"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." -Ephesians 3:8 [KJV] My soul, hear what the great apostle to the gentiles speaks of himself. He calls himself "less than the least;" a thing almost impossible in itself; but he doth it with a view to magnify the riches, the exceeding great riches of grace. And in the same moment that he views himself so low and abject, he is lost in amazement at beholding the exalted office to which he was called. So that Paul cries out, "Unto me," a poor, sinful, unworthy creature of the earth, "to me was this grace given!"   My soul, leave for a moment the view of the apostle, and make the subject personal, by looking to a renewed instance of that grace, most freely given, in a case as far surpassing Paul in the greatness and undeservedness of it, as the imagination can conceive. Perhaps every sinner feels the same; this at least is certain, all may well feel the same. But the subject

"Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies."   - Psalm 103:4 [KJV] The coronation of a king puts the last and highest seal upon his reigning authority. This made the spouse say, "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold    king    Solomon with the crown wherewith his    mother crowned him in the day of    his espousals, and in the day of    the gladness of his    heart" (Song of Solomon 3:11) .  And what a day will that be when the anti-typical Solomon is crowned Lord of all. Thus there is a crown put upon the soul which is healed of all its diseases, and whose life is redeemed from destruction. It is as if God could not be satisfied till He had put the crown of His lovingkindness upon the soul, until He had Himself crowned the heart with His own love. And what is the effect? The soul puts a crown of glory upon His head. So the soul has the crown of grace, and God has the crown of glory.   This is being crowned with lovingkindness and tender merc