_At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people._ RELIGION IN THE HOME The family is a primal and universal institution, which stands alone distinct and apart from all others. Men voluntarily create States or Churches, but God putteth... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee._ EVERLASTING LOVE I. Our once desolate and miserable condition by nature. Were we not captives? yea, bond-slaves? All our happiness consisted in forgetting ourselves. Everything marked us as, in the worst... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God._ THE WATCHMAN’S MESSAGE TO ISRAEL I. The message of the watchmen. 1. The Jewish people had been overthrown, taken captive, and dispersed. They were therefore to all appearance a forsaken people, their land bereft of its inhabitants was des... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them._ THE PENITENT SINNER RETURNING TO HIS GOD I. Some of the first steps by which a sinner returns to his offended God. 1. Contrition; a heartfelt sorrow and grief on account of his sins. Many causes may conspire to awaken the sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations._ GOD’S WORD I. The word of the Lord. 1. The sublimity and mystery of the doctrine it reveals. 2. The purity and spirituality of its doctrines. 3. The harmony of its different authors. 4. The fulfilment of its predictions and promises. 5. The enmity th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their soul shall be as a watered garden._ THE WATERED GARDEN; OR, THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOUL LIFE The watered garden has three characteristics. I. Its freshness. Rapid evaporation in hot, dry seasons in the East. Unwatered surface; hard, dry, crusted over, and perhaps cracked. In the watered gard... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will turn their mourning into Joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow._ TRANSFIGURED TROUBLES In one of the German picture galleries is a painting called “Cloudland.” It hangs at the end of a long gallery, and at first sight it looks like a huge, repulsive daub of con... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people shall be satisfied with My goodness._ A PROMISE FOR GOD’S PEOPLE I. Ascertain the right application of the promise. “My people.” The term is restrictive. Only the people of God. And it is universal: all, everywhere, in every age. Who, then, are they? The phrase denotes covenant relation... [ Continue Reading ]
_A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children._ INNOCENTS’ DAY Undoubtedly it seems strange, that one of the earliest consequences of the incarnation of Him, who afterwards declared that He came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them, should thu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Refrain thy voice from weeping._ BEREAVED PARENTS COMFORTED I. It is not sinful for parents to be grieved and sorrowful for the death of their children. If we do not grieve when we are thus stricken of God, it is an evidence that we do not feel the heavy calamity which His providence hath inflict... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself._ REPENTANT EPHRAIM The real turning-point in man’s spiritual history is when he begins to accuse himself and to justify God. From self-accusation the soul is led on by the Spirit of God to self-condemnation. Mark, in the first place, what it is that E... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge._ THE BEQUETHMENT OF THE UNGODLY There is this great difference between moral and physical evil--that men will use all their carefulness to avoid the one, while every imaginable proh... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah._ THE NEW COVENANT The old and new covenants are placed in opposition to each other. The latter is represented as being-- I. More effective in its provisions. 1. Spiritual. 2. Loving. 3. Cheerful. 4. Diligent.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts._ THE NEWNESS OF THE COVENANT A covenant is a contract or agreement between two parties, binding each to the other, and equally binding on both. The eligibility of any such covenant depends on the fitness of the parties concerne... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them._ GOOD THINGS TO COME A blessed season is here spoken of, very unlike what the world has hitherto seen. Such acquaintance with God is meant, as brings the power, the justice, the mercy, the holiness of God before the mind, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord, which giveth._ ., the stars for a light by night. STARS AT MIDNIGHT (with John 16:32):--“Two things,” said Kant, “fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above, and the moral law wi... [ Continue Reading ]