Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: EVENINGS WITH JESUS. Jan. 1.?Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. Ex. xiv. 15. We may consider this command three ways: ?First, In reference to the journey of the Israelites. Now, to judge of this command, we have only to reflect upon the condition of the people; the army of Pharoah was behind them, and the sea was immediately before them, and to go forward would be to advance into the sea itself; but we may observe that God's commands are so many intimations and assurances of success. Go forward, saith God to Moses. Did he say, What, Lord, and be drowned in the sea? No; but they went forward, and the waters opened before them, and they passed through the sea as on dry ground. Now all this is very instructive and interesting. It teaches us to do all things in religion without murmurings and disputings, and that nothing more becomes us than a childlike disposition, exereising implicit confidence in God, and unquestioning obedience to his commands. And this will apply to declarations as well as to commands. What ho has revealed we are to believe on the authority of the Speaker. It will also apply to the dispensations of divine providence. When any of these seem to be at variance with our views, we are to remember that all the ways of the Lord are merey and truth. Secondly, Let us consider this command in reference to ourselves, for if Christians, we are on our way from Egypt to Canaan, seeking a better country, even a heavenly; and it becomes us to be always advancing in the way everlasting. Christians are therefore enjoined to go forward. It is an awful thing when instead of this any go backward. The Ephesians went backward, and so were called to repent and do their first works, and to exemplify their first love, or lose the privile...