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

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.    And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and He shall speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.   As for Thee also, by the blood of Thy covenant I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. ”   - Zechariah 9:9-11 [KJV]                                                            ...

"By one offering, He hath perfected for ever them who are sanctified." -Hebrews 10:14 [KJV] My soul is caught; Heav’n’s sovereign blessings clust’ring from the cross Rush on her, in a throng, and close her round The pris’ner of amaze! I beg this plea to be admitted, as an excuse for a second meditation on this text.  O sinner! if you believe in a crucified Saviour, you are born of God—know the love of God—are sanctified by God—and are for ever perfected before God. All this flows from the one offering of the Son of God; bore witness to in the word, and in our hearts by the Spirit of God. This, like every other truth of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit’s love and grace, is to have its use and influence upon our hearts and lives. Lord grant it may.  Consider, (1st.) hath Christ for ever perfected you before God, in taking away your sins, and reconciling your person? O, then, with what holy boldness, and filial confidence, may you draw nigh to God! Heaven is open t...

"In Thee the fatherless findeth mercy." -Hosea 14:3 [KJV] Sweet thought! In Jesus, and the relationship, which He hath condescended to place Himself in, all His poor followers may find a supply to fill up every vacancy. My soul, contemplate Jesus in this blessed feature of character. What relation do we need? The fatherless are commanded to look to Him whose name is the everlasting Father. The motherless also; for He hath said, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee."     Doth death make a breach between the husband and the wife? Then the scripture saith, "Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name." Are we friendless? Jesus is the Friend that loveth at all times, that sticketh closer than a brother . In short, there is no situation among the affinities of life, the kinder charities of nature, but what Jesus fills and infinitely transcends all.   Pause, my soul, over this view of Jesus, and behold how He gra...

"Perplexed, but not in despair." -II Corinthians 4:8 [KJV] Oh! what a mercy, amidst every degree of inward or outward perplexity, to be out of the reach of Giant Despair; not to be shut up in the iron cage; not to be abandoned, as Judas or Ahithophel, to utter desperation and suicide, and, after a long life of profession, concerning faith to make awful shipwreck! Now the child of God, with all his doubts, fears, sinkings, misgivings, and trying perplexities is never really and truly in despair. He may tread so near the borders of that black country that it may almost be debateable land whether he is walking in despair or upon the borders of it; for I believe many children of God have at times come to the solemn conclusion that there is no hope for them, for they cannot see how they can be saved or have their aggravated sins pardoned. And though this be not black despair, nor such utter, irremediable desperation as seized Saul and Judas, for there still is a ...

"By one offering, He hath perfected for ever them who are sanctified." -Hebrews 10:14 [KJV] We have two remarkable instances of St. Paul’s holy zeal for the glory of his Lord.  (1st.) Against a gross sin in the church of Corinth. This brought a scandal upon the holy gospel of Christ.  (2d.) Against a legal, self-righteous spirit, which obtained in the church of Galatia. This depreciated and dishonoured the finished work of Christ, and perverted the faith of His members. It is hard to say, whether St. Paul’s zeal exceeded most, in the former or the latter.  Hence learn profaneness and pride, are equally contrary to the faith of the gospel. As a holy faith brings Christ, and His salvation into the heart, it casts out the love of sin, as well as self-righteous hopes. Here is a glorious truth for precious faith to fix upon. O that through the Spirit, it may bring joy and peace to our souls.  Consider, who are said to be “sanctified” here? Those who are sepa...

"And they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and found Him not." -Luke 2:44, 45 [KJV]   May we not gather a lesson of sweet instruction from the anxious and fruitless search the parents made for Jesus in the days of His flesh? What kinsfolks and acquaintances shall we now search among for the Saviour? My soul, how little of Jesus is to be found in this Christless generation! What parlour conversation makes mention of His name? Is it not plain and evident, from the general, nay almost universal silence observed in all companies concerning His name, and offices, and characters, and relations, that Christ is not there?   Shall we seek Him among the professors of the gospel? Who are they that honour Jesus? Not they who deny His Godhead; not they who deny the influences of His Holy Spirit; not they who set up their own righteousness as part, or the whole of their justification before God. Jesus is not in that house, in that family, in that heart, among...

"Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone." -Ephesians 2:20 [KJV] The meaning of this expression, which frequently occurs in the New Testament, is, we think, often misunderstood. It is taken in the first instance from the declaration concerning our Lord in the Psalms, which He in the gospels (Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17) specially claimed and appropriated to Himself: "The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner" (Psalm 118:22).   "The head of the corner," or "the chief corner stone," the meaning of both expressions being one and the same, signifies not the stone which stands at the top of the building, uniting the corners of the two walls just under the roof, but the broad foundation stone, which is firmly fixed at the very bottom; and it is called the "corner stone" or the "head" or "chief of the corner," because being laid as a huge and broad stone for a foundat...

"I stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance." -II Peter 3:1 [KJV] All the children of God are the subjects of pure minds. Many of them complain of bad memories. All need to have their minds stirred up, and their memories quickened. There is no doubt but Peter had a pure mind, when he denied his Lord. But he seems to display a very treacherous memory, in sadly forgetting himself, his Lord, and his words. Forgetfulness of dangers, causes us to fall into them. Forgetting our own weakness to stand, causes us to fall.  Consider, (1st.) What is a pure mind. That which we are all destitute of by nature. Our mind and conscience is defiled, and unbelieving , (see Titus 1:15.) Our mind is made pure, when our hearts are sprinkled from an evil or guilty conscience, by the blood of Christ through faith (Hebrews 10:22.) So that a pure mind is a believing mind, which receives the truth as it is in Jesus, in the power and purity of it; and holds the mystery of faith in ...

"Carry down the man a present." -Genesis 43:11 [KJV] Ah, poor Jacob, how unconscious wert thou that this man, the governor of Egypt, was so near and dear to thee, and that his bowels yearned to tell thee how much he loved thee. And O ye sons of Israel, who would have had power to convince you while you were bowing down before Joseph under the dreadful apprehensions which agitated your minds, and he was assuming a voice of displeasure, that this very man was your brother?    My soul, and what was all this, heightened to the greatest possible degree in the real love and affection of Joseph towards his family, compared to that love of Jesus which passeth knowledge? Jesus is thy brother, and He is the governor, not of Egypt only, but of heaven and earth. The famine, it is true, is sore in the land, and to Him thou must go for sustenance, or thou wilt perish for ever.    But wilt thou carry down the man a present? My soul, what hast thou to carry? Not thy du...

"And He is the propitiation for our sins." -I John 2:2 [KJV] What is "propitiation?" By propitiation we are to understand, a sacrifice acceptable to Jehovah ; by which God, or rather the attributes of God are propitiated; whereby God can be favourable; whereby mercy, grace, and pardon can freely flow forth.  Now sin, and the law condemning sin, barred out, barred back, the favour of God. They were the opposing obstacle to the love of God. For God cannot, as God, love sin and sinners; therefore, the sin of man, and the holy law of God, the transcript of His infinite and eternal purity barred back, so to speak, the favour of God. It was needful, then, that this barrier should be removed, that a channel might be provided, through which the grace, favour, and mercy of God might flow: in a word, that sin might be blotted out, and that the law might be accomplished and fulfilled in all its strict requirements, that God "might be just , " retainin...

"I will walk before the LORD, in the land of the living." -Psalm 116:9 [KJV] When the king confers the honour of knighthood, he bestows an empty title, and nothing more. But when the King of saints calls a poor sinner into His presence, He confers on him not a mere title of an empty sound, but He dignifies him with a nature: He makes him a new creature. These two different kinds of spirits are to be avoided.  (1st.) Such as under a great shew of holiness, deny the fundamental doctrines of grace.  (2d.) Those who make a vile abuse of those doctrines. In the former pride reigns. Over the latter, lusts have the dominion. David reproves both.  Under the lively sense of distinguishing mercy and sovereign grace, he here makes a holy resolution. “Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” What then? Now all is safe and well, I will flee to the tents of ungodliness, and gratify my lusts. Is this his language? No, nor his c...

"I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." -Revelation 1:11 [KJV] My soul, if the precious meditation of yesterday be not wholly gone off from thy poor forgetful mind this day, here is another blessed view to revive the thought afresh, in looking at the Mediator, as the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, in the same covenant engagements.  Jesus is indeed, as the 8th verse of this same chapter expresses it, the Alpha and Omega, as one with the Father, over all, God blessed for ever. But He is also here the Alpha and Omega, as the Mediator, both God and man. For He is the first and the last of all God's thoughts, and in His covenant engagements, of all Jehovah's work; for every thing in creation begins and concludes in Him.  From everlasting He was set up. So that though Adam was the first man openly, yet not the first man secretly, and as subsisting in covenant engagements. Here again, as was remarked before, and from an authority not to be disp...

"...and patience of hope." -I Thessalonians 1:3 [KJV] What is meant by the expression "patience?" It means endurance; as though hope had to endure, faith to work, and love to labour. It is the "patience of hope" that proves its reality and genuineness. Hope does not go forward fighting and cutting its way. Hope is like a quiet sufferer, patiently bearing what comes upon it. Hope is manifested in enduring, as faith is manifested in acting. For instance: when the Lord hides His face, when testimonies sink out of sight, when signs are not seen, when Satan tempts, when the work of grace upon the soul seems to be all obscured, and in consequence a feeling of despondency begins to set in, then the "patience of hope" is needed to endure all things—not to give way, but to maintain its hold. It acts in the same way, according to the beautiful figure of Paul, as the anchor holds the ship . What is the main value, the chief requisite in the ...

"Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?" -Song of Solomon 3:3 [KJV] An abrupt question. Very oddly stated. Had this enquirer no name for her beloved? Can she suppose every one she asks, knew who was the beloved of her soul, and was acquainted with her loss of him? The spouse of Christ here seems to be in great discomposure of mind.  Just like a tender mother, who had lost the beloved son of her womb: or an affectionate wife, in search after an indulgent husband; thinking every one has heard of her distress, asks with the utmost eagerness, have you seen him? O for more of this love of Christ in our souls!  Observe here, the actings of a gracious heart, under the sense of Christ’s withdrawing His comforting presence. That Christ, for wise and good ends best known to Himself, doth withdraw Himself, is a truth that has been experienced by all His saints. You have not been long married to Christ, if you have not taken up the words of the church of old, “Verily Thou art a God...

"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His way: before His works of old, I was set up from everlasting."   -Proverbs 8:22, 23 [KJV] Pause, my soul, over those most blessed words, and see what glories are contained in them. May God the Spirit glorify Christ to thy view while pondering these words! Who is it that speaks them? Is it not wisdom! Even Christ, the wisdom of God, as the apostle elsewhere calls Him? But how was He possessed by the Lord, and how set up from everlasting?  Not openly in the human form, that He was in the fulness of time to take upon Him for the purpose of redemption; but, as it should seem, secretly, as subsisting in covenant engagements from everlasting.  Mediator, was it not? Not as yet made flesh, but if we may from another scripture draw the conclusion, "as the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature"   (Colossians 1:15.) What a glory, beheld in this view, doth this precious scripture, with all that fol...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit." -Matthew 5:5 [KJV] Spiritual poverty is a miserable feeling of soul-emptiness before God, an inward sinking sensation that there is nothing in our hearts spiritually good, nothing which can deliver us from the justly merited wrath of God, or save us from the lowest hell. And intimately blended with the poignant feelings of guilt and condemnation, there is a spiritual consciousness that there is such a thing enjoyed by the elect as the Spirit of adoption, that there are such sweet realities as divine manifestations, that the blood of Jesus Christ is sprinkled by the Holy Ghost upon the consciences of the redeemed to cleanse them from all guilt and filth.  And thus by comparing its own wants with their blessings, and having an inward light wherein the truth of God's word is seen, and an inward life whereby it is felt, a soul wading in the depths of spiritual poverty, is brought to feel that it must be the manifestation of the l...