Bowen's Daily Meditations

Once thou hadst other proprietors. Sin, self, death, misery - these formerly boasted that thou wert theirs. But the price I have paid shuts their mouths forever.

Self is slowest of all to understand this. Thou hast distinctly and joyfully recognised the transfer of thyself to me; and yet again and again have I seen thee acting as though it were simply an agreeable fiction. Thou hast sometimes lavished thine affections on objects with which thou hadst no thing properly to do. Thou hast...

This language, whether addressed to the partial Israel of ancient times, or the universal Israel of our times, is appropriate only to one who has been awakened to a true perception of his transgressions, and to an earnest, engrossing solicitude for pardon. The eyes of such a one have been opened. In every page of the word of God he finds some chapter of his own past history coming up to view, and exhibiting itself to him in an aspect never before witnessed. The commandments seem to address...

There are many things in this stage of existence that are calculated to fright the souls of men. They are surrounded by dangers. There is hardly anything, no matter how minute and to all appearance contemptible, but may in some hour put on strength enough to kill us. Many a little insect has taken away the life of proud man. We do not know but that the breath we are now breathing may convey some deadly disease to our lungs. Our foot may slip; a blood-vessel may burst; a stone may fall upon...

The contrast really intended here is not between the word of God and the grass of the field; for there are many other things to share with Scripture the honor of out-living the flowers of earth. In one sense the Bible resembles the grass of the field; if by great efforts the latter be rooted up and cast into the fire, much time will not elapse before that same spot is seen verdant again with a new growth. And many rulers have sought to destroy the crop of Bibles sown in their do minions, but...

Thou art content to be known by this name, " God of our salvation." Viewed in one light, the thing seems an infinite wonder; in another light, no wonder. For in the accomplishment of our salvation, thy perfections come out in glorious relief, and the whole creation finds itself unspeakably aided in the work of making thee known. Let but one of the redeemed, clothed in his full salvation, stand forth in the universe; and it will matter little if the heaven and the earth flee away, and return...

Can I trust thee, "Wisdom? Dost thou tell the whole truth? If I embrace this bold guarantee of thine, and commit myself to thy paths, is it certain that my course shall be one of uninterrupted and elevated peace?

" Walk in my paths, and God will be at peace with thee! What an infinite gain is this! Where thou now art, the wrath of God, the hostility of the Omnipotent impends over thee. Were all the hosts of the universe arrayed against thee, they would do thee the merest trifle of...

" Forty centuries look upon you," said Bonaparte to his soldiers, pointing to the pyramids. Compared with the ordinary structures of man, these are immense, massive, enduring. Yet all the monuments of men are built upon leased ground, and with borrowed materials. They must vanish away. Another monument is to be reared; a monument to the mercy of God. Nothing less than the entire length and breadth of the earth will suffice for its foundation. Even the sea must be dried up to make room for...

There are too many, even among those reputed Christians, who seem never to have drawn nigh to God. They have a certain reverence for him, and occupy themselves considerably with the doing of his will. But they do not seem to have ever entered into the holy of holies, and beheld the peculiar manifestations of God. They remain at a certain distance, and think it reverential perhaps so to do. But true reverence will not allow us to slight any means of becoming fitted to glorify God. By drawing...

In telling us this of himself, our Lord does not profess to tell us anything new, but simply to refer to a well-known fact. Everything in his life declared that he was meek and lowly of heart. Power, wisdom, generosity, love ― these things were not more largely revealed in his life, than were his meekness and lowliness of heart. For instance, in the choice of a position. He entered one of the lowest grades of society. He had intercourse indeed with men of all ranks; but he was always a man...

Your idea of riches, does it run most naturally in this direction? Perhaps you are blessed (as men say) with worldly goods. Your wealth enables you to surround yourself with many beautiful and tasteful articles that some people might call objects of luxury; to live in a certain style; to associate with a certain class to which you think you belong in a peculiar sense. But, these are not your only riches. You are enabled to approach God by faith in Christ the mediator, morning and evening, to...

The meaning is, forget not any, remember all. The right recollection of a benefit is all but equal to a new benefit. As God is the same, as the expressions of his goodness are expressions of eternal goodness, the recollection of a past benefit may well be cherished since it is in a certain sense not past but present. Each token of love let down by God into my life, projects itself forward indefinitely, and accompanies me on an undying mission, to declare that God and I are friends through...

From whom? From him whose commandments I have so flagrantly violated, and whose authority I have set at nought. From him whose countless benefits I have clutched without noticing the hand that bestowed them. From the thrice-holy One at whose reproof the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished; and by whose command the fallen angels are kept under the chains of darkness. Perdition has overtaken myriads of beings who went not so far in the contempt of God, as I did; yet salvation cometh...

Give us the tokens of thy favor, the expressions of thy grace, the revelation of thy glory. Acknowledge us as thy sons and daughters, privileged ones, having access to thine audience chamber, and permitted to behold the majesty and kindness that to others are veiled. Let the light of thy loving glance descend into our soul. A day is coming when thy glory shall be flashed abroad through all the heavens, and when it shall fall like one immense sheet of lightning upon the nations. But what the...

A mighty angel stands in heaven upon a height at the foot of which you dwell unconsciously; and he bears aloft in his hands a stone, mountainous in size, which he is prepared to hurl upon you. But another mighty one says: Stay; for he repents, and will now bring forth fruits in evidence thereof. Then the company of the just made perfect, bend their eager gaze upon you to discern this evidence; and the stone descends not, though it hangs above you. Well may you therefore give heed to this...