The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Ps. xxiii. 1. He says it himself. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands. JOHN X. 10, 28. Is S the LORD JESUS thy Shepherd? Has he called thee out of the wilderness? called thy heart from the love of sin and the world, and brought thee unto his fold and pastures? brought thee into a close attendance on his ordinances? And does he feed and refresh thy soul with his word? Canst thou distinguish the Shepherd's voice from the voice of an hireling? And does thy heart cleave to the Shepherd in faith and love, adoring his person, and approving his laws, as well as admiring his doctrines? Then fear not, the LORD is with thee; JESUS is thy Shepherd, thou shalt want nothing that is really good. Follow thy Shepherd till he bring thee to glory! The LORD's my shepherd, I'll not want. He makes me down to lie In pastures green: he leadeth me My soul he doth restore again; Even for his own name's sake. Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, For thou art with me; and thy rod And staff me comfort still. My table thou hast furnished My head thou dost with oil anoint, Goodness and mercy all my life And in GoD's house for evermore The everlasting Gospel. REV. xiv. 6. And upbraideth them with their unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they believed not. MARK xvi. 14. THE Gospel is properly called "Glad Tidings," for these reasons: We are polluted with the filth of sin; in it is opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness. The way to heaven is blocked up by our sins; it reveals "a new and living way through the flesh of CHRIST." We are imprisoned debtors by multiplied transgressions; it shows that a price, the most inestimable, has been paid to discharge us! We have by nature hard, strong, and impenitent hearts; in it is promised a heart of flesh. We can of ourselves do nothing; it shows that through CHRIST we can do all things! We feel that we are liable to err and backslide: it declares, that GOD will scourge us till we return to him, but not take his loving-kindness from us. We know that we are liable to many calamities; it teaches us, that they shall all work together for our good. We see that we are dying creatures; by it we are assured that we have a forerunner in heaven, and an eternal habitation with GoD in glory. LORD, send abroad and bless this Gospel. Make bare thine own holy arm, and let the people be willing in the day of thy power. O let the world adoring see triumphis of mercy wrought by thee. Salvation, O Salvation, The joyful sound proclaim, Salvation! let the echo fly They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. TIT. i. 16; JUDE 4; 2 TIM. iii. 5. THERE is a profession of a special kind, which in its own nature is exposed to reproach in the world, "they that will live godly in CHRIST JESUS shall suffer persecution." There is a being in CHRIST, and not living godly; for there are branches in the vine by profession, that bring forth no fruit; men that have not in them the mind that was in CHRIST JESUS, which torments the men of the earth, but they that will live godly, that is, engage in a profession that shall, on all occasions, and in all instances, manifest the power of it, they shall suffer persecution. We see many every day keep up a profession; but such a profession as will not provoke the world. Now this is to be ashamed of the Gospel, to be ashamed of the power and glory of it, to be ashamed of the Author of it. No man can put JESUS CHRIST to greater shame than by professing the Gospel without showing the power of it. Phil. iii. 18. Rev. xi. 10. There can be no more vile and sordid hypocrisy, than for any to pretend unto inward habitual sanctification, while their lives are barren in the fruits of righteousness and obedience. Reader, of all dangers in profession, beware of a customary, traditional, or doctrinal owning of gospel truths, without an experimental acquaintance with the reality and efficacy of them; for all such will have their portion where is "wailing and gnashing of teeth!" O fairest pearl of price, Thy riches let me see, And freely sacrifice The world's esteem for thee! For thee I would count all things loss, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. GEN. iii. 15. See Gal. iv. 4-6; COL. ii. 14, 15; and HEB. ii. 14. BY "the seed of the woman" is to be understood CHRIST the SAVIOUR; not excluding his friends and followers in every age of the world. This prediction of a Saviour signifies to onr first parents these four things: 1. That the promised SAVIOUR was not to be the man's, but the woman's seed, or born of a virgin: 2. That he was to be a man by that expression, "Thou shalt bruise his heel": 3. That he should break the head of the serpent, or destroy his power and dominion over mankind, and punish him, and all his votaries with an utter destruction; and 4. That in order to our SAVIOUR'S doing so, he must have his own heel, or human nature, that lowest part of his mediatory person, bruised by the serpent, or persecuted and put to death by the devil and his emissaries. This was the first intimation of a Saviour that was made to the world; it was made to the serpent, for his immediate confusion; made in the presence of our first parents, and before their sentence was pronounced, to inspire them with the hope of pardon and life, and with a sense of the distinguishing mercy of GoD, who, before he denounced so much as any temporal punishment, animated them with the hope of eternal redemption. 1 Arise, arise, thou woman's seed, And bruise the serpent in my heart; And deadly strokes each day impart. The Lord do that which seemeth him good. 2. SAM. x. 12. Thy will be done. LUKE Xxii. 42. CHRISTIAN still feels the motion of self A will, and, consequently, of sin in his heart. And if it be asked, How can CHRIST and sin dwell together in one heart? the answer is, As a king and rebels in one kingdom or town; he does not agree or correspond with them, but subdues them, and maintains peace. But where self-will has the dominion, there is nothing but trouble and confusion; for unsanctified passions, and a bad conscience, not only are inward torments, but often occasion perplexity and damage in our worldly affairs; whereas, in the blood of CHRIST, we have a good conscience, abundance of peace, and can be contented and happy in the most indifferent outward circumstances. Take heed, therefore, O my dear Christian, never to be led by thy own spirit, were it even in such things as seem to bring glory to God, if it is not of his own appointment. Our hearts sometimes are very deceitfully desirous of what pleases ourselves, while we pretend to seek God's glory; and were we not crossed in these our designs, they would prove a great burden to our life. Blessed is he who not only prays with his lips, but is heartily willing also that nothing but the will of the LORD should be done in everything. It is GOD alone that understands what may be good or dangerous to our spiritual or temporal circumstances. We being often blinded, or drawn by our lusts, are too much inclined to choose at random what would be perhaps most detrimental. Saviour, to my heart be near, |