September 27

“Tlnppy art thou, 0 Inracl; who is lilce initc thee, 0 people saved b;/ the Lord?” — Deuteronomy xxxiii. 29.

HE who affirms that Christianity makes men miserable, is himself an utter stranger to it. It were strange indeed if it made us wretched; for see to what a potition it exalts tis! It makes us sons of God. Suppose you that God will give all the happiness to His enemies, and reserve all the mourning for His own family? Shall His foes have mirth and joy, and shall His home-born children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the sinner, who has no part in Christ, call himself rich in happiness, and shall we go mourning as if we were penniless beggars? No, we will rejoice in the Lord always, and glory in our inheritance, for we “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” The rod of chastisement must rest upon us in our measure, but it worketh for us the comfortable fruits of righteousness; and therefore, by the aid of the divine Comforter, we, the “people saved of the Lord,” will joy in the God of our salvation. We are married unto Christ; and shall our great Bridegroom permit His spouse to linger in constant grief? Our hearts are knit unto Him; we are His members; and though for a while we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even now blessed with heavenly blessings in Him. We have the earnest of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are neither few nor small. Heritors of joy forever, we have foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising. Our ric’jes are beyond the sea; our city with fii-m foundations lies on the other side the river; gleams ox gioi from the epirit-world cheer our hearts, and urge us onward. Ti-uly is it said of us, “Happy art thou, 0 Isra’tl who is iiiic thee, 0 people saved by the Lord ‘”