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April 25—Morning Devotion
"And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith."—Luke 18:5 Did the apostles need so to pray? Then well may I. Oh! thou great author and finisher of our faith! I would look up to thee, with thankfulness, that thou hast granted even the smallest portion of faith to so unworthy a creature as I am. Surely, my soul, it is as great a miracle of grace that my God and Saviour should have kindled belief in thy stony heart, amidst all the surrounding obstructions of sin and Satan which lay there, as when the miraculous fire from heaven, in answer to the prophet's prayer, came down and consumed the wetted sacrifice. I praise thee, my God and King, this day, in the recollection…
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April 24—Morning Devotion
"The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them."—Micah 2:13 Pause, my soul, over this precious scripture, and ask thine own heart who this Almighty Breaker can be, except the Lord Jesus Christ; for he, and he alone, answers to such a divine character. Was it not he which came up as the Breaker from everlasting; when, in the council of peace, the divine decree was broken open, and the Son of God stood forth the sinner's Surety? Was it not he whom John saw by vision, who alone was found worthy in heaven to open…
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April 23—Morning Devotion
"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."—Romans 14:9 And was this the cause, dearest Jesus, of all thy sufferings, that thou mightest be the universal monarch on thine eternal throne? Then bend thy knee, my heart, and all the affections of my soul, and hail thy Jesus Lord of all! Now, Lord, I see through thy blessed teaching, though a fool, and slow in heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken—now I see how expedient it was that Christ should suffer, and should enter into his glory. Yes, thou art, indeed, Lord both of dead and living; the dead to raise, even the dead in trespasses and sins;…
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April 22—Morning Devotion
"Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. "—Matthew 24:28 My soul! these are the words of Jesus, none of which should be suffered to fall to the ground. No doubt much instruction is contained in this passage. An eagle is a bird of prey: and Job saith, that the eagle hasteneth to the prey as the swift ships. Job 9:26. In all birds of prey there is great sagacity, a vast quickness of scent to smell their proper food afar off; and thus natural instinct, added to a rapacious appetite, compel those creatures to fly swift to their prey, and to devour the carcase. Is there nothing in all this that suits thee, my soul? Oh yes: If Jesus hath given…
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April 21—Morning Devotion
"The glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. "—John 17:22 Those are sweet views of Jesus which point to our oneness and union with him, by which alone we derive an interest in him, and are made partakers both in his grace and glory. By virtue of this it is, that the glory the Father gave Jesus, as Mediator, all his people are interested in, and truly enjoy. For though like the heir of a kingdom, when an infant, the babe is unconscious of his dignity, yet is not the less entitled to his high birth and rank: so the seed of Jesus, while in this childhood of existence, though they do not…
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April 20—Morning Devotion
"Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."—1 Corinthians 15:20 One view more, my soul, while thou art meditating upon this delightful subject of thy Redeemer's triumph over death and the grave, and now look at Jesus's resurrection as a sure pledge and confirmation of thine own. Did Jesus's holy body arise? Then so shall thine, sinful and polluted as it now is, but then made a glorified body by virtue of thy union with him. For so saith the Holy Ghost, by his servant the apostle "He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell…
