September 30 - Morning"Sing forth the honour of His name, make His praise glorious." — Psalm 66:2
It is not left to our own option whether we shall praise God or not. Praise
is God's most righteous due, and every Christian, as the recipient of His
grace, is bound to praise God from day to day. It is true we have no
authoritative rubric for daily praise; we have no commandment prescribing
certain hours of song and thanksgiving: but the law written upon the heart
teaches us that it is right to praise God; and the unwritten mandate comes
to us with as much force as if it had been recorded on the tables of stone,
or handed to us from the top of thundering Sinai.
Yes, it is the Christian's duty to praise God. It is not only a pleasurable
exercise, but it is the absolute obligation of his life. Think not ye who are
always mourning, that ye are guiltless in this respect, or imagine that ye can
discharge your duty to your God without songs of praise. You are bound by the
bonds of His love to bless His name so long as you live, and His praise should
continually be in your mouth, for you are blessed, in order that you may
bless Him; "this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise"; and if you do not praise God, you are not bringing forth the
fruit which He, as the Divine Husbandman, has a right to expect at your
hands.
Let not your harp then hang upon the willows, but take it down,
and strive, with a grateful heart, to bring forth its loudest music. Arise and
chant His praise. With every morning's dawn, lift up your notes of
thanksgiving, and let every setting sun be followed with your song. Girdle
the earth with your praises; surround it with an atmosphere of melody,
and God Himself will hearken from heaven and accept your music.
"E'en so I love Thee, and will love, September 30 - Evening"A living dog is better than a dead lion." — Ecclesiastes 9:4
Life is a precious thing, and in its humblest form it is superior to death.
This truth is eminently certain in spiritual things. It is better to be the least
in the kingdom of heaven than the greatest out of it. The lowest degree of
grace is superior to the noblest development of unregenerate nature. Where
the Holy Ghost implants divine life in the soul, there is a precious deposit
which none of the refinements of education can equal. The thief on the
cross excels Caesar on his throne; Lazarus among the dogs is better than
Cicero among the senators; and the most unlettered Christian is in the sight
of God superior to Plato.
Life is the badge of nobility in the realm of spiritual things, and men without
it are only coarser or finer specimens of the same lifeless material, needing to
be quickened, for they are dead in trespasses and sins. A living, loving,
gospel sermon, however unlearned in matter and uncouth
in style, is better than the finest discourse devoid of unction and power. A
living dog keeps better watch than a dead lion, and is of more service to his
master; and so the poorest spiritual preacher is infinitely to be preferred to
the exquisite orator who has no wisdom but that of words, no energy but
that of sound.
The like holds good of our prayers and other religious
exercises; if we are quickened in them by the Holy Spirit, they are
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, though we may think them to be
worthless things; while our grand performances in which our hearts were
absent, like dead lions, are mere carrion in the sight of the living God. O for
living groans, living sighs, living despondencies, rather than lifeless songs
and dead calms. Better anything than death. The snarlings of the dog of hell
will at least keep us awake, but dead faith and dead profession, what
greater curses can a man have? Quicken us, quicken us, O Lord! September 30 |