CALL TO REMEMBRANCE THE FORMER DAYS

EVENING DEVOTION 

OCTOBER 10

 

Hebrews 10:32

But call to remembrance the former days,

 
It is sometimes very profitable to look back.
 
Reflection upon the past may do us good to-night.
 
Our land was once immersed in pagan darkness, superstition, and barbarity; since then it has been under the dominion of papal ignorance, priestcraft, and cruelty.
 
How different its state then to the present!
 
Our souls were once the slaves of Satan, under the dominion of sin, and exposed to the curse of God.
 
We were thoughtless, careless, and hardened.
 
We loved our idols, and after them we would go.
 
But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loves us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ, and saved us by his grace.
 
How delightful were the days of our first love!
 
How precious the Saviour!
 
How sweet the gospel!
 
How delightful the Lord’s day!
 
How amiable the tabernacles of God!
 
But our zeal declined, our joys faded, our prospects were overcast, because we wandered from God.
 
We became like the heath in the desert, and we mounted in our complaint and made a noise.
 
But the good Shepherd sought us out, reproved us for our follies, and restored us again.
 

I muse on the years that are past,

Wherein my defence thou hast prov’d,

Nor wilt thou relinquish at last,

A sinner so signally lov’d!

 
James Smith