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1. THE NINETY-FIRST PSALM.
During the great fire, which nearly destroyed
Konigsberg in the year 1764, a pastor of that city, ninety years old,
lost his church, his house, his valuable library, and all his wordly
goods. One of his grandsons rescued him from the flames, carrying him on
his shoulders. When asked afterwards, by a village pastor who visited
him, to tell him the result of his long and varied experience, he
replied, "I have just been meditating on the 91st Psalm. I have
experienced that every statement it contains is true, every promise
sure. I lived in times of pestilence; I dwelt in the secret place of the
Most High, and abode under the shadow of the Almighty. I have lived in
times of war and bloodshed; He covered me with his feathers, His
faithfulness was my shield and buckler. I was in danger by fire; He gave
his angels charge over me to bear me up in their hands. He has honoured
and satisfied
me with long life. There remains now only one promise unfulfilled, and
for this I am now waiting: ' I will show him my salvation!'"
2. CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A minister of the gospel was trying to explain the
truth to a sick dying man. But the heart of the sick man was full of
sorrow and fear. "If I were as good and holy a man as you," he
exclaimed, " I would not be afraid." "Well," said the pastor, "since you
seem to wish to possess the goodness and holiness of another man, I can
tell you of one who is infinitely better and holier than I, who is even
perfectly good and righteous, and who is able to do what no other man or
angel can do, give his goodness and righteousness to another, so that it
serves Mm before God as if it were his own. This man is Jesus Christ. He
offers you Ms goodness and righteousness. Out of Ms fulness sinners may
take grace for grace."
3. GOSPEL OF JOHN III. 16.
In a small German town the pastor was instructing in
the way of salvation a man sentenced to death, and had pointed out to
him several texts, in which Christ's power to save to the uttermost was
clearly set forth. The last day came, and the poor man told his minister
to allow him to confine himself exclusively to John iii. 16. When asked
for his reason, he replied, "What more do I require? When it says, 'God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,' I feel my heart
opening wide to receive the offered Son of God; and when it is added,
'that whosoever believeth in Mm -should not perish but have everlasting
life,' then my heart grasps it tight, and believes that the promise is
sure and certain." |
