August 23

We have no time in the concerns of our souls for nice and useless speculation. One thing is needful, and whatever draws us off from this, even if it be something true and good in itself, will be an error and an evil to us. The grand principles of the Gospel are few and plain; and they are always held forth in their practical bearings, and no further. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever; that we may do all the words of this law." Let us therefore be satisfied with the words the Holy Ghost useth, without requiring human definitions of them. Let us improve the parts of the Scripture as they lie before us, without systematizing them. Let us distinguish between the uses and the essences of the subjects the Gospel reports. Let us take the religion of the facts and leave the philosophy. When the man asked, "Are there few that be saved?" Did our Lord rebuke or gratify the inquirer? When even his disciples asked, "Wilt thou at this time again restore the kingdom to Israel?" Did he not answer, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power?" In all such cases did he not invariably say, "Draw not migh hither?"

The admonition would also remind us of the humility and awe with which we should approach where God is. And in all our worship we come before him. Outward tokens of respect and reverence vary in different ages and countries. In the East, unshoeing of the feet was the same as uncovering the head with us; and Solomon refers to it when he says, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God." The act enjoins the principle which it is intended to express and cherish. Bodily exercise profiteth little; but we are complex beings, and we are to honour God in our bodies as well as in our spirits. Holiness becometh his house for ever. God will be sanctified in all that come nigh him. He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints—"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

But what says the assurance? "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." God has always bestowed his favours in a way which showed a regard for righteousness: he often therefore did good to some for the sake of others: and thus men were prepared to regard the importance of the Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. When the Assyrians were pressing Jerusalem, "I will deliver it," says God, "for my servant David's sake." When Job's three friends had offended God by their improper speeches, God said to them, "Take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly." How often does he express himself, in addressing the Jews, as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because the covenant made with them was for their descendants: therefore, says Moses, "Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their