Bowen's Daily Meditations

Before you, seated in the cavern of this world, the wizard of this world causes to appear, one after another, scenes of beauty, dissolving scenes that scarce have presented themselves to your vision before they have gone, leaving you in darkness. The wizard shows them to you that he may bind you to himself forever. "All these things will I bestow upon you," he says, " if you fall down and worship me." " The realities are in my chambers," he says; "I give them to whomsoever I will."...

Having bestowed righteousness, thou wilt express thy pleasure in that righteousness. We should not need a revelation from heaven to tell us this. It ought to be an unquestionable, self-evident axiom, that God who has all gifts at his disposal, will bestow his best, gifts upon those who please him most.

But there is none righteous, no, not one. Well, in the absolute sense of the word, Christ is the only righteous one that ever sojourned on this earth. He knew no sin. But they that...

This seems a very moderate declaration of attachment but very few can go so far as this. The gospel of Christ is the word that sets forth Christ. It is nothing apart from Christ. As He is honorable, so is it; as He is excellent, so is it. To be ashamed of it, is to be ashamed of Him.

Are you ashamed to speak, look, and act in such a way as to show your conviction that you and all men are lost sinners until recovered by the grace of God; and that you are dependent upon this grace for...

Even in the giving of promises, God has made manifest that he giveth liberally and upbraideth not. The necessity of reiterating promises, is sometimes irksome to us; we want people to take us at our word. But God knows the stupendous strength of unbelief in the heart of man. If a mountain of granite is to be reduced to powder by successive strokes of an instrument, there must be a vast number of strokes. If we wish to form some conception of the nature of unbelief let us look at the mighty...

Happy the soul that is able to find its joy in the indulgence of such a hope as this. Fallen man rejoices in hope of his own glory; not of his own true glory, but of a false and worldly glory, utterly disconnected with the glory of God. That soul is already largely redeemed that has learned to identify its own interests with the glory of God. And this hope shall be fulfilled; nothing is more certain. The glory of God must go forth triumphant one of these days, and conquer all the detestable...

God enlarges our heart by taking away from it the idea of our own righteousness and of our own strength; by taking away from us hardness of heart and insensibility; by delivering us from the oppressive fear of an offended God; by casting out a great deal of selfishness; by breathing into us the new life of faith in Christ, and making us buoyant with the delightful assurance of God's undeclining favor; by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.

Then no wonder that we run the way of...

Lord, is this thy desire? Didst thou take such a desire as this to heaven with thee? When thou wert parted from thy disciples and a cloud was about to receive thee out of their sight, were these sweet and love-expressing words still hovering on thy lips? When thou didst ascend up far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, when the hosts of heaven clustered gladly and adoringly around thee, were thine eyes still fixed on us, and did the desire still predominate in thy...

The Lord is good; - this is an independent proposition. He is good to the good, to all the heavenly companies that do his bidding, and rejoice in his government. That he should be good to sinners of earth, habitually violating his precepts, is a statement that goes far beyond the other. To a few of them? To thousands of them? To all of them? He has so made mankind that it is impossible for the least of them to exist without countless specific acts of kindness shown by God. Even corporeal...

When by a divine rescript we are designated the sons of God, a pledge is given that the following petition of Christ shall be fulfilled in our behalf: " That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them." Christ is the Son of God; but we are to be exalted to his own height of glory and majesty; we are to sit with him upon his throne; and it is to be manifest to all the universe that we too are sons of God. He has this pre-eminence over all, that he is what he is by virtue of his own...

But if he gave, why should he take away? Why does he resume what he has transferred to another? But he has transferred nothing to another in such a sense that it has ceased to be his own. The most exalted of created beings has nothing whatever in this sense. The kingdom of God is a kingdom where every inch of the soil belongs to the sovereign, where all the property belongs to him, and where he is ever at perfect liberty to dispose of everything as he will. And this arrangement is not...

This is an intellectual age. Of nothing do men boast more than of their stupendous knowledge and sublime wisdom. They play with worlds, the worlds of geology and astronomy. But there are a great many competitors for fame; and out of thousands that seek to be glorified of men, scarce two or three succeed in attaining an eminent place in the world's regard. It is surprising that among the vast numbers doomed to disappointment there should be so few led to inquire whether there may not be honor...

It is difficult to conceive of higher testimony than that which was borne to the character of Job. To be distinguished among a few, is as much honor as men generally dare to aspire to. But the mere thought of being distinguished above all men dwelling on the face of the earth, is enough to intoxicate the soul of man. Now of Job, it was deliberately stated, that there was not his like upon the earth, a perfect and upright man, fearing God and eschewing evil. And by whom was this testimony...

We read elsewhere of " God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved." The Gospel, promulgated for every creature, is the expression of this divine willingness that men should come to repentance. " Knowest thou not," says Paul to the hardened sinner, " that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" Thus we see that all the goodness so profusely exhibited in the providence of God to men generally, is an expression of God's will that they should turn away from their sins and seek...

This is a very evil world. It lieth in wickedness. The Prince of evil reigns over it. No wonder the Christian longs to take the wings of a dove and flee away and be at rest. But it is well for him to bear in mind that in this very world, where the enemies of God appear to have everything their own way, there is wonderful scope given for the exhibition of love to God. In some respects heaven cannot equal it. In heaven it is not given unto love to declare itself by suffering. There are no...