“I am black, but lovely!” “I am black, but lovely!” Song of Solomon 1:5 The believer pictures her state. It is a seeming paradox. The extremes of lowliness and greatness are combined. She presents two aspects: deformity and loveliness compose the portrait. “I am black, but lovely!” Blackness is frightful and repulsive. No eye can […]
Justice sheaths its avenging sword in His heart! (Henry Law, “Gleanings from the Book of Life”) “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21 It is a comforting thought, that the sins thus removed from the guilty and […]
THE LOVE THAT PASSES KNOWLEDGE “Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned, his offer would be utterly despised.” – Song of Solomon 8:7 Jesus thus declares his love to his church, and she replies, “Set me as a seal,” not only on […]
Only two families inhabit earth (Henry Law, “Deuteronomy” 1858) Only two families inhabit earth. In principle, in taste, in habit, in desire— they are as separate as . . . light from darkness, cold from heat, life from death. There is the serpent’s seed. There is the heaven-born race. There is the world. There is […]
THE THREEFOLD BLESSING. “The Lord bless you and keep you–the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Numb. 6:24-26. How gracious is our God in Christ! His mercy overtops the heaven of heavens. Throughout the Bible-page, at every […]
Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.” Our attention is still fixed on the fertility of the garden. It is portrayed as abounding in all plants and […]
Crown. –Earthly sovereigns display a crown, as emblem of their people’s homage. On Jesus’ head are “many crowns.” (Rev. 19:13) The Father crowns Him, as co-equal ruler of the universe, as fellow-worker in the wonders of creation. All voices cry aloud, “You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created.” […]
The Rock affords refreshing shade. Isaiah, with enraptured eye fixed on the coming Savior, cries, “A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land.” (Isa. 32:2) Lively images here […]
Let each believer follow the precept of the Spirit—come apart for awhile enter into the secret chambers of solemn retrospective meditation, and under the rays of heavenly light review his former state. Now, through grace, he is light in the Lord; but formerly he was darkness, and how great was that darkness, how thick those […]
Calvary’s stupendous scene! (Henry Law, “Family Prayers”) “It is finished!” John 19:30 Holy Father, The heavens, the earth, and all that are therein, proclaim Your wondrous goodness. But Your love shines forth in surpassing luster–at Calvary’s stupendous scene! At the cross we see Your heavenly grace removing the tremendous load of our iniquities from us–and […]