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- June 1 Morning
-
- \\"The evening and the morning were the first day."\\
- --Genesis 1:5
-
- Was it so even in the beginning? Did light and darkness
- divide the realm of time in the first day? Then little wonder is
- it if I have also changes in my circumstances from the sunshine
- of prosperity to the midnight of adversity. It will not always
- be the blaze of noon even in my soul concerns, I must expect at
- seasons to mourn the absence of my former joys, and seek my
- Beloved in the night. Nor am I alone in this, for all the Lord's
- beloved ones have had to sing the mingled song of judgment and
- of mercy, of trial and deliverance, of mourning and of delight.
- It is one of the arrangements of Divine providence that day and
- night shall not cease either in the spiritual or natural
- creation till we reach the land of which it is written, "there
- is no night there." What our heavenly Father ordains is wise and
- good.
-
- What, then, my soul, is it best for thee to do? Learn first
- \\to be content\\ with this divine order, and be willing, with
- Job, to receive evil from the hand of the Lord as well as good.
- Study next, to \\make the outgoings of the morning and the\\
- \\evening to rejoice\\. Praise the Lord for the sun of joy when
- it rises, and for the gloom of evening as it falls. There is
- beauty both in sunrise and sunset, sing of it, and glorify the
- Lord. Like the nightingale, pour forth thy notes at all hours.
- \\Believe that the night is as useful as the day\\. The dews of
- grace fall heavily in the night of sorrow. The stars of promise
- shine forth gloriously amid the darkness of grief. \\Continue\\
- \\thy service\\ under all changes. If in the day thy watchword
- be \\labour\\, at night exchange it for \\watch\\. Every hour
- has its duty, do thou continue in thy calling as the Lord's
- servant until he shall suddenly appear in his glory. My soul,
- thine evening of old age and death is drawing near, dread it
- not, for it is part of the day; and the Lord has said, "I will
- cover him all the day long."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28701
- # Ezr 1:1 - 2:70 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28602
- June 2 Morning
-
- \\"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit\\
- \\against the flesh."\\
- --Galatians 5:17
-
- In every believer's heart there is a constant struggle
- between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very
- active, and loses no opportunity of plying all the weapons of
- its deadly armoury against newborn grace; while on the other
- hand, the new nature is ever on the watch to resist and destroy
- its enemy. Grace within us will employ prayer, and faith, and
- hope, and love, to cast out the evil; it takes unto it the
- "whole armour of God," and wrestles earnestly. These two
- opposing natures will never cease to struggle so long as we are
- in this world. The battle of "Christian" with "Apollyon" lasted
- three hours, but the battle of Christian with himself lasted all
- the way from the Wicket Gate to the river Jordan. The enemy is
- so securely entrenched within us that he can never be driven out
- while we are in this body: but although we are closely beset,
- and often in sore conflict, we have an Almighty helper, even
- Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who is ever with us, and
- who assures us that we shall eventually come off more than
- conquerors through him. With such assistance the new-born nature
- is more than a match for its foes. Are you fighting with the
- adversary to-day? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh, all
- against you? Be not discouraged nor dismayed. Fight on! For God
- himself is with you; \\Jehovah Nissi\\ is your banner, and
- \\Jehovah Rophi\\ is the healer of your wounds. Fear not, you
- shall overcome, for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on,
- "looking unto Jesus"; and though long and stern be the conflict,
- sweet will be the victory, and glorious the promised reward.
-
- "From strength to strength go on;
- Wrestle, and fight, and pray,
- Tread all the powers of darkness down,
- And win the well-fought day."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28702
- # Ezr 3:1 - 5:17 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28603
- June 3 Morning
-
- \\"These were potters, and those that dwelt among plants and\\
- \\hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work."\\
- --1 Chronicles 4:23
-
- Potters were not the very highest grade of workers, but "the
- king" needed potters, and therefore they were in royal service,
- although the material upon which they worked was nothing but
- clay. We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the
- Lord's work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for "the
- king"; and therefore we will abide in our calling, hoping that,
- "although we have lien among the pots, yet shall we be as the
- wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with
- yellow gold." The text tells us of those who \\dwelt among\\
- \\plants and hedges\\, having rough, rustic, hedging and
- ditching work to do. They may have desired to live in the city,
- amid its life, society, and refinement, but they kept their
- appointed places, for they also were doing the king's work. The
- place of our habitation is fixed, and we are not to remove from
- it out of whim and caprice, but seek to serve the Lord in it, by
- being a blessing to those among whom we reside. These potters
- and gardeners had \\royal company\\, for they dwelt "with the
- king" and although among hedges and plants, they dwelt with the
- king \\there\\. No lawful place, or gracious occupation, however
- mean, can debar us from communion with our divine Lord. In
- visiting hovels, swarming lodging-houses, workhouses, or jails,
- we may go \\with the king\\. In all works of faith we may count
- upon Jesus' fellowship. It is when we are in his work that we
- may reckon upon his smile. Ye unknown workers who are occupied
- for your Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of
- the low, be of good cheer, for jewels have been found upon
- dunghills ere now, earthen pots have been filled with heavenly
- treasure, and ill weeds have been transformed into precious
- flowers. Dwell ye with the King for his work, and when he writes
- his chronicles your name shall be recorded.
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28703
- # Ezr 6:1 - 7:28 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28604
- June 4 Morning
-
- \\"The kindness and love of God our Saviour."\\
- --Titus 3:4
-
- How sweet it is to behold the Saviour communing with his own
- beloved people! There can be nothing more delightful than, by
- the Divine Spirit, to be led into this fertile field of delight.
- Let the mind for an instant consider the history of the
- Redeemer's love, and a thousand enchanting acts of affection
- will suggest themselves, all of which have had for their design
- the weaving of the heart into Christ, and the intertwisting of
- the thoughts and emotions of the renewed soul with the mind of
- Jesus. When we meditate upon this amazing love, and behold the
- all-glorious Kinsman of the Church endowing her with all his
- ancient wealth, our souls may well faint for joy. Who is he that
- can endure such a weight of love? That partial sense of it
- which the Holy Spirit is sometimes pleased to afford, is more
- than the soul can contain; how transporting must be a complete
- view of it! When the soul shall have understanding to discern
- all the Saviour's gifts, wisdom wherewith to estimate them, and
- time in which to meditate upon them, such as the world to come
- will afford us, we shall then commune with Jesus in a nearer
- manner than at present. But who can imagine the sweetness of
- such fellowship? It must be one of the things which have not
- entered into the heart of man, but which God hath prepared for
- them that love him. Oh, to burst open the door of our Joseph's
- granaries, and see the plenty which he hath stored up for us!
- This will overwhelm us with love. By faith we see, as in a
- glass darkly, the reflected image of his unbounded treasures,
- but when we shall actually see the heavenly things themselves,
- with our own eyes, how deep will be the stream of fellowship in
- which our soul shall bathe itself! Till then our loudest sonnets
- shall be reserved for our loving benefactor, Jesus Christ our
- Lord, whose love to us is wonderful, passing the love of women.
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28704
- # Ezr 8:1 - 9:15 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28605
- June 5 Morning
-
- \\"The Lord shut him in."\\
- --Genesis 7:16
-
- Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of
- divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us
- and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the
- world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin,
- the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we
- cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of
- darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut
- in \\with his God\\. "\\Come\\ thou into the ark," was the Lord's
- invitation, by which he clearly showed that he himself intended
- to dwell in the ark with his servant and his family. Thus all
- the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be
- enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of
- his persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be
- inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou
- into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide
- thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be
- overpast." Noah was so shut in that \\no evil could reach him\\.
- Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him
- on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was
- rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus
- there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that \\he could not\\
- \\even desire to come out\\, and those who are in Christ Jesus
- are in him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for
- eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice
- cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth
- and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of
- the house he shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain
- for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us,
- for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out
- the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by thy grace.
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28705
- # Ezr 10:1 - 10:44 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28606
- June 6 Morning
-
- \\"Behold, I am vile."\\
- --Job 40:4
-
- One cheering word, poor lost sinner, for thee! You think you
- must not come to God because you are vile. Now, there is not a
- saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile.
- If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say "I am
- vile," oh, poor sinner, wilt thou be ashamed to join in the same
- confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the
- believer, how dost thou hope to do it thyself? and if God loves
- his people while they are yet vile, dost thou think thy vileness
- will prevent his loving thee? Believe on Jesus, thou outcast of
- the world's society! Jesus calls \\thee\\, and such as thou art.
-
- "Not the righteous, not the righteous;
- Sinners, Jesus came to call."
-
- Even now say, "Thou hast died for sinners; I am a sinner, Lord
- Jesus, sprinkle thy blood on me;" if thou wilt confess thy sin
- thou shalt find pardon. If, now, with all thy heart, thou wilt
- say, "I am vile, wash me," thou shalt be washed now. If the Holy
- Spirit shall enable thee from thy heart to cry
-
- "Just as I am, without one plea
- But that thy blood was shed for me,
- And that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
- O Lamb of God, I come!"
-
- thou shalt rise from reading this morning's portion with all thy
- sins pardoned; and though thou didst wake this morning with
- every sin that man hath ever committed on thy head, thou shalt
- rest to-night accepted in the Beloved; though once degraded with
- the rags of sin, thou shalt be adorned with a robe of
- righteousness, and appear white as the angels are. For "now,"
- mark it, "\\Now\\ is the accepted time." If thou "believest on
- him who justifieth the ungodly thou art saved." Oh! may the Holy
- Spirit give thee saving faith in him who receives the vilest.
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28706
- # Ne 1:1 - 3:32 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28607
- June 7 Morning
-
- \\"Ye that love the Lord hate evil."\\
- --Psalm 97:10
-
- Thou hast good reason to "hate evil," for only consider what
- harm it has already wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief
- sin has brought into thy heart! Sin blinded thee so that thou
- couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made thee deaf so
- that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer's tender invitations.
- Sin turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison
- into the very fountain of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and
- made it "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."
- Oh, what a creature thou wast when evil had done its utmost with
- thee, before divine grace interposed! Thou wast an heir of wrath
- even as others; thou didst "run with the multitude to do evil."
- Such were all of us; but Paul reminds us, "but ye are washed,
- but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
- Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." We have good reason,
- indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly
- workings. Such mischief did evil do us, that our souls would
- have been lost had not omnipotent love interfered to redeem us.
- Even now it is an active enemy, ever watching to do us hurt, and
- to drag us to perdition. Therefore "hate evil," O Christians,
- unless you desire trouble. If you would strew your path with
- thorns, and plant nettles in your death-pillow, then neglect to
- "hate evil:" but if you would live a happy life, and die a
- peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating
- evil, even unto the end. If you truly love your Saviour, and
- would honour him, then "hate evil." We know of no cure for the
- love of evil in a Christian like abundant intercourse with the
- Lord Jesus. Dwell much with him, and it is impossible for you to
- be at peace with sin.
-
- "Order my footsteps by thy Word,
- And make my heart sincere;
- Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
- But keep my conscience clear."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28707
- # Ne 4:1 - 6:19 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28608
- June 8 Morning
-
- \\"There fell down many slain, because the war was of God."\\
- --1 Chronicles 5:22
-
- Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe
- this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is
- it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure. The sons of
- Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could
- barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in
- their war with the Hagarites, they slew "men, an hundred
- thousand," "for they cried to God in the battle, and he was
- entreated of them, because they put their trust in him." The
- Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in
- Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of
- Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler,
- and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these
- weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must
- rest in the Lord alone, for he is the sword and the shield of
- his people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay
- in the fact that "the war was of God." Beloved, in fighting with
- sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with
- spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils
- and the devil's allies, you are waging Jehovah's war, and unless
- he himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Quail not
- before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or
- impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the
- two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps.
- The battle is the Lord's and he will deliver his enemies into
- our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart,
- and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil
- shall fly like chaff before the gale.
-
- "Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
- The strife will not be long;
- This day the noise of battle,
- The next the victor's song:"
-
- "To him that overcometh,
- A crown of life shall be;
- He with the King of glory
- Shall reign eternally."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28708
- # Ne 7:1 - 8:18 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28609
- June 9 Morning
-
- \\"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are\\
- \\glad."\\
- --Psalm 126:3
-
- Some Christians are sadly prone to \\look\\ on the \\dark\\
- side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone
- through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their
- impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their
- continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad
- adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with
- scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has
- vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a \\healthy\\
- state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not
- about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up
- out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my
- feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and he hath put a
- new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath
- done great things for me, whereof I am glad." Such an abstract
- of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can
- present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as
- true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have
- our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite
- as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes
- these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In
- looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the
- Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of
- Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we
- have been \\through\\ them safely and profitably; we have not
- remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who
- has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our
- troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through
- all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the
- melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our
- life's song, "He hath done great things for us, whereof we are
- glad."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28709
- # Ne 9:1 - 10:39 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28610
- June 10 Morning
-
- \\"We live unto the Lord."\\
- --Romans 14:8
-
- If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at
- the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for
- our preparation for immortality that we should tarry here. It is
- possible for a man to be taken to heaven, and to be found meet
- to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light,
- though he has but just believed in Jesus. It is true that our
- sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not
- be perfected till we lay aside our bodies and enter within the
- veil; but nevertheless, had the Lord so willed it, he might have
- changed us from imperfection to perfection, and have taken us to
- heaven at once. Why then are we here? Would God keep his
- children out of paradise a single moment longer than was
- necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the
- battle-field when one charge might give them the victory? Why
- are his children still wandering hither and thither through a
- maze, when a solitary word from his lips would bring them into
- the centre of their hopes in heaven? The answer is--they are
- here that they may "\\live unto the Lord\\," and may bring
- others to know his love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter
- good seed; as ploughmen to break up the fallow ground; as
- heralds publishing salvation. We are here as the "salt of the
- earth," to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify
- Christ in our daily life. We are here as workers for him, and as
- "workers together with him." Let us see that our life answereth
- its end. Let us live earnest, useful, holy lives, to "the
- praise of the glory of his grace." Meanwhile we long to be with
- him, and daily sing--
-
- "My heart is with him on his throne,
- And ill can brook delay;
- Each moment listening for the voice,
- `Rise up, and come away.'"
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28710
- # Ne 11:1 - 12:47 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28611
- June 11 Morning
-
- \\"We love him because he first loved us."\\
- --1 John 4:19
-
- There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth
- from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart
- but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this
- overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love
- to God must spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth,
- that we love him for no other reason than because he first loved
- us. Our love to him is \\the fair offspring\\ of his love to us.
- Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may
- have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by
- God's Spirit. How great the wonder that such as we should ever
- have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvellous that when
- we had rebelled against him, he should, by a display of such
- amazing love, seek to draw us back. No! never should we have had
- a grain of love towards God unless it had been sown in us by the
- sweet seed of his love to us. Love, then, has for its parent the
- love of God shed abroad in the heart: but after it is thus
- divinely born, it must \\be divinely nourished\\. Love is an
- exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish naturally in human
- soil, it must be watered from above. Love to Jesus is a flower
- of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that
- which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts it would soon
- wither. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly
- bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by
- manna from on high. Love must feed on love. The very soul and
- life of our love to God is his love to us.
-
- "I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,
- For I have none to give;
- I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,
- For by thy love I live.
- I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
- Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28711
- # Ne 13:1 - 13:31 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28612
- June 12 Morning
-
- \\"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting."\\
- --Daniel 5:27
-
- It is well frequently to weigh ourselves in the scale of
- God's Word. You will find it a holy exercise to read some psalm
- of David, and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself,
- "Can I say this? Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever
- been broken on account of sin, as his was when he penned his
- penitential psalms? Has my soul been full of true confidence in
- the hour of difficulty as his was when he sang of God's mercies
- in the cave of Adullam, or in the holds of Engedi? Do I take the
- cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord?" Then turn
- to the life of Christ, and as you read, ask yourselves how far
- you are conformed to his likeness. Endeavour to discover whether
- you have the meekness, the humility, the lovely spirit which he
- constantly inculcated and displayed. Take, then, the epistles,
- and see whether you can go with the apostle in what he said of
- his experience. Have you ever cried out as he did--"O wretched
- man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
- death?" Have you ever felt his self-abasement? Have you seemed
- to yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all
- saints? Have you known anything of his devotion? Could you join
- with him and say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is
- gain"? If we thus read God's Word as a test of our spiritual
- condition, we shall have good reason to stop many a time and
- say, "Lord, I feel I have never yet been here, O bring me here!
- give me true penitence, such as this I read of. Give me real
- faith; give me warmer zeal; inflame me with more fervent love;
- grant me the grace of meekness; make me more like Jesus. Let me
- no longer be `found wanting,' when weighed in the balances of
- the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of
- judgment." "Judge yourselves that ye be not judged."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28712
- # Es 1:1 - 3:15 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28613
- June 13 Morning
-
- \\"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."\\
- --Revelation 22:17
-
- Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or
- preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous
- emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing,
- you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no
- repentance,--come to him, and he will give them to you. Come
- just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without
- price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at
- the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can
- hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when
- he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink
- because I have not five pounds in my pocket." However poor the
- man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of
- it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed
- in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for
- drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water
- freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the
- refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions.
- Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street
- where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and
- gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but
- cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would
- demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain:
- so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who
- are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to
- Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the
- harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a
- chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which
- led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud
- boasters must remain without the living water; but, "WHOSOEVER
- WILL, LET HIM \\TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY\\."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28713
- # Es 4:1 - 7:10 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28614
- June 14 Morning
-
- \\"Delight thyself also in the Lord."\\
- --Psalm 37:4
-
- The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to
- those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere
- believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The
- life of the believer is here described as a \\delight\\ in God,
- and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion
- overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere
- professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them
- it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or
- delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that
- they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do
- otherwise. The thought of \\delight\\ in religion is so strange
- to most men, that no two words in their language stand further
- apart than "holiness" and "delight." But believers who know
- Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly
- united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them.
- They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are
- ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys,
- such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the
- saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from
- custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his
- name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our
- faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not
- dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our
- pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.
-
- Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower;
- as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two
- precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
-
- "'Tis when we taste thy love,
- Our joys divinely grow,
- Unspeakable like those above,
- And heaven begins below."
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28714
- # Es 8:1 - 10:3 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28615
- June 15 Morning
-
- \\"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that\\
- \\hear will laugh with me."\\
- --Genesis 21:6
-
- It was far above the power of nature, and even contrary to
- its laws, that the aged Sarah should be honoured with a son; and
- even so it is beyond all ordinary rules that I, a poor,
- helpless, undone sinner, should find grace to bear about in my
- soul the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus. I, who once
- despaired, as well I might, for my nature was as dry, and
- withered, and barren, and accursed as a howling wilderness, even
- I have been made to bring forth fruit unto holiness. Well may my
- mouth be filled with joyous laughter, because of the singular,
- surprising grace which I have received of the Lord, for I have
- found Jesus, the promised seed, and he is mine for ever. This
- day will I lift up psalms of triumph unto the Lord who has
- remembered my low estate, for "my heart rejoiceth in the Lord;
- mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine
- enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation."
-
- I would have all those that hear of my great deliverance from
- hell, and my most blessed visitation from on high, laugh for joy
- with me. I would surprise my family with my abundant peace; I
- would delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I
- would edify the Church with my grateful confessions; and even
- impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily
- conversation. Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep,
- and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy shall not stop
- short of hers while my Beloved is the theme of my daily
- thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: my soul shall
- dive therein, shall be swallowed up in the delights of his
- society. Sarah looked on her Isaac, and laughed with excess of
- rapture, and all her friends laughed with her; and thou, my
- soul, look on thy Jesus, and bid heaven and earth unite in thy
- joy unspeakable.
-
- Evening Reading .......................................... 28715
- # Job 1:1 - 4:21 * Daily Bible Reading
- 28616
- next 28651
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