_In that day shall this song be sung_ PERIODS OF RESTORATION If it be demanded, what period of time is this which the prophet speaks of? we must answer, that it is the time when the people, who for their provocations were thrown into the furnace of affliction, and had continued in it till they we... [ Continue Reading ]
_Open ye the gates_ A BUNCH OF KEYS (to children):-- 1. The gate of healing. What would you say is the key of that gate? Is it not our need? What, _e.g., _would give you admission into any hospital? Would it not be your need of the help that could be obtained there? Just so is it with Jesus, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee_ PERFECT PEACE The Scriptures are full of priceless secrets, and here is one of them--the secret of trust in God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, as the sole method and means of that peace which we all desire. “Thou shalt keep hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Trust ye in the Lord forever_ TRUSTING IN THE LORD I. THE DUTY ITSELF. 1. It implies an acquiescence or submission to the will of God, whatever it may be--trusting in Him, assured that He is doing, and will do, what is right. This was the spirit of Eli of old, who, though under great family tria... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, in the way of Thy Judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee_ GOD’S PEOPLE WAITING FOR HIM IN THE WAY OF HIS JUDGMENTS I. THE WORDS CONTAIN A SOLEMN PROTESTATION--a protestation, on the part of these faithful people of the Lord, to Himself, in reference to His “judgments.” “Yea,” say they, “... [ Continue Reading ]
_With my soul have I desired Thee in the night_ THE RELIGIOUS CRAVING AND SEEKING OF THE SOUL AT NIGHT There is no work so momentous, me influential, as the work of the soul in the sleepless hours of night. Busy in calling up departed friends and interchanging thoughts again, busy in recalling th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness_ INSENSIBILITY OF THE WICKED God has written, and spread before mankind, three large books, all of which are legible and intelligible to such as have eyes to see and a disposition of mind to read them with attention. These a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up they will not see_ MAN’S BLINDNESS TO THE DIVINE WORKING Modern scepticism seeks to undeify the Deity; and yet, feeling that man must have a god of some sort, it deifies nature, and invests matter and the laws of the universe with the attributes of Divinity. This... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us_ GOD ORDAINING PEACE The expression seems to allude to the action of a commander-in-chief in the army, who marshals his soldiers according to the plan he had formed, and assigns to each the proper station which he is to occupy in carrying into execution his pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us_ THE CAPTIVITY AND THE RETURN About five hundred years before the birth of Christ an event occulted which stands almost alone in the world’s history. After a long period of exile a whole nation, at least so much of it as was disposed, was freely p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord_ THE INCREASE OF THE TRUE ISRAEL On the first preaching of the Gospel, the Lord greatly increased the nation of them that are Israelites indeed. In following ages the Lord still continued to increase them; hence the remarkable words of an ancient apologist... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee_ GOD A HARBOUR OF REFUGE It is a blessed loss that makes us find our God! What we gain is in finitely more than what we have lost. What a mercy that God is willing to hear us in the time of trouble, that all our putting off and rejection of Him do not make... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy dead men shall live_ THE JEWISH HOPE OF RESURRECTION Granted the pardon, the justice, the temple, and the God which the returning exiles now enjoyed, the possession of these only makes more painful the shortness of life itself. This life is too shallow and too frail a vessel to hold, peace an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers_ A GRACIOUS INVITATION I. THE FORM OF THE INVITATION, including in it the qualified subject. “Come, My people.” God’s own peculiar people, who have chosen God for their protection, and resigned up themselves sincerely to Him in the covenant, are the p... [ Continue Reading ]
_For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place_ ASSOCIATIONS IN JUDGMENT 1. Few circumstances of our life are more mysterious and few more important than the influence of associations. 2. The language suggests a subtle sympathy between the earth and the earth born; the earth, it is suggested, ha... [ Continue Reading ]