-
June 30—Morning Devotion
"In thee the fatherless findeth mercy."—Hosea 14:3 Sweet thought! In Jesus, and the relationship, which he hath condescended to place himself in, all his poor followers may find a supply to till up every vacancy. My soul, contemplate Jesus in this blessed feature of character. What relation do we need? The fatherless are commanded to look to him whose name is the everlasting Father. The motherless also; for he hath said, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee." Doth death make a breach between the husband and the wife? Then the scripture saith, "Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name." Are we friendless? "Jesus is the friend that loveth at all times, that sticketh closer than…
-
June 29—Morning Devotion
"And they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and found him not."—Luke 2:44, 45 May we not gather a lesson of sweet instruction from the anxious and fruitless search the parents made for Jesus in the days of his flesh? What kinsfolks and acquaintances shall we now search among for the Saviour? My soul, how little of Jesus is to be found in this Christless generation! What parlour conversation makes mention of his name? Is it not plain and evident, from the general, nay almost universal silence observed in all companies concerning his name, and offices, and characters, and relations, that Christ is not there? Shall we seek him among the professors of the gospel? Who are they that honour Jesus? Not they who…
-
June 28—Morning Devotion
"Carry down the man a present."—Genesis 43:11 Ah, poor Jacob, how unconscious wert thou that this man, the governor of Egypt, was so near and dear to thee, and that his bowels yearned to tell thee how much he loved thee. And O ye sons of Israel, who would have had power to convince you while you were bowing down before Joseph under the dreadful apprehensions which agitated your minds, and he was assuming a voice of displeasure, that this very man was your brother? My soul, and what was all this, heightened to the greatest possible degree in the real love and affection of Joseph towards his family, compared to that love of Jesus which passeth knowledge? Jesus is thy brother, and he is…
-
June 27—Morning Devotion
" I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last."—Revelation 1:11 My soul, if the precious meditation of yesterday be not wholly gone off from thy poor forgetful mind this day, here is another blessed view to revive the thought afresh, in looking at the Mediator, as the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, in the same covenant engagements. Jesus is indeed, as the 8th verse of this same chapter expresses it, the Alpha and Omega, as one with the Father, over all, God blessed for ever. But he is also here the Alpha and Omega, as the Mediator, both God and man. For he is the first and the last of all God's thoughts, and in his covenant engagements, of all…
-
June 26—Morning Devotion
"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way: before his works of old, I was set up from everlasting."—Proverbs 8:22, 23 Pause, my soul, over those most blessed words, and see what glories are contained in them. May God the Spirit glorify Christ to thy view while pondering these words! Who is it that speaks them? Is it not wisdom! Even Christ, the wisdom of God, as the apostle elsewhere calls him? But how was he possessed by the Lord, and how set up from everlasting? Not openly in the human form, that he was in the fulness of time to take upon him for the purpose of redemption; but, as it should seem, secretly, as subsisting in covenant engagements from everlasting. Mediator,…
-
June 25—Morning Devotion
"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry."—Psalm 34:15 My soul, never more allow thyself to suppose that thou art overlooked or forgotten amidst the immensity of God's works. Is it not the province of a father to attend to the wants of his children? And will not God regard his own, that cry night and day unto him, though he bear long with them? This was the very argument of our Redeemer. Do you, saith Jesus, "that are evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; and shall not your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" But, my soul, while thou art taking comfort from this view of…
