January 22

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.—Jeremiah 17:9.

DO I acknowledge and feel, that there are more seeds of sinfulness in my heart than at once spring up and bear fruit in conduct? Does not my heart too often put evil for good and good for evil? Am I not blind to my own besetting sins, and eagle-eyed to the sins of others? Do I feel that I do not fully know my heart, and its weakness in the hour of temptation? And do I constantly pray that God would search and try me, and lead me in the way everlasting?

There is tinder enough in the best men's hearts, to light a fire that would burn to the lowest hell, if God did not quench the sparks. There is enough corruption, depravity, and wickedness in the heart of the holiest man alive, to destroy him for ever, if God's free and sovereign grace did not prevent.—SPURGEON.

The seriousness of any sin is not to be judged by the greatness of the incentive, or the grossness of the action. When the Lord says, "Thou shalt not," and his rebellious creature says, "I will," whether the contest be about an apple or a kingdom, it is stubbornness and rebellion.—SCOTT.

Lord, with this guilty heart of mine,

To thy dear cross I flee;

And to thy grace my soul resign,

To be renewed by thee.

Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood,

I lay me down to rest,

As in the embraces of my God,

Or on my Saviour's breast.—WATTS.