Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t28950

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28951
 July 16                                                  Evening

 \\"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to\\
 \\favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants rake\\
 \\pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."\\
                                               --Psalm 102:13, 14

    A selfish man in trouble is exceedingly hard to comfort,
 because the springs of his comfort lie entirely within himself, and
 when he is sad all his springs are dry. But a large-hearted man
 full of Christian philanthropy, has other springs from which to
 supply himself with comfort beside those which lie within. He
 can go to his God first of all, and there find abundant help;
 and he can discover arguments for consolation in things relating
 to the world at large, to his country, and, above all, to the
 church. David in this Psalm was exceedingly sorrowful; he wrote,
 "I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow
 alone upon the house top." The only way in which he could
 comfort himself, was in the reflection that God would arise, and
 have mercy upon Zion: though \\he\\ was sad, yet Zion should
 prosper; however low his own estate, yet Zion should arise.
 Christian man! learn to comfort thyself in God's gracious
 dealing towards the church. That which is so dear to thy Master,
 should it not be dear above all else to thee? What though thy
 way be dark, canst thou not gladden thine heart with the
 triumphs of his cross and the spread of his truth? Our own
 personal troubles are forgotten while we look, not only upon
 what God \\has\\ done, and is doing for Zion, but on the glorious
 things he \\will yet do\\ for his church. Try this receipt, O
 believer, whenever thou art sad of heart and in heaviness of
 spirit: forget thyself and thy little concerns, and seek the
 welfare and prosperity of Zion. When thou bendest thy knee in
 prayer to God, limit not thy petition to the narrow circle of
 thine own life, tried though it be, but send out thy longing
 prayers for the church's prosperity, "Pray for the peace of
 Jerusalem," and thine own soul shall be refreshed.
28952
 July 17                                                  Evening

 \\"Let not one of them escape."\\
                                                  --1 Kings 18:40

    When the prophet Elijah had received the answer to his
 prayer, and the fire from heaven had consumed the sacrifice in
 the presence of all the people, he called upon the assembled
 Israelites to take the priests of Baal, and sternly cried, "Let
 not one of them escape." He took them all down to the brook
 Kishon, and slew them there. So must it be with our sins--they
 are all doomed, not one must be preserved. Our darling sin must
 die. Spare it not for its much crying. Strike, though it be as
 dear as an Isaac. Strike, for God struck at sin when it was laid
 upon his own Son. With stern unflinching purpose must you
 condemn to death that sin which was once the idol of your heart.
 Do you ask how you are to accomplish this? Jesus will be your
 power. You have grace to overcome sin given you in the covenant
 of grace; you have strength to win the victory in the crusade
 against inward lusts, because Christ Jesus has promised to be
 with you even unto the end. If you would triumph over darkness,
 set yourself in the presence of the Sun of Righteousness. There
 is no place so well adapted for the discovery of sin, and
 recovery from its power and guilt, as the immediate presence of
 God. Job never knew how to get rid of sin half so well as he did
 when his eye of faith rested upon God, and then he abhorred
 himself, and repented in dust and ashes. The fine gold of the
 Christian is oft becoming dim. We need the sacred fire to
 consume the dross. Let us fly to our God, he is a consuming
 fire; he will not consume our spirit, but our sins. Let the
 goodness of God excite us to a sacred jealousy, and to a holy
 revenge against those iniquities which are hateful in his sight.
 Go forth to battle with Amalek, in his strength, and utterly
 destroy the accursed crew: let not one of them escape.

28953
 July 18                                                  Evening

 \\"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every\\
 \\one in his path."\\
                                                       --Joel 2:8

    Locusts always keep their rank, and although their number is
 legion, they do not crowd upon each other, so as to throw their
 columns into confusion. This remarkable fact in natural history
 shows how thoroughly the Lord has infused the spirit of order
 into his universe, since the smallest animate creatures are as
 much controlled by it as are the rolling spheres or the seraphic
 messengers. It would be wise for believers to be ruled by the
 same influence in all their spiritual life. \\In their Christian\\
 \\graces\\ no one virtue should usurp the sphere of another, or eat
 out the vitals of the rest for its own support. Affection must
 not smother honesty, courage must not elbow weakness out of the
 field, modesty must not jostle energy, and patience must not
 slaughter resolution. So also with \\our duties\\, one must not
 interfere with another; public usefulness must not injure
 private piety; church work must not push family worship into a
 corner. It is ill to offer God one duty stained with the blood
 of another. Each thing is beautiful in its season, but not
 otherwise. It was to the Pharisee that Jesus said, "This ought
 ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone." The
 same rule applies to \\our personal position\\, we must take care
 to know our place, take it, and keep to it. We must minister as
 the Spirit has given us ability, and not intrude upon our fellow
 servant's domain. Our Lord Jesus taught us not to covet the high
 places, but to be willing to be the least among the brethren.
 Far from us be an envious, ambitious spirit, let us feel the
 force of the Master's command, and do as he bids us, keeping
 rank with the rest of the host. To-night let us see whether we
 are keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, and
 let our prayer be that, in all the churches of the Lord Jesus,
 peace and order may prevail.
28954
 July 19                                                  Evening

 \\"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he\\
 \\not quench."\\
                                                  --Matthew 12:20

    What is weaker than the bruised reed or the smoking flax? \\A\\
 \\reed\\ that groweth in the fen or marsh, let but the wild duck
 light upon it, and it snaps; let but the foot of man brush
 against it, and it is bruised and broken; every wind that flits
 across the river moves it to and fro. You can conceive of
 nothing more frail or brittle, or whose existence is more in
 jeopardy, than a bruised reed. Then look at the smoking flax--
 what is it? It has a spark within it, it is true, but it is
 almost smothered; an infant's breath might blow it out; nothing
 has a more precarious existence than its flame. \\Weak things\\
 are here described, yet Jesus says of them, "The smoking flax I
 will not quench; the bruised reed I will not break." Some of
 God's children are made strong to do mighty works for him; God
 has his Samsons here and there who can pull up Gaza's gates, and
 carry them to the top of the hill; he has a few mighties who are
 lion-like men, but the majority of his people are a timid,
 trembling race. They are like starlings, frightened at every
 passer by; a little fearful flock. If temptation comes, they are
 taken like birds in a snare; if trial threatens, they are ready
 to faint; their frail skiff is tossed up and down by every wave,
 they are drifted along like a sea bird on the crest of the
 billows--weak things, without strength, without wisdom, without
 foresight. Yet, weak as they are, and \\because\\ they are so
 weak, they have this promise made specially to them. Herein is
 grace and graciousness! Herein is love and lovingkindness! How
 it opens to us the compassion of Jesus--so gentle, tender,
 considerate! We need never shrink back from \\his\\ touch. We need
 never fear a harsh word from \\him\\; though he might well chide
 us for our weakness, he rebuketh not. Bruised reeds shall have
 no blows from him, and the smoking flax no damping frowns.

28955
 July 20                                                  Evening

 \\"And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the\\
 \\waters of Sihor?"\\
                                                  --Jeremiah 2:18

    By sundry miracles, by divers mercies, by strange
 deliverances Jehovah had proved himself to be worthy of Israel's
 trust. Yet they broke down the hedges with which God had
 enclosed them as a sacred garden; they forsook their own true
 and living God, and followed after false gods. Constantly did
 the Lord reprove them for this infatuation, and our text
 contains one instance of God's expostulating with them, "What
 hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the
 muddy river?"--for so it may be translated. "Why dost thou
 wander afar and leave thine own cool stream from Lebanon? Why
 dost thou forsake Jerusalem to turn aside to Noph and to
 Tahapanes? Why art thou so strangely set on mischief, that thou
 canst not be content with the good and healthful, but wouldst
 follow after that which is evil and deceitful?" Is there not
 here a word of expostulation and warning to the Christian? O
 true believer, called by grace and washed in the precious blood
 of Jesus, thou hast tasted of better drink than the muddy river
 of this world's pleasure can give thee; thou hast had fellowship
 with Christ; thou hast obtained the joy of seeing Jesus, and
 leaning thine head upon his bosom. Do the trifles, the songs,
 the honours, the merriment of this earth content thee after
 that? Hast thou eaten the bread of angels, and canst thou live
 on husks? Good Rutherford once said, "I have tasted of Christ's
 own manna, and it hath put my mouth out of taste for the brown
 bread of this world's joys." Methinks it should be so with thee.
 If thou art wandering after the waters of Egypt, O return
 quickly to the one living fountain: the waters of Sihor may be
 sweet to the Egyptians, but they will prove only bitterness to
 thee. What hast thou to do with them? \\Jesus asks thee this\\
 \\question this evening\\--what wilt thou answer him?

28956
 July 21                                                  Evening

 \\"Why go I mourning?"\\
                                                     --Psalm 42:9

    Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason
 why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield
 to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would
 never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances
 would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues
 of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of
 thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and
 ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of
 despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood
 comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope
 thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not
 know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this?
 Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and
 God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest
 moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as
 much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which
 should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works
 thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the
 angels, and behold him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
 God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget
 the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who
 led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them.
 Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while
 passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
 like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting
 joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then
 "for ever with the Lord," thy bliss shall never wane.

             "Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,
             He changeth not, and thou art dear;
             Only believe and thou shalt see,
             That Christ is all in all to thee."

28957
 July 22                                                  Evening

 \\"Behold the man!"\\
                                                      --John 19:5

    If there be one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes
 the joy and comfort of his people, it is where he plunged
 deepest into the depths of woe. Come hither, gracious souls, and
 behold the man in the garden of Gethsemane; behold his heart so
 brimming with love that he cannot hold it in--so full of sorrow
 that it must find a vent. Behold the bloody sweat as it distils
 from every pore of his body, and falls upon the ground. Behold
 the man as they drive the nails into his hands and feet. Look
 up, repenting sinners, and see the sorrowful image of your
 suffering Lord. Mark him, as the ruby drops stand on the
 thorn-crown, and adorn with priceless gems the diadem of the
 King of Misery. Behold the man when all his bones are out of
 joint, and he is poured out like water and brought into the dust
 of death; God hath forsaken him, and hell compasseth him about.
 Behold and see, was there ever sorrow like unto his sorrow that
 is done unto him? All ye that pass by draw near and look upon
 this spectacle of grief, unique, unparalleled, a wonder to men
 and angels, a prodigy unmatched. Behold the Emperor of Woe who
 had no equal or rival in his agonies! Gaze upon him, ye
 mourners, for if there be not consolation in a crucified Christ
 there is no joy in earth or heaven. If in the ransom price of
 his blood there be not hope, ye harps of heaven, there is no joy
 in you, and the right hand of God shall know no pleasures for
 evermore. We have only to sit more continually at the cross foot
 to be less troubled with our doubts and woes. We have but to see
 \\his\\ sorrows, and \\our\\ sorrows we shall be ashamed to mention.
 We have but to gaze into his wounds and heal our own. If we
 would live aright it must be by the contemplation of his death;
 if we would rise to dignity, it must be by considering his
 humiliation and his sorrow.

28958
 July 23                                                  Evening

 \\"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."\\
                                                     --1 John 1:7

    "Cleanseth," says the text--not "\\shall\\ cleanse." There are
 multitudes who think that as a dying hope they may look forward
 to pardon. Oh! how infinitely better to have cleansing now than
 to depend on the bare possibility of forgiveness when I come to
 die. Some imagine that a sense of pardon is an attainment only
 obtainable after many years of Christian experience. But
 forgiveness of sin is a \\present\\ thing--a privilege for this
 day, a joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner trusts Jesus
 he is fully forgiven. The text, being written in the present
 tense, also indicates \\continuance\\; it was "cleanseth"
 yesterday, it is "cleanseth" to-day, it will be "cleanseth"
 tomorrow: it will be always so with you, Christian, until you
 cross the river; every hour you may come to this fountain, for
 it cleanseth still. Notice, likewise, the \\completeness\\ of the
 cleansing, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from
 \\all\\ sin"--not only from sin, but "from all sin." Reader, I
 cannot tell you the exceeding sweetness of this word, but I pray
 God the Holy Ghost to give you a taste of it. Manifold are our
 sins against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same
 receipt can discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus
 Christ is as blessed and divine a payment for the transgressions
 of blaspheming Peter as for the shortcomings of loving John; our
 iniquity is gone, all gone at once, and all gone for ever.
 Blessed completeness! What a sweet theme to dwell upon as one
 gives himself to sleep.

                "Sins against a holy God;
                Sins against his righteous laws;
                Sins against his love, his blood;
                Sins against his name and cause;
                Sins immense as is the sea-
                From them all he cleanseth me."

28959
 July 24                                                  Evening

 \\"His camp is very great."\\
                                                      --Joel 2:11

    Consider, my soul, the mightiness of the Lord who is thy
 glory and defence. He is a man of war, Jehovah is his name. All
 \\the forces of heaven\\ are at his beck, legions wait at his
 door, cherubim and seraphim;, watchers and holy ones,
 principalities and powers, are all attentive to his will. If our
 eyes were not blinded by the ophthalmia of the flesh, we should
 see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about the Lord's
 beloved. \\The powers of nature\\ are all subject to the absolute
 control of the Creator: stormy wind and tempest, lightning and
 rain, and snow, and hail, and the soft dews and cheering
 sunshine, come and go at his decree. The bands of Orion he
 looseth, and bindeth the sweet influences of the Pleiades.
 Earth, sea, and air, and the places under the earth, are the
 barracks for Jehovah's great armies; space is his camping
 ground, light is his banner, and flame is his sword. When he
 goeth forth to war, famine ravages the land, pestilence smites
 the nations, hurricane sweeps the sea, tornado shakes the
 mountains, and earthquake makes the solid world to tremble. As
 for \\animate creatures\\, they all own his dominion, and from the
 great fish which swallowed the prophet, down to "all manner of
 flies," which plagued the field of Zoan, all are his servants,
 and like the palmer-worm, the caterpillar, and the cankerworm,
 are squadrons of his great army, for his camp is very great. My
 soul, see to it that thou be at peace with this mighty King,
 yea, more, be sure to enlist under his banner, for to war
 against him is madness, and to serve him is glory. Jesus,
 Immanuel, God with us, is ready to receive recruits for the army
 of the Lord: if I am not already enlisted let me go to him ere I
 sleep, and beg to be accepted through his merits; and if I be
 already, as I hope I am, a soldier of the cross, let me be of
 good courage; for the enemy is powerless compared with my Lord,
 whose camp is very great.

28960
 July 25                                                  Evening

 \\"In their affliction they will seek me early."\\
                                                     --Hosea 5:15

    Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the
 great Shepherd uses to fetch home his wandering sheep; like
 fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is
 no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be
 brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must
 be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer's hand; and
 often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord's
 will by straitness of bread and hard labour. When rich and
 increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too
 loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they
 flatter themselves, "My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be
 moved." When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute,
 hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr.
 Carnal Security to feast at his table, and then if he be a true
 child of God there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and
 it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There
 goes a portion of his estate--how soon the acres change hands.
 That debt, that dishonoured bill--how fast his losses roll in,
 where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if when
 these embarrassments occur one after another he begins to be
 distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his
 God. Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock
 of salvation! Losses in business are often sanctified to our
 soul's enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord
 full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in his grace, findeth
 no other means of making us honour him among men, he will cast
 us into the deep; if we fail to honour him on the pinnacle of
 riches, he will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint
 not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked, rather
 recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, "I will
 arise, and go unto my Father."

28961
 July 26                                                  Evening

 \\"That he may set him with princes."\\
                                                    --Psalm 113:8

    Our spiritual privileges are of the highest order. "Among
 princes" \\is the place of select society\\. "Truly our fellowship
 is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Speak of
 select society, there is none like this! "We are a chosen
 generation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood." "We are come
 unto the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose
 names are written in heaven." The saints \\have courtly\\
 \\audience\\: princes have admittance to royalty when common people
 must stand afar off. The child of God has free access to the
 inner courts of heaven. "For through him we both have access by
 one Spirit unto the Father." "Let us come boldly," says the
 apostle, "\\to the throne\\ of the heavenly grace." Among princes
 there is \\abundant wealth\\, but what is the abundance of princes
 compared with the riches of believers? for "all things are
 yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." "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?" Princes
 have \\peculiar power\\. A prince of heaven's empire has great
 influence: he wields a sceptre in his own domain; he sits upon
 Jesus' throne, for "He hath made us kings and priests unto God,
 and we shall reign for ever and ever." We reign over the united
 kingdom of time and eternity. Princes, again, have \\special\\
 \\honour\\. We may look down upon all earth-born dignity from the
 eminence upon which grace has placed us. For what is human
 grandeur to this, "He hath raised us up together, and made us
 sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"? We share the
 honour of Christ, and compared with this, earthly splendours are
 not worth a thought. Communion with Jesus is a richer gem than
 ever glittered in imperial diadem. Union with the Lord is a
 coronet of beauty outshining all the blaze of imperial pomp.

28962
 July 27                                                  Evening

 \\"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"\\
                                                    --Romans 8:33

    Most blessed challenge! How unanswerable it is! Every sin of
 the elect was laid upon the great Champion of our salvation, and
 by the atonement carried away. There is no sin in God's book
 against his people: he seeth no sin in Jacob, neither iniquity
 in Israel; they are justified in Christ for ever. When the guilt
 of sin was taken away, the punishment of sin was removed. For
 the Christian there is no stroke from God's angry hand--nay, not
 so much as a single frown of punitive justice. The believer may
 be chastised by his Father, but God the Judge has nothing to say
 to the Christian, except "I have absolved thee: thou art
 acquitted." For the Christian there is no penal death in this
 world, much less any second death. He is completely freed from
 all the punishment as well as the guilt of sin, and the power of
 sin is removed too. It may stand in our way, and agitate us with
 perpetual warfare; but sin is a conquered foe to every soul in
 union with Jesus. There is no sin which a Christian cannot
 overcome if he will only rely upon his God to do it. They who
 wear the white robe in heaven overcame through the blood of the
 Lamb, and we may do the same. No lust is too mighty, no
 besetting sin too strongly entrenched; we can overcome through
 the power of Christ. Do believe it, Christian, that thy sin is a
 condemned thing. It may kick and struggle, but it is doomed to
 die. God has written condemnation across its brow. Christ has
 crucified it, "nailing it to his cross." Go now and mortify it,
 and the Lord help you to live to his praise, for sin with all
 its guilt, shame, and fear, is gone.

              "Here's pardon for transgressions past,
              It matters not how black their cast;
              And, O my soul, with wonder view,
              For sins to come here's pardon too."

28963
 July 28                                                  Evening

 \\"Who went about doing good."\\
                                                     --Acts 10:38

    Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus
 Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of
 a master's pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it
 true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. "He
 went about doing good." From this description it is evident that
 he did good \\personally\\. The evangelists constantly tell us
 that he touched the leper with his own finger, that he anointed
 the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where he was asked to
 speak the word only at a distance, he did not usually comply,
 but went himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought
 the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it
 ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word,
 will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his
 soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole
 library of tracts. Our Lord's mode of doing good sets forth his
 \\incessant activity\\! He did not only the good which came close
 to hand, but he "went about" on his errands of mercy. Throughout
 the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet
 which was not gladdened by the sight of him. How this reproves
 the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve
 the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary
 in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ \\went\\
 \\out of his way to do good\\? "He went \\about\\ doing good." He was
 never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the
 objects of his gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans
 will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments
 sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ's
 \\perseverance\\, and the \\unity\\ of his purpose, are also hinted
 at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed
 up in the words, "He hath left us an example that we should
 follow in his steps."

28964
 July 29                                                  Evening

 \\"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."\\
                                                      --John 6:37

    This declaration involves \\the doctrine of election\\: there
 are some whom the Father gave to Christ. It involves \\the\\
 \\doctrine of effectual calling\\: these who are given must and
 shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it,
 yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God's marvellous
 light. It teaches us \\the indispensable necessity of faith\\; for
 even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they
 come to Jesus. Even \\they\\ must come, for there is no other way
 to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. All that the Father
 gives to our Redeemer \\must come to him\\, therefore none can
 come to heaven except they come to Christ.

    Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words "\\shall\\
 \\come\\." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may
 come if they will, but they "\\shall come\\." The Lord Jesus doth
 by his messengers, his word, and his Spirit, sweetly and
 graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of his
 marriage supper; and this he does, not by any violation of the
 free agency of man, but by the power of his grace. I may
 exercise power over another man's will, and yet that other man's
 will may be perfectly free, because the constraint is exercised
 in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. Jehovah
 Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the
 understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections,
 and by the mysterious influence of his Holy Spirit operating
 upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the
 whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields
 cheerfully to his government, subdued by sovereign love. But how
 shall those be known whom God hath chosen? By this result: that
 they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to him
 with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon him as all their
 salvation and all their desire. Reader, have you thus come to
 Jesus?

28965
 July 30                                                  Evening

 \\"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."\\
                                                      --John 6:37

    No limit is set to \\the duration\\ of this promise. It does
 not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first
 coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads,
 "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out."
 The text means, that Christ will not at \\first\\ reject a
 believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not
 to the last.

    But suppose the believer sins after coming? "If any man sin
 we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
 righteous." But suppose that believers backslide? "I will heal
 their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is
 turned away from him." But believers may fall under temptation!
 "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
 that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way
 to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." But the believer may
 fall into sin as David did! Yes, but he will "Purge them with
 hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they
 shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I
 cleanse them."

             "Once in Christ, in Christ for ever,
             Nothing from his love can sever."

 "I give unto my sheep," saith he, "eternal life; and they shall
 never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
 What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a
 precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One
 who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee
 about thy business, but he will receive thee and make thee his
 bride, and thou shalt be his for ever? Receive no longer the
 spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption
 whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these
 words: "I will in no wise cast out."

28966
 July 31                                                  Evening

 \\"And these are the singers ... they were employed in that work\\
 \\day and night."\\
                                              --1 Chronicles 9:33

    Well was it so ordered in the temple that the sacred chant
 never ceased: for evermore did the singers praise the Lord,
 whose mercy endureth for ever. As mercy did not cease to rule
 either by day or by night, so neither did music hush its holy
 ministry. My heart, there is a lesson sweetly taught to thee in
 the ceaseless song of Zion's temple, thou too art a constant
 debtor, and see thou to it that thy gratitude, like charity,
 never faileth. God's praise is constant in heaven, which is to
 be thy final dwelling-place, learn thou to practise the eternal
 hallelujah. Around the earth as the sun scatters his light, his
 beams awaken grateful believers to tune their morning hymn, so
 that by the priesthood of the saints perpetual praise is kept up
 at all hours, they swathe our globe in a mantle of thanksgiving,
 and girdle it with a golden belt of song.

    The Lord always deserves to be praised for what he is in
 himself, for his works of creation and providence, for his
 goodness towards his creatures, and especially for the
 transcendent act of redemption, and all the marvellous blessing
 flowing therefrom. It is always beneficial to praise the Lord;
 it cheers the day and brightens the night; it lightens toil and
 softens sorrow; and over earthly gladness it sheds a sanctifying
 radiance which makes it less liable to blind us with its glare.
 Have we not something to sing about at this moment? Can we not
 weave a song out of our present joys, or our past deliverances,
 or our future hopes? Earth yields her summer fruits: the hay is
 housed, the golden grain invites the sickle, and the sun
 tarrying long to shine upon a fruitful earth, shortens the
 interval of shade that we may lengthen the hours of devout
 worship. By the love of Jesus, let us be stirred up to close the
 day with a psalm of sanctified gladness.

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