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

"Should such a man as I flee?" -Nehemiah 6:11 [KJV] Nehemiah was engaged in a great work. His God was with him, and gave success unto him. Friends and enemies unite against him. By base insinuation, craft and stratagem, they strove to dishearten and deter him from going on with God’s work. Opposition is the Christian’s lot: courage is honour: perseverance is his jewel.  Look at this man of God: he boldly repels all fear. Instead of fleeing from his work as advised, he flees to his God, and cries, “O God, strengthen my hand.” Faith inspires prayer: prayer brings courage to the heart. Then he boldly demands, Should such a man as I flee! A man so greatly favoured, so highly honoured, as to be employed by God, to work for him? No, I disdain such mean cowardice: I will work on: It is God’s cause: let God see to the event; I fear it not.  Christian, know your calling: it is to work for God: expect opposition from within and without. This may call up fear and dismay...

"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." -Galatians 4:28 [KJV] Mark, my soul, the distinguishing characters of those who are the children of promise, and see whether thou art of this blessed family. For as the law and the gospel are strikingly distinguished from each other, so are the children of nature from those of grace. And how is this to be known? Look at the case Paul hath referred to: Isaac was the son of Abraham.  And the apostle saith, "that they which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And as Isaac was a child of Abraham by promise, not by natural power, so believers in Jesus are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God . -see John 1:12-14 [KJV] Hence Paul saith, "to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not to seeds as of many, but as of one; and to ...

"A time to kill, and a time to heal." -Ecclesiastes 3:3 [KJV] All through the Christian's life there will be "a time to kill, and a time to heal." We sometimes read in books, and hear in conversation, an experience of this kind—a work of grace commencing with very powerful convictions of sin, and the soul brought almost to the very brink of hell, and then a wonderful revelation of Jesus Christ, a powerful application of His atoning blood to the conscience, and a blessed manifestation of God's love to the soul.  And then what follows? If we can credit their account, and they are not deceiving us, or not deceiving themselves, or if we do not misunderstand their statements, they possess an unwavering assurance during the remainder of their sojourn upon earth. Sin and Satan never distress nor wound them; the flesh lies calm and tranquil, like the summer sea, never lashed up by angry gusts into a storm of fretfulness and rebellion; the sea birds of...