Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t29600

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29601
 November 1                                               Morning

 \\"The church in thy house."\\
                                                     --Philemon 2

    Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children,
 friends, servants, all members of it? or are some still
 unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go
 round--\\Am I a member of the Church in this house\\? How would
 father's heart leap for joy, and mother's eyes fill with holy
 tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved! Let us
 pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us.
 Probably it had been the dearest object of Philemon's desires to
 have all his household saved; but it was not at first granted
 him in its fulness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who,
 having wronged him, ran away from his service. His master's
 prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it,
 Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and
 he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant, but
 a brother beloved, adding another member to the Church in
 Philemon's house. Is there an unconverted servant or child
 absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on
 their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of
 what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in
 the same earnest entreaty.

    If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well,
 and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the
 common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence,
 kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than of an
 ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more
 devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken,
 and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We
 need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out
 of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a
 family-church in the inspired book of remembrance. As a Church
 let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one Church
 universal, and let us beseech him to give us grace to shine
 before men to the glory of his name.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29701
 # Joh 1:1 - 3:36 * Daily Bible Reading
29602
 November 2                                               Morning

 \\"I am the Lord, I change not."\\
                                                    --Malachi 3:6

    It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of
 life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart
 can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no
 furrows. All things else have changed--all things are changing.
 The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the
 folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens
 and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax
 old as doth a garment; but there is One who only hath
 immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person
 there is no change. The delight which the mariner feels, when,
 after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again
 upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when,
 amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot
 of his faith upon this truth--"\\I am the Lord, I change not\\."

    The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at
 last obtained a hold-fast, is like that which the Christian's
 hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this glorious truth.
 With God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." What
 ever his attributes were of old, they are now; his power, his
 wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever
 been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of
 trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in
 his love. He has loved his people with "an everlasting love";
 he loves them now as much as ever he did, and when all earthly
 things shall have melted in the last conflagration, his love
 will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the assurance
 that he changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its
 axle is eternal love.

                  "Death and change are busy ever,
                  Man decays, and ages move;
                  But his mercy waneth never;
                  God is wisdom, God is love."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29702
 # Joh 4:1 - 5:47 * Daily Bible Reading
29603
 November 3                                               Morning

 \\"Behold, he prayeth."\\
                                                      --Acts 9:11

    Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul
 began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the
 distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted
 one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the
 language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the
 harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by
 God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. "Thou puttest
 my tears into thy bottle," implies that they are caught as they
 flow. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be
 well understood by the Most High. He may only look up with misty
 eye; but "prayer is the falling of a tear." Tears are the
 diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's
 court, and are numbered with "the sublimest strains that reach
 the majesty on high." Think not that your prayer, however weak
 or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob's ladder is lofty, but
 our prayers shall lean upon the Angel of the covenant and so
 climb its starry rounds. Our God not only \\hears\\ prayer but
 also \\loves\\ to hear it. "He forgetteth not the cry of the
 humble." True, he regards not high looks and lofty words; he
 cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; he listens not to
 the swell of martial music; he regards not the triumph and pride
 of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip
 quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh,
 the heart of Jehovah is open; he marks it down in the registry
 of his memory; he puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between
 the pages of his book of remembrance, and when the volume is
 opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up
 therefrom.

             "Faith asks no signal from the skies,
             To show that prayers accepted rise,
             Our Priest is in his holy place,
             And answers from the throne of grace."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29703
 # Joh 6:1 - 8:59 * Daily Bible Reading
29604
 November 4                                               Morning

 \\"For my strength is made perfect in weakness."\\
                                             --2 Corinthians 12:9

    A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of
 success, and for doing God's work well and triumphantly, is a
 sense of our own weakness. When God's warrior marches forth to
 battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I
 shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall
 get unto me the victory," defeat is not far distant. God will
 not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He
 who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it is
 not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
 hosts." They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess,
 shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and
 their armour stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must
 serve him in his own way, and in his strength, or he will never
 accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine
 strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth he
 casteth away; he will only reap that corn, the seed of which was
 sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of
 divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before he
 will put his own into thee; he will first clean out thy
 granaries before he will fill them with the finest of the wheat.
 The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows
 from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in his
 battles but the strength which he himself imparts. Are you
 mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be
 a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee
 victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being
 filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your
 lifting up.

             "When I am weak then am I strong,
             Grace is my shield and Christ my song."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29704
 # Joh 9:1 - 10:42 * Daily Bible Reading
29605
 November 5                                               Morning

 \\"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."\\
                                                   --Isaiah 54:17

    This day is notable in English history for two great
 deliverances wrought by God for us. On this day the plot of the
 Papists to destroy our Houses of Parliament was discovered,
 1605.

             "While for our princes they prepare
             In caverns deep a burning snare,
             He shot from heaven a piercing ray,
             And the dark treachery brought to day."

 And secondly--to-day is the anniversary of the landing of King
 William III, at Torbay, by which the hope of Popish ascendancy
 was quashed, and religious liberty was secured, 1688.

    This day ought to be celebrated, not by the saturnalia of
 striplings, but by the songs of saints. Our Puritan forefathers
 most devoutly made it a special time of thanksgiving. There is
 extant a record of the annual sermons preached by Matthew Henry
 on this day. Our Protestant feeling, and our love of liberty,
 should make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude. Let
 our hearts and lips exclaim, "We have heard with our ears, and
 our fathers have told us the wondrous things which thou didst in
 their day, and in the old time before them." Thou hast made this
 nation the home of the gospel; and when the foe has risen
 against her, thou hast shielded her. Help us to offer repeated
 songs for repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred
 of Antichrist, and hasten on the day of her entire extinction.
 Till then and ever, we believe the promise, "No weapon that is
 formed against thee shall prosper." Should it not be laid upon
 the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to
 plead for the overturning of false doctrines and the extension
 of divine truth? Would it not be well to search our own hearts,
 and turn out any of the Popish lumber of self-righteousness
 which may lie concealed therein?

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29705
 # Joh 11:1 - 12:50 * Daily Bible Reading
29606
 November 6                                               Morning

 \\"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty."\\
                                                    --Isaiah 44:3

    When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling,
 he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself
 with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from
 the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle's wing
 to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is
 not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at
 first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which
 can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear
 brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of
 love allure him to Jesus' bosom. Are you this morning thirsting
 for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to
 the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion,
 and is this your prayer, "Restore unto me the joy of thy
 salvation"? Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the
 dry ground; that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God
 which he has a right to expect of you; that you are not so
 useful in the Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to
 be? Then here is exactly the promise which you need, "I will
 pour water upon him that is thirsty." You shall receive the
 grace you so much require, and you shall have it to the utmost
 reach of your needs. Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be
 refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens
 sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh
 grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you
 shall have fructifying grace: you shall be made fruitful in the
 ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you
 shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you
 shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with
 it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting
 rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you
 be--the thirsty land shall be springs of water.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29706
 # Joh 13:1 - 16:33 * Daily Bible Reading
29607
 November 7                                               Morning

 \\"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."\\
                                                   --Isaiah 49:16

    No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the
 word "\\Behold\\," is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of
 the preceding sentence. Zion said, "The Lord hath forsaken me,
 and my God hath forgotten me." How amazed the divine mind seems
 to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than
 the unfounded doubts and fears of God's favoured people? The
 Lord's loving word of rebuke should make us blush; he cries,
 "How can I have forgotten thee, when I have graven thee upon the
 palms of my hands? How darest thou doubt my constant
 remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?" O
 unbelief, how strange a marvel thou art! We know not which most
 to wonder at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of his
 people. He keeps his promise a thousand times, and yet the next
 trial makes us doubt him. He never faileth; he is never a dry
 well; he is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a
 melting vapour; and yet we are as continually vexed with
 anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears,
 as if our God were the mirage of the desert. "Behold," \\is a\\
 \\word intended to excite admiration\\. Here, indeed, we have a
 theme for marvelling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished
 that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of
 infinite love as to be written upon the palms of his hands. "I
 have graven \\thee\\."It does not say, "Thy name." The name is
 there, but that is not all: "I have graven \\thee\\." See the
 fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy
 case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy
 weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything
 about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether
 there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee
 when he has graven thee \\upon\\ his own palms?

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29707
 # Joh 17:1 - 18:40 * Daily Bible Reading
29608
 November 8                                               Morning

 \\"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord."\\
                                                 --Colossians 2:6

    The life of faith is represented as \\receiving--an act which\\
 \\implies the very opposite of anything like merit\\. It is
 simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the
 rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light
 from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the
 grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams,
 they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they
 are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea
 of receiving implies \\a sense of realization\\, making the
 matter a \\reality\\. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we
 receive that which is substantial: so is it in the life of
 faith, Christ becomes real to us. While we are without faith,
 Jesus is a mere name to us--a person who lived a long while ago,
 so long ago that his life is only a history to us now! By an act
 of faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our
 heart. But receiving also means \\grasping or getting\\
 \\possession of\\. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I
 appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus,
 he becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall
 be able to rob me of him. All this is to receive Christ--to take
 him as God's free gift; to realize him in my heart, and to
 appropriate him as mine.

    Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the
 deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not
 only received these blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS
 himself. It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave
 us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are
 all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have
 received \\Christ himself\\. The Son of God has been poured into
 us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. What a
 heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain him!

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29708
 # Joh 19:1 - 21:25 * Daily Bible Reading
29609
 November 9                                               Morning

 \\"So walk ye in him."\\
                                                 --Colossians 2:6

    If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our
 new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by \\a\\
 \\walk of faith in him\\. Walking implies \\action\\. Our
 religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out
 into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in
 Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in
 him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of
 the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his
 Master; he lives like Jesus Christ." Walking signifies
 \\progress\\. "So walk ye in him"; proceed from grace to grace,
 run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge
 that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies
 \\continuance\\. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ.
 How many Christians think that in the morning and evening they
 ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their
 hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we
 should always be with him, treading in his steps and doing his
 will. Walking also implies \\habit\\. When we speak of a man's
 walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenor
 of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget
 him; sometimes call him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is
 not a habit; we do not \\walk\\ in him. We must keep to him,
 cling to him, never let him go, but live and have our being in
 him. "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
 him"; persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as
 at the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the
 source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy
 of your spirit, so let him be the same till life's end; the same
 when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and
 enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of
 God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29709
 # Ac 1:1 - 3:26 * Daily Bible Reading
29610
 November 10                                              Morning

 \\"The eternal God is thy refuge."\\
                                              --Deuteronomy 33:27

    The word refuge may be translated "mansion," or "abiding-
 place," which gives the thought that \\God is our abode, our\\
 \\home\\. There is a fulness and sweetness in the metaphor, for
 dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest
 cottage, or the scantiest garret; and dearer far is our blessed
 God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. It is at
 home that we \\feel safe\\: we shut the world out and dwell in
 quiet security. So when we are with our God we "fear no evil."
 He is our shelter and retreat, our abiding refuge. At home, \\we\\
 \\take our rest\\; it is there we find repose after the fatigue
 and toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when,
 wearied with life's conflict, we turn to him, and our soul
 dwells at ease. At home, also, we \\let our hearts loose\\; we
 are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being
 misconstrued. So when we are with God we can commune freely with
 him, laying open all our hidden desires; for if the "secret of
 the Lord is with them that fear him," the secrets of them that
 fear him ought to be, and must be, with their Lord. Home, too,
 is the place of our \\truest and purest happiness\\: and it is
 in God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy
 in him which far surpasses all other joy. \\It is also for home\\
 \\that we work and labour\\. The thought of it gives strength to
 bear the daily burden, and quickens the fingers to perform the
 task; and in this sense we may also say that God is our home.
 Love to him strengthens us. We think of him in the person of his
 dear Son; and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer
 constrains us to labour in his cause. We feel that we must work,
 for we have brethren yet to be saved, and we have our Father's
 heart to make glad by bringing home his wandering sons; we would
 fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell.
 Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29710
 # Ac 4:1 - 6:15 * Daily Bible Reading
29611
 November 11                                              Morning

 \\"Underneath are the everlasting arms."\\
                                              --Deuteronomy 33:27

    God--the eternal God--is himself our support at all times,
 and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are
 seasons when the Christian \\sinks very low in humiliation\\.
 Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before
 God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in
 his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that
 when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet "underneath" thee
 "are everlasting arms." Sin may drag thee ever so low, but
 Christ's great atonement is still under all. You may have
 descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as
 "the uttermost"; and to the uttermost he saves. Again, the
 Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in \\sore trial from\\
 \\without\\. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still
 underneath him are "the everlasting arms." He cannot fall so
 deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of
 an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may
 be sinking under \\trouble from within through\\ fierce
 conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be
 beyond the reach of the "everlasting arms"--they are underneath
 him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan's efforts to harm him
 avail nothing.

    This assurance of support is a comfort to any \\weary but\\
 \\earnest worker\\ in the service of God. It implies a promise
 of strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for
 each duty. And, further, \\when death comes\\, the promise shall
 still hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall
 be able to say with David, "I will fear no evil, for thou art
 with me." We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no
 lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All
 through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the
 "everlasting arms"--arms that neither flag nor lose their
 strength, for "the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is
 weary."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29711
 # Ac 7:1 - 8:40 * Daily Bible Reading
29612
 November 12                                              Morning

 \\"The trial of your faith."\\
                                                    --1 Peter 1:7

    Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little
 faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is
 without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things
 are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are
 her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the
 sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a
 slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling
 forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the
 vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her
 mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail,
 it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No
 flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of
 the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which
 glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which
 springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as
 that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings
 experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had
 you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would
 never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid
 the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and
 intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is
 precious, and its trial is precious too.

    Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in
 faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the
 full portion will be measured out to you in due season.
 Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long
 experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for
 that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk
 according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of
 the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and
 conquer impossibilities.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29712
 # Ac 9:1 - 10:48 * Daily Bible Reading
29613
 November 13                                              Morning

 \\"The branch cannot bear fruit of itself."\\
                                                      --John 15:4

    How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to
 Jesus and cast yourselves on his great atonement, and rested on
 his finished righteousness. Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you
 remember those early days? Then indeed the vine flourished, the
 tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and the
 beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since
 then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love,
 and repent, and do thy first works. \\Be most in those\\
 \\engagements which you have experimentally proved to draw you\\
 \\nearest to Christ\\, because it is from him that all your
 fruits proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to him
 will help you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great
 worker in fruit-creating among the trees of the orchard: and
 Jesus is still more so among the trees of his garden of grace.
 When have you been the most fruitless? Has not it been when you
 have lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have
 slackened in prayer, when you have departed from the simplicity
 of your faith, when your graces have engrossed your attention
 instead of your Lord, when you have said, "My mountain standeth
 firm, I shall never be moved"; and have forgotten where your
 strength dwells--has not it been \\then\\ that your fruit has
 ceased? Some of us have been taught that we have nothing out of
 Christ, by terrible abasements of heart before the Lord; and
 when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of all creature
 power, we have cried in anguish, "From him all my fruit must be
 found, for no fruit can ever come from me." We are taught, by
 past experience, that the more simply we depend upon the grace
 of God in Christ, and wait upon the Holy Spirit, the more we
 shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! to trust Jesus for fruit
 as well as for life.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29713
 # Ac 11:1 - 13:52 * Daily Bible Reading
29614
 November 14                                              Morning

 \\"I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord,\\
 \\and that swear by Malcham."\\
                                                  --Zephaniah 1:5

    Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with
 both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed
 at the same time to Malcham. But duplicity is abominable with
 God, and hypocrisy his soul hateth. The idolater who distinctly
 gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who
 brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of
 the Lord, while his heart is with the world and the sins
 thereof. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a
 dastard's policy. In the common matters of daily life, a double-
 minded man is despised, but in religion he is loathsome to the
 last degree. The penalty pronounced in the verse before us is
 terrible, but it is well deserved; for how should divine justice
 spare the sinner, who knows the right, approves it, and
 professes to follow it, and all the while loves the evil, and
 gives it dominion in his heart?

    My soul, search thyself this morning, and see whether thou
 art guilty of double-dealing. Thou professest to be a follower
 of Jesus--dost thou truly love him? Is thy heart right with God?
 Art thou of the family of old Father Honest, or art thou a
 relative of Mr. By-ends? A name to live is of little value if I
 be indeed dead in trespasses and sins. To have one foot on the
 land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will involve
 a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all or
 nothing. God fills the whole universe, and hence there is no
 room for another god; if, then, he reigns in my heart, there
 will be no space for another reigning power. Do I rest alone on
 Jesus crucified, and live alone for him? Is it my desire to do
 so? Is my heart set upon so doing? If so, blessed be the mighty
 grace which has led me to salvation; and if not so, O Lord,
 pardon my sad offence, and unite my heart to fear thy name.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29714
 # Ac 14:1 - 16:40 * Daily Bible Reading
29615
 November 15                                              Morning

 \\"The Lord's portion is his people."\\
                                               --Deuteronomy 32:9

    How are they his? By his own sovereign \\choice\\. He chose
 them, and set his love upon them. This he did altogether apart
 from any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which he
 foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom he would have mercy, and
 ordained a chosen company unto eternal life; thus, therefore,
 are they his by his unconstrained election.

    They are not only his by choice, but by \\purchase\\. He has
 bought and paid for them to the utmost farthing, hence about his
 title there can be no dispute. Not with corruptible things, as
 with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord
 Jesus Christ, the Lord's portion has been fully redeemed. There
 is no mortgage on his estate; no suits can be raised by opposing
 claimants, the price was paid in open court, and the Church is
 the Lord's freehold for ever. See the blood-mark upon all the
 chosen, invisible to human eye, but known to Christ, for "the
 Lord knoweth them that are his"; he forgetteth none of those
 whom he has redeemed from among men; he counts the sheep for
 whom he laid down his life, and remembers well the Church for
 which he gave himself.

    They are also his by \\conquest\\. What a battle he had in us
 before we would be won! How long he laid siege to our hearts!
 How often he sent us terms of capitulation! but we barred our
 gates, and fenced our walls against him. Do we not remember
 that glorious hour when he carried our hearts by storm? When he
 placed his cross against the wall, and scaled our ramparts,
 planting on our strongholds the blood-red flag of his omnipotent
 mercy? Yes, we are, indeed, the conquered captives of his
 omnipotent love. Thus chosen, purchased, and subdued, the rights
 of our divine possessor are inalienable: we rejoice that we
 never can be our own; and we desire, day by day, to do \\his\\
 will, and to show forth \\his\\ glory.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 29715
 # Ac 17:1 - 19:41 * Daily Bible Reading
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