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March 20—Morning Devotion
"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty."—Isaiah 33:17 Who, my soul, but Jesus could be intended by this sweet promise? And who is beautiful and lovely in thine eyes but him? There was no beauty in him while thou wert in a state of unrenewed nature, that thou shouldest desire him; neither can any man truly love him, until that a soul is made light in the Lord. Is Jesus then lovely to thee? Hast thou seen him? Dost thou now know him, love him, behold him, as altogether fair, and the chiefest among ten thousand? Then, surely, this promise hath been, and is continually fulfilled in thy experience. Hast thou so seen him, as to be in love with him, and to…
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March 19—Morning Devotion
"Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me."—Job 23:3,4,6 My soul, are these thy breathings? Dost thou really long, and, like David, even pant, to come before the throne of grace? Art thou at a loss how to come, how to draw nigh? Wouldest thou fill thy mouth with argumerits, and have thy cause so ordered as to be sure not to fail? Look to Jesus! Seek from him the leadings of the Spirit; and while thine eye is steadily fixed on thy great High Priest…
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March 18—Morning Devotion
"And Israel strenghened himself, and sat up on the bed."—Genesis 48:2 This was an interesting moment in the life, or rather the death, of the patriarch, and may serve, my soul, to shew what ought to be the conduct of the believer in his last expiring hours. The imagination can hardly conceive any situation equally momentous, in every point of view, both as it concerns a faithful God, a man's own heart, and the church the dying saint is going to leave behind. What can form a more lovely sight than a dying saint, sitting up in the bed, (if the Lord permits the opportunity) and recounting, as Jacob did, the gracious dealings of the Lord, all the way along the path of pilgrimage -…
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March 17—Morning Devotion
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."—I Peter 1:6 My soul! it is too difficult a task to flesh and blood, but it is among the most blessed triumphs of grace, to glory in tribulation, that the power of Jesus may rest upon the soul. Pause over the subject, and see whether in the little exercises of thy life, such things are among thine experiences. A soul must be truly taught of God the Father; truly acquainted with Jesus, and living near to him; and truly receiving the sweet and constant influences of the Holy Ghost; when, in the absence of the streams of all creature comforts, he is solacing himself at the…
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March 16—Morning Devotion
"The man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day."—Ruth 3:18 Behold! my soul, in this scripture history, some sweet features by which the disposition of Jesus's love, and the earnestness in his heart to relieve poor sinners, is strikingly set forth. When a poor sinner is made acquainted with the Lord Jesus, hath heard of his grace, goes forth to glean in his fields; at the ordinances of his house, and under the ministration of his word, lays down at his feet, and prays to be covered with the skirt of his mantle; Jesus not only takes notice of that poor seeking sinner, but gives the poor creature to know, by some sweet and secret whispers of his Holy…
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March 15—Morning Devotion
"Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD. And he said, Who am I, O LORD GOD! and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And is this the manner of man, O LORD GOD?”—2 Samuel 7:18-19 The language of David, under the overwhelming views he had of divine goodness, as it concerned himself, is suited to the case of every child of God, as he may trace that goodness in his own history. Surely, every awakened soul may cry out, under the same impression, - "Who am I, O Lord God! and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? "My soul! ponder over the sweet subject, as it concerns thyself. Behold what manner of love the…
