Evening
Time: 6:08 PM PST
"And they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall." --Nehemiah 3:8
Cities well fortified have broad walls, and so had Jerusalem in her glory.
The New Jerusalem must, in like manner, be surrounded and preserved by a broad
wall of nonconformity to the world, and separation from its customs and
spirit. The tendency of these days break down the holy barrier, and make the
distinction between the church and the world merely nominal. Professors are no
longer strict and Puritanical, questionable literature is read on all hands,
frivolous pastimes are currently indulged, and a general laxity threatens to
deprive the Lord's peculiar people of those sacred singularities which separate
them from sinners. It will be an ill day for the church and the world when the
proposed amalgamation shall be complete, and the sons of God and the daughters
of men shall be as one: then shall another deluge of wrath be ushered in.
Beloved reader, be it your aim in heart, in word, in dress, in action to
maintain the broad wall, remembering that the friendship of this world is enmity
against God.
The broad wall afforded a pleasant place of resort for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, from which they could command prospects of the surrounding
country. This reminds us of the Lord's exceeding broad commandments, in which we
walk at liberty in communion with Jesus, overlooking the scenes of earth, and
looking out towards the glories of heaven. Separated from the world, and denying
ourselves all ungodliness and fleshly lusts, we are nevertheless not in prison,
nor restricted within narrow bounds; nay, we walk at liberty, because we keep
His precepts. Come, reader, this evening walk with God in His statutes. As
friend met friend upon the city wall, so meet thou thy God in the way of holy
prayer and meditation. The bulwarks of salvation thou hast a right to traverse,
for thou art a freeman of the royal burgh, a citizen of the metropolis of the
universe.