: is he then abandoned? No; he is provided for, and provision is made for him in the bosom of one who will always give him a welcome and frequently invite his access; and so the mutual action of giving and receiving endears the mother to the child, and the child to the mother. Just so, in consequence of this economy, there is communion between Christ and his people; and this communion is infinitely honourable to him and beneficial to them. 


devotion:
<i> Look to yourselves. - <a href='B:700 1:8'>2Jn 1:8</a>. </i><p>REASON and Scripture combine to enforce upon us self-attention; and therefore we may observe, First, That we may and ought to look upon our own things as to the soul. To see that it be pardoned and renewed, that we have a title to heaven, a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, that we are fed with the bread of life and clothed with the garments of salvation. Here, indeed, our care should be supreme.<p>Secondly, We may and ought to look on our own things as to our bodily health; to maintain a rational care of it in the use of proper means: for health is a most invaluable blessing; it is the salt that seasons and the honey that sweetens every other enjoyment. It is to be valued, not only on the ground of enjoyment, (for what would affluence be without health?) but also on the score of usefulness. How many of the duties of life and religion must be either improperly discharged or entirely abandoned, if the poor frame be disordered, and if, like Job, it be made to possess &ldquo;months of vanity&rdquo;! The apostle therefore tells us that life is a part of the Christian&rsquo;s treasure. &ldquo;Life,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;is yours,&rdquo; and the saints on earth possess one privilege above the saints in heaven; they who are glorified have lost all their opportunities of doing good; they cannot exercise candour towards those who differ from them, they cannot forgive injuries, they cannot relieve distress, they cannot instruct the ignorant, they cannot convert the vicious. &ldquo;The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, We are required to be regardful of our reputation. &ldquo;A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.&rdquo; The man who makes free with his reputation not only sacrifices his comfort but his usefulness. Character is credit; it gives weight to a man&rsquo;s counsel and advice; and, as professors of religion, we should never give place to the maxim, &ldquo;Oh, I care not what people say of me.&rdquo; We ought to care what people say of us: our religion is involved in it; the way of truth may be evil spoken of; the worthy name by which we are called may be blasphemed; we may prove stumbling-blocks to the weak and distress the strong; we may discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of God&rsquo;s ministers. A Christian is like a female: he is not only to maintain purity, but delicacy; like her, so is he; to be suspected is almost as bad as to be convicted; and in both of them carelessness is a crime. Hence, says the apostle, &ldquo;Avoid the appearance of evil.&rdquo; Neither may we be careless as to the welfare, of our families. In regard to this, it may be enough to repeat the language of the apostle:-&ldquo;He that provideth not for his own, and specially those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.&rdquo;<p>We therefore only remark, further, that in their secular concerns Christians may look upon their own things. They are, indeed, required to abide with God in their callings; but the God in whom they abide will never make them unprincipled, and imprudent, and foolish, and slothful in their worldly matters. &ldquo;Mind thy business,&rdquo; says Franklin, &ldquo;and thy business will mind thee.&rdquo; The apostle, in addressing the Romans, calls upon them to be &ldquo;fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,&rdquo; and yet, says he, &ldquo;not slothful in business.&rdquo; Paul would have a tradesman a morning-man; he would have him punctual, regular, obliging, active, intelligent. Why should the children of this world be wiser in their generation than the children of light? &ldquo;If a Christian man,&rdquo; says Newton, &ldquo;be a tradesman, I would have him be the cleverest tradesman in the nation. Yea,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;if he be only a blacker of shoes, I would have him to be the best in the whole parish.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? - <a href='B:120 5:13'>2Ki 5:13</a>. </i><p>WHEN Elisha, in answer to the application of Naaman, said to him, &ldquo;Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thou shalt be clean,&rdquo; Naaman was wroth, and. went away in a rage; and so he nearly missed his cure. And there are many Naamans still living, who when they begin to think of religion, or to ask, &ldquo;What must I do to be saved?&rdquo; turn away from the simplicity of God&rsquo;s provision and appointments, and think that some devices of their own are superior. Some have even contended for their own innocence; not, indeed, that they are absolutely innocent,-this they know it is impossible to prove, for &ldquo;all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,&rdquo;-but they are, in their own esteem, partially and comparatively innocent. If their lives have been bad, &ldquo;their hearts have been good; if they are not saved, what is to become of others?&rdquo; Thus the Pharisee stood and prayed with himself:-&ldquo;God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, adulterers, or even as this publican.&rdquo;<p>There are others, whose hopes are made up of outward reformation, external formalities, alms-deeds, penances, and mortifications. These are what they call good works, and upon which they depend; in regard to which it may be observed, that many of these are not good in themselves, not enjoined in Scripture, and not acceptable to God,-because they flow not from faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. And even those which are really good, instead of being a part of the building, they are made the foundation, and therefore to be condemned, for the apostle says, &ldquo;Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.&rdquo; These, when placed as the ground of our hope, and when put in the room of Christ, become abominable in the sight of God, seeing they are subversive of the whole scheme of the gospel. &ldquo;They frustrate the grace of God,&rdquo; and &ldquo;make Christ to have died in vain.&rdquo;<p>There are also some who are trusting for salvation to the absolute mercy and goodness of God; but all we know of the mercy of God is through the Mediator. We acknowledge the greatness and the freeness of God&rsquo;s mercy, and that it is the source of our salvation; but the question is not as to the origin of our salvation, but as to the method and the medium of it. The question here is, First, Whether God has a right to determine the way in which he shall exercise his mercy towards the guilty, as we can have no claim upon him. Secondly, Whether he is not the only infallible judge of what regards his own glory and our welfare; and whether he, having so determined, has revealed his determination. Of this we are assured again and again:-that he will have mercy on sinners only through the merits of his Son Jesus Christ.<p>Nothing therefore but ignorance and pride can lead any to oppose this determination; nor can any thing but ruin and wretchedness be the result, seeing he has revealed the fact that there is salvation in none other,-that &ldquo;there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. <a href='B:470 5:11'>Mat 5:11</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;THE world knoweth us not,&rdquo; says the Apostle John: and this accounts for the mistaken opinions and divers misrepresentations of Christians by the men of the world. And yet they are very free in speaking of them; for we always find some ready to speak of things of which they know nothing. Hence our Lord here forewarns his disciples of being evil spoken of, assuring them that, though men will say all manner of evil of them, if it be falsely spoken they may be comforted under the slanderous imputations by the consciousness of the falsehood of the charges alleged against them. The people of the world will magnify their infirmities into faults; they will take the miscarriages of a few and impute them to the whole community; and when they cannot find any thing whereof to accuse them, they will go a motive-hunting, and, shrugging their shoulders, will say, &ldquo;Ah! they are no better than others behind the scenes. If you knew them, you would find their holiness hypocrisy, and their zeal selfishness.&rdquo; But we must not complain nor murmur, but remember these words of the Lord Jesus; let us learn from these to be indifferent as to the judgment of the world. &ldquo;With me,&rdquo; says the apostle, &ldquo;it is a very small thing to be judged of by you or of man&rsquo;s judgment.&rdquo;<p>We may respect natural men for their conduct and kindness, and be willing to sit at their feet to learn other things of them; but we shall not think of being judged by them as regards those things which are peculiarly our own. But is there nothing of which the world may judge us? Yes; many things. They may judge of our talents, and may be able truly to say, You &ldquo;think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.&rdquo; They may judge of something with regard to our conduct, and of our convictions, as professors of religion. &ldquo;What do ye more than others?&rdquo; they may ask; and they have a right to ask this of Christians, because they profess more than others. They can also judge, though not of the feelings and experience of Christians, yet of their moral and practical effects. Christians should therefore seek to abound in all the fruits of righteousness, and to &ldquo;adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.&rdquo;<p>Therefore, says the apostle, &ldquo;Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. - <a href='B:570 2:5'>Phi 2:5</a>. </i><p>TO induce Christians to seek each others&rsquo; welfare, the apostle brings forward the example of Christ; and we know that it is far preferable to address a Christian&rsquo;s hope than his fear, and to address his love even rather than his hope, because the Scriptures tell us that &ldquo;whatsoever we do in word or in deed, we are to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.&rdquo; Our motives, therefore, and our practice, must be Christian and evangelical; and hence, says the apostle to the Philippians, &ldquo;Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.&rdquo; We had no claims upon him; we were unworthy of the least of all his mercies, ill-deserving, hell-deserving creatures, and must have perished forever. <p>&ldquo;With pitying eyes, tho Prince of grace <p> Beheld our h`elpless grief; <p> He saw, and-oh, amazing love!- <p> He ran to our relief.&rdquo; </i><p>And what did his interposition cost him? He made peace, but it was by the blood of his cross; he redeemed us from the curse of the law, but it was by being made a curse for us; he obtained eternal redemption for us, but he gave his life a ransom. Therefore, if any are selfish, let them remember, &ldquo;If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.&rdquo;<p>But alas! what cause is there for reproof; for, saith the apostle, &ldquo;All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ&rsquo;s.&rdquo; How few persons are there to be found who are concerned to obtain the approving sentence which the Saviour pronounced on Mary,-&ldquo;She hath done what she could&rdquo;! And is there not here also a call for prayer? Prayer for what? Prayer for pardon as to the past, (and there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared,) and prayer for grace as to the future, that we may be enabled more to exemplify our principles, and to &ldquo;adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,&rdquo; and that his grace may be sufficient for us.<p>Surely there is also need, lastly, for amendment. Let us begin by having regard to the spiritual concerns of others. What an important thing it is to turn a sinner from the error of his ways, to save a soul from death, to hide a multitude of sins, to create an ecstasy in heaven! for &ldquo;there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner that repenteth.&rdquo; Who would not deem himself infinitely honoured, feel himself infinitely delighted, to be thus employed? Nor let us overlook their temporal concerns, but be as tender of their reputation as we are of our own. Let us, instead of encouraging scandal, always crush it.<p>And so again as to their outward necessities, let us remember, &ldquo;Whoso hath this world&rsquo;s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Let a man examine himself. - <a href='B:530 11:28'>1Co 11:28</a>. </i><p>IN addition to the tests brought forward in a previous meditation, by which it can be ascertained whether we belong to the number of those who are spiritual, we may mention that one test of spirituality is to be derived from our associations. We mean, of course, voluntary association, for this only shows the disposition. It is said of Peter and John, that &ldquo;being let go they went to their own company.&rdquo; While here we must have to do with the world; otherwise, as the apostle says, we must needs go out of it. We must to some extent be connected with the world, in managing our secular affairs, and in our endeavours to be useful to others. The spiritual man has intercourse with the men of the world, not because of the pleasure of their company, but because his duty lies there; but take such a man when he is entirely free, and when he can act from choice: then he says, with David, &ldquo;I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that love thy name.&rdquo; He regards these as the excellent of the earth, in whom is all his delight.<p>Another test of spirituality of character is conversation. Spiritual discourse to a natural man is always unwelcome and even irksome. He strives, therefore, as soon as possible, to introduce those things which are more congenial to his worldly mind. But it is otherwise with the spiritual man: he encourages it; it falls in with his disposition; he is at home in it; he feels it to be his element; he answers to the prediction, &ldquo;They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness;&rdquo; &ldquo;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; It is said of Archbishop Usher, that he never would leave a company without saying, &ldquo;Let us not separate without a word for Christ.&rdquo; Thus our Saviour says, &ldquo;A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.&rdquo;<p>And lastly, we observe that a test of spirituality may be derived from our devotional exercises. The spiritual man worships God in spirit and in truth; not that he is always in a heavenly frame when engaged in religious exercises. This, however, is his aim, and he is disappointed and grieved when he is unable to realize this. Therefore it is that he so often complains and prays, with David, &ldquo;My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word.&rdquo; Whereas others draw near to God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him; they never think of God or eternity when going to the sanctuary, never seek the Lord&rsquo;s presence and blessing before they go there, and never inquire when they withdraw whether the end of their attendance upon the means of grace be answered. Alas! how many there are who never thus inquire if they have derived any spiritual advantage, but are satisfied with bodily exercise, which profiteth nothing, and with &ldquo;the form of godliness&rdquo; without the power thereof! 


devotion:
<i> The great trumpet shall be blown. - <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>. </i><p>HERE let us contemplate the grandeur of the gospel. &ldquo;The great trumpet:&rdquo; it is elsewhere called a &ldquo;great light,&rdquo; a &ldquo;great salvation.&rdquo; &ldquo;How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord?&rdquo; It is called the &ldquo;glorious gospel.&rdquo; There is a grandeur in the gospel of God, which soars far beyond all finite excellency and conception. The period of its introduction is called &ldquo;the fulness of time.&rdquo; All things from the beginning of the world were designed to prepare the way for it: as the period approached, God said, &ldquo;Yet, once it is a little while, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.&rdquo;<p>The gospel regards immediately the soul and eternity,-the only two things in the world which men despise and neglect. The gospel abounds with exceeding great and precious promises; it unfolds blessings that are incomprehensible in their nature and excellency; for &ldquo;eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.&rdquo; The apostle does not refer here to the treasures of glory, but to the provisions of the gospel; for he adds, &ldquo;But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.&rdquo; Every thing compared with the gospel is trifling and mean.<p>True, the world often allures, but it is in the absence of thought; its power over us is derived from delusion. As soon as we can reflect, as soon as we enter into solitude, and when we are on the borders of the grave, oh, how the world diminishes and disappears! How amazed we are that it should ever acquire such influence over us! How surprised at the exertions, the sacrifices, we have made to carry any of its points! But now the gospel rises to an inconceivable value; it appears to our minds as the one thing needful. When a man is awakened and enlightened from above, all else falls in his esteem. Then the cry is not, &ldquo;What shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal shall I be clothed?&rdquo; but, &ldquo;What shall I do to be saved?&rdquo; How shall I bow myself before the most high God? How shall I obtain justification unto life? How shall I obtain a title to heaven, and a meetness for it? No wonder the apostle calls this &ldquo;the wisdom of God in a mystery.&rdquo; Here we contemplate God as a God of love; here we see the greatness of his mighty power; here we see the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us; here he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; here we behold the image of the invisible God; here we see why Paul rejoiced in it, as being the &ldquo;power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.&rdquo; The Romans, to whom he addressed these words, delighted in power; and he extols the power of the gospel.<p>To use the beautiful amplification of these words by Dr. Watts, it is as if he had said, &ldquo;I am not ashamed to believe it as a man; I am not ashamed to profess it as a Christian; I am not ashamed to preach it as a minister; I am not ashamed to publish it as an apostle; I am not ashamed to die for it as a martyr.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> They shall come to worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. - <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the effect of the gospel&rsquo;s influence. &ldquo;We ever find this personal and public dedication to God in connection with the spread and influence of the gospel. &ldquo;All the ends of the world,&rdquo; says the prophet, &ldquo;shall hear, and shall turn unto God; all nations whom thou hast made shall come unto thee, and worship thee, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same; in every place men shall offer incense and a pure offering.&rdquo; By the &ldquo;holy mount&rdquo; here is meant the church of God. And in this mount all who partake of gospel grace come to worship. Believers thus habitually worship God in the shop, in the warehouse, in the field; for <p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;er they seek him, he is found; <p> And every place is hallow&rsquo;d ground.&rdquo; </i><p>They do so in private. This Christ has enjoined:-&ldquo;Enter into thy closet, and shut thy door about thee, and pray to thy Father which is in secret.&rdquo; He himself was the grand example of devotion, for we find him rising a great while before day for this purpose. How amazing is this! we should have been ready to think he had less need of devotional retirement than we have! Oh, when we have business with One who alone can help us, let us seek him and look to him only, saying,- <p>&ldquo;Be earth with all her scenes withdrawn; <p> Let noise and vanity begone; <p> In secret silence of the mind, <p> My heaven, and there my God, I find.&rdquo; </i><p>All these worship God in their families too. Like Joshua, they determine that they and their households shall serve the Lord. A most dreadful curse is annexed to this duty. Matthew Henry has remarked that &ldquo;a house without prayer is like a house without a roof.&rdquo; And who could live in such an exposed place? Oh, how many children, how many servants, may be blessed by this practice! What a source of checks would it present to the head of the family! Can family quarrels abide with family devotions? When God calls us, and bestows so many blessings upon us, we ought surely to worship him. In the sanctuary, also, each convert will say, &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;<p>It is by domestic and public worship that the cause of religion is maintained in a country or in a neighbourhood. The careless, the idle, the curious, are attracted from no good motive perhaps at the first; but God meets them, and he is glorified in their salvation. The sanctuary is always open as an asylum into which the children of sorrow may enter and find relief. There sits a poor disconsolate widow; her little one stands by her knee; she wipes away her tears with a corner of her apron. Let her alone: her soul is troubled within her; she has turned in to hear that &ldquo;a Father to the fatherless, and a Judge to the widow, is God in his holy habitation.&rdquo;<p>How valuable is public worship too, as it checks the excessive distinctions of life! Here all are reminded of their original and final equality. The monarch remembers that he is a subject of the King of kings, and falls down, before the Lord his Maker; the judge kneels down by the side of the criminal, and says, &ldquo;Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Let the heart, of them rejoice that seek the Lord. - <a href='B:230 105:3'>Psa 105:3</a>. </i><p>HAPPINESS is a thing to which none are indifferent. All persons profess to be seeking it, contriving in one way or another to acquire something in which they may rejoice; but only the Christian is in possession of the important secret. The Christian&rsquo;s joy alone is worthy the name. This joy is full, permanent, and pure; and it is to be found only in the Lord, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is the &ldquo;hidden manna,&rdquo; the &ldquo;bread of heaven,&rdquo; &ldquo;angels&rsquo; food,&rdquo;-yea, more: for <p>&ldquo;Never did angels taste above <p> Redeeming grace and dying love.&rdquo; </i><p>This joy is indispensable. What can we do without this joy? It will cheer us in adversity, and give additional zest to the enjoyments which prosperity provides; it will lend an additional charm to the smiles of youth, while it will strengthen and sustain us in the decays, privations, and depressions of age; and it will shed its halo upon the dreariness of solitude and the loneliness of death. Seeing then, however successful, however indulged, however amused, the human heart feels a void within which only this joy can fill, a craving which this alone can relieve, a restlessness which this alone can allay and soothe, let us seek to possess it; and, blessed be God, it is attainable.<p>The Saviour addresses himself to the disconsolate of every grade, and, from whatever cause their dissatisfaction and disquietude may spring, he says, &ldquo;Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.&rdquo; Let us therefore be looking unto Jesus, the &ldquo;Consolation of Israel.&rdquo; In him we may have peace; but if we would be filled with all joy and peace in believing, we must live near him, and walk closely with him and circumspectly before him; for we must not forget that though all the consolations of the Bible are derived from free grace, they are insured only in a course of obedience. 


devotion:
<i> I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe. - <a href='B:500 11:15'>Joh 11:15</a>. </i><p>THE sufferings of some are designed for the good of others. Here Jesus stays away from the sick Lazarus, and from his sorrowing relatives. At length the sweat of death bedews his brow and he expires! The sisters are filled with anguish; the servants are sobbing over the loss of one of the best of masters! Here is a scene of distress and wretchedness! And all this is not for the benefit of the individual, but for the advantage of the disciples of Christ. &ldquo;I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.&rdquo; And this has a connection with Christian experience. As Christians suffer in various ways, so they suffer for various ends. Sometimes they are afflicted by way of correction. This is the law of the house:-&ldquo;If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my statutes, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.&rdquo;<p>Sometimes they suffer by way of prevention. Prevention is better than cure. Thus, Paul &ldquo;had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him,&rdquo; not because he was proud, but &ldquo;lest he should be exalted above measure.&rdquo; He was not aware that he was becoming inflated; but the Lord saw and prevented that. Sometimes by way of probation. Hence afflictions are called trials, because they are a test to ourselves and others: they show the real state of grace and corruption. Sometimes they are for usefulness to ourselves and others. Ezekiel was forbidden to weep when the desire of his eyes was taken from him; not on his own account, but that he might be &ldquo;a sign.&rdquo; So it is with ministers. They are often poor, that they may sympathize; they are afflicted, that they may have &ldquo;the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to them that are weary.&rdquo;<p>Thus Christians suffer for others. What is it we most admire in them? Is it their dress, their wealth, their equipage, their abilities? No; but we admire the social feeling; the heart that is tender; the eye into which the tear suddenly starts; the ear that is chained by the tale of distress; the hand that slides into the pocket before it is aware; the feet that lead them to visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction. And where do we learn these fine feelings? In the house of affliction. &ldquo;Be kind to strangers,&rdquo; said God to the Jews, &ldquo;for ye know the heart of a stranger.&rdquo; We naturally weep with those that weep, when we have felt what they have felt. We never pass by him that says, &ldquo;Have pity on me, O my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me!&rdquo;<p>Christians ought never to glorify God more than when they are in the fires. God, by placing his people in trials, designs to show the tendency of the gospel and the excellency of his grace. Nothing strikes like facts. &ldquo;I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.&rdquo; By nothing may we be more useful than by the exercise of the passive graces.<p>Christians are called to be useful, and, while they suffer according to the will of God, they comfort the feeble-minded, while, by the grace of God which they display, the inhabitants of Zion may praise God afresh for them:-&ldquo;For we are a spectacle to angels and to men.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Of his fulness have all we received. - <a href='B:500 1:16'>Joh 1:16</a>. </i><p>WE may observe the reception here acknowledged. We are all naturally destitute; what the apostle said of himself-&ldquo;In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing&rdquo;-will apply to all naturally. The fall left us without strength,-without righteousness, wisdom, peace, and joy. We are all in ourselves as so many cells of emptiness, and neither creatures nor angels can fill us. We can say, with Newton,- <p>&ldquo;The help of men and angels join&rsquo;d <p> Can never reach my case; <p> Nor can I hope relief to find <p> But from thy boundless grace.&rdquo; </i><p>First, let us particularly observe that there is, according to this language, a real communication from him to us. There are some religious professors who say, &ldquo;We are for everything in Christ.&rdquo; So are we too; but here is the difference:-they are for every thing in Christ to remain there, while they remain the same in themselves: but the true believer is seeking every thing in him as the source, for we must receive from him in order that we may be made new creatures; and from him we receive wisdom to guide us, strength to aid us, and peace to tranquillize us, according to the promise of the Saviour:-&ldquo;The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life;&rdquo; and according to the promise of the new covenant:-&ldquo; Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.&rdquo; The tree conveys its prolific juices into the branches. What branches? Those branches in it, and no other. And, says the Saviour, &ldquo;I am the vine, ye are the branches. Pie that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me- that is, separate from me-ye can do nothing.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, We may observe the extensiveness of it. &ldquo;All we have received.&rdquo; It is the language of all the people of God in every age and country, and under whatever dispensation they may be found. There has been only one fountain of living waters; therefore all who have been supplied were supplied from that fountain. It was here that Abraham drank, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the noble army of martyrs. The dying thief drank of it too; all the illustrious characters on the brow of the hill, and all the inferior ones at its side and in the vale; all these, if they were collected together, would bear their united testimony to him. Well, this will be the case by-and-by, &ldquo;when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.&rdquo; In that day each will say, &ldquo;I was blind, and he opened my eyes; I was dead, and he quickened me to life; I was a slave, and he redeemed me by his precious blood;&rdquo; and though ten thousand times ten thousand will unite in the song and swell the chorus, there will not be one discordant note, but each and all will say, &ldquo;Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory forever and ever.&rdquo;<p>But, though all receive from his fulness, all do not receive equally. Even the good ground yielded some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold. All Christians are trees of righteousness, but all are not of the same size. How tall some of these trees are! What a space they occupy! What a shadow they stretch around them! and how the birds lodge in the branches thereof! But others are shrubs; yet they too are in the garden of the Lord.<p>What a difference we see between the centurion who was satisfied with the Saviour&rsquo;s word, and poor Thomas, who could believe no further than he could see and hear! What a difference between Abraham and his nephew Lot! and yet Lot is called &ldquo;just Lot&rdquo; too. 


devotion:
<i> Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. - <a href='B:500 1:16'>Joh 1:16</a>. </i><p>OBSERVE here the peculiarity of this reception:-&ldquo;and grace for grace.&rdquo; No expression perhaps has given rise to a greater variety of opinion than this. It would only be wasting our time and perplexing our minds to regard all the readings given. But we may observe several things. First, Correspondence. &ldquo;Grace for grace&rdquo; means grace in us for grace in him, for there is a resemblance. As in wax the impression left by the seal corresponds with itself, so it is here. He is called &ldquo;the light of the world,&rdquo; and his people are called &ldquo;the lights of the world.&rdquo; He is the Son of God, and they are called &ldquo;sons of God.&rdquo; What is this but to intimate that they are of one mind with him? and &ldquo;if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.&rdquo; The expression also includes substitution. Thus &ldquo;grace for grace&rdquo; means grace of one kind for grace of another, the grace of one dispensation for the grace of another.<p>There was grace under the law, but that was mixed with severity and shadows: they received the first-fruits, we have the harvest; they had a few drops, we have the whole shower; thus we have grace for grace,-the grace of reality for the grace of types,- the grace of substance for the grace of shadows.<p>And this substitution may be exemplified, not only as to dispensation, but also to exchange. Take Paul for an example. Paul prayed for deliverance from the thorn in the flesh. This was denied; but God assured him that his grace was sufficient for him. Here was &ldquo;grace for grace.&rdquo; The grace of consolation for the grace of deliverance,-the grace of support instead of exemption. Christians pray that their trials may be diminished; but instead of this their strength is increased, while their trials remain.<p>The expression includes variety. &ldquo;Grace for grace&rdquo; means, not grace of one kind only, but grace of all kinds. Believers are not only pardoned, but sanctified; and in vain would they receive the remission of sins, if left without renovation. Without this we could not have been happy nor able to serve God and hold communion with him. Hence it would be vain to have the grace of knowledge without the grace of obedience, since, says St. Paul, &ldquo;If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.&rdquo; Suppose after we have travelled far in the way we should perish near home: we need therefore not only the grace of commencement, but the grace of perseverance; and he giveth more grace. Where he hath begun the good work, he will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ.<p>Also, It means abundance. &ldquo;Grace for grace&rdquo; means much grace, or, as it is said in the beginning of the Acts, &ldquo;Great grace was upon them all.&rdquo; Christians not only have strength, but they &ldquo;wax stronger and stronger;&rdquo; they are not only renewed, but are &ldquo;renewed from day to day.&rdquo; Here we have one degree of grace for another, a higher for a lower, an enlarged degree of grace for a more contracted degree. 


devotion:
<i> 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&rsquo;s expression here is the most wonderful thing in the world. Naturally, he was the most unlikely being upon earth to have used such language as this. Consider his education, his prejudices, his abhorrence of the Saviour, and his violence towards all who called on his name. We here see the specialty of the religion of Christ,-namely, that it brings confidence entirely free from all presumption. While others are floundering about in the mud and in the mire, the Christian is fixed upon a rock, and his goings are established, &ldquo;and he has a song put into his mouth.&rdquo;<p>He has not to stand on surmisings and conjecturings. A Christian has nothing to do with probabilities and with mere opinions. Do you think he should ever say, &ldquo;In my opinion, Jesus Christ is more than human; in my opinion, he died for our sins and rose again for our justification&rdquo;? Opinion! I stand upon the firmest foundation; I feel the most convincing assurance my sentiments are principles, my principles are facts, and nothing less. I know that my faith is not folly. &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; says the Christian, &ldquo;my hope is no delusion; I know that my privileges are not fancies nor visions.&rdquo;<p>Then, What think we of Christ? How does he appear to us now, viewed through the experience of the apostle? Can we think that Paul would have intrusted all this to one that he viewed as a mere man, a mere creature? Could the Saviour have received it, and was he able to take the charge of it securely forever? Why, when Providence puts into the arms of parents a single child, and says, &ldquo;Take this child and nurse it for me,&rdquo; their hearts sometimes tremble under it; and when a minister takes the charge of a single congregation, though it may be limited in number, how often is he ready to exclaim, &ldquo;Who is sufficient for these things?&rdquo; But we should remember that what Paul here did, all believers do, from the beginning to the end of the world. Millions and millions have committed themselves to the Saviour to be redeemed, to be justified, to be sanctified, to be comforted, to be kept. And can we think that a mere man, a mere creature, could undertake such an office? or, if he undertook it, would he be able adequately to accomplish it? I would not commit my soul or my body,-! would not trust the preservation of one of the limbs of the one, or the powers of the other, to be taken care of and blessed forever, to any man on earth, or to any angel in heaven.<p>Once more, let us commit our inferior concerns to him, since we have committed our higher ones. Surely he who has so ably conducted the greater is also entitled to manage the less; he will not indeed indulge all our wishes, but he stands engaged to supply all our wants. &ldquo;Thy bread shall be given thee,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;and thy water shall be sure.&rdquo; There is no one thing that restrains the promise which he has made to us, but the goodness of the subject; for he has said, &ldquo;No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.&rdquo; Well, let us then trust our family, our business, our reputation, our health, our few remaining days, to him. Let us trust him for time, since we have trusted him for eternity. Oh, that one great act of confidence, when we surrendered up our eternal all into his hands,-oh, should not that have freed us from our other anxieties? so that we should have been able to say, with Dr. Watts,- <p>&ldquo;Our cares,-we give you to the wind, <p> And shake you off like dust: <p> Well may we trust our all with him <p> With whom our souls we trust.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> And I 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 believer&rsquo;s satisfaction commences here; and we cannot help remarking how frequently this is peculiarly experienced and expressed in the dying hours of believers. At this season they need this assurance, and there is much then to encourage it,- much more, we mean, than even before. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; says the Christian, &ldquo;he has performed already much of his trusteeship, and with regard to the future I can now rely upon him with more confidence. I have often said, &lsquo;I shall one day perish,&rsquo; but, &lsquo;having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day.&rsquo; Oh, how much has he done already in the discharge of the office which he undertook! and now I cannot doubt with regard to the remainder of it. I can now venture, or rather it is no venture now, for &lsquo;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.&rsquo;&rdquo;<p>We may consider this as the language of Paul&rsquo;s dying experience. For he was now a prisoner, and he had every reason to expect death soon. His situation was so contemptible, and so perilous, that many of his former friends were ashamed to own him. Some censured him for his obstinacy in persevering; some were ready to say, &ldquo;What profit is there in this melancholy life of yours that you are leading, and that must soon terminate in an ignominious end? Where, Paul, is the blessedness you speak of?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh, as to my blessedness, that is secure: I am now a suffering man, and shall soon be a dead one; 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.&rdquo; I am satisfied as to the past, and I look with confidence to the future. What though my wrists are injured by the chains which fasten me to the soldiers; what though my enemies are going to put me to death: let them kill the body; it is all that they can do. They cannot touch the immortal soul,-that is in safe hands; and as to this poor flesh, it will &ldquo;rest in hope,&rdquo; and be safe in glory. Let my adversaries reproach me with whatever bitterness they please: their faces will gather shame when I shall be able to lift up my head, and when we shall meet, not at the bar of a Nero, but at the judgment-seat of Christ, for whom I now suffer, and with whom I shall then reign.<p>Oh, let us listen to this child of faith: how he sings, how he shouts, how he welcomes the executioner that is to bring him home! &ldquo;l am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He giveth more grace. - <a href='B:660 4:6'>Jas 4:6</a>. </i><p>WE are here taught to view the Saviour as &ldquo;THE GOD OF ALL GRACE.&rdquo; We are encouraged to open our mouth wide, and he will fill it; to ask and receive, that our joy may be full. In applying this subject let us observe, First, What a view does it give us of the glory of Christ? How boundless his compassion! How amazing his resources! How unsearchable his riches! He is Lord of all. Compare him with other benefactors: how soon would the greatest monarch be impoverished, if all the poor and needy of every kind were to apply to him with the assurance of success! But in all ages of the world &ldquo;a multitude which no man can number&rdquo; have addressed the Saviour, and not one of them all have been repulsed, or sent empty away! Every one of them has said, &ldquo;The Lord, hath heard the voice of my supplications;&rdquo; and, turning to others, has exclaimed, &ldquo;Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.&rdquo; Secondly, It should lead us to self-examination. Are we partakers of this fulness?<p>The hearers of the gospel may be divided into three classes. First, There are those who never received from the fulness there is in Christ; they have never applied for it. They are, indeed, the subjects of his bounty and of his providence. He has clothed them and fed them all their life long, though they have never offered up one prayer to him. But have we not souls within us, and an eternity before us? Is this all we need, and all we shall need in the hour of trouble and in the day of death? The Scriptures assure us that there is no relief but in him, but that in him it is sure. His giving falls in with his dispensation of mercy. He delights to succour and relieve all applicants; he never said, &ldquo;Seek ye me in vain.&rdquo; In the days of his flesh he said, &ldquo;Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.&rdquo; If we do not consider ourselves too good, he will not deem us too bad. Oh, let us turn, then, from all creatures, who are but broken cisterns, to the Saviour, the fountain of living waters; from a world of vanity and vexation, to the Saviour full of grace and truth. So long as we look to ourselves, the view is enough to fill us with despair; but on receiving out of his fulness we shall be able to say, &ldquo;In the Lord have I righteousness and strength;&rdquo; for Christ is all and in all to those who have received him.<p>Secondly, There are some who have received of this fulness, but are not persuaded of it, and have never drawn a conclusion in their favour. But shall this drive them to despair? It should not:-&ldquo;There is hope in Israel concerning this thing.&rdquo; They have a proof of something good, and a pledge of something better, if they have only light enough to see their darkness, and feeling enough to be sensible of their need of a Saviour. <p>&ldquo;Cold as I feel this heart of mine, <p> Yet, since I feel it so, <p> It yields some hope of life divine <p> Within, however low.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, There are some who can and do say that they have received of this fulness. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; say these, &ldquo;I cannot sufficiently or worthily express my gratitude for what he has done for my soul, for he has turned my feet into the path of peace, and my desire is to his name; and I can say, &lsquo;Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.&rsquo;&rdquo; If this is our experience, we have reason to rejoice in the Lord. Let us remember that we were once far off, but he has brought us nigh; we were once poor, but he has enriched us. We know who it is that has made us to differ; and, having received of his fulness and &ldquo;grace for grace,&rdquo; we are thus called upon to speak to others; and we can address them from our own experience and say, &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 his Son Jesus Christ.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Instant in prayer. - <a href='B:520 12:12'>Rom 12:12</a>. </i><p>THIS command cannot mean that we should be always upon our knees, or actually engaged in the exercise, for we have not the time, and it would be incompatible with other duties equally important; but surely it requires that we should cherish a frame of mind so as to make us ready to avail ourselves of every opportunity for its performance, in public and in private; surely it implies the infinite importance of the duty. Cowper says,- <p>&ldquo;Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; <p> Prayer makes the Christian&rsquo;s armour bright; <p> And Satan trembles when he sees <p> The weakest saint upon his knees.&rdquo; </i><p>It includes, also, what the old divines call ejaculatory prayer,- that is, a sudden starting up of the thought and desire to God. Wherever we are, and however we are engaged, this may be done. We have an instance in the case of Nehemiah: he was the king&rsquo;s cup-bearer; when he was fulfilling his task, and Ahasuerus addressed him, in order properly to answer the king, he prayed to the God of heaven. He did not go out of the room; he did not kneel down upon the carpet; he uttered no words; but he implored God for his influence and assistance. And so must we do in all the exigencies of the day. If we are in straits, or in danger, or under a cloud, we are to lift up our hearts to him. In all our ways we are enjoined to acknowledge the Lord, and he will direct our steps. It is thus we shall obtain strength to conquer our numerous enemies and to bear our heavy trials and perform our difficult duties. In all these respects we shall find &ldquo;our sufficiency is of the Lord.&rdquo; And how are we to avail ourselves of this sufficiency? &ldquo;For all these things,&rdquo; saith God, &ldquo;will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do them for them.&rdquo;<p>He never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain; rather,&ldquo;Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. - <a href='B:240 3:17'>Pro 3:17</a>. </i><p>HOW greatly is religion libelled! It is commonly represented as unfriendly to happiness, and at variance with every thing like pleasure; and nothing can be more injurious than such a representation, especially to the young. But nothing is more groundless than this charge; for, so far from religion making our pleasures less, it was designed to make them infinitely greater. And as it was thus designed, so it is adequate for this purpose also, and inspires us with everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, and enables us to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; for <p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis religion that can give <p> Sweetest pleasures while we live; &rsquo;<p>Tis religion must supply <p> Solid comforts when we die.&rdquo; </i><p>The God whom we serve is the God of all comfort, and he must be, surely, able to make a man truly happy; and is it therefore reasonable to suppose that he will suffer one who neglects and hates him to be happier than one who serves him? To realize that God is my Father, that heaven is my home, that all things are working together for my good, and that death will be to me the gate of life, must greatly tend to promote and increase my enjoyment of the beauties of nature, the bounties of Providence, and the intercourse of life.<p>How many, if appealed to, would tell us that they were strangers to real pleasure, so long as they continued strangers to Christ; but, since they have known him, their common mercies have been sweetened, their very sorrows have been blessed, and they prefer their own humble condition to all the glory and goodness of the world. They have found his service perfect freedom. His yoke has been easy and his burden light. If religion is a yoke, they daily bless God for the same; if it is a burden, it is the burden of wings to a bird, which enable it to rise and soar aloft and possess the skies; and if the Scriptures are allowed to decide, and they contain the judgment of the only wise and true God, and cannot be broken, do they not say, &ldquo;My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart&rdquo;? and here the Wise Man declares that &ldquo;her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? - <a href='B:670 3:13'>1Pe 3:13</a>. </i><p>THERE are two kinds of questions: some are for information, and some are for conformation. Now, the question here proposed is not of the former but of the latter character; that is, it does not arise from ignorance, but from knowledge; it does not import any doubtfulness, but is designed to express certainty. It is of the nature of a powerful asseveration; as if he had said, &ldquo;No one will hurt you if ye be followers of that which is good.&rdquo; The assertion, however, requires some considerable illustration, if not proof, because there are facts which seem to oppose it, and there are parts of Scripture which seem not well to harmonize with it.<p>Who will harm the believer? Will God? He is able; his very frown-his look-is annihilation; his eye is upon us, and we are nothing. But will he &ldquo;harm us&rdquo;? He? Is not he our Friend and your Father? He? Has he not &ldquo;loved us with an everlasting love,&rdquo; and drawn us to himself? He? Has he not sacrificed his own Son for the salvation of your souls? &ldquo;He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up, how shall not be with him also freely give us all things?&rdquo; Will angels? They are able to do it; they are called the &ldquo;mighty angels,&rdquo; the least of whom could wield the elements of destruction; and we see in the Scriptures what they have done to the enemies of God. But, though they are the enemies of God&rsquo;s enemies, they are only friends to God&rsquo;s friends; for &ldquo;the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, to deliver them.&rdquo; Will devils? They are able. They have malice enough, if they had liberty; and they have liberty with regard to some, and therefore the Apostle Peter says, &ldquo;Your adversary, the devil, goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.&rdquo; But what said Satan concerning Job himself? &ldquo;Doth Job fear God for naught? hast not thou made a hedge about him and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?&rdquo; And what said our Saviour of Peter? &ldquo;Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.&rdquo; Oh, we need not be afraid of him; the apostle says, &ldquo;The God of peace shall bring Satan under your feet shortly.&rdquo;<p>Who among the children of men will harm a Christian? Good men certainly will not. They &ldquo;who love him that begat love, love them also that are begotten.&rdquo; A Cain may ask, &ldquo;Am I my brother&rsquo;s keeper?&rdquo; but every one who partakes of the disposition of Paul will say, &ldquo;Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?&rdquo; Will wise governors? No; they know that &ldquo;righteousness exalteth a nation;&rdquo; they know that the best subjects must be always those who are &ldquo;subject, not for wrath, but for conscience&rsquo; sake towards God.&rdquo; Will God-fearing magistrates? No; &ldquo;they are ministers of God for good;&rdquo; they bear not indeed &ldquo;the sword in vain;&rdquo; but while &ldquo;they are a terror to evil-doers,&rdquo; they are &ldquo;a praise to them that do well.&rdquo; But will not ignorant bad men injure a child of God? Solomon tells us that &ldquo;he who follows after truth makes himself a prey.&rdquo; The apostle says, &ldquo;If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution.&rdquo; Our Saviour says, &ldquo;Marvel not if the world hate you; ye know that it hated me before it hated you.&rdquo; There are yet instances of injury which law cannot restrain; and there are dependants-there are wives, and children, and servants, and workmen, and tradesmen-who are suffering from persecution at this very hour. In a subsequent meditation, we will endeavour fairly to meet this difficulty, and see whether we cannot remove this apparent contradiction; for this assurance must be true, notwithstanding all this. 


devotion:
<i> The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth. <a href='B:700 1:1'>2Jn 1:1</a>. </i><p>MUCH of the New Testament is epistolary. The Epistles are of three kinds: some of them are addressed to Christians at large, some to single churches, and some to particular individuals. These individuals were signally honoured. It is generally considered, if not flattering, most agreeable to receive communications from persons in high rank or station; and still more from one distinguished by genius, or learning, or piety; but to receive a letter from an inspired author, an epistle from John the Divine, how would the autograph be valued, and how sedulously would it be preserved! Yet two of John&rsquo;s Epistles are addressed to individuals. One of them is inscribed to a male friend,-the beloved Gaius. He was distinguished by bodily indisposition and soul-prosperity, and great liberality and zeal.<p>The other is inscribed to a female friend, whose name is not recorded. She is called the Elect Lady. But who was this distinguished personage? Perhaps she was a deaconess; perhaps she had a church in her house; perhaps her mansion was the asylum of the persecuted, and the dwelling where the ministers of the word and the brethren always found a welcome and a home. She seems to have been a person of high reputation, and of some rank, and able disposition. But, whatever her worldly condition, it of itself would never have attracted the notice of John without her character. He regarded her according to her real worth. Birth, and wealth, and honour, are nothing in themselves. But they are powers; they may afford proofs of the power of divine grace in the preservation of the owners, and furnish opportunities for influence and for usefulness. She was preeminently pious: the foundation of all her excellencies was her personal and evangelical godliness. She was &ldquo;walking in the truth.&rdquo; Here by the truth we understand the truth as it is in Jesus. She exemplified the influence of the truth by her walking in the knowledge, practice, and profession of the truth, and in being &ldquo;a fellowhelper to the truth.&rdquo; Nothing is said of her husband: perhaps he was irreligious; perhaps he was dead. Her children, however, are here noticed, and seem to have been like-minded with herself, for they were &ldquo;found walking in the truth.&rdquo; How they were brought into the ways of truth is not stated. But John addresses them along with their honoured mother. Whether he had seen them at their mother&rsquo;s house, or whether he had only heard of them by report, we are unable to determine. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.&rdquo;<p>The dear aged disciple then falls into his old strain of affection, and endeavours to excite an increase of what had already commenced:-&ldquo;And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another;&rdquo; and then he passes from brotherly love to divine love; indeed, they are always enjoined and inseparable. He says, &ldquo;And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Whom, having not seen, ye love. <a href='B:670 1:8'>1Pe 1:8</a>. </i><p>THERE have been seasons when Christians have been tempted to envy those who lived when our Saviour was upon earth, and who had the privilege of knowing Christ after the flesh.&rdquo; Ah! ye highly-favoured ones, we have been ready to exclaim, you could hear the voice of him who spake &ldquo;as never man spake;&rdquo; you could gaze on the visage of him who was &ldquo;fairer than the children of men;&rdquo; you could bring your troubles and lay them down at the feet of him who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Here are, however, two or three things which should tend to reduce this envious feeling. First, We should remember that many of those who saw him derived no benefit from the sight. &ldquo;Ye have seen me,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;and believed not;&rdquo; &ldquo;Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, We should remember, if we are Christians, that we shall see him ourselves soon,-see him really, see him personally, see the very One who loved us and &ldquo;gave himself for us;&rdquo; &ldquo;see him as he is,&rdquo; and &ldquo;be forever with the Lord.&rdquo; Thirdly, We should observe, that, though he is no longer now visible, he is accessible, and we can have intercourse with him, and much freer and easier and speedier intercourse than they. They often had to repair to a great distance in approaching him, and much time was consumed in the application: when Martha and Mary called in one of the ploughmen to send to our Saviour this message,- &ldquo;Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick!&rdquo;-he was fifty miles off, in Galilee. <p>&ldquo;But we have no such lengths to go.&rdquo; </i><p>We have no such waitings to endure. Does our burdened heart urge us to exclaim, &ldquo;Lord! lam oppressed; undertake for me&rdquo;? The groan, the sigh, can reach him &ldquo;in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,&rdquo; and ere we call upon him he will answer, and while we speak he will hear. Yes; though he be &ldquo;passed into the heavens,&rdquo; we can hold communion with him; though he be unseen, we can love him, we can enjoy him. And hence the language of the apostle:-&ldquo;Whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> 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. - <a href='B:690 1:3'>1Jn 1:3</a>. </i><p>REAL godliness shows itself not only personally but socially; and professors of religion should study to be cheerful. It will do good to themselves; for the joy of the Lord is their strength, and it will have a happy influence over others. It will be likely to allure them in the way everlasting, and to preserve the way of truth from being evil spoken of. It is not the individual who is walking mournfully before the Lord that will be likely to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour; and this we should ever be concerned to do.<p>The way of truth may be evil spoken of by unlovely tempers, by sullenness, by mopishness and gloom and fear. Our regard for the honour of the gospel should lead us to attend to the command of our Lord:-&ldquo;Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.&rdquo; And if, under the pressure of grief, we are unable to suppress our feelings, we should at least make some effort to conceal them. &ldquo;I was ashamed,&rdquo; said Ezra, &ldquo;to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him.&rdquo; Now, confidence in God was not incompatible with his asking for such assistance, but it was likely to operate unfavourably on the mind of this heathen potentate, and, because it would be like distrusting the Lord, he avoided the very appearance of evil; and, as Christians are to be greatly concerned to bring others in the way of peace, we should be equally concerned to show that we have something suitable and valuable to recommend. Having ourselves tasted that God is gracious, we can say to others, &ldquo;Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.&rdquo;<p>It is this which gives confidence to Christians in all their attempts to recommend the blessings of salvation to others. They speak not from conjecture or from opinion, but from experience; and they can say, &ldquo;That which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life,-that which we have seen and heard,-declare we unto you.&rdquo; It is this which gives earnestness to our invitations. Knowing that others are still in the same state of spiritual destitution as we ourselves once were, we are to resemble the lepers in Samaria, who said, &ldquo;This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now, therefore, come, that we may go and tell the king&rsquo;s household.&rdquo;<p>This also adds conviction and force to our testimony and commendation: when we call upon others to rejoice in the Lord, they, seeing our cheerfulness, and knowing what religion has done for us, may be encouraged to try what it can do for them. Also, when they see Christians content with such things as they have,-troubled, yet not distressed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; having nothing, yet possessing all things,-they may be induced to say, &ldquo;This is the seed which the Lord hath blessed.&rdquo; And when we say to them, &ldquo;We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you,&rdquo; they may respond to the invitation, saying, &ldquo;We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. - <a href='B:230 116:7'>Psa 116:7</a>. </i><p>WHEN Christians call to remembrance their former experience, and review the dealings of God with them, how much there is in the retrospect to excite and to encourage them to return from their backslidings, and to adopt the language of the Psalmist here, and to say, with the church, &ldquo;I will go and return unto my first husband, for then was it better with me than now.&rdquo; As the dove returned unto the ark because she could find no rest for the sole of her foot, so it is impossible for the believer to know any true satisfaction till he says, with David, &ldquo;Return unto thy rest, O my soul.&rdquo; Having tasted that the Lord is gracious, and known the blessedness of nearness to God and communion with him, he looks back, and, as he compares his former state with the present, he says,- <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? <p> What peaceful hours I then enjoy&rsquo;d! <p> How sweet their memory still! <p> But now I find an aching void <p> The world can never fill.&rdquo; </i><p>He may have forgotten his resting-place, but he can find no substitute for it. To recover his first peace, and to regain his former happiness, he must draw near to God, his &ldquo;exceeding joy.&rdquo; With him is the fountain of life, and there is enough in him to bless us, whatever be our wants or our capacities of enjoyment; and therefore a Christian from whom the Lord has withholden some of the privileges he once enjoyed, instead of complaining of God, should rather say, with the church, &ldquo;I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.&rdquo; Let such with broken hearts and contrite spirits return unto the Lord, taking with them words, saying, &ldquo;Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips:&rdquo; until he has done this he must necessarily be miserable. And nothing is so well calculated to induce this return unto God, the resting-place of his soul, as the remembrance of past displays of God&rsquo;s goodness to him. It is then he is heard to say,- <p>&ldquo;His love in time past forbids me to think <p> He&rsquo;ll leave me at last in trouble to sink; <p> Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review <p> Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.&rdquo; </i><p>He remembers not only his own folly and wickedness in forsaking the fountain of living waters, but also that with the Lord there is plenteous redemption; and therefore, though greatly distressed, he encourages himself in the Lord his God, whom he addresses in the language of the church:-&ldquo;Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.&rdquo; &ldquo;I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> They shall sing in the ways of the Lord. - <a href='B:230 138:5'>Psa 138:5</a>. </i><p>THESE are words of promise as well as of prediction. God can foresee and foretell evil as well as good: this only requires his omniscience. But God is the author, the sole author, of all good; and therefore, if he foresees and insures this, it is because he has engaged to produce it; for &ldquo;of him and through him are all things.&rdquo; &ldquo;He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.&rdquo; Therefore we may consider these words as containing one of the exceeding great and precious promises upon which he has called us to hope, and which are &ldquo;all yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us.&rdquo; The Psalmist tells us the people of God shall sing in the ways of the Lord. With regard to these ways, we know the chosen tribes went three times a year to appear before the Lord, in Jerusalem. These services were called solemn assemblies, and the people not only rejoiced before the Lord in these solemnities, but they approached him by singing. We have some of these songs: they are called &ldquo;the songs of degrees;&rdquo; because they sang them as they passed from one place to another, and from one company to another, thus soothing the tediousness of the passage, and increasing their desire to stand within the walls of their Jerusalem.<p>First, We understand the ways of the Lord to include the way in which God walks with regard to us,-his ways in nature, in his varied dealings with us, and in the different actions of his providence and grace, as well as the ways which he has appointed and commanded his people to walk in with regard to himself.<p>Secondly, We observe, they not only walk in the ways of the Lord, but sing in them. This implies acquiescence, approbation, satisfaction, pleasure, delight. Whence springs this singing in the ways of the Lord? We may look after some of the near sources of it. The first of which is conviction. It is a reasonable service; and as the Christian is able to give a reason of the hope which is in him, so is he also able to give a reason of his joy. Hence, says the apostle, &ldquo;They joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have received the atonement.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, It arises from renovation. He is born of God, and therefore hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and therefore he feeds-yea, he not only feeds, but feasts-upon the provision of the gospel. He finds God&rsquo;s words, and he eats them, and they are to him the joy and rejoicing of his heart.<p>Thirdly, It is derived from experience. He has tasted that the Lord is gracious: this taste has provoked appetite, and increased it; and there is much to cause the Christian to sing in the ways of the Lord, when he considers his former experience, when he reviews the dealings of God with him, the surprising instances of goodness he has met with, in which the Lord has been not only better to him than his fears, but surpassing his hopes, and has done exceeding abundantly above what he could either ask or think.<p>Fourthly, This singing flows from fellowship. &ldquo;As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend;&rdquo; &ldquo;Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man&rsquo;s friend by hearty counsel.&rdquo;<p>Fifthly, This springs from his prospects and anticipations. The Christian while here has some Bethel visits, some Pisgah&rsquo;s views; but there are better things for him still in reserve, and therefore his prospects cheer and animate him principally. Oh to see Jesus as he is! Oh to be like him! Oh to be ever with the Lord, and to have no more to do with a wicked world without and a wicked heart within! Oh to be as innocent as Adam in Paradise, and as holy as the Son of God himself!-what an expectation is here! <p>&ldquo;There we shall see his face, <p> And never, never sin: <p> There from the river of his grace <p> Drink endless pleasure in.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them, that believe. - <a href='B:530 1:21'>1Co 1:21</a>. </i><p>FAITH cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The highest view we can take of preaching is, that it is a divine institution; and we are expressly assured of this by the apostle, who tells us that &ldquo;when the Saviour ascended on high he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.&rdquo; It is a permanent appointment. The trumpet of the gospel is to be blown till we hear the last trumpet sound. And if it be an appointment of God, the only wise God, it must be a wise appointment. It displays much of the wisdom of God. Nothing in the communication of knowledge has ever yet been found like a living address from man to man. Nothing is capable of producing so much impression and effect. Hence all our modern institutions employ their orators and lecturers.<p>It is certain our blessed Lord left nothing behind him in manuscript; but he was a prophet, and he was a preacher; and. &ldquo;never man spake like this man; the common people heard him gladly.&rdquo; The poor were evangelized, and multitudes followed him wherever he went. If he preached on the mountain or on the sea-shore, there were they. &ldquo;He came down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.&rdquo; &ldquo;His doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew.&rdquo; It was by preaching that the nations were Christianized at first; and it was by this means that the work of the Reformation was so successful. By the preaching of Knox and others, Scotland was evangelized; and by the preaching of the everlasting gospel by Whitefield and others, the revival of religion in our country was so greatly promoted.<p>It is well ascertained, that the largest proportion of persons who have been awakened to a concern about their spiritual state has resulted not so much from reading the word as by the preaching of it. 


devotion:
<i> Manifold temptations. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>CONCERNING the Christian&rsquo;s trials, the apostle reminds us first of their nature. This is expressed in their name. They are called &ldquo;temptations.&rdquo; This word sometimes means seduction to sin. In this sense it is applied to Satan, who is commonly called the tempter, and we are not ignorant of his devices. But in this sense the word is wholly inapplicable to God. This is expressly decided by revelation. &ldquo;Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.&rdquo; There may be difficulties attached to this subject, and there are; but let us walk &ldquo;by faith;&rdquo; let us believe simply his own testimony, and ascribe righteousness to our Maker. But temptations, ordinarily, in the Scripture, mean merely probation, or experiments, or trials, by which the reality and the degree of our gifts or graces are made known to ourselves or to others; for we know very little of ourselves till we are tried.<p>While Christians have ease, and health, and strength, and a prosperous business, and while they have an abundance of creature possessions and enjoyments, it is not easy for them to determine what they are depending on,-whether on these or on God. But, if they are removed, their dependence will soon enough plainly appear. If these were their portion, why, then they will exclaim, in the day of adversity, &ldquo;They have taken away my gods, and what have I more?&rdquo; On the other hand, if God has been their portion while they have enjoyed these, they will still say, &ldquo;I hope in him;&rdquo; and though they fail they will not faint, or if they faint they will not die.<p>The Christian sometimes becomes a wonder as well as a grief to himself, by the discoveries he is enabled to make in consequence of the trials by which he is exercised. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I was little aware that I was so proud till I was called to stoop; I little imagined I was so impenitent till I was required to seek pardon; I little imagined I had so little confidence in God till I was required to walk in darkness, and, having no light, to lean upon the Lord when I could not see him, and to stay upon my God.&rdquo; But so it is. In walking by the hedges and through the woods in the spring and in the summer, we cannot discern the nests of the feathered tribe: they are concealed by the leaves; but a few of the autumnal winds or the winter&rsquo;s frosts, stripping off the foliage, lay them open to view; they are no longer disguised. And so it is with Christians. It is in the day of necessity that the retreats, the resources, the little holes and the nests, the very recesses of their hearts, are discovered.<p>Secondly, He reminds us of their number;-&ldquo;manifold temptations.&rdquo; &ldquo;He performeth,&rdquo; says Job, &ldquo;the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.&rdquo; &ldquo;Lo,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.&rdquo; So said Paul and Barnabas when they were at Antioch: they told the church that &ldquo;through much tribulation they must enter the kingdom.&rdquo; &ldquo;In the world,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;ye shall have tribulation.&rdquo; As if it were to be their portion,- what they were to look for as long as they were here. To say nothing of persecutions innumerable, instances of which are still occurring in this land of known liberty, there are private sufferers from affliction, who, from hour to hour, from day to day, from week to week, suffer on, unobserved by their fellows, are made to possess months of vanity, and have wearisome nights appointed to them; unnoticed by any except that blessed Being, &ldquo;the God of all comfort,&rdquo; who seeth in secret.<p>Oh, how vulnerable is man! How vulnerable is his body, his health, his business, his reputation, his family! Thus we find that, in passing through life, according to our affections so are our afflictions. 


devotion:
<i> And rejoice in Christ Jesus. - <a href='B:570 3:3'>Phi 3:3</a>. </i><p>WE are here informed of the source of the Christian&rsquo;s joy. Every thing deemed worthy of the name of joy to the Christian he finds in his Saviour, and in him only. Hence the name by which he is known:-&ldquo;The Consolation of Israel.&rdquo; Hence what Lamech said to his wife, upon the birth of Noah, will apply more fully to him of whom Noah was a mere type:- &ldquo;This same shall comfort us.&rdquo; Thus we find the prophets of old, whenever they would comfort the church of God, either in her external afflictions or in her internal distresses, lead forward their views at once to his coming. Ah! it will be better soon; ah! his coming will make amends for all.<p>In what a wretched, desolate state was the kingdom of Judah, owing to the invasion of these two &ldquo;firebrands,&rdquo; Bezin, and Bemaliah&rsquo;s son, when Isaiah rushed forth among them, and said, &ldquo;Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire; [that is, his victory shall be final, and shall even destroy the very implements of war;] for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.&rdquo;<p>Zechariah prophesied amidst all the confusion and discouragements and the opposition attending the return of the Jews from Babylon to their own land; but, said he, &ldquo;Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.&rdquo;<p>And David considered his approach as a summons to the whole universe to triumph:-&ldquo;Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge [that is, he shall rule and govern] the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.&rdquo; Hence the message of the angel to the shepherds:-&ldquo;Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.&rdquo;<p>And hence the apostle says to the Corinthians, &ldquo;I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.&rdquo; The words are hardly intelligible as they now stand: give them their proper order, this is their meaning unquestionably:-&ldquo;I die daily. I do so, I protest, by the joy which you and I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.&rdquo;<p>Now, when we appeal, and when we swear by any thing, it is by something that is most obvious and undeniable; and the apostle could think of nothing more so than the joy which he and his brethren had in Christ Jesus their Lord. Therefore also he here says to the Philippians, &ldquo;We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh.&rdquo; Therefore, also, he said to them, &ldquo;Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, rejoice.&rdquo;<p>Rejoice not in the creature, but in Christ; not in yourselves, (you are only so many cells of emptiness,) but in Him who is &ldquo;full of grace and truth.&rdquo; Oh, there is enough in him to relieve every want, to fulfil every hope, to surpass every wish. Am I lost? &ldquo;It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Am I enslaved? &ldquo;He has redeemed us unto God by his blood.&rdquo; Am I guilty? He is &ldquo;the Lord our righteousness.&rdquo; Am I poor? &ldquo;He has unsearchable riches.&rdquo; Am I weak? &ldquo;His strength is made perfect in weakness.&rdquo; Am I opposed? &ldquo;His grace is sufficient for me.&rdquo; Am I destitute? &ldquo;It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;&rdquo; and we are &ldquo;blessed in him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.&rdquo;<p>There is no light-not a ray-but beams down upon us from him, &ldquo;the Sun of righteousness;&rdquo; there is no living stream that flows but comes from him, the Fountain of &ldquo;living waters.&rdquo; &ldquo;If any man thirst,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;let him come unto me and drink.&rdquo; &ldquo;He is All, and in all.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. - <a href='B:570 3:3'>Phi 3:3</a>. </i><p>IF, therefore, Christians cannot for a time rejoice in Christ, we cannot fail to observe, they can rejoice in nothing else. Their friends are &ldquo;miserable comforters;&rdquo; ministers are &ldquo;physicians of no value;&rdquo; the promises are &ldquo;clouds without rain;&rdquo; the ordinances are &ldquo;wells without water.&rdquo; Then creatures all look dismal, and, as they draw back, exclaim, &ldquo;Help is not in us;&rdquo; &ldquo;If the Lord help thee not, whence shall we help thee? Out of the barn-floor, or out of the wine-fat?&rdquo; But, on the other hand, &ldquo;when he giveth peace, who then can make trouble?&rdquo; When he &ldquo;rejoices the souls of his servants,&rdquo; every thing is changed around; when he smiles, every thing laughs. Then they learn in &ldquo;whatsoever state. they are, therewith to be content;&rdquo; then &ldquo;in every thing they give thanks.&rdquo; Then they can say, with Dr. Doddridge,- <p>&ldquo;If thou, my Jesus, still art nigh, <p> Cheerful I live, and cheerful die,- <p> Secure, when mortal comforts flee, <p> To find ten thousand worlds in thee.&rdquo; </i><p>So, then, &ldquo;they that forsake him observe lying vanities, and forsake their own mercies.&rdquo; &ldquo;So will not I,&rdquo; says the Christian; &ldquo;I have found it good to draw near to God.&rdquo; I forsake him? He has &ldquo;been my help,&rdquo; and therefore &ldquo;under the shadow of his wings will I rejoice.&rdquo; &ldquo;When, therefore, many who were offended with his doctrine drew back and &ldquo;walked no more with him,&rdquo; to try the dispositions of his disciples, he said, &ldquo;Will ye also go away?&rdquo;<p>Now you have a very good time for it, if you will; now you may go in company; now you need not blush; now there are persons to keep you in countenance: &ldquo;will ye also go away?&rdquo; Peter answered, &ldquo;Go away, Lord,&rdquo; (and this was the sentiment of all his brethren too,) &ldquo;we go away? to whom should we go?&rdquo; To the philosophers? they are &ldquo;vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts are darkened.&rdquo; To the world? that is &ldquo;vanity and vexation of spirit.&rdquo; To sin? it leads down to hell by the chambers of death.&rdquo; Shall we go to the Scribes and the Pharisees? they are &ldquo;blind leaders of the blind.&rdquo; Shall we go to Moses? Moses would send us immediately back to thee, for he wrote of thee, he spoke of thee; and every institution he established, and every ceremony and every sacrifice he ordained, was designed to proclaim, &ldquo;Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.&rdquo; &ldquo;Lord, to whom should we go but unto thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Yet, believing, ye rejoice. - <a href='B:670 1:8'>1Pe 1:8</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the medium of the Christian&rsquo;s joy,-&ldquo;believing.&rdquo; In the Christian economy every thing is by faith; we read of &ldquo;the proportion of faith,&rdquo; of &ldquo;the measure of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the unity of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the law of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the word of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the righteousness of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the shield of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the strength of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the household of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the assurance of faith,&rdquo; &ldquo;the profession of faith;&rdquo; we are saved &ldquo;through faith,&rdquo; we are &ldquo;justified by faith,&rdquo; we are &ldquo;sanctified by faith that is in Christ.&rdquo; Our hearts are purified by faith; and yet some wonder that we so extol and commend faith. Every thing is by faith: &ldquo;the life which we live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God;&rdquo; &ldquo;by faith we walk;&rdquo; &ldquo;by faith we stand;&rdquo; by faith we overcome; and yet some persons are afraid lest there should be too much stress laid on faith. Why, every thing is by faith. We read of the &ldquo;fight of faith,&rdquo;-&ldquo;the work of faith,&rdquo;-of &ldquo;the prayer of faith,&rdquo;-of &ldquo;the joy of faith.&rdquo; Every thing flourishes in religion just as faith prospers. And here we are told that Christians only rejoice in their Saviour by &ldquo;believing.&rdquo; Now, this will appear clear and undeniable when we remark two things.<p>First, Faith is the only medium of our acquaintance with him. Now, though we can rejoice in an unseen Saviour, we cannot rejoice in an unknown one. The knowledge of him, therefore, is absolutely necessary. And from whence is this knowledge to be derived? Why, only from testimony. This is the record that God has given us of his Son; and this contains all the information that we can possess concerning him while we are in this world. And those who refuse it, therefore, must remain in darkness. &ldquo;What can I know of his person, of his character, of his offices, of his relations, of his influences, of his blessings, but from the Scriptures, all of which testify of Him?<p>And then, Secondly, This faith is the medium of all our intercourse with him. It is by this, and by this alone, that we deal with him in the solemn concerns of our souls and eternity. Faith is the feet by which we come to him; faith is the wings by which we &ldquo;flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us;&rdquo; faith is the eye by which we see him; faith is the ear by which we hear him; faith is the hand by which we receive him; faith is the arm by which we lean upon him; faith is the taste by which we feed upon him. &ldquo;Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;and drink his blood, ye have no life in you;&rdquo; and this can only be done by faith. 


devotion:
<i> Only believe. - <a href='B:490 8:50'>Luk 8:50</a>. </i><p>WHAT the Saviour said to the ruler of the synagogue he says to us. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; some may be ready to say, &ldquo;this is easily said, and the Christian life upon this principle must be a very easy concern.&rdquo; But these are very much mistaken: there is nothing to which we are so naturally averse as this. A legal bias is natural to man; and the reason is, that originally we were placed under a covenant of works, in which doing was every thing, while the gospel places us under a covenant of grace, where believing is every thing. Little, therefore, did the Jews imagine, when they said to our Saviour, &ldquo;What must we do, that we may work the works of God?&rdquo; little did they imagine they should have such a reply as he gave them. &ldquo;This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.&rdquo; And hence says the Apostle John, &ldquo;This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.&rdquo; And hence said Paul and Silas to the awakened jailer, &ldquo;Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.&rdquo;<p>It is by the exercise of a living faith on the Son of God that we obtain relief for our souls at first from the dreadful condition of bondage to Satan, and that we are brought into &ldquo;the glorious liberty of the sons of God;&rdquo; and all our supplies of comfort and support in every after-period and condition must be of faith in the very same way; for, as the apostle tells the Romans, we can only be &ldquo;filled with all joy and peace in believing.&rdquo; We have reason, therefore, to infer that faith is not a very common thing,-I was going to say, even among believers themselves; and Mr. Newton somewhere exclaims, in one of his letters, &ldquo;What unbelieving believers are the best of us!&rdquo; Surely there is very little of this principle even in many Christians, if we may judge from the small degree of their joy in Christ. Surely &ldquo;if they believed&rdquo; they would be established, and &ldquo;the consolations of God&rdquo; would not be &ldquo;small with them.&rdquo; Surely if their faith was more clear in its discernments, more firm in its holdings of the promises of God, more simple and entire in its reliances on the Mediator, more lively and powerful in its actings, it would draw them away from those gloomy fears and those anxious suspicions which now dwell upon their comfort, like so many moths &ldquo;fretting a garment.&rdquo;<p>What is the reason that one Christian rejoices so much more than another? Has he a firmer foundation to build upon? No. All these things are the same in themselves, and therefore the same in their relation to us. But the thing is that some Christians make more use of the Saviour by faith than do others. The well is the very same, but they have nothing to draw with, or they have a very small and leaky vessel. The same feast is spread before them; but, as Hosea says, &ldquo;the yoke is not taken from their jaws,&rdquo; and therefore they cannot partake of it. But, says our Lord, &ldquo;Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;Believing, we rejoice <p> To see the curse removed; <p> We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, <p> And sing bis bleeding love.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. - <a href='B:340 3:16-18'>Dan 3:16-18</a>. </i><p><b> PART 1 </b><p>WHAT a scene is before us! God had given all nations into the power of Nebuchadnezzar; even the Jews were not exempted: but he made a difference with regard to his own people. &ldquo;I will correct thee,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.&rdquo; He employed Nebuchadnezzar, not because he was pleased with him, but because he was a fit instrument wherewith to punish his people and to execute his wrath. &ldquo;God guided him, though he knew it not.&rdquo; He wished to please the gods whom he served, and who had delivered him, as he conceived, from the hands of his enemies. An image was set up in the plains of Dura. This image was large, so that it might be seen and adored by all; it was also made of gold, and was therefore a fit emblem of the covetousness of man, and conveyed an idea of the universal regard which is paid to that root of all evil, -money. It must also be consecrated; and in this service there was nothing omitted which could add to its splendour or render it of consequence.<p>The king attended the dedication, and all the officers of state followed in his train. &ldquo;While all was calculated to please the eye, there was the melody of sound to please the ear. A herald proclaims the mandate of the sovereign, and all must obey on penalty of being cast into a burning fiery furnace. All fall down and worship, excepting three young men, Hebrew captives, who, meek as lambs and bold as lions, with courage that would do honour to a seraph, stand firm and unbending. They are immediately impeached, brought before the king, and asked, &ldquo;Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do ye not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image that I have set up?&rdquo; Let us consider the trial of their obedience.<p>It must be allowed that things good in themselves are heightened in value by circumstances. Why was the liberality of the widow commended, while the rich cast into the treasury? We are told that they cast in of their abundance, but she of her penury cast in all that she had. The man who is not puffed up in the time of prosperity is the humble man; he who is not cast down when in danger, and when other men&rsquo;s strength fails, this is the courageous man. It was in the midst of this danger, and when others yielded to the royal authority, that these young men proved firm and courageous.<p>First, They could plead authority. It was their sovereign who commanded them to fall down and worship the image, and good men must be loyal subjects; they must obey magistrates, and submit to those who have the rule over them. Yes; but here is a distinction to be made. We must distinguish between civil and religious concerns, and must obey God rather than man; and therefore if any person requires us to do any thing that would offend God, we are previously engaged.<p>Secondly, They could plead obligation. Nebuchadnezzar had taken these captives from among the Hebrews, and had raised them to offices of trust and emolument. Nothing pleads so powerfully as kindness; favours attach the heart, and good men are sensible of obligations. There is no greater trial than to be unable to oblige a friend. We are sometimes tried on the score of filial obedience. A child has parents who are kind and affectionate, but they are worldly, and they require her to give up her religion. They do not threaten; no, but they entreat with tears that she will comply. To break away from their embraces, feeling and acknowledging obligations, hearing a voice from heaven, saying, &ldquo;He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,&rdquo;-this is the trial.<p>Thirdly, They could plead the universality of example. All around them yielded, and why should they be singular? Singularity for its own sake always shows a vain mind, and singularity in little things discovers a weak mind. Decency requires that we should not stand out in little things, but in things important: where a soul is to be lost, and God dishonoured, there we must be &ldquo;separate, and touch not the unclean thing.&rdquo; Though ridiculed by the people and opposed by the crown, still, the Christian must stand firm and discharge his duty to his God. A dead fish will swim with the stream; it is a live one only that will swim against it. It is when a man can persevere amidst opposition in the right course, and say to his enemies, &ldquo;If this be to be vile, I will be viler still,&rdquo; that he displays true fortitude. It was thus that Enoch walked with God alone, and amidst opposition. Thus Noah was a preacher of righteousness in a sinful world, and Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh&rsquo;s daughter. In this manner are Christians required to be singular. We should not wait the decision of others to influence us, but say, with Joshua, &ldquo;As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;&rdquo; and with these young men, &ldquo;We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, We may remark the dreadfulness of the penalty. Some complain that their trials are too much for their virtue. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; they say, &ldquo;if we follow on in this particular course, we shall&rdquo;-but let us hear their trials,-&ldquo;we shall be exposed to the burning stake, cast into the lions&rsquo; den.&rdquo; No, nothing like it. &ldquo;Shall be deprived of liberty;&rdquo; nothing like it. &ldquo;Be reduced to want;&rdquo; nothing like it. &ldquo;No, but in order to attend the closet and family devotions,&rdquo; we hear them say, &ldquo;we must rise a little earlier. If we don&rsquo;t conform to the world, we shall be scoffed at.&rdquo;<p>Eternal God! these are the martyrs of thy religion in our day! Oh, these disgracers of the Christian cause, who shrink back from trial; what would they have done in the days of the apostles? &ldquo;If they have run with the footmen and they have wearied them, then how will they contend with horses?&rdquo;<p><b> PART II </b><p>HERE we have the principle of their obedience. A conduct so tried, and yet so triumphant, must have had principle to support it. A man under the influence of principle will not be under the control of circumstances, nor under the influence of momentary impulse: if a good man errs, he acts from principle. Look at these young men: they were tried by universal example, by regal authority, and by royal favour and indulgence; and yet they stood firm and unyielding; &ldquo;they were armed with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.&rdquo; But what armed them? Can we find a principle equal to the effect produced? The servants of God have done great things, and have suffered great trials; and the very thing which has enabled them to suffer is that which some are afraid of,-faith. In the faith of these young men there were three things to act upon.<p>First, The power of God. &ldquo;Our God,&rdquo; said they, &ldquo;is able to deliver us.&rdquo; He is the Maker of heaven and earth; he has suspended the laws of nature, made iron to swim, and raised the dead; and he is &ldquo;able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think.&rdquo; If he does not find a way to escape, he can make one. We do not look for miracles now, because he does not need them. All nature may change, but his word cannot fail; he can turn the shadow of death into the morning.<p>Secondly, It regardeth the disposition of God. &ldquo;He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.&rdquo; Perhaps they thought it probable that God would work a miracle in their favour; perhaps they had some inward presentiment of it in their minds. They had no doubt seen this passage in Isaiah:-&ldquo;When thou passest through the waters they shall not overflow thee, and through the fire it shall not burn thee.&rdquo; Here is another support and encouragement to the believer&rsquo;s hope:-the faithfulness of God. He has engaged to deliver his people in the day of trouble, and he will deliver them,-here partially, and hereafter completely.<p>Thirdly, It regarded a future indemnification in another world. What! did they still persist in their determination, though a fearful death was to be the consequence? Yes, but they could not have regarded it as annihilation. If there had been no other world, it would not have become them to sacrifice their lives; martyrdom would in this case have been madness. The very case is supposed by the apostle, when he says, &ldquo;If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable;&rdquo; &ldquo;Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.&rdquo; They must, therefore, have believed in a state of future recompense. Realizing, as they did, this future inheritance, the conduct of these young men was noble, wise, and worthy of imitation. They knew that they should gain glory, honour, and immortality; and they well said, &ldquo;We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.&rdquo;<p>Unless we bring the prospect of a future and eternal life to bear upon our conduct, we shall yield to temptation; and it is for want of this that the world leads us astray. When we think of another world, how infinitely superior does it appear to the present life! It is like the sun, which shines forth in his glory, and conceals the stars, which only show their light during the darkness of the night. It was this view of eternity that made the apostle say, &ldquo;Our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.&rdquo; &ldquo;For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.&rdquo; &ldquo;What was Nebuchadnezzar, and what was the burning fiery furnace, compared with the recompense of reward which they had in prospect? &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said they, &ldquo;the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him. - <a href='B:340 3:28'>Dan 3:28</a>. </i><p>LET us notice the effect of their obedience. How did it end? In promoting the glory of the Master whom they served, and the interest of the religion which they professed. When the people of God suffer in the discharge of their duty they glorify God, and show how he can deliver those who trust in him. It was thus that his power was displayed in the case before us. He could have delivered them from the hands of their enemies; but that deliverance would not have been so glorious; and what admiration would this excite! and what inquiries would be made! and how would the people talk of them, and point them out as the faithful servants of the true God! and how would they &ldquo;take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,&rdquo; saying, &ldquo;We will go with you, for we perceive God is with you.&rdquo; And how was God glorified in the confession of Nebuchadnezzar! It resulted in their own honour and advantage.<p>They did not remain long in the furnace; but those were golden moments. Oh, what peace and joy in God did they feel, and what holy resolutions did they form, while in the furnace? And when they came out, how would they be followed and pointed out as those who preferred the furnace to the worship of false gods! What effect would it give to their solitary Warning and precepts, and to their example! But this was not all the advantage which accrued to them. Nebuchadnezzar elevated them to places of trust, and honour, and emolument; and who would not have done the same? They who would serve their God in such circumstances would faithfully serve their king. When Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, wished to know the character of those about him, he gave commandment that they should sacrifice to his gods. Most of them very readily complied, and worshipped his gods to the dishonour of their own; but there were some who resisted and proved firm to their religion and their gods. The former were banished from the court; but the latter were advanced to the offices of state, as those who were worthy the confidence of the sovereign. This will bring to our recollection the words of the Saviour:-&ldquo;He that is ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.&rdquo;<p>Let us be thankful for the biography of the Scriptures; and especially that we have the example of so many good men set before us, who &ldquo;through faith and patience inherit the promises.&rdquo; It is a lamentable fact, that there are many who have the form of godliness without its power,-men who make a profession but are without the principles of religion: it is, therefore, well that we have examples of faithfulness and devotedness to God amidst trials and difficulties; these bright examples are worthy of imitation, and should often be held up to view to stimulate us to exertion and to animate us to the conflict. The grace of God is as needful for God&rsquo;s servants now. It is happy for us that we live under a paternal government, and are not exposed to the fury and caprice of tyrants. Education has done much to remove prejudice and extirpate bigotry; but the world is still the same, and Christians &ldquo;are not of this world;&rdquo; in it there are many things they must renounce, and company they must reject.<p>If we do not act with them, we are against them, and our lives will condemn them. Well, if it be not possible for us to pass through the world without opposition and enemies, it becomes us to obey God rather than man. While infidels ridicule the people of God, and the enemies of Christ misrepresent their conduct, there is that in the religion of Christ which will support us. &ldquo;Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive a crown of life.&rdquo; Let us carry this with us through life, that the religion of Jesus will prepare us for every event; and while others sink into perdition, the true Christian man will rise to immortality.<p>God will ever support those who stand by him, and, as Henry says, &ldquo;There may be some who lose from their religion, but none ever lose by it;&rdquo; or, as Jesus says, &ldquo;There is no man who hath left father and mother, or brethren, or sisters, or house, or lands, for my sake and the gospel, who shall not receive a hundred-fold in this life, and, in the world to come, life everlasting.&rdquo; &ldquo;Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.&rdquo; Amen. 


devotion:
<i> The paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. - <a href='B:230 25:10'>Psa 25:10</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;THE ways of the Lord&rdquo; here mean the way in which God walks with regard to us. His ways in nature, in the seasons of the year, in. the beauties of creation, in the produce of the garden and of the field, in his marching forth in the loveliness of the spring and in the plenty of the summer, to cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man,-producing first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, till the fields stand thick with corn, and the little hills rejoice on every side. They include his dispensations of providence. Nothing in the world occurs by chance: what men call chance is nothing less than the wise permission, the appointment, the administration, of God.<p>Therefore we should never forget him, but, as events occur, say, with Eli, &ldquo;It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.&rdquo; These dispensations of providence are various; some of them plain, others are very dark and mysterious. Sometimes his way is in the sea and his path in the deep waters, and his footsteps are not known. With regard to some of these ways of the Lord, therefore, we are required to walk by faith, and not by sight. David could rejoice in them all. He said, &ldquo;I will sing of mercy and judgment;&rdquo; and, however mysterious to us now, we have the encouraging assurance that what we know not now we shall know hereafter; and then we shall be able to say, what we now believe, &ldquo;He hath done all things well.&rdquo;<p>How abundantly is the mercy and truth of God manifested in his dispensations of grace, by which he rescues sinners from the ruin of the fall! This is called &ldquo;the way of salvation;&rdquo; and he hath sent his gospel and he sends his ministers to &ldquo;show unto men the way of salvation;&rdquo; the way in which this salvation was devised before time, procured in time, carried on through time, and in which it is completed when time shall he no longer. This, God himself considers his highest dispensation. Here he displays all his perfections, and brings glory to himself in the highest, furnishes materials for the study of angels who &ldquo;desire to look into these things,&rdquo; and will fill all heaven with endless admiration and praise. 


devotion:
<i> I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it? - <a href='B:250 2:2'>Ecc 2:2</a>. </i><p>THE Christian&rsquo;s joys are superior to the enjoyments of the men of the world. What are the joys the worldling feels,- what are they all but vanity and vexation of spirit? In the midst of their sufficiency they are in straits. We read of the &ldquo;pleasures of sin:&rdquo; these &ldquo;are but for a season;&rdquo; and as they are soon over, so they leave nothing but stains and stings behind. We read of the joy of the hypocrite, which is but for a moment. Some are said to rejoice in a thing of naught; for all that cometh is vanity: when they have succeeded in their enterprises, every thing within them still urges them to inquire, &ldquo;Who will show us any good.&rdquo; If they say they are happy, the experience of the Christian contradicts this; for he has walked in their way long enough to know that there is no peace to the wicked. If they seem to be happy in company, let them be separated from their companions and their dissipation, and left to think and to reflect, and where are their joys now?<p>But as for the Christians, they have meat to eat the worldling knows not of; they have a joy which strangers intermeddle not with; they rejoice in the possession of grace, and in the hope of the glory that is to be revealed. We have seen what the joy of the Christian can do. What doth the worldling&rsquo;s joy? Doth it afford him any thing like satisfaction? Does it bear up his mind under the trials of life? Does it raise him above the dread of death and eternity? Is it not all a fleeting show, a shadowy good, and the offspring of ignorance? Are not the men of the world afraid to let one ray of divine truth fall upon their joy? Would not one serious thought of God-of eternity-strike it dead on the spot? Alas! do not the men of the world, who are seeking happiness in the pleasures, possessions, and distinctions of earth, find that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of their mirth is heaviness,-and honours, and riches, and power, are but to them as so many toys or flowers thrown into the vehicle that is conveying the condemned criminal to the place of execution?<p>For &ldquo;the wicked are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Followers of that which is good. - <a href='B:670 3:13'>1Pe 3:13</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the characters here spoken of. They are said to be the &ldquo;followers of that which is good.&rdquo; But what does the apostle mean by &ldquo;good&rdquo;? There are many things that are &ldquo;good.&rdquo; When God had finished all his works which he had made, he pronounced them all to be &ldquo;very good.&rdquo; But Peter refers unquestionably to something morally and religiously and spiritually good. So does John when he says, &ldquo;He that doeth good is of God.&rdquo; So does Paul when he says, &ldquo;He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; So does our Lord when he says, &ldquo;A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things;&rdquo; and when he says of Mary, she &ldquo;hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.&rdquo; This is preeminently good, -good for us in every period, in every relation, in every condition,- good for us personally and good for us relatively,-satisfactorily and everlastingly good.<p>Now, truth is &ldquo;good,&rdquo; especially the truth as it is in Jesus; and &ldquo;it is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace.&rdquo; Faith is a &ldquo;good&rdquo; thing, without which the truth would be only a nonentity to the mind, for it can only influence us as it is believed by us. Repentance is &ldquo;good,&rdquo; and so necessary that without it we shall &ldquo;all perish.&rdquo; And righteousness is &ldquo;good,&rdquo; and we read of those who &ldquo;follow after righteousness.&rdquo; And peace is &ldquo;good,&rdquo; and we are commanded to &ldquo;follow peace with all men.&rdquo; And charity is &ldquo;good,&rdquo; and we are commanded to &ldquo;follow after charity.&rdquo;<p>But this is not the main thing we have to regard here. If we refer to the original scripture, we shall find the word in the Greek is imitator; and so it is rendered in almost every modern version. Let us, therefore, thus consider it. Man has been defined an imitative creature, but not with much distinction; for we find the same tendency in all other beings, and especially in the young. How early do parents perceive this tendency to imitation in their children! and, oh, what a wise and watchful direction does it require! As fallen beings, we are most prone to be drawn aside by lying vanities, and to follow evil examples. And therefore says Moses to the Jews, &ldquo;Follow not a multitude to do evil;&rdquo; therefore says the apostle, &ldquo;Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.&rdquo; The design of imitation always is resemblance. But there may be resemblance without imitation: resemblance may be accidental; but imitation includes aim, wish, design, endeavour. 


devotion:
<i> He will rejoice over thee with joy. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>HERE is the love of complacency and delight. Why, can a person rejoice then without joy? No, but the language of Scripture is peculiar; it is full of significancy, and often of pleonasms. &ldquo;I will rejoice over thee with joy;&rdquo; a joy which deserves the name. The meaning is immediately, that he will rejoice over them even while he is saving them. This may seem incredible, but nothing is more true. The salvation of the people of God is expressly called &ldquo;the pleasure of the Lord,&rdquo; which is to &ldquo;prosper&rdquo; in the Redeemer&rsquo;s hands. Our Saviour has in one chapter set forth three parables on purpose to display this,- to show that God not only saves, but that he delights to do it. The parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd seeks after that which was lost in the wilderness until he finds it, and when he finds it he lays it on his shoulder, not complainingly, but rejoicingly; and when he comes home he calls his friends and his neighbours, saying, &ldquo;Rejoice with me, for I have found the sheep which was lost.&rdquo; The parable of the lost piece of silver which the woman searched for all through the house until she found it, and when she had found it she called her friends and neighbours, saying, &ldquo;Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.&rdquo; And the parable of the prodigal son, in which we are told that the father not only received him upon his return, but said, &ldquo;Bring forth the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found: and they began to be merry.&rdquo;<p>Oh that we could more fully and implicitly believe this!-that he not only recovers us, but delights in our recovery; that he takes pleasure in the prosperity of his people; that he takes &ldquo;pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy;&rdquo; that he takes pleasure in their graces, and views in them the fruits of his own Spirit, his own workmanship, the reflection of his own image: that he takes pleasure in their actions and duties; that the prayer of the upright is his delight; that their alms are the odour of a sweet smell; that if they speak often to one another he hearkens and hears, and records it in the book of his remembrance. He rejoices in their persons; they are his children and his friends. &ldquo;Thou shalt no more therefore,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, [that is, my delight is in thee,] and thy land Beulah, [that is, married;] and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. - <a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>. </i><p>WE have not only the example of the people of God to induce us to recommend religion to others, but we have the authority of God, whose will is binding on all his creatures, and from whose decision there is no appeal. Our Saviour enjoins it upon us, when we pray, to say, &ldquo;Thy kingdom come,&rdquo; as well as, &ldquo;Give us this day our daily bread.&rdquo; And if we notice the order of it, we shall find that he tells us to pray for the coming kingdom of God, before we ask for our daily bread. Then, also, we should remember that we have the blessing of the gospel not only for ourselves, but also for others. The possession of the gospel is not only a blessing to enjoy, but a talent to use; and we are therefore debtors to those who are destitute of it. Then benevolence should also plead for this practice.<p>We admire every kind of benevolence; we bless those who endeavour to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick; but what, after all, is the body to the soul? Charity to the soul is the soul of charity. And he that &ldquo;converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul alive, and hide a multitude of sins.&rdquo; Then the importance of the thing pleads for the practice too. We do not wonder that those who believe that people may be saved, or nearly as well saved, without the gospel as with it, should feel an indifference in this case; but that they who profess to believe that for those who are in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death there is salvation in no other, that none cometh to the Father but by him, and who approve of the apostle&rsquo;s meaning,- How 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? and how shall they preach except they be sent?-it is most astonishing that these people can feel any alter native between this belief and the obligation to employ all the means and resources in their power to spread the gospel!<p>Then, also, the experience we have had of the value and preciousness of the gospel ourselves should make us earnest to send it forth to others. Oh, what has it done for us! What was it relieved us under the burden that pressed our lives down to the ground? What was it that supported us under our trials, so that we said, Unless the Lord had been my delight, I should have perished in my affliction? And what has it done for us not only in spiritual things, but in temporal? What might we have been at this hour but for the gospel? If not in hell, our bodies might now have been hanging on the gallows, or we might have been in prison, or we might have appeared in penury and rags, instead of being able not only to enjoy the comforts of life but also to diffuse them.<p>And is it for us to be indifferent to the spread of the gospel? Then the possibility of the thing also should plead for it; for it is not an impracticable thing that is enjoined upon us. It is not a thing which requires miracles; then our strength might indeed be to sit still. But was it by miracles the gospel was first brought to this happy island? Was it by miracles it was sent to Greenland and the Eskimo? And was it by miracles that it was conveyed to the South Sea Islands? We have peculiar advantages to send it forth. We are not restrained by Government. We have the remedy that brings a cure in our possession, and we have the means to convey it to others, who are perishing, either by ourselves or by means of others. Let our daily prayer be, &ldquo;Oh, send out thy light and thy truth.&rdquo; But we must do something else if our prayers are either importunate or sincere; for they are neither, unless they induce us to adopt a line of conduct corresponding to the object, and dispose us to make use of the means which are conducive to it.<p>Of all our substance we are not the proprietors but the stewards, and it becomes a steward &ldquo;to be found faithful.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. - <a href='B:650 11:16'>Heb 11:16</a>. </i><p>IT is true that sometimes in his dealings with his people the Lord would seem to indicate that he has forgotten and forsaken them. But this is impossible; for he hath said, &ldquo;I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.&rdquo; Sometimes their enemies, seeing! them in their perplexities and difficulties, begin to insult them, and to ask, &ldquo;Where is now thy God?&rdquo; But, walking by faith and not by sight, they are enabled to answer, &ldquo;We know where he is; we know that he is at the helm, steering us through the storm; we know that he is at the head of all concerns, making all things to work together for our good. He is turning the shadow of death into the morning, and is fulfilling his promise:- &ldquo;I will bring the blind by a way which they know not, and I will lead them by paths which they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.&rdquo;<p>Having himself condescendingly and graciously entered into such a relation with his people as to become their God, we may be assured he will never do any thing unworthy of it; and therefore the apostle here says, &ldquo;God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he hath prepared for them a city;&rdquo; as if he should say, Though God does much for his people here, he would be ashamed to be known as their God, he would be ashamed of the relation in which his people have been induced to confide and glory, unless he did more for them hereafter. Another system, therefore, must be spread abroad for its development. Time is too short, and this world too narrow, for the dignified relation to be glorified and exemplified in. Glory must succeed grace, eternity must succeed time, another world must succeed this; and thus, according to his promise, &ldquo;we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.&rdquo; Then the relation in all the munificence of it will be displayed. &ldquo;Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.&rdquo; But they shall in due time be displayed and realized. 


devotion:
<i> And good hope through grace. - <a href='B:600 2:16'>2Th 2:16</a>. </i><p>AND what is not of grace? Is it election? &ldquo;There is a remnant according to the election of grace.&rdquo; Is it salvation? &ldquo;By grace are ye saved.&rdquo; Is it justification? &ldquo;Being justified freely by his grace.&rdquo; Is it vocation? &ldquo;He called me by his grace.&rdquo; Is it faith? &ldquo;They who have believed through grace.&rdquo; Is it hope? &ldquo;He has given you everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace.&rdquo; But what is grace? We answer, grace is the chosen term of inspiration. It is the darling word of every awakened sinner and of every humble believer. We often sing,- <p>&ldquo;Grace! &lsquo;tis a sweet, a charming theme.&rdquo; </i><p>and <p>&ldquo;Grace! how exceeding sweet to those <p> Who feel they sinners are!&rdquo; </i><p>Grace is a word for which no other term can be found fully equivalent. It is goodness, but it is more. It is kindness, but it is more. It is favour, but it is more. It is all these,-free, absolutely free; free as opposed to purchase; free as opposed to worthiness and to works. It is in some respects distinguishable from mercy. Mercy regards the miserable; grace regards the guilty. But what is hope? It is not necessary to have recourse to a dictionary for an explanation. All Christians know enough of hope to know that it is an expectation of something desirable, future, and attainable; and these three things enter into the definition of hope. First, The desirableness of the thing expected. We may forebode evil, we may expect evil, but we cannot hope for it; we can only hope for good.<p>Secondly, As to the futurity of the thing. If we possess good, we may rejoice in it, and glory in it, but we cannot hope for it. &ldquo;That which is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for?&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, The attainableness of the thing. We may hope for what is difficult; we cannot hope for what is impossible. There are degrees in the expectation itself. It may appear to the mind of a man more or less possible,-more or less probable,- more or less certain; but it is not in our power to hope for what we deem entirely impossible and unattainable. We hope to live many days, that we may see good. But we cannot hope to live here always:-&ldquo;For the living know that they shall die;&rdquo; they know that life is short as well as full of evil. 


devotion:
<i> The godly. - <a href='B:680 2:9'>2Pe 2:9</a>. </i><p>WE have a peculiar character to describe:-&ldquo;The godly.&rdquo; Who are they? There are none such by nature; but, blessed be God, there are such by grace; and this grace is perpetually producing a change in the hearts of many,-according to the promise in Isaiah:-&ldquo;Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier, the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.&rdquo;<p>Therefore, in an ungodly world there are some who may be denominated godly men. The word is often used as a term of reproach and censure. Thus, when professors of religion walk unworthy the name by which they are called, their miscarriages lead the enemies of God to blaspheme. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;these are some of the godly.&rdquo; &ldquo;Woe to the world,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;because of offences; for it must needs be that offences come; but woe unto him by whom the offence cometh.&rdquo; Let us beware, therefore, how we cast a stumblingblock in the way of the blind, or prove a distress to the strong; for in either case the world can and will distinguish between reality and pretension.<p>Yea, sometimes they infer reality from pretensions, and conclude there is such a thing as true religion, from the attempt to counterfeit it. But what is godliness? It is not superstition. It means, indeed, a serving God &ldquo;with reverence and godly fear;&rdquo; but this fear is not that which hath torment in it. It is not a slavish fear, but a filial fear. &ldquo;We have not received the spirit of bondage again, to fear; but the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,&rdquo; and &ldquo;have boldness and access with confidence, by the faith of him.&rdquo; It is not enthusiasm. Though it leads us to set our affections on things above, and induces us to &ldquo;seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,&rdquo; it does not forbid the common enjoyments of life; neither does it draw us away from the concerns of the life that now is. It does not erect religion upon the destruction of humanity. It is zeal that warms the blood, but does not burn up the brains.<p>Godliness is more than morality. We do not depreciate morality; godliness provides for it, and includes it. The apostle, in addition to our living soberly and righteously, adds, &ldquo;and godly in this present world.&rdquo; It is not profession: it is more than profession. A man may have a name to live while he is dead, and wear the form of godliness while he denies the power thereof. A godly man may be contrasted with a worldly man: a man of this world is one who makes the world his portion, is governed by its maxims, worships its god, obeys its prince, and walks according to the course of it; the world is every thing to him. So with regard to a godly man. He derives his character entirely from God, and God to him is all in all.<p>Now, such a man as this is with God on the Sabbath, but then he does not leave him through the week; he is in the fear of the Lord all the day long, and every day. This godliness leads him to the sanctuary, and he loves the place where God&rsquo;s honour dwells. But it leads him also into the closet, where he prays to his Father who seeth in secret. It rules him also in his family, and he says, with Joshua, &ldquo;As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.&rdquo; He has there an altar for God, on which he offers the morning and evening sacrifices of prayer and praise; he walks by the rule of God&rsquo;s word. Yes, his godliness is not merely a habit: &rsquo;tis a nature; &rsquo;tis a life; &rsquo;tis a divine nature: it is the life of God in the soul of man. Such a man is concerned, &ldquo;whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, to do all to the glory of God.&rdquo;<p>Now, as to the degree of godliness to which we have already attained: we may judge very much of it by this one thing,-by the pleasure we feel in divine things; we are godly in proportion as our duties become our privileges, and in proportion as we hold communion and habitual intercourse with God. He must abound in godliness who is able to say, &ldquo;My meditation of him shall be sweet.&rdquo; &ldquo;My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in the night-watches.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? - <a href='B:670 3:13'>1Pe 3:13</a>. </i><p>WHATEVER difficulties there may be in the way of reconciling the providence of God with the promises of his word, this Scripture must be true notwithstanding all these. But let us see whether we cannot remove any such apparent contradictions. In attempting this, we may remark three things. The first regards the language of the apostle. A writer can hardly ever make use of a proposition, however just, general, and universal it may be, but it allows of and requires some exception and some qualification. And as to the sacred writers, they always express themselves very strongly upon the present subject, to make an impression thereby, regardless of qualifications and exceptions for the time. There are such qualifications and exceptions, but they are found in other places. Our Lord said to his followers, &ldquo;Take no thought for the morrow;&rdquo; and in the Book of Proverbs, prudence, forecast, and diligence are enjoined. &ldquo;Look well to thy flocks and thy herds, for riches are not forever.&rdquo; And we may observe that the sacred writers express themselves according to the common and natural and the proper appearances and operations of things, regardless of their accidental and occasional deviations. Thus, we read, the &ldquo;wicked flee when no man pursueth;&rdquo; that is, they often flee; their principles tend to cowardice. On the other hand, we read that the righteous is &ldquo;bold as a lion.&rdquo; He is not always so; but his principles lead to this, and demand this. So the apostle here tells us that the people of God may and ought to reckon on the divine protection.<p>The second thing regards the probability of their escaping harm; and we here observe,-First, That religion cuts off from good men many occasions of evil and injury. A meek temper, like wool, deadens the force of a blow. Who but a coward would strike one that he knew would not and could not strike again? Then we observe that, though men are depraved, there are yet in them the remains of reason and courage; the character and carriage of good men often excite respect in their enemies. &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said Saul to David, &ldquo;many times thou art more righteous than I.&rdquo; Thus it was with Pharaoh, when he said to men he had repeatedly driven from his presence, &ldquo;Entreat the Lord for me.&rdquo; Thus Balaam said, &ldquo;Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.&rdquo; There is often something within wicked men that tells them that truth, and righteousness, and God, are on the side of those they are opposing. We may also observe that though they cannot like in good men any thing that is really spiritual, yet there are other things in them that they do like. They do not like their repentance towards God, and their faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; yet they do like their honesty, and their diligence, and their morality. Even Hume, the deist, thought it was better for the common people to believe the Scriptures. And once more: though men hate religion, they do not always like to oppose it openly and directly. They know that this would bring upon them disgrace, especially in a religious country, and therefore they lay hold of something else,-something that is extraneous. But when Christians live and act as they ought, they furnish nothing for these men to lay hold of.<p>The third regards the alleviations of those evils which we allow may befall real Christians. They may suffer, but we observe nothing can befall them of this kind without the knowledge and permission of their God. All events are under his direction, and all hearts are in his hand. Christians may suffer, but the injury is only temporary. They may suffer, but the injury is only partial. It cannot reach any of their higher interests. Therefore our Saviour said, &ldquo;Fear not them that are able to kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The hope laid up for you in heaven. - <a href='B:580 1:5'>Col 1:5</a>. </i><p>NOW, from this definition of hope we are able to ascertain the place of its existence and residence. This is earth; hope is confined to earth. There is no hope in hell, for there neither good nor relief can ever enter:-&ldquo;They shall seek death, but death shall fly from them.&rdquo; In vain did the rich man implore a drop of water to cool his parched tongue. Father Abraham told him that between him and happiness there was a great gulf fixed, which he could not pass over. Where is the wretch on earth that hope never reaches? But, says Milton, there <p>&ldquo;Hope never comes, that comes to all.&rdquo; </i><p>There is no hope in heaven. There consummation prevents it; there every desire is fulfilled. &ldquo;They hunger no more, nor thirst any more.&rdquo; &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness;&rdquo; &ldquo;Then that which is perfect shall be come, and that which is in part shall be done away.&rdquo;<p>Earth, therefore, is the only abode of hope; earth is suspended between the other two worlds. It is a mixed state of good and evil: the evil is not enough to exclude hope, and the good is not enough to dispense with it. &ldquo;Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble;&rdquo; &ldquo;Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward;&rdquo; and whatever direction life takes in his experience, it is through a vale of tears. By the fall, man was deprived of the tree of life, of the image and presence of God, and even hope itself was lost; but by the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus, it was recovered; and not only recovered, but improved. Our renewed state is far superior to our original state. By the Incarnation, the Lord of angels is our Brother. In his righteousness we are not only justified, but exalted. He came, not only that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly.<p>The object of the Christian&rsquo;s hope is principally and peculiarly in heaven. As the apostle here says, &ldquo;The hope that is laid up for you in heaven;&rdquo; and with regard to this, all language fails, and all conception fails too. We are expressly informed that &ldquo;Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.&rdquo; &ldquo;It doth not yet appear what we shall be.&rdquo; What do we know now of the meaning of seeing God? What do we know now of a spiritual body? What do we know now of the various powers that may be enjoyed when mortality drops off from us? No; it is impossible to do any thing like justice to the subject. We have no images that can fully express it; we have no medium through which we can adequately view it. No; we have not eyes for the brilliancy, nor ears for the harmony, nor powers to bear up under that &ldquo;far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;&rdquo; and &ldquo;flesh and blood can no more understand than they can inherit the kingdom of God.&rdquo;<p>But though the object of the Christian&rsquo;s hope is peculiarly and principally above,-and there the Christian has a better and an enduring substance,-yet even here he has pledges of it, he has the earnest of it, he has the first-fruits, he has the foretastes. Even here <p>&ldquo;The men of grace have found <p> Glory begun below.&rdquo; </i><p>And Watts says,- <p>&ldquo;When Christ, with all his beauties crown&rsquo;d, <p> Sheds his bright beams abroad, &rsquo;<p>Tis a young heaven on earthly ground, <p> And glory in the bud.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Good hope. - <a href='B:600 2:16'>2Th 2:16</a>. </i><p>THE object of our present inquiry regards the excellency of the Christian&rsquo;s hope. It is &ldquo;a good hope through grace.&rdquo; Now, there are three ways in which a hope may be said to be good. First, Because of its object. Secondly, Because of its warrant. Thirdly, Because of its influence. It is the first of these to which we shall at present confine our remarks. What the object of the Christian&rsquo;s hope is, we may gather from the apostle&rsquo;s prayer in behalf of the Ephesians:-&ldquo;That the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of your calling,&rdquo;-the hope which they had, for which they are called by the gospel; therefore he adds, &ldquo;and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.&rdquo;<p>The object of this hope, therefore, embraces all that is contained in the Scriptures of truth, all that is contained in the new and &ldquo;everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.&rdquo; It takes in the idea of suitableness; it is infinitely adapted to all our woes, to all our wants, and to all our weaknesses. If I am guilty, it brings me pardon; if I am enslaved, it brings me deliverance; if I am sick, it brings me health and cure; if I am poor, it brings me riches, unsearchable riches, the riches of grace. And there is an all-sufficiency in it. Its privileges extend as far as the curse is found; for, says the apostle, &ldquo;Where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound.&rdquo;<p>It is a very pleasing consideration that it is all-sufficient for others as well as for ourselves; for our dear children, for our dear friends, for our neighbours, for our nation, and for the world at large. It is not a morsel, therefore, to be eaten alone. It is, as Isaiah calls it, a feast of fat things made upon a mountain and for all nations. And it has duration. It is &ldquo;permanency that adds bliss to bliss,&rdquo; says Dr. Young; we are assured that mortality is the disguise of every thing human. <p>&ldquo;All, all on earth is shadow.&rdquo; </i><p>What can we place our affections upon that is abiding? The hosannas of today are the &ldquo;Crucify him&rdquo; of to-morrow, so vain is the present evil world. What is wealth? &ldquo;Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away.&rdquo; What is health? what is our strength? &ldquo;Our strength is not the strength of stones, nor our bones brass, nor our dear connections abiding.&rdquo; Who has not sighed, &ldquo;Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness&rdquo;? But there all is lasting; there are pleasures for evermore. There is not only a crown, but &ldquo;a crown of glory that fadeth not away;&rdquo; not only salvation, but &ldquo;everlasting salvation;&rdquo; not only life, but &ldquo;life eternal.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. - <a href='B:680 2:9'>2Pe 2:9</a>. </i><p>WE have here to consider a gracious assurance, and we observe that &ldquo;the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations&rdquo; in three ways. The First is, By exemption; that is, by preventing them. This may not seem so easily inferred; but the connection of the words leads to this: Peter is speaking of exemption from sufferings, and shows us how in this way the Lord knows how to deliver his people. Thus, he speaks of Lot being delivered from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus, he speaks of Noah as being exempted when the flood came upon the world of the ungodly. Thus, he placed a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and, while the former were enveloped in darkness, the other had light in all their dwellings. And so in the prophecies of Ezekiel we see how God ordered a mark to be set on the foreheads of the men that sighed for the abominations that were done in the land; and what an order was given to the men who had a weapon,-not to approach any man upon whom was the mark! In public and private calamities God knows how to deliver his people; and with regard to any trial he knows how to screen them, and will do so if it be for their profit. Thus he says, by Isaiah, &ldquo;Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until these calamities be overpast.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, By preservation; not only by exempting them from trials, but in preserving them. Observe in this instance that while the afflictions are not removed, but allowed to continue, his people are kept from the evil of them; and there are many in a state of suffering that can only be preserved by the grace of God. Thus, we may despise the chastening of the Lord, or we may faint in the day of adversity. We may envy others who have not the same trials; we may charge God foolishly, or with being unkind; we may murmur or complain; we may sometimes be ready to look up and curse God to his face.<p>Now, what a mercy is it in our afflictions to be preserved from all this! It is, therefore, mentioned as a kind of moral wonder with regard to Job, &ldquo;In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.&rdquo; What a blessing is it to have realized in our experience the language of Elihu, &ldquo;He delivereth the poor in his afflictions,&rdquo; when he does not deliver him out of them! But then there is another way in which he knows how to deliver the godly. This was the case with Job and David, and many others, who could even say, &ldquo;It is good for me that I have been afflicted&rdquo; by emancipating them from their sufferings. The apostle therefore tells the Corinthians that &ldquo;nothing had befallen them but that which was common to man, and that with the temptation God would make a way of escape, so that they might be able to bear it.&rdquo; We see how often he has delivered his people, according to the instances recorded in Scripture. He knew how to deliver Job and Moses, and the three Hebrew children and Daniel. Many of these deliverances, indeed, were miraculous, and we are not now to look for miracles; but he who performed them is the living God, &ldquo;the same yesterday, today, and forever.&rdquo; He could do now as formerly, and <p>&ldquo;Sooner all nature shall change, <p> Than one of his promises fail.&rdquo; </i><p>Well, this deliverance is twofold,-partial here: from how many afflictions and trials has God already delivered us! but now &ldquo;the clouds return after the rain.&rdquo; &ldquo;Deep calleth unto deep:&rdquo; as long as we are here we may look for sorrows of some kind or other, but at death the deliverance will be complete. Death is a blessed thing with regard to Christians: it is from all sorrow, and to all joy,-it is from all evil, and to all good,-that death conducts them.<p>Soon nothing will remain of all the sufferings of the godly but a remembrance of the hand that sustained him under them and that freed him from them. He will then be able exultingly to sing, &ldquo;Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling;&rdquo; and then will be fulfilled the promise, &ldquo;Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Show me a token for good. - <a href='B:230 86:17'>Psa 86:17</a>. </i><p>THE words before us are the language of David; and, oh, how many, since he used them, have made them their own! How many pious Jews, and how many real Christians, have said, &ldquo;Show me a token for good&rdquo;! &ldquo;A token&rdquo; is something added to a promise. A man promises to do something for us, and, in order to confirm our confidence, he offers a favour as a token that he will give the rest. A token in some respects resembles a pledge; still more, it resembles an earnest, only with this difference:- an earnest is always a part of what is to be given. A pledge is a token, inasmuch as it constitutes a practical confirmation and assurance of the rest. Let us, therefore, consider what the believer is desirous of obtaining. We hear mankind say, &ldquo;Oh that I had a token for good,&rdquo; that I should succeed in the formation of such a connection in life, that I may gain such an office, that I may amass such a fortune, that I may complete such an enterprise: &ldquo;what shall I eat, and what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?&rdquo; But while Christians are at present in the world, and are likely to be affected with its vanities, they are not, they cannot be, of the world as others are. No; they are born from above and bound for glory. There is their inheritance, and there will they reside forever; and they often say,- <p>&ldquo;There my best friends, my kindred, dwell, <p> There God my Saviour reigns.&rdquo; </i><p>The Christian, therefore, feels that he is a stranger and a pilgrim; he has no continuing-city here, but he seeks one to come; he no longer seeks that for his portion which is only intended for his passage and designed for his accommodation; and while many say, &ldquo;Who will show us any good?&rdquo; his language is, &ldquo;Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me;&rdquo; while he: is thankful for earthly blessings, he feels his need of blessings relating to the soul and eternity,-blessings that can afford him security and satisfaction, and upon the possession of which his happiness absolutely depends. He therefore says, with Watts,- <p>&ldquo;To thee we owe our wealth and friends, <p> Our health and safe abode; <p> Thanks to thy name for meaner things <p> But these are not my God.&rdquo; </i><p>Or with our favourite poet,- <p>&ldquo;Give what thou wilt, without thee we are poor, <p> And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.&rdquo; </i><p>He now &ldquo;seeks the kingdom of God and his righteousness,&rdquo; and &ldquo;sets his affections on things above:&rdquo; now his treasure is in heaven; he has now new views, new wants, new desires. Witness his aim:-&ldquo;That I may win Christ and be found in him.&rdquo; Witness his inquiries now:-&ldquo;How shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?&rdquo; Witness his desires now:-&ldquo;Remember me with the favour which thou bearest unto thy people.&rdquo; He hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He now views the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant, which are hanging on the boughs of the promises, and longs to gather them as his own. He sees Christians feasting on the provisions of the gospel, and he says, &ldquo;Ye are the happy ones: how I envy you! Is there a place for me by your side? and can I find a welcome there with you? Oh to be able to say, &lsquo;Thou hast given me the heritage of them that fear thee&rsquo;!&rdquo; Thus it was with Nehemiah; he said, &ldquo;Remember me, O Lord, for good.&rdquo; Thus it was with David, who here says, &ldquo;Show me a token for good;&rdquo; and thus it is with the believer who is desirous of obtaining this blessing. 


devotion:
<i> Who hath disposed the whole world. - <a href='B:220 34:13'>Job 34:13</a>. </i><p>IT becomes us to entertain proper apprehensions of him with whom we have to do; and various are the characters by which he is represented in the Scriptures of truth. The most interesting and endearing is, &ldquo;The Saviour of sinners.&rdquo; The most awful is, &ldquo;The Judge of all, who will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil.&rdquo; But, besides these, he is the &ldquo;Maker,&rdquo; the &ldquo;Preserver,&rdquo; he is the &ldquo;Ruler,&rdquo; he is the &ldquo;Disposer&rdquo; of all; for when Elihu asks, &ldquo;Who hath disposed the whole world?&rdquo; we are naturally, we are necessarily, led to him. Let us therefore consider God&rsquo;s all-disposing agency, and endeavour to improve it:- <p>&ldquo;Great God, from thee we spring, to thee we tend; <p> Our medium, way, original, and end.&rdquo; </i><p>We see Elihu does not refer to an individual, or a family, or a nation only, but to the whole world. He is the Disposer of the whole world of nature. So in the original creation, as related by Moses, it is said, &ldquo;In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.&rdquo; Every thing was arranged with order and with propriety. There was the day and the night, the various species and productions; and when the whole was finished God looked upon all &ldquo;that he had made, and behold, it was very good.&rdquo; And then the Psalmist says, &ldquo;The day is thine; the night also is thine.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thou hast made summer and winter; thou hast appointed the moon for seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down.&rdquo; &ldquo;He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.&rdquo; What man can produce, man can comprehend. The more we examine a piece of human workmanship the less wonder we feel, because we find it can be understood, and see that it is capable of alterations and improvements, or at least we find it is limited and finite. But it is otherwise with the work of God. Here nothing is superfluous,-nothing wanting, -nothing can be improved. Here we find ourselves not only on the verge of perfection, but also of infinity. &ldquo;Lift up your eyes on high,&rdquo; says Isaiah, &ldquo;and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.&rdquo; What an arrangement is there in all those numbers and immense worlds which God hath created!<p>Observe their distances and revolutions: even the comet has a prescribed course from which it never deviates. Dr. Young says, &ldquo;An undevout astronomer is mad.&rdquo; And David says, &ldquo;He hangeth the earth upon nothing.&rdquo; &ldquo;The earth is full of his goodness.&rdquo; If we lay down the telescope and take up the microscope, and, after surveying the perfections of God in the grandeur of his works, examine their minuteness, we shall see that &ldquo;He is wonderful in counsel, and mighty in working.&rdquo; What perfection is there in the construction of the human frame! what contrivance and adaptation in the eye and ear!<p>How well may we say, with David, &ldquo;I am fearfully and wonderfully made!&rdquo; If in the arrangement of things in the natural world any thing should appear strange or useless,-for instance, the disproportion between water and land; between the frozen regions and the burning climes; in regard to sandy deserts, ravenous beasts, poisonous reptiles,-let us remember our ignorance, and think how impossible it is for us to ascertain the end and design of many things; so that what we may deem an injury may be a real advantage or excellence. A certain king who studied astronomy thought he could discover some imperfection or irregularities in the system, and said, &ldquo;If I had been by the Maker of the world when he made it, I would have given him some advice.&rdquo; Instead of falling into such blasphemy, let us rather say, with Isaiah, &ldquo;With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment?&rdquo; &ldquo;His understanding is infinite.&rdquo; &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;that men should magnify my works which they behold.&rdquo; Even we lament there are so few real lovers of nature; and where persons admire it, how often do they pass by the workman while they behold the works! Thus they are found to love and serve the creature more than the Creator. If we are struck with a single instance of God&rsquo;s arrangement in the world of nature, how much more should we be impressed with the whole, if we were, in a proper state of mind, and if God were in all our thoughts! 


devotion:
<i> Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by tioo immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. - <a href='B:650 6:17-18'>Heb 6:17-18</a>. </i><p>AS the object of the Christian&rsquo;s hope is important and immense, it is obvious it ought to be well founded. A large and lofty structure requires a sure and safe foundation. If a man were erecting an edifice like St. Paul&rsquo;s, he would be much more concerned to look after the safety of the foundation than if he were only going to build a mud hovel. If a man were going to purchase a house in which his wife and children were to reside, and which was to contain all his treasure, and knew it was exposed to floods and winds, he would inquire whether it was founded upon a rock, or upon the sand. Now, let us observe what a foundation is laid for the salvation of the immortal soul. If this were to give way, the crash would be heard beyond the stars. Let us therefore look at the soundness of the believer&rsquo;s hope: it is a rock; it is &ldquo;the Rock of Ages;&rdquo; it is firmer than the course of nature, surer than the earth or the heaven. &ldquo;Heaven and earth,&rdquo; says the Saviour, &ldquo;shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.&rdquo;<p>The hope of the believer is founded on the word of God. We may trust in the word of a man and be ruined, but &ldquo;the word of the Lord endureth forever.&rdquo; We know that human promises often fail; but even Balaam said, &ldquo;The Lord is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.&rdquo; &ldquo;All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea; and in him amen, to the glory of God by us.&rdquo; Oh, how delightful would it be to find, as we go along through the Bible, how, though God has often raised the confidence of his people, yet that he has never suffered them to be deceived; and to hear the language of the church, &ldquo;As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our God;&rdquo; to hear Joshua say, &ldquo;You know in all your hearts that not one good thing hath failed us of all that the Lord hath spoken;&rdquo; to hear Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, say, &ldquo;What thou spakest with thy mouth thou hast fulfilled with thy hand as it is this day.&rdquo; Again, not only have we, as the foundation of our hope, his word, but also his oath:-&ldquo;For God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsels, hath confirmed it by an oath.&rdquo; &ldquo;As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.&rdquo; &ldquo;I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.&rdquo; &ldquo;For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters shall no more cover the earth, so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee, nor forsake thee.&rdquo;<p>A bad man may swear as well as lie; and not long ago Judge Barrow said, &ldquo;False swearing in this court is as common as the sand on the beach.&rdquo; But sure it is not possible for us to impute lying and perjury to a God of truth and righteousness, and whom we so frequently call the true God, and &ldquo;whose faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.&rdquo; Then we may observe that that oath is accompanied with a sacrifice,-the sacrifice of his own Son. God remembers the blood of the everlasting covenant in his dealings with his people, and he says, &ldquo;By the blood of the covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.&rdquo; A man may promise, a man may give pledges, sincerely designing at the time to make good his engagements; but his means and his resources may fail.<p>But is the Lord&rsquo;s hand shortened? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? If he does not find means, cannot he furnish them? Does he find any difficulty? Is what is marvellous to us marvellous to him? Has he not taught us to sing, &ldquo;Now, unto him that is able to do for us exceeding abundant above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us&rdquo;? 


devotion:
<i> Who hath disposed the whole world. - <a href='B:220 34:13'>Job 34:13</a>. </i><p>THE Lord is also the Disposer of the whole world of grace. He hath said, making the comparison himself, &ldquo;Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.&rdquo; Here &ldquo;he works all things after the counsel of his own will.&rdquo; Hence, says the apostle, &ldquo;he hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling; not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.&rdquo;<p>Observe here, he speaks not only of grace, but of the purpose of grace. There was nothing left unappointed or unarranged. He tells us that &ldquo;God hath appointed us to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ;&rdquo; and he calls this God&rsquo;s own purpose, peculiarly his own, preeminently his own, which is to bring glory to him in the highest. The scheme stretches from eternity to eternity, and in every part of it we see God &ldquo;abounding towards us in all wisdom and prudence.&rdquo; The season in which the Messiah was to appear was arranged by infinite wisdom, which is called the &ldquo;fulness of time.&rdquo; He arranged every thing pertaining to the gospel dispensation. We see, in reading the Acts of the Apostles, how these apostles were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to go in one direction, and their feet turned into another. While God sometimes giveth not any account of his matters, he has reasons for what he does satisfactory to himself.<p>The Christian must walk by faith, and say in many instances, with our divine Lord, &ldquo;Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight.&rdquo; What seems good to us may be evil; what seems good to him must accord with reality, for his judgment is always according to truth. Thus he arranges every thing in the Christian church. The apostle, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, says, &ldquo;Now, there are diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administration, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same Lord which worketh all in all.&rdquo; &ldquo;But all these worketh that one and the same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.&rdquo; &ldquo;Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?&rdquo; &ldquo;He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.&rdquo;<p>The same may be exemplified with regard to every individual who is the subject of divine grace; for, as the apostle says, &ldquo;We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.&rdquo; So that there has not any thing been left to accident; but all has been arranged by infinite wisdom. The time of their conversion, the place too,-perhaps on a journey of business, or perhaps on a visit of friendship; and the manner too,-sometimes by the impressions of terror, and sometimes by a promise of love; and the means also,-perhaps a tract, or a book, or a sermon, or a wise reproof or admonition:-all has transpired according to his purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began. 


devotion:
<i> Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. - <a href='B:500 4:35'>Joh 4:35</a>. </i><p>AFTER expressing his own regard to the work given him to do, our Saviour stimulates his disciples to similar zeal. For this purpose he employs several arguments borrowed from husbandry, The first is taken from the necessity for exertion. When the grain is ripe the sickle must be thrust in. The crop must be gathered in. The season is short, and every other concern is expected to give place to the reapers&rsquo; toil. Now, so it is here. You say, said our Lord to his disciples, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest; and you say well, for so it is. But with regard to the spiritual harvest, the harvest of souls, this is now arrived:-&ldquo;Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest;&rdquo; that is, they were to consider the disposition of the people who are now within view. This teaches us that when the attention of the people is awakened, and numbers press to hear, it is a favourable opening, which should excite and encourage diligent and prayerful efforts.<p>The second is taken from the profitableness of their exertion. &ldquo;He that reapeth receiveth wages.&rdquo; Thus Christians are taught that their &ldquo;labour is not in vain in the Lord; and that their work is important, for as the result of their labouring for the everlasting salvation of precious souls, they gather fruit unto life eternal.&rdquo; And accordingly the husbandman, and those who had been employed by him in preparing the soil and in securing the produce, partook of the entertainment provided at the end of the harvest; so here with regard to the Lord&rsquo;s servants engaged in carrying on the varied processes of their spiritual husbandry, however varied their capacities, offices, and influences, &ldquo;he that soweth and he that reapeth will rejoice together.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> One soweth and another reapeth. - <a href='B:500 4:37'>Joh 4:37</a>. </i><p>WITH regard to incitements to diligence and zeal in the spiritual husbandry, we may ground an argument for them from the facility of exertion. There was a common saying in our Lord&rsquo;s days, to the effect that some men often obtained advantages for which others had laboured. &ldquo;One soweth and another reapeth;&rdquo; and this, says our Lord, is true of the spiritual labourer. &ldquo;I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour; other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.&rdquo; This is to be understood as not having reference so much to the present instance of the interest manifested by the Samaritans, as applying to the labours of those holy men, Moses, the prophets, and John the Baptist, who had prepared the way of the Lord.<p>These had raised expectations of the Messiah, and described so fully his person, work, and sufferings, that the apostles only preached what they had prophesied. And this will apply to the Lord&rsquo;s servants now. Those Christians who are engaged in rendering assistance to the Lord&rsquo;s work are deriving great and unspeakable advantages from the labours of the apostles, and of their successors, the confessors and martyrs, ministers, and godly men, since their days. What reason have we to bless God for their writings! How thankful should we be for the translators of the Scriptures! What do we owe to their labours and sufferings! They resisted unto blood, striving against sin, and, by the loss of their lives, procured for us civil and religious liberty. Surely, other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours.<p>This should encourage us. Men may be useful, though their names may not appear till after their death; and this should humble us, seeing that the success with which our efforts may be honoured is more derived from others who have preceded us, than ourselves,-perhaps in answer to their prayers, or in consequence of their labours. 


devotion:
<i> He doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. - <a href='B:250 8:3'>Ecc 8:3</a>. </i><p>WHILE the God of the whole earth seems to be doing nothing, he is doing all things according to the counsel of his own will; for he does according to his will in the &ldquo;armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth; none can stay his hand, or say, What doest thou?&rdquo; Now, when we glance our eyes over the world and the present state of the earth, it may appear to us in great confusion; but what is confusion to us may be order to him; what is deformity to us may be beauty to him. &ldquo;Hence,&rdquo; says Elihu, &ldquo;he shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.&rdquo; He doeth it; he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he causeth empires to fade or flourish, to rise or sink, at his pleasure; and disposeth the whole so as to show they are in his hands more so than the clay is in the hands of the potter.<p>He called Nebuchadnezzar his servant. He was the rod of his indignation, and the rod of his anger, with which he punished the nations of the earth and severely chastised his own people, the Jews; &ldquo;he meant not so, neither did his heart think so.&rdquo; The passions of men are under his control:-&ldquo;He maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath he restrains.&rdquo; We have seen the owner of a mill drawing up the hatch and letting out as much water as the grinding required, and then letting it down and restraining it. We have many specimens of God&rsquo;s providence recorded in the Scriptures of truth. We may take, for instance, the case of Joseph, and consider the circumstances of that young man&rsquo;s life. &ldquo;What a scene of suffering did he pass through! During what a length of time did things grow worse and worse, and darker and darker! We see him sold to the Ishmaelites,-thrown into prison, where the iron enters his very soul. Then things began to turn. The chief baker and the chief butler dream; Joseph interprets; the chief butler mentions him to Pharaoh; he appears before him&rdquo; and interprets his dream; and soon after we see him step into the second chariot and become the governor of Egypt. Hear what Joseph said when he made himself known to his brethren:- &ldquo;Come near to me, I pray you; and they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life.&rdquo; He observed the hand of God:-&ldquo;You intended it for evil, but God meant it for good.&rdquo;<p>Then let us observe how the Jewish male children were doomed to perish at the time Moses was born; and how the babe&rsquo;s fine countenance pleaded for him. His parents saw that he was a goodly child, and hid him three months, till they could conceal him no longer. They then make an ark of bulrushes, and pitch it within and without, and place it among the flags in the river; and his sister is to walk up and down carelessly to see what would become of the child. Pharaoh&rsquo;s daughter comes down to the river; her eye catches sight of the ark. &ldquo;Fetch it to me,&rdquo; she said, and added, &ldquo;This is one of the Hebrew&rsquo;s children.&rdquo; The babe weeps, and she had compassion on it; a nurse is to be provided for it, and this nurse is his own mother. He is brought up at court in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and becomes the deliverer of the Jews, and the prophet of the Lord.<p>In this we behold a specimen of superintending providence; and what renders it more worthy of our regard is, that there is nothing miraculous in it. Such instances of providence have been at work everywhere ever since; they have been at work in our own history. Yes; God hath fixed the bounds of our habitation, as Newton sings:- <p>&ldquo;His decree that forrn&rsquo;d the earth <p> Fix&rsquo;d my first and second birth; <p> Parents, native place, and time, <p> All appointed were by him.&rdquo; </i><p>Had we been previously informed of some events in our lives, we should have exclaimed, &ldquo;Impossible! If the Lord should make windows in heaven, may this thing be.&rdquo; As to our trials, none of these have been casual: no, they have been all ordered; neither can we imagine that &ldquo;affliction cometh forth of the dust, nor that trouble springs out of the ground.&rdquo; Job says, &ldquo;Thou hast taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces.&rdquo; &ldquo;He performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.&rdquo;<p>Oh, were we able to view these things as God does, we should see in them all his manifold wisdom. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; some one is ready to say, &ldquo;if he had afflicted me in any thing else, I could have borne it!&rdquo; But this is the peculiarity of the affliction that shows the effect and design of it. Verily, he has opened a right vein; he has touched a right part,-that which was most susceptible of feeling, without which our afflictions will do us no good. And if we were in the mood of David, we should say, &ldquo;I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I will direct their way. - <a href='B:290 61:8'>Isa 61:8</a>. </i><p>WE may here make four suppositions. The first is, suppose our affairs were left to chance. Would we like that? Would we like to rise in the morning and look upon some beloved relative pining away by some mortal sickness, and brood upon the thought that we have nothing to comfort us but this dismal reflection,- that all is left to chance or accident?<p>The second supposition is, that our affairs are left to our own order and arrangement, Should we not tremble at such a thought, and say, &ldquo;My ignorance unfits me for it; I know not what is good in this vain life, which is spent as a shadow. For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?&rdquo; We have often been mistaken both on the side of hopes and fears. We have often desired that which would have been for our injury, and shunned that which would have been for our advantage. &ldquo;The way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.&rdquo; Our impatience unfits us for it. God is a God of judgment. He knows best when to yield us supplies; but, like an impatient child, we desire the fruit before it is ripe. Our carnality unfits us for it. &ldquo;We are so worldly-minded, and our souls so cleave to the dust, that we should be liable to sacrifice our best interests for the gratification of some earthly good. Our selfishness unfits us for it. We should think too much of our own concerns, and not enough of those of others.<p>The third supposition is, that our affairs should be left to the management of some fellow-creature. Who should we choose for this purpose? Not an enemy, for certain, but a friend. What friend? One who knows us best. There is much folded up in our character that our most intimate connections know nothing of. Would we have a partial friend? Ah, that partiality would most likely insure our injury and ruin. Then, should it be an angel? When God offered an angel to Moses, he declined to accept him, and told God that unless he himself went with him he would not move. &ldquo;If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.&rdquo;<p>Well, then, the fourth supposition is, that our affairs are left to the disposal of God himself. This is the source of our consolation. Ah, we say, will this Lord of glory condescend to be our Father and our Friend? Will he undertake our cause, and manage all for us by the way and to the end? Oh, then we may rejoice that all our times are in his hand, and all our concerns at his disposal. <p>&ldquo;Oh, who so fit to choose our lot <p> And regulate our ways&rdquo; </i><p>as the only wise God? and who so worthy of all the confidence of our hearts as a Being who spared not his own Son, but sacrificed him for our salvation? Here Christians may find a never failing source of consolation, and a joy which no man taketh from them. 


devotion:
<i> Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord. - <a href='B:230 119:65'>Psa 119:65</a>. </i><p>LET us beware of reflecting on him. He does as he pleaseth; he putteth down one and setteth up another. Suppose a fellowcreature succeeded more than ourselves; suppose he has greater talents than we possess; suppose he is placed in a higher situation than ourselves: whose arrangement is this the effect of? And may not God do what he will with his own? We are to leave others to his disposal as well as ourselves; and we may learn from this consideration, &ldquo;In whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content;&rdquo; yes, &ldquo;and in every thing to give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning us.&rdquo; Let us remember this in two cases. Let us think of it when we look back upon our past life. God said to Moses, &ldquo;Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness.&rdquo;<p>Life would be a poor business in review unless we could connect God with it, with its crosses and with its comforts. Have we failed in our plans? have our purposes been broken off, even the thoughts of our hearts? have we been sent back in life, or put down? Who has done it? We learn from David: he says, &ldquo;I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.&rdquo; We learn from Job. Job was stripped of all; yet he says, &ldquo;The Lord hath taken away.&rdquo; Would Job think of commencing an action against God for damages? So far from it that he said, &ldquo;Blessed be the name of the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Or are we looking forward? who can avoid it? We know not what a day nor an hour may bring forth; we cannot pierce through these futurities and uncertainties. But we can think of God&rsquo;s all-disposing agency, and say, With him I leave myself; with him I leave my beloved relatives; with him I leave my business; with him I leave every thing that can befall me. <p>&ldquo;My cares, I give you to the wind, <p> And shake you off like dust; <p>&ldquo;Well may I trust my all with him <p> With whom my soul I trust.&rdquo; </i><p>Christians may put themselves and all their concerns on board this vessel, and give to God the entire command of it. Let us not, under any circumstances, call him away from the helm, but leave him to manage all, and say, with David, unto the Lord, &ldquo;Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Thou, Lord, shalt choose my inheritance for me.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it he thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. - <a href='B:470 14:28-29'>Mat 14:28-29</a>. </i><p>A STORM at sea is one of the most sublime sights in all nature; hence it has frequently employed the painter&rsquo;s pencil and the poet&rsquo;s pen. What can be finer than the representation of David? -&ldquo;They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters,-these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit&rsquo;s end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they be quiet; so he bringeth them to their desired haven.&rdquo;<p>Matthew has furnished us with two beautiful sea-pieces: both happened on the same lake,-the Lake of Galilee. At each our Lord&rsquo;s disciples were on board a vessel, and sailed at his command; in both they encountered a storm, and were dismayed. In the first storm he was with them; but he was asleep, and they went to him, and awoke him, saying, &ldquo;Master, carest thou not that we perish?&rdquo; In the second he was absent. He had constrained his disciples to go into a ship while he sent the multitude away. &ldquo;He went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea; they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straight way Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I: be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.&rdquo;<p>The biography of Scripture is very brief, but impressive and discriminating: in no instance is this more obvious than in regard to Peter. Whenever introduced, he always appears before us in his own character; that is, with sanguine temperament and strong passions, exceedingly ardent and bold,-displaying more zeal than prudence,-speaking first and reflecting afterwards. Such men as these have their use and importance in the state or in the church; but it is not good for them to be alone; therefore we always find John accompanying Peter. Peter could animate John, and John could control Peter. The advantage of such a temper as this is to act with promptness and decision,-overcoming difficulties which others would stagger at, would reason about, consult, and hesitate, and be chilled, and turn back. The disadvantage of such a temper is this:-that it always renders the possessor liable to err on the side of doing too much, and getting into difficulties and embarrassments. This was the case with Peter, in a measure, in the instance before us; for as soon as our Saviour had said, &ldquo;Be of good cheer; it is I: be not afraid,&rdquo; Peter answered, &ldquo;Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.&rdquo; Still, there was affection in this. It reminds us of another instance when our Saviour appeared to some of his disciples at the Lake of Tiberias. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, &ldquo;It is the Lord; and Peter girt his fisher&rsquo;s coat about him, and cast himself into the sea to go to Jesus.&rdquo;<p>Love longs to be near the object of its affection; and as soon as he saw his Saviour, he wished to fly into his arms; but surely there was no need of such haste as this. We are not to be afraid of our trials, neither are we to seek after them. We are to take up our cross when it is in our way, but we are not to go out of our road in search of difficulties and dangers. We see, therefore, a very great difference in the first and second era of Christianity.<p>What God commands he will enable us to do, and he will accept our obedience. But with regard to other things we hear him say, &ldquo;Who hath required this at your hands?&rdquo; Our Lord told his disciples that when they were persecuted in one city they were to flee into another; and for a while they did this; but soon after we find persons longing for persecution, and anxious to become martyrs, and that their zeal required to be tempered with prudence, and soon, instead of comparative solitude and seclusion from the world, came in the doctrine of forbidding to marry, and of abstaining from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. But, while Peter here shows his imprudence, he also shows his wisdom in asking the permission of our Lord. He would not come down till he was bidden. &ldquo;And Jesus said, Come.&rdquo; Why did he indulge Peter? It was to try him: and here was great faith evinced by the apostle; for when Peter heard this he immediately left the ship and went to Jesus. 


devotion:
<i> But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? - <a href='B:470 14:30-31'>Mat 14:30-31</a>. </i><p>THE Apostle Paul speaks of the great things which faith has done;-that it can enable us to enter a lion&rsquo;s den, or to face a fiery furnace. Here we find it could lead a man to slip down the side of a ship and stand upon the bare water and walk there. But how long does this continue? Why, &ldquo;when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid.&rdquo; What a sudden change! And such changes are common in the experience of believers. What transitions are there in a day, or sometimes in an hour, from light to darkness, from liberty to bondage, from hope to fear, and from joy to sadness! We seldom continue long in one state. But what was it that produced this change? Oh, it was looking at the storm, and not looking to Jesus: had he looked at him, he would not have thus trembled. Moses endured, how? &ldquo;By seeing him who is invisible.&rdquo; &ldquo;Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.&rdquo; And how did he act? He did not consider the difficulties that stood in the way of the accomplishment of the divine promise, but rested on the assurance itself. &ldquo;He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giviug glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform.&rdquo;<p>Observe, while Peter thus trembled he cried out, &ldquo;Lord, save me.&rdquo; This is a proper prayer to be used by us in every emergency, and even in those afflictions which we bring upon ourselves. To whom in any of our distresses can we repair for succour, but to him who is &ldquo;the consolation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble&rdquo;? Oh, let us beware of other expedients. Beware of infidelity, beware of worldly dissipation, but have recourse to him who is the great burden-Bearer, and who is always nigh, and always saying, &ldquo;Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.&rdquo; It is well to observe to what our thoughts and desires first turn when we come into difficulties and distresses. Afflictions are designed to bring us to him in a way of prayer. But it is said of Asa, &ldquo;He sought to the physicians, and not to the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Observe, no sooner does Peter ask for help than he obtains it:-&ldquo;and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?&rdquo; And did he ever refuse any that sought him? Is he not more ready to hear than we are to pray? Is there a Christian to be found who has not had the promise verified,-&ldquo;Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear&rdquo;? But, while he gives Peter his hand and helps him, he administers unto him reproof:-&ldquo;O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?&rdquo; Did I not tell you to come? Was not I by your side? This doubting of Peter&rsquo;s does not refer to his eternal salvation, but to his sinking into the water; yet it will apply to the concerns of the soul and eternity. &ldquo;When we doubt, let us reflect on the truth of God, as well as upon his kindness, and remember that we rob ourselves of great consolation in religion, and stability in the divine life, by giving way to doubts; for the Scripture says, &ldquo;If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. - <a href='B:470 14:32-33'>Mat 14:32-33</a>. </i><p>THOUGH Christ reproved Peter, yet he heard his prayer and helped him; and so he did the father of the child who cried out with tears, &ldquo;Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.&rdquo; He was compelled to say, &ldquo;O faithless generation! how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you?&rdquo; but he said, &ldquo;Bring him unto me,&rdquo; and he healed him. We see that he came into the ship now, and would not continue longer walking on the sea, but makes use of the ship. Our Lord thus teaches us, that, when ordinary resources are sufficient, we are not to be looking after extraordinary means and expedients. And he did not enter the ship alone: &ldquo;they came;&rdquo; that is, Peter came with him. He might have left Peter on the sea, and said to him, &ldquo;This is what you wished; here you desired to come, and here you shall remain.&rdquo; But he would not deal with him according to his desert, but allowed him to enter with him. We may be sure Peter was delighted with the permission to re-enter. &ldquo;And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased;&rdquo; not before the storm had done its appointed work. It had tried the disciples; it had tried Peter; and now it was to proclaim the Saviour&rsquo;s power and authority, seeing that at his approach the wind ceased. We may apply this to another instance: when the Saviour enters the soul, however stormy its condition before, immediately there is a calm. &ldquo;By believing we enter into rest.&rdquo; &ldquo;Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.&rdquo; Then, &ldquo;we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have received the atonement.&rdquo;<p>Observe the effects of this interposition. First, Behold the confirmation of their faith. They now said, &ldquo;Of a truth thou art the Son of God.&rdquo; They knew this before, but now felt it with more confidence. The thing was as true before, but their belief of it was now increased and established.<p>Secondly, We see how it drew forth their admiration. &ldquo;They came and worshipped him,&rdquo; not only for what he was in himself, but for what he had now done. According to the promise, &ldquo;Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> A lively hope. - <a href='B:670 1:3'>1Pe 1:3</a>. </i><p>LET us regard the Christian&rsquo;s hope in reference to its influence. Hope is not a dormant principle, but a most stirring and active one. It is the mainspring of life. The plougher ploughs in hope, the sower sows in hope, the student studies in hope; nor can we imagine that the Christian&rsquo;s hope will put forth no energies, or that it will produce no effects. It is called not only a living, but a &ldquo;lively hope.&rdquo; We may remark here three things. First, This hope has a saving influence. &ldquo;We are saved by hope.&rdquo; This is literally true. Man fell by losing his confidence in God, and is only to be restored by the recovery of it. We never can effect any thing in the salvation of a sinner till we inspire him with &ldquo;everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace.&rdquo; The whole design of the Scriptures is to produce this; according to the apostle,-&ldquo;Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.&rdquo; And, says Peter, &ldquo;God raised him up and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.&rdquo;<p>Observe, this hope is a working, active principle. Despair freezes us and benumbs our exertion, blocks up the way to heaven, locks the gate of paradise, and flings the key into the bottomless pit.<p>Secondly, It has a sanctifying influence. Hence says the Apostle John, &ldquo;Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.&rdquo; The Holy Spirit always impresses the mind with the all-pervading presence of Jehovah, and moulds it after what it pursues and desires. This hope will induce the possessor to renounce what is incompatible with the divine will, and to persevere in the use of means until it succeeds and gains its end. &ldquo;Therefore,&rdquo; says the apostle to the Corinthians, &ldquo;having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Thirdly, It has a preserving influence. Hence it is called a helmet, &ldquo;and for a helmet the hope of salvation.&rdquo; As the helmet guards the head in the day of battle, so this hope guards the Christian. It guards him from worldly allurements, and vanities, and dissipations. Having tasted of the spring of living waters, the muddy puddle tempts them in vain; and having tasted of the grapes of Eschol, they no longer long after the leeks and the garlic of Egypt. Cattle are much more liable to break the bounds when kept on a narrow and barren common, than when feeding in green pastures and beside the living waters. The Christian can make his own comment upon this: he often says,- <p>&ldquo;Why should my foolish passions rove? <p> Where can such sweetness be <p> As I hare tasted in thy love, <p> As I have found in thee?&rdquo; </i><p>So also it preserves a Christian from error. It establishes his heart with grace; it confirms his confidence, so that he is &ldquo;strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; &ldquo;Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.&rdquo;<p>Fourthly, It has a quickening influence. &ldquo;Quicken thou me,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;according to thy word.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thy word hath quickened me.&rdquo; As this hope prevails in them, their strength is increased. &ldquo;They mount up with wings as eagles, they run and are not weary, they walk and are not faint.&rdquo; This hope, therefore, is to them as wind to the sails and as oil to the wheels. The advantages of this hope with regard to Christians are very great. They never walk so well in &ldquo;the fear of the Lord&rdquo; as when they walk in &ldquo;the comforts of the Holy Ghost.&rdquo; Again, it has a supporting influence: so says the apostle:-&ldquo;which hope we have both sure and steadfast.&rdquo; What the anchor is to the vessel, such is hope to the Christian amidst the trials and calamities of life. This hope in exercise enables the believer in Jesus not only to possess his soul in peace, but also to rejoice in tribulation.<p>So says the church:- &ldquo;Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and. there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. - <a href='B:230 35:3'>Psa 35:3</a>. </i><p>NOW, this supposes that a believer is not always in possession of the evidence he longs after. His interest in salvation is one thing, and his knowledge of it is another. A child may be heir to an estate, and not be conscious of it; but his ignorance of it in his infancy does not affect his title. Some say that the full assurance of faith is essential to a state of salvation. Indeed! The words &ldquo;full assurance of faith&rdquo; are used only once in Scripture, and are wrongly quoted. It occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews, meaning thereby a firm belief that God will view us through the blood of the atonement, and will receive us graciously for the sake of Christ. The apostle does not there intend a participation of our actual interest in the great salvation.<p>Persons often use this expression who are full of self-confidence; but if we judge of them by their tempers and conduct, we shall not be likely to think they are justified in using it according to their interpretation. The apostle makes use of the expression, &ldquo;full assurance of hope,&rdquo; and this we may employ. &ldquo;For we are saved by hope,&rdquo; and we &ldquo;rejoice in hope.&rdquo; It is by this hope that the experience of believers is here characterized; only this &ldquo;full assurance&rdquo; may be viewed in two ways:-the &ldquo;full assurance&rdquo; of victory as having risen above doubts and fears, and while conflicting with them. This latter will serve to describe the experience of a very large portion of the Lord&rsquo;s people. They frequently hesitate while attempting to draw conclusions in their own favour.<p>They therefore, with David, exclaim, &ldquo;Show me a token for good;&rdquo; and we find, upon examination, this anxiety arises from three things. First, From their great attachment to the object; for there is nothing they so much love and desire. Every thing else in comparison is less than nothing, and vanity. Now, no wonder such an attachment as this should make them alive to their danger of losing it.<p>Secondly, This anxiety arises from the danger of delusion; for this is possible. &ldquo;There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death.&rdquo; We are exposed to an enemy of whose devices we ought not to be ignorant, with whose numberless wiles we should be better acquainted. We know that &ldquo;the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.&rdquo; And a Christian, having been so frequently imposed upon by his own heart, is very suspicious of any thing encouraging coming from that old treacherous quarter, while he remembers the language of Solomon:-&ldquo;He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.&rdquo; A mistake here is not only possible, but common. Solomon tells us there is a whole generation of those self-deceivers:-&ldquo;There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness;&rdquo; and our Saviour tells us of a whole church who said, &ldquo;I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, and knew not that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.&rdquo; We read of some who are far from being godly, yet have &ldquo;no bands in their death, and their strength is firm;&rdquo; and of others who carry their confidence to the very last,-yea, up to the throne of God itself, saying, &ldquo;Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say, I know you not whence ye are. Then they shall begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets; but he shall say, I know ye not whence ye are. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.&rdquo;<p>Then, Thirdly, It arises from the dreadfulness of delusion. There is something very gloomy in disappointment, especially where the object of hope is very great and lovely and the expectation very warm and strong. Oh, the wretchedness of disappointment here! How blessed, then, is this assurance! Oh to be able to say, with the sweet Psalmist in our Israel,- <p>&ldquo;When I can say this 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> Behold, he taketh away; … who will say unto him, What doest thou? - <a href='B:220 9:12'>Job 9:12</a>. </i><p>FROM the recorded experience of the patriarch we may observe two things. First, That the people of God may suffer. They may &ldquo;eat the bread of adversity, and drink the water of affliction;&rdquo; their purposes may be broken off,-even the thoughts of their hearts,-their schemes frustrated; they may suffer calamity in their worldly circumstances, may be deprived of their beloved connections; they may suffer from the loss of health and friends;&rsquo; their trials may be painful and repeated, and deep may call unto deep, and they may exclaim, &ldquo;All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.&rdquo;<p>Secondly, We remark that the afflictions of the righteous come from God himself. We are not, in our conclusions concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, to stop at second causes, or ascribe them to the instrumentality of creatures, saying, It was that unlucky accident, that treacherous friend, that malicious adversary, that brought all this upon us. Let us rather say, with Eli, &ldquo;It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.&rdquo; The Chaldeans stripped Job of his substance, and the elements destroyed his family; but Job said, &ldquo;The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.&rdquo; This was not only a just but a very profitable conclusion. Behold, he taketh away; and shall we murmur or censure? No, says Job: &ldquo;who will say unto him, What doest thou?&rdquo; So said David:-&ldquo;I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.&rdquo;<p>And it is this that God himself has enjoined:-&ldquo;Be still, and know that I am God.&rdquo; This turns submission into acquiescence; this enables the Christian to say, with his Lord and Master, &ldquo;The cup which my heavenly Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. - <a href='B:230 40:3'>Psa 40:3</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the advantages derivable from the satisfaction here enjoyed. Here, first then, our fellow-creatures are to be considered:-&ldquo;many shall see it.&rdquo; They will derive benefit from it, and we ought to be concerned for their welfare; we are to do them good by teaching and admonishing, inviting and attracting them to the Saviour. But how much better may we expect to succeed when we can speak from our own experience; when we can go to them and say, &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; when we can go to them and say, &ldquo;Lo, this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.&rdquo;<p>There is another party to be considered, and that is God himself. &ldquo;Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.&rdquo; For his honour we ought to be concerned, and that &ldquo;whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of God.&rdquo; A master is never more recommended than when his servants are heard singing at their work: it shows he does not burden them; it shows that they find his service freedom and pleasure. How can God be more glorified by us than by our always being happy in his service? Oh, how it recommends the religion of the Bible when Christians let others see that wisdom&rsquo;s ways are ways of pleasantness! On the other hand, when persons are always full of complaints, how do they confirm the prejudices of the world, that religion has nothing to do with pleasures! 


devotion:
<i> Show me a token for good. - <a href='B:230 86:17'>Psa 86:17</a>. </i><p>LET us glance at those tokens by which God can satisfy the inquiring mind. We will arrange these under four classes. The first we shall call supernatural. Many of these are in Scripture. &ldquo;When God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and said he would give him the land of Canaan to inherit, Abraham said, &ldquo;Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?&rdquo; So God gave him to see &ldquo;a burning furnace, and flames ascending to heaven.&rdquo; This was a real miracle. An angel appeared of old to a thresher when he was in his barn, and said unto him, &ldquo;The Lord is with thee.&rdquo; Gideon said unto him, &ldquo;If the Lord be with us, why then hath all this evil befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.&rdquo; And he could not be prevailed on to take the command of the army which was to put to flight the Midianites, unless God should show him a sign, and make the fleece of wool wet with dew while all the earth was dry; And then he wished to prove God by the fleece being dry while all the earth was wet. And God complied with his weakness: so good is he! But the age of miracles is gone by, and we are not to look for supernatural appearances.<p>The second class we call superstitious or enthusiastical. The one arises from the warmth of imagination or from the buoyancy of hope, and the other from the apprehension of fear. But it is not necessary to distinguish between them in the article before us when referring to these delusive tokens. For instance: if some people open the book of God and hit upon any thing delightful, they are immediately encouraged. But if they meet with any thing dreadful they are as soon depressed, as if some awful thing were about to befall them from God. Now, this is very wrong; for, though God may have appeared to his people in this way, it is not his ordinary way. &ldquo;We have a more sure word of prophecy.&rdquo; &ldquo;If they speak not according to the law and the testimony, it is because there is no light in them.&rdquo; There are some who throw open their Bibles accidentally and decide upon the first passage that meets their eye; whereas we should let the &ldquo;word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom,&rdquo; and we are to use it wisely and apply it. Any passage that thus occurs to our reflection we may improve in various ways, but not depend upon it in deciding the state of our souls or our path of duty. How well was Satan acquainted with Scripture, especially with the book of Psalms! for he was accurate in his quotations when tempting the Saviour, but only to oppose it. Again, the Saviour says, &ldquo;It is written,&rdquo; and we must take one part of Scripture with another, or else we may be led into all kinds of delusion. The word of our God contains all the information we need while here. Some make much of events that occur; but how can they determine the will of God? Suppose our way be prosperous: does not prosperity attend wicked men? And how frequently have good men been tried! When they have sailed at the command of Christ, and with him on board too, the wind has been contrary. As we go along through life, many an opening will appear, not for us to enter, but to shun. This may be intended for our trial. When Jonah wished to flee from the presence of the Lord, he found a ship ready to sail in. How providential! Yes, it was providential. But this providence was to try his obedience, not to encourage his disobedience. And we know this ship, so ready at hand, carried him into the belly of hell, and when he got out he said, &ldquo;They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies.&rdquo;<p>Let us now consider the third class of tokens; namely, those which are favourable but insufficient. It is well to have a good report from others, for enemies to say nothing against us, as in the case of Daniel, &ldquo;except it be touching the law of our God.&rdquo; It is well to have a good report from all the brethren. But what know they of our inward frame, of our motives and our hearts? &ldquo;If our hearts condemn us not, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things.&rdquo; Judas stood well with his fellow-disciples, not one of whom entertained the least doubt with regard to him; and yet he was the betrayer of our Lord. It is well to see a man reformed from profligacy, to see the drunkard give up his cups, the swearer fearing an oath, and the profaner of God&rsquo;s day keeping it holy. But, though this is favourable, it is not absolutely satisfactory. There may be reformation without an inward change. There may be morality without piety. A man may have another heart, and not a new one. He may go. far in religion, so that it may be said of him, &ldquo;He is not far from the kingdom of God,&rdquo; and yet perish after all. How dreadful will it be for him to sink just at the entrance of that kingdom!<p>The last class of evidences are those that are genuine and decisive. Of such, we make no scruple at once to say, is a brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit. &ldquo;The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.&rdquo; &ldquo;To that man will I look,&rdquo; saith the Lord, &ldquo;who is humble and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at my word.&rdquo; A natural man may learn to imitate the language of the penitent, but he cannot experience his feelings. If our hearts be broken for sin, and we are brought from its power and practice, then have we the evidence of being the children of God. 


devotion:
<i> Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. - <a href='B:540 13:5'>2Co 13:5</a>. </i><p>NEXT to brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit, gratitude for spiritual mercies more than for temporal ones may be viewed as one of the principal evidences of our being &ldquo;in the faith.&rdquo; The natural man may thank God for a, safe journey, a successful stroke in business, and seasonable weather; but he does not bless God for divine mercies,-he does not thank God for his unspeakable gift. The Christian&rsquo;s gratitude rises much higher when contemplating spiritual mercies, and therefore says, &ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.&rdquo; Love to private devotion forms another evidence of our being Christians. There may be attractions to lead persons to the house of God; there may be something in the manner of a preacher; or they may go to hear the singing, or to ease their consciences, or to please their religious connections; and yet their heart may be a stranger to divine things. If we are in a large company, and there is but one disagreeable person there, the enjoyment of the others&rsquo; society would enable us to bear with him. But suppose we were to be left alone with him: how should we feel then? And suppose we were left alone with God: how do we feel then? Let us try ourselves by this standard.<p>Another evidence is love to the brethren:-&ldquo;We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.&rdquo; &ldquo;He that loveth him that begat loveth also them that are begotten of him;&rdquo; for he is a partaker of the same divine nature. He may not be of the same religious denomination with ourselves; yet we love him, as we do all who bear the image of the Saviour, of whatever name they may be. We stretch forth our hand with our divine Lord, and say, &ldquo;He who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother.&rdquo;<p>Again, a readiness to know the will of God concerning us is another evidence of our Christianity, and so is also our being angry with ourselves, rather than with the preacher who may reprove us for any fault, not &ldquo;counting him as an enemy because he tells us the truth.&rdquo; Adhering to God in duty, though we may have little or no comfort, is another evidence in our favour, because it shows the existence of religious principle. We can then say,- <p>&ldquo;Should worlds conspire to drive me hence, <p> Moveless and firm this heart should lie; <p> Resolved, (for that&rsquo;s my last defence,) <p> If I must perish, there to die.&rdquo; </i><p>Another evidence is a perception of the excellency and glory of divine things. This no unconverted man ever possessed; but a Christian not only perceives their reality, but discovers their beauty, so as to long for them, saying of the Saviour, &ldquo;He is altogether lovely, and the fairest among ten thousand.&rdquo;<p>Acquiescence with the divine will is another evidence in our favour. If we love the service of God, acquiesce in his will, and glory in it and in nothing else, we have the evidence of having the peace of God ruling in our hearts. It is our possession of the Spirit of Christ that is to determine our condition; for the Apostle John says, &ldquo;We know we are his, because of the spirit which he hath given us.&rdquo; And we read that the Spirit &ldquo;seals us.&rdquo; &ldquo;He bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God.&rdquo; What then do we know of him? Those persons are much mistaken who judge that they have the Holy Spirit because of some certain impulses they are the subjects of.<p>It is the Spirit alone that convinces of sin, and he is called &ldquo;the Spirit of grace and supplication.&rdquo; While the Christian may take courage that he will never be destroyed, yet his evidences may be removed, and in an hour of temptation he may lose what he would give worlds to regain, but never may in this life, and may at last, like an offending child, be put to bed in the dark crying. If, therefore, we would walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, we must be in the fear of the Lord all the day. 


devotion:
<i> What is our hope? - <a href='B:590 2:19'>1Th 2:19</a>. </i><p>ALL men have hope, or they could not enjoy pleasure by day, or repose by night. If hearers of the gospel were individually asked, Do you hope to be saved? &ldquo;Surely I do,&rdquo; they would answer. And if we were to inquire of such, On what does your hope depend? we should find many depending alone on the mercy of God. Well, he is merciful; but then he is also just. &ldquo;He is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.&rdquo; Another would say, &ldquo;Oh, I hope to repent at some future period.&rdquo; And are these sure, then, that that period will ever arrive? Does sickness always forewarn the approach of death? Can any be sure their disorder will not be such as will preclude the exercise of reason? Will they not find, when they come to that period, that repentance is impossible without the influence of the Spirit, of God? And can they suppose that after resisting his Spirit in thousands of instances, God will, in some extraordinary manner, interpose to save them, and by a kind of miraculous agency work in them to will and to do? We know sinners can do nothing to merit his grace, but they may do much to deserve his wrath, and &ldquo;he that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.&rdquo;<p>Well, there is a hope that is not good. There is the hope of the hypocrite. Men may deceive their fellow-creatures, but God is not mocked, for &ldquo;what is the hope of the hypocrite when God taketh away his soul?&rdquo; Job compares the hope of such to a spider&rsquo;s web, which is curiously wrought but easily broken, or swept away by the besom of destruction. There is the hope of the Pharisees,-a hope derived from their worthiness or works, from their not being so bad as others, having always paid their fellow-creatures their demands and been regular in all their forms of devotion.<p>We do not depreciate these things: they are good in themselves, but bad as substitutes for Christ. They are good as parts of our duty, but bad enough as the foundation of our hope for salvation. God has previously made known to us the way of salvation, and commanded us to believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. If, after all this, they should seek salvation in any other way, they rob him of his glory, frustrate his grace, and make Jesus Christ to have died in vain.<p>There is the hope of the Antinomian. This is a rebellion against common sense, and blasphemy against every chapter and verse and letter in the Bible:-&ldquo;For without holiness no man shall see the Lord.&rdquo; There is the hope of the worldling. Here all is vanity and vexation of spirit. What has it done for its possessors? Has it made them happy? Has it made them free indeed? Were we to allow that the worldling&rsquo;s hope was in every respect very good, need these be told that they are always going away from it? while, as to the Christian, he is always advancing towards his hope: <p>&ldquo;Yet a season, and, we know, <p> Happy entrance will be given; <p> All our sorrows left below, <p> And earth exchanged for heaven.&rdquo; </i><p>But are any asking, &ldquo;May I aspire after this good hope?&rdquo; Unhesitatingly we reply, and that too without presumption. It would be presumption indeed if it were not a good hope through grace. Worthiness has no claim here, and unworthiness is no bar before God:- <p>&ldquo;All the fitness he requireth <p> Is to feel our need of him.&rdquo; </i><p>Those to whom the Lord has given this grace cannot be too thankful that he has so highly distinguished them. They cannot be too zealous in endeavouring to bring others into the same state with themselves. They know the wretchedness of a state in which they once were, &ldquo;without hope, and without God in the world;&rdquo; and they know the blessedness of the state in which they now are, having a good hope, and God with them in the world. They are the very persons, therefore, to go to others and to address them from their own experience. They can say, with Eliphaz, &ldquo;Lo, this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good. 


devotion:
<i> The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. - <a href='B:230 103:19'>Psa 103:19</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the doctrine of the all-disposing agency of God again asserted. But let us consider how it is to be improved? We observe that there are two uses to which it may be applied. First, In a way of conviction. It is desirable to have it settled firmly in our minds that we are not in a world ungoverned by Jehovah. There is a notion prevailing among some men, half philosophical, and more than half infidel, that God is attentive to the world as a grand and complete system, but that he disregards mankind individually. If this arises from a concern to relieve the Almighty from a good deal of perplexity and care, it is all needless, for &ldquo;He fainteth not, neither is he weary: there is no searching of his understanding;&rdquo; and &ldquo;Nothing is too hard for the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Then reason tells us that a universal providence necessarily implies a particular one, as the whole is made up of parts. Among men an attention to little things prevents an attention to great things; and an attention to great things prevents an attention to little things. But this is not the case with God: while he wings an angel, he hears the chirping of a grasshopper. He teaches the spider to weave his web: and what says the Great Teacher on this subject?-&ldquo;A sparrow falleth not to the ground without your Father;&rdquo; and &ldquo;The very hairs of your head are all numbered.&rdquo; If there were no controlling agency of God in the concerns of the world, things would always operate immediately, if they operated at all, according to their own nature and tendency; but we see how often this is checked, so that &ldquo;the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding; nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.&rdquo; That is, what men call chance; for there is no such god or goddess as chance in the Christian&rsquo;s creed. But the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. &ldquo;Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever.&rdquo;<p>The second use is in a way of adoration. &ldquo;There is none like unto thee,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;among the gods, neither are there any works like unto thy works.&rdquo; Then how finely he breaks forth!-&ldquo;Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and power, the glory and majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.&rdquo; We may think much of managing a single family, of providing for it, of placing the members of it in order, and of doing every thing decently and becoming. A man may think much of managing an extensive and perplexed business, where he employs perhaps a thousand hands, and has the superintendence of machinery of wondrous power. We think highly of a man who governs well the concerns of a province, or a country. But here we are told of One whose kingdom ruleth over the whole world.<p>How many creatures are visible to us!-and how many more are invisible on earth and in the sea! He sustains them all, and feeds them all. What multitudinous, what differing and conflicting, interests are there among men! They act differently and feel differently, yet each subserves his own interest, and all subserve the interests of all. Thus we see &ldquo;the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord, and he turneth him whithersoever he will.&rdquo; Events are made by him to run into channels along which, as they flow, they show forth his praise.<p>&ldquo;Marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee and glorify thy name? for thou art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased. - <a href='B:470 14:34-35'>Mat 14:34-35</a>. </i><p>HERE we have the arrival of the company on the land. They had all this while sailed only four miles. But John, in another account of the event, says, &ldquo;And immediately they were at the place whither they went.&rdquo; This seems to be miraculous; but the wind now ceased, and they could now use the oar to advantage, and enjoy the pleasure of his company. Time is always the same,-an hour always consists of sixty minutes; yet pain will lengthen the period, and expectation will make it longer, and &ldquo;hope deferred maketh the heart sick.&rdquo; On the other hand, when with agreeable company, how time passes insensibly away!-how soon an hour is gone when we enjoy the instructions and company of an esteemed friend!<p>The Christian&rsquo;s voyage cannot be long; and, since Christ is with them, it will pass off speedily, and &ldquo;in a little while he that will come shall come, and will not tarry,&rdquo; and we shall reach the haven of rest. But now let us see how they were treated when they came on shore. Our Lord met with a different reception in the same place before this. You remember though he healed their sick and recovered their neighbours from a dreadful malady, instead of thanking him for his kindness and power, because they lost their swine they came in a body and besought him to depart out of their coasts, and he took his departure from them. But here they received him with joy, surprise, and gratitude, and were anxious to improve the privilege. At first they were not aware of the treasure the vessel had brought to them. But &ldquo;when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased.&rdquo; Two important remarks arise from hence.<p>The first is, the necessity of knowledge in order to our making use of Christ, so to speak:-&ldquo;As soon as they had knowledge of him,&rdquo; they repaired to him. Hence we should be concerned to increase our acquaintance with him. The way to grow in grace is to grow in the knowledge of Christ. Hence we should be concerned for the spread of that knowledge, and continually praying, &ldquo;Send out thy light and truth, that thy way may be known upon earth, and thy saving health among all nations.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is by his knowledge,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;that my righteous servant shall justify many.&rdquo; We read in the Scriptures that we are justified by faith; but, as the apostle says, &ldquo;How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard?&rdquo;<p>The second remark is, when we know Christ we should he anxious to bring others to him. &ldquo;When the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased.&rdquo; This was wise and well; this was loving others as themselves. There are many ways of showing this, and of bringing others to him, by teaching the ignorant, by giving them books, by inviting them to hear the word, alluring them by our own tempers and lives. To do this is unquestionably our duty. We admire those who relieve the body,-who feed the hungry and clothe the naked; but true Christian charity chiefly regards the soul. We cannot cure the diseases of the mind. This is not required of us: but we can tell them of one who can do it; we can bring them to him. Let us remember the case of the lepers, who, when they had found great spoil, and had enjoyed themselves for a little while, said, &ldquo;We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some evil will befall us; now, therefore, come, that we may go and tell the king&rsquo;s household.&rdquo;<p>And Christians should go and do likewise; they should follow the example of the first Christians, and say, &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> And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. - <a href='B:470 14:36'>Mat 14:36</a>. </i><p>LET us observe the manner in which these people applied to the Saviour, and the consequences of it. First, As to the manner in which they applied to him, we observe it was importunate: -&ldquo;They besought him.&rdquo; And it was humble:-&ldquo;They besought him that they might but touch the hem of his garment.&rdquo; They were afraid of being too familiar with him; he so pure and undefined, and they so unholy and polluted,-he so glorious, and they so mean. A sense of their unworthiness, therefore, made them keep at a distance from him: they would not venture to shake hands with him; they would not touch his body at all: &ldquo;they would only touch the hem of his garment.&rdquo; So it was with the woman who had a bloody issue: she came behind him and touched the border of his garment. So the woman that was a sinner &ldquo;came and stood behind him and washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.&rdquo; Thus on this occasion &ldquo;they besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment.&rdquo; But it showed the greatness of their faith, that they believed, not only that his touching them, but even their only touching the hem of his garment, would be instrumental to their cure.<p>Observe, The consequences of the application:-&ldquo;And as many as touched him were made perfectly whole.&rdquo; First, The efficiency was universal in its extent. Some of these cases doubtless were inveterate, and many unsuccessful applications had been made to others; but they were all now perfectly healed.<p>Secondly, It was powerful in degree:- they &ldquo;were made perfectly whole.&rdquo; The Saviour never does his work by halves; he never shows himself unable to finish what he begins.<p>Thirdly, It was speedy in its operation. Other physicians require time, and in some cases a long time. The best means are often slow in their operation, and require to be repeated, and the patient is only gradually healed. But here all is done in a moment.<p>Yet, Fourthly, It was silent in its influence. The rose does not make a noise, yet it perfumes the air. The kingdom of God comes with power, yet it comes not by observation. What a change did these people experience! &ldquo;The blind received their sight, the deaf were made to hear, the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk.&rdquo; The patients themselves first felt sensible of their recovery, which soon appeared to their neighbours, who rejoiced on their account; and so others will soon take knowledge of those who have been with Jesus and learned of him.<p>The grand thing is for us to feel our need of this blessed Saviour. &ldquo;They that be whole need not the physician, but them that are sick;&rdquo; and if we feel and know that we must be healed or perish forever, then let us remember for our encouragement that there is balm in Gilead, that there is a physician there, that there is the same Saviour waiting to heal us who restored all these poor afflicted creatures; and he is &ldquo;the same yesterday, today, and forever.&rdquo; Can we touch him, then? Yes, by faith. Faith can not only make an application to him, but make an application of him, and claim all his blessings.<p>And we may repair to him: none are excluded, since the promise runs, &ldquo;Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.&rdquo; And coming to him we shall be made perfectly whole. Not at once, indeed, but in due time. He will perfect that which concerneth us; he will bring us to Immanuel&rsquo;s land, where our &ldquo;sun shall no more go down, nor our moon withdraw itself, and where the days of our mourning shall be ended;&rdquo; &ldquo;where we shall weep no more,&rdquo; &ldquo;and where the inhabitants shall no more say, I am sick.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. - <a href='B:290 45:24'>Isa 45:24</a>. </i><p>THIS is not only a prediction, but a promise also. God foresees and foretells evil, without being the author of it. But if he foretells good he must determine to produce it, or it would never be found; for &ldquo;every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights;&rdquo; and to him be all the glory. But what a blessed acknowledgment is this!-&ldquo;In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.&rdquo; We talk of happiness. Ah, he is the happy man,-not he who strides along from victory to victory; not he who joins house to house and adds field to field; not he who ingratiates himself in the esteem and friendship of the world;-but he who is a partaker of grace and an heir of glory; he who is sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and in whom the promises are accomplished. Whose language is this? &ldquo;Surely shall one say;&rdquo; not one exclusively, or only: though the people of God are comparatively few, they are really many, and much more numerous than our ignorance and prejudices and fears often lead us to imagine. Elias said, &ldquo;I am left alone, and they seek my life;&rdquo; but God said, &ldquo;I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose lips have not kissed him.&rdquo; The &ldquo;one,&rdquo; therefore, here spoken of, is &ldquo;one&rdquo; specially &ldquo;one,&rdquo; so to speak, as a sample of others. Any &ldquo;one,&rdquo; every &ldquo;one&rdquo; of a certain class.<p>Of this class are they who are taught of God, who are born from above, and who are bound for glory; for here they are all agreed, under the law, and under the gospel dispensation in every country and in every age. There are some persons who seem to think that there are various ways to heaven, and that we may all choose our own; but the way of life from the beginning has always been the same. All who have been washed from their sins have been washed in the same fountain, opened for sin and uncleanness; all who have been healed have been healed by the same &ldquo;balm and by the same Physician.&rdquo; Though David lived under a very inferior economy, he expressed himself in the same language as the most enlightened believer would under a more glorious dispensation. Yea, he not only says, &ldquo;In the Lord have I righteousness and strength,&rdquo; but, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.&rdquo; This includes more than possession; it includes use also: this comprehends more than acknowledgment; it includes also improvement. These are not always connected, but, alas, how often are they at variance!<p>And how often do we fall short of our duties and of our privileges! or we should much more &ldquo;adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things&rdquo; than we do. How interesting, how delightful, are these representations of the principles, the experience, and the resolutions of the true Israel of God! Hence, as we have already stated, the man after God&rsquo;s own heart said, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.&rdquo;<p>His resolution, we see, contains two things. First, That he will avail himself of God&rsquo;s strength. Secondly, That he will glory in his righteousness. Oh that we may make these resolutions our own! 


devotion:
<i> The Lord thy God. - <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>. </i><p>HERE we may observe the relation in which Jehovah stands to his people. He is our Maker, the Creator of our bodies, and the Former of our spirits within us; in him &ldquo;we live, and move, and have our being.&rdquo; And this would seem to authorize us to hope in him, for surely he will have respect unto the work of his own hands. But as far as we are sinners, we are not the work of his hands, but the workmanship and the offspring of Satan. And therefore we must observe, that the relationship here spoken of comprehends much more than his relation to us as our Creator and Preserver and Benefactor. These relations do not secure us from the wrath to come. He has expressly told us this, and said, &ldquo;Because they are a people of no understanding-, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour.&rdquo; But the other relation is the source of our eternal safety and happiness; and, therefore, &ldquo;happy are that people that are in such a case; yea, happy are the people whose God is the Lord.&rdquo;<p>Hear the testimony of God by Zechariah:-&ldquo;I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God.&rdquo; Now, here we have mutual acknowledgment, founded on mutual dedication. They give themselves to him and avouch they are his people, and he gives himself to them and avouches that he is their God, for, every thing is mutual between them; they choose him and he chooses them, they love him and he loves them, and he says, &ldquo;I love them that love me.&rdquo;<p>But here, to prevent mistake, we must observe, that, though this love is mutual, we are not to suppose their love to him is the cause of his love to them, for &ldquo;we love him because he first loved us.&rdquo; But then it is the consequence, and, therefore, becomes the evidence. So, therefore, he is the Lord their God; and he is so really. There is nothing, indeed, in which they have such a proprietary as they have in God; indeed, they have a proprietary in nothing else. Their time is not their own, their wealth is not their own, their children are not their own, their bodies are not their own, their souls are not their own; but God is their own, and they may say, with the Church, &ldquo;God, even our God, shall bless us.&rdquo; And he is the Lord their God, wholly and entirely; and what the king said of Ben-hadad,-&ldquo;I am thine, and all that I have,&rdquo;-and what the father of the prodigal said to the elder brother,-&ldquo;Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine,&rdquo;-God says to every believer, however poor and however afflicted. And he is the Lord their God eternally:-&ldquo;This God is our God forever and ever; he will be our Guide even unto death.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Ye shall he hated of all men for my name&rsquo;s sake. - <a href='B:470 10:22'>Mat 10:22</a>. </i><p>HENCE our Saviour also said to his followers, &ldquo;Marvel not if the world hate you. If ye were of the world the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.&rdquo; And the apostle says, &ldquo;If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he must suffer persecution.&rdquo; What were the sufferings of the pious Jews under their enemies! What were the sufferings of the first Christians! What were the sufferings of our forefathers! We do well to call to remembrance former times, and to compare them with those in which we live, and in which we sit under our own fig-tree and our own vine, none daring to make us afraid legally, and under the justice and mildness of the laws of the land.<p>But what cannot be done legally may be done really. Few know what wives, children, servants, and dependants of various kinds suffer, even at this hour, in some parts of our own country, from this quarter; for, though the law ties the hand of persecution, yet the carnal mind is enmity against God, and the tongue can no man tame; the warmest ties of life are found to relax, and at last all the cords of love are broken asunder; and when persons become Christians indeed, what was before warm friendship is degenerated into mere civility; yea, it may become open malignity. There is no going forth to him without the camp, without bearing his reproach in some form or other.<p>The people of the world never did, and never will, act kindly and justly towards real religion. They will magnify the Christian&rsquo;s infirmities, and will take the miscarriages of a few professors, and, like a filthy garment, throw them over the whole body of the Christian church. If they find nothing in the behaviour of Christian people that is remarkable, then they will go motive-hunting, and ascribe to them every thing that is vile, and which seems congenial with their own views and feelings, from which in this case they judge. Therefore they always consider real religion either as something really ridiculous or pitiable: it is impertinence, or it is enthusiasm, or it is hypocrisy, or it is mercenariness, or selfishness. We sometimes think that the reflection or the reproach so thrown upon the professors of religion by the people of the world arises from themselves; that, if they were more free from certain inconsistencies and unamiableness; (and they ought to he free from this,) the people of the world would be rather reconciled to them, and admire them.<p>But there comes a difficulty in the way: we go back to our Saviour himself, and ask, Was not he free from every inconsistency, every infirmity, every unamiableness? and did the world then admire him and love him? Alas! It opposed him more than it has ever opposed us; and the Saviour may well say to many modern temporizing professors what he said to the Jews:-&ldquo;The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.&rdquo;<p>They who love darkness will always hate the approach of light, and they who wish to continue asleep will be offended with any noise that would awaken them; and Christians cannot go on with, their work without making some noise. 


devotion:
<i> Followers of that which is good. - <a href='B:670 3:13'>1Pe 3:13</a>. </i><p>NOW, when we are called upon to be imitators of that which is good, it is supposed that the good enjoined is represented and exhibited also; it is supposed that we have instances, that we have models and examples. And these we have, so that we can never be without the copies to write after. Let us enter further into this subject. And first, We are to be imitating good men: these are our examples. Many are recorded in the Scriptures of truth, and we are commanded to be &ldquo;followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.&rdquo; Many more are related in the histories and lives of good men. And we have the actual existence of such men. We have good men in all the varieties of life. We have godly young men, we have godly old men, and we have godly men in middle life, engaged in all the cares of the world; and we have godly men in prosperity, and godly men in adversity; we have godly husbands and godly wives, we have godly masters and godly servants; and so of the rest; and, though they are not free from infirmities, (nor do they profess to be free from them,) yet &ldquo;These are the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.&rdquo;<p>And then, Secondly, We have good angels: these also are our examples. They are a race of beings very superior to us in nature, for we were &ldquo;made a little lower than the angels.&rdquo; We know not much concerning them; but every thing we do know of them from the Scriptures places them before us as very exemplary. Now, for instance, how free are these celestial's from envy! While the elder brother in the parable was filled with rage and madness at the reception his poor prodigal brother met with from his forgiving father, they were only filled with ecstasy; and &ldquo;There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.&rdquo; How remarkable is their condescension and their kindness! We are told that they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation. And see their union, their harmony, their correspondence: they cry one to another, &ldquo;Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts! the whole earth is full of his glory I&rdquo; See how they study the redemption of Christ: we nowhere read of their being naturalists, but they are Christian students; they &ldquo;desire to look into these things,-the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.&rdquo; See how they love and adore our Saviour. He was &ldquo;seen of angels;&rdquo; all the angels of God worship him. John heard them saying, with a loud voice, &ldquo;Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing;&rdquo; while we see also how that, though they &ldquo;excel in strength,&rdquo; they do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word, so that he says to one, &ldquo;Go, and he goeth,&rdquo; to another, &ldquo;Come, and he cometh,&rdquo; and to each of them, &ldquo;Do this, and he doeth it.&rdquo; Their employments are very varied: we read of one angel carrying a meal to Elijah under the juniper-tree, and another going to show poor Hagar, who was dying with thirst, a well; yet they are all equally pleased, whatever be their engagements, because they are equally doing the will of God, and are pleasing him; and therefore our Saviour tells us to pray that &ldquo;His will may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.&rdquo;<p>This is not all: we have a good God, and he is our example. Dr. Doddridge renders the text, &ldquo;If ye be imitators of him who is good,&rdquo; meaning (says he) God. He is the Source and the perfection of all excellency, and we are expressly required to be imitators of him. Therefore our Saviour said, &ldquo;Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect;&rdquo; and says the apostle to the Ephesians, &ldquo;Be ye followers of God as dear children;&rdquo; and says God, &ldquo;Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.&rdquo; We are required to imitate God, not as the greatest, but as the best, of Beings,-as One whose goodness constitutes his glory.<p>Hence, to furnish us with every advantage for imitation, the divine example was humanized, and we read that &ldquo;God was manifested in the flesh.&rdquo; How wonderful it is that people are not more struck with the importance of the incarnation, not only as to the article of atonement, but even as to the article of example! The divine example in humanity is (so to speak) softened down; it is brought near to us, and it is rendered even more complete,-not more complete in itself, but more complete relatively and with regard to us. For there were many things in God in which otherwise he could not have been our model and our example: had he not come in the flesh, he could not have gone before us in the performance of those duties which imply dependence and reverence. He could not have gone before us in a course of obedience and suffering. 


devotion:
<i> In the world ye shall have tribulation. - <a href='B:500 16:33'>Joh 16:33</a>. </i><p>SURELY we need not have recourse to our Bibles to learn that this earth is a vale of tears. Where must we live if we do not daily and habitually see and hear enough to convince us of this? For let us not be unjust to religion; let us not charge religion with being the author of the sufferings which others endure as well as ourselves. Are not the men of the world exposed to failures in their schemes, to worldly losses, to family bereavement, to bodily accidents and sickness, to mental irritation and anxiety? The apostle, therefore, tells the Corinthians that in a thousand instances of this kind nothing had befallen them but what was common to man.<p>Some may, perhaps, be disposed to think that surely God will exempt his friends who are infinitely dear to him from all those calamities that others meet with: but no; so far are they from being exempted from them, that they may suffer more from them than others. &ldquo;Many are the afflictions of the righteous.&rdquo; And there is a reason for it. God has so much to accomplish in them and by them. The husbandman does not prune the bramble-bush, but only the vine; and he prunes it that it may bring forth more fruit. The stones that are designed for the heavenly palace require more cutting and hewing and polishing than those that are designed for a common purpose. Discipline and correction,-these are for the true-born children. &ldquo;If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and not sons.&rdquo;<p>Now, it is not necessary that Christians should be senseless under these outward afflictions; yea, they are not only allowed, but they are required, to feel them; and, unless they feel them, their moral purpose can never be accomplished. We are not more to despise the chastening of the Lord than we are to faint when we are rebuked of him; and it is worthy of our observation that the apostle says, &ldquo;Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby,&rdquo; -not to those who are unfeeling and careless under it: and we may always observe that people&rsquo;s trials do them no good unless they are exercised thereby,-unless their feelings, their principles, and their graces are exercised thereby. Individuals who experience this are the persons who derive from them &ldquo;the peaceable fruits of righteousness.&rdquo;<p>Yea, we may go further, and say that Christians in many respects feel more under the common afflictions of life than others do, because, First, They cannot have recourse to worldly dissipation, and diversion, and stupefaction.<p>Secondly, They feel a sense, an awful sense, of the evil of sin, as having produced all these evils; Thirdly, They are fearful lest they should be proofs of the divine anger with regard to them, and therefore they kneel and pray, &ldquo;Do not condemn me;&rdquo; &ldquo;Show me wherefore thou contendest with me;&rdquo; and, Lastly, They are all anxious under the suffering, lest the affliction should not be sanctified; for they very well know that if the curse be not turned into a blessing the blessing will prove a curse. No wonder, then, that they are more exercised by these things, in various respects, than others. 


devotion:
<i> Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>HERE the apostle reminds us of the expediency of our afflictions. Nothing befalls us by chance, especially as to our afflictions. The Lord does &ldquo;not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.&rdquo; There are purposes which he aims to accomplish; there are reasons for these various afflictions. &ldquo;If need be,&rdquo; says he. But, First, Who is to be the judge of this necessity? Why not we ourselves? No; we are poor, blind, short-sighted creatures; we cannot discern what will be good for us a month hence, nor a year hence; we cannot distinguish, in many things, between appearances and realities. How often have we been deceived, in passing through life, both by our hopes and our fears! We have desired things which would have proved our mischief if we had gained them; and we have endeavoured to shun things which after a while we found to be some of our chief mercies,-reasons, these, why we should &ldquo;trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding.&rdquo;<p>Who is to be the judge of this necessity? Why, God, whose understanding is infinite, who cannot, therefore, err; whose goodness is boundless, who cannot, therefore, injure those who commit the keeping of themselves to him. He &ldquo;sees the end from the beginning.&rdquo; He knows now what will be good for us thirty years hence, if we live so long; yea, he knows what will be good for us in eternal ages. He knows how to distinguish between appearances and realities; and, therefore,- <p>&ldquo;Who so wise to choose our lot, <p> Or regulate our ways?&rdquo; </i><p>And how should we be disposed to say, &ldquo;The Lord shall choose our inheritance for us&rdquo;! But, again, there is another question to be asked:-What is the need itself of which the apostle speaks, and which is to be determined by our heavenly Father, whose judgment is always according to truth? Why, we have the same need of &ldquo;being in heaviness through manifold temptations&rdquo; as the gold and silver has of the furnace; the same need as the vine has of the pruning-knife; the same need as the ground has of the ploughshare, to prepare it for the reception of the seed; the same need as the patient has of the disagreeable medicine; the same need as the child has for the restraints of the rod. Or, to lay aside figure, there are various purposes which these trials are to accomplish. There is a needs-be, sometimes, in the way of correction. There are follies that require the rod in the Christian. And there is a needs-be for them arising from prevention. Paul was not proud as yet, but there was danger of it; and the &ldquo;thorn in the flesh&rdquo; was given him, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. Such a creature has been removed from us: we had not idolized it, but God saw we were just going to kneel, and therefore he removed it. &ldquo;Our hearts,&rdquo; says Young, (and it is very true,)- <p>&ldquo;Our hearts are fasten&rsquo;d to the world <p> By various and strong ties; <p> But every trouble cuts a string <p> And urges us to rise.&rdquo; </i><p>And for incitement; that our trials and afflictions may induce us to say, &ldquo;Arise and depart, because this is not your rest.&rdquo; The &ldquo;needs-be&rdquo; is sometimes for the purpose also of producing usefulness, of enabling us to sympathize with others in their trouble, to &ldquo;weep with them that weep.&rdquo; And, above all, that we may be conformed to our Lord and Saviour; for a suffering head must have suffering members too 


devotion:
<i> Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. - <a href='B:670 1:6'>1Pe 1:6</a>. </i><p>LET us consider the duration of the Christian&rsquo;s sorrows. Brevity is the most painful circumstance that can attach to enjoyment; but it is the most alleviating with regard to suffering and distress. In the hour of pain and infirmity, time flaps over us with leaden wings, and &ldquo;hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life.&rdquo; And come it &ldquo;will, and will not tarry.&rdquo; No; it is only &ldquo;for a season, if need be, we are in heaviness through manifold temptations.&rdquo; And what is this season? What is the length of time itself to eternity? and what is the length of life to time? and what is the length commonly of suffering even to life? The sacred writers, therefore, labour to express the brevity of this in every possible way.<p>Thus, they tell us that the church shall have tribulation &ldquo;ten days;&rdquo; and ten days will be soon gone. Then they tell us that the suffering period is only &ldquo;for a night,&rdquo; &ldquo;weeping may endure for a night.&rdquo; How soon the night passes away! &ldquo;but joy cometh in the, morning.&rdquo; We read, also, of the &ldquo;hour of temptation,&rdquo; and not only so, but we read of &ldquo;a moment:&rdquo;- &ldquo;These light afflictions, which are but for a moment;&rdquo; and even this will not satisfy inspiration. Isaiah tells us that for &ldquo;a small moment&rdquo; God has forsaken &ldquo;his people, but with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on them.&rdquo; Therefore, let us sing, or sigh,- <p>&ldquo;Yet a season, and, we know, <p> Happy entrance shall be given; <p> All our sorrows left below, <p> And earth exchanged for heaven.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. - <a href='B:490 15:10'>Luk 15:10</a>. </i><p>WE here see what it is that ministers to the happiness of the angels of God. These holy beings are our observers. They have intercourse with our world, and are acquainted with what is transpiring among men. They gaze upon the battle-field, with its confused noise and garments rolled in blood. They mark the revolutions of empires; the discoveries of philosophy; the improvements in arts and sciences; the extension of commerce and of civilization among the peoples of the earth; but, though they are not indifferent spectators of these things, there is nothing among all the transactions and passing events of time which occasions pleasure and delight equal to the conversion of a sinner from the error of his way.<p>From this declaration which fell from the lips of everlasting truth, we may learn two things:-First, The disinterested benevolence of these heavenly beings. Though they are the elder branches of the family, and have kept their first estate, yet, instead of rejoicing at the return and reception of their offending brethren, they rejoice to see prodigals restored, and placed in a state of blessedness superior to their own.<p>Secondly, We may also learn, from this declaration of our Saviour, the importance of a sinner&rsquo;s repentance. It is of little consequence, comparatively, whether we evoke the censure or the praise of men, the grief or joy of our fellow-creatures, whose knowledge is at best but very limited, and who are often embarrassed by trifles and governed by prejudices, so that they call evil good and good evil, and put darkness for light and light for darkness; but it is otherwise with the angels of God. They excel in knowledge as they do in strength. They are neither misled by ignorance nor warped by prejudice. They always behold the face of our Father who is in heaven. They are perfect beings, and their judgment is always according to truth. If, therefore, beings so holy and intelligent as these rejoice over one sinner that repenteth, there is no subject of greater moment and importance, or more interesting, than repentance.<p>Then there can be no subject more deserving our attention or self-examination, and we need not wonder that we find so many calls to it and so many instances of it recorded in the Scriptures. 


devotion:
<i> I will go in the strength of the Lord God. - <a href='B:230 71:16'>Psa 71:16</a>. </i><p>THIS resolution of the Psalmist shows us that he believed all that is said in the Scriptures of God, as to his being able to meet all his wants. He says, therefore, in another place, &ldquo;Once have I heard this, yea, twice, that power belongeth unto God.&rdquo; &ldquo;Speak we of strength?&rdquo; says Job; &ldquo;lo, he is strong.&rdquo; There are mighty men to be found, and there are mightier angels; but he is the Almighty. We can work, but we must have instruments to work with; he can work without instruments. Then, again, we must have materials to work upon; but he can work without materials. He can produce what he requires; he can &ldquo;call things which are not,&rdquo; and they appear; he says, &ldquo;Let there be light, and there was light.&rdquo; We can do some things, but we know he can do every thing. We are soon exhausted and weary, and require a cessation of labour, and repose; but &ldquo;he fainteth not, neither is weary.&rdquo; We can use means, and can aid others; but we cannot really add vitality or strength: otherwise, the physician would not fail with his patient; otherwise, the mother would not suffer her darling to decline upon a bed of sickness, or follow him to the grave. But as to God,- <p>&ldquo;If half the strings of life were broke, <p> He can our flesh restore.&rdquo; </i><p>He can recall our frame, he can recolour our cheeks, he can renew our strength as the eagle&rsquo;s. Who was it that enabled Abraham to offer up his son, and that enabled Daniel to enter the lions den? Who enabled the martyrs to sing and triumph at the stake? We must bring our faith to the greatness of his power as well as his goodness, and learn to sing, with the apostle, &ldquo;Now, unto him that is able to keep us from falling;&rdquo; &ldquo;Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,-unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.&rdquo;<p>But, while his resolution shows his belief of God&rsquo;s power, it also shows that God&rsquo;s strength was accessible and apprehendable; and this is the case. &ldquo;Let him take hold of my strength,&rdquo; says God. God not only makes known his strength, but he tell us, so to speak, that it is at our service on all occasions, and presses us to make use of it. &ldquo;Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.&rdquo; &ldquo;Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;&rdquo; and, says the apostle to the Hebrews, &ldquo;Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.&rdquo; &ldquo;Let us have grace:&rdquo; then it was to be had. And the same apostle says, &ldquo;And be renewed in the spirit of your minds;&rdquo; &ldquo;Be filled with the Spirit;&rdquo; &ldquo;Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.&rdquo;<p>Then, all this is within our reach, and within our power,-not our natural power, not our personal power, but in that of another, who is intimately and perfectly one with us. 


devotion:
<i> The Lord God is my strength. - <a href='B:420 3:19'>Hab 3:19</a>. </i><p>AND the prophet found that this strength was indispensable, and that every moment he must live in dependence upon it. Thus the Psalmist said, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God.&rdquo; It will be both instructive and profitable to enter further into this, for it is a very experimental part of a Christian&rsquo;s religion. Why did not David say he would go in his own strength? Because he knew he had none. The fall deprived us not only of righteousness, but of strength. It is not easy to convince men of this. It has always been found easier to convince them of their guilt than of their weakness. There are few to be found who will not say, &ldquo;God knows we are all sinners;&rdquo; perhaps rather to draw in others, than to express their own sins. There are few but will say, &ldquo;We have done the things we ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to have done;&rdquo; though they will not add, but in a public assembly, &ldquo;there is no health in us.&rdquo; They think it is in their power, and resolve that by-and-by they will attend to those things when they shall have more leisure.<p>But it is otherwise with the believer: he knows that his own strength is perfect weakness; he has learned this, not only from Scripture, but from his own experience, for he has been led to make the trial, and it has issued in this conviction. The trial has brought him where we always ought to be brought in religion,-on his knees; convinced that he knew nothing and could do nothing without the grace of God, he has therefore been brought to pray, Work in me &ldquo;to will and to do of thine own good pleasure.&rdquo;<p>They pray to be strengthened with all might in their inner man, and then their strength is restored. And as the Christian advances in the divine life, instead of finding his need of divine strength diminishing, he finds it daily increasing, and the increase is a blessed evidence of his faith; he need not be afraid of the increase of this conviction, that he has no strength of his own, for the apostle says, &ldquo;When I am weak, then am I strong.&rdquo; Therefore he exhorts the Ephesians, &ldquo;Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might;&rdquo; and to Timothy he says, &ldquo;My son, be thou strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I will go in the strength of the Lord God. - <a href='B:230 71:16'>Psa 71:16</a>. </i><p>WE may consider this as the language of Christians now. They say, &ldquo;I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.&rdquo; We here view the Christian as a worker, for so he is. And then he says, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God to the performance of my work;&rdquo; and he has much work to perform, much with regard to God, much with regard to his fellow-creatures, much with regard to his fellow-members, much in the world, much in the church, much in the family, much in the closet, and much more in the conscience. Is he living on earth? It is with his &ldquo;conversation in heaven.&rdquo; Is he living in the flesh? It is &ldquo;by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him and gave himself for him.&rdquo; He must &ldquo;walk by faith, not by sight,&rdquo; must &ldquo;set his affections on things above, not on things on the earth;&rdquo; he must &ldquo;put off the old man and put on the new man.&rdquo; And can he think of this without exclaiming,- <p>&ldquo;Lord, can a poor and feeble worm <p> Perform a work so hard?&rdquo; </i><p>It is sometimes thought that the character of a Christian is raised too high for the present weak state of flesh and blood; and sometimes our requisitions look fitter for an angel than for a poor depraved man. Be it so; and we have more than the strength of an angel to perform it, for our &ldquo;sufficiency is of God.&rdquo; We are to seek this sufficiency; we are to &ldquo;pray, and not faint;&rdquo; we are to &ldquo;pray always, with much prayer and supplication in the Spirit.&rdquo;<p>Oh, how does the Christian feel his need of this! and is not this help provided and secured for him? And the apostle says, &ldquo;We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.&rdquo; Again he says, &ldquo;The Spirit maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.&rdquo; And without this assurance, Christians would long ago have given up the exercise of prayer, feeling so many infirmities in the performance of it, so that they can hardly call it prayer at all; thus they say, with Hezekiah, &ldquo;As a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter.&rdquo;<p>This also will apply to other things in the Christian&rsquo;s life, for our Lord says, &ldquo;Without me ye can do nothing;&rdquo; and says the church, &ldquo;The Lord is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> When thou passest through the waters, 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. - <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>. </i><p>LET us view the Christian as a sufferer, for so he is; and then he says, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God&rdquo; to bear my trials. &ldquo;Ah! trials must and will befall,&rdquo; and we are commanded not to think of them as strange. &ldquo;Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward;&rdquo; and the Christian is born again to trouble. Bacon tells us that &ldquo;prosperity is the promise of the Old Testament, and adversity the promise of the New.&rdquo; And our Lord said to his disciples, &ldquo;In the world ye shall have tribulation.&rdquo; I am not, says the Christian, required to go out in search of trouble, but I am not to decline it when I find it in my way. I am then to take up my cross, and not to say when I come into distress, with a sullen countenance, &ldquo;This is my grief, and I must bear it,&rdquo; but this is my grief, and I will bear it, and, with my divine Lord, &ldquo;The cup which my heavenly Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?&rdquo; &ldquo;Not my will, but thine, be done.&rdquo; &ldquo;I must in patience possess my soul; I may mourn, but I must not murmur; I may say, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.&rdquo;<p>Thus we may &ldquo;glorify God in the fires;&rdquo; thus we may display the excellency of the religion we profess, and it is thus we may he an example to all around. But how can we accomplish this? If we sink in the day of adversity, our strength is small,-and sink we must, unless we have other strength than our own. But who is this that says, &ldquo;I will he with thee in trouble;&rdquo; &ldquo;when thou passest through the waters, I will he 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; &ldquo;Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy day, so shall thy strength be.&rdquo;<p>Sometimes a Christian may be dismayed in the prospect and in the approach of trouble coming upon him; yet notwithstanding his fears and forebodings, when the trial comes, there comes along with it grace to help in time of need! Then he wonders at his previous apprehensions; and now, when he looks back to the enduring of it, he feels that he would be willing to go through the same exercises again, were he sure of the same succour and consolations.<p>The people of the world wonder how it is that Christians bear their trials as they do. The world can see their troubles well enough, but they cannot see their inward supports; they can see how one affliction peels them, and another strips them, and another pains and oppresses them, and wonder that they do not sink under their distresses; but they cannot see the everlasting arms underneath them, and how that the eternal God is their refuge. They can see their distresses, but they witness not their nearness to God in prayer, and how they can say, with David, &ldquo;He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he maketh it not to grow.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Fight the good fight of faith. - <a href='B:610 6:12'>1Ti 6:12</a>. </i><p>LET us view the Christian as a soldier, for so he is; and then he says, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God to engage in conflict with all my enemies.&rdquo; What a stranger must he be to religion who does not feel it daily to be a warfare, who does not often exclaim, &ldquo;Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God.&rdquo; And these adversaries of our souls are possessed of every quality that can engender terror. When we think of them, of their number, of their skill, of their malice, of their might, of their being invisible, many of them, and spiritual, (for &ldquo;we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places,&rdquo;) surely here is enough to make the stoutest heart tremble. Yes, if we go alone into the field to engage them; but not if we say, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God.&rdquo; Then <p>&ldquo;The weakest saint shall win the day, <p> Though death and hell obstruct the way.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;Fear not,&rdquo; says God, &ldquo;for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.&rdquo; What was David when he engaged with the Philistine? A shepherd lad. What was his armour? A sling and a stone. What was his dependence? &ldquo;I come to thee,&rdquo; said he to the monster, &ldquo;in the name of the living God.&rdquo; What was the result? He was &ldquo;more than a conqueror!&rdquo; And David&rsquo;s God is ours, and we have the same assurance of security. But some are saying, &ldquo;I am much below David; I am nothing better than a worm: and how am I to engage with all these enemies?&rdquo; Let all such hear God, saying, &ldquo;I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand. Fear thou not. worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. - <a href='B:40 10:29'>Num 10:29</a>. </i><p>Let us view the Christian as a traveller, for so he is; and then he says, &ldquo;I will go in the strength of the Lord God,&rdquo; to pursue my journey, and to hold on my way to the end. Dr. Watts has finely seized upon this in his version of our text:- <p>&ldquo;My feet shall travel all the way, <p> Of the celestial road; <p> And march with courage in thy strength, <p> To meet my Saviour-God.&rdquo; </i><p>The journey of Jacob was a trying one; the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness was a trying journey, and &ldquo;the souls of the people were much discouraged because of the way.&rdquo; It is the same with Christians now, but it ought not to be so, it is very true, as we sometimes sing:- <p>&ldquo;True, &rsquo;tis a strait, a thorny road, <p> And mortal spirits tire and faint; <p> But they forget the mighty God, <p> That feeds the strength of every saint.&rdquo; </i><p>He hath said, &ldquo;I will be with thee in all places whither thou goest.&rdquo; &ldquo;I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;God is our strength, and through the road <p> We lean upon our helper, God.&rdquo; </i><p>And we cannot lean too much, we cannot lean too hard, upon him. His arm can sustain us. We know not what lies before us; we know not what a day may bring forth: nor is this knowledge necessary or desirable; it can bring nothing with it; but he will bear us through. But, says the Christian, &ldquo;Jordan lies between me and the promised land. I stand by it, and see its dark cold waters rolling along, and I am chilled and terrified. How shall I get over? How shall I reach my journey&rsquo;s end? How shall I arrive at the land flowing with milk and honey?&rdquo; Why, in the same way. He will be with you then; he will make a dry-shod passage for you, as he did for Joshua. Or if not, and the waters come up to your neck, like Bunyan&rsquo;s Christian, your feet shall feel the bottom, and your eyes shall see the shining ones at the other side, ready to escort you to the celestial city; and so shall you be forever with the Lord.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He himself hath suffered, being tempted. - <a href='B:650 2:18'>Heb 2:18</a>. </i><p>HERE we view the Lord Jesus as the Sufferer. Now, here are two things, the one requiring explanation, the other remark. He was &ldquo;tempted,&rdquo; and &ldquo;He suffered, being tempted.&rdquo; He was tempted. &ldquo;Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.&rdquo; In this sense the Lord Jesus Christ was not tempted, neither indeed could he be, being the Holy One of God, and having no sin in him. But he is tempted also who is solicited by the enemy of souls to the commission of sin; therefore he is called &ldquo;The tempter,&rdquo; and thus the Lord Jesus was tempted. He was tempted to presumption, to self-murder, and to idolatry. But in these words this is not the exclusive or principal meaning; for in the Scriptures, God is said to tempt as well as Satan. He is said to tempt Abraham; and we read, &ldquo;Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive a crown of life.&rdquo; In all which places the word temptation means affliction, or suffering; and afflictions are called temptations because they are designed to try us, to prove our principles and dispositions, and to prove the reality and degree of our graces.<p>Secondly, &ldquo;We remark that the Saviour &ldquo;suffered, being tempted;&rdquo; and from the manger to the cross we find him &ldquo;a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.&rdquo; He suffered in his outward condition; for &ldquo;Foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of man had not where to lay his head.&rdquo; He suffered in his reputation; for every evil was laid to his charge, and, in the language of prophecy, he could say, &ldquo;Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take pity, but there were none, and for comforters, but I found none.&rdquo; He suffered in his connections. His countrymen would not receive him, &ldquo;neither did his. brethren believe on him.&rdquo; One of his disciples denied him, another betrayed him, and in the hour of trial &ldquo;they all forsook him and fled!&rdquo; He suffered in his body. &ldquo;The ploughers ploughed, they made long their furrows&rdquo; by the scourge. &ldquo;His face was marred more than any man&rsquo;s, and his form more than the sons of men.&rdquo; His hands and his feet were nailed to the cross. He suffered in his soul. &ldquo;The Lord was pleased to bruise him, and put him to grief. He made his soul an offering for sin.&rdquo; How well could he say, &ldquo;Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger&rdquo;!<p>Here we may remark, in illustration, that the divine nature did not render the human incapable of pain; and, also, that his patience was not hardened into philosophical apathy or stoical indifference. There is no merit in bearing what we do not feel: this would be like patience in a stone when we strike it. There is no grace in giving up what we do not value,-no virtue in fasting when we have no appetite for food. But &ldquo;Jesus groaned in spirit and was troubled.&rdquo; &ldquo;Jesus wept.&rdquo; He &ldquo;was sore amazed and very heavy.&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;&rdquo; and, in his agony for us, &ldquo;He sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.&rdquo; With strong cryings and tears he made supplication, and said, &ldquo;Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.&rdquo;<p>Instead, therefore, of his being less sensible of suffering than others, he was more so. He was perfectly fitted to feel all that immensity of suffering he had voluntarily engaged to bear. 


devotion:
<i> He is able to succour them that are tempted. - <a href='B:650 2:18'>Heb 2:18</a>. </i><p>HERE we view the suffering Saviour succouring his tempted followers. Let us notice, First, The subjects of relief:-&ldquo;Them that are tempted;&rdquo; that is, as we have already noticed, by trial and by suffering. Such is the condition of his people; &ldquo;Bonds and afflictions abide them.&rdquo; Those who enter heaven can say, &ldquo;I found trouble and sorrow.&rdquo; Yes, <p>&ldquo;The path of sorrow, and that path alone, <p> Leads to that world where sorrow is unknown.&rdquo; </i><p>Observe, Secondly, The source of their relief, and how greatly they stand in need of succour and support to keep them from sinking in the day of adversity. This is that which David felt when he said, &ldquo;In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.&rdquo; The Lord&rsquo;s people are favoured to experience &ldquo;peace and joy in believing&rdquo; in the midst of their trials, so that the people of the world have wondered to behold them. The reason is, these worldlings can see their temporal losses, but they cannot see their spiritual gain; they can behold their burdens, and are amazed that these do not press their very lives down to the ground; but they cannot see &ldquo;the everlasting arms underneath them.&rdquo; They can hear their cries, but know not their comforts, their access to a, throne of grace, their share in &ldquo;an everlasting covenant,&rdquo; nor the communion which they have with their Lord and Saviour, and their earnests of that blessed state where all sorrow and sighing will cease, where God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.<p>Indeed, Christians themselves are often not aware of this beforehand, so that they are often amazed when trials come; for they find that as their day so their strength is; and they find that God gives them &ldquo;grace to help in time of need;&rdquo; so that, &ldquo;in the multitude of their thoughts within them, his comforts delight their souls.&rdquo; They are led to rejoice that all their sufferings come from him. The apostle, therefore, says, &ldquo;If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ;&rdquo; and there is, when there is none in the world. So he says again, &ldquo;As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth.&rdquo; But how? &ldquo;By Christ.&rdquo; Hence says Micah, &ldquo;This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian cometh into the land.&rdquo; And thus said the Saviour himself, &ldquo;In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.&rdquo; &ldquo;The hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble.&rdquo;<p>He is therefore called &ldquo;the consolation of Israel.&rdquo; And what Lamech said to his wife on the birth of Noah, as she was fondling him in her arms,-&ldquo;This same shall comfort us,&rdquo;-may the Christian say with regard to the Saviour, whatever his external trials or his internal exercises may be. 


devotion:
<i> For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. - <a href='B:650 2:18'>Heb 2:18</a>. </i><p>WE have seen the Lord as the Sufferer and the Succourer of his suffering people; and we have now to view him becoming the Succourer through his being the Sufferer. And we see in another passage how he obtained this, as we read, &ldquo;Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience through the things which he suffered;&rdquo; &ldquo;And, being made perfect through suffering, he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.&rdquo; The ability, therefore, is relative, and may be exemplified four ways. The first regards his atonement. Without this, the sacrifices of old would be unmeaning and absurd; but observe the relief that the Christian sufferer derives from this in his sufferings. How important it is for us to know that there is nothing penal in them, however numerous and great they may be! The cross is the tree which, thrown into the bitter waters of Marah, renders them sweet while we pass through the wilderness.<p>Secondly, By his example. &ldquo;He suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should tread in his steps.&rdquo; And by viewing him as a sufferer we may learn every thing in regard to our sufferings. Then the glory of God and the salvation of sinners is advanced by it. He could say, &ldquo;With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.&rdquo; &ldquo;I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!&rdquo; The feeling is quite consistent with submission. He bore a cross and carried it for us, and carried a much heavier one than we are required to bear, so that we may say, with Watts,- <p>&ldquo;Now let our pains be all forgot, <p> Nor longer dare repine; <p> Our sufferings are not worth a thought, <p> When, Lord, compared with thine.&rdquo; </i><p>Thirdly, By sympathy. He is thus able to enter into our case, and knows what is required in our condition. Experience is necessary to the exercise of sympathy. When we hear of the distress of another, we may feel some common pain, but we cannot sympathize unless we had felt the same; it is then that distress runs into the sensibility of another and we &ldquo;weep with those that weep.&rdquo; He who has felt the hand of God upon him will not be able to view with indifference, nor with an insensible heart, the sufferings of his fellow-creatures. So it is in consequence of our Saviour&rsquo;s humiliation and sufferings he knows how experimentally to sympathize:- <p>&ldquo;He knows what sore temptations mean, <p> For he has felt the same.&rdquo; </i><p>Do we think of dying? We must think of dying, and we must die alone as to our fellow-creatures; Christians will find their fellow members and their ministers may attend them and endeavour to comfort them, but they cannot speak from experience; they do not know what it is to die; but He then will be with them that does know! Are they afraid of the grave? He entered it: there lay &ldquo;the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley,&rdquo; and left a long perfume. <p>&ldquo;The graves of all his saints he blest, <p> And soften&rsquo;d every bed: <p> Where should the dying members rest, <p> But with their dying Head?&rdquo; </i><p>Fourthly, By his efficiency. Pity is not power. We can sympathize when we have not the means of curing and relieving. But it is otherwise with the blessed Saviour. His ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, neither is his arm shortened that he cannot save them. He has all power at his command, and all things at his disposal. &ldquo;The Father loveth the Son,&rdquo; and made him a present of the universe, so that providence and grace, and the whole dispensation of the Spirit in his miraculous and ordinary operations, are in his hand.<p>Nothing, therefore, is too hard for him; whatever our dangers are, he has a sufficiency to secure us. 


devotion:
<i> I will make mention of thy righteousness. - <a href='B:230 71:16'>Psa 71:16</a>. </i><p>HERE let us inquire what we are to understand by God&rsquo;s righteousness. Now, righteousness, in the Scripture, means his essential rectitude; as where it is said, &ldquo;He is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works.&rdquo; And we may mention this righteousness of his, and his only, too, in all the difficulties arising from his administrations, in all the perplexities we feel with regard to many things: how sin entered into the world; what will be the condemnation and the state of the heathen; how it is that the gospel has spread so little, and a thousand other things which may occur, and concerning which we have no satisfaction; but we &ldquo;will make mention of his righteousness,&rdquo; and say, &ldquo;Clouds and darkness are round about him, justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne.&rdquo; &ldquo;Is there unrighteousness with God? How then shall God judge the world?&rdquo; Here, and here alone, is our relief in a multitude of perplexities and difficulties:-&ldquo;The Judge of all the earth shall do-right.&rdquo;<p>Sometimes the righteousness of God, especially in the Psalms, means his faithfulness. And thus Paul says &ldquo;He is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love.&rdquo; He is not unrighteous to his promise, but he will do it. Hence David prays to be delivered from blood-guiltiness, and then says, &ldquo;My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.&rdquo; Now, God has given in his word numberless promises; and it is well that in all these we can make mention of his righteousness,-that is, of his faithfulness. Hath he not promised that &ldquo;the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord&rdquo;? Yes, and &ldquo;the Lord is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.&rdquo; And with regard to all God&rsquo;s promises, he assures us we can plead them from time to time, suing God at his own court:- &ldquo;Remember the word upon which thou hast caused thy servant to hope.&rdquo; &ldquo;Do as thou hast said,&rdquo; and what righteousness can be mentioned in comparison with his? that is, his faithfulness. &ldquo;Let God be true, and every man a liar.&rdquo;<p>But the word, the righteousness of God, often and more commonly means- especially in the New Testament-the method by which God makes a sinner righteous, and the way in which he justifies the ungodly who believe in Christ. &ldquo;Now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.&rdquo; This is the righteousness of God, as he is the Author of it. &ldquo;The righteousness of faith;&rdquo; this is the apprehension of it. This is the righteousness which the apostle so much desired to be found in; and this is the righteousness which every Christian resolves to make mention of, and to make mention of only. 


devotion:
<i> I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. - <a href='B:230 71:16'>Psa 71:16</a>. </i><p>NOW, we may consider this as done with regard to man, by our avowals. We are not to be ashamed of the Saviour&rsquo;s words. He requires us not only to believe with the heart but to confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and to hold fast, not only the reality of our faith, but the profession of it. A Christian is &ldquo;always to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him,&rdquo; and to proclaim before enemies the truth of God.<p>In this Christians are lamentably deficient in our day. &ldquo;The righteousness of God by faith&rdquo; we consider as the method of a sinner&rsquo;s acceptance before God. It was this in which the reformers were so agreed. They differed as to church government, as to the decrees of God, and various other things; but there was no difference here. Here they took their ground and stood firm, and, rather than deny or conceal it, they were willing to go to prison and to death. Let us also act in the same way, and, when we have opportunity, mention his &ldquo;righteousness and his only,&rdquo; especially when we meet with those who are awakened and converted. Let us mention his righteousness in a way of encouragement, and his righteousness only.<p>Let us, in answer to the question, &ldquo;What must I do to be saved?&rdquo; say, &ldquo;Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.&rdquo; They feel themselves ready to perish; and, as Solomon says, wine must he given to such; and this wine must not be diluted by qualifications and conditions, but is to be administered purely as we have it in the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! We may refer them at once to the refuge set before them&rsquo; in the gospel. We may tell them, if they think not themselves too good, he does not think them too bad, to be saved. And if they do not exclude themselves, they are not excluded by any declarations of Scripture from hope. We may, therefore, say,- <p>&ldquo;Let not conscience make you linger, <p> Nor of fitness fondly dream: <p> All the fitness he requireth <p> Is to feel your need of him.&rdquo; </i><p>&ldquo;Come, and welcome,&rdquo;-the title which Bunyan gave to one of his books. &ldquo;Come, and welcome; he is able, he is willing.&rdquo; In this way we should mention his righteousness. But we consider this as done with regard to God. And if we are asked, How is this to be done with regard to him? how are we to mention his righteousness, and his only? we answer, In all our intercourse and dealings with God in a way of salvation. And there are cases in which in our dealings with him we should make mention of his righteousness, and of his only.<p>The first is, in our transactions with him under convictions of sin. Oh, what are the views and feelings of a man then! How eagerly does he inquire, &ldquo;How shall I come before the Lord, and bow my knees before the Most High?&rdquo; And what would he do then but for the divine testimony? What would he do if he did not hear a voice, saying, &ldquo;Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world&rdquo;? &ldquo;We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.&rdquo; &ldquo;I have nothing to plead,&rdquo; may the man say, &ldquo;why the law, which is holy, just, and true, should not be executed upon me, but as One died for all, and as that One is more than they all, what might have been accomplished by their destruction is more than answered by his death.&rdquo; Well, therefore, may the Christian say, &ldquo;God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.&rdquo;<p>And, Secondly, The Christian may make mention of his righteousness, and his only, in all the fresh discoveries of guilt. These will be many. He will not only discover sin on common occasions, but in his most holy things; not only in the week, but on the Sabbath; not only on ordinary Sabbaths, but on sacramental Sabbaths: so numerous and affecting will be his views of his imperfections and his deserts too, that he will feel a broken and a contrite heart,-that he will relinquish all self-confidence, and feel self-abashed and self-abandoned; but not so as to lose his strong consolation and good hope through grace, and his union with his Lord and Saviour. &ldquo;If any man sin,&rdquo; says John, &ldquo;we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.&rdquo; Therefore he feels &ldquo;boldness and access by the faith of him.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. - <a href='B:230 71:16'>Psa 71:16</a>. </i><p>AND this will be the support and song of the believer in his dying moments. It is an awful thing to die, not only to bid farewell to hills and vales, and weeping friends, but to enter upon a new and untried state of existence, and to enter into the presence of a pure and holy God.<p>Christians will then have a greater sense of their unworthiness and guilt than ever they had in all their lives. They may be more affected by the review of life than ever, with a consciousness of the nearness of death, and eternity at their elbow. Perhaps, too, the enemy may thrust sore at them, and, as Cyrus gathered together all the forces of Asia in his last action with Alexander, so the devil may come down upon them, because he knows that his time is short! And how are they to meet him? What are they to say then? They have to &ldquo;make mention of his righteousness, and his only.&rdquo; What said Marshal? &ldquo;I cannot say that I have so lived as that I am not afraid to die, but I can say that I have so learned Christ as that I am not afraid to die.&rdquo;<p>The excellent Howe said, &ldquo;I am looking for eternal life, not as a profitable servant, but as a pardoned sinner, and I go into eternity as one who has sought and found mercy.&rdquo; What said the amiable Goodman, who had been so much in bondage through fear of death? &ldquo;Is this that which has inspired me with so much terror? Is this dying? Oh, how precious does the righteousness of Christ now appear! He cannot love me better than he does, and I think I cannot love him more than I do.&rdquo; So said another eminent divine, &ldquo;I can now smile upon death, because I feel that God is smiling upon me.&rdquo;<p>After eulogizing Onesiphorus, the apostle says, &ldquo;The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.&rdquo; Will he need mercy, then, at the last? Yes, and more than ever at the last. Where is the Christian who can think of that day without falling on his knees, saying, &ldquo;O Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?&rdquo; &ldquo;Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord!&rdquo; Mr. Cecil, not long before his death, said, &ldquo;I frequently think of my last remove; and all my comfort is, when I must give up my account, my Saviour will appear, and he will answer for me.&rdquo; Yes, he will answer for the Christian then:-&ldquo;Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.&rdquo; All joy to the believer, he can speak tremblingly, but he can speak with confidence; yes:- <p>&ldquo;Since the dear hour that brought me to his foot <p> And cut up all my follies by the root, <p> I never trusted in an arm but thine, <p> Nor hoped but in thy righteousness divine.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. - <a href='B:650 2:17'>Heb 2:17</a>. </i><p>THERE is a conformity between Christ and believers. In all things, indeed, he has the preeminence; but, as they have borne the image of the earthy, they also bear the image of the heavenly. He is the &ldquo;first-born among many brethren,&rdquo; but they are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. They are to follow him, &ldquo;to walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us.&rdquo; We cannot equal him, but then we can be like him in our measure and degree.<p>To his people he is a &ldquo;hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the storm; as rivers of waters in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.&rdquo; We cannot equal him, but we may have bowels of compassion. He went about doing good, and surely we may do the same; and as &ldquo;we have opportunity,&rdquo; we are commanded to &ldquo;do good unto all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.&rdquo; And what is it Christians should admire most in each other? Why, not their fine apparel, or expensive furniture; not the largeness of their house, or the length of their purse. No! But those feelings which make them social beings, which make them kind, which make them compassionate, which make them useful to their fellow-creatures. And where are these best learned but in the school of affliction?<p>This is a reason, therefore, why Christians should be resigned to the will of God, and that they may be able to comfort others, that they may be able to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Then we see the various experiences and conditions of Christians. Here we see them tempted, but then also they are succoured; they suffer here, but then they have One with them who is able to afford deliverance, support, and consolation. They are like the bush Moses saw; and if there be a motto more proper for them than any other, it is comprised in the language of the apostle:-&ldquo;We are troubled on every side, but not distressed; cast down, but not destroyed.&rdquo;<p>Let us learn to make use of this in every time of need. It is possible that we may have a privilege, and be ignorant of it, or neglect to use it sufficiently. This was the case with Hagar. She was pining for thirst while there was a well just by; but she did not know it till the angel opened her eyes. &ldquo;Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.&rdquo; What can others do for us compared to him? What said Job?-&ldquo;My friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.&rdquo; And if they cry unto God he will put their tears into his bottle. Are they not in his book? And if friends are disposed to succour, and to do all they can, how little can they do! But here is an all-sufficient and suitable Saviour. Let us betake ourselves to him. <p>&ldquo;Have you no words? ah, think again: <p> Words flow apace when you complain, <p> And fill your fellow-creature&rsquo;s ear <p> With the sad tale of all your care. <p>&ldquo;Were half the breath thus vainly spent, <p> To heaven in supplication sent, <p> Your cheerful songs would oftener be, <p>&lsquo;Hear what the Lord has done for me.&rsquo;&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. - <a href='B:490 19:6'>Luk 19:6</a>. </i><p>OUR Saviour was now passing from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he was to give his life a ransom for many:-&ldquo;And he entered and passed through Jericho.&rdquo; This city is often mentioned in the Scriptures. It lay under the malediction of heaven. But no place can hinder the admission and the operation of divine grace. Here Joshua had saved a Rahab, and here the Saviour a Zaccheus,-the one a harlot, the other a publican. His conversion is rendered the more remarkable by his condition. There were two obstacles which stood in the way of his salvation.<p>Let us notice these; and, First, His office. He was a publican. We do not consider this as an impediment to his salvation as far as it furnished employment. But it was the nature of his employment. Publicans were of two sorts among the Jews,-the collectors, and what we should call the farmers general. Zaccheus, therefore, was one of the latter: he was chief among the publicans. The publicans were the appointed collectors or receivers of the imposts or taxes which the Roman governors laid upon the Jews; and they were peculiarly obnoxious to them, because they extorted the last mite from the poor oppressed people, and reminded them continually of their being vassals of a foreign power. We find publicans mentioned in three unfavourable associations in the Scriptures. Along with the heathens:-&ldquo;Let him be as a heathen man, and a publican.&rdquo; Along with the harlots:-&ldquo;Publicans and harlots shall enter the kingdom of heaven before you.&rdquo; And along with sinners:-&ldquo; Your master eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners.&rdquo; This was his first obstacle.<p>The second arose from his wealth; for he was rich. Probably he was rich before he undertook that office, for the Roman governors demanded large securities from those who farmed their revenues, and he added to it by his publicanism, perhaps by his injustice. And it must be acknowledged that riches (and men are naturally depraved) manure depravity, and make it grow. They enable a man to &ldquo;make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof,&rdquo; and to feed the evils which ought to be banished. They are unfriendly to a life of friendship with God and communion with him; and, though they cannot afford satisfaction to the soul, they can engross it, and turn away the attention from the things that belong to our everlasting peace; and &ldquo;the prosperity of fools destroys them.&rdquo; But &ldquo;with God all things are possible.&rdquo;<p>Observe the disposition of Zaccheus. He wished to see Jesus; and who would not have wished to see such an extraordinary personage? Abraham had rejoiced to see his day. Simeon had taken him up in his arms, and, having seen him, wished to see nothing else. What was the happiness of his disciples in the days of his flesh? &ldquo;We beheld,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;his glory.&rdquo;<p>What is the Saviour&rsquo;s promise to his people? What is his prayer for them? &ldquo;Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.&rdquo; And this is the hope and expectation of all Christians: -&ldquo;It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.&rdquo; However this may be, what was his motive? Perhaps it was only curiosity: he had heard of his fame, of his speaking as never man spake, of his miracles, and wonders, and signs. Perhaps, too, there was something more than mere curiosity; perhaps there was a secret desire produced by the Saviour to become acquainted with him. But two things opposed his inclination when he wished to see Jesus. First, The press or crowd of people.<p>Secondly, His stature. But he resolves he will not return home till he has obtained the sight he so longed to enjoy. Thus we see that zeal is always increased by difficulties; and exertions and sacrifices are always the tests of the sincerity and fervency of our religious desires. If we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we shall use the means of grace, repair to the house of God, read the Scriptures, &ldquo;abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good.&rdquo;<p>Curiosity has sometimes been overruled for good. So it was here. Behold Zaccheus in the tree. He waits with eager anxiety, looks impatiently through the boughs. The procession appears at a distance; it draws nearer and nearer. He is now all breathless expectation. Oh, he sees him, but there is &ldquo;no form or comeliness&rdquo; of a worldly kind in him. Jesus, instead of passing by, makes a pause, and looks upwards; he sees him, and says, &ldquo;Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thine house. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> The living know that they shall die. - <a href='B:250 9:5'>Ecc 9:5</a>. </i><p>THIS is one of the most commonplace reflections ever uttered; and the plainest truths are often the most important, and at the same time the most neglected. Oh, it was a fine answer which the incomparable Judge Hale returned to a person who one day asked him why he attended a ministry so constantly and invariably, which could not inform him. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I go not to be informed, but to be impressed.&rdquo; And what is the language of the Saviour?-&ldquo;If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.&rdquo; Yes, &ldquo;the living know that they shall die.&rdquo; Let us, then, consider the sources of this knowledge.<p>We derive it from the Scriptures. We read, &ldquo;Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.&rdquo; &ldquo;Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?&rdquo; &ldquo;In Adam all die.&rdquo; &ldquo;By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.&rdquo; But this is not one of those truths which depends entirely upon revelation. Revelation alone could have informed us of the origin, nature, and future consequences of death; but we could have learned the fact without it. For what says all history, for nearly six thousand years? Where now are the heroes that once triumphed, the philosophers that once taught, the kings that once governed? The fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever? &ldquo;Comparatively,&rdquo; says Solomon, &ldquo;the earth abideth forever, but one generation passeth away, and another cometh;&rdquo; empires rise and &lsquo;fall, and flourish and fade.<p>Our world is little better than a large charnel-house. The very graves were once alive; we dig down through the remains of our ancestors in order to cover our contemporaries. And does not observation say the same? Do we not continually see man &ldquo;going to his long home, and the mourners going about the streets&rdquo;? Who has not been called more than once to mourn, and has frequently exclaimed, What a dying world! What dying children, what dying families, do we mourn! And who has not more than once sighed, Eternal Disposer of all things! &ldquo;lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness&rdquo;? Does not experience teach the same? Our very life is only the succession of dyings; every hour wears away a part of it; and as far as life is gone, so far are we already dead and buried.<p>Some have had very fierce attacks of mortality; and though they were able to withstand them, yet they were thus told, in language plain enough, that their &ldquo;strength is not the strength of stones, nor their bones brass.&rdquo; Those of us who have escaped these, do we not feel that while we survive we yet decay? While we are persuaded that we are mortal in destination, do we not feel that we are mortal also in state? Have we not the sentence of death in ourselves? Is not some pin taken out, or some cord loosed in the tabernacle? Old age bends down the man, as he walks along, towards the ground, as if it ordered him to survey the place towards which he is travelling. And the lengthened life is proof enough of the certainty of death; for what are dulness of hearing and dimness of sight, trembling of limbs, loss of appetite, chilliness of blood, and depression of spirits,-what are all these but the forerunners, the signals, the beginnings of death? But it seems entirely needless to enlarge on a truth which no one denies.<p>Every question besides this with regard to a fellow-creature is answered, only by peradventures. If we are asked, concerning an individual, Will he reach maturity? we say, He may. If asked, Will he become rich? we can only say, He may. Will he fill such and such an office? or will he form such a connection? He may. But if asked whether he will die, the reply will be, He must, without one moment&rsquo;s hesitation or reserve. Oh, yes: &ldquo;The living know that they shall die;&rdquo; for &ldquo;it is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I know that thou wilt bring me to death. - <a href='B:220 30:23'>Job 30:23</a>. </i><p>WE not only know that we shall die, but we know much more: we know a number of things pertaining to it too. For instance, we know that we shall die, whatever be our character or our condition. We know that &ldquo;in this war there is no discharge;&rdquo; that &ldquo;this is the way of all the earth.&rdquo; Enoch, indeed, &ldquo;walked with God, and he was not, for God took him;&rdquo; and Elias ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire; and at the last day there will be multitudes who &ldquo;will not sleep, but be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.&rdquo; But these are all miracles; these are all exceptions to the general rule: we do not look for any thing like this. &ldquo;The living,&rdquo; therefore, whether they are old or young, rich or poor, whether they are in palaces or poor-houses, whether they are sinners or whether they are Christians, each of them can individually say, &ldquo;I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.&rdquo;<p>And as we know that we shall die, so we know also that death cannot be far off. There is now and then an individual who reaches a century; but he is noticed and spoken of as a prodigy. &ldquo;The days of our years are threescore years and ten:&rdquo; this is the general average of human life now, and it is a very favourable one; numbers more die on one side of it than on the other. Yes, we know that but for the will of God our death may be very near. There is not a week, a day, an hour, or a moment, in which we may not die. We know the perilousness of the situation in which we live; we know the truth of Dr. Watt&rsquo;s remark:- <p>&ldquo;Dangers stand thick through all the ground. <p> To push us to the tomb; <p> And fierce diseases wait around <p> To hurry mortals home.&rdquo; </i><p>We know the brittleness of the human frame; that the body is constituted of a multiplicity of delicate organs and vessels, the destruction of any one of which may bring on the dissolution of the whole. A philosopher once said, with regard to those who sailed, that they were always within three or four inches of death. It is but a narrow partition, wherever we are, between us and the eternal world. As we know we shall die, so we know that we shall only die once. &ldquo;It is appointed unto men once to die;&rdquo; and what can be only done once ought to be done very well; and we know also that when &ldquo;the dust shall return to the dust as it was, the spirit shall return to God who gave it;&rdquo; and that after death will be the judgment.<p>There are persons who affect not to believe this, for we must distinguish between profession and belief in a thousand cases. We must remember, too, that no man can be sure-perfectly sure-that there will be no hereafter. A man may wish to be considered a brute, but he cannot prove that he is one; he may live like the brutes that perish, and wish to die like them and be no more, but he cannot. He can never be sure of this; he cannot be free from some misgiving, some fears, some doubts, in this case. And if it be supposed that now and then there is an individual who has entirely subdued his reason, and conquered his conscience, and forced God &ldquo;to give him up to strong delusion to believe a lie,&rdquo; yet their number among us is very few.<p>We, however, know that we shall die, and also that death is not annihilation; that it is not the extinction of existence, but only the change from one mode of it to another; that it is only a transition from a mortal to an eternal state, and from a state of action and probation to a state of decision and retribution. 


devotion:
<i> I know that thou wilt bring me to death. - <a href='B:220 30:23'>Job 30:23</a>. </i><p>LET us contemplate the happiness or the misery of this knowledge. What a source of misery must this knowledge be to a man who is a sinner! If it be not, it ought to be. But it commonly is, and much more commonly than those who feel it are willing to allow. In several of Voltaire&rsquo;s letters to his private friends, this expression frequently occurs:-&ldquo;I hate life, and I dread death.&rdquo; Why, the only concern of thousands of our fellow-creatures is to banish the thought of it from their minds; for the remembrance of it, like the handwriting on the wall, is enough to turn the pleasures of the feast into horror and anguish. Inspiration itself calls death &ldquo;the king of terrors.&rdquo; What view can be taken of it that can be agreeable and inviting, that must not be repulsive and terrible, to an unpardoned, unrenewed sinner?<p>If he desires it, the Scripture meets him with the question, &ldquo;For what do you desire the day of the Lord? The day of the Lord to you is darkness, and not light.&rdquo; Those who say it is better for them to die than to live are perfectly mistaken; for, whatever be their present hardships, and privations, and sorrows, and trials, these are only &ldquo;the beginnings of sorrows,&rdquo; these are only the harbingers of misery,-the first words in the roll which is &ldquo;written within and without with lamentation and mourning and woe.&rdquo;<p>We have heard of the afflictions of Job, and that a number of messengers arrived one after the other, and the last was always worse than the preceding; and what a sad story is the summing up of the whole! &ldquo;Naked came I out of my mother&rsquo;s womb, and naked shall I return thither,&rdquo; said the patriarch: and we may apply this to a dying sinner. Oh, how many messengers may we suppose coming to him. One comes and says to him, You must resign all your offices and employments, however honourable or beneficial they may be, and have nothing more to do with any of the concerns below the sun. While he is yet speaking, another comes and says, You must be stripped of all your possessions,- your houses, your lands, your silver, and your gold. While he is yet speaking, another comes and says, You must resign all your recreations, all that ever charmed your imagination or delighted your senses; you must no more walk by the side of the murmuring brook; no more inhale the fragrance of the spring; no more behold the tints of autumn; no more be delighted by the singing of birds, or the converse of friends. While he is speaking, another comes and says, Your blood must be congealed and your body become a mass of loathsomeness; you must be laid in a corner of the earth, and be devoured by worms. While he is yet speaking, another comes and says, Your soul must enter the invisible world, and, in a new and untried condition, appear before the Judge of all!<p>We can easily imagine, therefore, what a source of misery this knowledge must be to a sinner. But let us turn the medal: let us see what a source of comfort it is to the Christian. If it be not, it ought to be, and continually too; for with regard to those who know the Saviour, the curse is turned into a blessing, and the enemy is converted into a friend. &ldquo;The righteous hath hope in his death.&rdquo; &ldquo;Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace,&rdquo;-peace in the issue, and commonly peace in the exit too. &ldquo;To die,&rdquo; says the apostle to the Philippians, &ldquo;is gain.&rdquo; Yes. &ldquo;To depart and be with Christ is far better.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. - <a href='B:230 73:25'>Psa 73:25</a>. </i><p>CHRIST is all in all in the estimation of his people. Abraham rejoiced to see his day: he saw it, and was glad. Moses &ldquo;esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.&rdquo; David regarded him as &ldquo;fairer than the children of men,&rdquo; and to be preferred before all on earth and in heaven; and the church throughout the world doth acknowledge him to be &ldquo;altogether lovely,&rdquo; and with Paul esteem all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord.<p>And of the noble army of martyrs, some said, &ldquo;We cannot dispute for him, but we can burn for him.&rdquo; The hoary head, trembling with weakness.-pious females, with all their tenderness,-dear youths, with their love of life,-yet &ldquo;not accounting; their lives dear unto them.&rdquo; There were such as these, and numbers of others, who, as they approached the stake, could say, &ldquo;None but Jesus,&rdquo; &ldquo;None but Jesus,&rdquo; &ldquo;Christ is all, and in all.&rdquo;<p>And it is the same now as formerly, only they are not called to endure the like suffering, yet they possess the same dispositions. The love of Christ shed abroad in the heart constrains believers to live not to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. It makes the servant willing to forego his place, and the mechanic his employ, and the tradesman his customer, and the physician his patient, rather than betray the truth or deny his Lord; willing to go forth without the camp, bearing the reproach of the cross of Christ, and &ldquo;rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;<p>And he is still &ldquo;all, and in all,&rdquo; in the estimation of his people. As to their thoughts, each of them can say, &ldquo;My meditation of him shall be sweet;&rdquo; and as to their desires, they &ldquo;wait for him more than they that watch for the morning.&rdquo; Look at their consolations: see what is their principal source of comfort. If he hides his face, they are troubled. Nothing can supply his place. Their language of inquiry is, &ldquo;Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?&rdquo; <p>&ldquo;I cannot live contented here, <p> Without some glimpses of thy face; <p> And heaven, without thy presence there, <p> Would be a dark and tiresome place.&rdquo; </i><p>Without him friends are &ldquo;miserable comforters;&rdquo; ministers are &ldquo;physicians of no value;&rdquo; promises are &ldquo;dry breasts;&rdquo; ordinances are &ldquo;wells without water.&rdquo; But when he appears, their hope, their joy begins; then, if in the world they have tribulation, in him they have peace. And we see how highly they value persons and things in connection with him. Their love to their fellow-Christians is founded principally because they belong to him and wear his image.<p>They love the habitation of God&rsquo;s house, because it is the place where his honour dwelleth. They call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord and honourable, because it is his day. And this is also the reason why they prize the Scriptures. There, says the Christian,- <p>&ldquo;There my Redeemer&rsquo;s face I see, <p> And read His love who died for me.&rdquo; </i>


devotion:
<i> Watch ye, and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. - <a href='B:480 14:38'>Mar 14:38</a>. </i><p>&ldquo;WHAT God has joined together, let no man put asunder.&rdquo; In vain do we pray if we are careless and unwatchful, if we expose ourselves needlessly in dangerous places and company, if we leave without a sentinel our senses, appetites, and passions, and use not the means of preservation which are placed within bur reach. Prayer without watchfulness is hypocrisy; watching without prayer is presumption. Our strength is in God alone. We should always manifest a lively concern for our spiritual preservation. Our prayer should ever be, &ldquo;Uphold my goings in thy ways,&rdquo; and, &ldquo;Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.&rdquo; &ldquo;Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.&rdquo; Whatever be our weakness, if he upholds us he will keep us from falling. Whatever be our inability and danger, if he holds us up we are safe.<p>Now, this preservation, about which we are to be thus prayerfully solicitous, includes not only eventual security as to eternity, but stability and constancy as to time, our being steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And the very exercise of prayer will tend to secure us. And God has promised to hear and answer the prayers of his people. He will &ldquo;strengthen us with might by his Spirit in our inner man.&rdquo; And though Christians know God has engaged to keep the feet of his saints, they also know that their safety consists in watching and praying; they know there is no perseverance without persevering; they know the certainty of the end includes the certainty of the means.<p>A Christian hates sin, and believes it to be, as the apostle says, &ldquo;exceeding sinful.&rdquo; He not only hates it, but desires to depart from it. He loves heart-purity, and, feeling sin to be his abhorrence, he will not, cannot, bear his heavenly Father should plead in vain, &ldquo;Oh, do not the abominable thing which I hate.&rdquo; Therefore he sees enough in the nature of sin, and in the accusations of conscience, to induce him to cry, &ldquo;Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. - <a href='B:230 88:9'>Psa 88:9</a>. </i><p>ONE source of David&rsquo;s sorrows was affliction. He had many trials and troubles which his greatness could not prevent or even alleviate. Oh, how happy was he in the village, in the retirement of Bethlehem, with his sheep, his harp, and his muse, going home in the evening to old Jesse, his father, and to the embrace of his loving mother, to whom he so often refers in his psalms. But when he had begun to rise in the world and to entertain the expectation of the throne, what did he? He soon found that it was &ldquo;through much tribulation that he must enter the kingdom;&rdquo; and when he had entered it he said, &ldquo;Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest; I would hasten my escape from the stormy wind and tempest.&rdquo;<p>Obliged to appear cheerful in public, yet when he had given orders to his generals, and audiences to his ambassadors, and had left the company of his courtiers, we find him alone, bleeding at every pore. And he makes no scruple to lay it down as a maxim, even under a dispensation which abounded with worldly promises, that &ldquo;Many are the afflictions of the righteous.&rdquo;<p>Nor are Christians to be insensible under these afflictions. Religion allows them to feel; religion requires them to feel. Their trials would never answer their moral ends without feeling, and feeling severely, too. There is no grace in bearing what we do not feel. There is neither patience nor resignation in a stone. If we look at our Saviour himself, shall we find that he was insensible under reproach? &ldquo;Reproach,&rdquo; saith he, &ldquo;hath broken my heart; and I looked for some to take pity, and there was none; and for comforters, and I found none.&rdquo; Did he deem pain no evil? His &ldquo;soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.&rdquo;<p>The affliction of others also drew forth his tears. And Paul says, &ldquo;Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is afflicted, and I burn not?&rdquo; We are commanded not only to &ldquo;rejoice with them that rejoice,&rdquo; but &ldquo;to weep with them that weep.&rdquo; And a woe is denounced upon those that are &ldquo;at ease in Zion,&rdquo; and who are &ldquo;not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. - <a href='B:690 3:23'>1Jn 3:23</a>. </i><p>THIS commandment is little thought of, and it is often despised by the many who talk much of their obedience: but it stands as a prominent command of the gospel; it stands at the entrance of the Christian life; and, until this command be complied with, we are neither in a disposition nor in a state properly to comply with any other, for we are not united to Christ, who is the head of influence as well as of empire. The Saviour, therefore, said, when the Jews asked what they must do that they might work the works of God, &ldquo;This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.&rdquo;<p>The elder brother said to the father, &ldquo;I have never transgressed thy command at any time,&rdquo; while at that moment he was filled with the most hostile disposition towards his father&rsquo;s pleasure. Well, says the father, since you talk so much of your obedience, since you say you always obey your father, obey now, and go in and share with the family in the joy which arises from the recovery of my poor son and your brother: &ldquo;For this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.&rdquo; He would not go in: he would have died,-yea, he would rather have perilled the salvation of his soul than have gone in.<p>There is an awful amount of enmity in the heart of the proud Pharisee against God&rsquo;s sovereign method of salvation, and it is that which keeps him from submitting himself to the righteousness which is of God by faith. But, says the apostle, it is &ldquo;to him that worketh not, but believeth on him. that justifieth the ungodly.&rdquo; If we flee for refuge to the hope set before us, it shall be a security from all condemnation; and the question, therefore, is, How we feel disposed towards this command?-a command that requires self-annihilation,-a command that requires that we look to Jesus, and to say, &ldquo;In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. - <a href='B:530 6:17'>1Co 6:17</a>. </i><p>THERE must be likeness in order to fellowship. Every man that loves God will be constrained to be like him, will long to resemble him more and more. &ldquo;He that saith he dwelleth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.&rdquo; Not only gratitude and consistency require this, but proof. &ldquo;If,&rdquo; says the holy Saviour, &ldquo;I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.&rdquo; For &ldquo;what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, or what concord hath Christ with Belial?&rdquo; Christ and Christians are not like Nebuchadnezzar&rsquo;s statue, the head of which was gold, while the subordinate parts were of inferior metal, down to the feet, which were partly iron and partly clay.<p>But &ldquo;He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one.&rdquo; He is a partaker of their nature, and they are partakers of his. They are not of the world, even as he is not of the world. They have the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus,-a sameness of sentiment and feeling, a oneness of heart and soul. A Christian, therefore, will never despise those instructions that call upon him to &ldquo;deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;&rdquo; &ldquo;to cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;&rdquo; but he will take all his temptations and his besetting sins to the foot of the cross, and then he will take them to the throne of grace, and turn them into prayer; and while he knows that in the use of means the blessing of sanctification will be imparted, and must be breathed from the Spirit of God, he will live in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, remembering that this is his commandment:-&ldquo; Be ye holy, for I am holy.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> I love my master: I will not go out free. - <a href='B:20 21:5'>Exo 21:5</a>. </i><p>LOVE, as the principle of obedience, renders it perpetual. At the end of seven years, under the law, the bond-servant was allowed to go free; but if he refused to avail himself of the privilege, if he came to his master and said, &ldquo;I love my master: I will not go out free,&rdquo; then the master took him to the door, and bored his ear through, with an awl, to the door-post, signifying by this striking symbol that he was now a fixture, that he was now a domestic, and forever attached to the family. Our Saviour alludes to this custom when he says, &ldquo;Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, Mine ears hast thou opened.&rdquo; It is in the Hebrew and in the margin, &ldquo;Mine ears hast thou bored;&rdquo; as much as to say, &ldquo;I am thine entirely: obedience is the course in which I am going to engage, and nothing shall make me swerve from it;&rdquo; &ldquo;Lo, I come;&rdquo; &ldquo;I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.&rdquo; He was, therefore, &ldquo;obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.&rdquo; He could say, &ldquo;With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you, my disciples, before I suffer.&rdquo; &ldquo;I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?&rdquo;<p>Herein the Saviour is an example to his people; they have the same mind in them which was also in him. They are, therefore, not detained in his service against their will. They are not impressed men. They are not conscripts, but they are volunteers. They have been &ldquo;made willing in the day of his power.&rdquo; While duty renders it our medicine, love renders it our meat, to do the will of our heavenly Father. We take the one, we relish and enjoy the other. Our Saviour, therefore, when many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him, said to the twelve, trying their dispositions, &ldquo;Will ye also go away?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Peter, in the name of the rest, &ldquo;go away! to whom shall we go but unto thee? for thou hast the words of eternal life.&rdquo;<p>It is sometimes said of Christians who hold certain doctrines, &ldquo;They live as they list.&rdquo; Nothing is more untrue and vile in the sense of their calumniators, who mean thereby that they do evil that good may come. But if they feel those doctrines which they profess, we will venture to affirm that nothing is more true in another sense, and that they do live as they list. They do observe the Sabbath; they &ldquo;call it a delight, holy of the Lord, and honourable.&rdquo; They do repair to the sanctuary, and they love to repair to it; they are glad when it is said unto them, &ldquo;Let us go up unto the house of the Lord.&rdquo; They do not find it their prison, but their palace, their home, their Father&rsquo;s house; and they can individually say, &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;Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.&rdquo; 


devotion:
<i> With loving-kindness have I drawn thee. - <a href='B:300 31:3'>Jer 31:3</a>. </i><p>THE gospel has been exceedingly injured, as to its practical influence and results, by being reduced to a mere republication of the law of nature, or a mere moral code. And we would ask boldly whether a man who receives only a class of moral rules from God, accompanied with a declaration that the observance of them shall hereafter be recompensed,-can such a man have the same feelings towards the blessed God as the man who believes he is in mercy redeemed from the lowest hell by the sacrifice of God&rsquo;s own Son, that he is already blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ? And to order us to deny ourselves, to sacrifice our beloved lusts and passions and wish their eternal destruction, even if reason and conscience acknowledge the rectitude of the requirement, will never attach us to a sovereign power, or cause us to love these declarations and these truths.<p>To tell a man that every thing here is only in a state of probation and that every thing depends on his own prudence and his own fidelity,- can we imagine that this will ever produce a childlike confidence in God, or delight in his service? Assuredly not. And nothing will, but a manifestation of goodness so great as to overpower the heart and gain it: and such a manifestation of goodness there is. We have it in the manger, in the garden, on the cross, in the grave. &ldquo;Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.&rdquo; &ldquo;He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?&rdquo; It is here, and here alone, we can be drawn with the &ldquo;cords of love and with the bands of a man,&rdquo; and effectually bound forever. And this, therefore, is the grand and only expedient the only wise God has devised and revealed to bring back the minds of his alienated creatures to himself.<p>It is obvious that the first step in the return of the criminal must be confidence. &ldquo;We are saved by hope.&rdquo; God knows this, and he provides for it, and he therefore banishes our fears, he expels from our minds all jealousies, and all unworthy conceptions of himself, and obtains the trust, the entire trust, of our poor hearts. He purges our consciences by the glorious gospel from dead works, that we may serve the living God. He enlarges the heart so that we can run in the way of his commandments. We have obtained not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, &ldquo;Abba, Father.&rdquo; Hence the Apostle Jude says to Christians, &ldquo;Keep yourselves in the love of God;&rdquo; that is, love the commandments of his love to you, that you may live in the exercise of your love to God.<p>And this is the meaning of Paul to the Ephesians, when he speaks of their being &ldquo;rooted and grounded in love;&rdquo; he means in the discovery of his love, in the producing their love to him, as is obvious from what follows:-&ldquo;That ye may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.&rdquo; 


