Bowen's Daily Meditations

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...

This is a very defective world. Everybody says so. We have here only the rudiments of things. There is beauty and there is blessing; but only in fragments. A great deal has been done to make man's condition agreeable; and a great deal left undone. There is health; but it does not endure. Strength; but it is evanescent. Rain in its season; but not invariable. Fruits; but they sometimes fail. Friends; but they are called away. Comforts; but we are liable to lose them. Wealth; but it takes...

" I write unto you," says John, " that ye sin not." Such was his aim in writing this epistle, and such was his aim in writing the words of our text. The statement that we have an advocate with the Father, is intended to keep us from sinning. Any man that uses it merely as an opiate to his conscience, and to procure him peace in sinning, diverts it from its legitimate use.

But when a Christian has been overtaken in a fault, what shall he do? Let him remember that for him, the...

Christ, in the prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, says: " I have manifested thy name unto the men that thou gavest me." And again: "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it." The manifestation of God's name is the manifestation of God. They that know his name know him, and they put their trust in him. Knowledge and faith are in inseparable alliance. Unbelief and ignorance go together.

Do you grieve over your want of faith? Grieve over your want of...

"We have not a high-priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses," would be more literal, but would not be more beautiful. The statement is in the negative, and seems to summon us for a moment to consider what our condition would be, if we had a high-priest incapable of sympathizing with us. We may also view it as conveying a reproach to those who act towards Christ as though he were such a high priest. They do so when the keen sense of their...

This portion of Scripture is an exposition of the ninety-fifth Psalm. The word rendered " rest'' in this verse, is different from the word so rendered in many other verses of the context. It does not, however, signify anything different: it is intended to elucidate. There is in it a reference to the Sabbath, and it indicates a Sabbatical rest - a great and glorious rest of which the Sabbath is an emblem. And Paul exhorts the Hebrew Christians to labor to enter into that rest. To labor now,...

To them which are in Christ Jesus. Think it not a strange expression. It is well chosen. Faith in Christ, union to Christ, and similar expressions, mean much more than can easily be comprehended. The expression "them which are in Christ" is added, that we may not too soon think we understand the others. In Christ, as Noah was in the ark. Without, the besom of condemnation swept the universal face of things; but there was no condemnation to him who had fled for refuge to that sanctuary. In...

This promise is introduced by a declaration that there is nothing but the want of faith to hinder Christ's disciples from doing works as great as those that Christ himself performed when on the earth; greater works even.

" Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. Ye shall do those works nominally, but I really. Understand that I do not deprive the earth of any of my power by my departure. I go to sit upon my Father's throne, that I may do greater works on earth than I have...

These words were evidently intended to produce the impression (1) that there are difficulties in the way of salvation, be sides those at the entrance of that way; (2) that these difficulties may be overcome; but only (3) by him who contemplates them, appreciates them, prepares for them, and confronts them. The doctrine of " the perseverance of the saints" teaches that every one who is united to Christ by a living faith, will, by virtue of that faith, endure unto the end - will resist and...