Bowen's Daily Meditations

The church of Sardis, as a whole, might be spoken of as dead. The ordinances of religion were indeed maintained and attended; the word read; prayer offered; the communion partaken. In the estimation of many of the members, the church was anything but dead; but their conception of a living church was different from Christ's; and he pronounced it dead: dead, as a church. Yet was not vital godliness altogether extinct; some believers there were; and their position was one of great...

Canaan was divided among the ancient people of God. Each tribe had its portion. The question might have been asked, What portion has the Lord reserved for himself? The answer would have been, " The people of God are his portion. They are his peculiar possession in the earth. They are his habitation. Not merely the first fruits, not merely the Sabbaths, not merely the firstling of the flock: - all is his. The people are his; their allegiance, their service belong to him.''

So it was...

David was not a man un-susceptible of fear; nor was he ashamed to confess that he could fear. Often he makes the confession. In this he was braver than many. But David stood firm, when a thousand brave men would have fled. Few shepherds would have stood by their sheep, on the approach of a bear; fewer, on the approach of a lion; but David, the stripling, did this: he met the bear and conquered it; he fought the lion and destroyed it. Afterward he met him before whom the whole Israelite army...

Who is there that hath not a burden? - who that stands in no need of relief?

The burden of ignorance weighs heavy on one man. He finds himself so lamentably in the dark with regard to many most important things. The burden of responsibility weighs heavy on another. The burden of some secret frailty, some unconquerable weakness oppresses another. The burden of doubt is crushing to this sin-tormented soul. The burden of mortality, the fear of death, is more than another can bear. The...

This is the portion of those that come out from the world and are separated. Adam was called the son of God; for God breathed his own Spirit into him, and created him in his own image. The sons of God shouted for joy at the dawn of mundane things, and most of all, when they saw their new brother, the inhabitant of Eden. In order that we might recover the knowledge of what is meant by the expression, " Son of God," Jesus Christ came into the world. The Father speaking from heaven, bade us...

There is a hope that cannot exist without fear, and a fear that should not be dissevered from hope. There is a fear that is obnoxious to perfect love; that is, a fear that has torment in it; it must be cast out, and sent to its own place - the bosom of the evil one. But the fear we speak of, angels would not be without for worlds; and saints cannot be without it. You may call it a loving solicitude to have Christ abiding in the heart by faith; to do our heavenly Father's will, without...

" In thy favor is life." When Adam sinned, he lost the favor of God, and thus he died. This is the worst of all deaths; for all other deaths are just the expression of God's disfavor. Ask one of the lost in hell when he died, and he will rightly tell you that it was when he lost the divine favor. When a man comes to Christ, he finds what Adam lost and what Adam doubtless regained, - the favor of God, life in the highest sense; for all the other things called life are but the expressions of...

By standing is here meant standing in the favor of God. This is the position of the believer. It is right for a man to think that he stands, if there he sufficient reasons for him so to think. It is not in itself a fault to entertain the idea that we stand. We are not told to renounce that opinion. "We may entertain it even with the greatest confidence, the most unwavering assurance. The words of the text suppose indeed that the party spoken of does stand ', for it is only one that standeth...

He is not as one who begins to build without having counted the cost. Not as a sculptor who begins to execute a work without having ascertained the impracticable nature of his material. These are the shameful mistakes of men. God is not a workman that will need to be ashamed. He has called together a goodly company of the nobility of heaven to look on, while he brings a holy creature out of your unholy nature. Will he lay down his implements and say, " I miscalculated?"

They that know...

One of the resolutions made by that eminently devoted and successful combatant for Christ, President Edwards, was to the following effect: " Resolved, so to live and strive as I would do if I knew that only one man of this generation were to be saved, and I were fully determined to be that man."

This seems to be much the same spirit that breathed in the words of Paul: " Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. I...

A most important declaration to him who has fled over the borders, and taken refuge in the kingdom of God. For sin is now hateful to him, and the idea of being made again to bow under its sceptre, intolerable. He is now in a novel region. Before, even all his days, sin had dominion over him, an undivided sway. He found out the cruelty of that dominion, and, trusting in a divine promise, dared to flee. He is now made aware that all the powers of darkness are irritated greatly, and are fierce...

God does this:

(l) By letting them taste some of the bitter fruits of their backsliding. Dreadful shadows gather round their path. Anguish invades their souls. They discover the frightful desolation of a path where God is not.

(2) He brings to their recollection the happy state from whence they fell; the blessedness of having the Good Shepherd to lead them, and to keep them.

(3) He directs them to the promises, and so to the open arms of Christ.

(4) He fills them...

Bring your mind to God; bring it to him daily and hourly, and daily and hourly he will fill it with its true treasure.

All nature exists in vain where there is no peace in the mind. Wherefore are the skies blue, and the earth green, and the mountains sublime, and the rivers joyful, if there be not peace at heart? The flowers have no perfume, the birds no song, the voice of man no charm, where the mind which they were created to please is without susceptibility to their benefits. Bring...

I will suppose that you have traveled in a strange country with a congenial companion. You were careful to do and say nothing that would mar the pleasure of your intercourse. There were many pleasant objects to look at, but your experience taught you that any unpleasantness between your companion and yourself would quite do away with the attractions of the things around you. So you were careful not to grieve him.

The Spirit of God is your companion. Most exalted of all beings, he...